1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,560
Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast where our mission is to encourage and highlight God's

2
00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:16,920
Goodness and modern-day miracles. We are your hosts, Josh and Shelley Hankins. Today we have

3
00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:23,160
with us a special guest. You will know her from TikTok and I was introduced to her by one of

4
00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:29,280
our previous guests, author of 10 Things I Hate About My Husband, Shayla Huber. And Shelby and

5
00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:34,360
I finally got connected and got her scheduled and I'm so excited to have her share with the Holy

6
00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:39,800
Spirit letter to share. And so I'll have her tell you a little bit about her and the Holy

7
00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:46,680
Spirit will guide that. And we'll have her open us up with an opening prayer. Dear Heavenly Father,

8
00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:53,360
thank you endlessly for your goodness and giving us so much to glorify you in. I thank you for

9
00:00:53,360 --> 00:01:01,000
organizing and orchestrating so far beyond our ability to understand these ways of connection

10
00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:04,880
among the body of Christ so that we can come together to further strengthen and encourage

11
00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:10,840
other followers of Christ, those who are interested in you and just be able to glorify all the things

12
00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:16,400
that you have done in our lives. I pray as always Lord that you would lead my heart, my tongue,

13
00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:22,320
my spirit to say only things that glorify you while on this podcast, this blessing of an

14
00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:27,440
opportunity you've given Lord. And I just pray that as others listen that your spirit and them

15
00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:34,400
would be emboldened and encouraged to do good works and go on and have their own faith strengthened

16
00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:41,560
by your goodness that you've poured out in my life. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. So

17
00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:47,680
Shelby shares a lot of Christian content out there. So you would be blessed to follow her and

18
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:59,600
I'll let her tell you more. Yeah, absolutely. So I am on all the socials under 48 faith and farms.

19
00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:04,200
Maybe we can throw that in the show notes or something, but I always laugh at this point now

20
00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:09,240
that the platform is grown, that God protected me from having my personal name out there to

21
00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,920
so many people. I know there's many, many who have, you know, large platforms and their names

22
00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:18,720
are out there. I have no doubt God has protection for them, but I do make the joke that not that

23
00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:24,960
many people know my name or they think my name is faith because faith is in my handle. And so

24
00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:31,600
that's where you'll find me on all the social media is and it is funny. And it was actually

25
00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:40,240
the Lord put on my heart for years to speak on behalf of what I was learning in his word and

26
00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:47,280
the work of what he was doing in my life. And it was so funny that I was kind of like Jonah

27
00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:53,120
running into the belly of the whale instead, knowing what he was asking me to do, but coming up

28
00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:58,960
with every other thing to keep my hands busy instead of what he was asking. And it was actually

29
00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:06,640
the first TikTok that I ever made about Jesus. It's edited horribly. I'm chewing bubblegum

30
00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:12,960
through the whole thing because that is TikTok 101. Don't talk to the screen while you're yapping your

31
00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:18,640
mouth back and forth, but I knew nothing. I barely knew how to make a video on TikTok,

32
00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:25,120
but I had a message to share about the way God was moving in my heart and the fruit of his spirit

33
00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:32,720
in my life. And it still today is my biggest video. And from there, just kind of launched and

34
00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:39,040
confirmed what he had been calling and asking for me to do for a really long time. And that's

35
00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:45,280
brought us to where we are today, which looks completely different than only a year ago,

36
00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:50,720
but that's on God's goodness. Yeah, it's amazing how he can expedite things.

37
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,320
Right. Yeah, he has my day to day looking completely and utterly different than it did

38
00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:03,440
only one year ago. And yeah, only him, only he could do such a thing. So tell us about how things

39
00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:11,920
changed. Absolutely. So as the platform began to grow and I began to just really step into

40
00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:17,520
the gifts that the Lord had given me, they were gifts that I had actually been using for 10 years

41
00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:24,640
in the corporate world. I worked in a for a large organization in a place called learning and talent

42
00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:31,120
development in terms of kind of the industry that I was in. And it was all about teaching people.

43
00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:36,240
So I was able to use the gifts of communication and teaching that he's granted me with and

44
00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:44,240
hone those. I was honing them in more of a worldly business fashion, but I was still honing them.

45
00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:49,680
Like what draws people in? How can you use storytelling to help people learn? How can

46
00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:55,840
you keep people engaged and excited to learn? And how can you help them apply what they've learned?

47
00:04:55,840 --> 00:05:05,120
And so I remember it was the beginning of 2023. And as the platform was growing,

48
00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:10,960
as I was able to share with more women, and I was just feeling so boldly that this was this

49
00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:16,480
was it. I didn't know what it looked like, but I could tell this was the direction he's asking me

50
00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:24,480
to go. It was so heavy laid on my heart to step out of that corporate career, which made no sense

51
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:32,320
to the world at all. I was doing incredibly well. I was set to take on the director position

52
00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:38,480
in years following. You know, I was getting suited up for that. And I loved what I did. And I loved

53
00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:43,920
who I worked with and the company I worked for. But it's one of those Holy Spirit things when

54
00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:49,840
you know, you know, and it doesn't have to make sense to everyone else. Right. And so

55
00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:59,520
I felt him calling me out of that. And we had been so blessed that only a few months before I left

56
00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:05,360
that corporate career put in my notice, we had just purchased a little bit of land and an old

