March 11, 2025 • 22 mins
Have you ever experienced one of those moments where something incredible happens and all you can say is "Only God could have done this"? These divine interventions—both dramatic and subtle—reveal a profound truth about living beyond our limitations.
Stephanie unpacks her phrase of the year, "Only God," exploring how this perspective transforms everything from career setbacks to everyday encounters. Drawing from Paul's words in Corinthians about coming "in weakness and in fear and with much trembling," she reveals how acknowledging our limitations actually opens doors to our greatest impact.
Through personal stories—from publishing nine books despite dyslexia to seeing a cardinal at exactly the right moment—Stephanie demonstrates how reframing our achievements as God's work through us creates a life of wonder and gratitude. This approach proves especially powerful during challenging times, as when her job loss last April led to unexpected opportunities in speaking, mentoring, and publishing.
The episode offers a refreshing counterpoint to our culture's self-reliance messaging. When we recognize that our most meaningful work happens beyond our natural capabilities, we develop the courage to attempt God-sized tasks. Those spontaneous nudges to check on a friend, that book that speaks directly to your current struggle, those "coincidences" that feel too perfect—all become recognized as divine appointments when viewed through this lens.
Ready to shift your perspective and discover what might be possible if you embraced the "Only God" mindset? This episode might be exactly the message you need right now—and that's no coincidence.
To register for the Giving Your Best Life "Rest and Renewal" Retreat before March 28th, visit givingyourbestlife.com/retreat.
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
number 124 of Giving your BestLife podcast and I'm grateful to
be back with you today.
Before I dive into the lesson,and what the Lord has laid on my
heart to talk to you about is Iwant to, depending on when
you're listening to this, if youare listening to this before
March 28th on, or before March28th, you have time to register
(00:25):
for my Giving your Best LifeRest and Renewal Retreat.
You can go togivingyourbestlifecom backslash
retreat for all the details, theagenda, the speaker, the praise
and worship.
But it will be from Fridayevening, april 4th, to Sunday
around noon on April 6th.
Everything's inclusive in thecost.
(00:47):
You get two nightaccommodations, five meals,
snacks, drinks, coffee, bar, thespeakers.
But one of the most importantthings is, I think, as women
that's most of my audience.
Sorry, men, if you're listeningto this, it's a women's only
event.
But as women we cater toeverybody else, we make plans
(01:10):
for everybody else.
We rarely take time to dosomething just for ourselves.
If you've listened to thispodcast, you know I often do
solo retreats.
I go away by myself just so Ican get rest, and it's nothing
against my husband.
(01:30):
I love my husband, but my ideaof, you know, going to a coffee
shop and spending hours in therewriting and strolling down the
street and you know, kind ofdoing some of that stuff is he's
.
That would bore him to death.
And so it's like I'm just goingto go have a little retreat by
(01:51):
myself, with all that to say iseven, and I've done conferences
also.
I mean I usually do writer'sretreats.
I've done other conferences,but what I have found is usually
they are packed schedules.
You know breakfast is at eighto'clock.
You know most sessions start atlike eight, eight, 30.
(02:11):
And then I'm just like womenare here, they're tired and
we've just packed everything infor, you know, two, three days,
and then you go back home toyour life, and so I wanted to do
something different.
I really felt like God wascalling me to do something
different and to have a weekendthat wasn't about full.
(02:33):
You know it was.
Hey, the days are going tostart at 10 o'clock.
Um, it's just going to be acouple of speakers each day.
There's going to be big gaps toroam on the 160 acres of where
the retreat's at, and so, yeah,I just I want it to be very
different and I want women toleave the retreat to say I am
(02:54):
refreshed, I feel rested, I feelrenewed and now I can step back
into my life and live out whatGod is calling me to do serve my
community, serve my family,serve my church, serve the
people at my work fill in theblank.
So, anyways, I really, ifyou're at all thinking about it,
send me a message and I justreally challenge you, especially
(03:17):
if the only reason that you'renot doing it is maybe it feels a
bit uncomfortable, step intothat.
That's where we see change,that's where we see growth.
So I just wanted to discussthat really quick before I got
into the topic.
So the topic is the word of theyear.
For me, this year, it's aphrase of the year.
I know, stephanie, it's March2025.
(03:37):
Like I should have had thisconversation back in December,
january.
I did not, and it's what I feellike I need to talk about today
, and so I want to start with acouple of scriptures before I
dive in.
