September 24, 2025 • 42 mins
God wired you on purpose for His purpose. Allen & Stacy Jo explore how to recognize your gifts, resist comparison, and share your testimony so others find freedom. Don’t bury what God entrusted—serve where you are, stay Spirit-led, and watch Him multiply surrendered “ordinary” into eternal impact.
What you’ll learn
- ✅ How to embrace your gifts and stop minimizing them
- ✅ The parable of the talents lens: faithful > flashy
- ✅ Why your testimony matters (and simple ways to share it)
- ✅ Practical steps: serve where you are, obey nudges, surrender results
- ✅ Moving from fear/scarcity to Spirit-led boldness
📖 Scriptures
1 Peter 4:10; Matthew 25:14–30; Romans 8:28; Revelation 12:10–11; Romans 8:6
✨ Takeaways
- Be faithful with your portion—God multiplies surrender.
- Comparison is a thief; obedience unlocks impact.
- Your story is a stewardship, not a secret.
- Start today: small, consistent, Spirit-led steps.
If this episode helped you
- 👉 Follow/Subscribe to Faithfully Invested
- ⭐ Leave a 5-star review so other faith-driven leaders can find the show
- 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs courage to use their gifts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
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
(00:21):
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
(00:42):
when we invest in his kingdom,he brings the increase.
Hey, welcome back to FaithfullyInvested, where we explore God's
blueprint for leadership,marriage, and mission.
One Kingdom principle at a time.
This season, we are focusing onexperiential truth, on
(01:05):
stewarding everything,everything, everything,
stewarding everything that God'sentrusted to us.
That means our relationships,how to steward our
relationships, how to stewardour finances, our time, and our
gifts.
That's right.
We are in season three, episodefour at this point, and, but Oh,
(01:28):
but first.
I who we didn't introduceourselves.
Who are you?
I'm Stacy Jo.
And he's Allen Layne.
I'm Allen Layne, that's right.
I used your middle name.
Yeah.
Took her till the third seasonto use the name my mama gave me.
But today's conversation is one,I think so many of us need to
(01:50):
hear wired for his purpose,right?
And we wanna talk about how Goddesigned you intentionally.
With gifts, talents, and evenyour story and how all of that
is meant for impact.
Let's go.
Let's go.
(02:10):
Impact.
Every time I hear the wordimpact, I'm like, let's go.
Right?
Yeah.
Friends, did you know that youare.
Not a random accident.
I'm so glad to know I was not arandom accident.
I'm definitely not a randomaccident.
And you friends, none of you outthere are random accidents.
You're definitely also, you'redefinitely not meant to hide in
(02:33):
the shadows.
That's right.
And every one of us.
Has the Lord's purpose woveninto us.
That's right.
We just have to decide to followhim on that journey to discover
who we are and who we werecreated to be.
Find our identity found only inChrist Jesus, our Lord.
(02:57):
Yeah, but you know, here's thechallenge.
Too many of us don't reallybelieve.
Don't really believe that we'vebeen created on purpose for his
purpose.
And I'm not saying for apurpose, but I'm talking for his
purpose.
Right.
And we nod our heads, you know,when we hear it.
But, but deep down, and I, Ihave experienced this firsthand.
(03:21):
I have felt this firsthand.
I wrestled with doubt and Iwould downplay my gifts.
You know, I would say, oh, it'snot a big deal.
Lots of people can do what I do.
Lots of people can do this or,or will hide our story because,
right.
Maybe shame of our past or fearof judgment, or how about the
(03:44):
lie that we're not qualified.
I've dealt with that too.
I have dealt with it time andtime again, and I still
sometimes deal with it.
Um, but sometimes we will buryeven parts of our story because
we think that those parts willdisqualify us.
(04:05):
But those very things that weretempted to hide, that I had been
tempted to hide could actuallybe the testimony that sets
someone else free.
And I have seen that to be true.
Exactly.
Mm-hmm.
Exactly.
You know, you, you gotta shareyour story, right?
Uh, sometimes, we'll, even bythe lie, that our purpose gotta
(04:26):
be big.
It's gotta be big stuff.
Gotta be hot shot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Maybe we think we gotta bestanding on a stage or a big
platform.
Maybe we gotta write a book or aseries of books.
Maybe we gotta lead a hugeministry with the, uh, with the
Lord.
Uh, revealed to us is not todespise small beginnings.
(04:48):
That's right.
That's right.
It doesn't have to be huge to begreat.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, Peter doesn't say that it'sgot to, uh, that you're gonna
get a platform.
Peter, Peter doesn't go on tosay, he doesn't say that.
You know, everything's gotta begigantic.
He, he doesn't say that yourname's gotta be up in lights.
(05:09):
What he says.
Um, and his first epistle isthat each of you should use
whatever gift you've received.
We've all received a gift andPeter says that we should use
the gift that we've received toserve others as faithful
stewards of God's grace.
And its various forms.
(05:30):
Yeah.
That means that your purposedoesn't have to look like
someone else's.
In fact, it probably won't looklike someone else's because he's
given them specific gifts to,uh, for, for them, you know, and
he, and maybe he may have givenyou similar gifts.
So as, as we, as we encounterthat, we gotta be careful to not
(05:58):
fall.
Fall prey to the evil ofcomparison.
Mm.
Right.
You know,'cause what I rememberand, uh,'cause his god's grace
shows up in various ways andthrough various gifts and
comparison will have uscomparing our gifts with someone
else's.
You know, and maybe, you know,and when he first started giving
(06:20):
me the gifts of, of, of beingable to write, uh, with, uh,
effectiveness and.
And efficiency and, and becomemore concise, which I'm not
doing here very well.
Um, but, and he's gave, and hegave me the gift of, of public
speaking and speaking for hisglory.
(06:41):
Mm-hmm.
You know, I, I, I, in thebeginning I was like, man, I'm.
I'm not quite as good as thatguy, or I'm not, I'm not, you
know?
Mm-hmm.
I'm not really good like thatguy, but I don't need to be, I
don't, I had a, I had a, a guyat the church I, I look up to,
he is like, who do you, who doyou, uh, who do you wanna be
(07:04):
like, mm.
Uh, and I was like, and I waslike, I wanna be the best.
And as, as I grew, I was like, Iwanna be the best me that I can
be.
Mm-hmm.
I want to be, I wanna be like me'cause that's the g he the gift
he gave that he gave me.
You know, I, we have an amazingp um, an amazing teacher and
amazing pastor and pastor ToddMao.
(07:26):
Mm-hmm.
But I don't wanna preach likeTodd'cause Todd preaches like
Todd.
Right.
And, uh, I just wanna, I justwanna.
Carry God's glory and carryGod's wisdom and, and with the
gift that he gave me and do thebest I can do with that.
Yeah.
I wanna go back for a minutethough, because you, you talked
about, um, where Peter said thateach of you should use whatever
(07:50):
gift you have received to serveothers, to be faithful stewards
of God's grace and, you know,serving others, it, it can be as
simple.
As powerful.
Yeah.
And as, as maybe leading a Biblestudy for three women, maybe two
(08:10):
women, maybe one woman, womanand women and woman right in
your living room, you know,maybe it's teaching a child to
read or cooking a meal forsomeone who is going through a
hard time or maybe sharing yourtestimony.
Work.
(08:30):
Right.
Even when it feelsuncomfortable.
And I understand that it candefinitely feel uncomfortable to
share your testimony when you'reout in the corporate world or
you're, you know, working forsomeone else.
But, but those everyday momentsare kingdom moments.
Yeah.
And they may not look flashy,but they certainly echo in
(08:50):
eternity.
Echo in eternity.
Yeah.
That is beautiful.
And isn't that what we want?
Don't we want our testimonies toecho?
In eternity, those small deedsthat we do for someone else.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
It's not about, you know, it'snot about me.
Right.
You know, and I know, I knowyou, I know you pretty well and
(09:14):
it's not about you either, butthe uh, the work that we do for
the Kingdom, it is, it's abouthim.
It's about advancing hiskingdom.
It's about helping others.
Mm-hmm.
It's about serving others.
Uh, and you said even, uh, Iwould say especially when you
don't want to.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah, true.
We talked last episode aboutgiving when it doesn't make
(09:37):
sense.
You know, same serve when youdon't want to, and that's,
that's challenging sometimes.
Um, but yeah, another challengeis that, um, what do we believe?
Mm-hmm.
Do you believe that you've beencreated on purpose for his
purpose?
Uh.
Do you wanna walk in thatdirection?
Do you wanna walk so close tothe savior Christ that the dust
(10:00):
from a sandals kicks up on you?
Mm-hmm.
Uh, do you want that?
Do you believe that, that he isleading you?
Do you believe that he loves youmore than you ever know?
What, what do you believe?
Do we believe that the HolySpirit is with us?
And that he was sent to us justthe same as the the first
century?
(10:21):
Believing followers.
He was sent to us as his 21stcentury believing followers.
