Episode Transcript
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Are you ready to build a life,business and legacy that truly
lasts?
Welcome to Faithfully Investedwith Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne,
where Faith meets real talk.
Biblical wisdom meets everydaylife and leadership meets
laughter.
Together we will uncover God'sblueprint for leadership,
marriage, and mission, helpingfaith-driven leaders invest in
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what matters most.
Each episode, we explorebiblical wisdom, have real
conversations, and of course,have some fun along the way
because let's be real.
Walking in faith is anadventure.
It sure is.
So pull up a seat, grab yourcoffee or your sweet tea, and
join us as we steward ourcallings with intention, because
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when we invest in his kingdom,he brings the increase.
Welcome back to FaithfullyInvested, where we are diving
deep into God's blueprint forleadership, marriage, and
mission.
One Kingdom Principle at a time.
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One.
Just one at a time.
At a time.
We're your host, Allen andStacey, Joe Thorn, and this
season we're focusing on thefoundation of it all intimacy.
With God.
And today we're coming for yourhustle.
Look out.
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Yep.
We are going there.
And if you've don't stay tuned.
Oh, don't shut him off.
Definitely stay tuned.
It's all right.
But if you've ever felt likeyou, the more you do for God,
the closer he'll be.
You're not alone.
You're definitely not alone.
I've been there.
I'll tell you, you're not alone.
And I remind, have to remindmyself that.
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You know that's not the caseoften.
That's certainly not the case.
You know what the truth is?
What's the truth?
This is gonna sting ho.
Hold on, hold on.
God's not impressed with howbusy you are.
It's true.
He is not impressed with howbusy we are.
He is not looking at a resume.
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The good lord's looking at ourheart, at our heart because he's
a relational God.
Mm-hmm.
And it's, it's our hearts thatfoster the relationship that we
were created to have with him.
Right.
So let's Talk today about whypresence matters more than
performance.
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Hmm.
Well, let's start with aquestion.
Are you asking me that question?
I'm asking everybody thatquestion.
Okay.
All right.
Ask, asking everybody.
Have you had ever had a to-dolist that was so long that you
felt like taking a nap, justthinking about it?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
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Every day.
Just about every day, all thetime.
And.
I, I gotta, I gotta tell youwhat I used to do though.
I used to add things to my listthat I'd already.
Done just so I could check'emoff, like brushed my teeth,
check fed the dogs check.
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I'm like, look at me.
Jesus.
I am crushing it today.
Hey lady, I fed the dogs todayand I emptied a dishwasher.
Whoa.
I'm not saying today, but youknow, other days I didn't do
that.
Today, we'll give you two pointsfor brushing your teeth.
You know, fresh breath anddental hygiene are important.
You are a winner.
All right?
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But seriously, you know, y'all,we live in a culture that
applauds hustle.
We do hustle and grind.
Hustle and grind.
How many times have you heardthat?
You know, the more we do, thebetter.
And if you're not grinding,you're not growing.
But that hustle culture doesn'tfit well in the Lord's kingdom.
I'm just gonna let you knowthat's just not how intimacy
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works.
It's not how intimacy works forus, and it's certainly not how
intimacy works with the Lord.
Certainly not take it from me.
Mm-hmm.
You can be producing for theLord.
Yeah.
And feel pretty darndisconnected from the Lord.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So here's the challenge, and youknow, we say challenge, just a
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reminder.
We say challenge, not problem.
Because there are no, noproblems.
We don't have problems.
We face challenges.
We challenges because we areovercomers.
That's right.
And so are you.
So are you.
You don't have problems.
You face challenges, overcomer.
That's right.
But somewhere along the way weconfused Allen.
We confused.
Doing good things for God.
With being with God.
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Yeah.
Honestly that's, that's adangerous and slippery slope to
be on.
It is sometimes we get caught ina lie that our efforts equal
closeness.
Mm-hmm.
Know that if we do more, if weserve more, if we, if we lead
more than then God will be proudof us.
