November 17, 2025 • 42 mins
There have been a few times in my life where everything on the outside looked “fine” – even really good – but something deep inside me knew I wasn’t meant to stay where I was.
This episode is me inviting you into one of those seasons.
I’m sharing how God led me from a role I loved, in a company I loved, to uprooting our family and moving to Alaska in a matter of weeks… and how that shift actually started a year and a half earlier with a quiet sense of restlessness on a walk at the park.
If I’ve learned anything, it’s that God is at work long before we see the full picture. He stirs, nudges, disrupts our comfort, and gently (or not so gently) invites us to trust Him with the next step—even when we don’t have a plan.
If you’re in a season where things look okay on the outside but your heart feels unsettled, my hope is that this story helps you pay attention to what God might be stirring in yours.
Episode Highlights
- The moment I realized I was “comfortable” but no longer fully alive in my work
- How a simple entrepreneur small group woke up dreams I thought were dead and buried
- The internal tug-of-war between security, calling, fear, and obedience
- The external signs and tensions that started confirming a coming change
- Why I chose to stay put and surrender instead of forcing a transition
- The “sudden” moment God made it clear it was time to move—and how fast He moved
- What this whole process has taught me about trust, timing, and letting God lead
Resources & Links
- Learn more at ClearAuthenticBrands.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amy Dardis (00:12):
I'm your host, Amy Dardis, and in today's episode,
we are talking about how to knowwhen a shift is getting ready
to happen.
And this is relevant for anyonereally, but I am sharing what
it looked like for me throughthe lens of entrepreneurship.
And maybe you'll see your ownstory in this episode and in
(00:36):
what I'm sharing.
And if I've learned anything,it's that God is always at work,
whether we can see it or senseit or not.
And it's not so much aboutknowing the plan, but it's
understanding when God iscalling you to something new,
(00:56):
understanding when it's time tostep out in faith and being
obedient to that.
It's learning to recognize whenGod is shifting you from one
season to the next, whether itbe from going from an employee
to being an entrepreneur, orgoing from being an entrepreneur
(01:19):
to being an employee, orwhether it's shifting from one
role to another.
The shift has happened manytimes throughout my life.
And the more times I've gonethrough this shift, the more
I've learned to recognize God'shand in it, the more I've
learned to hear his voicethrough it, the more I've
(01:42):
learned to trust the process.
Although it's still a struggleevery time.
But today's episode, I'm goingto share with you the most
recent one in my life and whatthat's looked like.
So back in summer of 2023, Iwas an employee.
(02:05):
I was on a leadership team.
I was working full-time for anorganization that I loved.
I had been in a season, I'dbeen there for four years at the
time doing work that I loved.
I was aligned.
I was in roles that I had thecapacity for.
I was contributing in ameaningful way.
(02:28):
And I had just thoroughlyenjoyed the last few years of my
life.
And I had experiencedtremendous growth and tremendous
challenge and tremendous rewardand fruit and huge learning
curves, but huge, huge gapsbeing closed, huge potential
(02:50):
being reached.
Like I had just really enjoyedthat season of my life.
And I remember it wassummertime, and I was my kids
were home during the summer.
And I was thankful enough to beworking from home during most
of it.
And at the end of my workday, Iwould take my kids to the park
(03:13):
and they would ride their bikesand I would walk and listen to
music and just pray and just getsome steps in because I'd been
sitting at a desk at a computerall day.
And it was just good to kind oflet the stress of the day go.
And I remember it was Augustand I was walking and I just all
(03:36):
of a sudden became aware that Iwas very comfortable.
I became aware that I wasn'tfeeling stretched in any which
way.
I wasn't feeling like I hadincredible purpose or passion or
the same amount that had beenfueling me these last few years.
(03:57):
And I realized that I, at thatmoment in time, I had no vision
for what was next.
And so I kind of felt a littlebit lost, a little bit stagnant,
a little bit unsure, and not ina desperate way, not in ways I
have certainly been crying outfor vision and crying out for
(04:18):
revelation.
It wasn't like that.
It was just like, oh, I likethings are good.
I'm comfortable.
And this feels weird.
This feels off.
And I'm I'm wondering what'snext, God, you know, and it was
just, it was just aconversation.
It was just the first time Ijust become aware of that.
(04:42):
And that awareness just planteda little bit of a seed.
Nothing huge, but it was just,I just remember that day and I
remember that moment.
And I remember that being thefirst time that it became a
thought in my mind.
And it was a thought thatdidn't really go away.
So not very much longer afterthat, because I'd been praying
(05:06):
and I was like, God, what'snext?
Like, what's coming?
What are you, what are youdoing?
I you're you're I know you'redoing something, even if it
doesn't feel like it.
I I'm I'm sure you're stillworking.
And so it it must not have beeneven a month later.
I don't remember if it was twoweeks or four weeks, but it was
(05:27):
not long.
I was at church and I was withmy husband.
We were going to get our kids,and some friends of ours who we
had known for a few years whowere also business owners, came
up to us and said, Hey, we wantto start a small group for
(05:48):
entrepreneurs, for businessowners.
And immediately in my spirit, Iwas like, Yes.
And normally I would like makelike talk to my husband about it
first and not commit toanything so big or so, you know,
something that required such atime commitment.
But I just, as soon as heasked, my spirit was just like,
(06:10):
yes, like God said, say yes.
And that was the end of that.
And I looked at my husband, I'mlike, I hope you want to do
this because we're doing it.
And I feel like we need to dothis.
And so at that time, I had kindof been out of the
entrepreneurship game for awhile.
I had been so focused on mywork within the organization and
(06:35):
leading that and and doing likestrategic planning and
e-commerce and marketing.
And I had not really been in mylike entrepreneurial mindset or
habits.
We still had a business.
My husband was running thebusiness.
I had just really step taken avery, very big step back because
(06:56):
I could not handle both.
I didn't have the bandwidth, Ididn't have the capacity to do
stuff in our business as well asdo what I was doing in my job.
And so we started this, thisgroup, this, this business group
with for other business ownersand entrepreneurs.
And we hosted it at our house.
And we were just every weektalking about business topics
(07:20):
and and faith and just kind ofGod's leading and direction and
what that looked like.
And we were getting to knowsome new people.
And honestly, it was not long.
I mean, again, it might havebeen a month, maybe not even.
Like, I just remember westarted having these groups.
We met once a week.
(07:41):
And very, very quickly, I wasfeeling a stirring.
I was feeling like all of theseideas and this passion and
these thoughts coming to thesurface.
And I was getting emotional andI was getting excited.
(08:01):
And I was like, oh my gosh,this, it's like this thing has
been dormant inside of me for awhile.
And now it's bubbling back upto the surface because I knew
this feeling, I knew these,these dreams, and I, I knew
these desires because I I hadhad them for years, but I had
(08:23):
kind of thought they'd I'dthey'd kind of been like dead
and buried for a while.
And I thought I'd kind ofgotten over it.
And I thought I was happy doingwhat I was doing.
And here, here these thingscome, here these feelings come.
