Oh, my friends … wow. That’s all I can say about this “I Can Power Boost” episode of the 4:13 Podcast. Wow.
Jen Bricker-Bauer was born without legs, not given a name, and left in the hospital. But, against all odds, she went on to compete against able-bodied athletes and become a state champion in power tumbling, and now, she’s an incredible aerialist and author.
She lives out the mantra, “Never say can’t.” And today, you’ll learn that if she can, you can.
This woman perfectly embodies the “I Can” spirit, and I’m so pumped she’s on this “I Can Power Boost” episode. What a perfect way to help us celebrate one million downloads!
You’ve probably heard me mention the “I Can Power Boost” episodes because I am over-the-top excited and grateful that the 4:13 Podcast has reached one million downloads! That is one million messages of practical encouragement and biblical wisdom downloaded into people’s hearts! And that is one million times somebody has been encouraged that they can do all things through Christ who gives them strength.
And to me, Jen Bricker-Bauer is the perfect guest to help celebrate the purpose of the 4:13 Podcast and affirm the hope-filled encouragement that has been downloaded into one million hearts!
So, let me give her an official intro, and then right below are some great quotes from our conversation. I call them “Power Boosters”!
Jen Bricker-Bauer has an incredible story that has been featured on HBO Real Sports, ABC’s 20/20, and Good Morning America. She traveled internationally with Britney Spears’ World Tour and appeared as the headliner at the Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas, New York’s Lincoln Center, and the Shangri La Hotel in Dubai. She’s the author of Everything is Possible, and she is one dynamite woman. So, get ready to get inspired by her.
Jen Bricker-Bauer Power Boosters
- “Adoption was the intervening of God in my life.”
- “What seems like a negative is not true when God is in the mix.”
- “He chooses the people who are the least likely. That is how He gets the most glory.”
- “God put me in my family for His purpose and mission to be fulfilled.”
- “‘Can’t isn’t part of your vocabulary.’ It is more than a quote. It is a way of living.”
- “When challenges come … and we see the mountain, it’s just believing in that moment that it’s possible to get over it, around it, or through it. That’s where the battle is won or lost.”
- “If you look at the mountain and you’re paralyzed or turn and run away, then you’ve lost the battle.”
- “I will not let this day own me. I will own this day.”
- “Follow your feelings is the way the world works, but it doesn’t work. It will destroy you.”
- “I learned to put emotions under His Word. I make choices every day to not allow feelings to paralyze, destroy, or distract me.”
- “Emotions are not running my life, God’s truth is.”
- “He made my life as an example that everything is possible when you believe in Him.”
- “My disability was never my identity.”
- “We are all born with gifts and talents to offer the world. We all have something to offer the world, and it is of equal value. Less exciting is not less important.”
- “Everyone is made to inspire and motivate, but you have to believe it.”
Related Resources
More from Jen Bricker-Bauer
- Visit Jen’s website
- Everything Is Possible: Finding the Faith and Courage to Follow Your Dreams
- One of Jen’s aerial performances
- Follow Jen on Facebook and Instagram
More from Jennifer Rothschild
- Jennifer on the Billy Graham TV Special
- Lessons I Learned in the Dark: Steps to Walking By Faith, Not By Sight
More “I Can Power Boost” Episodes
Stay Connected
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- Were you encouraged by this podcast? Reviews help the 4:13 Podcast reach more women with the “I can” message. Click here to leave a review on iTunes.
Episode Transcript
4:13 Podcast: I Can Power Boost With Jen Bricker-Bauer
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Being younger, it was just kind of like, yeah, that's Jen. She has big, dark eyes, long dark hair, and she also doesn't have legs and she plays sports. And it's just, you know, it just wasn't like this huge thing. It wasn't dwelled upon in my home, wasn't dwelled upon at school. There were no exceptions made for me. And, my parents said, you know, that God made me this way for a reason. And so maybe I believed that when I was little because they said it. But I sure as heck saw and believed with my own eyes and spirit as I got older and it went from believing that to be true to knowing that that was true.
