January 29, 2025 • 39 mins
This week, I’m thrilled to welcome my friend, Cassandra “Cass” Speer, to the show! Cass is a bestselling author, Bible teacher, and the host of the Hard and Holy podcast. She also serves as the Vice President of Her True Worth, a global ministry dedicated to helping women find their identity and validation in Christ alone, which touches millions worldwide.
Cass has a passion for offering hope and biblical encouragement to the weary and wounded, helping them navigate faith in the midst of life’s challenges. She’s currently pursuing a master’s in Biblical and Theological Studies at Denver Seminary, which is where we connected and became fast friends. I truly adore her, and I know you will too!
In this episode, we’re diving into her brand-new book- Ready As You Are- which comes out next week, and it’s powerful message on faith, identity and worth.
2:08 – Cass 101
• Veteran wife and mom of 3
• Author, podcaster, and seminarian
• The founding of Her True Worth
7:44 – Worth, Identity & Authenticity
• The biggest misconceptions women face regarding their worth and identity
• Living from worth, not for worth
• Maintaining authenticity in an online ministry space
• The individual impact of Her True Worth
14:07 – Ready As You Are
• Readiness is faithfulness
• Surrendering to God’s sufficiency
• Living on mission in everyday moments
• Differentiating between selfish desires and genuine God-given callings
32:24 – Final Thoughts
• Surprising lessons from writing this book
• God’s power has given us everything we need
• Connecting with Cass
• Pre-ordering your copy of Ready As You Are
FEATURED QUOTES
“Readiness is not about feeling qualified. It's about faithfulness and knowing that He who equips you, qualifies you and He who has commissioned you, qualifies you.”
“I have so many statistics stacked against me to tell me, very validly, you should not be here. You are not ready for this- and yet God opens doors that I would never knock on.”
“There really are no small things in God's kingdom.”
“God makes so much of our little, if we're willing. Every moment that you're living is a miracle. Every opportunity you have is an opportunity to bring God glory.”
Learn more about Cass:
https://cassandraspeer.com/
Pre-order your copy of Ready As You Are:
https://readyasyouare.com/
Get your copy of Her True Worth:
https://www.amazon.com/Her-True-Worth-Breaking-Pleasing/dp/1400231124/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1699992124&sr=8-1
There’s Beauty In Your Brokenness Devotional
https://www.thomasnelson.com/p/theres-beauty-in-your-brokenness-book/?fbclid=PAAab5MjPqTPxwgXgQVx0AMCsg3YHYp3WDPYqCQ20sgsq0eEP_VUWQ2TzW0lA
Her True Worth
https://hertrueworth.com/home/
Check out Cass’ podcast Hard & Holy:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hard-holy-with-cassandra-speer/id1767270286
Cass on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/cassandralspeer/?hl=en
Cass on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/speerandarrows/
Brittany Maher on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/brittmaher/?hl=en
Connect with me:
http://www.stillbeingmolly.com
http://instagram.com/stillbeingmolly
http://instagram.com/canilaughpod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Okay, so I've been looking forward to this for a very long time because I have my internetturned real life friend, Cass Spear on the show this week.
Hi, thanks for being here.
What's up?
This is so fun.
And like I say internet turned real life friend, but we've still never met in person, butit's fine.
(00:23):
We will.
We will.
We will absolutely meet in person.
You're going to come to North Carolina and hang out with me and Sharon.
It's going to be great.
We're gonna get tacos.
This is gonna be whole thing.
I'm so excited that you're here.
Like I said, I have had this date kind of circled on my calendar for a few weeks now andjust been so looking forward to this because we connected through the internet years ago
(00:45):
and then, you know, I released a book and you've released multiple books.
And we're also in the same seminary, although you're in a different cohort, but we're bothin seminary.
So we spent like 20 minutes talking about seminary stuff before we even started recording.
Anyway, so we're just, we're in it together, but in different ways, but God is so good.
(01:06):
And he's brought our brought us together in this unique way.
So I'm just so excited about this.
So thanks for being here.
Man, thanks for having me, Molly.
I'm so looking forward to this.
So let's have you give us the cast 101.
So who you are, what you do, and how you got to where you are today.
Well, hello, sweet friends.
am Cassandra Spear.
(01:28):
I am a proud veterans wife of an Air Force member.
We like to call him Dan the man.
yeah, all of the people in our lives refer to him as Dan the man and it's the best.
I have three rowdy and wonderful tiny humans who are not so tiny anymore.
And I am an author, a podcaster and vice president of a ministry called Her True Worth.
(01:54):
And
I'm also a seminarian, which sounds real fancy, and it's just a way of saying that I'm astudent learning theology.
So yeah, that's a little bit about me.
I love it.
I feel like obviously there's there's so much I know about you that I would love to talkabout.
But I before we kind of get into the your your newest book and all of those things, I dowant to talk about her true worth because it's so funny how like when I first came across
(02:24):
you, like I had not put two and two together that you were a part of her true worth, whichis ministry that has touched the lives of litter literally millions of people.
And so can you kind of give the birth story of how this ministry started and how it wentfrom this idea to a global ministry that is impacting millions, not like a few people, but
(02:51):
literally millions of people, which is incredible.
It is still so wild to me.
Like, I know this to be factually true, but it's still very much, this is six years intothis work and I'm still like, what is even happening?
So, Her True Worth was founded by my co-leader, co-author and ministry partner, Brittany.
(03:18):
And she founded Her True Worth in 2015 or 2016.
And at the time she was leading and cultivating the ministry in the community solo.
She was doing all of the writing, all of the graphics, all of the design, all of it.
And the Lord had led her to a desire to build a team.
(03:39):
And in 2018, I was just newly having my Instagram from private, just friends and fam, topublic.
And I was starting like literally had just begun dipping my toes into writing publicly.
(03:59):
And Brittany saw something that I wrote and she reached out to me in 2018.
And the wildest thing about this timing when it comes to her true worth is that she hadgrown the ministry to about 130, 140,000 women, which is insane.
And just really an incredible stewardship of the gifting that God had given her.
(04:20):
And her desire was to be generous and to amplify the voices of other women and to usetheir words for God's glory.
And she had seen something that I'd written on my tiny, minuscule Instagram and was like,that's the one.
She slid into my DMs and she asked me if I would be willing to write for her true worthand join the writing team.
(04:41):
And I was wildly honored.
And at the same time, I was physically at a writer's conference in Waco, Texas, like
literally there when I got the DM and I was learning how to write a book proposal.
I was learning how to acquire an agent.
I was dreaming up like, what was God gonna do?
(05:02):
And there was really no like founded reason for me to believe that any of that could cometo a reality.
And Brittany reached out to me and I joined her True Earth in 2018.