And I start wrestling, andgroup becomes like this
(08:43):
emotional, raw experience thatevery time I get done, I'm just
feeling like, oh, like, what isthis?
I'm I don't have peace aboutthis, but I feel like I am
trying to, I'm trying to wrestlewith this.
And that would have been likethe next thing.
(09:04):
So the first thing was justthis awareness.
And then the next thing waslike this stirring, like just
this, like, ooh, like I'm whatare these feelings and why won't
they go away?
Why can't I just like squelchthem?
And here, and then we have likemoving into like these internal
signs of this wrestling andthis resistance, because that's
(09:27):
what I was doing.
I was wrestling with this,these dreams, wrestling with
with this timing and resistingit.
I wanted to put it back to bed.
I wanted to rebury it because Iknew that these things coming
to the surface were going tothreaten the comfort and the
(09:48):
security and the stability ofwhat I had going on.
And I didn't want that.
I I wanted to keep, I wanted tostay happy doing what I was
doing.
I wanted to stay content.
I wanted to just focus on that.
It was going well, it was goinggood for our family, good at
work, and I didn't want to rockthe boat.
(10:10):
So I tried to fight it.
And that went on for a few moreweeks.
And I was sharing this atgroup.
And one of the one of the groupmembers was like, what if you
just, what if you just dosomething about this?
Like, what if instead of tryingto fight it, you like what
(10:33):
would doing something about thislook like?
And I was like, okay, I I haveall these ideas, I have these
thoughts.
I have no, it's not like I wasthinking, oh, I want to start a
new business, or I have, I haveno plan.
I had no plan.
I just had energy welling upinside of me.
(10:55):
I had thoughts, I had emotions,and I couldn't get them out.
I had no outlet.
So I kind of surrendered tothis idea that God was asking me
to do something.
He was asking me to take actionand address all of these things
that were coming to thesurface.
And so that is when I ended uprealizing that, okay, God is
(11:20):
God's doing this.
He that he is behind this.
This isn't my own selfishambition.
This isn't my own plan.
Because this isn't, this isn'tmy plan.
This plan doesn't make sense.
But I'm going to, I'm gonnaaccept that this is God.
And if it's God, then I know Ineed to obey.
(11:44):
I know I need to take some sortof action with this.
And so in the fall of 2023, Ijust started a YouTube channel.
So no plan, no outlet, orsorry, no plan.
It was just an outlet.
It was just like, okay, all ofthese things I'm learning, or
(12:05):
all of these things I'm feeling,or all these ideas and
concepts.
I'm just going to turn a cameraon and share.
And I'm just going to talkthrough whatever these ideas and
topics are.
And so I did that and I feltrelief.
I felt like, okay, I'm doingthis, I'm taking action, I'm
(12:26):
sharing what's on my heart.
I'm doing it in an authenticway.
And it's a minimal thing.
Like I was just trying to beobedient to it.
And so there was no likeediting or involved.
There was, it was very basic.
So I would sit down, I wasn'teven like scripting or anything.
(12:47):
I would literally turn mycamera on, which was a webcam at
the time, sit down, have anidea of what I wanted to say,
record it in one shot, noediting.
I would trim the beginning,trim the end, and then upload it
and post it.
And that was that was myYouTube channel.
But it was just like it was anoutlet to get these ideas out.
(13:08):
And so that kind of carried meinto 2024.
And then I started seeing theseother external signs that were
happening in my life.
And at the time I I really sawno connection to any of it.
(13:31):
Things like my my doctor, whomy primary care provider, who
I'd had for the last few years,who I loved.
I just I I was very attached tomy primary care provider
because she was just the bestdoctor I'd ever had.
And she fired me.
(13:52):
She fired me because I missedan appointment, or I didn't do a
follow-up thing that she hadwanted because I was I was so
busy at work and I I couldn't, Iwas barely being able to put
myself first or go to thisfollow-up appointment.
Anyway, I got I got fired frommy doctor, and I thought that
was weird, but I was like, okay,well, I get it.
(14:15):
I didn't do what she asked meto do, so that's my fault.
And I didn't, I didn't everfind a doctor again that I felt
the same strong connection with.
It was like manager meetings,or it was traveling for a
(15:02):
conference, or it was travelingaround two different branches,
like things that I couldn't, Icouldn't control because that
schedule was affecting otherpeople's schedules.
And it was just like, I'msorry, I I can't make it to this
meeting.
I have to, I have to do thiswork thing.
And so it was like month aftermonth after month I kept missing
(15:23):
all these meetings.
And I was like, man, you know,obviously I felt like really bad
about that, but I was like, whyis that happening?
Like this is totally beyond mycontrol.
And then at work, things werestarting to happen where I was
starting to have these ideascome come into play.
(15:45):
I was like listening to morebooks, and I was really
meditating on these things andruminating on these things, and
I was getting a little bit moreactive in my business again
because I had these ideas, andit was these ideas of this like
clarity alignment authenticityor clarity alignment
(16:07):
accountability framework thatwas starting to kind of come to
life.
And it was starting with thisclarity piece.
And we had a web design andmarketing agency, and so I was
testing out my theory by goingback and working with all my
clients that I knew really welland saying, hey, I have this new
(16:29):
thing I'm testing out, this newway of telling a brand story.
And I know that we've done thisat some point, but I would you
be willing to like sit down andchat with me and see what else
can come to the surface.
And they're like, Yeah, sure,you know, because I was like
doing it for free.
I was just like testing thetheory and the concept.
(16:51):
And I was going through thisand I was figuring out this
process and finding success withit and being exhilarated by it
and being like, wow, like thisis this is this spark is getting
bigger.
This this flame is gettingbigger.
And I was getting more and morepassionate about meaningful
(17:14):
work and people really being intheir unique giftings.
And so I was implementing someof these new ideas at work as
well.
And we were doing personalitytests on everybody, and we were
doing some intentional teambuilding, and we were looking at
roles, and I was realizing, I'mlike, I am, I believe that this
(17:39):
is my unique gifting, and I'mwanting to do more of this
because I want to contribute ina more impactful and valuable
way.
And my boss supported it.
He he helped me do this, hehelped open these doors.
And as I was doing it, I wasfacing more and more opposition
(18:01):
and tension at work, like notfrom my boss, but from other
coworkers, because here I wastrying to step into this
different role, this more honedin and focused role.
And it was like not there,there was tension from that.
There was like, what?
(18:22):
But you're the marketingperson, but you're in this box.
And now you have these ideasabout the like this, these other
things, and what's going onhere.
And I still pushed through it,and we still gained a lot of
traction with it.
And it was, it was working.
(18:43):
Like it was, we were doingthese intentional team building
sessions, and every single timewe presented this idea to every
branch or department, there wastons of hesitation, there was
tons of resistance, there wastons of like just what's going
on and what does this mean?
And then this is new.
And then we would go and do it,and and they would just have a
(19:05):
blast.
Like they would they would getto know each other better, they
would learn things about eachother that they didn't know.
They would have fun, therewould be tons of laughter, and
it was like six, it was a it wasa success, like it was, it was
an incredible success.
