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Join me on this week's episode of the God Empowered podcast as I share my personal journey of transformation in stepping into a new, more aligned version of myself. I'll be diving into the pitfalls of living a life based on comfort and convenience, and how it can at times hinder our spiritual growth, productivity, goals, and overall health. Together, we'll explore the balance between embracing necessary conveniences and avoiding the trap of laziness. I'll share practical examples from my own life, talk about what the Bible says about the importance behind your efforts, and encourage you to make intentional, meaningful changes in your life and business THIS VERY WEEK. Let's walk this path of purpose-driven living, motivated by God's call rather than just seeking comfort and ease!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Angel Marie (00:00):
Hey there friend, we are back this week with
another episode of the GodEmpowered podcast.
So here's the thing.
I've been having a lot ofthoughts lately.
And what's so interesting, atleast what I'm becoming more
aware of, is that these thoughtsare triggered by this new
transition that I am currentlygoing through, where I feel like
(00:22):
God is calling me into a newversion of myself, a new
version.
That is more aligned to hisword, a version that is more
aligned to who God is calling meto be as a woman.
As a future wife, as anentrepreneur, as a friend,
there's so much that I feel likehe is stripping off of me.
(00:45):
So many bad habits that I wasonce used to, that I once
thought was so normal, but inactuality, it was so bad.
Contradictory to who God wascalling me to be and what God
was calling me to do.
And I'm in this beautiful seasonof my life where I am just now
waking up to that.
Now, my guess.
(01:06):
Is that because you clicked onthis podcast episode to listen
to my guess is that you aremaybe in a similar season of
your life where you feel likethere is this new version of
yourself that is calling yourname and the reason why you feel
like it is calling your name isbecause God is talking to you.
(01:28):
He's calling you to new heights.
He's calling you to newstandards.
He's calling you to this newlevel of beautiful leadership
that he knows that you arecapable of walking in.
But in order to walk in that, wehave to strip off old ways of
doing things.
And that brings me to why Iwanted to talk about today's
(01:50):
topic on living a convenient,comfortable lifestyle and how,
even though it feels good, itfeels right, it feels easy.
Many times it can actuallycontradict you or restrict you
(02:11):
from actually being the man orthe woman of God that he is
calling you to be and to walk inwhere he wants you to go.
So I want to talk about thatbecause one of the thoughts that
I personally had, hence thewhole reason for this podcast
episode in the first place, Ijust had this realization where
I was like, you know what?
(02:32):
As I go through this transitionin my life in reaching the
newest version of myself, I amtired of living a life that is
based on convenience.
Living a life where I don't haveto put in as much effort because
(02:53):
I'm seeking convenience.
I'm seeking easy.
I'm seeking simplified in a lotof areas in my life.
or in my business.
Now, I want to make this very,very clear before we dive into
the depths of what I mean inregards to living this
convenient, comfortablelifestyle and how it can be, at
(03:14):
times, contradictory.
Let me be clear.
Convenience, a lot of times, isgreat.
There are many areas whereconvenience I am grateful for, I
am proud to have that area of mylife or business be more
convenient because of the worldthat we're living in today.
I am blessed by it.
(03:34):
You are blessed by it.
For example, if you have a car,cars, you could say are
convenient because it gets yousomewhere much more quickly.
Rather than walking or takingthe bus or the train.
It's convenient.
That's a good level ofconvenience.
We are blessed to have peoplethat were wise enough to build
(03:55):
cars for us to drive in thefirst place to get from point A
to B.
Even when we talk about thingslike time management tools.
There's so many projectmanagement apps and different
content tools and just thingsthat you're you might be using
for your business or Things thatmake going about your daily
tasks easier.
(04:16):
I am grateful to God for thosethings.
Okay, because they help me in mytime management and praise God
for people creating those appsand creating those tools.
Same thing could be said for, Idon't know, things in the
kitchen, like having an airfryer.
That is convenient.
It cooks food much quicker andit is safe.
(04:36):
Many times healthier thancooking it on the stove or
frying it, right?
So these are just examples forme to make a point that I'm not
saying that everything that'sconvenient is bad or
Contradictory to who God iscalling you to be or where he
wants you to go That is not whatI'm saying What I am saying is
that there are certain areas ofyour life where you have to be
(04:59):
careful in where you're tryingto make It more convenient, but
you end up Borderline Crossingover to straight up laziness,
and that's where we need to becareful.
That's what I want to talkabout.
Okay.
So first off let's set the tonehere to make sure we're all on
the same page.
What is the definition ofconvenience?
