February 28, 2025 • 19 mins
This episode emphasizes the journey of faith amid fear and obedience challenges. The conversation highlights personal anecdotes, biblical insights, and a fresh call to action for listeners seeking renewal and connection to God.
• Reflecting on the need to apologize less and embrace confidence
• Understanding the lessons from Hebrews 11 on faith and obedience
• Exploring the importance of intentional prayer in decision-making
• Discussing the challenges of planning a retreat and overcoming overwhelm
• Encouraging listeners to take actionable steps toward their God-given call
Don’t miss out on the upcoming Giving Your Best Life retreat. Register by March 29, 2025, for an opportunity to rejuvenate and explore your faith.
Register here: www.givingyourbestlife.com/retreat
P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe, share your thoughts, and leave a review to keep the conversation going!
Bible Verse: Hebrews 11
Giving Challenge: Reach out and encourage a friend
Connect with Stephanie:
Get a free resource The 4G Method Journal here.
Shop Stephanie's books here.
Follow me on IG: @Giving_Gal or FB/GivingGal
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey friends, it's Stephanie here with episode 123
of Giving your Best Life podcast, and friends, I man, I really
wanted to be consistent with mypodcast and I just haven't.
I'm recording this on February28th 2025, and it's been since
October since I recorded and,honestly, I want to apologize,
(00:23):
but I really try not toapologize for things that don't
need to be apologized for.
Women are so bad at this forapologizing for everything, and
I really try.
I had a boss I've probablytalked about this on previous
episodes where that was the onlything in my review was.
She told me to stop saying I'msorry, stop apologizing for
(00:46):
everything, and so that was likeprobably over a decade ago.
I still catch myself wanting todo that, and I'm really, though
, trying to help other womenstop apologizing.
So I want to apologize, but Idon't think I have anything to
apologize for.
I will say it does bother me,as someone who runs her own
(01:11):
business, of the lack ofconsistency that I have with my
podcast.
Being very transparent, beingvulnerable.
I do not know why I cannot getmy act together with this
vulnerable.
I do not know why I cannot getmy act together with this, but
it is what it is, but, trust me,it has been hanging over my
head and on my list to record apodcast because one I just miss
(01:36):
being able to put out a positive, encouraging message.
Two, and most importantly is Ihave people that's been asking
for a new podcast since Octoberwhen I put out the last one, and
then three.
The other day I was in my friendSammy's boutique, ella James,
(01:57):
in Valparaiso, indiana.
If you're in town, if you livearound here, if you visit, go
check her out.
I love her, she's one of mygood friends and we kind of
jokingly were talking about ourpodcast and she said if I
started mine back up, she wouldstart hers back up.
(02:30):
So a little friendly challengebetween entrepreneurs and
friends.
So I wanted to jump on heretoday and talk about the power
of faith and I actually hadopened my Bible to look for
another verse on obedience,because that's what I thought I
was going to talk to.
But then I opened my Bible up toHebrews 11.
And this is one of my favoritechapters in the Bible because it
lays out nicely for us ofexamples of faith throughout the
(02:54):
entire Bible and Hebrews 11starts out saying faith shows
the reality of what we hope for.
It is the evidence of things wecannot see.
Through their faith, the peoplein the days of old earned a
good reputation.
And I have a little comment inmy Bible and I apologize, I
(03:17):
don't know who said it, maybe itwas me, maybe it was me.
Usually I try to do a prettygood job.
If I write somebody else'squote, that I write their name
in there, so if I ever say it, Iknow who.
But I have a note here thatsays we live out our faith
anytime we choose to trust God,despite of our fears, and I just
(03:39):
love that because I am workingon something right now that
requires a lot of faith and I'mgoing to share that.
But I want to challenge you toopen your Bible and go read
chapter 11 of Hebrews, because Imean, here's just there, are it
just highlights every like,almost every verse, or every
(04:00):
couple of verses.
It was like it was by faiththat Abraham obeyed when God
called him to leave home and goto another land.
Um it verse 21, which is kindof interesting.
Um, I did not like read thesebefore and say I was going to
read that one, but I told you Iwas going to talk about obeying,
(04:22):
so maybe, maybe I will do that,since I just read this one Um,
but you know it.
It says um 22,.
It was by faith that Joseph,when he was about to die, said
confidently that the people ofIsrael would leave Egypt.
