Pt 2. Nicole Milo + Always an Advocate

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Ask About My Faith Podcast, where our hope is to inspire everyday faith

[00:00:08] conversations.

[00:00:09] I'm Jess.

[00:00:10] And I'm Abby.

[00:00:11] Today we're diving deeper into more remarkable stories with Nicole Miller.

[00:00:16] In addition to being a wife, mother, advocate, speaker and visionary, Nicole has a Bible

[00:00:22] theology education and holds a degree in health science.

[00:00:26] She does have a wide variety of stories to share in this episode, but we're going to start

[00:00:31] with her work as a massage therapist where she discovered a unique connection to the Holy

[00:00:36] Spirit through touch.

[00:00:38] Nicole is an advocate for families of individuals with developmental disabilities and has walked

[00:00:45] alongside countless others representing their voices and fighting for their rights.

[00:00:50] I'm excited for you to hear more about that.

[00:00:53] Let's jump into part two of our episode with Nicole.

[00:00:59] So Nicole, you used to be a massage therapist, right?

[00:01:04] Yes.

[00:01:05] And I think your perspective and your approach, I imagine even before each individual client

[00:01:12] you probably had kind of a routine of inviting God into it.

[00:01:16] But anyway, you have a story or two from your time as a massage therapist.

[00:01:21] Can you share one with us?

[00:01:23] Sure, for sure.

[00:01:24] Yeah, a lot of times I would spend time alone with the Lord before clients would come just

[00:01:31] because I felt like, again, my lifeline is the presence of the Lord and so I'm worshiping,

[00:01:39] being with him, spending time with him, clients would come and I would be working on them

[00:01:47] and one in particular happens to be a family member, my aunt actually.

[00:01:52] And she came and she was struggling with some things and I put my hands on her and all of

[00:02:00] a sudden she started going, what is that?

[00:02:03] What is that feeling?

[00:02:04] I feel like warm all over and she was actually feeling the Holy Spirit.

[00:02:11] The Lord was just sort of working through me and that's when that opened the door

[00:02:16] for me to share with her.

[00:02:17] I'm like, that's the Holy Spirit.

[00:02:18] She's like, oh my goodness, this is like the greatest feeling in the world.

[00:02:22] And then I just started praying over her, just started praying, prophesying, she started

[00:02:28] weeping, you know, it was just this and she's been coming regularly ever since

[00:02:32] and I feel like the Lord's been meeting her in amazing places.

[00:02:36] Yeah.

[00:02:37] Do you remember any of those things that you spoke over her that really touched

[00:02:42] her in that first encounter?

[00:02:45] Yeah.

[00:02:47] I think it really, the main point is like God loves you so much that this is what he

[00:02:53] wants to do in your life.

[00:02:56] Like when somebody's actually encountering the Lord in that way and the Holy Spirit's

[00:03:01] moving, they're getting set free of things.

[00:03:07] The Lord's touching the ice.

[00:03:08] I'm going to let the Lord do this and I'm sort of like, you know, along for the ride.

[00:03:18] So yeah, I think I had some words of knowledge for her about her health, you know, in her

[00:03:24] body specific areas of her body that needed healing that the Lord was touching.

[00:03:29] She had something going on with her liver gallbladder, you know, and she was feeling

[00:03:34] warmth in those areas and she was just like, yeah, her reaction was incredible.

[00:03:40] And then I really feel like she was getting a baptism in the Holy Spirit.

[00:03:45] And she, I feel like God has activated the gifts inside of her and that often is

[00:03:52] what happens.

[00:03:52] I'll see over time the Holy Spirit when people receive the Lord and they

[00:03:57] encounter him, then the Holy Spirit starts activating and imparting those

[00:04:01] things in their life.

[00:04:03] And they're like, you know, I didn't notice this before, but, you know, I feel

[00:04:10] like I'm hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit or, you know, and then they come

[00:04:14] back and they tell me, Hey, you know, I started paying attention to what you

[00:04:20] were saying about, you know, a specific situation.

[00:04:24] You know, a lot of times people come for massage and they share a lot of

[00:04:28] really personal information or things that it's almost like counseling.

[00:04:33] So that's a really great way to bring Jesus into all those moments, you know?

[00:04:38] Yeah.

