October 18, 2024 • 33 mins
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Andrea Johnson, a transformational leadership coach who brings a wealth of wisdom and optimism to our listeners. Andrea opens up about her deeply personal journey, from her diverse roles as a wife and a pastor's wife to her experience as a missionary kid. She shares how her mother's battle with breast cancer became a profound catalyst for her own intentional living. Andrea, a Maxwell leadership trainer and DISC consultant, offers invaluable insights into understanding oneself from the inside out and aligning actions with one's faith, inspiring us to find purpose even amidst life's adversities.
Andrea brings her expertise to the forefront, guiding us through the essence of practical leadership, starting with leading oneself. She emphasizes the importance of identifying and respecting one's core values such as autonomy, authenticity, and belonging. Drawing inspiration from her personal experiences and teachings of John Maxwell and the Franklin Covey method, Andrea underscores how these principles create a foundation for effective leadership and foster an environment of acceptance and growth. Her message encourages us to embrace our unique values and live intentionally, offering practical strategies for personal and professional development.
As we wrap up this heartfelt discussion, we celebrate the joy and gratitude that Andrea has infused into our dialogue. Reflecting on the idea of being a "diamond in the rough," Andrea encourages us to recognize our unique potential and embrace our community. This episode leaves listeners with a warm sense of connection, hope, and the reaffirmation of their own unique journey. With love and blessings, we look forward to future conversations filled with inspiration and growth, reminding everyone of their inherent value and the boundless possibilities ahead.
This network stems from the Ministry of Exposed Life Change Ministries. There is teaching, preaching and so much more. A diamond shines in the light, all colors, with clarity and uniqueness. It is an open invitation to you. You can support our brand here with a gift of any amount. Every cent goes back into the ministry and brand.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and hello.
Welcome back, god's diamonds inthe rough.
I am so glad to be before youone more time.
Amen, I hope all is well whereyou are.
Hallelujah, amen.
Truth be told, I was gettingready to say learning the living
truth, but it's all good.
Amen, y'all got me.
Unfortunately, michael is nothere today.
(00:23):
Amen, I do have a, a guestthat's going to be with here
co-hosting with me.
Amen, uh, her name is andreajohnson.
Amen and um, god is just doingsome magnificent things in her
as well.
Amen.
And so we are excited about ourconversation today because
(00:44):
we're going to be talking aboutoptimism.
Yeah, even in the world that welive in today, we're still
going to be talking aboutoptimism and how we can be
intentional about it.
Amen, so y'all are going to meether here in just a few moments.
Y'all know what we got to do.
We always do it.
Amen, we must pray.
So, father, we thank you somuch for your grace and your
mercy.
(01:04):
Amen, we must pray.
So, father, we thank you somuch for your grace and your
mercy.
Thank you, god, for allowing usthis time to get in, to get into
a conversation that's going tobring enlightenment, um, to our
diamonds, that they are diamondsin your sight.
Pray, god, that you would useus to your glory, father, that
you would just have your wayhere.
I pray that we can speak wordsof life, that we can be all that
(01:28):
you need us to be in this time.
I pray for every heart that ishere that they would come
seeking your face, coming tofind what it is they need to see
and understand.
I pray, god, the blessings ofthe Lord will be upon each and
every one and I pray, lord, thatyou would just have your way.
We thank you, we praise you, wegive you glory and honor.
(01:48):
We pray all of this in JesusChrist's name.
We do pray, amen, amen and amen, hallelujah.
So here we go.
Miss Andrea is here and I wantto ask you to say hello to
everybody, miss Lady.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Hello, what a privilege to be here.
Amen, I love the spirit.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So glad to have you so, so glad.
So can you tell us a little bitabout yourself before we get
into the topic of conversation?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Sure, catherine, I call myself a transformational
leadership coach, and I thinkthat it's real easy to think
well then you just go talkingabout strategies and how you
build your business or how yougrow, and I've learned, over the
course of the many years thatGod has had me on this earth and
the things that he has taughtme, that we must grow from the
inside out and we have toapproach everything we do with
(02:44):
this idea that we're going togive our best to the Lord, and
so everything that I do I dounto Christ and everything that
I do I want to do with as mybest.
So part of that isunderstanding who I am, and so I
work with people figuring outhow to understand who they are,
how God has wired them, whattheir core values are.