Um, verse 23,.
It was by faith that Moses'sparents hid him for three months
(04:43):
.
When he was born, they saw thatGod had given them an unusual
child and they were not afraidto disobey the king's command.
Interesting, I had not readthat before.
So we talk about disobeying andobeying, so I'm just going to
go into that and have that bethe subject today of faith
(05:05):
trusting, fear, obey, disobey.
So last year I attended theGreat Banquet and it was
actually something that peoplehad asked me for years, maybe
even over a decade, to go.
I just kept saying no, no, no,no, no.
Finally, I prayed about itbecause, friends, I am really
(05:28):
trying to.
I don't even want to say get inthe habit, because it's not a
habit, but, like before I dothings, go to God in prayer, let
God lead, you know me where I'msupposed to go, instead of me
just making the decision of no,I don't want to do that, I'm not
going to do that.
Where God might have somethingfor us.
(05:50):
God might not want us to say no, or God might want us to say no
.
So anyways, this time, when afriend asked me last year,
instead of saying no I said Iwill pray about it and I'm not
kidding you.
It was like I feel like withinminutes God gave me a verse and
I was like, oh my gosh, I amsupposed to go.
(06:11):
So in May I go to the GreatBanquet and it's on this
beautiful property, valparaiso,160 acres.
And if you know anything aboutme, I just love being in nature,
I love walking trails, I lovebeing around water, I just love
where there are rolling greenhills and I can sit outside.
Unfortunately, that weekend isit was a pretty packed schedule
(06:35):
and I didn't get to enjoy thenatures, I didn't get to set a
foot on the trails or anything.
And I can remember walking upone of the hills and thinking
like if I had my own retreat,there are some things I would do
differently, and the biggestwas things I would do
(07:00):
differently.
And the biggest was, you know,lots of time to kind of roam on
those acres.
And I want to kind of go back alittle farther than that, to
February of 2024.
My friend Amy and I did theGiving your Best Life conference
, which is a one-day conference,and God just showed up in so
many ways.
That was a huge step of faithfor both of us.
(07:20):
But after that conference,people kept saying are you going
to do another event, are yougoing to do another event?
And I did not have an answerfor them At the time.
I had not felt like God hadcalled me to do another event,
and that's the other thing thatI'm really trying to do is not
get ahead of God.
(07:41):
It's really working on mypatience because, you know, old
Stephanie just likes to makedecisions and jump and go and do
, and you know, when we let Godlead, a lot of times it's like,
oh, I want to do something, butI don't know if that's what I'm
supposed to do.
So I sat around for quite awhile and then, after that great
(08:06):
banquet in May it was probablyJune or July I would have to go
back through my prayer journalwhere one morning I was praying
and it was just like I felt likeGod gave me everything I needed
to.
You know, take that step offaith and not just do a
conference, but do a retreat.
(08:28):
I went and met with one of thecaretakers out at the event
location, went out.
There was like out at the eventlocation, went out.
There was like, oh my gosh, Ilove this.
But then I'll be honest, thatwas in August of 2024.
I started getting veryoverwhelmed.
And I don't know about you, butwhen you take on something that
(08:50):
is very big this is why I thinka lot of people don't follow
through with big things that Godhas called them to do and me
included in that in the past isbecause it can get overwhelming.
All the details, all the.
You start questioningeverything and that's how.
(09:12):
And then I don't know about you, but for me is, when that
happens, I just shut down.
So that's what I did.
I totally shut down.
I was like I cannot do this.
You know again me trying torely upon myself and not just
going to the Lord in prayer andsaying hey God, I feel like this
is what you're calling me to do, but I need help.
(09:32):
I am overwhelmed.
What's the next step?
I think back as if, as I coachwomen, especially women who are
trying to do big things in life,it's not looking at everything,
it's looking at okay, what'sthe goal?
Let's make a plan, let's geteverything on paper.
But then what's the next step?
(09:53):
And if you just focus on thenext step, is our goals,
especially big goals, become alot easier to tackle.
So fast forward to.
I think it was January and I waslistening to a sermon and it
was talking about rebellionagainst God and friends.
(10:13):
It just sucker punched me inthe gut because basically the
gist of it was if you know Godhas called you to do something
which I knew God had called me,to have this retreat and you do
not do it, you disobey, then youare telling God that, hey, god,
(10:35):
guess what I trust myself andmy decisions and what I think is
best versus you and what youthink and what you know is best.