[00:04:41] Well, which I think you said there really just it kind of doubles down on

[00:04:45] what you shared in part one of our conversation that when you, when you

[00:04:50] invite God into it and you just let him do the work, it's not dependent on

[00:04:56] you. It's like in that case, you didn't even need to have the any words really.

[00:05:01] It was just he was flowing through.

[00:05:04] He was just flowing through you.

[00:05:05] 100%.

[00:05:06] No words necessary.

[00:05:07] Yeah, totally.

[00:05:08] Yeah.

[00:05:09] It's just like a yielding.

[00:05:10] And I think part of the breaking that I shared in my life was necessary for

[00:05:17] me to be able to be where I'm at now because there's it's just like

[00:05:22] the crushing of the olives and it brings the oil, you know?

[00:05:26] The crushing in my life led me to allow Jesus to carry it all.

[00:05:33] Otherwise I might have thought I could do stuff on my own.

[00:05:36] So that I think about the scripture, you know, consider it joy when you

[00:05:40] go through trials and tribulations of all kinds because it's producing

[00:05:45] the endurance in you and the person.

[00:05:48] We're going through it.

[00:05:49] We don't usually think that way.

[00:05:50] Oh yeah, this is great.

[00:05:51] I'm so joyful for this terrible time in my life.

[00:05:56] But now I see without that crushing in that it produced the yielding of my

[00:06:05] flesh to the Lord, you know, so that he could do what he wanted to do, which

[00:06:10] is I'll do it all again in a second if I could be with Jesus in this way.

[00:06:15] You know, it's brought him and I so much closer than if it didn't happen.

[00:06:20] Yeah.

[00:06:21] That's so encouraging for anybody that is going through something hard because

[00:06:24] like you said in the moment, it's just hard.

[00:06:28] But yeah, getting to look back, that's actually a theme with a lot of our

[00:06:32] our guess is that the hard things really produce like compassion and

[00:06:37] so much more of an openness to God and those moments.

[00:06:42] Totally.

[00:06:43] It kind of sounds like your massage therapy experience.

[00:06:46] It sounds a lot like my hairdresser where it's like just always getting the

[00:06:51] download on what's going to.

[00:06:52] Did you say that happens quite often that you got people just opening up?

[00:06:57] Yeah, oh for sure.

[00:06:58] Yeah.

[00:06:58] Yeah.

[00:06:59] Totally.

[00:06:59] And just kind of creating a safe space.

[00:07:02] I think that's what's kind of really great about having personal time with

[00:07:08] people that's private is it really opens the door for the deeper heart stuff

[00:07:13] that God wants to do?

[00:07:15] Where maybe they wouldn't open up in a church setting and an altar call or

[00:07:19] have it, you know, it's a very safe space.

[00:07:22] And I think that God has used that in a way for people to be able to

[00:07:29] really, yeah, just kind of let it all out.

[00:07:31] So.

[00:07:34] Nicole, let's fast forward a little bit to kind of your current day to day.

[00:07:39] Would you give just a one minute might be tough, but could you give

[00:07:44] a really quick synopsis of kind of where God's brought you to now?

[00:07:50] Yeah, sure.

[00:07:52] So I think the very areas where I felt the weakest is the very areas that

[00:07:56] God has been made strong in my life.

[00:08:00] So the biggest heartache of my life is my son who is, you know, non-verbal,

[00:08:08] but yet God allowed me to tap into the spirit and communicate with

[00:08:15] Holy Spirit and it allows me to communicate with my son.

[00:08:18] So we've grown, he's grown, you know, and then God's taken me to help

[00:08:23] other people throughout the entire state of Connecticut.

[00:08:25] So he's expanded the territory in what he's entrusted to me, which is incredible.

[00:08:31] I mean, that's just that's nuts to me.

[00:08:34] So yeah.

[00:08:36] Because you said you've joined the legislature.

[00:08:40] Yeah, well, I'm doing advocacy work, but so I'm part of a council.

[00:08:46] Yeah.

[00:08:46] So every state has governmental agencies that care for those with

[00:08:53] severe disabilities or intellectual disabilities.

[00:08:57] So like the Department of Developmental Disabilities.

[00:08:59] So yeah, I was appointed by the GOP minority leader in Connecticut to serve,

[00:09:10] to represent families throughout the state as a voice to oversee all the

[00:09:17] services they get from through that department.

[00:09:20] Yeah.

[00:09:21] So you know, God took a place that's been, you know, yeah.