Oh, I lived that for so manyyears.
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We're looking for that goldstar.
I lived that for so many years.
Wow.
Yeah.
That gold star.
But let's go to the Bible for aminute.
You know, in Luke 10, Jesusvisits, you know where this is
going.
Yeah.
Jesus visits the home of Maryand Martha.
And what does Martha do?
Oh, she gets busy.
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She goes to work.
She's cleaning, she's preparing.
She's making more than worthyhummus platters probably.
But while Mary is just sittingat Jesus's feet, Mary's
chilling.
She is chilling.
Mary's like Jesus is here.
Yes.
She was just enjoying thepresence of the Lord.
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In her home.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's, that's, I can, uh, I canbe, I can, uh, relate to this
one.
I know this one pretty well.
Uh, and what does Jesus say?
He says, Martha.
Martha.
Yeah.
You were worried and upset aboutmany things, but only one thing
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is necessary.
Yeah.
And Mary has chosen the goodpart, which shall not be taken
away from her.
Yeah.
That probably didn't sit toowell with Martha at the time,
but you see, Jesus wasn't, hewasn't, it wasn't perfect works
that pleased Jesus.
It was taking time to just bestill and sit with him.
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That's what mattered to Jesus.
That's what mattered to himthen.
Yeah.
And that's what matters to himnow.
Right.
You know, I just, I wanna beclear about something though.
I, you know, Jesus wasn'trebuking.
Martha's work.
No.
He was just trying to redirecther heart.
Right, right.
Because he wanted her heart,just like he wanted Mary's and
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Mary was willing to sit thereand listen.
Right.
What a, so yeah, what a greatjuxtaposition.
Right, right.
Ju juxtaposition.
Yeah.
All right.
In some contrast.
Anyway, moving on.
Your big words.
Well, anyway, it's a fun wordjust to say juxta.
Juxtaposition.
Juxtaposition.
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Anyway, I gotta admit that.
Uh, I gotta admit, you know?
Mm-hmm.
I like big words and I, I liketo get things done.
Yeah.
I've called you Martha a fewtimes, I have to admit.
Anyway.
I am sure you're not the onlyone.
Over the years, oftentimes, I, Itook that strong work ethic
thing to the fault line.
Yeah.
And I've, I, I gotta say, I haverecognized an affinity in myself
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to learn lessons the hard way.
Say it isn't so, haven't we all?
Yeah.
Well, don't we all learn lessonsthe hard way?
Yeah.
I'd write, I'd plan, I'd prep,I'd decimate the to-do list, and
I would just be worn out.
I mean, I didn't feel advancedspiritually at all.
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So why do you think that mightbe?
I'm sorry to say that I was sowound up in getting it all done.
I didn't start with seeking theLord's perspective.
Mm.
I should have started withseeking his perspective.
Yeah.
Was I even doing what he wantedme to do?
Mm.
Might he had a, might he havehad a better plan or purpose for
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the work that I was doing if Ihad brought him in as, as my CEO
there?
Ooh.
I think he, I think he probablyalways, not probably, he always
has a better plan than mine andyou know, oftentimes I've
recognized that I gotta slowdown, take it to him so that,
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you know, we might go faster orwe might.
Change gears.
We might change the plan.
Maybe.
Maybe my plan's way off.
Well, you know, I like to saythat Jesus is my CEO You of
Freedom support Solutions.
I kind of took that from you.
You did.
And that's fine.
But here's the thing, sometimes,sometimes I try and take that
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seat back.
Yeah.
You know?
And.
I have to be reminded that hisways are always higher.
Right?
And his thoughts are alwaysgreater.
The throne is his than mine.
It's his, it's his, he gets theseat at the head of the table.
But, you know, I, I relate toeverything that you just said
because I too have poured.
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Things into everyone elsesometimes.
Mm.
And doing well in the kingdom.
But, but deep down, I, I wasrunning on fumes.
I mean, you've seeded me.
Yeah.
At best you've seen me.