And then I'm also a Maxwellleadership trainer and coach and
(03:08):
a disc consultant, so I thenhelp them understand how he's
wired them to communicate andhow we recognize communication
patterns in others and how wecan use that in order to build
bridges and to makecommunication much more clear.
And boy does it eliminate a lotof strife and conflict.
And then how to kind of thethird piece of that is how to
(03:28):
just kind of live it all outwith these six tenets of
intentional optimism that I just.
I was joking with somebody.
I said I figured out thatthat's the way that I can
encourage myself to live in away that glorifies God.
You know, I mean, it's thePharisees had the extra rules.
I just have these things,reminders of no, andrea, it's
all these things.
They're pretty simple and youjust go that direction.
(03:51):
So I'm a wife, a mother, apastor's wife, a Sunday school
teacher, an adoptive mother, amissionary kid there's a lot of
labels you could put on me, butmostly I'm just.
I'm just me.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I love it.
I love it, just me, amen.
That's great.
So, andrea, what is optimism inyour heart, in your mind?
What is that?
What is that?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well, the reason I use the word intentional in
front of it is because it's realeasy to think that, and
sometimes we as Christians fallinto this kind of I would call
it a trap of just pretendingeverything is fine and putting a
sunny spin on everything,without realizing that we walk
in a I mean, we walk in a reallyhard world and we walk in a
(04:35):
broken world.
We walk in a world wherethere's nothing that is laid out
for us, that is supposed tonecessarily be easy, and
especially when we start turningon the TV or the news or social
media, we realize you know whatI mean.
I don't mind being informed.
I grew up overseas.
I like to be informed aboutwhat's going on, but I feel like
(04:55):
there's a way that they couldtell these things that isn't so
gloomy all the time but at thesame time.
So for me, being intentionallyoptimistic means intentionally
looking at the hardness of life,the struggles that we walk
through, the roads that we walk,the waves that knock us over,
and looking at all of thosethings and saying yet my hope is
(05:17):
in the Lord, yet I can bepresent, yet I can have hope in
my future, because he haspromised that to me and it may
not be that he's promised meriches, but he has promised to
be there with me.
And so when I say optimistic, Iput that qualifier in front of
it.
It's intentional, and that partof my work is being willing to
(05:41):
see all the hard things andsaying and yet there's something
, there's always something there.
Some people might call thatlooking for a silver lining.
I just say I understand, wonderbetter than most children,
because I'm willing to see whatyou have to die to in the soil
for a pretty crocus or a tulipto come up in the spring.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Amen, definitely.
I'm a firm believer that youknow intention is everything,
because intention speaks choice.
You choose to live a life thatyou know that says it's unto the
Lord.
I choose to look for the good,even in the bad.
You know what I mean.
To me, that's intentionalliving.
Me, that's intentional living.
(06:24):
And you know, again, to look atlife with a positive
perspective, that's a choice.
And you know, from what I'veread and what I've looked at,
(06:44):
that's really what you are justtrying to get people to see.
That more than anything else,because you know we can't say
that trouble ain't out there, asyou said, the bad news it's out
there, but how do we look at it?
You know what I mean.
Sure, so talk about.
(07:07):
You said you have six, what wasthat?
Again, six tenants.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I call them six tenants.
I know that sounds weird, ok,but a little background to that
is that my mother was diagnosedwith breast cancer back in 2000
or something and it kind of puta new perspective on things for
us.
I mean, if you've ever dealtwith cancer in a family member,
(07:33):
then you know that there's a lotof life that you start
examining and when you get readyto when that road comes closer
and closer to the end, you startpaying attention to even more
things and looking at yourself.
Well, we lost her to thatbattle.
She fought valiantly and shewas a real godly woman and she
just she passed the torch well,she died well.
(07:55):
She spent the last few years ofher life, and especially as
soon as she went in hospice, thelast couple months of her life,
being extremely intentional.
About what have I not told you?
How can I encourage you?
Do you want my cornbread recipe?
I mean, it was just like allthose things.
And I have an adopted son whowas only eight at the time and
she was on the floor with himSunday evening before she died
(08:16):
playing, before she died onThursday, and you know.
So watching that process reallyhit me deep in my soul and I
thought I don't want to, I don't.