The Holy Spirit was sent to usto remind us all that Jesus said
and taught.
He was sent to counsel us intoposition according to God's
purpose for each one of us.
Right?
Is, is Romans 8:28 just words ona page or, or do we know and
(10:42):
believe?
'cause what we believe is, is.
How we'll respond or react, whatwe believe is where our thoughts
and our emotions and our actionscome from.
So do we believe that what Peterwrote in, in, uh, Romans 8:28,
that God causes all things towork together for the good of
(11:06):
those who love him to?
Those are called according tohis purpose.
Not our purpose.
Mm-hmm.
But those who are calledaccording to his purpose, he
will cause all things to worktogether for our good.
Yeah.
As we decide to follow him.
So what do you believe, friends?
What do you believe?
(11:27):
Well, if you're asking me,'causeI'm your friend too.
You're, you're my best friendand you're my best friend.
But I, you know, I, I do believethat now, but I didn't always
believe that necessarily, or Idoubted that.
Maybe I kind of knew it, but Idoubted.
But, you know, I.
(11:50):
Remember a season where I, whereI thought, who am I to lead
anyone, you know, who am I tospeak in front of people or to
write a book or, or to do any ofthat?
And I would scroll throughsocial media.
You know, one of the worstthings that you can do.
Yeah.
But, or I would sit in aconference and going back to
(12:11):
what you said, I would comparemyself to others.
I would compare myself to womenwho seemed so polished and so
put together so confident.
Right.
And who seemed so much moregifted than me.
Right.
And I would look at what I hadand think, uh, this isn't
enough.
(12:31):
Right.
This.
My gifts are so small, right,and way too simple to be used
and someone else could do thisso much better.
And I remember thinking thatwith the Association of
Christian Business Women, as we,uh, as I was starting that, you
know, I thought, I have nobusiness.
(12:53):
I am not qualified, Lord.
There is someone else who is somuch more qualified to lead this
than what I am.
And that mindset.
It kept me stuck for, for a longtime.
Um, and I was serving, but I wasnot stepping into the fullness
of what God was calling me to dobecause I felt totally
(13:16):
unqualified.
Right.
And I thought leadership andinfluence were for.
Those other people.
Right.
You know, people with biggerplatforms and, and more training
or a different personality.
Right.
But you know, the Holy Spiritreally, really did speak to me.
(13:36):
Yeah.
And whispered, he said, use whatI've already given you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's cool like that.
Right.
It's the truth.
Use what I've already given you,not what I wished I had or not
what I.
Thought in my mind that Ineeded, but just what he had
placed in my hands right thenand that whisper.
(14:01):
From the Holy Spirit shiftedeverything, and as I started to,
you know, going back to ACBWAssociation of Christian
Business Women, as I, as Istarted to get a little more
bold and I started going out andasking women, is this something
you might be interested in?
I found out that yeah, therereally was a need for this and
there was a desire to come intocommunity with other women.
(14:25):
Have faith in business.
Yeah.
But I spent the longest time, asyou know.
Right.
Struggling with that.
Well, during that time you, youhad some, we, we both had some
stuff we had to work past.
Mm-hmm.
And, and we weren't fixingourselves where Right.
As his creations we're notcapable of fixing ourselves.
Right.
'cause nobody repairs thecreation.
(14:47):
That's us, like the creator.
And we had some junk to getpast.
Mm-hmm.
And uh, and so we were caughtbecause we had.
Because we were burdened by thelie that we were believing the
enemy could use that.
That's one of his, the enemy'sgot nothing new.
Right.
It's been the same since thegarden.
Yeah.
You know, but, uh, it is beenthe, you know, who do you think
(15:07):
you are?
Yeah.
You know?
Right.
Yeah.
You're, that's, that's nevergonna work.
Yeah.
You know, you're No, that's,that's not for you.
Yeah.
Disqualified.
You're disqualified.
Yeah.
Well, who knows out there thatthe Lord doesn't?
He doesn't, uh, call thequalified.
Mm-hmm.
(15:27):
He qualifies the cold.
Absolutely.
You know, and I've, and I'vebeen there, I've felt the same
way.
He wanted me to use my story,but I was like, my, the story is
pretty graphic, Lord.
And, uh, not as graphic as some,not as graphic as some, but, but
yeah.
You know, uh, near deathexperiences.
Mm-hmm.
You know, I don't want to getinto, I don't want to get into
(15:48):
it now, but it was, it was apretty graphic story, but the
lord, maybe one of these days wecan do like the raw and real.
The, and real, the raw and realseason season.
Yeah.
Where we can really delve intomaybe, maybe into our stories.
I'm sure it's, I'm sure it's ondown the line.
Yeah.
But you know, I had, so I gotthis graphic story, uh, and it
wasn't that I was ashamed of.
(16:10):
Where, where I came from, Iwasn't ashamed of my story, uh,
or that I, I wasn't even tooconcerned with, with that.
People wouldn't respect me ifthey, if they knew the, the
whole truth.
Um, you know, because peoplecan, people can think what they
want to.
You know, and they will.
Right.
You know, and, uh, I, I knowthat because, you know, I'm, I'm
(16:32):
a person, but, uh, good to know.
But, but that, that might havebothered me early in my
beginning, uh, early at thebeginning of my journey, my
recovery journey and my, and myrecovery journey and my journey
with Christ are, are one, reallyone and the same.
'cause that's my recovery outof.
(16:53):
Uh, the pit of, of drugs andalcohol and the whole not good
enough and this, that, and theother.
Uh, that, that's been my, myjourney with Christ.
He's, he's led me through that.
But along that journey, I, Iquickly learned that what people
think of me is none of mybusiness.
I love that.
Yeah.
And it didn't, and I rememberone of my mentors, uh.
(17:16):
Uh, I think it was, it was, itwas either Steve or Jonathan.
Uh, they said back in the day,Hey, man, don't let that get to
you.
What mm-hmm.
What people say about you, whatpeople think about you.
That's none of your business,man.
Mm-hmm.
Discover who you are in Christ.
That's right.
Find your identity in Christ.
And, and 12, a little over 12years of sobriety.
(17:41):
Uh, and it's not about thesobriety, it's about what I've
learned along the way.
It's, uh, I, I found my identityin Christ.
I know that I know who I am, uh,who I was created to be, uh,
what his purpose is, uh, what mypurpose is for his kingdom.
Yeah.
Now I was able to discover thatalong the way, but.
Got a little in the weeds there.
(18:03):
Uh, but that's right.
It was all relevant.
It, it was, you know, thank you.
But, but round about the sametime, uh, the Lord was starting
to show me my gifts of, of, uh,Hey, you can speak in, in
public, you, and he, Hey, youcan actually write halfway
decently and let me show you howto do that better.
And that just kind of came, youknow, I didn't, and uh, then he
(18:26):
called me.
I remember.
He, he called me into highereducation in 2017, and I'm like,
what?
I'm not, I'm not, I'm inconstruction, man.
I'm not going to school.
He is like, yeah, you are.
And I'm like, no, I'm not.
And he's, he's like, yeah, youare.
And so I, I went, uh.
And all that.
Yes.
(18:46):
Yes, I was, and yes, I did.
In 2018, uh, I, I got intoschool, graduated top of my
class, just like you told me Iwould in 2022, not, not any,
not, I'm not saying that for aclaim to myself, but he, he.
One, he walked me through thathigher education journey to
debunk a lie that I believedfrom second grade.
(19:10):
Uh, when that gym teacherconsistently told me I was
stupid, he's like, see, I toldyou you weren't stupid.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
Yeah.
How's that?
How's that 4.0 treating you?
Right.
You know, and it, and again,it's not about me, it's what?
The teachable moment that's, heused that to show me.
Yeah.
Uh, this is, you're not stupid.
You have this gift and you canshare this experience with
(19:32):
others.
Right.
You know, you're, you.
So I was, I'm, I'm able to sharemy past challenges with others.
Uh.
For his glory.
It's all about his glory.
Uh, the enemy wanted to keep mesilent.
Of course, of course.
You know,'cause I wasn'tsignificant either.
Right.
And, and all along the way was,you know, who do you think you
(19:53):
are?
Mm-hmm.
You know, I, I am, I'm Allen,and this is, this is my savior
Christ.
And he has defeated you.
Mm-hmm.
And he holds all the authorityin heaven and on earth.
And he says that I have.
The authority to trample on thesnakes and the scorpions and the
demonic, and I have all thepower I, I have the authority to
(20:16):
stand against all the power ofyou, Satan.
Yes.
So.
Preach babe.
Preach.
So, and that, but that's whatJesus says.
That's what he told his firstcentury disciples, his believing
followers.
And that stands true for us ashis 21st century believing
followers.
We have the authority to trampleon the demonic and stand against
(20:36):
all the power of the enemy.
And Jesus says, nothing willharm us.
So, uh, uh, when he wanted tokeep me silent, he wanted to
keep me silent because he knowstestimony shattered chains.