Yeah.
Right.
I mean, I, I can, I'm gonna gooff.
How's that here for a second?
I'm just gonna say, JacksonBrown song goes running on,
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running on empty, running on,oh, I don't know that song.
Anyway, but it wasn't all maybea year ago that I was on the
kitchen floor, just crying outto God because I was so burned
out.
I had no margin.
I had no place.
Wow.
No space for God to speak.
And it wasn't until I was onthat kitchen floor asking him
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and crying out to him that thatI listened and I heard what he
had to say.
I.
I, I was, I was on the verge ofburnout.
Yeah.
There, yeah.
You know, his, his strengthconfession is good for the soul,
right?
It is.
His strength is made.
Made powerful in our weakness.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Amen.
That, that's good stuff, babe.
Amen.
I, again, uh, I honestly can'tsay that I recall any time that
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I was fully burned out.
Mm-hmm.
But honestly, many times I was,I was exhausted and I knew the
burnout wasn't far off.
Yeah.
I had to stop, I had to slowdown.
I had to reset my zeroes.
I had the rest for a little bit.
And in that vulnerable state, hebegan to show me how his
strength is made perfect.
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In my weakness.
Yeah.
And it was, uh, that's good.
This is what it took back thento get me to realize that
intimacy with God is not aboutgetting it done.
It's not about getting it done.
It's about being still andknowing that he alone is God.
Yeah.
That I'm not God, that He aloneas God.
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Yeah.
And I need to rely on him, notso much myself.
Yeah.
And you know, for anyone outthere listening who's felt
invisible, unless they'reproducing something, please know
that you are seen.
God sees you, he does.
And his love is not based onyour production rate, your
sales, your gross profit, yournet profit.
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It is not based on any of that.
He just wants your heart.
Right.
He's, he's looking at thecondition of her heart.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
So let's get practical here.
Okay.
You wanna get practical?
We got some solutions.
Oh, let's get practical.
We don't.
Got you.
Like practicality, we don't,Jessica.
I do.
Mm-hmm.
I'm, I'm a, I'm a pragmaticfella, right?
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So.
I will take function overfashion most every time.
Mm-hmm.
So let's get, that's the blueshirts.
So here, here we go.
There's always on the blueshirts.
Always on the blue shirts.
Anyway, they're like, what?
What?
Oh, if you know him, you know,if you know, you know, so chemo
saying, ah, the blue shirt.
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So if you've ever been caught upin the brutal, you know, get it
all done.
Now, mode here, this is for you.
We got four ways to, todownshift, slow down, and.
Get into a proper position fromperformance to presence.
Yeah.
I love the simplicity of thesefour points.
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Number one, I love that word,simplicity.
I'm just saying simplicity.
Simplicity.
I love the simplicity ofsimplicity.
I do.
Me too.
Anyway, it's so simple.
Moving on.
We gotta schedule number one.
We gotta schedule.
Yes.
And, and and the man said,schedule.
We gotta schedule time forsilence and solitude.
Mm-hmm.
Because I'm telling you what.
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If you're like me, if it's noton the calendar, then it doesn't
get done.
Yeah.
So we gotta take the time toblock the time to get on our
calendar to be with the Lord.
Yeah.
This is not a box to check.
It's a practical way to resetour zeros and set our day up for
success right out of the gate.
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That's it.
We got and remember, no agenda.
Mm-hmm.
Just you and him.
Yeah.
You know, I, I have to say,Allen, I'm not tooting my own
horn, but I have actually putthat on my calendar because I am
like you, and if it's not on mycalendar, it doesn't get done.
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That's it.
And it, it's not a matter ofchecklists because we've done
away with the checklist.
We've said, no checklists here.
Boo checklist, but not when itcomes to the Lord.
I have checklists in otherareas, but you know, I had to
block time on my calendar firstthing in the morning.
It says literally on mycalendar, if you look at it, it
says, time with Jesus.
Time with Jesus.