And so that really got my buttin gear of, okay, you're doing
this, and I had never told thelocation that I wasn't doing it.
(11:00):
So I was still on theircalendar and that's exactly what
I did is started making a plan,started working on this and on
April 4th through the 6th inValparaiso so the evening of the
4th till about noon on the 6thI am hosting a Giving your Best
Life rest and retreat rest andrenewal retreat here in
(11:22):
Valparaiso, indiana, and reallyit's focused on if you are
burned out, if you are busy, ifyou are weary and you need a
getaway to slow down, rest andspend time with God.
You will have an opportunity todo that.
You can go togivingyourbestlifecom backslash
retreat.
You can see the whole agenda,but you will notice that we are
(11:45):
not starting on Saturday andSunday till 10 o'clock.
There's lots of time to explore, to roam, to take a nap, to
soak in nature, to do reallywhatever you want with that time
.
We have great speakers my friend, whitney Lane Ward, who, since
I met her back in 2018 or 19 ata writer's retreat, she's also
(12:07):
an author.
She has one of, if not the mostamazing stories I've ever heard
.
I joke up every time I talkabout her just because the true
walking miracle that she is, andI wanted her at this retreat
because I just think that we canlearn.
(12:27):
We, as women, can learn so muchfrom her, her story and how she
lives life.
I also am having Sarah Vesely,who is a young girl young lady,
I should say, she's 19, who Ihelped her write her first book
and she published her first bookin high school and I learned so
(12:48):
much from her, and evensomebody that I know was like
you're having a 19 year old atyour women's retreat.
You know like it seems a littleoff and it was like no, you
know, like she has taught me somuch.
I have gifted her book to womenin their fifties and their
sixties and they have told methey have gotten so much from
(13:08):
her book called Jesus, it's you.
So Sarah Vesely will bespeaking, I will be speaking,
pastor John Nita from Calvarychurch here in Valparaiso.
We'll be closing this out onSunday and then I am bringing in
from Nashville, tennessee, aduo worship leaders, jenna and
Zoe.
So it's going to be a fabuloustime, great food and, yeah, all
(13:30):
included.
Price $2.99 per ticket andregistration by March 29th 2025.
So I hope to see you there.
But I just want to wrap up andsay is you know, as soon as I
switched my mindset of like,okay, god, I trust you and I
(13:50):
constantly say I don't have tohave it all figured out and I
can pray about the challengesthat pop up and there have been
quite a few.
But it's like you either trustGod or you don't.
There's no wavering in themiddle, and I wrote down this
quote the other day.
I heard it somewhere Again.
(14:12):
I should have written it downwhere I heard it or who said it,
but it was something to theeffect of worry is the worship
of the enemy, and I was like, ohmy gosh.
And so every time somethingabout this retreat starts to
worry me, it's just like no, whyam I worried?
God's already walked this path,god has got this.
(14:33):
God is, he is in every detailand he will work everything out.
I've also tried to relinquishcontrol of the things that I
cannot control, and it's likeokay, lord, you are in control
(14:58):
of X, y and Z, because I cannotcontrol who signs up, who
registers.
I cannot control the weather,like I cannot control.
You know, there's just thingslike that that I cannot control.
So why?
Why spend my time and energyworrying about it?
So I really one.
I would love to see you at thisretreat.
I think God is going to doamazing things.
Not think I know, because it ishe who is orchestrating it.
(15:19):
This is all about Him.
I want to get to the end of thething and not see me or the
speakers or anything, and womenjust walk away and go wow, only
God, only God.
The other thing, too, is I justwant to challenge you is, if
God has called you to dosomething something that is
scary, something that is afraid,something you're like Stephanie
, I don't know how to do any ofthis is, I really challenge you
(15:43):
to pray and then do a brain dumpyou know everything, all the
details and then to take thatnext step, go what is my next
step and take that next step andthen, once you do that next
step, take the next step.
Friend, and hopefully thisepisode is just giving you a
little bit of encouragementabout what faith looks like,
(16:04):
what trust looks like, whatobedience looks like and also
what disobedience looks like.
And you know me, I love to talkabout giving and gratitude and I
want to say today is I, um, Ihad gotten a book order for um
six of, actually, my children'sChristmas books to go to a
(16:25):
preschool in New York and I wasjust so grateful for that order.