Jennifer Rothschild: Well, you just heard why this is an "I Can Power Boost" episode. Jen Bricker was born without legs. She was not given a name and she was left in the hospital. But against all odds, that girl went on to compete against able bodied athletes and become a state champion in power tumbling. And now, she's an incredible aerialist and an amazing author. She lives out the mantra: Never say I can't. And today, you're going to learn that if she can, you can. So buckle up. Here we go.
KC Wright: Welcome to an "I Can Power Boost" episode of the 4:13 Podcast, where practical encouragement and biblical wisdom set you up to live the "I Can" life because you can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you. Now, welcome your host, Jennifer Rothchild.
Jennifer Rothschild: Welcome. And I'm just telling you, we are still ecstatic around here. We are still celebrating one million downloads. Man, we are just so thrilled of what that represents. That is a million "I can" messages downloaded into people's hearts and I cannot think of a better way to affirm and celebrate this message of the 4:13 Podcast than with this "I Can Power Boost" episode. I'm telling you, this woman, Jen Bricker -- and by the way, she's now married, so it's Jen Bricker-Bauer -- she embodies this "I can" spirit. And after you hear this, my friends, you are going to be so inspired that you will be saying, okay, if that girl can do it, I can do it. And the truth is, brothers and sisters, you can.
KC Wright: Jen Bricker, who is now Jen Bauer, has an incredible story that has been featured on HBO, Real Sports, ABC's 20/20, and even Good Morning America. She traveled internationally with Britney Spears' world tour. She's been a headliner in Las Vegas, New York's Lincoln Center, and the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai. She's the author of Everything is Possible and she's one dynamic woman. So get ready to get inspired by Jen Bricker-Bauer.
Jennifer Rothschild: Jen, it is so fun to talk to you. I just have looked forward to this. I admire you for so very many reasons. But I want to start with the very beginning of your story. And let me just ask you this. How did adoption, in your opinion, change the course of your life?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Oh, man. Well, first of all, thank you for having me here. Also very much admire you and what you're doing. And so, thanks for having me. Adoption totally changed the trajectory of my life, which, of course, then changed everything about my life. I mean, it was first, it's I guess adoption is the byproduct of God. So God intervening in my life to allow me to be adopted, to put me in foster home, to be able to then be adopted by my family is what changed the course of my life. And that's the part that I think some people have a "wait, what did you just say?" kind of moment. You know like because I know that when you hear, oh, you were born without legs, left in the hospital, and put up for adoption and not even given a name, and to especially Western society, that sounds like, jeez, like kind of the worst way you could come into life, almost, right. So, but it's just not true when God's in the mix.
And I believe He made my life. And this is just one story of my life, but He made my life as an example to show people that everything is possible when we believe in Him. And I'm not just saying that to quote my book, but I mean, that's why that's the name of my book, because He really, things really can be possible when we believe in Him. And so that that sounded ugly in the beginning is exactly the key, is exactly the very thing that had to happen in order for Him to reach millions of people through my life. And so that's the beauty of it. And I just I'm blown away by how He works.
Jennifer Rothschild: Well, and it's a beautiful perspective because you're right, sometimes people would focus on the dark side of that. And I love that you have brought out the truth is not just the light, but it is the truth of that.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Amen. Yes.
Jennifer Rothschild: And I remember one time hearing and I don't remember where I heard you say it, but something about the amount of couples that were on a waiting list to adopt. I want to say maybe I heard you say something like two hundred ninety nine couples, but your specific mom and dad were the ones who got to adopt you and how, you know, any random thing could have happened with any of those families. But God specifically chose you to be with your mom and dad. So, tell me how that influence or your unique family, how you think that helped shape and influence you?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Yeah, that's another one of those stories that my life just seems to be filled with, but is really absolutely mind-blowing. And they were not the candidates that you would think would be the most likely because they had never fostered, never adopted. They had three boys that were already 10, 12, 14 years old, so they were and they were already forty and forty-two before it was normal, like it is now to adopt or have kids in the forties. It was just not the thing then. And so really all the odds were against them and really was a miracle, straight up miracle that they got me. And God sees our hearts, though. So people often easily love to kind of glorify or glamorize or Hollywoodify, whatever you want to say, who and how my parents are. And it's funny because they think they're like the most scholarly studied. Wow. What books did they read to raise you with no legs? And wow. And I'm like you all got it so wrong. Like you couldn't be further from the truth. It's so funny because they, this is how God works. Like when you read the Bible and we, we just constantly see the character of God that He chooses, it's like almost always, He chooses the people that are the least likely because that's how He gets the glory.