57
00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:11,760
farmhouse. And we really had this dream of being a little bit more self sufficient and connecting

58
00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:18,960
with the Lord through our ability to steward our land really well. And we had this, you know,

59
00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:23,840
dream that we were, you know, we were going to be at farmers market selling duck and chicken eggs

60
00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:29,920
and produce from our garden and just steward what he'd given us and be part of the community in that

61
00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:36,640
way. But I told my husband, you know, I think that's a I love that dream. That's amazing. But

62
00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:43,200
as we were sitting there at the beginning of 2023, are all of our baby and all of our chickens and

63
00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:49,600
ducks are babies, not yet laying eggs. And it's, you know, in Indiana in the middle of February,

64
00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:56,640
it's definitely not garden season for most. So I was like, you know, I have always made sourdough

65
00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:02,400
for my family. I got really into it in 2020 when we were all home. It's a whole science.

66
00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:09,120
I had been making it for my family for years at that point. And I said, maybe, you know,

67
00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:14,320
I've already been gifting family and friends or I had some family and friends very casually would

68
00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,880
buy a loaf from me here and there. I was like, maybe we just start selling some sourdough,

69
00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:24,800
put our name on the map, get our name out there for this homestead we're creating. And then when

70
00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:29,760
it is time to garden and the chickens and ducks start laying eggs and all that good stuff, we'll

71
00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:37,520
already have some like partnerships or friends in this space. And once again, I was just headed in

72
00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:43,520
the direction that God led and the sourdough business blew up. So that that is God's goodness,

73
00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:52,080
number 80,000 of the millions that he's had in my life. But that's the first way in this like

74
00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:58,400
larger trajectory of his goodness in my life that he really showed himself was not only in

75
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:05,040
impressing and upon me for all those years to speak about and use my gifts for his glory,

76
00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:12,000
not for the glory of some company that sells medical products. But and he confirmed it

77
00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:18,160
through the platform that he so steadily built without me having to do much. But I do what he

78
00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:24,640
asked. And then when we were wondering how in the world we were going to make ends meet, since I

79
00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:30,160
was not only kind of the breadwinner, no pun intended at that point. But also we have that would

80
00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:35,520
just it was saying goodbye to a very good salary and just a salary you could count on from a

81
00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:43,360
worldly perspective to then start making bread and just there it seemed that the the sea was parted

82
00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:50,400
and everyone suddenly loves sourdough. And I got on that train before it became the coolest thing.

83
00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:56,400
And to just watch that grow into what it has been today, which I would love to talk about,

84
00:08:56,400 --> 00:09:05,280
but just to see how successful it was, it just had got all over it. So then I let's see that

85
00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:10,800
would have been only a few months later. So I'm baking out of my home, we're going to farmers

86
00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:16,800
markets, we start having farmers markets local to us, who are asking for us to come sell sourdough.

87
00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:23,920
So we're doing that. But it's a lot inside our tiny 1950s farmhouse. You could only make two loaves

88
00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:30,800
of sourdough at a time. We have our oven oven went out halfway through the summer last year.

89
00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:35,760
And we thankfully had the means to to get it replaced. Well, we were very thankful we thought

90
00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:40,480
the whole oven went, but it was just a part of the oven that we could afford because we could not

91
00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:47,600
afford an oven. But it was such a blessing to be home with my kids. I had I have three boys,

92
00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:53,200
two of them I was working corporate mama for much of their early, early days. And for my youngest son,

93
00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:59,040
who's now two and a half, I was able to be home with him primarily for his early, early days.

94
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:06,320
And yes, which glory to God once again, right, even in what feels like those small details of

95
00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:12,320
the fact that while all this was happening, I was home, stewarding those early the earliest

96
00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:18,880
days and years of my youngest son's life was such a blessing and grew me more in my faith and to be

97
00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:28,640
closer to the Lord and know his character than ever before. And then I kind of felt the stirring

98
00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:35,360
in the call that as this platform grew for me sharing the testimony of the Lord in my life,

99
00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:41,600
and I would be in my studies and something would be revealed to me in his word that I didn't know

100
00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:48,000
before and I'd be so excited. I would go tell my social media friends and sisters in Christ.

101
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:58,160
And it just became there was this kind of knocking to create a space where women of the Lord could

102
00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:04,720
actually come around his word together and learn together, strengthen one another together,

103
00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:11,040
encourage one another together, pray together because although TikTok and social media platforms

104
00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:15,920
have been such a big blessing and I do think although there's plenty of negative that come

105
00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:22,320
with them, there's the positive of truly reaching the ends of the earth, there's also this superficialness

106
00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,960
to it all, right? You don't know people by name. You don't get to look at them while you're speaking

107
00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:32,560
to them. You don't know when they comment something on one of your posts, you have no idea what they

108
00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:40,080
are walking through right now. And so I just felt this stirring, this call to use the platform he'd

109
00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:46,720
given me to also create a ministry of women, a space for women who were interested, who could

110
00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:53,280
actually use the internet and the blessings that it does come with to connect with one another and

111
00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:58,640
get to know one another more and actually come around the word of God together. So instead of

112
00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:06,880
it being a one-minute fun teaching video that we would actually have a weekly cadence where we are

113
00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:13,200
studying chapter by chapter verse by verse, we are sharing where we're at in life, we're sharing what's

114
00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:19,920
touching our hearts that day. And so that's what then led me to create how to hunger ministries,

115
00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:27,120
which is that little slice of the earth that the Lord has given me to steward that has about,

116
00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:36,400
let's see, I think about 850 women now who come together a couple times a week to just, you know,

117
00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:42,480
glorify the Lord, get to know one another, biblically strengthen and sharpen one another,

118
00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:48,080
and then just get excited about the word of God. So how does it work? Is it like a Zoom call or

119
00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:53,280
how do you get together? Sure, yeah. So it's just a private Facebook group that anyone can join.