(05:22):
Now, we all probably know thebasic definition of what that
is, but I legitimately wanted tolook up the actual Google
definition of what this means.
And when I came across thedefinition, I just had so many
thoughts and I was like, youknow what, I'm going to talk
about it in this podcast episodewith you because I think that
(05:44):
this is something important foryou to think about when it comes
to your relationship with God,when it comes to your health and
when it comes to the success ofyour business, your endeavors,
your creative ambitions.
So let's talk about thatdefinition.
By definition.
Convenience means proceedingwith something with a little
(06:05):
effort or difficulty.
Now, again, There are some partsof our lives, our businesses,
our everyday home, where thingsbeing convenient, man, it's
awesome.
Praise Jesus for that.
But there are other things whereit's like, hmm, where am I
trying to live a convenient lifethat actually isn't good for ME?
(06:28):
And that's where we need toseparate the two.
There are things in your life oryour business or your career or
your family or yourself,whatever it is, where
convenience is a good thing,right?
It makes it a little bit easieron your plate.
(06:48):
However, there are things inyour life, your business, your
family, yourself, whatever itis, where convenience is a bad
thing.
Now, how do we recognize it asbad?
And when can we really bringthat to the forefront?
And create a solution around it.
Okay, now stick with me here.
Some of you might be treadingalong with me, but if you're
(07:10):
listening to this and you'relike, Angel, I don't know what
you're talking about.
I want all the convenience I canget.
Stick with me if you can,because it's my hope that you're
going to feel uplifted by what Ihave to say.
Okay?
So, here's the thing, I believethat convenience can be bad or
misleading or contradictory oreven restricting you away from
(07:32):
who you're supposed to be orwhat God is calling you to do if
that convenience is jeopardizingyour health or jeopardizing your
productivity.
When trying to chase afterconvenience starts jeopardizing
either your health or yourproductivity, that is when you
start crossing the line.
(07:54):
of laziness.
And that is another area withinyourself that has to be worked
on.
Because this isn't a moment tofinger point and say, Hey,
you're being lazy.
That's not what I'm doing atall.
This is me helping to wake youup to areas of your life where
you might be crossing over tolaziness because you just want
(08:16):
everything to be convenient.
And that laziness can betriggered or can cause.
depression, anxiety.
It can cause you to step furtheraway from you knowing and being
confident in the fact that youwere made on purpose for a
purpose.
There is beautiful work for youto do in this world that God
(08:36):
called you to.
And laziness can restrict usfrom taking the necessary steps
to go about that workeffectively.
That's why I'm talking aboutconvenience and being so careful
with that.
So let me go back to thedefinition of convenience.
The definition was proceedingwith something with a little
(08:59):
effort or difficulty.
I want to focus on that firstword, little effort, not very
much effort.
This reminded me of a beautifulverse in the Bible that says the
exact opposite.
(09:20):
Instead of it saying, a littleeffort, the Bible in the
specific scripture says, makeevery effort.
Let me bring up what thatscripture specifically is just
so that we can all walk throughthis together.
In 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 5, itsays, for this reason, make
(09:41):
every effort to supplement yourfaith with goodness, goodness
with knowledge, knowledge withself control, self control with
endurance, endurance withgodliness, godliness with
brotherly affection, andbrotherly affection.
(10:01):
with love.
There's a couple of things Iwant to point out in this
beautiful verse right here.
First off, the very beginningsays make every effort versus
the definition of convenienceliterally says little effort.
having the ability to put littleeffort toward something or not
(10:24):
as much effort as we would haveif that something wasn't
invented or created, like theexamples I used earlier, time
management tools or air fryersor cars.
Again, those things aren'tnecessarily jeopardizing your
health or your productivity inthat sense, right?
Surface level but when we thinkabout other areas of our lives,
(10:48):
little effort.
What about God saying, makeevery effort?
Why does God say that?
Now I am currently reading abook called the purpose driven
life by Rick Warren.
If you have never read this bookor heard of it, I highly
recommend it, especially ifyou're struggling with your
purpose in this world or in yourbusiness.
(11:08):
It is life changing.
But one of the chapters in thisbook, Rick is specifically
highlighting why God talks aboutmaking every effort.
Why does God want you to dothat?
And the reason why is because heknows how easy it is to fall
off, to stray.
To feel influenced or convincedby the world, by people's
(11:32):
opinions, by the enemy's voice,by our own thoughts.
God knows how easy it is ashuman beings to stray, to fall
away, to dig ourselves a deepdark rabbit hole.
So in order to climb our way outof that hole, in order to remain
on top, in order to stand on asolid foundation, and not stray,
(11:56):
not fall off.