She lived well, don't get mewrong.
She also lived well and I hope.
I hope that we each have theopportunity as we leave to go be
(08:37):
with Jesus, to be able to diewell.
Some of us don't have thatchoice.
Some of it is quick, you know,but she had the time and she did
it well.
But I thought, could I do what?
Would I have the time toactually make up for all those
things?
Am I living in a way that Iwill have very few things to
apologize for or remedy orreconcile for?
And so it really caused me togo inside and look and my dad
(09:01):
had bought for her a beautifulcalligraphy rendition, a piece
of calligraphy.
It's like a big frame ofProverbs 31 done by this Jewish
rabbi in Jerusalem, and it'sabsolutely.
It's gold filigree, it'sgorgeous.
And it made me really takeanother look at Proverbs 31 and
other passages.
I've been in scripture since Iwas very small and memorizing
(09:25):
scripture and so for me a lot ofit is just there, but sometimes
we forget how to use it.
It pops up and it's alwaysthere.
But what I did was I did thiskind of brain dump.
I said what do I want to standfor?
Right, I was working inuniversity, medical, uh like
schools of medicine.
I was.
Really I could have been ontrack to be quite successful,
(09:46):
but I knew I wanted to stand forsomething else and so I said,
well, how do I want to live mylife out?
And so I just brain dumpedeverything and then started
categorizing it and filtering itout and realized I had about
six categories and they fellkind of loosely into some um,
into some of the things thatProverbs 31 talks about, with
this excellent woman and, um,she is a business woman, she is
(10:10):
a, um, is an amazing wife, she'sa mother.
Her husband's name is wellknown because of her.
So you know, I mean it's likelike sweetie, do you understand
how this works?
But here's the deal they cameout, and so here's what I I love
to share them.
There's six of them.
It sounds like a lot ofinformation.
I do have a download that peoplecan get and kind of like, look
(10:33):
at them all, but they'rebookended with optimistic and
intentional.
So that's two of the sixThat'll tell you right there.
The first one's optimistic andit encompasses things like hope.
Like I do have a hope for thefuture.
I'm confident that, that I haveenough information to take my
next best step.
You know, like he says, you're alight into my path and that
(10:53):
means I can hold out the lightof hope, or I can hold out his
word and I can see I have onejust enough for that one step.
But it also means I prepare andI'm proactive, so that's
optimistic.
Being present is the second one, and that means more than just
being in the moment.
Right, bob Goff says it meansbe where your feet are, and I'm
(11:14):
like, well, that's nice, but Ithink it means more than that
too.
For me, it means generous withmy time and my resources.
It means like when my son says,mom, he's 15, now you want to
watch this latest meme, I'm like, yes, and really, really don't,
but you know being willing toshare my time and my energy and
(11:40):
even just doing something likethis, share my time and my
energy with others, but I callit.
The other piece of it is grownup wonder.
Like I said, we talk aboutchildren looking at the stars
and saying, oh aren't theypretty, or the Christmas lights
or something.
But I look up there and I knowwhat's out there, or at least I
have an idea based on what ourastronauts have seen.
It's like I know it's not justlights, I know those are planets
(12:02):
and stars.
So my wonder is bigger thanthat of a child and that helps
me be more present in the momentand it helps me be more kind
and open with others.
And that's so, that's beingpresent.
The third is energetic.
This is all about industrious.
You look at that Proverbs 31woman.
She buys a field, she plants avineyard, she makes the wine,
(12:24):
she sells it, she imports andexports.
She makes sure everybody isclothed in purple cloth, which
back then is the best, yeah,yeah, I mean even her servants.
And so there's this attitude ofindustry always being willing
to do something.
But it also has to do with joy.
You know, the joy of the Lordis my strength.
Paul says I've learned to becontent in all circumstances.
(12:47):
Rejoice always.
Paul says I've learned to becontent in all circumstances,
rejoice always.
All these things are kind ofencompassed in this idea that
when you have joy in the moment,whether or not you are happy,
joy is a different thing.
That's where energy comes from,as well as being life focused.
So I look for ways that I canaffirm life rather than
affirming anything else.
Life rather than affirminganything else.
(13:09):
People are always moreimportant than ideas or things.
But I'm happy and healthy in mybody.