120
00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:58,560
And if anyone is listening to this and finds any of my socials, you should find all those links

121
00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:04,080
there too. Yeah, we'll put those out. Sure. The Facebook page is just a private Facebook page is

122
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:09,680
completely open to anyone. It's private only because we do want to make sure that women

123
00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:16,400
are intentional about joining and that it's women. So it is private for that reason. But then we get

124
00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:22,720
together twice a week. Yes. On a Zoom call and right there on a Facebook live on the page. So I

125
00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:28,480
go live in both places. Some women prefer just to watch from the Facebook live and comment and

126
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,440
stay engaged. Other women actually want to join the Zoom call. Look at each other. They want to

127
00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:39,520
unmute and speak and it's really open for either one of those forums. But Zoom and Facebook live

128
00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:49,600
is how we do those things. Yes. I love it. Yeah. And then I also did start a Patreon and the Patreon

129
00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:56,880
is the membership for the ministry. And that just helps support the time it takes to run a ministry

130
00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:02,400
and also has a lot of additional perks like a recorded video of every single teaching we've

131
00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:08,160
ever done. My notes for every single teaching we've ever had. Those kind of things are on there to

132
00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:13,680
support the ministry as well. But all this time what was happening is these two things were ramping

133
00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:21,120
up. My sourdough business, my family sourdough business was getting more and more successful.

134
00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:26,240
We were at markets. We're doing private orders. We were meeting a lot of people businesses that

135
00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:31,680
were interested in also having sourdough in their businesses. You know maybe they ran a restaurant

136
00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:38,960
or something like that. But then we also had this ministry growing. And as we were kind of

137
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:44,640
launching the ministry and the first study that we did was a study of Genesis, the first book of

138
00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:51,920
the Bible. I started to take the copious detailed notes and recordings for every single chapter

139
00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:59,280
and started to turn them into a study guide. Nice. Yeah. And so it was just a way to further

140
00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:03,840
reach the ends of the earth with the work the Lord had already stewarded to be done. So if you're

141
00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:10,400
going to take 10 pages of notes on Genesis chapter one, why not turn those into something consumable

142
00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:16,000
that anyone could read Genesis chapter one and then take a look at those notes. So both of those

143
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:22,000
things were happening. Both of those things were growing, keeping me plenty busy. But then I had

144
00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:29,920
a really tough decision to make because one of my dear friends who was also in the baking business,

145
00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:35,360
she doesn't bake bread. She bakes cookies, but she was really interested and at a point in her

146
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:40,480
career in her life where she wanted to have a bakery. So she was wanting to get out of her

147
00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:46,240
house, quit, you know, taking up her kitchen. She wanted efficiency. She wanted a storefront.

148
00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:52,160
And those desires were very heavy in my heart as well. I love baking. I love what I do. And I was

149
00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:59,520
pretty tired of having a kitchen that never felt like mine. And anyone who's listening who may

150
00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:04,080
have ever dabbled in sourdough, even if you just tried one loaf and it didn't work out and you said

151
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:09,280
forget this, you likely remember how messy it is. So just picture that at a mass scale in a small

152
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:16,400
kitchen all the time. And so these desires did lay heavy on my heart. I wanted a storefront. I wanted

153
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:23,680
to get out of my own kitchen. I wanted the commercial efficiency of having an actual commercial

154
00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:30,240
kitchen. I wanted all those things too. But at that point, I spent weeks and weeks in prayer. And

155
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:36,320
honestly, just being still and waiting for the Lord to move, I refused to make a decision until I

156
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:42,960
felt like he moved somehow. And that took weeks of just feeling like nothing, feeling like he

157
00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:49,360
wasn't answering. And but I made the sense that like the word says, be still and know. And that

158
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:54,640
feels like that's what you were doing. Exactly. And another one of my favorite scriptures is

159
00:16:54,640 --> 00:17:00,160
but seek first the kingdom of God and the rest will be added unto you and Matthew 6 33. Yes.

160
00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:05,280
That's one of the verses I live my entire life by because I think that if anyone's looking human,

161
00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:10,640
so often look for the calculation of what they're supposed to do to get it right. What does God

162
00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:15,680
want me to do? What is my life going to look like? What is God's call on my life? What pleases God?

163
00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:20,640
All these things they want this quantifiable black and white. What does God look like? And what am

164
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:26,480
I supposed to do? And I feel like that is the equation is if you are getting busy seeking the

165
00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:32,160
kingdom of God, then you will just let the rest be added unto you and you don't have to worry about

166
00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:38,960
it. And so exactly I spent weeks and weeks between this decision of going for the bakery,

167
00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:44,560
knowing there were so many areas of my life that wouldn't be ready for the bakery, but that it was

168
00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:51,600
a heavy desire of my heart or I had this ministry that was in its infancy. It had only been going

169
00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:57,920
for a couple months. We probably had, I don't know, 50 women at that point in time. We were

170
00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:07,040
deep in our studies on Genesis. I had just had the Lord kind of confirm and give me the idea of

171
00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:16,080
doing the study journal out as a fruit of these week by week studies. And I just knew so confidently

172
00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:25,760
that at that moment, the ministry, the studies, getting it off the ground, creating a solid group

173
00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:33,040
of women coming around the Word of God, working on that study journal as much as it hurts. I knew

174
00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:40,800
that was where he was asking me to be. And so I had to tell my friend to know that I'm not

175
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:47,200
in a place right now where I can say yes to looking into owning a bakery.