[00:09:26] Yeah.

[00:09:27] So, so you know, we're dealing with stuff like abuse and neglect.

[00:09:30] Yeah.

[00:09:31] Yeah.

[00:09:32] Got it.

[00:09:33] Yeah.

[00:09:33] Like major stuff.

[00:09:36] You know, there's a lot of abuse and neglect with those that can't speak

[00:09:40] because, you know, so, so the Lord is giving me insight and how to provide

[00:09:47] like staffing solutions or training so that these individuals are getting

[00:09:53] a higher quality of care, which has been a real struggle.

[00:09:57] So yeah.

[00:09:59] Meanwhile, I'm praying for a miracle for my son to be healed of this and God's

[00:10:03] like, I'm going to use you in and through this.

[00:10:06] Exactly.

[00:10:07] So, wow.

[00:10:08] Yeah.

[00:10:10] And did you say you've gotten the opportunity to share your faith in that

[00:10:13] sphere as well?

[00:10:16] Yeah.

[00:10:16] So, you know, this is another example of this yielded surrender.

[00:10:22] Usually when you go to the some of these hearings, so they had a we had a

[00:10:26] hearing for parents and family members to speak about their concerns and

[00:10:33] housing or, you know, employment opportunities and staffing supports

[00:10:40] in all these different areas.

[00:10:42] So most people write up something very formal and speak, you know, they're

[00:10:46] very prepared and the Lord was like, no, I want you to just speak off the cuff.

[00:10:51] And I'm like, oh, so I'm like, oh, we'll get another one of these.

[00:10:58] Yeah.

[00:10:58] Like I'm totally, uh, I have to have courage, you know?

[00:11:03] So I'm like, yeah.

[00:11:04] So I just it just starts coming out of my mouth.

[00:11:08] I just start talking about trauma.

[00:11:11] I start talking about the trauma that families are enduring by not being

[00:11:15] well supported.

[00:11:17] And, um, I didn't even know why I was talking about this.

[00:11:20] And so I ended up getting up to leave after I gave my testimony.

[00:11:27] And, um, I said, I said, did you know parents of those with severe autism?

[00:11:33] Um, research studies have showed that we have the same stress levels as

[00:11:38] combat soldiers.

[00:11:40] And so there's been some, some studies about PTSD and combat soldiers and,

[00:11:45] um, parents, um, trying to keep their children alive.

[00:11:50] So I shared about this.

[00:11:51] I get up to leave the, um, the hearing room and one of the mothers grabbed

[00:11:57] my hand and said, can I talk to you?

[00:12:00] And I said, sure.

[00:12:00] So I'm standing outside the door and, you know, we've got the commissioner

[00:12:05] and all of the, you know, all these people that are at the head of all

[00:12:09] these departments and they're all sitting so they can see me.

[00:12:13] And this woman says to me, when you said that she goes, I just, nobody's

[00:12:19] ever talked about it.

[00:12:20] She, and then she started crying.

[00:12:22] Yeah.

[00:12:23] And I said to her, can I pray with you?

[00:12:25] I said, because you're an Esther.

[00:12:28] She goes, oh my gosh, I'm a Christian.

[00:12:30] She goes, and I've been asking the Lord and she just lost it.

[00:12:33] So I'm holding her outside this hearing room and she's weeping and

[00:12:40] I'm praying with her.

[00:12:40] I'm holding her hands.

[00:12:41] I'm just praying.

[00:12:42] And all these people are witnessing this that are inside the room

[00:12:46] because I'm right at the doorway.

[00:12:48] And then a couple of days later, I got a phone call from my state rep.

[00:12:52] And he said, did you hear all the testimonies after you spoke?

[00:12:56] I said, no, he goes, everybody got up and thanked you for what you

[00:13:00] said, because they have never been able to talk about it.

[00:13:04] He goes, it was so like, um, it's shifted the whole room.

[00:13:10] Yeah.

[00:13:11] And I was like, wow, are you kidding me?

[00:13:13] So me trusting in God instead of having something prepared and just

[00:13:19] totally doing what he said.

[00:13:21] Cause after I spoke, I was like, that wasn't very good.

[00:13:24] I was like, that wasn't very like eloquent or profound.

[00:13:28] So, okay, Lord, whatever.

[00:13:30] Um, but yeah, God used it.

