Hello everybody.
Damon Friedman here with the Forced For Good Show podcast and today's topic.
Man, I just wrote that it's...
powerful prayers.
So I'm gonna start off by just telling all my listeners out there, I am not a
religious person, I'm not.
I am a person of faith.
I believe in the power of prayer.
I am a Jesus follower, that's what I am.
I think it's important to have faith, I really do.
I just don't know how people don't have it.
And I'm gonna tell you, if you're not a person of faith...
then this message you should listen to.
This is very, very important.
Because eight billion people in the whole world and a billion percent, a billion
percent, I know that there's a designer, a creator in the universe.
Billion percent.
There's a reason why I'm a Jesus follower.
I did a lot of research.
I did.
I did a lot of research.
It's like Indiana Jones in the Temple of Dune and he's got like this book.
His dad provided, I don't know, all these little designs and whatever.
And I ended up following it.
You know, I was like, he's dodging every obstacle, like trying to kill him, right?
And then he gets to this point on the very edge and there's just like this big abyss
and there's like the other side.
He's like, how do I, how do I get from here to there?
And that's when the step of faith occurred.
I mean, you got to have faith.
And I'm just starting off by saying that because
I think it's just, I know that we're not alone here on this earth.
Some people want to believe in aliens.
Well, I mean, I think there's, you can if you want.
Are there aliens out there?
Yeah, maybe.
Maybe not.
I see little pictures.
But there's definitely a ton of evidence about Jesus.
That's all I'm saying.
This podcast today...
is important because what happens when you're all alone?
So just hear me out, just hear me out, just for a split second.
Don't turn me off, just give me a shot on this one.
So late last night, I was in some immense pain.
I have...
I struggle with depression.
I do.
You'll hear in one of my other shows that, I kind of have this, I heard this friend,
it's like if you're dealing with depression, you're looking at the past.
If you're feeling anxiety, you're too fixated on the future.
If you're finding peace, you're in the present.
Because you can't control the things that have happened.
And you sure can't control about the things that will happen overall.
You control right here, right now.
And I was struggling, and I was gazing at the constellations.
And I was literally, I was dreaming of the oceans.
I considered all the magnificent, you know, the stars and everything beautiful,
the mountains and everything.
Everything so gorgeous, the creation.
And as I once saw my name on the waves of the oceans, as in me surfing some of the
biggest obstacles in the whole world, surfing them.
I'm from California, LA.
Surfing is pretty big out in California.
Now I live in Florida.
Surfing is pretty big out in Florida.
There's something about waves, man, just riding them in all the way, something
spiritual about it being one.
I'll tell you another.
I feel God when I'm in the ocean, I'm diving, surfing.
I'm not very good at surfing, by the way.
But I'll tell you, when I do feel God, when I'm jumping out of a perfectly good
airplane, and you see the whole world, the landscape, it's gorgeous.
All of a sudden, as I was struggling that night, I suddenly heard a deep
voice in my heart.
And this was on...
I was reading a couple of verses, and I'm just going to read them out.
I'm going to read them out, because these are the ones that I heard and these are
the ones that I read.
Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you
rest.
Take my yoke upon you.
Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart.
And you will find rest...
for your souls.
For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." You know who
said that?
Jesus said that.
And so as soon as I read that, like, I mean, I don't know about you, whether
you're a person of faith or not, that sounds so encouraging, that somebody's
willing to carry, you know, in the military, it's like this heavy rucksack.
I'll tell you what, there's nothing heavier than climbing a mountain in
Afghanistan with a heavy rucksack, with all your weapon and all your ammo and your
radios.
I was grateful I went to Ranger school.
I was grateful I went through the Marine Corps.
I'm telling you, they crushed my soul, got me prepared.
But there's, it's heavy.
You know, and I was looking back at some things that I struggled with, you know?
And I believe in having honor and courage and commitment.
Those are core values in the Marine Corps.
Those were instilled in me the day I joined the Marine Corps.
And so I just kind of cried.
I prayed.
I did.
I prayed.
I was like, you know, God, please give me some mercy.
Why am I struggling with depression?
It's about the past!
there are people that love to remind you about what you did wrong in the past.
Maybe it's because you hurt them.
Maybe, maybe they're hurt because of the decisions that you made.
I don't know.
Or maybe they're just people that want to hurt you and hurt people, hurt others.