We live in Charlottesville,virginia, and there are things
that we've been through up hereas a community that you learn
real quickly how to separatewhat's people and what's not
right.
You know, I mean you just do,and that has been very pivotal
(13:30):
in us learning how to truly loveGod and love others in a way
that has been different fromwhat we kind of were raised with
.
You know, I mean we're not.
There's only a certain amountof that that we're responsible
for, but then we are responsible.
So being life focused.
The fourth is courageous, havingcourage to be the leader.
I'm a transformationalleadership coach For two years.
(13:53):
My podcast was titledUnconventional Leaders and I
interviewed over 75 women whodidn't really consider, always
consider themselves leaders.
But I wanted women to see thathe's put you in the position
you're in, where you are, nomatter what it is to do some
sort of leadership, even if it'sleading yourself, and we have
to be willing to look at that.
So that encompasses leadership,having a sense of adventure.
(14:15):
And then there's thatresiliency that comes from
getting out there, falling downand getting back up, and falling
down and getting back up, it'sexercising those muscles.
So I love that courageous piece.
People usually resonate with it.
The fifth one, I have to tellyou, catherine, was really hard
(14:36):
for me to embrace and accept asmine.
But it's this idea of wisdom,right?
I mean this Proverbs 31 woman,she's wise, she gives counsel,
she's good at what she does.
And I noticed people werecoming into my office and
sitting down and talking.
On more than one occasion I'vehad people say you're a safe
(14:56):
place for me and understandingthat the experiences I've been
through are setting me up toshare the wisdom of even just
experience, or the wisdom thatGod has taught me Because, like
I said, I'm a Sunday schoolteacher being willing to say all
right, I'm okay to be wise.
I thought that was just for80-year-olds with curly purple
(15:17):
hair, but I'll do it.
But you've been around acertain number of times and that
gives us experience.
So I'm wise.
I want to understand what othersare going through.
I want to understand that whatwe receive on the surface is not
always it.
There's something underneath.
Many times it's a componentbeing careful with our words,
(15:40):
being really careful with how werespect others, don't demand,
only respect.
And then the last one isintentional, which kind of pulls
it all together.
It's like I don't do anythingwithout a purpose and I have a
plan and my intention is to grow, and so all those things
together make intentionaloptimism.
And so I just say that's theattitudes and mindsets, that I
(16:01):
live out my core values, mygoals, my dreams with excellence
with excellence, and that'sawesome.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
The simple fact that I myself I'm one of those ones
that's always trying to figuresomething out, and the fact that
God gave you the enlightenmentto come up with these six.
What are they called?
Again, tenders.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I call them tenets T-E-N-E-T-E-L Because we talk
about.
It's not a religious practice.
But a lot of times when Ilooked up what I wanted to call
them, are they principles?
No, principles we can take orleave.
Tenets are things that wepractice.
So if you look tenet up in thedictionary, it's basically it's
things that we practice.
So these are things that wewant to practice on a daily
(16:49):
basis.
So, like I said, it's theattitudes and mindsets.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I love it, I love it, and you have a podcast as well.
Right, I do.
What's the name of your?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
podcast again.
I changed the name of it inSeptember of 23 to Stand Tall
and Own it, and part of that wasbecause I realized I was
listening to other women'sstories and sharing them, which
was a real, it was a gift and itwas.
It was beautiful, but God wasteaching me so much and I had
learned so much and I had beenthrough some other things and it
(17:21):
was time to say you know what?
It's time to, just, like I said, be that wise, stand tall and
just own it right.
This is this is what I have tooffer, this is the way I do it
and, um, so it is targetedtowards women, but I have men
who listen.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I was.
I was actually just gettingready to ask you is it more
targeted toward women, or oryeah, Okay, that's awesome.
So, at the end of the day,you're really teaching um
practical leadership and what itreally means to be a leader.
Yes, Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yes, and outside of practicing, is there anything
else that are really becomestandards for leadership?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Sure, like I said, I'm a Maxwell Leadership Speaker
, trainer, coach, so a lot ofhis stuff I espouse to.
I love his stuff.
It's talk about practical andit's easy to understand.