And you're like, okay, because they didn't do it obviously themselves, though, you know, and that was my parents. They're just salt of the earth, small-town people, not the most educated, not the most money, not the most qualified, but yet they were the most qualified because God sees our hearts. And so they, He put me with the family that was supposed to raise me so that His purpose and mission through me and through them could be fulfilled. Like, so I mean, they raised me with this lifestyle, you know, and they, people love to quote when I say "can't isn't part of your vocabulary" because that's what they told me when I was younger, but it's so much more than a quote. It's, it's a way of living and it's a lifestyle, so they gave me many things in life. But I think one of the biggest things is, and why that's a lifestyle, is that it's when challenges come, because they come to all of us, right, and they see, we see the mountain, it's just believing in that moment that it's possible to get over it, around it, or through it. That's where the battle is won or lost. And that's the whole everything is possible, taking can't out of your vocabulary, that's how it becomes a lifestyle. Because if you look at the mountain and you paralyze, you're paralyzed, or you turn and run away, then you've lost the battle, in that sense. It just it could be temporary or whatever. But in that moment, I think that's what practically everything is possible or taking can't out of your vocabulary, I think that's what my parents gave me with that lifestyle.
Jennifer Rothschild: Well, it's obvious. And, you know, Jen, the mountain never goes away. So we can either let the mountain be the boss of us or we can be the boss of the mountain. And girl, you have been the boss of the mountain. And I love that because I look at your story and I think, okay, you know, you're born without legs. But when you look at that from the outside in, you think, wow, but choosing like gymnastics and tumbling and being an aerialist, all that, that just seems like the least logical.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Right.
Jennifer Rothschild: So I would be curious, what was it initially that drew you like, especially to gymnastics and tumbling and all that, and how, how old were you? And I mean, I kind of know what your parents' reaction was, but just kind of give us a picture of what that was like. What drew you to this?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Yeah, I always make the joke that my parents must have been like, couldn't she just play the piano, like wouldn't it be easier?
Jennifer Rothschild: Right!
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Cracks me up, I know. But I, I just think I came out an athlete. I was in my DNA and I saw gymnastics on TV from a very early age. And so I started very young in first grade. Just the beginner, learning how to do forward rolls and pop up to a handstand a little, you know, just the very beginner stuff. And I was watching TV like in the Olympics, like everybody did, especially then. And I was watching gymnastics and I loved Dominique Moceanu, in particular. And I knew that my biological family was Romanian. And I always knew that my parents were really open with the adoption. And I knew that she was Romanian, but she was on Team USA, but I knew she was Romanian and we looked alike. And it just kind of all about at the same time, I saw her felt, a connection with her, and then started my tumbling classes. It was basically at the same time. And, so it was interesting, I just had this, like, innate thing in me. I knew I could do it. I just, there was not even a hesitation. I was just like, oh, I can do this. Duh. Of course, I could. I mean, I have to practice. I have to do this. I have to do that. But that was God mixed with the family He put me with, you know what I mean?
Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. There's no other way to explain that, because it does not make sense, because lots of people define themselves by their limitations. But you don't. So what do you attribute that to? I mean, you may have just said it, your family and God. Is there any other tangible thing you could attribute that to?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: I think like practically and honestly and how it really went down was in the beginning, my parents when I was young, they just said, you know, God made you this way for a reason. God doesn't make mistakes. We've heard all this before. It sounds almost cliche at this point, but the thing is, they believed it like there was a big difference in saying it and believing it and that showed through their actions. So, for example, when I said I wanted to play softball, basketball, volleyball, power tumbling, all these things with able-bodied athletes, no prosthetics or wheelchair or anything, because that was normal for me. They showed it by just being like, okay, like ...