But I was still just dealingwith this this opposition and
this resistance, and it was itwas making work more and more
(19:30):
stressful because here I waslike convicted by this vision,
convicted and just like God,like affirming this, like, hey,
like this is this is what I havecreated you for.
I gave you these gifts, likeyou are developing these, and
it's okay that you're facingthis opposition.
(19:50):
Don't give up, like, don'tstop, keep pushing through.
And so here I had these, likethis opposition, this tension,
this pulling away of thingshappening, even though I was
doing exactly what I felt likeGod was telling me to do.
I felt like I was beingobedient to that.
And in spite of that, I wasstill facing tension and
(20:16):
opposition and friction.
And there were somerelationships in my life that I
had had that were slowly justkind of getting more and more
distant because life was gettingbusier, and there was just more
of a uh disconnect.
And then we it was summer of2024, and we had this like big
(20:48):
company picnic at work, and allthe people and all their
families went, and I, you know,helped and helped put together a
lot of the like employeerecognition stuff, and and it
was this beautiful event.
And I remember being there andbeing with all these people that
(21:08):
I had spent the last four and ahalf years of my life with and
feeling like I didn't belong,like feeling like I'm like, oh
wow, like this isn't this isn'twhere I'm supposed to be.
And that was the first time Irecognized that for sure.
I was like, okay, God ispreparing me to leave at some
(21:33):
point.
Like I'm not staying here for along time.
And it wasn't like I was like,oh, I'm gonna go and quit.
If anything, it was theopposite.
If anything, I was like, okay,I'm recognizing I don't belong.
I'm recognizing there's allthis tension and opposition, but
if God has called me to this,that I am going to, I'm gonna
surrender this, I'm gonna justlet him be in control.
(21:54):
I will be here as long as hewants me here.
I I understand that my time iscoming to an end.
I understand that God is doingsomething new.
I understand that after thistime ends, that I want to go
(22:15):
back to being an entrepreneur.
I understand that there's this,these ideas and this framework
and the this calling and thispurpose that I'm understanding
needs to happen within the worldof being an entrepreneur.
But until then, I will givethis everything I've got.
(22:36):
I will, no matter howdifficult, no matter how
stressful, no matter how muchanxiety I have, I will dig my
heels in and commit to this.
And I was having severeanxiety.
Like I was literally dealingwith like physical anxiety
attacks happening on a weeklybasis at that point.
(23:01):
But I was just like, nope, likeI'm in this, like uh, God has
me here.
I am not leaving until he tellsme otherwise.
I am not leaving until hereleases me.
And so the stress and thepressure and the anxiety and the
friction continued to build,but so did my resolve.
(23:22):
Like, so did my commitment tostaying.
And I'd had tons ofconversations with my husband.
I had had conversations with myboss as well about letting him
know, like, I am I'm in this, Iknow it's hard, I know it's an
uphill battle, but I Iunderstand what I'm dealing with
(23:44):
and I'm willing to work throughit.
I'm willing to break throughthis ceiling because what I I
recognized that I'd hit aceiling, and I thought that I
could break through this ceilingwhile staying in the same
organization.
Like I was really trying tojust evolve through it and and
(24:06):
stay where I was at, you know,because I was that there was a
lot of good things going on.
There was a lot of stability,there was a lot of security,
there was a lot of comfort,there was a lot of reliability,
and and there, and it had been ahuge blessing, you know.
It had been a blessing in somany ways, and I'd been so
thankful for it.
And I didn't want to throw itaway.
I didn't want to not begrateful for it.
(24:28):
But in September, October of2024, here I am, like
strengthening my resolve tostay.
But also then fully accepting,fully realizing that I was
waiting for God to move.
(24:49):
And I knew something washappening.
And in the summer of 2024, I'dactually been visiting my
family, and I had said, I waslike, to be honest, I said, I
don't have a vision for my roleor for my life past the end of
(25:09):
the year.
I was like, for some reason, Iget this sense, I get this
feeling, this prompting that Iwon't be there past the end of
the year.
And I was, and they're like,Well, do you think you're gonna
leave?
And I was like, No, I'm notgonna leave.
Like, no.
I was like, I don't know why Ihave this feeling, but that's
ludicrous.
(25:29):
That is crazy.
That is, that is just a weirdthought, and I don't know where
that came from, but I just Iknew it was there.
I was like, but I would neverdo that to my husband, I would
never do that to my family, Iwouldn't do that to my boss.
Like, that is that is just notthat's just crazy talk right
there.
So anyway, so I get into thefall, I recognize that my time
(25:55):
there is coming to an end, but Iam honestly thinking that the
end is coming within one tothree years.
Like I'm thinking I have aminimum of at least another year
there.
And no matter how hard it'sgonna be, I'm gonna stick it out
and I'm gonna push through andI'm gonna, you know, like I was,
but and then that was mesurrendering, right?
(26:17):
Like I was surrendering toGod's plan.
I was surrendering to God, ifyou have me here, I will be here
for as long as you want me, nomatter how hard it is.
Like that is this is your plan.
You are in control.
I have made too many mistakes.
I have done this too many timesbefore, where I have set the
(26:39):
direction, where I have tried totake things under my control.
And I'm not going to do that.
So I'm going to I'm it's fullsurrender, right?
Just full surrender forwhatever it is in the midst of
opposition, in the midst ofadversity, in the midst of
stress and tension.
But I remember just praying andpraying, and I was again
(27:02):
leading a different small groupat the time.
And I remember telling them,and I was saying, like, this
season is so stressful.
I was like, I'm literallyhanging on by a thread, and I am
holding on to God through itall.
I was like, I'm waiting and Ifeel like I'm waiting for
something.
I was like, I don't know whatit is, but I feel like it's
(27:23):
coming.
It's coming soon.
I just have no idea what it is.
And and you know, and there itwas.
And so it was November 2024.
Almost almost a year ago now.
And I remember it was a Fridaymorning, and my husband came
(27:53):
into the room and he said, Idon't think I want to live in
Great Falls anymore.
And I was like, Oh, okay, well,that's alright.
Like, we we don't have to stayhere forever.
Like, I only have one to threeyears left with my with my
current position.
(28:14):
Like, we can definitely plan onon moving somewhere else after
that.
Where do you think you want togo?
And he didn't know at the time,and so he like left left left
the room or went outside and wasdoing stuff.
And we I got on, I got on thecomputer and I was like googling
(28:39):
like different places inMontana to to live because there
was no way we would ever leavethe state.
And so I'm like looking at thedifferent cities and looking at
the different towns and justlike nothing's feeling right,
nothing's feeling like ah, Idon't I don't want to go to an
anywhere, I don't know where Iwant to go.
(28:59):
Like, you know, just not beingopposed to uh moving from Great
Falls, but not knowing whereelse in Montana made sense.
And so he comes back in 45minutes later and he looks at me
and he's like, I think I wantto move to Alaska.
(29:20):
And I'm like, Oh okay.
And there are some ties toAlaska, so this wasn't just like
completely far-fetched.
He's been visiting for the lastlike eight years, and we've
been up, we've we had visited, Ihave family up there, up here,
I guess.