We have to make every effort,not little effort, every effort
so that our spirit overpowersour flesh to the point where we
are not consumed by our ownthoughts or the enemy's thoughts
or people's opinions or theworld's noise.
We're only consumed by thespirit.
(12:18):
We're consumed by God's peaceand God's joy because we put in
every effort to attach ourselvesto that.
Another thing that I really wantto point out about this verse is
that everything that Peter isspecifically talking about here
is action oriented.
(12:39):
When we look at words likeknowledge, self control,
goodness, endurance, affection,love, in order to achieve these
words, in order to implementthese words into your life,
there is action that you have totake and that action.
(13:02):
Many times is not convenientaction.
It is action that's going tocause you to put in every effort
consistently.
It might feel difficult andbecause it feels difficult, it's
not necessarily convenient orcomfortable.
(13:22):
This is what I'm referring tohere.
There are certain action stepswe need to take that are not
going to be convenient.
And if you are, maybe you're noteven aware of the fact that you
are unintentionally searching,looking for convenience in every
area of your life, I just wantyou to pause.
(13:44):
And I want you to realize thefact that God did not create you
or he did not give you thatbusiness idea for you to live a
convenient, comfortablelifestyle.
He created you, he gave you thatbusiness idea for you to walk in
purpose, for you to put effortbehind it so that you can be
(14:06):
molded into the person he needsyou to be, into the calling he
needs you to walk in.
To the point where you arestable, you are confident, you
are standing on a firmfoundation, you are unwavering
because you put in every effort,because you accepted the fact
that you are not chasing aconvenient, comfortable
lifestyle.
(14:26):
No, you're chasing what Godwants for you.
And that's not to say thatthere's not going to be any
sense of convenience orcomfortability in what God has
for you.
It's just that you're notleading with that
intentionality.
You're leading with God.
You're leading with putting aneffort in different areas of
(14:46):
your life, your business, yourspiritual wellness, your health,
all the things.
So just going back to why Iwanted to talk about this topic
today, I had mentioned earlier,I had this thought where I was
like, you know what?
I don't want to strive afterconvenience in my life anymore
because convenience is causingme to not put in every effort.
(15:09):
Convenience sometimes canjeopardize my health or my
productivity to the point whereI am borderline lazy.
And that is not.
Who I want to be.
That is not who God calls me to.
That is not who God calls youto.
So I had to think about that formyself.
And in my mind, I just startedworking through the areas of my
(15:32):
life, my home, my business,myself, where I want to cut out
the shortcuts.
I want to cut out theconvenience.
I want to cut out the littleeffort.
And it was a wide variety ofthings, from like basic home
stuff to big business stuff.
I'm going to give you a fewexamples, okay, a few examples.
(15:54):
I realized that I didn't want tolive a life based off of
convenience a lot of times whenit came to food, what I put in
my body.
Think about it.
Convenient food is quick.
Little effort.
We're talking fast food.
(16:15):
We're talking frozen meals.
I found myself in a habit in thepast where I was eating just
straight up unhealthy becauseeverything was about convenience
for me.
I just needed it fast.
I didn't want to put effort intocooking.
But then I realized that I wasdoing myself a disservice.
(16:36):
I was treating my body in a veryunhealthy way, and that was
contradictory to how God wouldwant me to treat my body.
The Bible says your body is atemple.
Treat your body well.
Treat your body well by what youdo with it, what you feed into
it.
That's extremely essential.
(16:57):
So why live my life when it cameto food off of convenience and
unintentionally end up eatingunhealthy and that unhealthy
food causing me to feel lessenergized to the point where I
didn't have as much focus orbrain power throughout the day
to do what God was calling me todo in my business, in my life,
(17:18):
anything like that.
It was a very unhealthy dominoeffect.
So I told myself, I'm like, youknow what?
I want to start making morehomemade meals.
Homemade snacks.
And protein bars that don't havesugar in them.
Taking time.
And being okay with the timethat I'm taking to make these
(17:40):
things.
Because I'm no longer living mylife off of convenience.
I want To put in more effort totreat my body better.
That's one example.
Another example.
I was like, you know what?
I no longer want to live my lifeoff of convenience when it comes
to purchasing kitchen andbathroom cleaners that are
filled with nothing butchemicals.
(18:03):
When you look at some of thehousehold cleaners at the store,
and you just, you think nothingof it.
Sometimes you just pick it outand you're like, Hey, I'm just
going to use this.
Yeah.
I had this moment at the grocerystore where I was reading the
back of a specific householdcleaner and I was like, bruh
what is in this?
I don't know, 70 percent of thewords that are on the back of
(18:24):
this bottle right now.