Actually, no, I take that back.
I want to share with you what myword phrase is, and it is only
God Over.
(03:58):
These have all been amazingwords.
They've really changed, helpedme, change my mindset.
For me, the word of the year,phrase of the year, whatever
(04:18):
that you want to call it is, forme has been about changing my
mindset, doing thingsdifferently how I normally do,
something to help me grow, tohelp me stretch, to help me
focus, help me strip away fearsand doubts.
(04:40):
There's a lot of things thatthat word should do shine.
I've had that in the past.
I also want to make sure thatmy word aligns to what the word
of God says and then also thecalling that God has on my life.
So when only God.
I just found myself over andover and over again saying only
(05:05):
God, when people would commenton something I'm doing or
whatever, it just kept coming upand I thought, oh my gosh,
that's what I want my word orphrase of the year to be, and I
want to read a couple ofscriptures to you.
I want to read a couple ofscriptures to you, and one might
be taken a bit out of context,but I'm not using it in the
(05:30):
context of the Bible.
I'm just using it as, like thisis how I think of my word of
the year, if that makes sense.
So if we go to 1 Corinthians1.31, it says therefore, as the
scriptures say, if you want toboast, boast only about the Lord
, and I like that, like only God.
(05:51):
And so I look at this in mycontext of writing books.
Right now I'm working on afiction book series which is
almost like I'm done writing,not going through the editing
process, and, honestly, like theonly response to me writing
fiction is only God.
I cannot boast it is anythingof me, any of my knowledge, any
(06:13):
of my education, any of mycreativity.
It is only God.
And I want to boast like, oh mygosh, look what God has done.
And so that's kind of thecontext of when I think about
that verse is like, if there'ssomething that and this is in
air quotes like I have done,it's like, no, this is how God
(06:36):
is using me and the only reasonI'm able to do this is only God.
Now I'm going to switch versionsof the Bible and go to a
different version, and thatfirst verse was read sorry, was
not prepared.
It's the Reflection Holy Bible,new Living Translation.
(06:57):
Now, I really like this othertranslation.
It's the Abide Bible and it isN-E-T.
I don't know what that means,sorry.
Oh, new English Translation.
Okay, there you go.
And so I want to stay in 1Corinthians and go to chapter 2.
(07:22):
Now remember, this is Paul, andhe says when I came to you,
brothers and sisters, I did notcome with superior eloquence or
wisdom as I proclaim thetestimony of God, for I decided
to be concerned about nothingamong you except Jesus Christ
and him crucified.
I like that, like I'm onlyconcerned only Jesus and I was
(07:46):
with you in weakness and in fearand with much trembling, and
that's how I feel often, almosteverything I'm doing, everything
I'm working on.
You know, I started talkingabout the retreat at the
beginning because, like, if itwasn't for God, I would have
much fear in putting on athree-day retreat and some of
(08:09):
the things that go into.
That may not necessarily be mystrength, but let me continue on
of what Paul says.
My conversation and mypreaching were not with
persuasive words of wisdom, butwith a demonstration of the
spirit and of power.
The other translation talksabout the Holy Spirit, so that
(08:31):
your faith would not be based onhuman wisdom but on the power
of God, only God.
So what I love about this isPaul saying hey, I'm doing this,
I'm trembling, I'm scared, I'mweak, I don't know what I'm
doing here, but only God, youknow, through the Holy Spirit, I
am able to do what the Lord hascalled me to do, and that's
(08:56):
really how I want to live mylife and how I challenge you to
be living your life.
That, as you're working,whatever it is, is that you're
clinging to God as your sourceof strength, not what the world
says and not clinging on toworldly things, but clinging on
(09:20):
to God.
So I've got a couple ofexamples of this.
Besides I know I talked aboutthe retreat the other kind of
perspective I have is, like someof the things that I do, the
only reason I'm doing them isonly God.
Like God has called me to do it.
(09:40):
If somebody else would haveasked me to do it, I would not
do this on my own, and so Ithink that's kind of an awesome
place to be in life.
And not that I'm perfect.
I miss opportunities all thetime.
I'm not obedient all the time,but if I look at things like the
retreat or the fiction bookseries, it's like I would not do
(10:01):
that on my own, but because Godcalled me.
That's the only reason I amdoing this, and so, like only
God, only God is the one thatcould call me into doing this.