It was there at the time, butanyway, so this this wasn't just
(29:42):
out of out of the ordinary,like the most remote place we
could possibly think of.
It was there was a reason.
And I was like, okay, well, letme think about that.
And so I get online and I startlooking at houses and and and
there's There's peace there.
There's like, I'm looking atthese houses, and God's like,
(30:06):
this is where I want you tomove.
This I want you to move toAlaska.
And it was just right then andthere, this most clear
prompting, this most cleardirection, full peace, full
clarity, full like God iscalling us to Alaska.
We're gonna move to Alaska.
(30:26):
And it was just like boom,there, there it is.
Now, at the time, in thatmoment, we still were thinking
summer 2025 or a year later, orlike at that point, it was just
a very clear, like, okay, we'regoing.
That is where we will be going.
(30:46):
And two weeks later, 15 dayslater, we landed in Alaska with
our family and our dogs and oursix suitcases.
And in in two weeks from themoment the thought was planted,
(31:10):
we were we were gone.
And that is the whole story inand of itself, obviously,
because who just uproots theirlife like that in two weeks.
But when I said I was waitingfor God to release me, it he
(31:32):
released me.
Like again, there's a wholestory there too.
But I I went in to my boss andI said, I have loved working for
you for the last five years.
You're the best boss I haveever had.
I have nothing but the utmostrespect for you.
(31:52):
I was like, but beyond likethat, I was like, the most
important thing in my life ishonoring God and being obedient
because He is Lord and Saviorover my life.
Like He is who directs mysteps.
And He's calling us to go toAlaska, like, and I'm giving you
(32:16):
my resignation.
And and then that was it endeda little bit, and that was good.
And then we ended up movingfaster than we thought.
And again, I think there'sstill all kinds of questions and
processing there.
However, it was, I justremember, I'm like, I know I
(32:40):
prayed.
I will be there until Godreleases me.
And he and he did, like hemoved like through through my
husband, through other factors,like there were doors that had
to be opened in order for us tomake this move in two weeks.
But all of these things hadbeen happening, all of these,
(33:03):
these moments, all of theseexperiences, all of this pulling
away, these promptings, theseaffirmations, these this
surrender of choosing to obeyhim, like choosing to accept
that that if God is calling usto something new, if he's asking
(33:26):
us to step out, if he's askingme to step into
entrepreneurship.
And I will tell you, like inwhat I would have said was the
worst timing, we moved to Alaskain December.
I mean, come on, it was fourhours of daylight.
Like it was like who moves whomoves to Alaska then?
We went without a plan.
Like my plan had been to, youknow, phase out and slowly build
(33:52):
a new brand on the side and andjust transition smoothly.
And I just I had all of theseways that I would have done it.
And staying comfortable,staying secure, staying where I
was at, and trying to basicallyhave the best of both worlds.
And God was saying, leave whatyou know and follow me.
(34:18):
Like leave what you know andobey.
And this is not the first timethat this has happened.
Like there, like I said, therehave been other seasons of
transition in my life.
And whether it was moving frombeing an employee to being an
entrepreneur, or even going frombeing an entrepreneur to being
(34:38):
an employee, it was followed bythese different signs, this,
this awareness, this stirring,these internal signs of
wrestling and resistance, thissurrender and obedience and
being willing to take action.
External signs, like, you know,affirming it and making a way
(35:01):
for doors to some doors to openand some doors to close.
And then eventually just likewaiting in faith, in full
surrender, not controlling thesituation, like waiting, waiting
for God to move and to act incontinuing to serve and
(35:21):
continuing to show up to thebest of my ability until he made
it clear that it was time toact, until he made it clear it
was time to go.
And then it's followed by theactual shift happening.
It's followed by the changetaking place.
Now, what happens post-changeis its own story as well.
(35:44):
I think there's there's a wholejourney that happens after
that.
It's not like we make a changeand then everything is good
because we've just left onething and walked into something
new.
It's like when when theIsraelites leave Egypt, well,
there's all of these signs andthere's all of these wonders,
(36:04):
and there's, you know, God'shand moving and closing doors
and opening doors and making away, and it happens over a
period of time.
And then they leave Egypt.
Well, that's not the end of thestory.
There's there's so much morethat happens after that.
(36:25):
So it's just important torecognize the events that can
happen and the signs that canhappen to prepare us and let us
know this is God.
This is God prompting me.
This is God leading me.
This is God acting and movingon my behalf, not my plan, not
(36:48):
my will, not me trying tocontrol it.
It is surrender, it isobedience, and it is faith.
It is trusting that God is incontrol and we're stepping into
something new, even though wedon't know what we're stepping
into, even though it very oftendoesn't make sense, the timing
(37:08):
doesn't make sense.
I wish that it was prettier andless risk and less less
uncertainty.
But but God's like, who who doyou trust?
Like, who is your provider?
Who is who is in control?
Like, is it me?
And do you really believe that?
And if you do, you're gonnawait for me to act.
(37:31):
And then when I do start toact, you're gonna trust and
you're gonna know that it's mein the process.
And it's going to, it's gonnastrengthen our relationship.
It's going to stress, like it'sabsolutely, it's like this
whole process was me learning tosurrender my will, surrender my
control, surrender my plan,surrender my expectation of what
(37:57):
should happen.
And just trust God in theprocess.
And it was not just trustinghim.
I mean, it was needing him.
It was seeking him.
It was like he was in everythought and in every day and in
every action.
Cause I'm like, I realize I'mlike, I cannot do this on my
(38:17):
own.
I do not have what it takes to,I don't have what it takes to
stay here on my own.
I don't have what it takes tomove on my own.
I need you.
I and I I need you and I wantyou.
I want you in control.
I want you to lead this and tobe the one who's calling the
(38:37):
shots, to be the one who's incharge, because I know that your
plan is so much better than myplan.
And I've learned enough tostart to trust that and to start
to believe.
And and this is what faithlooks like.
It's, you know, God callingAbraham away from what he knew.
And come to a land that I willshow you.
(39:01):
Like he didn't even give it toit.
Like he didn't know where hewas going when he left.
God's like, just come and I'llshow you later.
Like, and oftentimes that'swhat it looks like when we step
out in faith is come and I willshow you, I'll reveal it to you
(39:24):
a little bit at a time.
But before he moves us, heprepares our heart for it.
I think long before that changeever happens.
Like for me, this stirring,this very first seed that was
planted, was planted almost likea year and a half before
(39:45):
anything ever really happened.
And it was slow and it had timeto grow.
And I had time to process andadjust and pray through it and
be encouraged and be affirmedand start to accept it and start
to trust it.
Like it was a slow process, butI know that through that time I
(40:06):
wasn't trying to manipulate thesituation.
I wasn't trying to call theshots.
I was just trying to beobedient to wherever it was.
But when God is ready for youto move, He will move.
Like He will open doors, notyou.
And that's one of the biggestlessons I've learned along the
(40:29):
way, and mainly from just doingit wrong so many times.
But anyway, if that I hope thatwas encouraging.
I think sometimes it's it's notthat we all know what we're
doing all the time.
It's just that it's like wehave these lives that we lead,
we have these experiences thatwe have.