But the first piece is that thefirst person we lead is
ourselves, and so I walk all ofmy clients through and I
actually have a digital courseand a hybrid coaching program,
(18:27):
this idea that we need tounderstand our core values,
which God has basically placedin us from the beginning.
These are not family and churchand these are not country,
family, freedom and whateverthose are.
I mean freedom might be, butthey're the things that are
inside us.
This is where our internalboundaries come.
This is everything that we'veever experienced, reacted to,
(18:48):
been happy about, been angryabout, has probably pushed on or
stepped on or celebrated a corevalue.
And there are things that arekind of our own non-negotiables.
Right, you have people that saydon't lie to me, right?
Or you know so honesty might beone of theirs.
For me, there are things likeautonomy of thought Don't tell
me how to think.
So I'm a very critical thinker.
(19:09):
I'm a natural deconstructionist.
When you give me something, I'mgoing to break it down and I'm
going to see, hmm, and then Imight put it back together.
I might say, well, I'm going tokeep that part, or, you know,
and that actually helps me in myBible study.
But the other pieces, the othertwo for me that are real
important so that people canunderstand what a core value
might be is.
The second one is authenticity.
(19:30):
So I'm always going to tell mystory, I'm always going to show
you the warts, I'm always goingto make sure that I am who I am
and I don't mean to, you know,take God's words there, but you
know it's just.
This is how he made me and Iwant to glorify him in all that
I do, but at the same time, Idon't need to be like somebody
else.
I get to be like me.
And then the third one I reallyit is so important to me and I
(19:53):
didn't realize it is belonging,making sure that we belong.
Right, I, catherine, want youto feel like when you're talking
to me, you belong in thisconversation.
I want you to feel like youbelong in the family of God or
in my church, or when you cometo my home or just even if we're
(20:14):
out, you know seeing each otherin the supermarket.
I want to make sure that,whatever space I create, because
I need that, I need to belongand I want to make sure I create
that for other people and thatopens you up to being.
You know, it's like we havethis open arm stance.
I tell people.
It's like when you do this withyour arms, you are leaving
yourself exposed, you're leavingall your vital organs exposed.
(20:37):
But when you open your armslike this, who do we normally
think of?
We normally think of Jesus withhis arms open, and so it's a
very, it's a defenseless stance,which means people feel very
safe and welcome.
And so when I work with peopleon their core values, I help
them understand what theirnon-negotiables are.
That's a, I mean, thatbelonging piece.
(20:58):
That's a non-negotiable for me.
When somebody, if I'm in asituation where people are
talking and excluding me fromthe conversation they may not
mean to, but like I notice it.
Right, right, right, and then Ihave to talk to myself every
once in a while.
They're not doing it on purpose, oh, okay, that's right, and
it's not always about you,andrea.
(21:19):
So understanding our core valuesgives us the ability to have
the authority that God gave eachand every one of us to respect
others, to live out all of thosetenets of intentional optimism
and set the boundaries that weneed.
You know, how many people doyou hear talk about?
I need to set some boundariesout here.
(21:39):
Y'all need to.
You know, stay up.
The boundaries that we need toset are in here, you know.
I mean there are somelegitimate boundaries outside of
ourselves, but most of them arein here.
Nobody comes walking in myfront door without knocking.
They know the door is shut.
That's a good boundary, right.
So this is some core stuff.
I hate to use that word, corebut this is some foundational
(22:02):
pieces that I work on withpeople, and because everybody's
a little different, I have likea.
Some people can just readinstructions and figure their
core values out.
And gosh, catherine, somepeople, some people just live in
, wanting to fit in.
I grew up allowing my corevalues to be pushed to the side
or tamped down or compromised ordishonored, and so it took me
(22:40):
some work to do that.
I mean, I've been working onthis.
I don't know if you can seethis, but are you familiar with
Franklin Covey?
No, like the Franklin Planner.
Okay, so that's also leadership, but this is back in the 90s.
I'm dating myself I'm 57, bythe way, and this was back in
like 93.
I went through Steve Covey'sbook Seven Habits of Highly
(23:00):
Effective People and one of thethings is figuring out your
governing values, and that wasthe start for me.
So I've been working on this along time and I believe it to my
core in my soul and I know I'vewatched how it really helps
people.
So those are some foundationalpieces that I think we just need
to recognize in ourselves.