176
00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,800
That had to have hurt a little bit. Like, oh, I can't do it right now.

177
00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:58,800
It did. It did. There were some white knuckles, some clenched fists, some tears, because in my

178
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:05,440
humanness, I also thought God was telling me just no. I thought that the Lord was telling me that I

179
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:12,960
needed to sacrifice this bakery dream for the sake of the gospel. I just said, and then I was thinking,

180
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:24,240
you step down from a paid position of known salary a year, a known comfort level to start a bakery,

181
00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:32,000
and then you still question whether this is what God wanted you to do. And that's so human of us

182
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:38,480
to believe that we received something from the Lord and then question it as we're doing it.

183
00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:44,640
As if his desire is to say, yes, I want to lead you out so I can pull the rug out from underneath

184
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:51,200
you, sucker. Like, it's never been his heart. That's just how broken we are from the world,

185
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:55,760
from the attacks of the enemy that we have a hard time trusting our Father even

186
00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,680
when things don't go in a way that we can see clearly.

187
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:07,520
Absolutely. And I remember in Scripture, I used to get kind of annoyed because I thought God

188
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:13,920
repeated himself too much. I would think, yeah, you just said that. Or why are you saying that

189
00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:19,600
multiple times? Or he would say, remember me, remember when I delivered you from the land of

190
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:27,200
Egypt and from slavery? Remember when I provided manna from you? Remember when I covered you for,

191
00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:31,200
you know, for a shade during the day and warmth in the night? And I'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah,

192
00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:36,400
Lord, like we've read all of this. Why are you making like all of your prophets are saying this

193
00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:40,720
again and again and again? And it's because if we're if we humble ourselves before the Lord,

194
00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:48,480
we realize how often we needed reminded how often he will confirm something and tell us to go a

195
00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:52,480
certain way. And a couple weeks down the road, we're doing the thing and we're like, wait a minute,

196
00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:59,280
was that really God? Did he really say that? Or we just forget in our actions. Sometimes I find

197
00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:04,320
in the actions that I'm doing that I must have forgotten who God is and what he's promised and

198
00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:10,480
what he's led me to do. Because the way I'm acting doesn't confirm the promise that he made, right?

199
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:15,120
So it's not even always my second guessing in my thoughts. But sometimes it can also be in what

200
00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:21,360
I'm doing, the actions of myself aren't glorifying to what he's called me.

201
00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:29,360
Another question after you left your your position and quite literally decided to risk it for the

202
00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:39,040
biscuit. I love it. And you were struggling with that and your ministry. Did you ever turn to a

203
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:45,280
point where while you're in your ministry, that the business and all the hardships and all the

204
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:51,440
questions and things, all the joy and whatnot directly correlated to the ministry in some way?

205
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,440
Like did you learn something from the business that helped you in that ministry?

206
00:21:55,440 --> 00:22:13,680
I think wholeheartedly. So I would say the biggest thing that helped the ministry alongside

207
00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:21,600
I was an infant and leaving a corporate career and being a stay at home mom making bread who

208
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:27,200
didn't necessarily know how the bills were going to be made. Like, you know, and I had worked that

209
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:34,400
corporate career from 19 years old to 29 years old. So I knew absolutely nothing else. And so the idea

210
00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:41,760
of going through those milestones, really feeling like not to compare myself to Abraham, but to

211
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:46,400
think about the storyline of him just kind of being told to leave everything he knows and just go

212
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:52,000
doing that at the same time as starting the ministry, I think really centered the ministry

213
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:58,480
around exactly what the Lord's purpose was. And that was for there to be no aesthetic for it to

214
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:06,000
be a place of vulnerability where all in all stages of faith and life can come. Because to call

215
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:12,240
myself a leader only because he's given me the platform to do word women around the word of

216
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:18,480
God. If I use the word leader, that's simply what I mean is the opportunity to do word. The women

217
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:24,240
who are part of the ministry, what I learned from the business side of things is they got to watch

218
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:33,040
a leader who had to who just had to exercise just complete faith in the Lord. They got to see me

219
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:43,600
not sure how we were going to make a mortgage payment. They got to see me have questions of

220
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:50,560
faith in terms of am I really supposed to be doing this? This is so hard. They got to walk with me

221
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:58,720
through the highs of exciting times and the lows of like David in the Psalms. Where are you, Lord?