I came on as the vice president.
in 2019 and we have since watched the ministry grow to millions of people, serving peoplewith bite-sized devotionals, biblical literacy, and amplifying the other voices and
(05:28):
ministries of other women who have gone on to write their own books.
And it has just been so wildly satisfying to see God make so much of what felt like solittle, to be quite honest with you.
Man, that is such a cool story.
I don't think I knew that, that you were at that conference at the time.
Like, just what a cool, specific God answer to prayer at the time.
(05:55):
Well, for people that, you know, maybe are not familiar with Hurtery Worth, I mean, itkind of is in the title.
But one of the biggest, you know, I think it
The pieces of intentionality that I see with the work that you do is just really helpingto root women in understanding their true worth and identity.
(06:21):
And I also love that you incorporate, again, biblical literacy, all those kinds of things.
But what do you think or what do you believe are the biggest misconceptions that womenoften struggle with when it comes to their worth and identity?
And this, honestly, this can apply to men as well.
So I feel like we shouldn't shut them because
being involved in a church plant and kind of seeing, I don't know how this, like seeinglike the, how the back of the kitchen, does that make sense?
(06:52):
Seeing the undersides of church life when you're really getting to be in the messy part ofministry, like this is really a common thing, both in men and women, but I think it's just
a little more uniquely geared towards women.
So like, what are some of the biggest misconceptions that women have when it comes totheir truth?
and or excuse me, they're worth an identity.
my goodness, it's such a good question because it's one like you said, that is somethingthat we all struggle with in some way, or form.
(07:20):
The biggest misconception that I have not only observed, but I myself wrestle withconsistently is feeling as though I have to live from my worth instead of like living for
my worth instead of from it.
(07:41):
And so constantly working to achieve and access the inherent dignity and value that wehave in Christ, the identity that we have in Christ.
I feel like we as women can be so wired to work for love instead of from it, to work forworth instead of from it.
And so the inherent dignity of being image bearers, imago de, is something that many of ushave
(08:09):
whether it's directly or indirectly, come to believe and be taught that our worth issomething we earn.
the truth of the matter is when we have to earn our worth, then we live perpetually in thepursuit of it.
And that is something that is exhausting, but it's also hollow.
(08:33):
It's not fulfilling.
But when we live securely from our worth and our identity in Christ, which
Sounds very lofty, but the reality and the truth of the matter is that it's secure.
It's unrelenting, it's unwavering, and it's secure because it has been done.
It's not what we do, it's what's been done on the cross.
(08:54):
It's our identity in Christ.
And it's an inherent thing as opposed to something that we have to achieve.
Yeah, that's good.
Well, I think one of the things that is a unique aspect of this is, like you said, this isa ministry that is primarily online.
(09:14):
And a lot of it is through bite-sized devotionals and things like that.
But you really do such a unique job of keeping the message and the work that you dopersonal and really authentic.
which can be really challenging in the, you know, Instagram, the internet.
(09:41):
How has that been something that you and Brittany have kept up for so long?
what, know that's intentional.
So how has that been something that you've, you've built in, in a area and in a space thatcan make it really difficult to just like,
(10:01):
lean into the next trend or lean into the next thing that's going to get like clicks andeyes.
Do you know what I mean?
yeah, no, it's actually what led us to write books in the first place is the fact that youhave such a limited amount of characters.
You can only say so many things.
You can only go so deep.
(10:23):
And we wanted people to consistently be fed the word and the feeds not intended to keepyou fed.
And so that's a part of why we started writing the books.
But the consistency that you see
because it is such a temptation and let's be really super honest here, platforms rewardhot takes and they reward any form of trending.
(10:49):
It's really easy for us to be influenced by what's happening around us.
And so being consistent with the message that God had placed within us and beingunwavering in that because Brittany and I always wanna write for the one that is
been the audience of one and for one.
(11:10):
And so we write to honor God and we write to the one person.
that may sound very simplistic when you have millions of followers to say, well, I justonly care about if one person feels served and seen in that moment.
But that is the reality of what has been our messaging this entire time.
(11:33):
And that's why we're able to remain consistent and that's why we're able to be
very personal because our language is also very specific to you.
And I think that's a part of why it thrives and why it hits and resonates with so manydifferent people because they are feeling seen.
And it's interesting because there are certain messages and pain points and felt needsthat we speak to and you can see where it will skyrocket with sharing.
(12:03):
And it's very apparent and very clear.
consistently that it's on worth and it's on identity.
And it's also something else we've noticed which led to writing the book that we wrote forReady As You Are is the inadequacy and the uncertainty that we experience specifically as
(12:23):
women when it comes to calm.
So thank you for saying that by the way, cause like that's, that means a lot cause it isreally hard to do.
Yeah, it is really hard to do.
it's especially, like I said, when Instagram especially likes to wiggle the next shinything in front of you.
Well, I think that that actually perfectly segues to getting into talking about your newbook, which I think when this airs will be coming out next week, which is so exciting.
(12:54):
But it's called Ready As You Are, Discovering a Life of Abundance When You FeelInadequate, Uncertain, and Disqualified.
And obviously this was, I mean, it's just such a good topic.
I feel like this is a topic that could really be written about at any time, but I don'tknow.
There was something about it even to me at this moment going into a second semester ofseminary where I'm like, okay, you know.
(13:22):
And I actually, before we really kind of get deep into it, because in this book you'retalking a lot about
stepping into God's purpose and into God's calling and identity and worth.
But I'm going to selfishly ask a question because you are also in seminary.
And I'm speaking specific to me, but I think there's a broader application here.
(13:46):
So I felt called to go to seminary for about five years.
And I kept saying,
Like, no, like I just, I just, had a really specific calling.
I could tell a long story that I won't tell right now, but I had a specific calling to goto seminary and I kept pushing it down, kept pushing it down for five years.
(14:07):
And, and I, until last year, I literally got an email from an admissions counselor atDenver seminary that was like, someone submitted your name and said you should apply for
this program.
And I was like, one, who submitted my name, but two, like,
It just felt like God being like, hi, could you do this, please?
(14:32):
But even then, I applied and then I got in.
And then I still wrestled.
I hadn't accepted the acceptance for a long time.
I didn't even really know if I was going until mid-August, because I just kept putting itoff and thinking, I don't know if I can do this.
And I think I...
I spent a good amount of time really digging into the psyche behind it as to why was I soweird about it for so long.
(15:04):
And I think a lot of it was there was messaging, whether implicitly or explicitly, fromother people.
Like, well, do you want to be a pastor?
No, I don't.
Women can't go to seminary.
You know, you are not qualified to go to seminary.
(15:24):
You are not qualified to be a Bible teacher.
You know, like all of those messaging, like all of that messaging was like deeply embeddedin my psyche.