It's good to have them and it'sgood to know them.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I just want you to know I love your spirit.
I love it because everythingthat you're saying I just 100%
can agree and attest that.
You know, I mean withoutboundaries.
If you don't set any boundaries, how will anybody know, even
yourself?
And so what you're saying, itjust completely makes sense.
(23:46):
And you know, sometimes, Ithink, we apologize for our
boundaries.
We will become apologetic forour core values and our
standards.
We will apologize to make otherpeople comfortable.
And what I'm hearing from youyou can correct me if I'm wrong
if you don't have these things,you will lose yourself and even
(24:10):
before you lose yourself, youwon't be able to find yourself
without it.
Is that what I'm hearing?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, I think it's possible to live in a very
self-aware way without fullyunderstanding your core values.
But we might trip up, and Ilove that you brought up that we
apologize for these things.
I would say we apologize forthem because we have not owned
them and we don't have the.
We have not yet understood andkind of taken hold of the
(24:40):
authority that we have to ownthem.
And so we apologize forsomething that we're kind of
stepping on authority, right.
That's why we usually apologize.
So when we understand who weare and the authority that we
have, there's no need toapologize.
We're not defensive about themand, quite frankly, we're not
offensive about them.
I don't go out there tellingpeople well, y'all didn't make
(25:02):
me feel included, you know.
I mean, I'm not in third gradeanymore, I don't need to do that
.
But at the same time, like Isaid, I have the conversation in
myself, inside, and I givepeople the benefit of the doubt
because I want to make sure thatyou know who knows what's going
on with them, and sometimes myvision gets cloudy, all you know
.
And so for me being able to sayI have a conversation, to tell
(25:25):
myself it might not be you, itmight be something else, which
then opens my eyes to say, yeah,I don't even need to be
defensive about this, this isnot a boundary I need to have.
If somebody doesn't like myenergy, who wouldn't like my
energy?
If somebody doesn't like myenergy, I've had people tell me
I am too positive, which youknow.
They just haven't heard mecomplain or yell at my son, and
(25:48):
you know because they justhaven't been privy to that yet.
But that's okay, you know.
I mean, my place is not witheveryone and I have learned that
I can be truly authentic and Ican truly belong all by myself
with God, through Jesus, andthen in my husband and my family
(26:08):
.
So when people talk aboutneeding to set boundaries or
apologizing for boundaries, Ithink a lot of it is just being
able to understand when we havethe authority for those
boundaries.
We can then communicate them ina way that other people can
accept.
And it may be that at the verybeginning because it's when I
counsel people, when you start,when you get them don't go out
there telling people that theyneed to respect your boundaries,
(26:29):
just start setting them in away that is gracious and kind to
them.
And you right, because if youdraw a real hard line.
All of a sudden, people aregoing to be very confused and
it's going to be a situationwhere you need to apologize.
But I think I'm convincedthere's a way to do it without
having to do that, and I've doneit in my own life and I'm
(26:52):
watching my clients do the samething.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Oh, my, my, I mean it's good, it's really good
because you know for me and Ijust say this for me personally,
and I hope that it speaks tothe diamonds the same way you
know everything that you'resaying.
It really it's my language thatI don't oftentimes know how to
speak.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, yes, and I think that a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
People have that same language but they don't know
how to speak it the right way,where it can be perceived, the
way that you're trying to say it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
So you know, this is definitely a God appointed time
for me.
Anybody else you know for me?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Hey, and I just want to encourage you because you've
done a really good job askingspecific questions and helping
me to say what I want to say.
So, all y'all listening, if youhaven't, pause a minute and go
give her a five-star review andshe was apologizing that her
husband wasn't here today.
I don't know any reason to dothat now.
I haven't interviewed with himyet.
(27:58):
But give her a five-star reviewbecause she's asking very she's
on your side, right?
She's asking you questions thatare really going to help you
and I you know.
I wanted to share too that myfavorite Bible verse is
Ephesians 2.10, where Paul talksabout we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to dogood works that he ordained for
(28:19):
us long ago.
So, speaking to diamonds in therough, that's what we are, you
know.
So he has created you to be youand I just want to encourage
you to to step out and say Iwant to just show up as me,
because that's plenty goodenough.