222
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:05,600
Is this really worth it? And I think there was like there's such a strong sense of sisterhood

223
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:12,800
in the ministry around being humble and faithful. It wasn't like there's some chick who started a

224
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:21,440
ministry and she has it all together. Right. What has that ever happened? And all this or even has

225
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:26,720
it all together or makes it seem like she does, right? It's not even a ministry that's based on

226
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:35,040
this person just really is successful and is now starting this thing. And I want to go be a part

227
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:41,360
of it. It's like, no, this person is just stepping out in blind faith and knows that the Lord has

228
00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:47,760
called her. And so she has her arms out and she's taken his hand and she can't see anything else,

229
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:53,360
but she's just going with him. And the ministry got to ride on the coattails of that and actually

230
00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:59,440
see it play out in real time. And so there have been many, many lessons along the way. But one of

231
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:05,840
the biggest is I think, like I say, is the seeking first of the kingdom of God. There were so many

232
00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:12,560
business challenges where he taught me that I just had to trust and seek him and it would play out.

233
00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:18,480
And the ministry got to watch that happen and exercise it in their own lives. And there are

234
00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:23,440
so many testimonies that aren't mine to share, but that are beautiful from the ministry in that

235
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:28,880
exact way. We have women in the ministry who started as just not just, I don't say it lightly,

236
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:34,080
but they were stay at home moms who joined this because they're really struggling with getting

237
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:38,320
into the word daily. And they think this would be a great thing to help them out. And now they're

238
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:43,360
leading women's conferences at their local church. It's amazing. I love it. I love how you guys can

239
00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:49,280
grow together, be authentic, and then just learn from one another in that community. It's pretty

240
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:58,880
cool. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And so I knew that I was turning down the bakery gig. But yes,

241
00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:05,280
to your point, Josh, it was like in my head, I thought the Lord had changed his mind. In my head,

242
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:12,560
I thought he's wanting me to sacrifice this next step of the bakery, this taking this side of things

243
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:20,080
further because he wants my time and my effort in this ministry. And I think because we love the

244
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:26,480
Lord, we're willing to sacrifice. So there is a willingness. It's just not his heart and his

245
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:33,680
purpose for you. And so the coolest thing about it all, just to bring some of like all of these

246
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:39,600
interwoven stories of his goodness to a head, is I say no to her. We're still wonderful friends.

247
00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:44,800
We still see each other at like little mini market type things because I do still keep baking bread,

248
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:50,800
but I do focus my energy on the ministry at that time. And I had such peace about the decision.

249
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:57,440
And that's another way I often know that the direction is from the Lord because of the feeling

250
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:03,360
of peace or lack of peace. So even though I did feel like I was sacrificing something and having

251
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:10,240
to say no to what I desired to be able to continue getting the ministry off the ground,

252
00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:18,880
I also had so much peace about the decision. So I knew that I was in line with what he was asking.

253
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:24,400
But the coolest thing about it all is there was so many ups and downs, we would have to have a

254
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:32,000
podcast that was 20 hours long to go through it all. But it was nine months. So it from the time

255
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:39,200
that I had told my friend no to the testimony period that I'm about to share. It was nine months.

256
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,440
It's getting really good people. Tune in. This is awesome.

257
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:50,560
Teaching weekly for the ministry, nine months of writing the Bible study journal,

258
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,720
nine months of baking a few, you're baking some stuff every week, but nine months.

259
00:27:55,360 --> 00:28:00,880
And it was the same week that I released the Bible study journal. So we had finished the

260
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:08,960
50 chapters of Genesis. I had edited all of the study journal pages. I had uploaded them to Amazon.

261
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:14,880
I went through all the things you have to go through to publish a book and we published it.

262
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:21,520
It was the exact same week that we were excited. The ministry's celebrating some of them. You know,

263
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:25,600
my followers are celebrating, my family celebrating, my friends are celebrating.

264
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:30,320
We released the study journal. It felt like a major milestone in the life of the ministry.

265
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:41,360
That exact same baker friend and says, Hey, I found a bakery. We actually already like this.

266
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:47,680
I'm just telling you this. I found a bakery. We signed the lease. We have been gutting it all summer

267
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:55,920
long. It's brand new. It's repainted new cases, new shelves, brand new bakery equipment.

268
00:28:55,920 --> 00:29:01,520
Everything is locked and loaded. It is turnkey. It is ready. But we need a bread girl.

269
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:08,240
Would you be interested in walking into this bakery and just baking your bread here?

270
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:14,640
You don't have to work any extra hours. You don't have to suddenly sign on to a whole bunch of

271
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:20,320
extra payments or at least you don't have to do any of those things. But would you be willing to

272
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:25,920
maybe consider doing your baking in this commercial kitchen and help stock the bakery too?

273
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:36,160
So cool. You're like, I love how you likened your adventure to Abraham where he just said, Hey,

274
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:42,080
it's time to move on. And you did. And you failed to mention how your life was like Abraham and

275
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:47,840
in that you sacrificed something or thought you had to sacrifice something that you dearly loved

276
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:52,960
that you really wanted that you really cherished and he stopped you before you could.

277
00:29:54,560 --> 00:30:02,400
Yeah, right. Just like in the story of Isaac exactly this whole time he like Abraham didn't

278
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:08,320
miss a beat. He got up and he went to the mountain. But all the while thinking he was

279
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:14,640
sacrificing something. Yeah, he dearly loved the right before it felt like the sacrifice was kind

280
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:21,120
of final. He presented the ram, right? He presented there being another way. What a test of other

281
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:32,080
way to do this. Yep, he desires our obedience far beyond our sacrifice. Absolutely. And so now,

282
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:41,360
now all these months later now, I am a third bakery owner in my hometown. We are gearing up to line

283
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:47,120
our shelves with Bible study journals along with scones and biscuits and bread and cookies and cakes.