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And it is just time for me tospend in His word in prayer in
seeking what he wants to say tome.
Yeah, man.
Whether it's the the logos wordor the Ramos word.
That's it.
So, but number two is ask simplequestions so you can simply say,
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Lord, am I operating inside yourwill?
Yeah.
Am I operating inside your will,not, not anyone else's will.
And if your tireless efforts arerooted in self-sufficiency,
self-sufficiency, yuck.
I hate that word, but Oh well.
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You know, it's challenging.
Yeah.
Challenging to move past, but wehave to pause.
Yeah.
We have to realign and we haveto ask him what his plan is, and
then we have to listen and writethat down like we talked about.
The only thing I've ever seenmove me past self-sufficiency is
his plan.
Mm.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I'd say that true in write downin my life too.
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Down.
Yeah.
Gotta write it down.
Write it down.
Yep.
What's number three?
Tell us.
You gotta rest intentionally.
You gotta be intentional abouttaking rest.
Mm-hmm.
Remember?
The Sabbath.
Mm-hmm.
God doesn't suggest it.
He commanded it and he modeledit.
So don't believe the lie thatrest is lazy.
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No friends, rest is holy.
Yeah.
And honestly, sometimes the mostChristian thing that I can do is
get away and take a nap.
Yeah, you do everybody a favor.
Naps is good.
Sometimes naps is goodsometimes, but rest doesn't
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necessarily, I mean, rememberingthe Sabbath doesn't necessarily
mean you have to be.
Sleeping.
No, it doesn't mean you have tobe napping.
Like rest different things fromdifferent people.
Yeah.
It looks different to differentpeople.
Rest.
People rest can be play.
Yeah.
But that's a conversation foranother kid.
It is.
So I, I digress and I'm gonnaget back to number four that
says start the day with him.
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Right.
His time first.
Yeah.
To do time after.
Yeah, the to-do list comes afterour time.
Mm-hmm.
With him.
You gotta start today.
Even if it's just for fiveminutes.
Mm-hmm.
Five intentional minutes.
Start there.
If that's what, if that's whatworks for you.
Yeah.
And then go from there.
We gotta start somewhere.
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We gotta start some time.
So start with five minutes.
Yep.
And you'll see that that timeand it presence will change the
entire trajectory of your day.
Yeah.
And it's, it's important that wesee this not as a got to, it's
not a box to check.
It's not a got to, it's a getto.
When it, when it looks, when wethink about it as a got to, it
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does become that box to check onthat checklist.
Most likely not gonna do.
We did away with.
Right.
It's not gonna, we're not gonnado it.
We get to sit with the creatorof the universe.
Yeah.
We get to sit with our fatherGod.
Mm-hmm.
We get to listen to his divineperspective for what he's got
when we're willing to do that.
Yeah.
But you know, Jesus oftenwithdrew to lonely places, not
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because he was burned out, butbecause he prioritized presence
over pressure.
Yeah.
And he needed it and so do we.
Like he needed to get a loanwith his father.
He knew what's up in the garden.
He knew what was up.
He knew what's up.
He got a loan with his.
He's the greatest example of alltime.
He is of all time.
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Of course.
He's the og.
I was, I would say he's thegoat.
He is the goat.
Jesus is definitely the greatestof all time, for sure.
Yes.
Bar none, right?
Yes.
Anyway, moving on.
But he did.
We we need.
We need the rest.
We need the rest.
And it is commanded.
It's not just suggested it'scommanded.
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It is commanded.
Mm-hmm.
That's it.
Presence over pressure.
Mm-hmm.
I like that.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
Who else likes that?
The Lord.
Oh yes, yes.
Presence.
Taking time to sit in hispresence.
Yeah.
Presence with him.
Mm-hmm.
Over the, the pressures ofgetting it done.
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Yeah.
Yeah.
So intimacy with our creator,father God, doesn't, doesn't
come from grinding harder.
It comes from leaning closer.
Yeah.
Remember Jesus's words inMatthew 11?