And you know there are waysthat some of you may have grown
(28:40):
up in situations that havetalked you down more than my
situation did, and you know, inthe demographic, or in your
community or in your family, andyou know, I, I understand that,
but you still, no, I don'tunderstand all of it.
I can't say I understand all ofit.
I understand my part and I'mwilling to meet you where you
(29:01):
are.
Reach out to me and let me.
I mean, I'm actually I'm theone who answers all my emails,
you know, and, and my DMs andthat kind of thing.
So I think that, um, that,catherine, this is, I'm thrilled
.
I love it when, when we show upand it's the right thing for
the right time the right people,absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
And so, as we get ready to wrap up, um, what the
thing that I got out of thisoverall is that these core
values and these tenets, theyare meant for us on purpose, for
purpose.
So, whatever struggle you'refacing, whatever you know giant
(29:47):
is in front of you, with thesethings, you are able to overcome
it.
You're able to face it ifyou're intentional, if you got
the right perspective and ifyou're doing it unto God and you
know.
Miss Andrea, I just encourageyou to continue to go forth and
(30:07):
I say thank you.
So if you would final thoughtwhatever it is that you want the
people to take away thediamonds to take away from this
interview, please share that now.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
You're worth it.
Every one of you has beencreated in God's image, with his
fingerprints all over you, andyou are unique and you are
different, and yet we are allthe same in the sense that we
all are created with specificcore values, with specific
things and ways that wecommunicate patterns.
So do not underestimate thevalue that comes from knowing
(30:45):
who God created you to be.
I think that's the mostimportant thing from knowing who
God created you to be.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I think that's the most important thing.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Hallelujah, amen Would you close us out with
prayer, Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
Sure Father, God, what aprivilege it is to speak these
beautiful words to yourbeautiful creations, that we
might be able to encourage eachother to grow in you and to
learn who you have created themto be, so that they can each
show up as the workmanship thatyou designed them to be.
(31:13):
I ask, Lord, that you wouldtake these words and plant them
in their hearts and give them acuriosity and a courage to grow
not just in who they are but inyou, that they might be able to
reflect your beauty to the worldaround them and others would
say what is it about you that'sdifferent?
And they might be able to sharethe world around them that
others would say what is itabout you that's different?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
And they might be able to share.
In Jesus name, we pray Amen,amen, amen.
Thank you again, andrea, forbeing here.
We certainly do appreciate yourpresence.
It was definitely a pleasure.
Yes, it was.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Mine too.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
All right, all right, diam right, diamonds.
Y'all know what time it is.
Until the next time, rememberthat you are a diamond in the
rough.
Amen from us to you so muchlove and prayer.
Hopefully we'll see you thenext time.
Blessings and love, amen, amen.
Hello and hello.
Welcome back, god's diamonds inthe rough.
I am so glad to be before youone more time.
Amen, I hope all is well whereyou are.
Hallelujah, amen.
Truth be told, I was gettingready to say learning the living
truth, but it's all good.
Amen, y'all got me.
Unfortunately, michael is nothere today.
(00:23):
Amen, I do have a, a guestthat's going to be with here
co-hosting with me.
Amen, uh, her name is andreajohnson.
Amen and um, god is just doingsome magnificent things in her
as well.
Amen.
And so we are excited about ourconversation today because
(00:44):
we're going to be talking aboutoptimism.
Yeah, even in the world that welive in today, we're still
going to be talking aboutoptimism and how we can be
intentional about it.
Amen, so y'all are going to meether here in just a few moments.
Y'all know what we got to do.
We always do it.
Amen, we must pray.
So, father, we thank you somuch for your grace and your
mercy.
(01:04):
Amen, we must pray.
So, father, we thank you somuch for your grace and your
mercy.
Thank you, god, for allowing usthis time to get in, to get into
a conversation that's going tobring enlightenment, um, to our
diamonds, that they are diamondsin your sight.
Pray, god, that you would useus to your glory, father, that
you would just have your wayhere.
I pray that we can speak wordsof life, that we can be all that
(01:28):
you need us to be in this time.
I pray for every heart that ishere that they would come
seeking your face, coming tofind what it is they need to see
and understand.
I pray, god, the blessings ofthe Lord will be upon each and
every one and I pray, lord, thatyou would just have your way.
We thank you, we praise you, wegive you glory and honor.
