Hey everybody, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to Off the Bench. I'm glad you guys have joined me.

Today is mailbox Monday. This is the day when I get to answer your questions and touch on the headlines

to go around. I think you're going to be encouraged.

Well, I'm glad you guys are here. We are rolling in to what has been arguably the most exhausting

and exhilarating and exciting season of my life so far. And that's in my run for Congress.

I'm going to ask that you guys join with us and the people on our campaign. And for those of you

who are around the country and around the world listening to this for the last few days in the

month of July, we're going to enter into three days of prayer and fasting. I'll be talking about

this a little bit tomorrow as we dive into why do we fast? You know, why do we combine prayer and

fasting? What does the Bible say about fasting? What does a fast mean? And I'm going to invite you

to join me as we just petition the Lord. And really at the end of the day, whether it's my run for

Congress or whether we're praying about something that's happening in our country or whether we're

coming before the Lord on behalf of our marriages, the Bible teaches us that prayer is not a last

resort. It is the most powerful weapon at our disposal because we are talking to the living God.

And God loves you. And God loves the people of the United States and he loves the people of this

world. And in fact, his word declares that it's so. John 3, 16 says that for God so loved the world

that he gave his only begotten Son that he whoever believes in him would not perish but have ever

lasting life. God's heart for us is clearly seen in his word. One of my favorite verses in the

Bible is Fountain Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10. This is the Lord saying this, do not fear for I am with

you. Do not be dismayed or discouraged for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And I was thinking about the spirit of fear.

And I've talked about this many times in the last several years at the show. But the Bible teaches

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