And I, so I felt a lot of self doubt.
And then it really wasn't until I got in my first semester and I got into class and I wasjust like, everything made sense.
(15:45):
And it was like, I was writing my first paper and I was like,
I love this so much.
Like who loves writing a research paper on, you know, Exodus 34?
Me!
I loved it.
It was, I loved it so much.
Like reading commentaries, all that stuff.
And so it was like this sweet reminder of God just being like, you are right where you'resupposed to be.
And you're not supposed to know what the end result of all of this is.
(16:06):
You're just supposed to be doing the thing I told you to do.
So I share that long story to share like,
I relate so much to this feeling of inadequacy, uncertainty, and disqualification when itcame specifically to ministry and seminary.
as I've talked to more women, and some men too, but women especially, we really strugglewith this.
(16:27):
In whatever calling it is, we feel like, don't know if I can do this.
So.
I would love to ask you, like, have you felt those feelings?
Like how did, how have you wrestled through this and how did that even come out?
Maybe even as you wrote this book.
So I realize that's a loaded question.
(16:51):
Holy Spirit, help me.
So I'll start with the fact that I didn't just wrestle with it, I actively wrestle.
Because I do believe that there is a delicate line between the inadequacy that I feel andGod's all surpassing sufficiency.
(17:18):
And I am very aware of
my own lack of qualification when it comes to seminary, while also knowing that thereality is I after writing, I can tell you after writing the book, that I've come to a
(17:40):
decision that it's not about being ready readiness is not about feeling qualified.
It's about faithfulness and knowing that he who
you qualifies you and he who has commissioned you qualifies you and to put it just reallyplainly I still struggle with the reality that as a woman specifically speaking into
(18:11):
seminary because there's a lot of different things that I feel like women can deal withhesitancy uncertainty inadequacy disqualification but specifically
Like a lot of the pain points that you just discussed are exactly why I was neverconsidering seminary.
(18:33):
Because I, first of all, I didn't feel smart enough.
We'll start there.
I didn't feel smart enough.
I don't have an undergraduate.
I struggled all throughout my childhood with just basic spelling.
I failed so many spelling tests.
If there's anything I'm really excellent at, it is failing.
(18:56):
I learned so many things the hardest way possible.
Like in high school, and I talk about this in the book, if you had voted who would beleast likely to go to seminary or to do ministry for a living, it would be homegirl right
here.
Like 10 out of 10 was not raised in a Christian household.
So much dysfunction.
(19:17):
Like I was not reading a Bible.
when I was younger, I didn't come to know Christ until I was 20, 21.
And even then I was trifling, like wild, such a wild story for my life.
And there was so many valid reasons and statistics stacked against me as to why Ishouldn't be sitting where I'm sitting, doing what I'm doing.
(19:46):
And if it boiled down to me feeling ready, I never would have went.
But the reality is that it's not about whether or not I was ready, it was about theprompting of the Spirit.
It was about the Lord asking, you willing?
Because I am ready.
Are you willing to surrender to me in my all surpassing sufficiency?
(20:08):
Your adequacy is not an issue here.
And it has been so challenging to write a book about feeling inadequate.
while also being in my first year of seminary, which I'm now in my second year.
And this time next year, we're about to start our spring semester.
(20:29):
This time next year will be my last semester in seminary.
I will be graduating in May 26.
if the creek don't rise and the bottom don't fall out.
And so I say all of that to say, yes.
I mean, I've literally been accused of being a heretic.
I've been accused of like pride seeking a pedestal.
(20:50):
I have been confronted.
I wrote about it in the book.
Like I was confronted within my faith community in the lobby by a man simply for bringingmy laptop with me and working in the lobby while my husband was teaching middle schoolers.
and my children were in children's church.
I mean, and I don't tell the full conversation of what took place, but just the audacityof being in that space as a woman and not showing up the way he thought I should be.
(21:19):
And being in seminary, which is historically not accessible to women.
And I'll even take it a little step further and look at things systemically.
Someone like me who has an eight out of 10 ACE score,
of adverse childhood experiences, someone who has been diagnosed with CPTSD, prolongedexposure therapy for post-traumatic stress, complex post-traumatic stress.
(21:39):
I grew up in an abusive environment with a parent actively in the throes of addiction.
I have a parent who is a convicted felon.
I have so many statistics stacked against me to tell me very validly, you should not behere.
You are not ready for this.
(22:00):
and yet God opens doors that I would never knock on.
So all of that say yes.
Yeah, girl, I struggled with that.
For sure.
Well, that was way better of an answer than I even expected.
And I knew it was going to be a good answer.
Man, that's so good.
And I love how I find this to like, whether it's a book or a sermon or, you know, just amessage or something.
(22:27):
It's like God often like takes you through it while you're writing it.
He's like, I'm gonna put you to the test.
Well, yeah, exactly.
So obviously, our situations are different but similar.
But there is this core pain point that most of us wrestle with.
(22:56):
And that is that feeling of inadequacy and disqualification and fear.
And so you talk a lot about living on mission.
in even the everyday moments in this book, like there's just this emphasis on we have tolive on mission, whether we're in like the big thing or in the little thing.
(23:20):
So how does that, how do we do that?
How can we as women, but how can men do this as well, like recognize and embrace like whatthat looks like to live on mission in everyday moments as a part of a smaller part of
God's
bigger plan and purpose for our lives.
Such a good question.
(23:43):
The concept of living on mission is so deeply grained within me that I got a tattoo on myright arm that says Missy O'Day in Latin.
And I just want to start by defining what living on mission or what is the mission.
Because I think that it's hard for us to do something if we don't even know theparameters.
(24:07):
Living on mission is quite simply being commissioned by God and living our life in such away that honors the Great Commission and that actively participates in the building up of
the body, the edification of the body, the serving and the equipping of the saints.
Living on mission is found in your day-to-day life and like you said in the seeminglymundane, but there really are no small things in God's kingdom.
(24:33):
And I think we can get really distracted.
And I will admit that culturally I have benefited from the fact that we profit off ofplatforms and that we have gotten really confused, specifically the evangelical Western
American church.
(24:55):
We've gotten very enamored with shiny things.
And we think mission is doing
X, Y, and Z, all these really admirable and applaudable moments for God's glory.
But the reality, what I've come to experience, and this is coming from someone who has theprivilege of serving millions of people, is that mission and ministry is quite literally
(25:23):
where your feet are.
It's not lived on the other end of the screen.
It's not lived in the accolades.
It is day to day.
in the simplicity of honoring God with what you have in your hands, loving the personright in front of you and being diligent and consistent with what he's asked you to
(25:43):
steward.
And that's not just finances.
I think a lot of times we look at stewardship and we want to honor God and live on missionfor him.