Filled with chemicals.
Filled with so much stuff thatwe don't even know what it is
that could be harmful to ourhome.
Why?
Why would I do that?
Why would I pick somethingthat's just convenient?
Oh, let me just pick it up and ahousehold cleaner is already
made.
I don't have to make it.
Why do that?
When I could go in the kitchenright now and spend a few
(18:46):
minutes putting together ahomemade cleaner of baking soda
lemon and vinegar boom, that'sit chemical free pesticide free
A whole bunch of crap in it forfree.
It's just healthy stuff.
Things like that.
I just started to think about.
And then another thing.
One more example just so I cangive you like my random thoughts
(19:08):
of okay, where can I stop livingmy life based off of
convenience?
Another one was my contentconsistency.
So in the past.
I was only producing twoepisodes a month of the God
Empowered podcast.
Now, at the time, I claim thatit is because that's all I had
(19:30):
the capacity for.
And I still agree with that.
On top of that, though, Therewas this layer of convenience.
It was just more convenient forme and my lifestyle to only
produce episodes twice a month,rather than producing episodes
four times a month, AKA everyweek.
So for me personally, I had tosit with that and I had to think
(19:52):
about that.
And I knew that because God wascalling me to this new level of
leadership in showing up.
better, showing up moreconsistently.
I needed to stop being in theheadspace of convenience when it
came to my content productionand step more into the headspace
of sustainable effort.
Sustainable good effort incontent production so that I
(20:14):
could fulfill more of what Ifelt that God was calling me and
is calling me to do.
So again, these are my examples,my random thoughts of like, What
area of my life am I chasingafter convenience that is
actually harming my health or isharming my productivity?
Which one is it?
What is it?
(20:35):
I want you to think about that,my friend, like genuinely.
Again, not every area of yourlife where convenience comes
into play is bad.
You want to think about whatarea of your life or your
business or yourself where whatyou're doing, what you're
implementing, your habits, whatseems natural to you, where that
(20:57):
level of convenience isjeopardizing your health.
Could be jeopardizing yourspiritual wellness, your
relationship with Jesus, orcould be jeopardizing your
productivity and what God iscalling you to do.
God does not call us to make alittle effort.
God does not call us to be lazy.
(21:18):
Yes, he calls us to have restfulmoments.
He calls us to peace, but thatdoes not mean laziness.
That does not mean littleeffort.
There is a possible future foryou, a possible present for you
to put in every effort to beconsistent and yet still have
(21:40):
rest and peace.
Peace as you go about that.
And the only way you're going tolearn how to do that is to
simply start with the questionof what area of my life, myself,
my business, my family, am Ichasing after convenience in a
way that jeopardizes my healthor my productivity towards God's
calling in my life?
(22:00):
And how can I fix it?
How can I make time?
Because God is that important.
If it has to do with God'scalling for your life, make the
time.
That's the most important thingWhen you decide to base your
life not on convenience, yes, itmight feel uncomfortable when
(22:24):
you start putting in moreeffort.
It might feel difficult, butthat uncomfortability and that
difficulty leads to you havingno choice but to grow.
You have to grow.
You become disciplined.
You step more into a leader.
You, you generate these newadvanced skills that are a part
(22:46):
of this new version of yourselfthat God has been calling you to
for a long time.
But you, my friend are just nowwaking up more to it.
And hopefully by listening tothis podcast episode, you feel
inspired to make a change by it.
I hope this was helpful for youtoday.
I hope it just gave you a boostof inspiration, motivation, even
(23:08):
if it's something just to thinkabout.
That's all these podcastepisodes are for, to help you,
to give you something to thinkabout, to ensure that you are
not alone.
When it comes to being anentrepreneur, a creator, even if
you're just career driven, butat the same time you care about
your mental health and you loveJesus, there's a way to go about
life.
(23:29):
in a way that honors all ofthat.
Jesus first, of course.
Now, if you are looking for moreguidance and upliftment and
motivation and just overall helpfrom me, I would love to be your
mentor this very year.
We actually opened up acommunity and coaching hub
called the Burnout Free Biz.
(23:51):
And this is just a beautifulspace of other Christian
entrepreneurs that are buildingbusinesses that honor both God
and their mental health.
You get courses, you getworkshops, you get Q& A's with
me, you get prayer calls, tonsof resources.
It's so good.
And believe me, I am the kind ofhands on mentor in that hub
space that is answeringquestions.
I'm there with you.
(24:12):
I want to help you, even if itmeans one on one.
And I'm just the kind of mentorin the hub that will literally
be in this life in this businessgrowth journey with you.