Mm-hmm.
But it doesn't matter what theenemy wants.
Mm-hmm.
You know, authority says, ignorethat nonsensical valley who
Yeah.
You know, this is what I got foryou.
(20:58):
And the closer I became with,with Christ and the closer and
the more I realize that thiswhole God thing is real and
this, and Jesus is.
Mm.
Who he says he is.
Uh, I learned that it, it justdoesn't matter what the enemy
wants, right?
Because it says, the word saysin Revelation.
John wrote in Revelation 12 thatthe salvation, the power, God's
(21:22):
kingdom and the authority of hisChrist has come.
Mm.
And then, uh, revelation 12 goeson to say.
That the accuser was thrown downand our brethren overcame the
accuser by.
The blood of the lamb and theword of the testimony, you gotta
go back and you gotta check outthat context.
(21:43):
Everybody uses, uh, you over, weovercome by the blood of the
lamb and the power of ourtestimony.
Mm-hmm.
But you gotta have those versesbefore that in 12 to understand
that it's all about.
Christ Authority all about, youknow, who Christ is, so that we
might overcome by his blood andthe word of our testimony.
(22:03):
Yeah.
And the test, his test, our, ourtestimony comes from him.
You know, it's not, it's not mytestimony.
I, I can say it was saying thatin recovery that I want to keep
this at I and me statements, butmy statement comes, uh, or my,
uh.
I in me statement, my testimonyis all about Christ.
(22:24):
It reflects about Christ.
It reflects Christ every step ofthe way.
And, um.
But, and, and just the same,they believe that Jesus was the
son of God.
Mm-hmm.
And they overcame the enemy'sattacks.
I, when I came to believe, and Itried real hard not to believe,
right.
I tried real hard not tobelieve, but the, but when I
(22:44):
came to believe that JesusChrist is the son of God, I
overcame the enemy's attacks.
Mm.
And, and I, and I gained theauthority, uh, when I decided to
follow.
Jesus Christ and realize that heis the only one to justify me
before the father.
Yeah.
Then that, and that's, thatchanged everything and once.
(23:08):
Once I'm justified, then thespirit had open ground to
sanctify me through the rest ofmy life.
The sanctification, the, thecleansing of it from, from the
inside out.
And I know I got a little bit inthe weeds there, but, but we are
going into talking aboutstewarding gifts, talents, and
testimonies, and we can'treference John's truth and
revelation without that littlecontext.
(23:29):
So, and that context holds truetoday just as much as it did
back then.
Uh, like, uh, many of us.
Many, many pastors, manypreachers say the Bible wasn't
written to us, but it certainlywas written for us.
Right.
But I, everything you saidthough was, was totally
relevant.
I mean, it was.
(23:49):
It was all important informationand.
You know, going back intoscripture, you know, I love
Matthew 25.
Yeah.
And that's where Jesus tells theparable of the talents.
And if you don't know thisstory, go back and read Matthew
25.
Right.
But the master gives one servantfive talents, he gives another
(24:11):
two.
Mm-hmm.
And he gives another one ofthem, one each according to
their ability.
And the point wasn't how muchthey had.
Right.
The point was what they did withwhat the master gave them, and
two of the servants invested andwhat they were given, you know,
(24:33):
they invested what they weregiven and they doubled it.
But the one who buried his giftout fear missed out.
Yeah.
Not because he didn't haveenough, but because he didn't.
Trust his master, right?
He had no faith.
He had no faith.
He chose fear over faith, andthat's right.
That's a losing time.
And how many of us are hiding,hiding our testimony?
(24:54):
How many of us are burying thegifts and the talents that he
has given us because we'reafraid to step out?
I was one.
Yeah, I was one.
That is how I felt.
I wasn't stewarding my giftsbecause fear.
Legitimately had me paralyzed,right?
(25:16):
I buried what God had entrustedto me.
And maybe that's where you areright now.
Maybe you feel like what youhave to offer isn't significant,
so you're gonna shrink back.
Mm.
Maybe you've been comparingyourself to others.
You know, going back to thewhole comparison thing and
deciding that, you know what, myvoice isn't really needed.
(25:38):
There's other people who can,who can speak out there, um,
better than me.
So I, my voice isn't needed.
And maybe you're saying, youknow, your story isn't powerful
or your skills aren't enough.
Right?
But here's the truth.
God does not expect you tosteward what he hasn't given
you.
He's only asking you to befaithful with your portion.
(26:01):
Yeah.
Not anybody else's portion, justthe portion that he gave you.
And when you take that step offaith, and I speak from
experience.
When you use what's already inyour hands, he multiplies it.
And our challenges are real.
I mean, we battle comparison.
(26:21):
We all do it.
We all battle comparison.
It's, it's.
Our flesh, sometimes we have todie to flesh daily to be able to
overcome comparison.
Right.
We got it.
We have to die to flesh daily.
To be able to overcome fear.
Yeah.
And the temptation to believethat ordinary doesn't matter
because you know what?
In God's economy, the ordinarysurrendered becomes
(26:44):
extraordinary.
That's it.
That's it.
And it's, uh, there is noordinary in his kingdom.
It's, it's flesh or spirit.
And that's, that's our coreverse.
It's a very small verse, but acore verse of our unbound'cause
un unbounds, our, our recoveryministry entirely.
Uh, the, the spirit is thecatalyst there.
(27:04):
Mm-hmm.
And what Romans eight six saysis that to live, uh, by the
flesh is death.
Mm-hmm.
But to live by the spirit islife and peace.
Life.
Yes.
So what do you want?
Yeah.
Right here.
So that, that's good stuff,babe.
Thank you for that.
Yeah.
Wonderful.
It's, and I've, uh, I'velearned, uh, a lot along the
(27:26):
way, but, uh, I've learned overtime that God doesn't ever
waste.
A trial or a pain.
I, I, if we're going through andone of my favorite, um, well, I
only know one English prophet, acontemporary prophet.
His name's Graham Cook.
If you're not, if you're notfamiliar with Graham Cook's
work, uh, go check him out onYouTube.
(27:49):
Uh, but he says trial Yahoo.
Yeah.
I'll always let you know.
We want to face.
The trials because through everytrial, and I've, and I've
experienced this, uh, I've livedthis out because we're, we're
not, we're not talking fromother people's experiences.
We, we speak from our ownexperience.
(28:09):
Mm-hmm.
And every trial I've beenthrough, there's been such a,
when, when I'm willing to lookfor it, there's such a, a vast
amount of teachable momentsthat's preparing us for the next
trial.
'cause life is a series oftrials.
And each trial prepares us forthe next one.
And God never wastes any of thetrials.
(28:31):
And he, and he always hasteachable moments at the
beginning and the middle and atthe end of of that.
And, uh, it's so good.
So I wanna say though, he alwaystakes us though, in those
trials, he always takes us fromvictory to victory, right?
From victory to victory.
Yes.
As we operate from victory.
From victory.
Right.
Yeah.
And, and the victory that weoperate from is Christ's work.
(28:53):
Mm-hmm.
On the cross and the the exit.
From the, from the tomb.
Yeah.
That's the victory that we, andthat victory completely disarmed
the enemy.
Mm-hmm.
So, so we encourage you as, asyou're challenged, uh, I
wouldn't say if you'rechallenged because we're all
challenged by the enemy, uh,with, uh, most often doubt and
(29:17):
despair.
Know that.
Jesus, the Father, the Son, theHoly Spirit, redeems all things.
When we yield to Him and babased on my experience, he
reveals talents along the waythrough our story.
He, uh, especially, especiallythe broken chapters, the more
(29:42):
broken, the more, the deeper thelearning experience can be and,
and the, uh.
The more vulnerable we have anopportunity to be with others,
so, uh mm-hmm.
To open up doors for, for theirown vulnerability.
Um, so it's the brokenness andthe challenges is what God will
(30:03):
use to keep us, keep us low,keep us humble and relatable so
that he can reach others throughus, because that's what it's all
about.
That's, that's, that's mypurpose.
So that to work, Lord, workthrough me, spirit work through
me to reach others through.
And if you can use my story,man.
(30:23):
Wow.
I'm, I'm all for it.
Yeah.
And, and it's not, again, notabout me, but just you.
That's, he wants to use my storyand, uh, and keep me low in the
process.
Mm-hmm.
So that he can reach others, andothers know that you're not
alone, you know, because, and,and, and these, in these
(30:43):
challenges and life'schallenges, sometimes the enemy
will try to isolate us, man.
And, and it's not a, it'sisolation.
Doesn't heal, community heals.
Mm.
And people need to know thatthey're not alone.
And people need to know that,you know, uh, I, that, hey, I
wasn't, I, I, I would, I don'tknow, get stumbling and
(31:03):
stammering a bit here, kind ofgetting a little in the weeds,
but, you know, compared to who Iwas, I'm pretty shiny now, but
still not shiny.