This was my main verse in 2024.
Yeah.
Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me.
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We have an opportunity every dayto learn from Jesus Christ.
Yeah.
Through His Holy Spirit.
Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me.
Dear friends.
His yoke is easy.
Yeah.
And his burden is light.
We encourage you to yoke up withwith him, yoke up with Jesus,
and he will give you rest foryour soul.
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I promise y'all that.
You'll never regret that, butmore so He promises you.
You'll never regret that.
He is so good to us when we lethim be so good to us.
Yeah.
He's not gonna kick down thedoor to be good.
No.
We have to let him be good tous.
He's knocking.
We gotta open the door's, notright.
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We have a choice to make.
We do a decision.
Mmm.
Long term decision.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Another conversation for anothertime.
Oh, we have lots ofconversations that we can have.
We're just getting started.
We're just getting started.
But you know, we always have acall to action and a challenge
for you.
So here is your faithfullyinvested challenge this week.
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Look at your calendar.
Carve out 15 minutes.
Is that all?
Oh.
You can do more.
Gotta start somewhere, but youhave to start somewhere.
But carve out at least, let'ssay that at least, at least 15
minutes.
15 minutes that are just forGod.
Right.
No podcast, no worship playlist.
I, I like, I do like to put on,I do like to put on, um, some
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soaking music soaking, but don'thave faithfully invested on.
We want you to listen, but notduring that, that time with God.
Quiet time just for you right inthe Lord.
So just you a journal and hispresence is all you need that's
happening right there.
Mm-hmm.
That's good stuff.
And he, while you're, whileyou're with them, ask him the
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question, Lord, what have I beendoing from pressure instead of
seeking your presence?
Mm.
You might be surprised what hetells you.
Yeah.
It's important to listenintentionally.
'cause the Lord gave us.
Uh, two ears.
Mm-hmm.
And one mouth.
So we can listen twice as muchas we speak.
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Yeah.
So we wanna listen intentionallyand we wanna make our
adjustments based on his higherand greater perspective.
Yeah.
So good babe.
So good.
He is so good.
He is.
But that was a good word.
So ask him, Lord, what have Ibeen doing from pressure instead
of seeking your presence.
Yeah.
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And next week we're gonna talkabout one of my favorite
subjects.
It's not me.
It's not you.
I do love talking about you too.
I love talking you up, but, butno, we are gonna talk about
worship, right?
And how it's not just somethingwe do on Sunday mornings.
A lot of people think that, ohyeah, I'm going to worship
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service and we're gonna worshipthe Lord.
But it worship is a lifestyle.
It is.
And actually it, it aligns yourheart with heaven.
It aligns mine with heaven.
When I'm in the worship, worshipin the right thing.
Oh, well, yeah.
When we're worshiping the Lord,we're talking about worship for
the Lord.
We're talking faithfullyinvested here in the Lord.
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That what I talking intimacywith him.
Right.
Uh, we're not talking about, youknow, worshiping anything else.
Right.
But only him.
Right.
Our creator.
But I love, I worship in thekitchen.
Yeah.
I worship in the shower.
I worship in the car.
There's no place that shedoesn't worship.
(22:15):
I can attest to that.
Okay.
Well, and if you were encouragedby this episode today, do us a
favor, share it with a friend,and let us know your thoughts by
leaving us a five star review.
Five star review on this week.
Do yourself a favor and lay downthe pressure and make time to
(22:39):
rest in his presence.
And remember, when you arefaithfully invested, God brings
the increase.
Yes, he does.
And we'll see you next time.
I'll see you next time.
Thanks for joining us onFaithfully Invested with Allen
and Stacy Jo, if today'sconversation encouraged you,
challenged you, or helped yousee your calling more clearly,
(23:00):
don't keep it to yourself.
That's right.
Share it with a friend.
Leave a five star review andkeep leaning into God's
blueprint for your life, yourleadership, and your legacy.
So until next time, remember,when you invest in his kingdom,
he brings the increase.