So if you're interested in that,we are offering a seven day free
trial of that coaching andcommunity experience that you
can get at the link down belowin the podcast show notes, or if
you're watching this on YouTubein the YouTube description down
(24:35):
below, feel free to check itout.
And with that, my friend, we'llsee you next week for another
episode.
Talk soon.
Hey there friend, we are back this week with
another episode of the GodEmpowered podcast.
So here's the thing.
I've been having a lot ofthoughts lately.
And what's so interesting, atleast what I'm becoming more
aware of, is that these thoughtsare triggered by this new
transition that I am currentlygoing through, where I feel like
(00:22):
God is calling me into a newversion of myself, a new
version.
That is more aligned to hisword, a version that is more
aligned to who God is calling meto be as a woman.
As a future wife, as anentrepreneur, as a friend,
there's so much that I feel likehe is stripping off of me.
(00:45):
So many bad habits that I wasonce used to, that I once
thought was so normal, but inactuality, it was so bad.
Contradictory to who God wascalling me to be and what God
was calling me to do.
And I'm in this beautiful seasonof my life where I am just now
waking up to that.
Now, my guess.
(01:06):
Is that because you clicked onthis podcast episode to listen
to my guess is that you aremaybe in a similar season of
your life where you feel likethere is this new version of
yourself that is calling yourname and the reason why you feel
like it is calling your name isbecause God is talking to you.
(01:28):
He's calling you to new heights.
He's calling you to newstandards.
He's calling you to this newlevel of beautiful leadership
that he knows that you arecapable of walking in.
But in order to walk in that, wehave to strip off old ways of
doing things.
And that brings me to why Iwanted to talk about today's
(01:50):
topic on living a convenient,comfortable lifestyle and how,
even though it feels good, itfeels right, it feels easy.
Many times it can actuallycontradict you or restrict you
(02:11):
from actually being the man orthe woman of God that he is
calling you to be and to walk inwhere he wants you to go.
So I want to talk about thatbecause one of the thoughts that
I personally had, hence thewhole reason for this podcast
episode in the first place, Ijust had this realization where
I was like, you know what?
(02:32):
As I go through this transitionin my life in reaching the
newest version of myself, I amtired of living a life that is
based on convenience.
Living a life where I don't haveto put in as much effort because
(02:53):
I'm seeking convenience.
I'm seeking easy.
I'm seeking simplified in a lotof areas in my life.
or in my business.
Now, I want to make this very,very clear before we dive into
the depths of what I mean inregards to living this
convenient, comfortablelifestyle and how it can be, at
(03:14):
times, contradictory.
Let me be clear.
Convenience, a lot of times, isgreat.
There are many areas whereconvenience I am grateful for, I
am proud to have that area of mylife or business be more
convenient because of the worldthat we're living in today.
I am blessed by it.
(03:34):
You are blessed by it.
For example, if you have a car,cars, you could say are
convenient because it gets yousomewhere much more quickly.
Rather than walking or takingthe bus or the train.
It's convenient.
That's a good level ofconvenience.
We are blessed to have peoplethat were wise enough to build
(03:55):
cars for us to drive in thefirst place to get from point A
to B.
Even when we talk about thingslike time management tools.
There's so many projectmanagement apps and different
content tools and just thingsthat you're you might be using
for your business or Things thatmake going about your daily
tasks easier.
(04:16):
I am grateful to God for thosethings.
Okay, because they help me in mytime management and praise God
for people creating those appsand creating those tools.
Same thing could be said for, Idon't know, things in the
kitchen, like having an airfryer.
That is convenient.
It cooks food much quicker andit is safe.
(04:36):
Many times healthier thancooking it on the stove or
frying it, right?
So these are just examples forme to make a point that I'm not
saying that everything that'sconvenient is bad or
Contradictory to who God iscalling you to be or where he
wants you to go That is not whatI'm saying What I am saying is
that there are certain areas ofyour life where you have to be
(04:59):
careful in where you're tryingto make It more convenient, but
you end up Borderline Crossingover to straight up laziness,
and that's where we need to becareful.
That's what I want to talkabout.
Okay.
So first off let's set the tonehere to make sure we're all on
the same page.
What is the definition ofconvenience?
(05:22):
Now, we all probably know thebasic definition of what that
is, but I legitimately wanted tolook up the actual Google
definition of what this means.
And when I came across thedefinition, I just had so many
thoughts and I was like, youknow what, I'm going to talk
about it in this podcast episodewith you because I think that
(05:44):
this is something important foryou to think about when it comes
to your relationship with God,when it comes to your health and
when it comes to the success ofyour business, your endeavors,
your creative ambitions.