I don't consider myself shiny.
There's no perfection here, Iassure you.
Uh, but, um, but it's, it'simportant for.
Someone leading groups andsomeone leading, people coming
out, uh, of addiction andthrough trials to be vulnerable.
(31:26):
Uh, so the so the folks knowthat they're not alone.
Yeah.
Uh, and you know, going back tothe gifts he's given, he's given
us, and, and I just wanna say,and, and to see, I mean, to see
where you were then to where youare now, people need to see
that.
'cause they need to see that youwere this person.
(31:48):
You know, 20 years ago, and nowyou are this person who's
walking with the Lord, walkingwith the Lord.
And so that's the difference isChrist all day, every day.
Right.
The D the difference is Christ.
And you know, his ways arealways higher and greater than
always.
Always.
Yeah.
I like to pull out those oldpictures sometimes I, uh mm-hmm.
(32:09):
And, uh, and they're like.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You were a mess.
But, uh, so, so the questioncomes, comes down to, so how do
we steward our gifts, talents,and testimonies?
Well, how do we use them for hiskingdom?
And so of course we have somepractical steps for you.
(32:30):
Right.
Um, and go ahead and share stepone.
I think step one, I, I would,um, you got, we have to embrace
our gifts.
Mm-hmm.
You know, I was.
And the enemies, the enemy willtell you, you know, nah, it's
not for you.
You shouldn't, you shouldn'ttalk about that.
Yeah, that's, that'sinsignificant, but you know, it
(32:51):
doesn't matter, right?
The Lord, the Lord has given youa story, so the Lord has given
you a gift.
So embrace your gift and ask,ask the Lord if you don't know.
Uh, if you're not quite thereyet, ask him, Lord, what do you
have for me?
Mm-hmm.
Uh, so, and sometimes, and I cancertainly speak to this
sometimes, others will see itmore clearly than we do.
(33:12):
So listen to when other peopleaffirm you don't get caught up
in that affirmation.
Uh, and don't get caught up inthat in, uh, those, yeah, all
those attaboys, atta girls.
But you know, sometimes I know,I know you saw.
A lot of stuff in me that Ididn't see in myself and way
back in 1988, way back in theday.
(33:34):
And, uh, but, uh, and then otherpeople, you know, saw stuff in
me.
Mm-hmm.
Saw, saw gifts in me that havecome to fruition that I had no
idea Yeah.
About, you know?
Yeah.
And then step two, I would saystop hiding your story.
You know, start with, maybestart with one trusted person.
(33:54):
Right.
Share how God has shown up inyour life.
Yeah.
You'll be surprised how he willuse your story when you open the
doors, because again, there arepeople who need to see where you
came from to where you are now.
Yeah.
For it to click with them thatwow.
I would've never thought thatabout them.
(34:15):
Right.
I would have never guessed.
Right.
And I say it often about people,I would've never guessed that
they had gone through what theywent through.
Right.
But your testimony can changethe trajectory of someone else's
life.
Yeah.
And I love to say that someone'sblessing is on the other side of
your obedience, so be obedient.
If the Lord is telling you toshare your testimony, be
(34:37):
obedient in that and share thattestimony.
It's so important.
Right.
Moving on to step three is servewhere you are.
You know, that big platform thatyou're, you might be hoping for,
it might not be in his plan, sodon't wait for the platform to
use your gifts, right?
(34:57):
Uh, use your, use your personalblessings.
Use what he's given you.
Use it at home.
Use it at work.
Use it at church.
Use it in the grocery store.
Be that guy by the, in thecooler section, by the french
fries, praying with that person,you know?
Right.
Uh, purpose.
His purpose.
And us purpose.
(35:17):
Our purpose, our God-givenpurpose isn't about someday.
It's about today.
That's right.
It's about today.
It starts today.
So what are you gonna do today?
Yeah.
Uh, and, and the, our missionfield is everywhere, like I
mentioned, home, work, church.
Grocery store.
(35:39):
Mm-hmm.
Wherever you at.
How do people, how do you wantpeople to know you?
You know, it's pretty cool that,you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a safety
manager in the constructionfield and it's pretty cool that,
and guys, guys know that, and ifthey need prayer, they don't
hesitate to.
To come up and check it out, youknow, so well, and you're doing
what Step four is, is stayingspirit led, so the Holy Spirit
(36:03):
will nudge you into thoseopportunities that you never saw
coming.
I'm sure there's times where youwalk onto a job site and you
didn't see it coming, that someguy's gonna come ask you for
prayer.
Yeah.
Uh, yeah, and no, I don't.
Yeah.
Or.
You know, you could walk onto ajob site and just by the Holy
Spirit recognize that somebodyneeds prayer.
(36:25):
That somebody needs prayer andmm-hmm.
And it was, it was pretty cool.
One time, and this is, issimilar, but uh, the guys know
who I am.
They know, they know who theyknow.
I'm, I'm a Christ follower andwhatnot.
And they know I'm an author anda speaker.
And it was, and this reallymoved me.
'cause, you know, I.
(36:45):
When, uh, I had a couple of guyson the same job site walk up and
they, they had one of my booksand they say, they're like,
dude.
Will you sign this for me?
Right.
That blew me away.
Yeah.
These guys I've known for 15years, you know, coming to me
and saying, Hey, so good.
They actually went out andbought the book and that's so
(37:05):
good.
Yeah, it was pretty cool.
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
So, you know, the Holy Spiritmight say to you, Hey, call that
person, or, or pray for her orhim.
Offer your skills here, youknow?
Yeah.
You offered your, offered theskills of prayer.
Um, again, the key is obedientwillingness, being willing to be
(37:26):
obedient to the calling, to theprompting, to that still small
voice of the Holy Spirit tellingyou what he wants you to do.
Absolutely.
And that plays right into, uh,step five, and that is surrender
the results.
Mm.
One word here.
Yield.
Mm-hmm.
(37:47):
Yield.
This is something that wereally, uh, really put on
display and really emphasize,uh, in our unbound ministry, is
we must yield to the HolySpirit.
We must yield to Jesus Christin, in, in the Father, because
God's perspective is alwayshigher and greater than ours,
(38:10):
and our part is to one.
Is to believe and then toobediently follow.
So we gotta yield to do that.
Um, the outcome is always in hisinfinite hands.
Absolutely.
So here's your call today.
Here's our call to you, is whatI should say.
Don't bury what God gave you,right?
(38:32):
Don't bury your story.
Don't bury your gifts, don'tbury your talents.
Use them, right?
What, what the guy, the, the.
That buried the talent anddidn't mm-hmm.
Make anything of it.
Did he call him a wretchedservant or something?
Wicked servant?
I'd have to, I'd he wasn't.
Oh yeah.
I think he wasn't, yeah, themaster wasn't too happy with
(38:54):
that.
'cause you know, he was, yeah,I'd have to go back and I don't
want to be, uh, I don't wanna bethat guy when it comes up to,
uh, once we get in into, onceit's over and we've all.
Gone up.
I don't want to be that.
I don't wanna be that, thatwicked servant.
I want to be, I wanna be thatguy, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well done.
My good and faithful, faithfulservant.
Yeah.
(39:14):
Right.
So.
So what are you gonna do thisweek?
Make, we encourage you to makeone move this week to steward
your gifts, your talents, oryour testimony.
Maybe it's signing up to serve.
Maybe it's increasing yourcommitment and consistency.
Ah, I love those two words.
You love commitment,consistency.
(39:35):
Commitment and consistency.
Mm-hmm.
We might to, if we're going tohonor.
The Lord with the gifts thathe's given us.
If we're going to kick thatglory back to him, we must
commit and remain consistentwith the gifts that he's given
us.
Or maybe it's sharing yourstory.
(39:55):
I don't wanna say just sharingyour story because sharing your
story is a big deal.
It's huge.
Maybe it's sharing.
Sharing your story with someonewho benefit from them.
And as you do that, let themknow.
And even as you share yourstory, you don't even have to
say the words.
You're letting them know thatthey're not alone in their
challenges.
Right?
And remember first, 1 Peter 4:10where it says, each of you
(40:18):
should use whatever gift youhave received to serve others.
Allen said it earlier, to serveothers as faithful stewards of
God's grace in its variousforms.
That's you.
You are a carrier of God'sgrace, right?
Don't try to be someone else.
No.
Be the best person that hecreated you to be.
(40:40):
Use the gifts that he createdyou to, to honor him.
Mm-hmm.
And to, to, uh, exemplify him.
Yeah.
Uh, so, and as you're doingthat, show up boldly.
Yeah, show, show up like, likeyou're following Christ.
Like God is actually on yourside because guess what?
God is actually on your side.
(41:03):
The world needs your obedience.
Mm-hmm.
Not your perfection.
That's so right.
That is so right.
So thank you for joining ustoday.
Un faithfully invested.
If this has spoken to you,please take a moment and share
it with someone else.
Oh, and don't forget to downloadand subscribe and of course
(41:26):
leave us a five star review.