Jennifer Rothschild: Wow.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Of course, you can do it. And so and not having legs was always a part of me, obviously, but it was never my identity. Never my identity. And that, that's a huge, like I think maybe more so as I got older actually then that became more important. And being younger, it was just kind of like, yeah, that's Jen. She has big dark eyes, long dark hair, and she also doesn't have legs and she plays sports. And it's just, you know, it just wasn't like this huge thing. It wasn't dwelled upon in my home, wasn't dwelled upon at school. There were no exceptions made for me. And my parents said, you know, that God made me this way for a reason. And so maybe I believe that when I was little because they said it, but I sure as heck saw and believed with my own eyes and spirit as I got older and I went from believing that to be true to knowing that that was true. And that's just it. So it's just like, well, this is how like, this was His plan. And I see, I experience, I live that I've been all over the world to all these different countries. And He opens these doors. And the very reason doors get opened the other people couldn't have opened is because I was born this way and because He gave me the life and the talents and the abilities.
Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, well, the thing that could be the thing that took you down and made you want to hide, is the very thing that God used to create a huge platform and that is beautiful, and God can do that in anybody's life. But I also want us to pay close attention to what you said. You cooperated with it. You were all in, cooperating. You said the difference between believing it as a child and then just really knowing it. But you also went that step further and you have lived it. And it's almost impossible to say you believe something if you don't live it. You really don't know it till you live it. And so I think that's where your credibility is just deepened, Jen, and it's, I appreciate observing that.
I do want to go back, though, a little bit because you mentioned something that I, I assume most of our audience is aware of, but just in case they're not. Nineteen ninety-six, you're watching the Olympics, you see your idol win, you know with the Magnificent Seven, Dominique. And then there's this part of your life that happened. You had already said, oh, she's Romanian and we look a little bit alike and et cetera. Tell us what happened with you and Dominique.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Yeah. So, you know, like you said, I loved her as a kid. I felt a connection to her. And before I turned 16, my friend actually was also adopted. And I don't even know why, but she had found out what her biological last name would have been. And up until that point, I never felt, I never had a desire or need to kind of like know anything about my biological family or I just didn't have that need because my parents were so open and honest that I felt that I had all the questions answered and I was just good. But, for some reason, not for some reason, God planted this in my head because it doesn't make sense any other way. But when she found out what her biological last name was immediately out of nowhere for after all these years of not caring, I immediately was like, I wonder what my biological last name would have been. And then go home and ask my mom. I mean, and none of that is in alignment at all with the way my parents were so open.
So, why on earth would I have any reason to believe they kept some huge secret? Made no sense. And that's just God again. And so I asked her and to my surprise, my shock, she says, well, yeah, actually, I know something. Like, you don't know. What do you mean? You don't know something? You don't know. But like, I, I was just like, no. And she said, well, you're never going to believe this, but your biological last name would have been Moceanu. And when she said that because it's such a unique last name, but here in this country anyway, it, I was like immediately knew what she meant. So I knew that she meant Dominique Moceanu was my biological sister, full-blooded biological sister.
Jennifer Rothschild: Wow.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Yeah. Yeah. So that was kind of unbelievable.
Jennifer Rothschild: So, what'd you do, Jen? Like, how would you then, I mean, you don't just call her up and say, by the way.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: No, you're right. No.
Jennifer Rothschild: So, what'd you do? What was that journey like?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: It was a four-year journey, actually, because it took so much finesse and, and there were many failed attempts. And at the end of the four years I was successful in December of 2007. I, believe it or not, my uncle was a private investigator, which just sounds like..
Jennifer Rothschild: That's helpful.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: ... even more to the movie. It's ridiculous. But, to the story, but so, I had him find her address for me, and I sent, while I copied a lot of pictures because, so I had a younger sister too, Christina. We were even closer in age, and we look like twins. I mean, like straight-up twins. And so it was really unbelievable. And I copied pictures because of the resemblance. I copied all the legal documents from the adoption papers, which that was the real clinch, the real kicker, so that they knew that it was legitimate because they saw Dimitri and Camellia, my biological parents, their signatures were on these papers. So there's no denying, which is another miracle because we were not supposed to have those. They were supposed to be blacked out. And that's like a, that's the, I mean, that was a huge miracle. It was unbelievable. And so, anyway I sent all of that and a letter and just kind of on a, like a huge, a lot of hope, lots of praying, lots of believings. And, two weeks later felt like an eternity, I got a letter back from Dominique. And then five months after that, about four and a half months after that, all three of us met in Ohio for the first time.