So let's talk about thatdefinition.
By definition.
Convenience means proceedingwith something with a little
(06:05):
effort or difficulty.
Now, again, There are some partsof our lives, our businesses,
our everyday home, where thingsbeing convenient, man, it's
awesome.
Praise Jesus for that.
But there are other things whereit's like, hmm, where am I
trying to live a convenient lifethat actually isn't good for ME?
(06:28):
And that's where we need toseparate the two.
There are things in your life oryour business or your career or
your family or yourself,whatever it is, where
convenience is a good thing,right?
It makes it a little bit easieron your plate.
(06:48):
However, there are things inyour life, your business, your
family, yourself, whatever itis, where convenience is a bad
thing.
Now, how do we recognize it asbad?
And when can we really bringthat to the forefront?
And create a solution around it.
Okay, now stick with me here.
Some of you might be treadingalong with me, but if you're
(07:10):
listening to this and you'relike, Angel, I don't know what
you're talking about.
I want all the convenience I canget.
Stick with me if you can,because it's my hope that you're
going to feel uplifted by what Ihave to say.
Okay?
So, here's the thing, I believethat convenience can be bad or
misleading or contradictory oreven restricting you away from
(07:32):
who you're supposed to be orwhat God is calling you to do if
that convenience is jeopardizingyour health or jeopardizing your
productivity.
When trying to chase afterconvenience starts jeopardizing
either your health or yourproductivity, that is when you
start crossing the line.
(07:54):
of laziness.
And that is another area withinyourself that has to be worked
on.
Because this isn't a moment tofinger point and say, Hey,
you're being lazy.
That's not what I'm doing atall.
This is me helping to wake youup to areas of your life where
you might be crossing over tolaziness because you just want
(08:16):
everything to be convenient.
And that laziness can betriggered or can cause.
depression, anxiety.
It can cause you to step furtheraway from you knowing and being
confident in the fact that youwere made on purpose for a
purpose.
There is beautiful work for youto do in this world that God
(08:36):
called you to.
And laziness can restrict usfrom taking the necessary steps
to go about that workeffectively.
That's why I'm talking aboutconvenience and being so careful
with that.
So let me go back to thedefinition of convenience.
The definition was proceedingwith something with a little
(08:59):
effort or difficulty.
I want to focus on that firstword, little effort, not very
much effort.
This reminded me of a beautifulverse in the Bible that says the
exact opposite.
(09:20):
Instead of it saying, a littleeffort, the Bible in the
specific scripture says, makeevery effort.
Let me bring up what thatscripture specifically is just
so that we can all walk throughthis together.
In 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 5, itsays, for this reason, make
(09:41):
every effort to supplement yourfaith with goodness, goodness
with knowledge, knowledge withself control, self control with
endurance, endurance withgodliness, godliness with
brotherly affection, andbrotherly affection.
(10:01):
with love.
There's a couple of things Iwant to point out in this
beautiful verse right here.
First off, the very beginningsays make every effort versus
the definition of convenienceliterally says little effort.
having the ability to put littleeffort toward something or not
(10:24):
as much effort as we would haveif that something wasn't
invented or created, like theexamples I used earlier, time
management tools or air fryersor cars.
Again, those things aren'tnecessarily jeopardizing your
health or your productivity inthat sense, right?
Surface level but when we thinkabout other areas of our lives,
(10:48):
little effort.
What about God saying, makeevery effort?
Why does God say that?
Now I am currently reading abook called the purpose driven
life by Rick Warren.
If you have never read this bookor heard of it, I highly
recommend it, especially ifyou're struggling with your
purpose in this world or in yourbusiness.
(11:08):
It is life changing.
But one of the chapters in thisbook, Rick is specifically
highlighting why God talks aboutmaking every effort.
Why does God want you to dothat?
And the reason why is because heknows how easy it is to fall
off, to stray.
To feel influenced or convincedby the world, by people's
(11:32):
opinions, by the enemy's voice,by our own thoughts.
God knows how easy it is ashuman beings to stray, to fall
away, to dig ourselves a deepdark rabbit hole.
So in order to climb our way outof that hole, in order to remain
on top, in order to stand on asolid foundation, and not stray,
(11:56):
not fall off.
We have to make every effort,not little effort, every effort
so that our spirit overpowersour flesh to the point where we
are not consumed by our ownthoughts or the enemy's thoughts
or people's opinions or theworld's noise.
We're only consumed by thespirit.
(12:18):
We're consumed by God's peaceand God's joy because we put in
every effort to attach ourselvesto that.