(40:51):
And all we can do is look backand reflect on and grow from
what God taught us along theway, and then be willing to
share that story, be willing tobe upfront about it and
transparent about it, and hopethat it can encourage some other
(41:14):
people along the way, you know.
And I don't, I don't know yourstory.
I don't know where you're atright now.
But if you're listening to thisand you're in a season that
you're not sure about, just knowthis could be an external sign
that, you know, if if if you'vehad questions about is this
(41:36):
really God, well, yeah, it itvery well might be.
I don't know your story, butanyway.
So as always, you can learnmore at
Clearauthenticbrands.com.
That's all for this episode.
See you in the next one.
I'm your host, Amy Dardis, and in today's episode,
we are talking about how to knowwhen a shift is getting ready
to happen.
And this is relevant for anyonereally, but I am sharing what
it looked like for me throughthe lens of entrepreneurship.
And maybe you'll see your ownstory in this episode and in
(00:36):
what I'm sharing.
And if I've learned anything,it's that God is always at work,
whether we can see it or senseit or not.
And it's not so much aboutknowing the plan, but it's
understanding when God iscalling you to something new,
(00:56):
understanding when it's time tostep out in faith and being
obedient to that.
It's learning to recognize whenGod is shifting you from one
season to the next, whether itbe from going from an employee
to being an entrepreneur, orgoing from being an entrepreneur
(01:19):
to being an employee, orwhether it's shifting from one
role to another.
The shift has happened manytimes throughout my life.
And the more times I've gonethrough this shift, the more
I've learned to recognize God'shand in it, the more I've
learned to hear his voicethrough it, the more I've
(01:42):
learned to trust the process.
Although it's still a struggleevery time.
But today's episode, I'm goingto share with you the most
recent one in my life and whatthat's looked like.
So back in summer of 2023, Iwas an employee.
(02:05):
I was on a leadership team.
I was working full-time for anorganization that I loved.
I had been in a season, I'dbeen there for four years at the
time doing work that I loved.
I was aligned.
I was in roles that I had thecapacity for.
I was contributing in ameaningful way.
(02:28):
And I had just thoroughlyenjoyed the last few years of my
life.
And I had experiencedtremendous growth and tremendous
challenge and tremendous rewardand fruit and huge learning
curves, but huge, huge gapsbeing closed, huge potential
(02:50):
being reached.
Like I had just really enjoyedthat season of my life.
And I remember it wassummertime, and I was my kids
were home during the summer.
And I was thankful enough to beworking from home during most
of it.
And at the end of my workday, Iwould take my kids to the park
(03:13):
and they would ride their bikesand I would walk and listen to
music and just pray and just getsome steps in because I'd been
sitting at a desk at a computerall day.
And it was just good to kind oflet the stress of the day go.
And I remember it was Augustand I was walking and I just all
(03:36):
of a sudden became aware that Iwas very comfortable.
I became aware that I wasn'tfeeling stretched in any which
way.
I wasn't feeling like I hadincredible purpose or passion or
the same amount that had beenfueling me these last few years.
(03:57):
And I realized that I, at thatmoment in time, I had no vision
for what was next.
And so I kind of felt a littlebit lost, a little bit stagnant,
a little bit unsure, and not ina desperate way, not in ways I
have certainly been crying outfor vision and crying out for
(04:18):
revelation.
It wasn't like that.
It was just like, oh, I likethings are good.
I'm comfortable.
And this feels weird.
This feels off.
And I'm I'm wondering what'snext, God, you know, and it was
just, it was just aconversation.
It was just the first time Ijust become aware of that.
(04:42):
And that awareness just planteda little bit of a seed.
Nothing huge, but it was just,I just remember that day and I
remember that moment.
And I remember that being thefirst time that it became a
thought in my mind.
And it was a thought thatdidn't really go away.
So not very much longer afterthat, because I'd been praying
(05:06):
and I was like, God, what'snext?
Like, what's coming?
What are you, what are youdoing?
I you're you're I know you'redoing something, even if it
doesn't feel like it.
I I'm I'm sure you're stillworking.
And so it it must not have beeneven a month later.
I don't remember if it was twoweeks or four weeks, but it was
(05:27):
not long.
I was at church and I was withmy husband.
We were going to get our kids,and some friends of ours who we
had known for a few years whowere also business owners, came
up to us and said, Hey, we wantto start a small group for
(05:48):
entrepreneurs, for businessowners.
And immediately in my spirit, Iwas like, Yes.
And normally I would like makelike talk to my husband about it
first and not commit toanything so big or so, you know,
something that required such atime commitment.
But I just, as soon as heasked, my spirit was just like,
(06:10):
yes, like God said, say yes.
And that was the end of that.
And I looked at my husband, I'mlike, I hope you want to do
this because we're doing it.
And I feel like we need to dothis.
And so at that time, I had kindof been out of the
entrepreneurship game for awhile.
I had been so focused on mywork within the organization and
(06:35):
leading that and and doing likestrategic planning and
e-commerce and marketing.
And I had not really been in mylike entrepreneurial mindset or
habits.
We still had a business.
My husband was running thebusiness.
I had just really step taken avery, very big step back because
(06:56):
I could not handle both.
I didn't have the bandwidth, Ididn't have the capacity to do
stuff in our business as well asdo what I was doing in my job.
And so we started this, thisgroup, this, this business group
with for other business ownersand entrepreneurs.
And we hosted it at our house.
And we were just every weektalking about business topics
(07:20):
and and faith and just kind ofGod's leading and direction and
what that looked like.
And we were getting to knowsome new people.
And honestly, it was not long.
I mean, again, it might havebeen a month, maybe not even.
Like, I just remember westarted having these groups.
We met once a week.
(07:41):
And very, very quickly, I wasfeeling a stirring.
I was feeling like all of theseideas and this passion and
these thoughts coming to thesurface.
And I was getting emotional andI was getting excited.
(08:01):
And I was like, oh my gosh,this, it's like this thing has
been dormant inside of me for awhile.
And now it's bubbling back upto the surface because I knew
this feeling, I knew these,these dreams, and I, I knew
these desires because I I hadhad them for years, but I had
(08:23):
kind of thought they'd I'dthey'd kind of been like dead
and buried for a while.
And I thought I'd kind ofgotten over it.
And I thought I was happy doingwhat I was doing.
And here, here these thingscome, here these feelings come.
And I start wrestling, andgroup becomes like this
(08:43):
emotional, raw experience thatevery time I get done, I'm just
feeling like, oh, like, what isthis?
I'm I don't have peace aboutthis, but I feel like I am
trying to, I'm trying to wrestlewith this.
And that would have been likethe next thing.
(09:04):
So the first thing was justthis awareness.
And then the next thing waslike this stirring, like just
this, like, ooh, like I'm whatare these feelings and why won't
they go away?
Why can't I just like squelchthem?
And here, and then we have likemoving into like these internal
signs of this wrestling andthis resistance, because that's
(09:27):
what I was doing.
I was wrestling with this,these dreams, wrestling with
with this timing and resistingit.
I wanted to put it back to bed.