'cause it helps us to be able tospread God's word to a wider
audience.
Absolute.
And we want to spread his wordfaithfully.
Yes, absolutely.
And as always, don't forget thatwhen you are faithfully
invested, God brings theincrease.
Yes, he does.
(41:47):
God bless you.
Until next week, bye-bye.
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,
don't keep it to yourself.
That's right.
Share it with a friend.
Leave a five star review andkeep leaning into God's
(42:07):
blueprint for your life, yourleadership, and your legacy.
So until next time, remember,when you invest in his kingdom,
he brings the increase.
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
(00:21):
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
(00:42):
when we invest in his kingdom,he brings the increase.
Hey, welcome back to FaithfullyInvested, where we explore God's
blueprint for leadership,marriage, and mission.
One Kingdom principle at a time.
This season, we are focusing onexperiential truth, on
(01:05):
stewarding everything,everything, everything,
stewarding everything that God'sentrusted to us.
That means our relationships,how to steward our
relationships, how to stewardour finances, our time, and our
gifts.
That's right.
We are in season three, episodefour at this point, and, but Oh,
(01:28):
but first.
I who we didn't introduceourselves.
Who are you?
I'm Stacy Jo.
And he's Allen Layne.
I'm Allen Layne, that's right.
I used your middle name.
Yeah.
Took her till the third seasonto use the name my mama gave me.
But today's conversation is one,I think so many of us need to
(01:50):
hear wired for his purpose,right?
And we wanna talk about how Goddesigned you intentionally.
With gifts, talents, and evenyour story and how all of that
is meant for impact.
Let's go.
Let's go.
(02:10):
Impact.
Every time I hear the wordimpact, I'm like, let's go.
Right?
Yeah.
Friends, did you know that youare.
Not a random accident.
I'm so glad to know I was not arandom accident.
I'm definitely not a randomaccident.
And you friends, none of you outthere are random accidents.
You're definitely also, you'redefinitely not meant to hide in
(02:33):
the shadows.
That's right.
And every one of us.
Has the Lord's purpose woveninto us.
That's right.
We just have to decide to followhim on that journey to discover
who we are and who we werecreated to be.
Find our identity found only inChrist Jesus, our Lord.
(02:57):
Yeah, but you know, here's thechallenge.
Too many of us don't reallybelieve.
Don't really believe that we'vebeen created on purpose for his
purpose.
And I'm not saying for apurpose, but I'm talking for his
purpose.
Right.
And we nod our heads, you know,when we hear it.
But, but deep down, and I, Ihave experienced this firsthand.
(03:21):
I have felt this firsthand.
I wrestled with doubt and Iwould downplay my gifts.
You know, I would say, oh, it'snot a big deal.
Lots of people can do what I do.
Lots of people can do this or,or will hide our story because,
right.
Maybe shame of our past or fearof judgment, or how about the
(03:44):
lie that we're not qualified.
I've dealt with that too.
I have dealt with it time andtime again, and I still
sometimes deal with it.
Um, but sometimes we will buryeven parts of our story because
we think that those parts willdisqualify us.
(04:05):
But those very things that weretempted to hide, that I had been
tempted to hide could actuallybe the testimony that sets
someone else free.
And I have seen that to be true.
Exactly.
Mm-hmm.
Exactly.
You know, you, you gotta shareyour story, right?
Uh, sometimes, we'll, even bythe lie, that our purpose gotta
(04:26):
be big.
It's gotta be big stuff.
Gotta be hot shot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Maybe we think we gotta bestanding on a stage or a big
platform.
Maybe we gotta write a book or aseries of books.
Maybe we gotta lead a hugeministry with the, uh, with the
Lord.
Uh, revealed to us is not todespise small beginnings.
(04:48):
That's right.
That's right.
It doesn't have to be huge to begreat.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, Peter doesn't say that it'sgot to, uh, that you're gonna
get a platform.
Peter, Peter doesn't go on tosay, he doesn't say that.
You know, everything's gotta begigantic.
He, he doesn't say that yourname's gotta be up in lights.
(05:09):
What he says.
Um, and his first epistle isthat each of you should use
whatever gift you've received.
We've all received a gift andPeter says that we should use
the gift that we've received toserve others as faithful
stewards of God's grace.
And its various forms.
(05:30):
Yeah.
That means that your purposedoesn't have to look like
someone else's.
In fact, it probably won't looklike someone else's because he's
given them specific gifts to,uh, for, for them, you know, and
he, and maybe he may have givenyou similar gifts.
So as, as we, as we encounterthat, we gotta be careful to not
(05:58):
fall.
Fall prey to the evil ofcomparison.
Mm.
Right.
You know,'cause what I rememberand, uh,'cause his god's grace
shows up in various ways andthrough various gifts and
comparison will have uscomparing our gifts with someone
else's.
You know, and maybe, you know,and when he first started giving
(06:20):
me the gifts of, of, of beingable to write, uh, with, uh,
effectiveness and.
And efficiency and, and becomemore concise, which I'm not
doing here very well.
Um, but, and he's gave, and hegave me the gift of, of public
speaking and speaking for hisglory.
(06:41):
Mm-hmm.
You know, I, I, I, in thebeginning I was like, man, I'm.
I'm not quite as good as thatguy, or I'm not, I'm not, you
know?
Mm-hmm.
I'm not really good like thatguy, but I don't need to be, I
don't, I had a, I had a, a guyat the church I, I look up to,
he is like, who do you, who doyou, uh, who do you wanna be
(07:04):
like, mm.
Uh, and I was like, and I waslike, I wanna be the best.
And as, as I grew, I was like, Iwanna be the best me that I can
be.
Mm-hmm.
I want to be, I wanna be like me'cause that's the g he the gift
he gave that he gave me.
You know, I, we have an amazingp um, an amazing teacher and
amazing pastor and pastor ToddMao.
(07:26):
Mm-hmm.
But I don't wanna preach likeTodd'cause Todd preaches like
Todd.
Right.
And, uh, I just wanna, I justwanna.
Carry God's glory and carryGod's wisdom and, and with the
gift that he gave me and do thebest I can do with that.
Yeah.
I wanna go back for a minutethough, because you, you talked
about, um, where Peter said thateach of you should use whatever
(07:50):
gift you have received to serveothers, to be faithful stewards
of God's grace and, you know,serving others, it, it can be as
simple.
As powerful.
Yeah.
And as, as maybe leading a Biblestudy for three women, maybe two
(08:10):
women, maybe one woman, womanand women and woman right in
your living room, you know,maybe it's teaching a child to
read or cooking a meal forsomeone who is going through a
hard time or maybe sharing yourtestimony.
Work.
(08:30):
Right.
Even when it feelsuncomfortable.
And I understand that it candefinitely feel uncomfortable to
share your testimony when you'reout in the corporate world or
you're, you know, working forsomeone else.
But, but those everyday momentsare kingdom moments.
Yeah.
And they may not look flashy,but they certainly echo in
(08:50):
eternity.
Echo in eternity.
Yeah.
That is beautiful.
And isn't that what we want?
Don't we want our testimonies toecho?
In eternity, those small deedsthat we do for someone else.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
It's not about, you know, it'snot about me.
Right.
You know, and I know, I knowyou, I know you pretty well and
(09:14):
it's not about you either, butthe uh, the work that we do for
the Kingdom, it is, it's abouthim.
It's about advancing hiskingdom.
It's about helping others.
Mm-hmm.
It's about serving others.
Uh, and you said even, uh, Iwould say especially when you
don't want to.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So, yeah, true.
We talked last episode aboutgiving when it doesn't make
(09:37):
sense.
You know, same serve when youdon't want to, and that's,
that's challenging sometimes.
Um, but yeah, another challengeis that, um, what do we believe?
Mm-hmm.
Do you believe that you've beencreated on purpose for his
purpose?
Uh.
Do you wanna walk in thatdirection?
Do you wanna walk so close tothe savior Christ that the dust
(10:00):
from a sandals kicks up on you?
Mm-hmm.
Uh, do you want that?
Do you believe that, that he isleading you?
Do you believe that he loves youmore than you ever know?
What, what do you believe?
Do we believe that the HolySpirit is with us?
And that he was sent to us justthe same as the the first
century?
(10:21):
Believing followers.
He was sent to us as his 21stcentury believing followers.
The Holy Spirit was sent to usto remind us all that Jesus said
and taught.
He was sent to counsel us intoposition according to God's
purpose for each one of us.
Right?
Is, is Romans 8:28 just words ona page or, or do we know and
(10:42):
believe?
'cause what we believe is, is.
How we'll respond or react, whatwe believe is where our thoughts
and our emotions and our actionscome from.
So do we believe that what Peterwrote in, in, uh, Romans 8:28,
that God causes all things towork together for the good of
(11:06):
those who love him to?
Those are called according tohis purpose.
Not our purpose.
Mm-hmm.