284
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:51,840
Awesome. Where it's been amazing to start to learn what it means to own a business in a small

285
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:59,520
community because you get to be a part of the community in a different way. It's not just a

286
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:05,840
community member but you're also a community servant. It's the the the bread of life and the

287
00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:12,560
bread of bellies at the same time. And so through that just continuing the ministry and having it

288
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:19,040
be grown to where it is and have it be more of a well oiled machine. Now there are a few women.

289
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:23,440
All the women in the ministry are wonderful. There's a few who have specifically stepped up to help

290
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:31,600
keep that well oiled machine going and growing. And now I spend these days at home with my family

291
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:36,480
just completely dedicated to them early mornings working on ministry stuff and then a couple early

292
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:44,000
mornings a week doing bakery stuff. But I'm now I really desired as the ministry grew digitally,

293
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:49,760
I had this desire that what about these women in my backyard? What about this community God?

294
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:54,720
What about this? What about the people I look in the eye when I see them at the grocery store?

295
00:31:54,720 --> 00:32:01,200
Do they know you? And the bakery has just offered this blossoming beautiful opportunity

296
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:08,080
to meet people exactly where they are and first share the gospel by loving them and

297
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:13,920
listening to them and getting to know them. And so he his goodness has just been all over

298
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:20,000
the way he's diversified my life and only a little over a year. Wow. I think it's really cool how

299
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:26,160
it was nine months. You know, that's how long it takes to bring a baby out, you know, create the

300
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:34,080
baby in the womb and then it gave birth to this, you know, after like you released the journal

301
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:40,960
and then you were celebrating that and then the bakery came to and that was just so neat.

302
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:47,040
Yeah, he's so amazing. And I think what he's teaching me right now what he really laid

303
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:53,200
on my heart to share on the podcast and to be honest, I felt like it wouldn't be quite understood

304
00:32:53,200 --> 00:33:00,320
unless there was a little bit of the testimony and context to go with it is we see it constantly

305
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:08,160
in scripture, humanity entering new seasons and having to choose God all over again.

306
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:17,040
And you see it with Abraham. He was called to leave everything he knew and you see that one

307
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:22,720
of the first places he's planted they experience a famine and he rushes to Egypt. We don't have

308
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:28,800
other context scripture to know if he prayed first or where he was out with that. But we know

309
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:34,560
that in his humanness he hurried to Egypt to defend for himself and God mercifully and lovingly

310
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:41,680
brought him back to say, Hey, I'm the one who called you out. I can provide for you. And so Abraham

311
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:47,520
created an altar and repented and and got back on track and you see throughout Abraham's life

312
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:53,680
him growing and being sanctified to choose God first and don't forget him through your travels

313
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,520
and through where he may take you. And then you see it again with the Israelites, right? Like

314
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:03,120
leaving Egypt. They chose God when God was saying, I'll deliver you out of this place. You don't have

315
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:08,480
to be a slave. I will miraculously deliver you from your enemies. They chose God. But then they

316
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:13,520
got into the wilderness and it looked far different than everything for generations that they had

317
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:17,520
been used to. They didn't know what they were going to drink, how they were going to eat, where

318
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:21,840
they were going to lay their head and he had to teach them once again how to choose him and trust

319
00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:28,800
him. And you see it in the promised land. And I was giggling about this actually with my pastor,

320
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:38,080
how Jesus tells Paul that his job is the Gentiles yet he still is so faithfully burdened by the

321
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:42,480
Jews that he still goes and preaches to the Jews too. And it just gets him in a bunch of trouble

322
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:47,760
because God's like, I said Gentiles, you're preaching to the people who persecuted me.

323
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:55,440
And that is what he's really led me to talk about on where I am today is there's a reason in

324
00:34:55,440 --> 00:35:03,840
scripture why God reminds humanity all the time, reminds us of who he is, reminds us of what he's

325
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:13,760
done, reminds us of who we are in him because we do forget. And this happened most often,

326
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:20,640
his reminders, when people were leaving a certain season of their lives or entering a new season.

327
00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:29,440
And that's where I'm at now is in only the past year and a half or so, my life has changed so much.

328
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:36,080
And I think season is kind of an overused Christian lingo thing. So I'll say, for the sake of

329
00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:40,480
understanding, when I say season, I just mean, what is your life look on a daily basis? Who do

330
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:46,160
you see every day? What are you doing every day? Though the seasons of my life have changed

331
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:52,400
through five times in the past year and a half, which is actually quite a lot when you're saying

332
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:57,680
that the people you see every day, the things you do every day have changed five times in that

333
00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:04,080
short of a period. And in every single one, I have to be further sanctified because as my schedule

334
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:12,960
changes, as the people I talk to every day change, I often learn the hard way that I have to intentionally

335
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:20,080
choose God. That's the only way I learn. If I'm getting it wrong, that makes me feel better.

336
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,920
You are not alone. His ears are bricked up. He's like, yeah, that's me.

337
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:29,680
If there's an easy way and I can see it's the easy way, I will still take the hard way.