Another thing that I really wantto point out about this verse is
that everything that Peter isspecifically talking about here
is action oriented.
(12:39):
When we look at words likeknowledge, self control,
goodness, endurance, affection,love, in order to achieve these
words, in order to implementthese words into your life,
there is action that you have totake and that action.
(13:02):
Many times is not convenientaction.
It is action that's going tocause you to put in every effort
consistently.
It might feel difficult andbecause it feels difficult, it's
not necessarily convenient orcomfortable.
(13:22):
This is what I'm referring tohere.
There are certain action stepswe need to take that are not
going to be convenient.
And if you are, maybe you're noteven aware of the fact that you
are unintentionally searching,looking for convenience in every
area of your life, I just wantyou to pause.
(13:44):
And I want you to realize thefact that God did not create you
or he did not give you thatbusiness idea for you to live a
convenient, comfortablelifestyle.
He created you, he gave you thatbusiness idea for you to walk in
purpose, for you to put effortbehind it so that you can be
(14:06):
molded into the person he needsyou to be, into the calling he
needs you to walk in.
To the point where you arestable, you are confident, you
are standing on a firmfoundation, you are unwavering
because you put in every effort,because you accepted the fact
that you are not chasing aconvenient, comfortable
lifestyle.
(14:26):
No, you're chasing what Godwants for you.
And that's not to say thatthere's not going to be any
sense of convenience orcomfortability in what God has
for you.
It's just that you're notleading with that
intentionality.
You're leading with God.
You're leading with putting aneffort in different areas of
(14:46):
your life, your business, yourspiritual wellness, your health,
all the things.
So just going back to why Iwanted to talk about this topic
today, I had mentioned earlier,I had this thought where I was
like, you know what?
I don't want to strive afterconvenience in my life anymore
because convenience is causingme to not put in every effort.
(15:09):
Convenience sometimes canjeopardize my health or my
productivity to the point whereI am borderline lazy.
And that is not.
Who I want to be.
That is not who God calls me to.
That is not who God calls youto.
So I had to think about that formyself.
And in my mind, I just startedworking through the areas of my
(15:32):
life, my home, my business,myself, where I want to cut out
the shortcuts.
I want to cut out theconvenience.
I want to cut out the littleeffort.
And it was a wide variety ofthings, from like basic home
stuff to big business stuff.
I'm going to give you a fewexamples, okay, a few examples.
(15:54):
I realized that I didn't want tolive a life based off of
convenience a lot of times whenit came to food, what I put in
my body.
Think about it.
Convenient food is quick.
Little effort.
We're talking fast food.
(16:15):
We're talking frozen meals.
I found myself in a habit in thepast where I was eating just
straight up unhealthy becauseeverything was about convenience
for me.
I just needed it fast.
I didn't want to put effort intocooking.
But then I realized that I wasdoing myself a disservice.
(16:36):
I was treating my body in a veryunhealthy way, and that was
contradictory to how God wouldwant me to treat my body.
The Bible says your body is atemple.
Treat your body well.
Treat your body well by what youdo with it, what you feed into
it.
That's extremely essential.
(16:57):
So why live my life when it cameto food off of convenience and
unintentionally end up eatingunhealthy and that unhealthy
food causing me to feel lessenergized to the point where I
didn't have as much focus orbrain power throughout the day
to do what God was calling me todo in my business, in my life,
(17:18):
anything like that.
It was a very unhealthy dominoeffect.
So I told myself, I'm like, youknow what?
I want to start making morehomemade meals.
Homemade snacks.
And protein bars that don't havesugar in them.
Taking time.
And being okay with the timethat I'm taking to make these
(17:40):
things.
Because I'm no longer living mylife off of convenience.
I want To put in more effort totreat my body better.
That's one example.
Another example.
I was like, you know what?
I no longer want to live my lifeoff of convenience when it comes
to purchasing kitchen andbathroom cleaners that are
filled with nothing butchemicals.
(18:03):
When you look at some of thehousehold cleaners at the store,
and you just, you think nothingof it.
Sometimes you just pick it outand you're like, Hey, I'm just
going to use this.
Yeah.
I had this moment at the grocerystore where I was reading the
back of a specific householdcleaner and I was like, bruh
what is in this?
I don't know, 70 percent of thewords that are on the back of
(18:24):
this bottle right now.
Filled with chemicals.
Filled with so much stuff thatwe don't even know what it is
that could be harmful to ourhome.
Why?
Why would I do that?
Why would I pick somethingthat's just convenient?
Oh, let me just pick it up and ahousehold cleaner is already
made.
I don't have to make it.
Why do that?