But those who are calledaccording to his purpose, he
will cause all things to worktogether for our good.
Yeah.
As we decide to follow him.
So what do you believe, friends?
What do you believe?
(11:27):
Well, if you're asking me,'causeI'm your friend too.
You're, you're my best friendand you're my best friend.
But I, you know, I, I do believethat now, but I didn't always
believe that necessarily, or Idoubted that.
Maybe I kind of knew it, but Idoubted.
But, you know, I.
(11:50):
Remember a season where I, whereI thought, who am I to lead
anyone, you know, who am I tospeak in front of people or to
write a book or, or to do any ofthat?
And I would scroll throughsocial media.
You know, one of the worstthings that you can do.
Yeah.
But, or I would sit in aconference and going back to
(12:11):
what you said, I would comparemyself to others.
I would compare myself to womenwho seemed so polished and so
put together so confident.
Right.
And who seemed so much moregifted than me.
Right.
And I would look at what I hadand think, uh, this isn't
enough.
(12:31):
Right.
This.
My gifts are so small, right,and way too simple to be used
and someone else could do thisso much better.
And I remember thinking thatwith the Association of
Christian Business Women, as we,uh, as I was starting that, you
know, I thought, I have nobusiness.
(12:53):
I am not qualified, Lord.
There is someone else who is somuch more qualified to lead this
than what I am.
And that mindset.
It kept me stuck for, for a longtime.
Um, and I was serving, but I wasnot stepping into the fullness
of what God was calling me to dobecause I felt totally
(13:16):
unqualified.
Right.
And I thought leadership andinfluence were for.
Those other people.
Right.
You know, people with biggerplatforms and, and more training
or a different personality.
Right.
But you know, the Holy Spiritreally, really did speak to me.
(13:36):
Yeah.
And whispered, he said, use whatI've already given you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's cool like that.
Right.
It's the truth.
Use what I've already given you,not what I wished I had or not
what I.
Thought in my mind that Ineeded, but just what he had
placed in my hands right thenand that whisper.
(14:01):
From the Holy Spirit shiftedeverything, and as I started to,
you know, going back to ACBWAssociation of Christian
Business Women, as I, as Istarted to get a little more
bold and I started going out andasking women, is this something
you might be interested in?
I found out that yeah, therereally was a need for this and
there was a desire to come intocommunity with other women.
(14:25):
Have faith in business.
Yeah.
But I spent the longest time, asyou know.
Right.
Struggling with that.
Well, during that time you, youhad some, we, we both had some
stuff we had to work past.
Mm-hmm.
And, and we weren't fixingourselves where Right.
As his creations we're notcapable of fixing ourselves.
Right.
'cause nobody repairs thecreation.
(14:47):
That's us, like the creator.
And we had some junk to getpast.
Mm-hmm.
And uh, and so we were caughtbecause we had.
Because we were burdened by thelie that we were believing the
enemy could use that.
That's one of his, the enemy'sgot nothing new.
Right.
It's been the same since thegarden.
Yeah.
You know, but, uh, it is beenthe, you know, who do you think
(15:07):
you are?
Yeah.
You know?
Right.
Yeah.
You're, that's, that's nevergonna work.
Yeah.
You know, you're No, that's,that's not for you.
Yeah.
Disqualified.
You're disqualified.
Yeah.
Well, who knows out there thatthe Lord doesn't?
He doesn't, uh, call thequalified.
Mm-hmm.
(15:27):
He qualifies the cold.
Absolutely.
You know, and I've, and I'vebeen there, I've felt the same
way.
He wanted me to use my story,but I was like, my, the story is
pretty graphic, Lord.
And, uh, not as graphic as some,not as graphic as some, but, but
yeah.
You know, uh, near deathexperiences.
Mm-hmm.
You know, I don't want to getinto, I don't want to get into
(15:48):
it now, but it was, it was apretty graphic story, but the
lord, maybe one of these days wecan do like the raw and real.
The, and real, the raw and realseason season.
Yeah.
Where we can really delve intomaybe, maybe into our stories.
I'm sure it's, I'm sure it's ondown the line.
Yeah.
But you know, I had, so I gotthis graphic story, uh, and it
wasn't that I was ashamed of.
(16:10):
Where, where I came from, Iwasn't ashamed of my story, uh,
or that I, I wasn't even tooconcerned with, with that.
People wouldn't respect me ifthey, if they knew the, the
whole truth.
Um, you know, because peoplecan, people can think what they
want to.
You know, and they will.
Right.
You know, and, uh, I, I knowthat because, you know, I'm, I'm
(16:32):
a person, but, uh, good to know.
But, but that, that might havebothered me early in my
beginning, uh, early at thebeginning of my journey, my
recovery journey and my, and myrecovery journey and my journey
with Christ are, are one, reallyone and the same.
'cause that's my recovery outof.
(16:53):
Uh, the pit of, of drugs andalcohol and the whole not good
enough and this, that, and theother.
Uh, that, that's been my, myjourney with Christ.
He's, he's led me through that.
But along that journey, I, Iquickly learned that what people
think of me is none of mybusiness.
I love that.
Yeah.
And it didn't, and I rememberone of my mentors, uh.
(17:16):
Uh, I think it was, it was, itwas either Steve or Jonathan.
Uh, they said back in the day,Hey, man, don't let that get to
you.
What mm-hmm.
What people say about you, whatpeople think about you.
That's none of your business,man.
Mm-hmm.
Discover who you are in Christ.
That's right.
Find your identity in Christ.
And, and 12, a little over 12years of sobriety.
(17:41):
Uh, and it's not about thesobriety, it's about what I've
learned along the way.
It's, uh, I, I found my identityin Christ.
I know that I know who I am, uh,who I was created to be, uh,
what his purpose is, uh, what mypurpose is for his kingdom.
Yeah.
Now I was able to discover thatalong the way, but.
Got a little in the weeds there.
(18:03):
Uh, but that's right.
It was all relevant.
It, it was, you know, thank you.
But, but round about the sametime, uh, the Lord was starting
to show me my gifts of, of, uh,Hey, you can speak in, in
public, you, and he, Hey, youcan actually write halfway
decently and let me show you howto do that better.
And that just kind of came, youknow, I didn't, and uh, then he
(18:26):
called me.
I remember.
He, he called me into highereducation in 2017, and I'm like,
what?
I'm not, I'm not, I'm inconstruction, man.
I'm not going to school.
He is like, yeah, you are.
And I'm like, no, I'm not.
And he's, he's like, yeah, youare.
And so I, I went, uh.
And all that.
Yes.
(18:46):
Yes, I was, and yes, I did.
In 2018, uh, I, I got intoschool, graduated top of my
class, just like you told me Iwould in 2022, not, not any,
not, I'm not saying that for aclaim to myself, but he, he.
One, he walked me through thathigher education journey to
debunk a lie that I believedfrom second grade.
(19:10):
Uh, when that gym teacherconsistently told me I was
stupid, he's like, see, I toldyou you weren't stupid.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
Yeah.
How's that?
How's that 4.0 treating you?
Right.
You know, and it, and again,it's not about me, it's what?
The teachable moment that's, heused that to show me.
Yeah.
Uh, this is, you're not stupid.
You have this gift and you canshare this experience with
(19:32):
others.
Right.
You know, you're, you.
So I was, I'm, I'm able to sharemy past challenges with others.
Uh.
For his glory.
It's all about his glory.
Uh, the enemy wanted to keep mesilent.
Of course, of course.
You know,'cause I wasn'tsignificant either.
Right.
And, and all along the way was,you know, who do you think you
(19:53):
are?
Mm-hmm.
You know, I, I am, I'm Allen,and this is, this is my savior
Christ.
And he has defeated you.
Mm-hmm.
And he holds all the authorityin heaven and on earth.
And he says that I have.
The authority to trample on thesnakes and the scorpions and the
demonic, and I have all thepower I, I have the authority to
(20:16):
stand against all the power ofyou, Satan.
Yes.
So.
Preach babe.
Preach.
So, and that, but that's whatJesus says.
That's what he told his firstcentury disciples, his believing
followers.
And that stands true for us ashis 21st century believing
followers.
We have the authority to trampleon the demonic and stand against
(20:36):
all the power of the enemy.
And Jesus says, nothing willharm us.
So, uh, uh, when he wanted tokeep me silent, he wanted to
keep me silent because he knowstestimony shattered chains.
Mm-hmm.
But it doesn't matter what theenemy wants.
Mm-hmm.
You know, authority says, ignorethat nonsensical valley who
Yeah.
You know, this is what I got foryou.
(20:58):
And the closer I became with,with Christ and the closer and
the more I realize that thiswhole God thing is real and
this, and Jesus is.
Mm.
Who he says he is.
Uh, I learned that it, it justdoesn't matter what the enemy
wants, right?
Because it says, the word saysin Revelation.
John wrote in Revelation 12 thatthe salvation, the power, God's
(21:22):
kingdom and the authority of hisChrist has come.