I wanted to rebury it because Iknew that these things coming
to the surface were going tothreaten the comfort and the
(09:48):
security and the stability ofwhat I had going on.
And I didn't want that.
I I wanted to keep, I wanted tostay happy doing what I was
doing.
I wanted to stay content.
I wanted to just focus on that.
It was going well, it was goinggood for our family, good at
work, and I didn't want to rockthe boat.
(10:10):
So I tried to fight it.
And that went on for a few moreweeks.
And I was sharing this atgroup.
And one of the one of the groupmembers was like, what if you
just, what if you just dosomething about this?
Like, what if instead of tryingto fight it, you like what
(10:33):
would doing something about thislook like?
And I was like, okay, I I haveall these ideas, I have these
thoughts.
I have no, it's not like I wasthinking, oh, I want to start a
new business, or I have, I haveno plan.
I had no plan.
I just had energy welling upinside of me.
(10:55):
I had thoughts, I had emotions,and I couldn't get them out.
I had no outlet.
So I kind of surrendered tothis idea that God was asking me
to do something.
He was asking me to take actionand address all of these things
that were coming to thesurface.
And so that is when I ended uprealizing that, okay, God is
(11:20):
God's doing this.
He that he is behind this.
This isn't my own selfishambition.
This isn't my own plan.
Because this isn't, this isn'tmy plan.
This plan doesn't make sense.
But I'm going to, I'm gonnaaccept that this is God.
And if it's God, then I know Ineed to obey.
(11:44):
I know I need to take some sortof action with this.
And so in the fall of 2023, Ijust started a YouTube channel.
So no plan, no outlet, orsorry, no plan.
It was just an outlet.
It was just like, okay, all ofthese things I'm learning, or
(12:05):
all of these things I'm feeling,or all these ideas and
concepts.
I'm just going to turn a cameraon and share.
And I'm just going to talkthrough whatever these ideas and
topics are.
And so I did that and I feltrelief.
I felt like, okay, I'm doingthis, I'm taking action, I'm
(12:26):
sharing what's on my heart.
I'm doing it in an authenticway.
And it's a minimal thing.
Like I was just trying to beobedient to it.
And so there was no likeediting or involved.
There was, it was very basic.
So I would sit down, I wasn'teven like scripting or anything.
(12:47):
I would literally turn mycamera on, which was a webcam at
the time, sit down, have anidea of what I wanted to say,
record it in one shot, noediting.
I would trim the beginning,trim the end, and then upload it
and post it.
And that was that was myYouTube channel.
But it was just like it was anoutlet to get these ideas out.
(13:08):
And so that kind of carried meinto 2024.
And then I started seeing theseother external signs that were
happening in my life.
And at the time I I really sawno connection to any of it.
(13:31):
Things like my my doctor, whomy primary care provider, who
I'd had for the last few years,who I loved.
I just I I was very attached tomy primary care provider
because she was just the bestdoctor I'd ever had.
And she fired me.
(13:52):
She fired me because I missedan appointment, or I didn't do a
follow-up thing that she hadwanted because I was I was so
busy at work and I I couldn't, Iwas barely being able to put
myself first or go to thisfollow-up appointment.
Anyway, I got I got fired frommy doctor, and I thought that
was weird, but I was like, okay,well, I get it.
(14:15):
I didn't do what she asked meto do, so that's my fault.
And I didn't, I didn't everfind a doctor again that I felt
the same strong connection with.
It was like manager meetings,or it was traveling for a
(15:02):
conference, or it was travelingaround two different branches,
like things that I couldn't, Icouldn't control because that
schedule was affecting otherpeople's schedules.
And it was just like, I'msorry, I I can't make it to this
meeting.
I have to, I have to do thiswork thing.
And so it was like month aftermonth after month I kept missing
(15:23):
all these meetings.
And I was like, man, you know,obviously I felt like really bad
about that, but I was like, whyis that happening?
Like this is totally beyond mycontrol.
And then at work, things werestarting to happen where I was
starting to have these ideascome come into play.
(15:45):
I was like listening to morebooks, and I was really
meditating on these things andruminating on these things, and
I was getting a little bit moreactive in my business again
because I had these ideas, andit was these ideas of this like
clarity alignment authenticityor clarity alignment
(16:07):
accountability framework thatwas starting to kind of come to
life.
And it was starting with thisclarity piece.
And we had a web design andmarketing agency, and so I was
testing out my theory by goingback and working with all my
clients that I knew really welland saying, hey, I have this new
(16:29):
thing I'm testing out, this newway of telling a brand story.
And I know that we've done thisat some point, but I would you
be willing to like sit down andchat with me and see what else
can come to the surface.
And they're like, Yeah, sure,you know, because I was like
doing it for free.
I was just like testing thetheory and the concept.
(16:51):
And I was going through thisand I was figuring out this
process and finding success withit and being exhilarated by it
and being like, wow, like thisis this is this spark is getting
bigger.
This this flame is gettingbigger.
And I was getting more and morepassionate about meaningful
(17:14):
work and people really being intheir unique giftings.
And so I was implementing someof these new ideas at work as
well.
And we were doing personalitytests on everybody, and we were
doing some intentional teambuilding, and we were looking at
roles, and I was realizing, I'mlike, I am, I believe that this
(17:39):
is my unique gifting, and I'mwanting to do more of this
because I want to contribute ina more impactful and valuable
way.
And my boss supported it.
He he helped me do this, hehelped open these doors.
And as I was doing it, I wasfacing more and more opposition
(18:01):
and tension at work, like notfrom my boss, but from other
coworkers, because here I wastrying to step into this
different role, this more honedin and focused role.
And it was like not there,there was tension from that.
There was like, what?
(18:22):
But you're the marketingperson, but you're in this box.
And now you have these ideasabout the like this, these other
things, and what's going onhere.
And I still pushed through it,and we still gained a lot of
traction with it.
And it was, it was working.
(18:43):
Like it was, we were doingthese intentional team building
sessions, and every single timewe presented this idea to every
branch or department, there wastons of hesitation, there was
tons of resistance, there wastons of like just what's going
on and what does this mean?
And then this is new.
And then we would go and do it,and and they would just have a
(19:05):
blast.
Like they would they would getto know each other better, they
would learn things about eachother that they didn't know.
They would have fun, therewould be tons of laughter, and
it was like six, it was a it wasa success, like it was, it was
an incredible success.
But I was still just dealingwith this this opposition and
this resistance, and it was itwas making work more and more
(19:30):
stressful because here I waslike convicted by this vision,
convicted and just like God,like affirming this, like, hey,
like this is this is what I havecreated you for.
I gave you these gifts, likeyou are developing these, and
it's okay that you're facingthis opposition.
(19:50):
Don't give up, like, don'tstop, keep pushing through.
And so here I had these, likethis opposition, this tension,
this pulling away of thingshappening, even though I was
doing exactly what I felt likeGod was telling me to do.
I felt like I was beingobedient to that.
And in spite of that, I wasstill facing tension and
(20:16):
opposition and friction.
And there were somerelationships in my life that I
had had that were slowly justkind of getting more and more
distant because life was gettingbusier, and there was just more
of a uh disconnect.