And I'm just like, you know, God, please.
Help me.
You know, every person in this world is looking for love and meaning.
That's the truth.
And I'm just sitting there and I'm praying and I need, I'm asking God to help me with
this.
And so I begin to just pray, you know, because He is someone, I was all alone and
it's always dangerous to, during my darkest times and I'm depressed and I'm
all by myself.
These are the times when I just, I pray.
And as I was praying, all of a sudden, I just, it's again, it's about making a
choice.
To be present!
So I wrote this down.
This is a commitment I have to remind myself all the time.
And for all of you out there, if this is the first time you're hearing me, you're
like, man, this is impossible.
I hear Damon speak on the stage.
I just don't understand how he's dealing with depression or anxiety or any of that
if he struggles with it.
But yeah, I'm human.
I'm no different than you.
I'm human.
That's why I'm talking to you right now.
I'm telling you all my dirty laundry.
And so what I did was I had to stop the madness, I had to stop the cycle.
after i was done praying and just asking god for mercy and some strength in but
more importantly and wisdom but more point of courage to do what's right to be
president
to not be so focused on the irreparable past and yet be focused on the invincible
future.
That's a quote that I have.
It's my mantra.
Let go of the irreparable past.
You can't do anything about it.
I have to tell myself this all the time.
Literally, I think you need to record it and just play it like all the time because
all the time, if you see me just kind of zoning out, I'm probably thinking about,
man, I could have done that better.
That's a problem.
It's a problem and I gotta stop.
So I wrote this, I said, today I'm going to be present.
I'm determined to not allow anyone or anything to depress me from the past.
I can't allow anyone or anything to create anxiety, especially about the future.
I have no control of that either.
I mentioned that in the beginning.
Do you have control of the past?
Do you have control of the future?
No, man, you don't.
I continue writing, but I have control of not allowing those weapons of the enemy to
reign in my moment.
Woo.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
You have the power to be present and not allow the negative forces of the universe
to infiltrate your moment of positivity.
You get to choose.
I have control of making a sound and just decision now.
That's right.
Look, you made some mistakes.
Do what's right.
Go tell that person.
Apologize.
Address it.
Don't be cowardly.
Don't run away.
Do the right thing.
We've got this thing, you just let go and let God, let go of whatever is going on,
just give it to him and just, it's in its to-do box, keep moving forward.
I'm not saying you could just do anything wrong and then just like, oh, I'm good.
All I gotta do is ask for forgiveness, hey, I'm sorry, and just continue to do
whatever you want.
No, it's a process.
And so I continue to pray and I wrote this I've prayed, I've meditated.
And I'm asking for strength, for wisdom, and the courage to get through this.
Let me tell you why.
Because I have a great family.
I really, really do.
I always talk about my two treasures in this earth as my son and my daughter.
They need me.
I've been gone for 20 years, dealing with the war, multiple deployments, Iraq,
Afghanistan.
sustained injuries, finding myself in the hospital, losing friends to suicide, to
killed in action on the battlefield.
Man, I've gone through a lot.
That doesn't even begin with the stuff I had to deal with being born and raised in
downtown LA in the worst conditions.
Phil!
criminals drugs prostitution like the whole thing man Don't even want to get
into that
I'm here right now and my family needs me.
You know why?
They need the best version of myself and the people around you should have the best
version of you.
Because your family is worth it.
Your community is worth it.
You have a calling in your life and you need to accomplish it because it's worth
it.
And I'm just being very real because I'm probably going to have to listen to this
message again in the future for myself.
You've got a lot of enemies out there, you really do.
And a lot of them, all they do is they put hate in your life, they put disappointment
in your life, frustration in your life, conflict in your life.
And a lot of those people, you don't realize are people close to you, family
members.
somebody who I trusted who was a family member, I put a lot of trust and
confidence in that person and that person hurt me deeply, deeply.
It's bad.
I'm a grown man, still feel the pain.
It's part of the process.
Every day I've got to ask, I've got to forgive this person.
And as soon as I feel like I forgive him, all of a sudden it rears its ugly head as
a reminder of what that person did to me.
Anybody hurt you that way?
Anybody hurt you like that in the past?
Abused you?
Violated you?
Took advantage of you?
Exploited you?
especially when you couldn't do anything, maybe you were younger or you couldn't
stand up for yourself.