338
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:37,200
Right? It's like there's almost a knowing, but you just do it anyway until he had until

339
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:42,160
you're brought back on your knees or something. It's kind of like he said he tells us we're like

340
00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:47,680
this, but that's exactly it is when I was mostly doing ministry and baking at my house, I got into

341
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:51,760
this really beautiful groove of these were the hours I spent with the Lord every morning and

342
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,280
these were the hours I'm baking and these are the hours I'm doing ministry. And of course,

343
00:36:55,280 --> 00:37:01,760
there's an ebb and flow. It wasn't some black and white by the minute schedule, but I got into a

344
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:07,360
really beautiful kind of little melody with the Lord there. And then this beautiful testimony of

345
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:14,080
the bakery being dropped in my lap happens the same week I released the journal and his goodness

346
00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:20,640
is all over it. His providence is all over it. But now what I found is I started getting in the

347
00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:25,680
groove of this bakery and my hours changing and I found that I wasn't in the word near as much.

348
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:32,720
I wasn't feeding my spirit near as much. I was listening to political podcast more than I was

349
00:37:32,720 --> 00:37:41,360
tuning into the Lord while I was baking. It was just one little thing at a time eroding the

350
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:48,000
strength of his spirit and me. And so over the past couple months, as I get as I enter this new

351
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:57,120
season and I figure it out a little bit, that's my kind of where I'm at and my call to speak on

352
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:06,480
is in what ways is God calling you to remember him in whatever you're doing. And so I've had to

353
00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:14,160
choose through doing it wrong and getting it wrong a few thousand times and doing the wrong

354
00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:21,040
thing. He's brought me back to remembering and being able to find that really sweet melody with

355
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:28,000
him again in where he has me today. How silly we are too thinking that he can't sort it back out.

356
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:34,960
I know. I just fail your Lord. Take away the bakery. I've screwed it up. We're like kids on

357
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:39,120
those little strings where they like rope them up to the other kids in a line but we get free

358
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:42,880
and it's just so gentle with us to give us back in line with the other kids. You know, like no,

359
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:49,120
no, it's okay. And we're beating ourselves up and he's already forgiven us. I know. I know. And

360
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:55,120
it's so often it makes me almost teary eyed when I think about it because so often the way the

361
00:38:55,120 --> 00:39:00,320
one of the reasons were this way is we do not know how to be loved the way Christ loves us. We

362
00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:06,800
don't know how. How can we receive a love that we cannot even fathom? How can we receive a love

363
00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:14,320
of where there is no condemnation and you aren't disappointed in me and you are simply waiting

364
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:19,360
with arms wide open for me to turn around no matter how much I stray knowingly or unknowingly,

365
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:24,480
you know, and it's like how do you receive something like that when many of us have hardly

366
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:32,720
even tasted a drop of it from the world? Truth. Yeah, he has expressed to me many an occasion

367
00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:39,440
that he doesn't blame me that it's not my fault, right? Not the sin that I actively engage in,

368
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:46,000
not the purposeful problems, but the things that made me me to this point, the things that I developed

369
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:50,880
as a child with the way I was raised by my parents, the way I was influenced by my friends,

370
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:57,280
all the things that made me me before I knew him, he doesn't blame me for because he knows I was in

371
00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:07,120
the world. He knows I was of the world and he just wants me now. Absolutely, absolutely. And I am

372
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:12,400
that's something I didn't really mention. It's a huge piece of where I'm at today, but I lost my

373
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:18,320
father a couple months ago. I'm sorry to hear that so much. Oh, thank you. I really appreciate that.

374
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:25,840
But I only say that because talk about getting to know the love of your true father when you're

375
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:33,440
walking through what it means to in this life say goodbye to the only one you've known as a human.

376
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:41,520
And to your point, want to only say things that honor my father, my human father, but

377
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:47,840
so much of what we learn is what we have received, right? And so I remember walking through even

378
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:53,520
a situation I have today in my life. And I remember finally just asking the Lord,

379
00:40:53,520 --> 00:41:00,160
how do I love this person, Lord? How? Look at what they're saying. Look at what they're doing.

380
00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:06,480
Look at their intentions. How do I love this person? I was at my wit's end trying to just do

381
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:12,960
the right thing and be nice. I said how? And I remember he spoke so clearly. And I always know

382
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:18,480
it's him because it's like he says things I would never say. And sometimes they even have to Google

383
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:22,160
or go into scripture to find the words that he used because I'm like, okay, I know you've said

384
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:26,080
that in scripture, but I don't know that. It was a definition of that. And he said to me,

385
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:32,640
you're never going to know how to love them like I do until you receive the love I have for you.

386
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:42,080
And it just completely opened my eyes to the idea that so much of what he wants us to do is to

387
00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:47,360
receive his love, which means seeking him. How can you receive a love of a him you don't know?

388
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:54,480
You'll uncover new pieces of parts of his love throughout your whole life long. But I finally

389
00:41:54,480 --> 00:42:01,520
realized that loving people was like this stronghold that I had on my life of really being able to

390
00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:07,120
love people. And he revealed to me that the way we do that is by first being loved, by first

391
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:13,360
allowing ourselves to be loved by him and receive that love. And yeah, it's written all over these

392
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:19,200
testimonies, isn't it? It is. And in his word, you know, if you do all these great things for

393
00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:26,320
Lord, but you have not love your bankrupt, right? God says this is it. This is the buck. This I

394
00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:31,680
am love. If you don't have love, you don't have me. Absolutely. Yeah, you don't have anything.