Jennifer Rothschild: Wow. What was that like? Did you feel a sense of completeness or affirmation or what are some adjectives that could describe how you felt at that meeting?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Yeah, it was kind of contradicting. Like it felt surreal, and also like, yeah, that, this seems about right. You know, like.
Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, right. It makes sense, but it doesn't make sense.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Exactly.
Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Yeah. This seems right. Obviously, we're sisters. I mean it was just, it just was. There were so many similarities, and I mean the differences were directly from just how we were raised because those were polar opposites. But the DNA was so overpowering that it was like we still, even through night and day different upbringings, well, we still had an astronomical amount of similarities, you know.
Jennifer Rothschild: Wow.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: And so, it was just like, yeah, it was kind of immediately like, yep, they're my sisters. That makes sense. Also, holy cow, can we believe this happened? We can't believe it. Can you believe it? Can you believe it? You know.
Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, well, it is mind blowing. And to see your level of gifting and her level of gifting, I mean, it's just mind blowing. I don't have words. I'm not going to try to reduce it to words because it's just mind blowing. But I, I love your tenacity and like you use the word finesse, your thoughtfulness in the way you approached it, because it's a big deal and it turned out to be a good thing. And it wouldn't, you know, if you had handled it poorly, it might not have been. So I just I think that says a lot to of just your maturity. It's a beautiful story.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Thank you.
Jennifer Rothschild: You know, Jen, listening to you, I'm so mindful. Many people listening to you would be like, wow, she's like, she's like got superpowers. Like, she's amazing. And you are amazing, okay, you are. Yet at the same time, there's so much of your struggle, the things that you have to persevere through, there's so much of that that, you know, a lot of people just can't identify with. Yet at the same time, I got to believe you've had some other things in your life that are just like everyday woman things that you've had to deal with, you know. So I'm curious, are there some other things in your life where you've just hit the wall and you've had to find a way through or maybe a different kind of mountain?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Oh, yeah. I would say one of the most, you know, I guess typical woman things that you, for a lack of a better term, is mixed with being in the entertainment industry. So when I moved out here to L.A. and was really getting in the, really in the thick of being in the entertainment industry, I wanted to get in better shape because I knew it was about to be on a lot of media. It was right before the whole sister story came out. So I knew were about to be on TV a lot and to talk shows and stuff. And I just wanted to be in a little bit better shape. And so I got there, but then I just kind of kept going and became way too obsessed with being thin and then just started ripping myself apart in the mirror and not going to social events because I didn't want to be tempted by food and staring at myself in the mirror. And if my stomach wasn't more than flat, then I would just be just totally destroying myself. And it was really unhealthy. And I was really miserable and I was really thin, actually. So, I was still eating, I wasn't throwing up or anything, but I definitely had later what I realized I didn't know then, but it was it's called like body dysmorphia. So you're like...
Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: You look in the mirror and you just, I don't even know how that's possible, but you look in the mirror and you don't see the reality. Like, I would just ... the reality was I was thinner than I'd ever been. Yet what my emotions, feelings inside told me was that I was fat. And I learned a lot. That was when I started learning about feelings and emotions and putting them in their appropriate place. And that was, man, that is like in our, especially in the world we live in, where feelings and emotions are absolute, rule number one, follow them, do everything, go, I mean, everything tells us to follow that. And I'm going to tell you right now that that doesn't work. I'm going to tell you that it will destroy you. And, you know, I wish I could say take my advice, save yourself all the pain, don't go through it. But I know that that's just probably not going to be, some of us just have to learn the hard way like me. And so it took me a long time. I had to, I eventually covered up my mirror, this huge mirror in my bedroom with beautiful pictures and things that I just enjoyed and honestly that I just had in my room.