And we think we have to have an abundance of money or we have to have an abundance ofinfluence.
But the reality is that God makes so much of our little.
if we're willing.
And I think that's the important thing about living on mission is the reality that thereis no really seeming mundane moments.
(26:13):
Every moment that you're living is a miracle.
Every opportunity you have is an opportunity to bring God glory and honestly to bring thecomfort of the Holy Spirit, the love of God and his compassion to someone.
Yeah.
Well, as you were talking, I was thinking, or I've been thinking a lot about this, andI've had some conversations just with friends, and like my friend Sharon and I talk about
(26:39):
this a lot too, is how we differentiate between a selfish desire
Like an innate or, you know, our innate selfish desire or even a desire for approval or adesire for outside validation.
How do you differentiate between that and then a genuine calling from God?
(27:05):
And that can be tricky.
and I think, you know, sometimes I like to use the parameter of stories like you're at aconference and Waco and Brittany slides into your DMS.
that's.
to me, very specific.
Me ignoring a calling to go to seminary for five years and then getting an email out ofthe blue because somebody submitted my name and I'm invited to apply for a seminary
(27:32):
program specifically for women.
Just felt like a little like, okay, maybe my desire to go to seminary isn't actually aselfish one.
So, but I think that this is a common thing, again, women and men where we have to
learn the art of discernment to discern and differentiate between a selfish desire forapproval or validation or genuine God calling.
(28:02):
Yeah, and it can get messy because it's really hard to determine and decipher.
Because you can be doing something really good for God and it'd be detrimental to yoursoul.
And you can be doing something that seems small and minuscule for God's glory and it'd bewildly satisfying, but there'd be no worldly accolades.
(28:27):
And I think that the discernment that has to come into play
especially when it comes to women, because this is something, it is pounded into us from avery, very young age to take up as little space as possible.
And it can be hard to determine if our desire or our ambition is a godly desire, ambitionor passion for that matter, is self-seeking or if it's God honoring.
(29:01):
And I think that the discernment that has to come into play, the question that I alwayspose to myself, because first and foremost, your girl has a lot of big dreams.
And, you know, a lot of opportunities to be creative and it just lights me up and I enjoyit and I love it.
(29:25):
But I also have that check in my spirit of is my motivation, is this a self-gratification?
Because you can be gratifying and enjoying the work that you're doing while also God usingthe work of your hands to bring him glory and to point others towards him.
I think that boils down to the question that we have to ask is, is this for me?
(29:51):
Is this my motive building my kingdom?
Or is this me being obedient and yielding and stewarding the gifting that God has given mefor his kingdom and for the building up of the saints?
Am I building a bench to sit alongside or am I building a pedestal?
(30:14):
Am I building a platform?
And you can look at that quite literally, a platform on the internet.
Am I building a platform to talk at people or am I sitting on a bench to come alongsidepeople?
Am I coming from a position of authority of I have arrived, look at me, do as me, or am Icoming from a place of knowing my own inadequacy, my own failings and sitting alongside
(30:40):
someone and saying, you're struggling, me too.
Here's what I'm doing actively in my struggle.
There is a posture of our heart, our motivation, and the way that we execute our calling.
That is the biggest deterrent, I think, is that we have to be aware of our motivation andthe execution.
(31:04):
That is how we know if something is selfish or if it is genuinely you following God'sprompting.
Man, that is so good.
That's such a like, I love that visual of are you building a bench or are you building apedestal?
man, that is so good.
I might steal that in Jesus name.
(31:25):
I know, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding.
No, that's so good though.
That's such a good visual.
And I think that it's because it's really practical for people.
really helps people see in their mind's eye like what
you're building and you're looking again to the are you building something for your ownkingdom?
Are you building something for God's kingdom?
(31:48):
I would love if you would share as because like I kind of alluded to like as we God callsus into things like he often works things out for us while we're writing about it or doing
it.
Was there any surprising or like unexpected lesson that God taught you while you werewriting this book?
(32:12):
my goodness, so many, embarrassingly so.
Which I think that's kind of God's sense of humor.
I'm convinced that God has like an excellent sense of humor since he invented the conceptof laughing.
There are so many moments throughout the writing of this that were very confronting, veryconvicting, because like you said, we often have to live the words that we write.
(32:38):
Yeah, exactly.
It's so easy.
And I will say as an author and as a Bible teacher, it can be very alluring to write thewords that you know to be true.
but not be genuine and sincere with integrity to live the words that you write in a mannerthat is true.
(33:03):
And it is very, very hard.
And there were times in the writing where I was actively wanting to quit.
And I don't tell it in the book, but there are points in the book, I talk about feelinglike.
wavering about all these different opportunities that God is giving me and feeling likesuch an awareness of inadequacy.
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But what I don't tell you is as I'm writing and sharing, because I came out of that ditch,right?
So I'm like, I can tell you about this ditch because I've been done out of it.
I've made my way out of this ditch.
But the reality is like while I was writing, I was considering quitting.
I was looking for different jobs.
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I was looking at other ways to make a way where I saw no way because I was struggling withfeeling like I couldn't do it.
I was scared I was gonna fail seminary.
I was scared that I was failing my family because I was spread so thin.
I was dealing with the reality of financial strain and uncertainty and in the experienceof the crushing weight of the economy at that point in time.
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I do talk a little bit about like the fact that I had to sell a house that we hadliterally built.
And I thought it was the dream and it ended up being a nightmare.
And like just the reality of trying to live faithfully while wrestling consistently withdo I believe you and can I trust you God?
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It was so challenging to write a book like Ready As You Are.
while also being in a faith community that believed that my gender disqualified me, whichI have all the love and respect.
And it was the hardest thing in the world to leave that faith community.
(34:58):
And I didn't leave until this book was already finished.
And I was wrestling with that while writing a chapter specifically on a woman's placewithin the kingdom of God.
So yeah, I mean, I have had lots of wildly surprising moments that God has taught me somany things throughout the writing and his consistency is that he is enough for me.
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and that he is kind and merciful towards me and that he is faithful to complete the workthat he has started in me.
And it's true for me and it's true for you.
Second Peter 1, 3, God's power has given us everything we need.
It didn't say some of it.
God has given us everything he needs for us to do the work.
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He's faithful to complete the work that he's begins in us.
2 Corinthians 12, nine through 10 tells us that his power is magnified in our weakness.
It is his all surpassing sufficiency in our inadequacy that brings him glory.
So yeah, long story long, he for sure did that throughout the writing.
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Well, I love that story.
think it's just, again, it's so, yeah, I I relate to it so much.
But I think so many of us, whether you're listening and you, not everybody listening iswriting, but I can tell you, everybody listening is going through things and is often
(36:34):
realizing that
God's teaching them a lesson while they're through it.