[00:13:32] So it's pretty incredible.

[00:13:36] Wow.

[00:13:37] That's so cool.

[00:13:37] And I mean, yeah, just the testimony of like the hardest thing has been, God

[00:13:43] has just turned that into something good where you're helping other families

[00:13:48] in really significant ways.

[00:13:50] I mean, yeah, just within government and the law, it's like there's

[00:13:55] so much good that needs to be done and can be done.

[00:13:59] So yeah, good for you for stepping into that.

[00:14:03] No, thanks.

[00:14:04] It's, yeah, it's such a privilege, you know, it really is.

[00:14:10] All right.

[00:14:10] I know we're getting, we're nearing the end of our time.

[00:14:12] Nicole, are there any other stories that have come to mind as we've

[00:14:16] been chatting that, um, that the Lord's kind of brought to mind that

[00:14:21] that might be good for our listeners?

[00:14:23] Hmm.

[00:14:26] Yeah, I mean, well, I could just tell you this, this is just like the Lord.

[00:14:31] Um, I like to do a hobby.

[00:14:33] I like to restore furniture.

[00:14:35] Um, so a few years ago I was in my garage and my garage doors were open.

[00:14:41] Um, and I used to call it open doors furniture.

[00:14:44] So I would restore furniture and it was sort of like I could worship God

[00:14:47] while I was painting and, you know, kind of escape from, um,

[00:14:51] escape from parenting for an hour or two and have this outlet.

[00:14:55] So we live in a neighborhood, you know, there's a lot of nice people and they

[00:15:00] walk, you know, so there were these people that we knew that were walking

[00:15:04] and they end up stopping and talking to me a lot if we're outside or whatever.

[00:15:09] And just like in that moment, there was this one couple that stopped by

[00:15:13] I'm restoring furniture and my brother was helping me with, um, carpentry.

[00:15:18] And a lot of times we'll do ministry stuff together.

[00:15:21] It's just the way the Lord has set it up or like a team.

[00:15:24] So my brother had a word of knowledge for one of the guys and he's like, Hey,

[00:15:27] what's wrong with your ankle?

[00:15:28] How about I pray for you and you could see how the Lord really just heals you.

[00:15:32] And I kid you not, like these people did not know anything about the Lord.

[00:15:36] They didn't know him.

[00:15:37] They didn't have any like previous church experience, nothing.

[00:15:42] My brother prays for the guy is ankles healed.

[00:15:45] Ankle's healed and they start texting us.

[00:15:50] Hey, you know, uh, my husband was back to the gym.

[00:15:53] There's nothing wrong with his ankle.

[00:15:54] Like what the heck?

[00:15:55] Let's go.

[00:15:56] You know, so yeah, so we were able to kind of walk with those people in that

[00:16:01] season and it was just so random, but it's just like in the everyday, you

[00:16:06] know, the everyday stuff.

[00:16:08] It's like you've got to look for the opportunity.

[00:16:10] Like what's the Lord doing and who's coming around?

[00:16:14] Yeah.

[00:16:15] And he just brings them.

[00:16:17] Yeah.

[00:16:18] Yeah.

[00:16:18] Well, in the confidence of like, Hey, what's wrong with your ankle?

[00:16:21] Let me pray for it.

[00:16:21] God wants to heal you.

[00:16:23] It's like, no, weird.

[00:16:24] You're not like awkward.

[00:16:25] It's like, Oh, what's wrong with your ankle?

[00:16:27] Yeah.

[00:16:28] Well, it's like when Jesus, when Jesus, I tried to look back in the, in

[00:16:32] this Bible and say, okay, where do we see examples of word of knowledge?

[00:16:36] Cause I don't want to be like some fruit cake that's just going around,

[00:16:39] you know, doing this.

[00:16:41] Um, Jesus with the woman at the well.

[00:16:45] You know, he's like, I know you've had five dudes here and, uh, you know,

[00:16:51] sure guard went down and then we see she gets activated to be the first

[00:16:56] evangelist.

[00:16:57] So like the Lord touches her heart through a word of knowledge, heals her.

[00:17:01] And then she goes and tells everyone about Jesus.

[00:17:03] It's like personal, you know, personal ministry like this is where it's

[00:17:09] that.

[00:17:09] That's where the world is going to meet Jesus is the one on ones.