Only God, only God is the onethat could call me into doing
this and I would do it.
The other thing, too, is I wantnone of this.
(10:23):
I think I don't think I know iswhen we are doing those only
God things, so only the thingsthat God is calling us to do,
then none of it is about me.
I can take zero credit foranything, and even if I look at
the stories in the fiction orthe speakers that are coming to
speak at the retreat, like it isonly God, the praise and
(10:45):
worship like they popped up onmy Instagram, like only God can
make those things happen, thatis not of me.
I also think, if I look at, likemy fiction book series of some
of the little stories that thecharacters or things that they
(11:06):
live through are loosely basedoff of not the whole book, the
whole book has nothing to dowith my life, but every once in
a while there'll be somethingthat happens to a character and
I have based that off of.
You know, something comical,something tragic, something fill
in the blank that has happenedin my life and what has been
cool as I'm writing the book andwhen that like memory surfaces
(11:29):
or something that I even thoughtforgot about.
But it surfaces and it's like,oh my gosh, this would be a
great thing to add to thischaracter or whatever fill in
the blank is.
(11:49):
I can look back and go, oh okay, only God was able to use that
thing that at the time wasterrible, or I hated it or
whatever I went through is goingto use it now to add this layer
to this character in the book.
And so I think, looking at ourlife sometimes, as we're going
through things, if you'relistening to this and you're
going through a hard time inlife, and if you've listened to
(12:09):
this, as I've been strugglingwith the health challenge for
years and I'm on the other sideof it and I say only God, that
is the only way.
I'm on the other side of it Ifeel like a walking miracle and
he is the ultimate healer and I,for the most part, am healed.
But we can look back on thosetough times, those struggles,
(12:31):
those bad times, and then we getto a point in our life is maybe
we're helping somebody, maybewe're mentoring somebody, maybe
we're walking alongside somebodywho has went through what we
went through, and we're able tolook back on that hard and
difficult time and go, okay,only God, only God would use
something like this for good.
(12:52):
Um, and we know that becausethe Bible talks about that.
Um, I talked about healing.
You know, even today, I was backout running a little bit and I
was just like going around theyard and, um, actually, what
sent me out there was I was justin a bad, crappy mood.
(13:13):
I was having a woe is me momentand I was feeling sorry for
myself.
And it was sunny out and we cando two things when we're
feeling sorry for ourselves, orwhen we're just having a down
moment, or something that breaksour heart or whatever.
And I could continue to sithere in my house by myself and
(13:35):
do nothing and that's notproductive.
And I just decided you knowwhat, I'm going to go out for a
walk and a run.
And when I stepped out the backdoor, I saw a cardinal.
And I can't remember if I'vetalked about this before, but
over in my life I really wish Iwould have documented all the
times I've seen little cardinals, just when I don't know, I was
(13:58):
struggling, or maybe I thoughtof something that I should do,
but I wasn't for sure, and thenI see a cardinal and I don't
know.
I just feel like it's a littleconfirmation from God.
And so today, as I walk out ofthe house, boom, there's a
cardinal straight in front In myline of sight.
(14:18):
There are three different doors.
I could walk out of my houseand I happen to choose this
particular door.
When I walked out, I happenedto look to my left instead of my
right.
You know, like right at eyelevel you get what I'm saying.
Like these things happen andthis is where also gratitude
comes in and us practicinggratitude is to not only say
(14:43):
like only God could do that andGod gets the credit for all
these little miracles thathappen in our life or big
miracles that happen in our life, but it's a time to acknowledge
also and be grateful and thankGod and not just be kind of a
taker of these things that hehas given us.
In the goodness.
It's like oh, thank you, thankyou, god, for bringing me
(15:06):
through this hard time, but alsoin the good times.
You know, thank you for when Iwalked out the door that there
was that little cardinal.
Thank you that I it was sunnytoday.
Thank you that you know I hadthe ability to be in my backyard
.
I have a backyard.
You know that I can run andwalk in and you know I have
(15:26):
enough strength and energy rightnow to do 30 minutes Like just
all these things, that it's agreat way to practice gratitude
and to thank God and to berecognizing all the gifts that
we get.
Um, another just example,because if you're going through
a hard time and maybe maybeyou've lost a job, maybe you're
(15:50):
a small business owner and youlost a contract or something
didn't renew, or maybe youinterviewed for a job and you
didn't get it, um, you know, I Ithink a lot of times is those
are, it's only God.