Jennifer Rothschild: I love that.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Yeah. And it was, whoa, I didn't know that I could actually have positive things coming back from the mirror. And then I also realized how sad it was because I had so much negativity coming from the mirror. So I was like, whoa, that was deep. And, wow, okay. And then it was, so it was the practical measures like covering up the mirror. Then it was the spiritual, which is the foundation of everything, it was like, okay, I have to really, I was challenged. God is like, so do you really believe what you say about Me? Because if you do, your emotions are, are going to be underneath my Word. And I was like, dang! I was really hit in the face, you know, like man. And so I had to make the choice every day when I felt disgusting, when I felt fat, when I felt, you know, I was like, well, even though everything inside me tells me that that's true and it is a hundred percent feels real, it seems like your reality, I have to make the choice to not allow it to basically paralyze me and destroy me, which it was doing. Also distracting me from God's will, so it was super selfish, because I was just thinking about myself not being able to be used for other people. So all of this stuff, which is exactly what the enemy wants to do to us, by the way, coming in and just distracting in all ways, not necessarily evil, but it produces the same result, basically. And so then I just had to kind of get to that point where, okay, emotions and feelings are no longer running my life. They're not ruling my life. They are underneath the Word of God. God's truths and promises are the most important. And it just was daily. I mean, it was not fun at all. It took about two and a half years to come out of that. And I don't think it had to take two and a half years. A hundred percent, it could have been faster, if I hadn't been so just stubborn and rebellious and just fighting like I do, which is so stupid, you know. Like it doesn't need to be that way.
Jennifer Rothschild: Like we all do.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Like we all do. Right.
Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Like it's just insane. But I could have submitted my feelings much faster. I really could have, you know. It didn't need to be so drawn out, but I'm glad that I came out from that. And I have spoken so much about it. And it's such a beautiful thing to be able to actually speak to women about these things because I've been there.
Jennifer Rothschild: Well, and it everybody can relate to it. Maybe not to the extreme that you, but I got to be honest, I think a lot of people can even relate to that extreme. They've just not maybe been as extremely honest yet. And the the fact that you covered your mirror with things that brought you joy and represented a reality that still exists, you know, the beauty of your life, your memories, et cetera, I think that's just a very practically brilliant thing to do. And, and I see how that helped positivity come from the mirror. And you also talked about putting your feelings under God's Word. So, even now, I know you struggle because you live on planet Earth. So, like on a daily basis, how do you override negativity in your life?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Yep. So on a daily basis, I remember in 2013, I was in Dubai a lot performing at this place and I was alone a lot and I didn't have a car there, obviously, so I couldn't drive a lot. So, I'm like, man, I, I was really I knew I needed to be in the Word daily and I kept talking about it and not being consistent in it, and that drove me nuts. So I kind of just called myself out and eventually I was like, okay, I'm literally going to stop just talking about it and I'm going to be in the Word every day. And that changed my life. Because I started being in the Word every morning, and prayer also. So I would pray and read in whatever order. I didn't want it to be a routine. So, I always had it slow and just led by the Spirit. So that would always, sometimes I prayed first, sometimes I read first. But it was uninterrupted time. And I mean, really since then, actually I've been regardless of what country I'm in or where I'm at or planes, trains, and automobiles, because that's been my life for so long.
Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, right.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: That changed my life. So that. And then I had to relearn that all over how to be married and also do that. So that we can both have that, like we both had to figure out. I was totally on a roll for a long time before I got married. I'm like, oh, I got, I got this down, you know. And then and then another curveball comes in and we're both great on our own in our time with God, and then it was like, wait, how do we do this when we're married? Like, so that was a whole other challenge that took quite a while for us to kind of get in a rhythm because our lives were always so. He's from Austria. So we lived in Austria for a year and now we're back. And then we just have been on so many different life schedules that it's always changing. And we're, we're pretty good now. I mean, we're, we're better now, I think, than we've been, you know, so yeah.
Jennifer Rothschild: Well, it's, it's an ever-changing, it's an ever-changing challenge, honestly. It is. Because then kids will come or even if you got a puppy, you know what I'm saying just yet, anything can mess with that routine. But I think it's the commitment that you're expressing and then the routine can more emerge around the commitment. So, but I appreciate that, because what you're telling us is this is doable. Not always easy, but it is simple. I mean, the Lord doesn't require a six-week study for three hours a day.