Look, there's a lot going on in this world, man.
Everybody has a story, everybody's on a journey, everybody.
And I'm gonna tell you something, for me, the more we accomplish, the more
successful we are, the more notoriety that we have, I'm telling you, man, you get
people from all walks of life, people who call themselves friends.
and they're coming to infiltrate you.
Gotta watch it, man.
You gotta watch it.
So today I'm encouraging everybody that when you're struggling, man, pray.
It's awesome, man.
There's something very powerful about prayer.
There really is.
There's a God in the universe, and this is my conviction, whether you agree or you
disagree.
I believe that this superpower that's the creator, the designer is called God.
And I believe that God, eight billion people, He knows each and every one of you
by name.
That's my opinion.
I'm not preaching, I'm not religious, this is what I believe.
I do.
And I'm gonna tell you right now that it's important to be fit.
It's synonymous with healthy.
I love using that word because when we talk about physical fitness, that connotes
something.
It's saying, you know, when you're physically fit, you could do, you know,
you could accomplish a lot of physically demanding exercises, challenges, sports.
But what about psychological fitness?
What about social fitness?
What about cognitive fitness?
What about spiritual fitness?
Because I believe that humans are made of mind, body, and soul.
I just do.
5% of the world are atheists.
I don't know how you can be an atheist, but if you are, I respect your decision.
It's your journey, man.
You don't want to believe in a designer or creator in the universe, you don't believe
in God, that's your decision.
I do.
I've experienced him.
100%.
No doubt about it.
That's why I'm a believer.
constantly changing my life in a very incredible way.
And so today, I'm choosing to be present.
I'm choosing to let go of the irreparable past and focus on the invincible future,
and when I'm struggling, I'm praying.
And for all of you out there, I'm here to tell you that it's a life-changing
experience.
When you feel like you have nowhere to go,
and you haven't prayed, give it a shot.
And if there's a verse that resonates with you, then meditate on it.
I just gave you one.
It was awesome.
I'm going to end with this because this is what I wrote.
So my focus is on God's mercy and his promise.
Quote, from his fullness we have received grace upon grace.
End quote.
That comes from the book of John.
All I know is this is life is hard.
And I just know that throughout my years of struggling, God has been a critical
component in my life when nobody was there.
And I mean nobody.
God was there.
He was present.
I'm here to tell you that I burned so many bridges.
I'm telling you the truth.
It's just such a fact.
I did that in high school.
I did that in college.
I did that.
in the military.
I did that with my family.
I did that.
I burned lots of bridges and I hurt a lot of people.
And that's another reason why you hear so many podcasts from me that deal with pain
because I'm addressing it and I'm being realistic and I'm facing it.
I spent too long not facing it.
There's going to be a hundred podcasts talking about this.
Because I think it's essential.
It's important.
And when people were frustrated with me and angry with me and said, I'm done with
you.
When I burned every bridge, even the people that loved me the most, people were
at bay.
My family was at bay.
I'm telling you, you come back from a war, 20 years, being involved in fighting
extreme terrorism, and you're involved in killing, right?
Like, you know, you take bad people out, and you experience all this pain and
agony, you come home, you're not a normal person.
You're not.
You serve in the military, in a combat zone, and you're conducting operations
against the enemy.
and you're closing with and you're destroying and you're killing, you're
never going to ever be the same.
You're not.
But you got to figure out, not everybody does that, but everybody has their own
woes, everybody has their own challenges.
Some people deal with some serious trauma, rape, molestation, people who steal all of
your fortune, all of your money, leave you with nothing.
Some people try a drug just one time, all of a sudden they become addicts, heroin
addicts, and like they lose everything.
Some people make some really piss poor decisions.
They go gambling, they get addicted, and then they literally gamble everything
away.
They wake up with nothing.
I know people who literally gambled their entire future, their house, their cars,
all their money, and left their spouses, their kids with nothing.
Like, look, at the end of the day, there's just a lot of craziness happening.
And I'm just telling you that whether you were responsible for your trauma or you
weren't and you experienced trauma, I'm here to tell you something.
There's a God in heaven.
He loves you.
He knows you by name and you can pray to him.
It worked for me.
I know it will work for you.
My name is Damon Friedman.
This is the Forrest for Good Show podcast.
Godspeed.