God's protecting you.
God's got something better.
Um, maybe you weren't ready forthe opportunity, but I think
back a year ago you know, aprilis I got laid off from my job.
(16:14):
Um, and that could have beendevastating.
And I look at, it's onlybecause of God that I was able
to get an email saying that Igot laid off and go.
Okay, god, what do you have forme?
You took me out of this andwhat do you have for me, and
(16:35):
over the past year, is beingable to work for myself and
mentor young women, to coachwomen as they navigate life, as
they navigate burnout as they,you know, working to grow their
small businesses, the speakingopportunities that I've got, the
books I've been able to writeLike if I would have stayed in
(16:57):
the job that I was at is Iwouldn't have been able to do
these things.
And so, even when these thingsthat seem like they're bad
especially around like our jobsor our businesses is go okay,
god, you know what's.
How am I going to react?
And, and for me, I think theonly way I was able to have a
(17:17):
good reaction is only by thegrace of God and the
relationship that I have withhim and the faith and trust that
everything was going to workout.
And you know, god closed thatdoor on my life and I want to
walk in in faith to what he hasfor me.
I also think about.
(17:38):
I also think about I thinkthese are little things, but
they're not insignificant and torecognize these things and
going back to that gratitudethat we have when these things
happen.
So have you ever had a time whenyou've picked up a book and
(17:59):
when you're reading it, you'relike, oh my gosh, I'm reading
this at the right time?
That seems to happen to me moreoften and not, and I want to
say.
You know, when that happens,it's like only God, only God
could.
Out of the hundreds of booksthat I have in my office, I
happen to pull one off you knowthe bookshelf.
Or I go to the library orwhatever.
Or I go buy a book and it'slike oh, this was the perfect
(18:22):
timing for this book, themessage that I needed.
Or what about the times whenyou have a friend that pops into
your mind and you feel thatnudge of like, maybe I should
call them, maybe I should send atext, a note of encouragement,
or check on them, and you getthat response back of thank you
(18:46):
so much.
You don't know how much Ineeded this.
To me, that is only God, youknow, that is the Holy Spirit
nudging you and you have to beobedient in following that nudge
, not getting inside your head,especially if it's something,
somebody you haven't talked toin a while or even picking up
the phone, we might go oh well,what if they're busy?
What if they're working?
(19:07):
All these negative what ifs?
But what a gift that is to thereceiver and that person on the
other side.
I know if I've experienced that, but I think at the end of the
day, it's our obedience, it's agift, and we can say, oh, only
God could know what somebodyneeds, and then nudge the right
person and then that personfollows up, you know, to give
(19:31):
that gift and to check in onsomebody I also think about.
You know, this past year is I'vepublished nine books over the
course of the last I don't knowseven years, but I've had the
opportunity to publish, I think,around six other people's books
and number one, if you know mystory, I'm a dyslexic, I hate
(19:51):
writing, or I did hate writing.
I love it now, but it is onlyby God that I am an author.
But it's only by God that now Ihave a publishing company and
I'm publishing other people'sbooks.
And so I want you to thinkabout what you're doing in your
(20:12):
life.
And is it something that, hey,you're good at and it just
relies upon your own strengthand you really don't need God to
do what you're doing?
Or is there something that Godis calling you to do that is so
out of your comfort zone, so isgoing to stretch you?
So you say I have no idea whatI'm doing, but God does and he's
(20:37):
going to put the right people?
I'm going to have to study.
I'm going to have to work atthis, I'm going to have to, but
God is calling me into this andthat's where I really think that
God wants us, because then, ourreliance, you know, every day
my reliance has to be a hundredpercent on God, because if it
wasn't, I mean everything wouldjust implode because I have no
(20:58):
idea what I'm doing, whichcircles back to how I start my
day, and that is in the word ofGod, in praying, in reading and
letting him guide my steps.
And how many times have youheard people say oh, I've opened
up the Bible and the scripture,you know, was exactly what I
needed, and so that's thefoundation that we need to have
(21:20):
and how we need to start ourdays and who we need to be
conversing with throughout theday.
So, anyways, I've chatted a bitlonger than what I expected
today, but I just wanted to giveyou all these different
examples of and feel free, Imean, you know, I would love for
(21:41):
you to use this if you don'thave a word of the year, or
something that you're focused onis to take my word, you know,
and to use it and to think abouthow are you doing things that
you know when people ask you howare you doing that, you're able
to say only God.