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Right.
Jennifer Rothschild: You know, just even if it's a verse a day. I got to know, though, how did you meet your husband?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: We met in Austria. I was speaking. I was on a small tour. And my book is in eleven languages, actually, and one of them is German. So, and they speak German in Austria. And so I was there with friends of mine who organized this tour and we had books and speeches and it was actually at the smallest place on the whole tour. And he was there and bought a book. Came up afterward. Bought a book. I signed it. It was just really, really fast, like 60 seconds probably. And he left and then two weeks later sent me a very long message on Facebook, which he's embarrassed by, which is funny because he had no other way of contacting me. But God just really moved him so much through the book because he wasn't a Christian at the time. So there's a whole testimony within the meeting. Yeah. So, as we basically, to try to shorten it, he eventually ended up flying to L.A., which he had never been to the US. The last day he was here, I took him to church with me. It was the first time he had ever been to a, but he had only ever been sometimes to Catholic masses, so he had never been to a nondenominational Christian church before. So when he came was the first time anyone had ever prayed over him or prayed for him.
And he was so moved that, so we went to church and then immediately to the airport. And then he had a layover in Paris before he went to Austria. And by the time he landed in Austria, he had his first Bible ordered and was then two days got the Bible and had been in the Word basically ever since he got it. Just eating it up. Baptized. He was baptized three months later here in L.A. with our pastor and then proposed to me about a month and a half after. And then we got married three months after that in the US with the same pastor.
Jennifer Rothschild: It is like God just plucked him out of his life and said, now the prayers for Jen's husband are to be answered. What a great love story. That's a great love story. Your book, Everything is possible. You share your heart, not just your story. So I am curious, what is your heart message?
Jen Bricker-Bauer: Well, I would say what I would love everyone to hear or take in, receive, is just that we are all born with gifts and talents and abilities that we can offer the world. So everyone has something to offer the world and it is of equal value. And I couldn't say that enough. I couldn't emphasize the equal value enough because people think that their life is less exciting or whatever, that it's more it's less important. And that they don't have millions of followers, so it's less important or, and on and on and on. Right? So, that I would say first, equal value, equal value, equal value. And you do. Everybody brings something to the table, you know, and God gives us all passions, talents, abilities, things we love to do, things we're good at that through those things then we can reach people. Through Him, He can reach people through us. And also people think that it's just kind of like they're meant to motivate and inspire, like those super awesome people. But I believe everybody, I know everybody is made to inspire and motivate. But you, but you have to believe it. Like, that's the key. The key is the belief. Because if you don't see, no one can believe that for you, it just doesn't work that way. But if you believe it, then that's the key that unlocks making it possible in your life. You believing or not believing doesn't change the fact that it's possible. It just changes the fact that it's, it actually can happen.
KC Wright: Okay. Wow.
Jennifer Rothschild: Wow is right.
KC Wright: Wow, God, is right. On the show notes, we've got lots of those truth bombs she just dropped. You'll find a list of Jen's power boosting quotes at 413Podcast.com/PowerJen. That is Jen with one "n."
Jennifer Rothschild: Yep, Power Jen. I think that works for her, don't you?
KC Wright: I believe you both are Power Jens!
Jennifer Rothschild: And you'll also find there a link to her story, her book, and all the inspiration that you could ever need to live the "I Can" life. So remember the same God who empowers Jen Bricker is the same God who empowers you. So that means whatever you're facing and whatever you're feeling if Jen can, you can. We all can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. Whew! That's some good stuff, wasn't it today?
KC Wright: She is something else!
Jennifer Rothschild: I know. And you know what? We would be here if not for our friends. Thanks for getting us to a million downloads.
KC Wright: We love you.
Jennifer Rothschild: Yes!
KC Wright: We have a million more reasons to be grateful.
Jennifer Rothschild: Yes, we do!
KC Wright: You are simply the best.
Jennifer Rothschild: You're the best. Thanks for getting us to a million. And here's to the next million.
KC Wright: Hey, here's to it.
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