Anybody who is in any kind of ministry or marriage or parenting or a difficult worksituation or maybe you're between jobs or you've been laid off or the relationship that
you thought was gonna be the one didn't work out or maybe you've been single longer thanyou thought.
(36:58):
There are so many things that we are in that messy middle.
or you're, you're really working through the thing that you just keep looking at God andgoing like, really?
Like, are we, or could we be done?
Like, is this, you know, and sometimes the answer is yes.
And most of time the answer is no or not right now.
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but it's not till you have that benefit of hindsight that you get out to the other sideand you go, okay, this was this, this was why.
but it's so hard when you're in the middle of it.
man, Cass, I've,
We've run out of time.
And I just would love to, well, I'm going to have to have you on again, because I havelike 15 more questions that I really wanted to get to that I wanted to ask you.
(37:43):
But in the meantime, thank you for being here and in the midst of what I know is an insanetime of your life.
And may the Lord bless you and keep you as you launch a book also in your site.
semester of seminary starts.
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It's a lot.
It's a lot of things.
then, know, wifing and moming and all of those things.
So where can people connect with you?
And obviously, go get the book Ready As You Are, which releases next week.
Yeah, tell us all the things.
Yeah, you can find Ready As You Are everywhere that books are sold and you can actuallymake it super easy for yourself and go to www.ReadyAsYouAre.com.
(38:29):
You can follow the ministry Her True Worth everywhere on social media and you can find meonline at Cassandra L Spearspelled S-P-E-E-R and you can also follow my co-author and
ministry partner, Brittany Mayer as well on Instagram.
Awesome.
Thank you so much for being here, friend.
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such a privilege.
I love you.
Love you!
Okay, so I've been looking forward to this for a very long time because I have my internetturned real life friend, Cass Spear on the show this week.
Hi, thanks for being here.
What's up?
This is so fun.
And like I say internet turned real life friend, but we've still never met in person, butit's fine.
(00:23):
We will.
We will.
We will absolutely meet in person.
You're going to come to North Carolina and hang out with me and Sharon.
It's going to be great.
We're gonna get tacos.
This is gonna be whole thing.
I'm so excited that you're here.
Like I said, I have had this date kind of circled on my calendar for a few weeks now andjust been so looking forward to this because we connected through the internet years ago
(00:45):
and then, you know, I released a book and you've released multiple books.
And we're also in the same seminary, although you're in a different cohort, but we're bothin seminary.
So we spent like 20 minutes talking about seminary stuff before we even started recording.
Anyway, so we're just, we're in it together, but in different ways, but God is so good.
(01:06):
And he's brought our brought us together in this unique way.
So I'm just so excited about this.
So thanks for being here.
Man, thanks for having me, Molly.
I'm so looking forward to this.
So let's have you give us the cast 101.
So who you are, what you do, and how you got to where you are today.
Well, hello, sweet friends.
am Cassandra Spear.
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I am a proud veterans wife of an Air Force member.
We like to call him Dan the man.
yeah, all of the people in our lives refer to him as Dan the man and it's the best.
I have three rowdy and wonderful tiny humans who are not so tiny anymore.
And I am an author, a podcaster and vice president of a ministry called Her True Worth.
(01:54):
And
I'm also a seminarian, which sounds real fancy, and it's just a way of saying that I'm astudent learning theology.
So yeah, that's a little bit about me.
I love it.
I feel like obviously there's there's so much I know about you that I would love to talkabout.
But I before we kind of get into the your your newest book and all of those things, I dowant to talk about her true worth because it's so funny how like when I first came across
(02:24):
you, like I had not put two and two together that you were a part of her true worth, whichis ministry that has touched the lives of litter literally millions of people.
And so can you kind of give the birth story of how this ministry started and how it wentfrom this idea to a global ministry that is impacting millions, not like a few people, but
(02:51):
literally millions of people, which is incredible.
It is still so wild to me.
Like, I know this to be factually true, but it's still very much, this is six years intothis work and I'm still like, what is even happening?
So, Her True Worth was founded by my co-leader, co-author and ministry partner, Brittany.
(03:18):
And she founded Her True Worth in 2015 or 2016.
And at the time she was leading and cultivating the ministry in the community solo.
She was doing all of the writing, all of the graphics, all of the design, all of it.
And the Lord had led her to a desire to build a team.
(03:39):
And in 2018, I was just newly having my Instagram from private, just friends and fam, topublic.
And I was starting like literally had just begun dipping my toes into writing publicly.
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And Brittany saw something that I wrote and she reached out to me in 2018.
And the wildest thing about this timing when it comes to her true worth is that she hadgrown the ministry to about 130, 140,000 women, which is insane.
And just really an incredible stewardship of the gifting that God had given her.
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And her desire was to be generous and to amplify the voices of other women and to usetheir words for God's glory.
And she had seen something that I'd written on my tiny, minuscule Instagram and was like,that's the one.
She slid into my DMs and she asked me if I would be willing to write for her true worthand join the writing team.
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And I was wildly honored.
And at the same time, I was physically at a writer's conference in Waco, Texas, like
literally there when I got the DM and I was learning how to write a book proposal.
I was learning how to acquire an agent.
I was dreaming up like, what was God gonna do?
(05:02):
And there was really no like founded reason for me to believe that any of that could cometo a reality.
And Brittany reached out to me and I joined her True Earth in 2018.
I came on as the vice president.
in 2019 and we have since watched the ministry grow to millions of people, serving peoplewith bite-sized devotionals, biblical literacy, and amplifying the other voices and
(05:28):
ministries of other women who have gone on to write their own books.
And it has just been so wildly satisfying to see God make so much of what felt like solittle, to be quite honest with you.
Man, that is such a cool story.
I don't think I knew that, that you were at that conference at the time.
Like, just what a cool, specific God answer to prayer at the time.
(05:55):
Well, for people that, you know, maybe are not familiar with Hurtery Worth, I mean, itkind of is in the title.
But one of the biggest, you know, I think it
The pieces of intentionality that I see with the work that you do is just really helpingto root women in understanding their true worth and identity.
(06:21):
And I also love that you incorporate, again, biblical literacy, all those kinds of things.
But what do you think or what do you believe are the biggest misconceptions that womenoften struggle with when it comes to their worth and identity?
And this, honestly, this can apply to men as well.
So I feel like we shouldn't shut them because
being involved in a church plant and kind of seeing, I don't know how this, like seeinglike the, how the back of the kitchen, does that make sense?
(06:52):
Seeing the undersides of church life when you're really getting to be in the messy part ofministry, like this is really a common thing, both in men and women, but I think it's just
a little more uniquely geared towards women.