[00:17:13] So yes, that's so funny too with that story because she ran back into the town

[00:17:18] and she was like, I met a man that knew everything about my life, which

[00:17:22] is like word of knowledge.

[00:17:23] Right.

[00:17:24] And that was like her testimony was like, Oh God knows me.

[00:17:28] Yes.

[00:17:28] Exactly.

[00:17:29] Wild.

[00:17:30] It's so, it's so intimate.

[00:17:32] Yeah.

[00:17:37] Mm hmm.

[00:17:38] For sure.

[00:17:40] Well, yeah.

[00:17:42] Um, Nicole, it's been so much fun hearing your stories and, um, we want to

[00:17:47] wrap up our time by, um, hearing a little bit of advice that you may have

[00:17:52] for our listeners and specifically, um, a tangible kind of takeaway, maybe

[00:17:56] a challenge or something for our listeners to really buckle up and

[00:18:00] give something different.

[00:18:01] A try this week.

[00:18:03] What do you think?

[00:18:03] Mm hmm.

[00:18:05] I think go in your room and shut the door and spend a long time with him and

[00:18:12] worship him with all of your heart, like total reckless abandonment.

[00:18:16] Um, I think that.

[00:18:27] Are we frozen?

[00:18:29] Oh, we can still hear you.

[00:18:30] We can still see you.

[00:18:31] Oh, you can.

[00:18:31] Okay.

[00:18:32] Kind of inspired.

[00:18:33] Um, so that reckless abandonment of just being with Jesus so that we can end up

[00:18:39] yeah, smelling like him, being like him because without the time, we can't just

[00:18:48] be with Jesus.

[00:18:49] Everything else will flow from that place.

[00:18:51] Spend time with him.

[00:18:52] Seek his presence.

[00:18:54] Be present centered in your house because it doesn't matter if you're a

[00:18:57] mom that's busy.

[00:18:58] It doesn't matter if you're, you know, if you think that, oh, God

[00:19:02] can't use me because I don't have this platform.

[00:19:04] No, it doesn't matter because he wants to encounter you and, and, envelop you

[00:19:11] and invade your home and your life.

[00:19:14] And it's got to start from that place.

[00:19:16] So, so I would say close the door in your house, worship him, seek his

[00:19:21] presence and just want to be with him.

[00:19:24] That's it.

[00:19:27] So good foundational.

[00:19:29] What do you think that has to be at least two hours every morning?

[00:19:31] Right?

[00:19:32] Yeah.

[00:19:33] No, I mean, sometimes it's only five minutes and you're like, whoa, you know,

[00:19:38] I get more accomplished in my house, like with chores and things that the

[00:19:42] day-to-day stuff, if I've spent time in his presence, it's like I'm empowered

[00:19:47] for the whole day to like blow through this so quickly.

[00:19:50] So yeah, it's just a, it's just a present centered life.

[00:19:55] Take him and then you take him with you, take him with you to the

[00:19:58] grocery store or take him with you to your job.

[00:20:00] Yeah, you're just, that's really good.

[00:20:03] I just need you.

[00:20:04] Even if you have to go drive your kids around, you're like, oh, I'm just a

[00:20:07] taxi, use that time to talk to the Lord in the car.

[00:20:10] You know, it's just, it's good.

[00:20:14] It's encouraging because I think especially as a mom, it can be, it

[00:20:18] could be tiring when the kids are little and everybody wants something

[00:20:22] from you and you haven't slept.

[00:20:26] So yeah, it's a lifeline.

[00:20:29] That's a really good reminder that there, there really are a lot of

[00:20:32] opportunities.

[00:20:33] First thing in the morning, maybe it's just 10 minutes, setting that alarm.

[00:20:37] Well, maybe it's setting your alarm for starters rather than having the kids,

[00:20:40] you know, poke you to wake you up.

[00:20:43] But just 10 minutes earlier, taking a little bit of time to connect with God.

[00:20:48] And then I love that you said that taking him with you, taking him

[00:20:51] with you throughout your day, because guess what?

[00:20:52] He's there.

[00:20:53] But if you aren't acknowledging him in your mind, it's going to be

[00:20:56] really hard to allow Holy Spirit to work through you if you're not

[00:21:02] acknowledging his presence.

[00:21:05] Thank you for listening to the Ask But My Faith podcast.

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[00:21:20] God bless you this week as you go out and share your faith.