And you know when you lookoutside and you see the cardinal
(22:05):
, you're reminded that that'sonly God.
Or the connections that peopleyou know have come in your life
or that happens, and you're ableto just say only God.
So, anyways, I hope this hasgiven you some encouragement, it
gives you some idea and,friends, I want to just wrap up
again reminding you of theGiving your Best Life Rest and
(22:26):
Renewal Retreat.
It is only by God that I amdoing this retreat.
I would love to see you thereand again.
Givingyourbestlifecom backslashretreat and the whole
conversation today was justanother way that you can get to
giving your best life.
Hey friends, it's Stephanie here with episode
number 124 of Giving your BestLife podcast and I'm grateful to
be back with you today.
Before I dive into the lesson,and what the Lord has laid on my
heart to talk to you about is Iwant to, depending on when
you're listening to this, if youare listening to this before
March 28th on, or before March28th, you have time to register
(00:25):
for my Giving your Best LifeRest and Renewal Retreat.
You can go togivingyourbestlifecom backslash
retreat for all the details, theagenda, the speaker, the praise
and worship.
But it will be from Fridayevening, april 4th, to Sunday
around noon on April 6th.
Everything's inclusive in thecost.
(00:47):
You get two nightaccommodations, five meals,
snacks, drinks, coffee, bar, thespeakers.
But one of the most importantthings is, I think, as women
that's most of my audience.
Sorry, men, if you're listeningto this, it's a women's only
event.
But as women we cater toeverybody else, we make plans
(01:10):
for everybody else.
We rarely take time to dosomething just for ourselves.
If you've listened to thispodcast, you know I often do
solo retreats.
I go away by myself just so Ican get rest, and it's nothing
against my husband.
(01:30):
I love my husband, but my ideaof, you know, going to a coffee
shop and spending hours in therewriting and strolling down the
street and you know, kind ofdoing some of that stuff is he's
.
That would bore him to death.
And so it's like I'm just goingto go have a little retreat by
(01:51):
myself, with all that to say iseven, and I've done conferences
also.
I mean I usually do writer'sretreats.
I've done other conferences,but what I have found is usually
they are packed schedules.
You know breakfast is at eighto'clock.
You know most sessions start atlike eight, eight, 30.
(02:11):
And then I'm just like womenare here, they're tired and
we've just packed everything infor, you know, two, three days,
and then you go back home toyour life, and so I wanted to do
something different.
I really felt like God wascalling me to do something
different and to have a weekendthat wasn't about full.
(02:33):
You know it was.
Hey, the days are going tostart at 10 o'clock.
Um, it's just going to be acouple of speakers each day.
There's going to be big gaps toroam on the 160 acres of where
the retreat's at, and so, yeah,I just I want it to be very
different and I want women toleave the retreat to say I am
(02:54):
refreshed, I feel rested, I feelrenewed and now I can step back
into my life and live out whatGod is calling me to do serve my
community, serve my family,serve my church, serve the
people at my work fill in theblank.
So, anyways, I really, ifyou're at all thinking about it,
send me a message and I justreally challenge you, especially
(03:17):
if the only reason that you'renot doing it is maybe it feels a
bit uncomfortable, step intothat.
That's where we see change,that's where we see growth.
So I just wanted to discussthat really quick before I got
into the topic.
So the topic is the word of theyear.
For me, this year, it's aphrase of the year.
I know, stephanie, it's March2025.
(03:37):
Like I should have had thisconversation back in December,
january.
I did not, and it's what I feellike I need to talk about today
, and so I want to start with acouple of scriptures before I
dive in.
Actually, no, I take that back.
I want to share with you what myword phrase is, and it is only
God Over.
(03:58):
These have all been amazingwords.
They've really changed, helpedme, change my mindset.
For me, the word of the year,phrase of the year, whatever
(04:18):
that you want to call it is, forme has been about changing my
mindset, doing thingsdifferently how I normally do,
something to help me grow, tohelp me stretch, to help me
focus, help me strip away fearsand doubts.
(04:40):
There's a lot of things thatthat word should do shine.
I've had that in the past.
I also want to make sure thatmy word aligns to what the word
of God says and then also thecalling that God has on my life.
So when only God.