And then we it was summer of2024, and we had this like big
(20:48):
company picnic at work, and allthe people and all their
families went, and I, you know,helped and helped put together a
lot of the like employeerecognition stuff, and and it
was this beautiful event.
And I remember being there andbeing with all these people that
(21:08):
I had spent the last four and ahalf years of my life with and
feeling like I didn't belong,like feeling like I'm like, oh
wow, like this isn't this isn'twhere I'm supposed to be.
And that was the first time Irecognized that for sure.
I was like, okay, God ispreparing me to leave at some
(21:33):
point.
Like I'm not staying here for along time.
And it wasn't like I was like,oh, I'm gonna go and quit.
If anything, it was theopposite.
If anything, I was like, okay,I'm recognizing I don't belong.
I'm recognizing there's allthis tension and opposition, but
if God has called me to this,that I am going to, I'm gonna
surrender this, I'm gonna justlet him be in control.
(21:54):
I will be here as long as hewants me here.
I I understand that my time iscoming to an end.
I understand that God is doingsomething new.
I understand that after thistime ends, that I want to go
(22:15):
back to being an entrepreneur.
I understand that there's this,these ideas and this framework
and the this calling and thispurpose that I'm understanding
needs to happen within the worldof being an entrepreneur.
But until then, I will givethis everything I've got.
(22:36):
I will, no matter howdifficult, no matter how
stressful, no matter how muchanxiety I have, I will dig my
heels in and commit to this.
And I was having severeanxiety.
Like I was literally dealingwith like physical anxiety
attacks happening on a weeklybasis at that point.
(23:01):
But I was just like, nope, likeI'm in this, like uh, God has
me here.
I am not leaving until he tellsme otherwise.
I am not leaving until hereleases me.
And so the stress and thepressure and the anxiety and the
friction continued to build,but so did my resolve.
(23:22):
Like, so did my commitment tostaying.
And I'd had tons ofconversations with my husband.
I had had conversations with myboss as well about letting him
know, like, I am I'm in this, Iknow it's hard, I know it's an
uphill battle, but I Iunderstand what I'm dealing with
(23:44):
and I'm willing to work throughit.
I'm willing to break throughthis ceiling because what I I
recognized that I'd hit aceiling, and I thought that I
could break through this ceilingwhile staying in the same
organization.
Like I was really trying tojust evolve through it and and
(24:06):
stay where I was at, you know,because I was that there was a
lot of good things going on.
There was a lot of stability,there was a lot of security,
there was a lot of comfort,there was a lot of reliability,
and and there, and it had been ahuge blessing, you know.
It had been a blessing in somany ways, and I'd been so
thankful for it.
And I didn't want to throw itaway.
I didn't want to not begrateful for it.
(24:28):
But in September, October of2024, here I am, like
strengthening my resolve tostay.
But also then fully accepting,fully realizing that I was
waiting for God to move.
(24:49):
And I knew something washappening.
And in the summer of 2024, I'dactually been visiting my
family, and I had said, I waslike, to be honest, I said, I
don't have a vision for my roleor for my life past the end of
(25:09):
the year.
I was like, for some reason, Iget this sense, I get this
feeling, this prompting that Iwon't be there past the end of
the year.
And I was, and they're like,Well, do you think you're gonna
leave?
And I was like, No, I'm notgonna leave.
Like, no.
I was like, I don't know why Ihave this feeling, but that's
ludicrous.
(25:29):
That is crazy.
That is, that is just a weirdthought, and I don't know where
that came from, but I just Iknew it was there.
I was like, but I would neverdo that to my husband, I would
never do that to my family, Iwouldn't do that to my boss.
Like, that is that is just notthat's just crazy talk right
there.
So anyway, so I get into thefall, I recognize that my time
(25:55):
there is coming to an end, but Iam honestly thinking that the
end is coming within one tothree years.
Like I'm thinking I have aminimum of at least another year
there.
And no matter how hard it'sgonna be, I'm gonna stick it out
and I'm gonna push through andI'm gonna, you know, like I was,
but and then that was mesurrendering, right?
(26:17):
Like I was surrendering toGod's plan.
I was surrendering to God, ifyou have me here, I will be here
for as long as you want me, nomatter how hard it is.
Like that is this is your plan.
You are in control.
I have made too many mistakes.
I have done this too many timesbefore, where I have set the
(26:39):
direction, where I have tried totake things under my control.
And I'm not going to do that.
So I'm going to I'm it's fullsurrender, right?
Just full surrender forwhatever it is in the midst of
opposition, in the midst ofadversity, in the midst of
stress and tension.
But I remember just praying andpraying, and I was again
(27:02):
leading a different small groupat the time.
And I remember telling them,and I was saying, like, this
season is so stressful.
I was like, I'm literallyhanging on by a thread, and I am
holding on to God through itall.
I was like, I'm waiting and Ifeel like I'm waiting for
something.
I was like, I don't know whatit is, but I feel like it's
(27:23):
coming.
It's coming soon.
I just have no idea what it is.
And and you know, and there itwas.
And so it was November 2024.
Almost almost a year ago now.
And I remember it was a Fridaymorning, and my husband came
(27:53):
into the room and he said, Idon't think I want to live in
Great Falls anymore.
And I was like, Oh, okay, well,that's alright.
Like, we we don't have to stayhere forever.
Like, I only have one to threeyears left with my with my
current position.
(28:14):
Like, we can definitely plan onon moving somewhere else after
that.
Where do you think you want togo?
And he didn't know at the time,and so he like left left left
the room or went outside and wasdoing stuff.
And we I got on, I got on thecomputer and I was like googling
(28:39):
like different places inMontana to to live because there
was no way we would ever leavethe state.
And so I'm like looking at thedifferent cities and looking at
the different towns and justlike nothing's feeling right,
nothing's feeling like ah, Idon't I don't want to go to an
anywhere, I don't know where Iwant to go.
(28:59):
Like, you know, just not beingopposed to uh moving from Great
Falls, but not knowing whereelse in Montana made sense.
And so he comes back in 45minutes later and he looks at me
and he's like, I think I wantto move to Alaska.
(29:20):
And I'm like, Oh okay.
And there are some ties toAlaska, so this wasn't just like
completely far-fetched.
He's been visiting for the lastlike eight years, and we've
been up, we've we had visited, Ihave family up there, up here,
I guess.
It was there at the time, butanyway, so this this wasn't just
(29:42):
out of out of the ordinary,like the most remote place we
could possibly think of.
It was there was a reason.
And I was like, okay, well, letme think about that.
And so I get online and I startlooking at houses and and and
there's There's peace there.
There's like, I'm looking atthese houses, and God's like,
(30:06):
this is where I want you tomove.
This I want you to move toAlaska.
And it was just right then andthere, this most clear
prompting, this most cleardirection, full peace, full
clarity, full like God iscalling us to Alaska.
We're gonna move to Alaska.
(30:26):
And it was just like boom,there, there it is.
Now, at the time, in thatmoment, we still were thinking
summer 2025 or a year later, orlike at that point, it was just
a very clear, like, okay, we'regoing.