So like, what are some of the biggest misconceptions that women have when it comes totheir truth?
and or excuse me, they're worth an identity.
my goodness, it's such a good question because it's one like you said, that is somethingthat we all struggle with in some way, or form.
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The biggest misconception that I have not only observed, but I myself wrestle withconsistently is feeling as though I have to live from my worth instead of like living for
my worth instead of from it.
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And so constantly working to achieve and access the inherent dignity and value that wehave in Christ, the identity that we have in Christ.
I feel like we as women can be so wired to work for love instead of from it, to work forworth instead of from it.
And so the inherent dignity of being image bearers, imago de, is something that many of ushave
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whether it's directly or indirectly, come to believe and be taught that our worth issomething we earn.
the truth of the matter is when we have to earn our worth, then we live perpetually in thepursuit of it.
And that is something that is exhausting, but it's also hollow.
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It's not fulfilling.
But when we live securely from our worth and our identity in Christ, which
Sounds very lofty, but the reality and the truth of the matter is that it's secure.
It's unrelenting, it's unwavering, and it's secure because it has been done.
It's not what we do, it's what's been done on the cross.
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It's our identity in Christ.
And it's an inherent thing as opposed to something that we have to achieve.
Yeah, that's good.
Well, I think one of the things that is a unique aspect of this is, like you said, this isa ministry that is primarily online.
(09:14):
And a lot of it is through bite-sized devotionals and things like that.
But you really do such a unique job of keeping the message and the work that you dopersonal and really authentic.
which can be really challenging in the, you know, Instagram, the internet.
(09:41):
How has that been something that you and Brittany have kept up for so long?
what, know that's intentional.
So how has that been something that you've, you've built in, in a area and in a space thatcan make it really difficult to just like,
(10:01):
lean into the next trend or lean into the next thing that's going to get like clicks andeyes.
Do you know what I mean?
yeah, no, it's actually what led us to write books in the first place is the fact that youhave such a limited amount of characters.
You can only say so many things.
You can only go so deep.
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And we wanted people to consistently be fed the word and the feeds not intended to keepyou fed.
And so that's a part of why we started writing the books.
But the consistency that you see
because it is such a temptation and let's be really super honest here, platforms rewardhot takes and they reward any form of trending.
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It's really easy for us to be influenced by what's happening around us.
And so being consistent with the message that God had placed within us and beingunwavering in that because Brittany and I always wanna write for the one that is
been the audience of one and for one.
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And so we write to honor God and we write to the one person.
that may sound very simplistic when you have millions of followers to say, well, I justonly care about if one person feels served and seen in that moment.
But that is the reality of what has been our messaging this entire time.
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And that's why we're able to remain consistent and that's why we're able to be
very personal because our language is also very specific to you.
And I think that's a part of why it thrives and why it hits and resonates with so manydifferent people because they are feeling seen.
And it's interesting because there are certain messages and pain points and felt needsthat we speak to and you can see where it will skyrocket with sharing.
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And it's very apparent and very clear.
consistently that it's on worth and it's on identity.
And it's also something else we've noticed which led to writing the book that we wrote forReady As You Are is the inadequacy and the uncertainty that we experience specifically as
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women when it comes to calm.
So thank you for saying that by the way, cause like that's, that means a lot cause it isreally hard to do.
Yeah, it is really hard to do.
it's especially, like I said, when Instagram especially likes to wiggle the next shinything in front of you.
Well, I think that that actually perfectly segues to getting into talking about your newbook, which I think when this airs will be coming out next week, which is so exciting.
(12:54):
But it's called Ready As You Are, Discovering a Life of Abundance When You FeelInadequate, Uncertain, and Disqualified.
And obviously this was, I mean, it's just such a good topic.
I feel like this is a topic that could really be written about at any time, but I don'tknow.
There was something about it even to me at this moment going into a second semester ofseminary where I'm like, okay, you know.
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And I actually, before we really kind of get deep into it, because in this book you'retalking a lot about
stepping into God's purpose and into God's calling and identity and worth.
But I'm going to selfishly ask a question because you are also in seminary.
And I'm speaking specific to me, but I think there's a broader application here.
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So I felt called to go to seminary for about five years.
And I kept saying,
Like, no, like I just, I just, had a really specific calling.
I could tell a long story that I won't tell right now, but I had a specific calling to goto seminary and I kept pushing it down, kept pushing it down for five years.
(14:07):
And, and I, until last year, I literally got an email from an admissions counselor atDenver seminary that was like, someone submitted your name and said you should apply for
this program.
And I was like, one, who submitted my name, but two, like,
It just felt like God being like, hi, could you do this, please?
(14:32):
But even then, I applied and then I got in.
And then I still wrestled.
I hadn't accepted the acceptance for a long time.
I didn't even really know if I was going until mid-August, because I just kept putting itoff and thinking, I don't know if I can do this.
And I think I...
I spent a good amount of time really digging into the psyche behind it as to why was I soweird about it for so long.
(15:04):
And I think a lot of it was there was messaging, whether implicitly or explicitly, fromother people.
Like, well, do you want to be a pastor?
No, I don't.
Women can't go to seminary.
You know, you are not qualified to go to seminary.
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You are not qualified to be a Bible teacher.
You know, like all of those messaging, like all of that messaging was like deeply embeddedin my psyche.
And I, so I felt a lot of self doubt.
And then it really wasn't until I got in my first semester and I got into class and I wasjust like, everything made sense.
(15:45):
And it was like, I was writing my first paper and I was like,
I love this so much.
Like who loves writing a research paper on, you know, Exodus 34?
Me!
I loved it.
It was, I loved it so much.
Like reading commentaries, all that stuff.
And so it was like this sweet reminder of God just being like, you are right where you'resupposed to be.
And you're not supposed to know what the end result of all of this is.
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You're just supposed to be doing the thing I told you to do.
So I share that long story to share like,
I relate so much to this feeling of inadequacy, uncertainty, and disqualification when itcame specifically to ministry and seminary.
as I've talked to more women, and some men too, but women especially, we really strugglewith this.
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In whatever calling it is, we feel like, don't know if I can do this.
So.
I would love to ask you, like, have you felt those feelings?
Like how did, how have you wrestled through this and how did that even come out?
Maybe even as you wrote this book.
So I realize that's a loaded question.
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Holy Spirit, help me.
So I'll start with the fact that I didn't just wrestle with it, I actively wrestle.
Because I do believe that there is a delicate line between the inadequacy that I feel andGod's all surpassing sufficiency.
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And I am very aware of
my own lack of qualification when it comes to seminary, while also knowing that thereality is I after writing, I can tell you after writing the book, that I've come to a
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decision that it's not about being ready readiness is not about feeling qualified.