I just found myself over andover and over again saying only
(05:05):
God, when people would commenton something I'm doing or
whatever, it just kept coming upand I thought, oh my gosh,
that's what I want my word orphrase of the year to be, and I
want to read a couple ofscriptures to you.
I want to read a couple ofscriptures to you, and one might
be taken a bit out of context,but I'm not using it in the
(05:30):
context of the Bible.
I'm just using it as, like thisis how I think of my word of
the year, if that makes sense.
So if we go to 1 Corinthians1.31, it says therefore, as the
scriptures say, if you want toboast, boast only about the Lord
, and I like that, like only God.
(05:51):
And so I look at this in mycontext of writing books.
Right now I'm working on afiction book series which is
almost like I'm done writing,not going through the editing
process, and, honestly, like theonly response to me writing
fiction is only God.
I cannot boast it is anythingof me, any of my knowledge, any
(06:13):
of my education, any of mycreativity.
It is only God.
And I want to boast like, oh mygosh, look what God has done.
And so that's kind of thecontext of when I think about
that verse is like, if there'ssomething that and this is in
air quotes like I have done,it's like, no, this is how God
(06:36):
is using me and the only reasonI'm able to do this is only God.
Now I'm going to switch versionsof the Bible and go to a
different version, and thatfirst verse was read sorry, was
not prepared.
It's the Reflection Holy Bible,new Living Translation.
(06:57):
Now, I really like this othertranslation.
It's the Abide Bible and it isN-E-T.
I don't know what that means,sorry.
Oh, new English Translation.
Okay, there you go.
And so I want to stay in 1Corinthians and go to chapter 2.
(07:22):
Now remember, this is Paul, andhe says when I came to you,
brothers and sisters, I did notcome with superior eloquence or
wisdom as I proclaim thetestimony of God, for I decided
to be concerned about nothingamong you except Jesus Christ
and him crucified.
I like that, like I'm onlyconcerned only Jesus and I was
(07:46):
with you in weakness and in fearand with much trembling, and
that's how I feel often, almosteverything I'm doing, everything
I'm working on.
You know, I started talkingabout the retreat at the
beginning because, like, if itwasn't for God, I would have
much fear in putting on athree-day retreat and some of
(08:09):
the things that go into.
That may not necessarily be mystrength, but let me continue on
of what Paul says.
My conversation and mypreaching were not with
persuasive words of wisdom, butwith a demonstration of the
spirit and of power.
The other translation talksabout the Holy Spirit, so that
(08:31):
your faith would not be based onhuman wisdom but on the power
of God, only God.
So what I love about this isPaul saying hey, I'm doing this,
I'm trembling, I'm scared, I'mweak, I don't know what I'm
doing here, but only God, youknow, through the Holy Spirit, I
am able to do what the Lord hascalled me to do, and that's
(08:56):
really how I want to live mylife and how I challenge you to
be living your life.
That, as you're working,whatever it is, is that you're
clinging to God as your sourceof strength, not what the world
says and not clinging on toworldly things, but clinging on
(09:20):
to God.
So I've got a couple ofexamples of this.
Besides I know I talked aboutthe retreat the other kind of
perspective I have is, like someof the things that I do, the
only reason I'm doing them isonly God.
Like God has called me to do it.
(09:40):
If somebody else would haveasked me to do it, I would not
do this on my own, and so Ithink that's kind of an awesome
place to be in life.
And not that I'm perfect.
I miss opportunities all thetime.
I'm not obedient all the time,but if I look at things like the
retreat or the fiction bookseries, it's like I would not do
(10:01):
that on my own, but because Godcalled me.
That's the only reason I amdoing this, and so, like only
God, only God is the one thatcould call me into doing this.
Only God, only God is the onethat could call me into doing
this and I would do it.
The other thing, too, is I wantnone of this.
(10:23):
I think I don't think I know iswhen we are doing those only
God things, so only the thingsthat God is calling us to do,
then none of it is about me.
I can take zero credit foranything, and even if I look at
the stories in the fiction orthe speakers that are coming to
speak at the retreat, like it isonly God, the praise and
(10:45):
worship like they popped up onmy Instagram, like only God can
make those things happen, thatis not of me.
I also think, if I look at, likemy fiction book series of some
of the little stories that thecharacters or things that they
(11:06):
live through are loosely basedoff of not the whole book, the
whole book has nothing to dowith my life, but every once in
a while there'll be somethingthat happens to a character and
I have based that off of.