As an author, when people orderdirect from me on my website
quick plug,givingyourbestlifecom there's a
shop there but I was just sograteful when that order came
through and I thought about allthe little kiddos that are going
to get to learn about givingand encouragement and friendship
(16:46):
and teamwork, so I was justvery grateful for that order.
And then, if I think aboutgiving is I've had a friend, or
I would say, well, I'm going tosay she's a friend now, but just
going through some difficulttimes and I've just been trying
to make sure that I'm touchingbase with her, I'm encouraging
(17:07):
her, I'm praying for her, butalso let her know that I am
doing that.
And so I just really challengeyou is to pick, you know, one or
a couple of people in your life, especially if you're not doing
this, and just say, hey, I'mgoing to, I'm going to sewing to
text them, I'm going toencourage them, I'm going to be
praying for them daily and I'mgoing to let them know.
(17:28):
It's such a powerful gift thatwe can give our friends, our
acquaintances and sometimes evenstrangers.
Just stopping, I've got a coolstory.
I wasn't going to share this,but I just thought about it is I
was in a coffee shop with afriend.
Again, this is disobedience andobedience, what it looks like.
I was in a coffee shop with afriend and there was just this
girl I kept noticing.
(17:49):
I don't know if she was lookingat me, but I felt like every
time I looked up, she was justlike there and um, as we wrapped
up now mind you, this was abusy coffee shop, like almost
every seat is taken I reallyfelt like the Lord saying go
pray for that girl.
And I was like, ah, you know,like praying in public, you know
, going up and asking somebodyit's even scary, just asking
(18:12):
what if they say no?
These are all the thoughts likeis this weird?
But I just, overwhelmingly, Ijust kept felt like God saying
you got to go pray for that girl.
So I wrap up coffee with myfriends, I walk over there and
basically just ask this gal if Ican pray for her and she says
(18:33):
yes, and there I stood andprayed for her in a coffee shop.
So I really want to challengeyou again.
That's what obedience lookslike.
I want to challenge you that ifyou feel called to pray for
somebody in person, you know, godo it.
Don't worry about what theworld is thinking of you, people
around you, don't worry aboutif you're going to get rejected.
Just go.
(18:53):
Okay, I feel like God's callingme to do this.
And that goes the same forgiving.
You know, on my giving journeythere were so many times that I
just knew God was calling me togive a gift and being obedient
in that and not that I wasperfect.
I missed so many opportunities,but you know it's the ones you
miss that make you realize thenext time when the opportunity
(19:17):
comes is like oh, don't missthat opportunity.
So, friends, I hope today'sepisode just gave you a couple
of good nuggets of how you canget to giving your best life.
Hey friends, it's Stephanie here with episode 123
of Giving your Best Life podcast, and friends, I man, I really
wanted to be consistent with mypodcast and I just haven't.
I'm recording this on February28th 2025, and it's been since
October since I recorded and,honestly, I want to apologize,
(00:23):
but I really try not toapologize for things that don't
need to be apologized for.
Women are so bad at this forapologizing for everything, and
I really try.
I had a boss I've probablytalked about this on previous
episodes where that was the onlything in my review was.
She told me to stop saying I'msorry, stop apologizing for
(00:46):
everything, and so that was likeprobably over a decade ago.
I still catch myself wanting todo that, and I'm really, though
, trying to help other womenstop apologizing.
So I want to apologize, but Idon't think I have anything to
apologize for.
I will say it does bother me,as someone who runs her own
(01:11):
business, of the lack ofconsistency that I have with my
podcast.
Being very transparent, beingvulnerable.
I do not know why I cannot getmy act together with this
vulnerable.
I do not know why I cannot getmy act together with this, but
it is what it is, but, trust me,it has been hanging over my
head and on my list to record apodcast because one I just miss
(01:36):
being able to put out a positive, encouraging message.
Two, and most importantly is Ihave people that's been asking
for a new podcast since Octoberwhen I put out the last one, and
then three.
The other day I was in my friendSammy's boutique, ella James,
(01:57):
in Valparaiso, indiana.
If you're in town, if you livearound here, if you visit, go
check her out.
I love her, she's one of mygood friends and we kind of
jokingly were talking about ourpodcast and she said if I
started mine back up, she wouldstart hers back up.