It's about faithfulness and knowing that he who
you qualifies you and he who has commissioned you qualifies you and to put it just reallyplainly I still struggle with the reality that as a woman specifically speaking into
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seminary because there's a lot of different things that I feel like women can deal withhesitancy uncertainty inadequacy disqualification but specifically
Like a lot of the pain points that you just discussed are exactly why I was neverconsidering seminary.
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Because I, first of all, I didn't feel smart enough.
We'll start there.
I didn't feel smart enough.
I don't have an undergraduate.
I struggled all throughout my childhood with just basic spelling.
I failed so many spelling tests.
If there's anything I'm really excellent at, it is failing.
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I learned so many things the hardest way possible.
Like in high school, and I talk about this in the book, if you had voted who would beleast likely to go to seminary or to do ministry for a living, it would be homegirl right
here.
Like 10 out of 10 was not raised in a Christian household.
So much dysfunction.
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Like I was not reading a Bible.
when I was younger, I didn't come to know Christ until I was 20, 21.
And even then I was trifling, like wild, such a wild story for my life.
And there was so many valid reasons and statistics stacked against me as to why Ishouldn't be sitting where I'm sitting, doing what I'm doing.
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And if it boiled down to me feeling ready, I never would have went.
But the reality is that it's not about whether or not I was ready, it was about theprompting of the Spirit.
It was about the Lord asking, you willing?
Because I am ready.
Are you willing to surrender to me in my all surpassing sufficiency?
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Your adequacy is not an issue here.
And it has been so challenging to write a book about feeling inadequate.
while also being in my first year of seminary, which I'm now in my second year.
And this time next year, we're about to start our spring semester.
(20:29):
This time next year will be my last semester in seminary.
I will be graduating in May 26.
if the creek don't rise and the bottom don't fall out.
And so I say all of that to say, yes.
I mean, I've literally been accused of being a heretic.
I've been accused of like pride seeking a pedestal.
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I have been confronted.
I wrote about it in the book.
Like I was confronted within my faith community in the lobby by a man simply for bringingmy laptop with me and working in the lobby while my husband was teaching middle schoolers.
and my children were in children's church.
I mean, and I don't tell the full conversation of what took place, but just the audacityof being in that space as a woman and not showing up the way he thought I should be.
(21:19):
And being in seminary, which is historically not accessible to women.
And I'll even take it a little step further and look at things systemically.
Someone like me who has an eight out of 10 ACE score,
of adverse childhood experiences, someone who has been diagnosed with CPTSD, prolongedexposure therapy for post-traumatic stress, complex post-traumatic stress.
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I grew up in an abusive environment with a parent actively in the throes of addiction.
I have a parent who is a convicted felon.
I have so many statistics stacked against me to tell me very validly, you should not behere.
You are not ready for this.
(22:00):
and yet God opens doors that I would never knock on.
So all of that say yes.
Yeah, girl, I struggled with that.
For sure.
Well, that was way better of an answer than I even expected.
And I knew it was going to be a good answer.
Man, that's so good.
And I love how I find this to like, whether it's a book or a sermon or, you know, just amessage or something.
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It's like God often like takes you through it while you're writing it.
He's like, I'm gonna put you to the test.
Well, yeah, exactly.
So obviously, our situations are different but similar.
But there is this core pain point that most of us wrestle with.
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And that is that feeling of inadequacy and disqualification and fear.
And so you talk a lot about living on mission.
in even the everyday moments in this book, like there's just this emphasis on we have tolive on mission, whether we're in like the big thing or in the little thing.
(23:20):
So how does that, how do we do that?
How can we as women, but how can men do this as well, like recognize and embrace like whatthat looks like to live on mission in everyday moments as a part of a smaller part of
God's
bigger plan and purpose for our lives.
Such a good question.
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The concept of living on mission is so deeply grained within me that I got a tattoo on myright arm that says Missy O'Day in Latin.
And I just want to start by defining what living on mission or what is the mission.
Because I think that it's hard for us to do something if we don't even know theparameters.
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Living on mission is quite simply being commissioned by God and living our life in such away that honors the Great Commission and that actively participates in the building up of
the body, the edification of the body, the serving and the equipping of the saints.
Living on mission is found in your day-to-day life and like you said in the seeminglymundane, but there really are no small things in God's kingdom.
(24:33):
And I think we can get really distracted.
And I will admit that culturally I have benefited from the fact that we profit off ofplatforms and that we have gotten really confused, specifically the evangelical Western
American church.
(24:55):
We've gotten very enamored with shiny things.
And we think mission is doing
X, Y, and Z, all these really admirable and applaudable moments for God's glory.
But the reality, what I've come to experience, and this is coming from someone who has theprivilege of serving millions of people, is that mission and ministry is quite literally
(25:23):
where your feet are.
It's not lived on the other end of the screen.
It's not lived in the accolades.
It is day to day.
in the simplicity of honoring God with what you have in your hands, loving the personright in front of you and being diligent and consistent with what he's asked you to
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steward.
And that's not just finances.
I think a lot of times we look at stewardship and we want to honor God and live on missionfor him.
And we think we have to have an abundance of money or we have to have an abundance ofinfluence.
But the reality is that God makes so much of our little.
if we're willing.
And I think that's the important thing about living on mission is the reality that thereis no really seeming mundane moments.
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Every moment that you're living is a miracle.
Every opportunity you have is an opportunity to bring God glory and honestly to bring thecomfort of the Holy Spirit, the love of God and his compassion to someone.
Yeah.
Well, as you were talking, I was thinking, or I've been thinking a lot about this, andI've had some conversations just with friends, and like my friend Sharon and I talk about
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this a lot too, is how we differentiate between a selfish desire
Like an innate or, you know, our innate selfish desire or even a desire for approval or adesire for outside validation.
How do you differentiate between that and then a genuine calling from God?
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And that can be tricky.
and I think, you know, sometimes I like to use the parameter of stories like you're at aconference and Waco and Brittany slides into your DMS.
that's.
to me, very specific.
Me ignoring a calling to go to seminary for five years and then getting an email out ofthe blue because somebody submitted my name and I'm invited to apply for a seminary
(27:32):
program specifically for women.
Just felt like a little like, okay, maybe my desire to go to seminary isn't actually aselfish one.
So, but I think that this is a common thing, again, women and men where we have to
learn the art of discernment to discern and differentiate between a selfish desire forapproval or validation or genuine God calling.
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Yeah, and it can get messy because it's really hard to determine and decipher.
Because you can be doing something really good for God and it'd be detrimental to yoursoul.
And you can be doing something that seems small and minuscule for God's glory and it'd bewildly satisfying, but there'd be no worldly accolades.
(28:27):
And I think that the discernment that has to come into play
especially when it comes to women, because this is something, it is pounded into us from avery, very young age to take up as little space as possible.