You know, something comical,something tragic, something fill
in the blank that has happenedin my life and what has been
cool as I'm writing the book andwhen that like memory surfaces
(11:29):
or something that I even thoughtforgot about.
But it surfaces and it's like,oh my gosh, this would be a
great thing to add to thischaracter or whatever fill in
the blank is.
(11:49):
I can look back and go, oh okay, only God was able to use that
thing that at the time wasterrible, or I hated it or
whatever I went through is goingto use it now to add this layer
to this character in the book.
And so I think, looking at ourlife sometimes, as we're going
through things, if you'relistening to this and you're
going through a hard time inlife, and if you've listened to
(12:09):
this, as I've been strugglingwith the health challenge for
years and I'm on the other sideof it and I say only God, that
is the only way.
I'm on the other side of it Ifeel like a walking miracle and
he is the ultimate healer and I,for the most part, am healed.
But we can look back on thosetough times, those struggles,
(12:31):
those bad times, and then we getto a point in our life is maybe
we're helping somebody, maybewe're mentoring somebody, maybe
we're walking alongside somebodywho has went through what we
went through, and we're able tolook back on that hard and
difficult time and go, okay,only God, only God would use
something like this for good.
(12:52):
Um, and we know that becausethe Bible talks about that.
Um, I talked about healing.
You know, even today, I was backout running a little bit and I
was just like going around theyard and, um, actually, what
sent me out there was I was justin a bad, crappy mood.
(13:13):
I was having a woe is me momentand I was feeling sorry for
myself.
And it was sunny out and we cando two things when we're
feeling sorry for ourselves, orwhen we're just having a down
moment, or something that breaksour heart or whatever.
And I could continue to sithere in my house by myself and
(13:35):
do nothing and that's notproductive.
And I just decided you knowwhat, I'm going to go out for a
walk and a run.
And when I stepped out the backdoor, I saw a cardinal.
And I can't remember if I'vetalked about this before, but
over in my life I really wish Iwould have documented all the
times I've seen little cardinals, just when I don't know, I was
(13:58):
struggling, or maybe I thoughtof something that I should do,
but I wasn't for sure, and thenI see a cardinal and I don't
know.
I just feel like it's a littleconfirmation from God.
And so today, as I walk out ofthe house, boom, there's a
cardinal straight in front In myline of sight.
(14:18):
There are three different doors.
I could walk out of my houseand I happen to choose this
particular door.
When I walked out, I happenedto look to my left instead of my
right.
You know, like right at eyelevel you get what I'm saying.
Like these things happen andthis is where also gratitude
comes in and us practicinggratitude is to not only say
(14:43):
like only God could do that andGod gets the credit for all
these little miracles thathappen in our life or big
miracles that happen in our life, but it's a time to acknowledge
also and be grateful and thankGod and not just be kind of a
taker of these things that hehas given us.
In the goodness.
It's like oh, thank you, thankyou, god, for bringing me
(15:06):
through this hard time, but alsoin the good times.
You know, thank you for when Iwalked out the door that there
was that little cardinal.
Thank you that I it was sunnytoday.
Thank you that you know I hadthe ability to be in my backyard
.
I have a backyard.
You know that I can run andwalk in and you know I have
(15:26):
enough strength and energy rightnow to do 30 minutes Like just
all these things, that it's agreat way to practice gratitude
and to thank God and to berecognizing all the gifts that
we get.
Um, another just example,because if you're going through
a hard time and maybe maybeyou've lost a job, maybe you're
(15:50):
a small business owner and youlost a contract or something
didn't renew, or maybe youinterviewed for a job and you
didn't get it, um, you know, I Ithink a lot of times is those
are, it's only God.
God's protecting you.
God's got something better.
Um, maybe you weren't ready forthe opportunity, but I think
back a year ago you know, aprilis I got laid off from my job.
(16:14):
Um, and that could have beendevastating.
And I look at, it's onlybecause of God that I was able
to get an email saying that Igot laid off and go.
Okay, god, what do you have forme?
You took me out of this andwhat do you have for me, and
(16:35):
over the past year, is beingable to work for myself and
mentor young women, to coachwomen as they navigate life, as
they navigate burnout as they,you know, working to grow their
small businesses, the speakingopportunities that I've got, the
books I've been able to writeLike if I would have stayed in
(16:57):
the job that I was at is Iwouldn't have been able to do
these things.