(02:30):
So a little friendly challengebetween entrepreneurs and
friends.
So I wanted to jump on heretoday and talk about the power
of faith and I actually hadopened my Bible to look for
another verse on obedience,because that's what I thought I
was going to talk to.
But then I opened my Bible up toHebrews 11.
And this is one of my favoritechapters in the Bible because it
lays out nicely for us ofexamples of faith throughout the
(02:54):
entire Bible and Hebrews 11starts out saying faith shows
the reality of what we hope for.
It is the evidence of things wecannot see.
Through their faith, the peoplein the days of old earned a
good reputation.
And I have a little comment inmy Bible and I apologize, I
(03:17):
don't know who said it, maybe itwas me, maybe it was me.
Usually I try to do a prettygood job.
If I write somebody else'squote, that I write their name
in there, so if I ever say it, Iknow who.
But I have a note here thatsays we live out our faith
anytime we choose to trust God,despite of our fears, and I just
(03:39):
love that because I am workingon something right now that
requires a lot of faith and I'mgoing to share that.
But I want to challenge you toopen your Bible and go read
chapter 11 of Hebrews, because Imean, here's just there, are it
just highlights every like,almost every verse, or every
(04:00):
couple of verses.
It was like it was by faiththat Abraham obeyed when God
called him to leave home and goto another land.
Um it verse 21, which is kindof interesting.
Um, I did not like read thesebefore and say I was going to
read that one, but I told you Iwas going to talk about obeying,
(04:22):
so maybe, maybe I will do that,since I just read this one Um,
but you know it.
It says um 22,.
It was by faith that Joseph,when he was about to die, said
confidently that the people ofIsrael would leave Egypt.
Um, verse 23,.
It was by faith that Moses'sparents hid him for three months
(04:43):
.
When he was born, they saw thatGod had given them an unusual
child and they were not afraidto disobey the king's command.
Interesting, I had not readthat before.
So we talk about disobeying andobeying, so I'm just going to
go into that and have that bethe subject today of faith
(05:05):
trusting, fear, obey, disobey.
So last year I attended theGreat Banquet and it was
actually something that peoplehad asked me for years, maybe
even over a decade, to go.
I just kept saying no, no, no,no, no.
Finally, I prayed about itbecause, friends, I am really
(05:28):
trying to.
I don't even want to say get inthe habit, because it's not a
habit, but, like before I dothings, go to God in prayer, let
God lead, you know me where I'msupposed to go, instead of me
just making the decision of no,I don't want to do that, I'm not
going to do that.
Where God might have somethingfor us.
(05:50):
God might not want us to say no, or God might want us to say no
.
So anyways, this time, when afriend asked me last year,
instead of saying no I said Iwill pray about it and I'm not
kidding you.
It was like I feel like withinminutes God gave me a verse and
I was like, oh my gosh, I amsupposed to go.
(06:11):
So in May I go to the GreatBanquet and it's on this
beautiful property, valparaiso,160 acres.
And if you know anything aboutme, I just love being in nature,
I love walking trails, I lovebeing around water, I just love
where there are rolling greenhills and I can sit outside.
Unfortunately, that weekend isit was a pretty packed schedule
(06:35):
and I didn't get to enjoy thenatures, I didn't get to set a
foot on the trails or anything.
And I can remember walking upone of the hills and thinking
like if I had my own retreat,there are some things I would do
differently, and the biggestwas things I would do
(07:00):
differently.
And the biggest was, you know,lots of time to kind of roam on
those acres.
And I want to kind of go back alittle farther than that, to
February of 2024.
My friend Amy and I did theGiving your Best Life conference
, which is a one-day conference,and God just showed up in so
many ways.
That was a huge step of faithfor both of us.
(07:20):
But after that conference,people kept saying are you going
to do another event, are yougoing to do another event?
And I did not have an answerfor them At the time.
I had not felt like God hadcalled me to do another event,
and that's the other thing thatI'm really trying to do is not
get ahead of God.
(07:41):
It's really working on mypatience because, you know, old
Stephanie just likes to makedecisions and jump and go and do
, and you know, when we let Godlead, a lot of times it's like,
oh, I want to do something, butI don't know if that's what I'm
supposed to do.
So I sat around for quite awhile and then, after that great
(08:06):
banquet in May it was probablyJune or July I would have to go
back through my prayer journalwhere one morning I was praying
and it was just like I felt likeGod gave me everything I needed
to.