Mm.
And then, uh, revelation 12 goeson to say.
That the accuser was thrown downand our brethren overcame the
accuser by.
The blood of the lamb and theword of the testimony, you gotta
go back and you gotta check outthat context.
(21:43):
Everybody uses, uh, you over, weovercome by the blood of the
lamb and the power of ourtestimony.
Mm-hmm.
But you gotta have those versesbefore that in 12 to understand
that it's all about.
Christ Authority all about, youknow, who Christ is, so that we
might overcome by his blood andthe word of our testimony.
(22:03):
Yeah.
And the test, his test, our, ourtestimony comes from him.
You know, it's not, it's not mytestimony.
I, I can say it was saying thatin recovery that I want to keep
this at I and me statements, butmy statement comes, uh, or my,
uh.
I in me statement, my testimonyis all about Christ.
(22:24):
It reflects about Christ.
It reflects Christ every step ofthe way.
And, um.
But, and, and just the same,they believe that Jesus was the
son of God.
Mm-hmm.
And they overcame the enemy'sattacks.
I, when I came to believe, and Itried real hard not to believe,
right.
I tried real hard not tobelieve, but the, but when I
(22:44):
came to believe that JesusChrist is the son of God, I
overcame the enemy's attacks.
Mm.
And, and I, and I gained theauthority, uh, when I decided to
follow.
Jesus Christ and realize that heis the only one to justify me
before the father.
Yeah.
Then that, and that's, thatchanged everything and once.
(23:08):
Once I'm justified, then thespirit had open ground to
sanctify me through the rest ofmy life.
The sanctification, the, thecleansing of it from, from the
inside out.
And I know I got a little bit inthe weeds there, but, but we are
going into talking aboutstewarding gifts, talents, and
testimonies, and we can'treference John's truth and
revelation without that littlecontext.
(23:29):
So, and that context holds truetoday just as much as it did
back then.
Uh, like, uh, many of us.
Many, many pastors, manypreachers say the Bible wasn't
written to us, but it certainlywas written for us.
Right.
But I, everything you saidthough was, was totally
relevant.
I mean, it was.
(23:49):
It was all important informationand.
You know, going back intoscripture, you know, I love
Matthew 25.
Yeah.
And that's where Jesus tells theparable of the talents.
And if you don't know thisstory, go back and read Matthew
25.
Right.
But the master gives one servantfive talents, he gives another
(24:11):
two.
Mm-hmm.
And he gives another one ofthem, one each according to
their ability.
And the point wasn't how muchthey had.
Right.
The point was what they did withwhat the master gave them, and
two of the servants invested andwhat they were given, you know,
(24:33):
they invested what they weregiven and they doubled it.
But the one who buried his giftout fear missed out.
Yeah.
Not because he didn't haveenough, but because he didn't.
Trust his master, right?
He had no faith.
He had no faith.
He chose fear over faith, andthat's right.
That's a losing time.
And how many of us are hiding,hiding our testimony?
(24:54):
How many of us are burying thegifts and the talents that he
has given us because we'reafraid to step out?
I was one.
Yeah, I was one.
That is how I felt.
I wasn't stewarding my giftsbecause fear.
Legitimately had me paralyzed,right?
(25:16):
I buried what God had entrustedto me.
And maybe that's where you areright now.
Maybe you feel like what youhave to offer isn't significant,
so you're gonna shrink back.
Mm.
Maybe you've been comparingyourself to others.
You know, going back to thewhole comparison thing and
deciding that, you know what, myvoice isn't really needed.
(25:38):
There's other people who can,who can speak out there, um,
better than me.
So I, my voice isn't needed.
And maybe you're saying, youknow, your story isn't powerful
or your skills aren't enough.
Right?
But here's the truth.
God does not expect you tosteward what he hasn't given
you.
He's only asking you to befaithful with your portion.
(26:01):
Yeah.
Not anybody else's portion, justthe portion that he gave you.
And when you take that step offaith, and I speak from
experience.
When you use what's already inyour hands, he multiplies it.
And our challenges are real.
I mean, we battle comparison.
(26:21):
We all do it.
We all battle comparison.
It's, it's.
Our flesh, sometimes we have todie to flesh daily to be able to
overcome comparison.
Right.
We got it.
We have to die to flesh daily.
To be able to overcome fear.
Yeah.
And the temptation to believethat ordinary doesn't matter
because you know what?
In God's economy, the ordinarysurrendered becomes
(26:44):
extraordinary.
That's it.
That's it.
And it's, uh, there is noordinary in his kingdom.
It's, it's flesh or spirit.
And that's, that's our coreverse.
It's a very small verse, but acore verse of our unbound'cause
un unbounds, our, our recoveryministry entirely.
Uh, the, the spirit is thecatalyst there.
(27:04):
Mm-hmm.
And what Romans eight six saysis that to live, uh, by the
flesh is death.
Mm-hmm.
But to live by the spirit islife and peace.
Life.
Yes.
So what do you want?
Yeah.
Right here.
So that, that's good stuff,babe.
Thank you for that.
Yeah.
Wonderful.
It's, and I've, uh, I'velearned, uh, a lot along the
(27:26):
way, but, uh, I've learned overtime that God doesn't ever
waste.
A trial or a pain.
I, I, if we're going through andone of my favorite, um, well, I
only know one English prophet, acontemporary prophet.
His name's Graham Cook.
If you're not, if you're notfamiliar with Graham Cook's
work, uh, go check him out onYouTube.
(27:49):
Uh, but he says trial Yahoo.
Yeah.
I'll always let you know.
We want to face.
The trials because through everytrial, and I've, and I've
experienced this, uh, I've livedthis out because we're, we're
not, we're not talking fromother people's experiences.
We, we speak from our ownexperience.
(28:09):
Mm-hmm.
And every trial I've beenthrough, there's been such a,
when, when I'm willing to lookfor it, there's such a, a vast
amount of teachable momentsthat's preparing us for the next
trial.
'cause life is a series oftrials.
And each trial prepares us forthe next one.
And God never wastes any of thetrials.
(28:31):
And he, and he always hasteachable moments at the
beginning and the middle and atthe end of of that.
And, uh, it's so good.
So I wanna say though, he alwaystakes us though, in those
trials, he always takes us fromvictory to victory, right?
From victory to victory.
Yes.
As we operate from victory.
From victory.
Right.
Yeah.
And, and the victory that weoperate from is Christ's work.
(28:53):
Mm-hmm.
On the cross and the the exit.
From the, from the tomb.
Yeah.
That's the victory that we, andthat victory completely disarmed
the enemy.
Mm-hmm.
So, so we encourage you as, asyou're challenged, uh, I
wouldn't say if you'rechallenged because we're all
challenged by the enemy, uh,with, uh, most often doubt and
(29:17):
despair.
Know that.
Jesus, the Father, the Son, theHoly Spirit, redeems all things.
When we yield to Him and babased on my experience, he
reveals talents along the waythrough our story.
He, uh, especially, especiallythe broken chapters, the more
(29:42):
broken, the more, the deeper thelearning experience can be and,
and the, uh.
The more vulnerable we have anopportunity to be with others,
so, uh mm-hmm.
To open up doors for, for theirown vulnerability.
Um, so it's the brokenness andthe challenges is what God will
(30:03):
use to keep us, keep us low,keep us humble and relatable so
that he can reach others throughus, because that's what it's all
about.
That's, that's, that's mypurpose.
So that to work, Lord, workthrough me, spirit work through
me to reach others through.
And if you can use my story,man.
(30:23):
Wow.
I'm, I'm all for it.
Yeah.
And, and it's not, again, notabout me, but just you.
That's, he wants to use my storyand, uh, and keep me low in the
process.
Mm-hmm.
So that he can reach others, andothers know that you're not
alone, you know, because, and,and, and these, in these
(30:43):
challenges and life'schallenges, sometimes the enemy
will try to isolate us, man.
And, and it's not a, it'sisolation.
Doesn't heal, community heals.
Mm.
And people need to know thatthey're not alone.
And people need to know that,you know, uh, I, that, hey, I
wasn't, I, I, I would, I don'tknow, get stumbling and
(31:03):
stammering a bit here, kind ofgetting a little in the weeds,
but, you know, compared to who Iwas, I'm pretty shiny now, but
still not shiny.
I don't consider myself shiny.
There's no perfection here, Iassure you.
Uh, but, um, but it's, it'simportant for.
Someone leading groups andsomeone leading, people coming
out, uh, of addiction andthrough trials to be vulnerable.
(31:26):
Uh, so the so the folks knowthat they're not alone.
Yeah.
Uh, and you know, going back tothe gifts he's given, he's given
us, and, and I just wanna say,and, and to see, I mean, to see
where you were then to where youare now, people need to see
that.
'cause they need to see that youwere this person.
(31:48):
You know, 20 years ago, and nowyou are this person who's
walking with the Lord, walkingwith the Lord.