When I could go in the kitchenright now and spend a few
(18:46):
minutes putting together ahomemade cleaner of baking soda
lemon and vinegar boom, that'sit chemical free pesticide free
A whole bunch of crap in it forfree.
It's just healthy stuff.
Things like that.
I just started to think about.
And then another thing.
One more example just so I cangive you like my random thoughts
(19:08):
of okay, where can I stop livingmy life based off of
convenience?
Another one was my contentconsistency.
So in the past.
I was only producing twoepisodes a month of the God
Empowered podcast.
Now, at the time, I claim thatit is because that's all I had
(19:30):
the capacity for.
And I still agree with that.
On top of that, though, Therewas this layer of convenience.
It was just more convenient forme and my lifestyle to only
produce episodes twice a month,rather than producing episodes
four times a month, AKA everyweek.
So for me personally, I had tosit with that and I had to think
(19:52):
about that.
And I knew that because God wascalling me to this new level of
leadership in showing up.
better, showing up moreconsistently.
I needed to stop being in theheadspace of convenience when it
came to my content productionand step more into the headspace
of sustainable effort.
Sustainable good effort incontent production so that I
(20:14):
could fulfill more of what Ifelt that God was calling me and
is calling me to do.
So again, these are my examples,my random thoughts of like, What
area of my life am I chasingafter convenience that is
actually harming my health or isharming my productivity?
Which one is it?
What is it?
(20:35):
I want you to think about that,my friend, like genuinely.
Again, not every area of yourlife where convenience comes
into play is bad.
You want to think about whatarea of your life or your
business or yourself where whatyou're doing, what you're
implementing, your habits, whatseems natural to you, where that
(20:57):
level of convenience isjeopardizing your health.
Could be jeopardizing yourspiritual wellness, your
relationship with Jesus, orcould be jeopardizing your
productivity and what God iscalling you to do.
God does not call us to make alittle effort.
God does not call us to be lazy.
(21:18):
Yes, he calls us to have restfulmoments.
He calls us to peace, but thatdoes not mean laziness.
That does not mean littleeffort.
There is a possible future foryou, a possible present for you
to put in every effort to beconsistent and yet still have
(21:40):
rest and peace.
Peace as you go about that.
And the only way you're going tolearn how to do that is to
simply start with the questionof what area of my life, myself,
my business, my family, am Ichasing after convenience in a
way that jeopardizes my healthor my productivity towards God's
calling in my life?
(22:00):
And how can I fix it?
How can I make time?
Because God is that important.
If it has to do with God'scalling for your life, make the
time.
That's the most important thingWhen you decide to base your
life not on convenience, yes, itmight feel uncomfortable when
(22:24):
you start putting in moreeffort.
It might feel difficult, butthat uncomfortability and that
difficulty leads to you havingno choice but to grow.
You have to grow.
You become disciplined.
You step more into a leader.
You, you generate these newadvanced skills that are a part
(22:46):
of this new version of yourselfthat God has been calling you to
for a long time.
But you, my friend are just nowwaking up more to it.
And hopefully by listening tothis podcast episode, you feel
inspired to make a change by it.
I hope this was helpful for youtoday.
I hope it just gave you a boostof inspiration, motivation, even
(23:08):
if it's something just to thinkabout.
That's all these podcastepisodes are for, to help you,
to give you something to thinkabout, to ensure that you are
not alone.
When it comes to being anentrepreneur, a creator, even if
you're just career driven, butat the same time you care about
your mental health and you loveJesus, there's a way to go about
life.
(23:29):
in a way that honors all ofthat.
Jesus first, of course.
Now, if you are looking for moreguidance and upliftment and
motivation and just overall helpfrom me, I would love to be your
mentor this very year.
We actually opened up acommunity and coaching hub
called the Burnout Free Biz.
(23:51):
And this is just a beautifulspace of other Christian
entrepreneurs that are buildingbusinesses that honor both God
and their mental health.
You get courses, you getworkshops, you get Q& A's with
me, you get prayer calls, tonsof resources.
It's so good.
And believe me, I am the kind ofhands on mentor in that hub
space that is answeringquestions.
I'm there with you.
(24:12):
I want to help you, even if itmeans one on one.
And I'm just the kind of mentorin the hub that will literally
be in this life in this businessgrowth journey with you.
So if you're interested in that,we are offering a seven day free
trial of that coaching andcommunity experience that you
can get at the link down belowin the podcast show notes, or if
you're watching this on YouTubein the YouTube description down
(24:35):
below, feel free to check itout.
And with that, my friend, we'llsee you next week for another
episode.
Talk soon.
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