You know, take that step offaith and not just do a
conference, but do a retreat.
(08:28):
I went and met with one of thecaretakers out at the event
location, went out.
There was like out at the eventlocation, went out.
There was like, oh my gosh, Ilove this.
But then I'll be honest, thatwas in August of 2024.
I started getting veryoverwhelmed.
And I don't know about you, butwhen you take on something that
(08:50):
is very big this is why I thinka lot of people don't follow
through with big things that Godhas called them to do and me
included in that in the past isbecause it can get overwhelming.
All the details, all the.
You start questioningeverything and that's how.
(09:12):
And then I don't know about you, but for me is, when that
happens, I just shut down.
So that's what I did.
I totally shut down.
I was like I cannot do this.
You know again me trying torely upon myself and not just
going to the Lord in prayer andsaying hey God, I feel like this
is what you're calling me to do, but I need help.
(09:32):
I am overwhelmed.
What's the next step?
I think back as if, as I coachwomen, especially women who are
trying to do big things in life,it's not looking at everything,
it's looking at okay, what'sthe goal?
Let's make a plan, let's geteverything on paper.
But then what's the next step?
(09:53):
And if you just focus on thenext step, is our goals,
especially big goals, become alot easier to tackle.
So fast forward to.
I think it was January and I waslistening to a sermon and it
was talking about rebellionagainst God and friends.
(10:13):
It just sucker punched me inthe gut because basically the
gist of it was if you know Godhas called you to do something
which I knew God had called me,to have this retreat and you do
not do it, you disobey, then youare telling God that, hey, god,
(10:35):
guess what I trust myself andmy decisions and what I think is
best versus you and what youthink and what you know is best.
And so that really got my buttin gear of, okay, you're doing
this, and I had never told thelocation that I wasn't doing it.
(11:00):
So I was still on theircalendar and that's exactly what
I did is started making a plan,started working on this and on
April 4th through the 6th inValparaiso so the evening of the
4th till about noon on the 6thI am hosting a Giving your Best
Life rest and retreat rest andrenewal retreat here in
(11:22):
Valparaiso, indiana, and reallyit's focused on if you are
burned out, if you are busy, ifyou are weary and you need a
getaway to slow down, rest andspend time with God.
You will have an opportunity todo that.
You can go togivingyourbestlifecom backslash
retreat.
You can see the whole agenda,but you will notice that we are
(11:45):
not starting on Saturday andSunday till 10 o'clock.
There's lots of time to explore, to roam, to take a nap, to
soak in nature, to do reallywhatever you want with that time
.
We have great speakers my friend, whitney Lane Ward, who, since
I met her back in 2018 or 19 ata writer's retreat, she's also
(12:07):
an author.
She has one of, if not the mostamazing stories I've ever heard
.
I joke up every time I talkabout her just because the true
walking miracle that she is, andI wanted her at this retreat
because I just think that we canlearn.
(12:27):
We, as women, can learn so muchfrom her, her story and how she
lives life.
I also am having Sarah Vesely,who is a young girl young lady,
I should say, she's 19, who Ihelped her write her first book
and she published her first bookin high school and I learned so
(12:48):
much from her, and evensomebody that I know was like
you're having a 19 year old atyour women's retreat.
You know like it seems a littleoff and it was like no, you
know, like she has taught me somuch.
I have gifted her book to womenin their fifties and their
sixties and they have told methey have gotten so much from
(13:08):
her book called Jesus, it's you.
So Sarah Vesely will bespeaking, I will be speaking,
pastor John Nita from Calvarychurch here in Valparaiso.
We'll be closing this out onSunday and then I am bringing in
from Nashville, tennessee, aduo worship leaders, jenna and
Zoe.
So it's going to be a fabuloustime, great food and, yeah, all
(13:30):
included.
Price $2.99 per ticket andregistration by March 29th 2025.
So I hope to see you there.
But I just want to wrap up andsay is you know, as soon as I
switched my mindset of like,okay, god, I trust you and I
(13:50):
constantly say I don't have tohave it all figured out and I
can pray about the challengesthat pop up and there have been
quite a few.
But it's like you either trustGod or you don't.
There's no wavering in themiddle, and I wrote down this
quote the other day.
I heard it somewhere Again.