And so that's the difference isChrist all day, every day.
Right.
The D the difference is Christ.
And you know, his ways arealways higher and greater than
always.
Always.
Yeah.
I like to pull out those oldpictures sometimes I, uh mm-hmm.
(32:09):
And, uh, and they're like.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You were a mess.
But, uh, so, so the questioncomes, comes down to, so how do
we steward our gifts, talents,and testimonies?
Well, how do we use them for hiskingdom?
And so of course we have somepractical steps for you.
(32:30):
Right.
Um, and go ahead and share stepone.
I think step one, I, I would,um, you got, we have to embrace
our gifts.
Mm-hmm.
You know, I was.
And the enemies, the enemy willtell you, you know, nah, it's
not for you.
You shouldn't, you shouldn'ttalk about that.
Yeah, that's, that'sinsignificant, but you know, it
(32:51):
doesn't matter, right?
The Lord, the Lord has given youa story, so the Lord has given
you a gift.
So embrace your gift and ask,ask the Lord if you don't know.
Uh, if you're not quite thereyet, ask him, Lord, what do you
have for me?
Mm-hmm.
Uh, so, and sometimes, and I cancertainly speak to this
sometimes, others will see itmore clearly than we do.
(33:12):
So listen to when other peopleaffirm you don't get caught up
in that affirmation.
Uh, and don't get caught up inthat in, uh, those, yeah, all
those attaboys, atta girls.
But you know, sometimes I know,I know you saw.
A lot of stuff in me that Ididn't see in myself and way
back in 1988, way back in theday.
(33:34):
And, uh, but, uh, and then otherpeople, you know, saw stuff in
me.
Mm-hmm.
Saw, saw gifts in me that havecome to fruition that I had no
idea Yeah.
About, you know?
Yeah.
And then step two, I would saystop hiding your story.
You know, start with, maybestart with one trusted person.
(33:54):
Right.
Share how God has shown up inyour life.
Yeah.
You'll be surprised how he willuse your story when you open the
doors, because again, there arepeople who need to see where you
came from to where you are now.
Yeah.
For it to click with them thatwow.
I would've never thought thatabout them.
(34:15):
Right.
I would have never guessed.
Right.
And I say it often about people,I would've never guessed that
they had gone through what theywent through.
Right.
But your testimony can changethe trajectory of someone else's
life.
Yeah.
And I love to say that someone'sblessing is on the other side of
your obedience, so be obedient.
If the Lord is telling you toshare your testimony, be
(34:37):
obedient in that and share thattestimony.
It's so important.
Right.
Moving on to step three is servewhere you are.
You know, that big platform thatyou're, you might be hoping for,
it might not be in his plan, sodon't wait for the platform to
use your gifts, right?
(34:57):
Uh, use your, use your personalblessings.
Use what he's given you.
Use it at home.
Use it at work.
Use it at church.
Use it in the grocery store.
Be that guy by the, in thecooler section, by the french
fries, praying with that person,you know?
Right.
Uh, purpose.
His purpose.
And us purpose.
(35:17):
Our purpose, our God-givenpurpose isn't about someday.
It's about today.
That's right.
It's about today.
It starts today.
So what are you gonna do today?
Yeah.
Uh, and, and the, our missionfield is everywhere, like I
mentioned, home, work, church.
Grocery store.
(35:39):
Mm-hmm.
Wherever you at.
How do people, how do you wantpeople to know you?
You know, it's pretty cool that,you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a safety
manager in the constructionfield and it's pretty cool that,
and guys, guys know that, and ifthey need prayer, they don't
hesitate to.
To come up and check it out, youknow, so well, and you're doing
what Step four is, is stayingspirit led, so the Holy Spirit
(36:03):
will nudge you into thoseopportunities that you never saw
coming.
I'm sure there's times where youwalk onto a job site and you
didn't see it coming, that someguy's gonna come ask you for
prayer.
Yeah.
Uh, yeah, and no, I don't.
Yeah.
Or.
You know, you could walk onto ajob site and just by the Holy
Spirit recognize that somebodyneeds prayer.
(36:25):
That somebody needs prayer andmm-hmm.
And it was, it was pretty cool.
One time, and this is, issimilar, but uh, the guys know
who I am.
They know, they know who theyknow.
I'm, I'm a Christ follower andwhatnot.
And they know I'm an author anda speaker.
And it was, and this reallymoved me.
'cause, you know, I.
(36:45):
When, uh, I had a couple of guyson the same job site walk up and
they, they had one of my booksand they say, they're like,
dude.
Will you sign this for me?
Right.
That blew me away.
Yeah.
These guys I've known for 15years, you know, coming to me
and saying, Hey, so good.
They actually went out andbought the book and that's so
(37:05):
good.
Yeah, it was pretty cool.
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
So, you know, the Holy Spiritmight say to you, Hey, call that
person, or, or pray for her orhim.
Offer your skills here, youknow?
Yeah.
You offered your, offered theskills of prayer.
Um, again, the key is obedientwillingness, being willing to be
(37:26):
obedient to the calling, to theprompting, to that still small
voice of the Holy Spirit tellingyou what he wants you to do.
Absolutely.
And that plays right into, uh,step five, and that is surrender
the results.
Mm.
One word here.
Yield.
Mm-hmm.
(37:47):
Yield.
This is something that wereally, uh, really put on
display and really emphasize,uh, in our unbound ministry, is
we must yield to the HolySpirit.
We must yield to Jesus Christin, in, in the Father, because
God's perspective is alwayshigher and greater than ours,
(38:10):
and our part is to one.
Is to believe and then toobediently follow.
So we gotta yield to do that.
Um, the outcome is always in hisinfinite hands.
Absolutely.
So here's your call today.
Here's our call to you, is whatI should say.
Don't bury what God gave you,right?
(38:32):
Don't bury your story.
Don't bury your gifts, don'tbury your talents.
Use them, right?
What, what the guy, the, the.
That buried the talent anddidn't mm-hmm.
Make anything of it.
Did he call him a wretchedservant or something?
Wicked servant?
I'd have to, I'd he wasn't.
Oh yeah.
I think he wasn't, yeah, themaster wasn't too happy with
(38:54):
that.
'cause you know, he was, yeah,I'd have to go back and I don't
want to be, uh, I don't wanna bethat guy when it comes up to,
uh, once we get in into, onceit's over and we've all.
Gone up.
I don't want to be that.
I don't wanna be that, thatwicked servant.
I want to be, I wanna be thatguy, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well done.
My good and faithful, faithfulservant.
Yeah.
(39:14):
Right.
So.
So what are you gonna do thisweek?
Make, we encourage you to makeone move this week to steward
your gifts, your talents, oryour testimony.
Maybe it's signing up to serve.
Maybe it's increasing yourcommitment and consistency.
Ah, I love those two words.
You love commitment,consistency.
(39:35):
Commitment and consistency.
Mm-hmm.
We might to, if we're going tohonor.
The Lord with the gifts thathe's given us.
If we're going to kick thatglory back to him, we must
commit and remain consistentwith the gifts that he's given
us.
Or maybe it's sharing yourstory.
(39:55):
I don't wanna say just sharingyour story because sharing your
story is a big deal.
It's huge.
Maybe it's sharing.
Sharing your story with someonewho benefit from them.
And as you do that, let themknow.
And even as you share yourstory, you don't even have to
say the words.
You're letting them know thatthey're not alone in their
challenges.
Right?
And remember first, 1 Peter 4:10where it says, each of you
(40:18):
should use whatever gift youhave received to serve others.
Allen said it earlier, to serveothers as faithful stewards of
God's grace in its variousforms.
That's you.
You are a carrier of God'sgrace, right?
Don't try to be someone else.
No.
Be the best person that hecreated you to be.
(40:40):
Use the gifts that he createdyou to, to honor him.
Mm-hmm.
And to, to, uh, exemplify him.
Yeah.
Uh, so, and as you're doingthat, show up boldly.
Yeah, show, show up like, likeyou're following Christ.
Like God is actually on yourside because guess what?
God is actually on your side.
(41:03):
The world needs your obedience.
Mm-hmm.
Not your perfection.
That's so right.
That is so right.
So thank you for joining ustoday.
Un faithfully invested.
If this has spoken to you,please take a moment and share
it with someone else.
Oh, and don't forget to downloadand subscribe and of course
(41:26):
leave us a five star review.
'cause it helps us to be able tospread God's word to a wider
audience.
Absolute.
And we want to spread his wordfaithfully.
Yes, absolutely.
And as always, don't forget thatwhen you are faithfully
invested, God brings theincrease.
Yes, he does.
(41:47):
God bless you.
Until next week, bye-bye.
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,
don't keep it to yourself.
That's right.
Share it with a friend.
Leave a five star review andkeep leaning into God's
(42:07):
blueprint for your life, yourleadership, and your legacy.
So until next time, remember,when you invest in his kingdom,
he brings the increase.
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