And so, even when these thingsthat seem like they're bad
especially around like our jobsor our businesses is go okay,
god, you know what's.
How am I going to react?
And, and for me, I think theonly way I was able to have a
(17:17):
good reaction is only by thegrace of God and the
relationship that I have withhim and the faith and trust that
everything was going to workout.
And you know, god closed thatdoor on my life and I want to
walk in in faith to what he hasfor me.
I also think about.
(17:38):
I also think about I thinkthese are little things, but
they're not insignificant and torecognize these things and
going back to that gratitudethat we have when these things
happen.
So have you ever had a time whenyou've picked up a book and
(17:59):
when you're reading it, you'relike, oh my gosh, I'm reading
this at the right time?
That seems to happen to me moreoften and not, and I want to
say.
You know, when that happens,it's like only God, only God
could.
Out of the hundreds of booksthat I have in my office, I
happen to pull one off you knowthe bookshelf.
Or I go to the library orwhatever.
Or I go buy a book and it'slike oh, this was the perfect
(18:22):
timing for this book, themessage that I needed.
Or what about the times whenyou have a friend that pops into
your mind and you feel thatnudge of like, maybe I should
call them, maybe I should send atext, a note of encouragement,
or check on them, and you getthat response back of thank you
(18:46):
so much.
You don't know how much Ineeded this.
To me, that is only God, youknow, that is the Holy Spirit
nudging you and you have to beobedient in following that nudge
, not getting inside your head,especially if it's something,
somebody you haven't talked toin a while or even picking up
the phone, we might go oh well,what if they're busy?
What if they're working?
(19:07):
All these negative what ifs?
But what a gift that is to thereceiver and that person on the
other side.
I know if I've experienced that, but I think at the end of the
day, it's our obedience, it's agift, and we can say, oh, only
God could know what somebodyneeds, and then nudge the right
person and then that personfollows up, you know, to give
(19:31):
that gift and to check in onsomebody I also think about.
You know, this past year is I'vepublished nine books over the
course of the last I don't knowseven years, but I've had the
opportunity to publish, I think,around six other people's books
and number one, if you know mystory, I'm a dyslexic, I hate
(19:51):
writing, or I did hate writing.
I love it now, but it is onlyby God that I am an author.
But it's only by God that now Ihave a publishing company and
I'm publishing other people'sbooks.
And so I want you to thinkabout what you're doing in your
(20:12):
life.
And is it something that, hey,you're good at and it just
relies upon your own strengthand you really don't need God to
do what you're doing?
Or is there something that Godis calling you to do that is so
out of your comfort zone, so isgoing to stretch you?
So you say I have no idea whatI'm doing, but God does and he's
(20:37):
going to put the right people?
I'm going to have to study.
I'm going to have to work atthis, I'm going to have to, but
God is calling me into this andthat's where I really think that
God wants us, because then, ourreliance, you know, every day
my reliance has to be a hundredpercent on God, because if it
wasn't, I mean everything wouldjust implode because I have no
(20:58):
idea what I'm doing, whichcircles back to how I start my
day, and that is in the word ofGod, in praying, in reading and
letting him guide my steps.
And how many times have youheard people say oh, I've opened
up the Bible and the scripture,you know, was exactly what I
needed, and so that's thefoundation that we need to have
(21:20):
and how we need to start ourdays and who we need to be
conversing with throughout theday.
So, anyways, I've chatted a bitlonger than what I expected
today, but I just wanted to giveyou all these different
examples of and feel free, Imean, you know, I would love for
(21:41):
you to use this if you don'thave a word of the year, or
something that you're focused onis to take my word, you know,
and to use it and to think abouthow are you doing things that
you know when people ask you howare you doing that, you're able
to say only God.
And you know when you lookoutside and you see the cardinal
(22:05):
, you're reminded that that'sonly God.
Or the connections that peopleyou know have come in your life
or that happens, and you're ableto just say only God.
So, anyways, I hope this hasgiven you some encouragement, it
gives you some idea and,friends, I want to just wrap up
again reminding you of theGiving your Best Life Rest and
(22:26):
Renewal Retreat.
It is only by God that I amdoing this retreat.
I would love to see you thereand again.
Givingyourbestlifecom backslashretreat and the whole
conversation today was justanother way that you can get to
giving your best life.
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