395
00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:41,600
Filthy rags, even the good stuff. Filthy rags. So good. I love how you got blessed by just

396
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:47,360
following him step by step. And he took you and held your hand the whole way. And he's like,

397
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:54,080
let's do it this way. And it just worked out so well. It's so cool how everything just fell

398
00:42:54,080 --> 00:43:01,600
into line and it kind of bloated into place. Yeah. And how in the end it was many early

399
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:10,400
mornings and late nights and prayers, but it was effortless in the way the journey happened.

400
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:16,640
And I feel like that's when you know it really was ordained by the Lord. It doesn't mean that you

401
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:23,200
aren't empowered by his spirit doing a lot. I think those who follow Christ work harder than most.

402
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:30,720
But you can tell the difference between striving and following his lead. And so

403
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:35,760
that's what's so beautiful because I know for a fact, if I would have chosen to bakery back when

404
00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:41,840
I wanted to, it would have been a whole lot of striving. A whole lot of messy, a whole lot of

405
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:48,960
loosens. And so it would have taken longer to get where you needed to. A thousand percent. And just

406
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:56,640
by following his lead, it all happened through hard work, of course. And this kind of effortless

407
00:43:57,280 --> 00:44:02,960
delivery of the things at the right time that he said that they were to come. So I love his timing.

408
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:08,800
And the hard part is the waiting and walking through it. But when you're on the other side,

409
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:14,800
you're like, wow, what? What just happened? Yeah. And how amazing that y'all have a podcast where

410
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:20,800
people can come on and share God's goodness. Because I'm always telling the ladies in the ministry who

411
00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:26,960
just feel like too nervous to share the gospel. I'm always telling them, you don't have to go

412
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:30,720
tap someone on the shoulder and just say, hi, do you know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

413
00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:37,360
Right. I actually recommend you don't do that, especially right now, not right now.

414
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:44,800
But I say, have you ever considered just boldly sharing in the goodness that he's had in your life?

415
00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:50,960
Because I have never seen more women, even the ones local to me that I've grown up with, who maybe

416
00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:55,600
are watching what God's doing kind of from the sidelines, but aren't saying much. They feel

417
00:44:55,600 --> 00:45:02,560
emboldened to ask about the Lord. Can you help me start reading the Bible? Because they've just

418
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:08,400
heard about the beautiful things he's done in my life. And I'm just like, I think that's more of an

419
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:14,720
effortless way to share the gospel is just to boldly live for him and let him speak through you on

420
00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:20,960
behalf of it. Right? Like if you just share in that awesome thing that he taught you this morning

421
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:25,600
when you were in Bible study, or you just share that awesome testimony of that thing that you'd

422
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:30,800
been preying on for a long time or worried about for a long time that you cast it on him and he

423
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:36,560
delivered. If you'll just do that, like just speak for yourself, you know what I mean? On behalf of

424
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:45,040
what he's done for you, that's a strong gospel. The power of our testimony. Exactly. Yep. To

425
00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:53,680
encourage others to good works. It's so good. When God laid this idea on my mind, like, why don't

426
00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:57,600
you talk about me with others and share it with the world? I'm like, oh, that's easy. I can do that.

427
00:45:58,240 --> 00:46:03,600
And I'm just so grateful that I get to hear all these stories and share them with the world because

428
00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:09,040
why keep them to myself? So I'm so glad that you were able to share all of this and I encourage

429
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:15,600
everybody to go follow her on social media. We'll put the links in the description and what a blessing

430
00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:20,720
to share what God is teaching you with others and then they can come alongside you and then share

431
00:46:20,720 --> 00:46:26,560
what they're learning. And I just love how he's growing you and others together at the same time

432
00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:33,040
and he just does it so gently. You know, one day at a time, what can you do today? You know, like in

433
00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:39,760
Kingdom's Emmett, I have this group that I'm part of. It's called Kingdomseekers and the Daily Dose,

434
00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:46,160
Holly, she's like the host, she says, go out and change the kingdom in only the way that you can.

435
00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:51,280
And they talk about what's that one needle-moving action that you can take to change things today,

436
00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:57,360
just to get a little closer to the next step. So I just love how God takes us step by step

437
00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:01,840
and just works it out. And then when you look back, you're like, wow, that is so neat how it all just

438
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:07,920
came together. And it's not over yet. Like he had a plan. You know, there's more to come.

439
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:12,960
It's almost like he knows what he's doing. Yeah, right. The one created the universe and all we see

440
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:17,120
in it, he knows what's going on with your life. Me, if he knew to do a meal plan,

441
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:21,360
is comparing my intellect to somebody who just does everything all the time.

442
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:30,720
I hope this episode has been a blessing to others. I tell everybody that, you know, there's a message

443
00:47:30,720 --> 00:47:36,880
for everybody in every episode. So I hope that you got what you needed from this episode. And if

444
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:41,280
this has been a blessing to you, we ask that you share it with others, friends, family on social

445
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:47,600
media and all the stuff. And you can also hit the follow button on the social media and rate the

446
00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:53,760
podcast in Apple Podcast and Spotify. That helps get the message out there to more listeners. And

447
00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:59,520
we can encourage more people because of it. And there's also links in our about section. If you'd

448
00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:04,160
like to come alongside us and help this little mission of ours, we would greatly appreciate that.

449
00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:09,680
That would help with the audio editing expenses and all the other stuff that goes along with it.

450
00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:29,840
And with that, we'll talk to you next time.