And it can be hard to determine if our desire or our ambition is a godly desire, ambitionor passion for that matter, is self-seeking or if it's God honoring.
(29:01):
And I think that the discernment that has to come into play, the question that I alwayspose to myself, because first and foremost, your girl has a lot of big dreams.
And, you know, a lot of opportunities to be creative and it just lights me up and I enjoyit and I love it.
(29:25):
But I also have that check in my spirit of is my motivation, is this a self-gratification?
Because you can be gratifying and enjoying the work that you're doing while also God usingthe work of your hands to bring him glory and to point others towards him.
I think that boils down to the question that we have to ask is, is this for me?
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Is this my motive building my kingdom?
Or is this me being obedient and yielding and stewarding the gifting that God has given mefor his kingdom and for the building up of the saints?
Am I building a bench to sit alongside or am I building a pedestal?
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Am I building a platform?
And you can look at that quite literally, a platform on the internet.
Am I building a platform to talk at people or am I sitting on a bench to come alongsidepeople?
Am I coming from a position of authority of I have arrived, look at me, do as me, or am Icoming from a place of knowing my own inadequacy, my own failings and sitting alongside
(30:40):
someone and saying, you're struggling, me too.
Here's what I'm doing actively in my struggle.
There is a posture of our heart, our motivation, and the way that we execute our calling.
That is the biggest deterrent, I think, is that we have to be aware of our motivation andthe execution.
(31:04):
That is how we know if something is selfish or if it is genuinely you following God'sprompting.
Man, that is so good.
That's such a like, I love that visual of are you building a bench or are you building apedestal?
man, that is so good.
I might steal that in Jesus name.
(31:25):
I know, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding.
No, that's so good though.
That's such a good visual.
And I think that it's because it's really practical for people.
really helps people see in their mind's eye like what
you're building and you're looking again to the are you building something for your ownkingdom?
Are you building something for God's kingdom?
(31:48):
I would love if you would share as because like I kind of alluded to like as we God callsus into things like he often works things out for us while we're writing about it or doing
it.
Was there any surprising or like unexpected lesson that God taught you while you werewriting this book?
(32:12):
my goodness, so many, embarrassingly so.
Which I think that's kind of God's sense of humor.
I'm convinced that God has like an excellent sense of humor since he invented the conceptof laughing.
There are so many moments throughout the writing of this that were very confronting, veryconvicting, because like you said, we often have to live the words that we write.
(32:38):
Yeah, exactly.
It's so easy.
And I will say as an author and as a Bible teacher, it can be very alluring to write thewords that you know to be true.
but not be genuine and sincere with integrity to live the words that you write in a mannerthat is true.
(33:03):
And it is very, very hard.
And there were times in the writing where I was actively wanting to quit.
And I don't tell it in the book, but there are points in the book, I talk about feelinglike.
wavering about all these different opportunities that God is giving me and feeling likesuch an awareness of inadequacy.
(33:24):
But what I don't tell you is as I'm writing and sharing, because I came out of that ditch,right?
So I'm like, I can tell you about this ditch because I've been done out of it.
I've made my way out of this ditch.
But the reality is like while I was writing, I was considering quitting.
I was looking for different jobs.
(33:44):
I was looking at other ways to make a way where I saw no way because I was struggling withfeeling like I couldn't do it.
I was scared I was gonna fail seminary.
I was scared that I was failing my family because I was spread so thin.
I was dealing with the reality of financial strain and uncertainty and in the experienceof the crushing weight of the economy at that point in time.
(34:13):
I do talk a little bit about like the fact that I had to sell a house that we hadliterally built.
And I thought it was the dream and it ended up being a nightmare.
And like just the reality of trying to live faithfully while wrestling consistently withdo I believe you and can I trust you God?
(34:38):
It was so challenging to write a book like Ready As You Are.
while also being in a faith community that believed that my gender disqualified me, whichI have all the love and respect.
And it was the hardest thing in the world to leave that faith community.
(34:58):
And I didn't leave until this book was already finished.
And I was wrestling with that while writing a chapter specifically on a woman's placewithin the kingdom of God.
So yeah, I mean, I have had lots of wildly surprising moments that God has taught me somany things throughout the writing and his consistency is that he is enough for me.
(35:29):
and that he is kind and merciful towards me and that he is faithful to complete the workthat he has started in me.
And it's true for me and it's true for you.
Second Peter 1, 3, God's power has given us everything we need.
It didn't say some of it.
God has given us everything he needs for us to do the work.
(35:51):
He's faithful to complete the work that he's begins in us.
2 Corinthians 12, nine through 10 tells us that his power is magnified in our weakness.
It is his all surpassing sufficiency in our inadequacy that brings him glory.
So yeah, long story long, he for sure did that throughout the writing.
(36:11):
Well, I love that story.
think it's just, again, it's so, yeah, I I relate to it so much.
But I think so many of us, whether you're listening and you, not everybody listening iswriting, but I can tell you, everybody listening is going through things and is often
(36:34):
realizing that
God's teaching them a lesson while they're through it.
Anybody who is in any kind of ministry or marriage or parenting or a difficult worksituation or maybe you're between jobs or you've been laid off or the relationship that
you thought was gonna be the one didn't work out or maybe you've been single longer thanyou thought.
(36:58):
There are so many things that we are in that messy middle.
or you're, you're really working through the thing that you just keep looking at God andgoing like, really?
Like, are we, or could we be done?
Like, is this, you know, and sometimes the answer is yes.
And most of time the answer is no or not right now.
(37:18):
but it's not till you have that benefit of hindsight that you get out to the other sideand you go, okay, this was this, this was why.
but it's so hard when you're in the middle of it.
man, Cass, I've,
We've run out of time.
And I just would love to, well, I'm going to have to have you on again, because I havelike 15 more questions that I really wanted to get to that I wanted to ask you.
(37:43):
But in the meantime, thank you for being here and in the midst of what I know is an insanetime of your life.
And may the Lord bless you and keep you as you launch a book also in your site.
semester of seminary starts.
(38:03):
It's a lot.
It's a lot of things.
then, know, wifing and moming and all of those things.
So where can people connect with you?
And obviously, go get the book Ready As You Are, which releases next week.
Yeah, tell us all the things.
Yeah, you can find Ready As You Are everywhere that books are sold and you can actuallymake it super easy for yourself and go to www.ReadyAsYouAre.com.
(38:29):
You can follow the ministry Her True Worth everywhere on social media and you can find meonline at Cassandra L Spearspelled S-P-E-E-R and you can also follow my co-author and
ministry partner, Brittany Mayer as well on Instagram.
Awesome.
Thank you so much for being here, friend.
(38:51):
such a privilege.
I love you.
Love you!
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