That is where we will be going.
(30:46):
And two weeks later, 15 dayslater, we landed in Alaska with
our family and our dogs and oursix suitcases.
And in in two weeks from themoment the thought was planted,
(31:10):
we were we were gone.
And that is the whole story inand of itself, obviously,
because who just uproots theirlife like that in two weeks.
But when I said I was waitingfor God to release me, it he
(31:32):
released me.
Like again, there's a wholestory there too.
But I I went in to my boss andI said, I have loved working for
you for the last five years.
You're the best boss I haveever had.
I have nothing but the utmostrespect for you.
(31:52):
I was like, but beyond likethat, I was like, the most
important thing in my life ishonoring God and being obedient
because He is Lord and Saviorover my life.
Like He is who directs mysteps.
And He's calling us to go toAlaska, like, and I'm giving you
(32:16):
my resignation.
And and then that was it endeda little bit, and that was good.
And then we ended up movingfaster than we thought.
And again, I think there'sstill all kinds of questions and
processing there.
However, it was, I justremember, I'm like, I know I
(32:40):
prayed.
I will be there until Godreleases me.
And he and he did, like hemoved like through through my
husband, through other factors,like there were doors that had
to be opened in order for us tomake this move in two weeks.
But all of these things hadbeen happening, all of these,
(33:03):
these moments, all of theseexperiences, all of this pulling
away, these promptings, theseaffirmations, these this
surrender of choosing to obeyhim, like choosing to accept
that that if God is calling usto something new, if he's asking
(33:26):
us to step out, if he's askingme to step into
entrepreneurship.
And I will tell you, like inwhat I would have said was the
worst timing, we moved to Alaskain December.
I mean, come on, it was fourhours of daylight.
Like it was like who moves whomoves to Alaska then?
We went without a plan.
Like my plan had been to, youknow, phase out and slowly build
(33:52):
a new brand on the side and andjust transition smoothly.
And I just I had all of theseways that I would have done it.
And staying comfortable,staying secure, staying where I
was at, and trying to basicallyhave the best of both worlds.
And God was saying, leave whatyou know and follow me.
(34:18):
Like leave what you know andobey.
And this is not the first timethat this has happened.
Like there, like I said, therehave been other seasons of
transition in my life.
And whether it was moving frombeing an employee to being an
entrepreneur, or even going frombeing an entrepreneur to being
(34:38):
an employee, it was followed bythese different signs, this,
this awareness, this stirring,these internal signs of
wrestling and resistance, thissurrender and obedience and
being willing to take action.
External signs, like, you know,affirming it and making a way
(35:01):
for doors to some doors to openand some doors to close.
And then eventually just likewaiting in faith, in full
surrender, not controlling thesituation, like waiting, waiting
for God to move and to act incontinuing to serve and
(35:21):
continuing to show up to thebest of my ability until he made
it clear that it was time toact, until he made it clear it
was time to go.
And then it's followed by theactual shift happening.
It's followed by the changetaking place.
Now, what happens post-changeis its own story as well.
(35:44):
I think there's there's a wholejourney that happens after
that.
It's not like we make a changeand then everything is good
because we've just left onething and walked into something
new.
It's like when when theIsraelites leave Egypt, well,
there's all of these signs andthere's all of these wonders,
(36:04):
and there's, you know, God'shand moving and closing doors
and opening doors and making away, and it happens over a
period of time.
And then they leave Egypt.
Well, that's not the end of thestory.
There's there's so much morethat happens after that.
(36:25):
So it's just important torecognize the events that can
happen and the signs that canhappen to prepare us and let us
know this is God.
This is God prompting me.
This is God leading me.
This is God acting and movingon my behalf, not my plan, not
(36:48):
my will, not me trying tocontrol it.
It is surrender, it isobedience, and it is faith.
It is trusting that God is incontrol and we're stepping into
something new, even though wedon't know what we're stepping
into, even though it very oftendoesn't make sense, the timing
(37:08):
doesn't make sense.
I wish that it was prettier andless risk and less less
uncertainty.
But but God's like, who who doyou trust?
Like, who is your provider?
Who is who is in control?
Like, is it me?
And do you really believe that?
And if you do, you're gonnawait for me to act.
(37:31):
And then when I do start toact, you're gonna trust and
you're gonna know that it's mein the process.
And it's going to, it's gonnastrengthen our relationship.
It's going to stress, like it'sabsolutely, it's like this
whole process was me learning tosurrender my will, surrender my
control, surrender my plan,surrender my expectation of what
(37:57):
should happen.
And just trust God in theprocess.
And it was not just trustinghim.
I mean, it was needing him.
It was seeking him.
It was like he was in everythought and in every day and in
every action.
Cause I'm like, I realize I'mlike, I cannot do this on my
(38:17):
own.
I do not have what it takes to,I don't have what it takes to
stay here on my own.
I don't have what it takes tomove on my own.
I need you.
I and I I need you and I wantyou.
I want you in control.
I want you to lead this and tobe the one who's calling the
(38:37):
shots, to be the one who's incharge, because I know that your
plan is so much better than myplan.
And I've learned enough tostart to trust that and to start
to believe.
And and this is what faithlooks like.
It's, you know, God callingAbraham away from what he knew.
And come to a land that I willshow you.
(39:01):
Like he didn't even give it toit.
Like he didn't know where hewas going when he left.
God's like, just come and I'llshow you later.
Like, and oftentimes that'swhat it looks like when we step
out in faith is come and I willshow you, I'll reveal it to you
(39:24):
a little bit at a time.
But before he moves us, heprepares our heart for it.
I think long before that changeever happens.
Like for me, this stirring,this very first seed that was
planted, was planted almost likea year and a half before
(39:45):
anything ever really happened.
And it was slow and it had timeto grow.
And I had time to process andadjust and pray through it and
be encouraged and be affirmedand start to accept it and start
to trust it.
Like it was a slow process, butI know that through that time I
(40:06):
wasn't trying to manipulate thesituation.
I wasn't trying to call theshots.
I was just trying to beobedient to wherever it was.
But when God is ready for youto move, He will move.
Like He will open doors, notyou.
And that's one of the biggestlessons I've learned along the
(40:29):
way, and mainly from just doingit wrong so many times.
But anyway, if that I hope thatwas encouraging.
I think sometimes it's it's notthat we all know what we're
doing all the time.
It's just that it's like wehave these lives that we lead,
we have these experiences thatwe have.
(40:51):
And all we can do is look backand reflect on and grow from
what God taught us along theway, and then be willing to
share that story, be willing tobe upfront about it and
transparent about it, and hopethat it can encourage some other
(41:14):
people along the way, you know.
And I don't, I don't know yourstory.
I don't know where you're atright now.
But if you're listening to thisand you're in a season that
you're not sure about, just knowthis could be an external sign
that, you know, if if if you'vehad questions about is this
(41:36):
really God, well, yeah, it itvery well might be.
I don't know your story, butanyway.
So as always, you can learnmore at
Clearauthenticbrands.com.
That's all for this episode.
See you in the next one.
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