(14:12):
I should have written it downwhere I heard it or who said it,
but it was something to theeffect of worry is the worship
of the enemy, and I was like, ohmy gosh.
And so every time somethingabout this retreat starts to
worry me, it's just like no, whyam I worried?
God's already walked this path,god has got this.
(14:33):
God is, he is in every detailand he will work everything out.
I've also tried to relinquishcontrol of the things that I
cannot control, and it's likeokay, lord, you are in control
(14:58):
of X, y and Z, because I cannotcontrol who signs up, who
registers.
I cannot control the weather,like I cannot control.
You know, there's just thingslike that that I cannot control.
So why?
Why spend my time and energyworrying about it?
So I really one.
I would love to see you at thisretreat.
I think God is going to doamazing things.
Not think I know, because it ishe who is orchestrating it.
(15:19):
This is all about Him.
I want to get to the end of thething and not see me or the
speakers or anything, and womenjust walk away and go wow, only
God, only God.
The other thing, too, is I justwant to challenge you is, if
God has called you to dosomething something that is
scary, something that is afraid,something you're like Stephanie
, I don't know how to do any ofthis is, I really challenge you
(15:43):
to pray and then do a brain dumpyou know everything, all the
details and then to take thatnext step, go what is my next
step and take that next step andthen, once you do that next
step, take the next step.
Friend, and hopefully thisepisode is just giving you a
little bit of encouragementabout what faith looks like,
(16:04):
what trust looks like, whatobedience looks like and also
what disobedience looks like.
And you know me, I love to talkabout giving and gratitude and I
want to say today is I, um, Ihad gotten a book order for um
six of, actually, my children'sChristmas books to go to a
(16:25):
preschool in New York and I wasjust so grateful for that order.
As an author, when people orderdirect from me on my website
quick plug,givingyourbestlifecom there's a
shop there but I was just sograteful when that order came
through and I thought about allthe little kiddos that are going
to get to learn about givingand encouragement and friendship
(16:46):
and teamwork, so I was justvery grateful for that order.
And then, if I think aboutgiving is I've had a friend, or
I would say, well, I'm going tosay she's a friend now, but just
going through some difficulttimes and I've just been trying
to make sure that I'm touchingbase with her, I'm encouraging
(17:07):
her, I'm praying for her, butalso let her know that I am
doing that.
And so I just really challengeyou is to pick, you know, one or
a couple of people in your life, especially if you're not doing
this, and just say, hey, I'mgoing to, I'm going to sewing to
text them, I'm going toencourage them, I'm going to be
praying for them daily and I'mgoing to let them know.
(17:28):
It's such a powerful gift thatwe can give our friends, our
acquaintances and sometimes evenstrangers.
Just stopping, I've got a coolstory.
I wasn't going to share this,but I just thought about it is I
was in a coffee shop with afriend.
Again, this is disobedience andobedience, what it looks like.
I was in a coffee shop with afriend and there was just this
girl I kept noticing.
(17:49):
I don't know if she was lookingat me, but I felt like every
time I looked up, she was justlike there and um, as we wrapped
up now mind you, this was abusy coffee shop, like almost
every seat is taken I reallyfelt like the Lord saying go
pray for that girl.
And I was like, ah, you know,like praying in public, you know
, going up and asking somebodyit's even scary, just asking
(18:12):
what if they say no?
These are all the thoughts likeis this weird?
But I just, overwhelmingly, Ijust kept felt like God saying
you got to go pray for that girl.
So I wrap up coffee with myfriends, I walk over there and
basically just ask this gal if Ican pray for her and she says
(18:33):
yes, and there I stood andprayed for her in a coffee shop.
So I really want to challengeyou again.
That's what obedience lookslike.
I want to challenge you that ifyou feel called to pray for
somebody in person, you know, godo it.
Don't worry about what theworld is thinking of you, people
around you, don't worry aboutif you're going to get rejected.
Just go.
(18:53):
Okay, I feel like God's callingme to do this.
And that goes the same forgiving.
You know, on my giving journeythere were so many times that I
just knew God was calling me togive a gift and being obedient
in that and not that I wasperfect.
I missed so many opportunities,but you know it's the ones you
miss that make you realize thenext time when the opportunity
(19:17):
comes is like oh, don't missthat opportunity.
So, friends, I hope today'sepisode just gave you a couple
of good nuggets of how you canget to giving your best life.
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