(01:48):
We pray all of this in JesusChrist's name.
We do pray, amen, amen and amen, hallelujah.
So here we go.
Miss Andrea is here and I wantto ask you to say hello to
everybody, miss Lady.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Hello, what a privilege to be here.
Amen, I love the spirit.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So glad to have you so, so glad.
So can you tell us a little bitabout yourself before we get
into the topic of conversation?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Sure, catherine, I call myself a transformational
leadership coach, and I thinkthat it's real easy to think
well then you just go talkingabout strategies and how you
build your business or how yougrow, and I've learned, over the
course of the many years thatGod has had me on this earth and
the things that he has taughtme, that we must grow from the
inside out and we have toapproach everything we do with
(02:44):
this idea that we're going togive our best to the Lord, and
so everything that I do I dounto Christ and everything that
I do I want to do with as mybest.
So part of that isunderstanding who I am, and so I
work with people figuring outhow to understand who they are,
how God has wired them, whattheir core values are.
And then I'm also a Maxwellleadership trainer and coach and
(03:08):
a disc consultant, so I thenhelp them understand how he's
wired them to communicate andhow we recognize communication
patterns in others and how wecan use that in order to build
bridges and to makecommunication much more clear.
And boy does it eliminate a lotof strife and conflict.
And then how to kind of thethird piece of that is how to
(03:28):
just kind of live it all outwith these six tenets of
intentional optimism that I just.
I was joking with somebody.
I said I figured out thatthat's the way that I can
encourage myself to live in away that glorifies God.
You know, I mean, it's thePharisees had the extra rules.
I just have these things,reminders of no, andrea, it's
all these things.
They're pretty simple and youjust go that direction.
(03:51):
So I'm a wife, a mother, apastor's wife, a Sunday school
teacher, an adoptive mother, amissionary kid there's a lot of
labels you could put on me, butmostly I'm just.
I'm just me.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I love it.
I love it, just me, amen.
That's great.
So, andrea, what is optimism inyour heart, in your mind?
What is that?
What is that?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well, the reason I use the word intentional in
front of it is because it's realeasy to think that, and
sometimes we as Christians fallinto this kind of I would call
it a trap of just pretendingeverything is fine and putting a
sunny spin on everything,without realizing that we walk
in a I mean, we walk in a reallyhard world and we walk in a
(04:35):
broken world.
We walk in a world wherethere's nothing that is laid out
for us, that is supposed tonecessarily be easy, and
especially when we start turningon the TV or the news or social
media, we realize you know whatI mean.
I don't mind being informed.
I grew up overseas.
I like to be informed aboutwhat's going on, but I feel like
(04:55):
there's a way that they couldtell these things that isn't so
gloomy all the time but at thesame time.
So for me, being intentionallyoptimistic means intentionally
looking at the hardness of life,the struggles that we walk
through, the roads that we walk,the waves that knock us over,
and looking at all of thosethings and saying yet my hope is
(05:17):
in the Lord, yet I can bepresent, yet I can have hope in
my future, because he haspromised that to me and it may
not be that he's promised meriches, but he has promised to
be there with me.
And so when I say optimistic, Iput that qualifier in front of
it.
It's intentional, and that partof my work is being willing to
(05:41):
see all the hard things andsaying and yet there's something
, there's always something there.
Some people might call thatlooking for a silver lining.
I just say I understand, wonderbetter than most children,
because I'm willing to see whatyou have to die to in the soil
for a pretty crocus or a tulipto come up in the spring.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Amen, definitely.
I'm a firm believer that youknow intention is everything,
because intention speaks choice.
You choose to live a life thatyou know that says it's unto the
Lord.
I choose to look for the good,even in the bad.
You know what I mean.
To me, that's intentionalliving.
Me, that's intentional living.
(06:24):
And you know, again, to look atlife with a positive
perspective, that's a choice.
And you know, from what I'veread and what I've looked at,
(06:44):
that's really what you are justtrying to get people to see.
That more than anything else,because you know we can't say
that trouble ain't out there, asyou said, the bad news it's out
there, but how do we look at it?
You know what I mean.
Sure, so talk about.
(07:07):
You said you have six, what wasthat?
Again, six tenants.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I call them six tenants.
I know that sounds weird, ok,but a little background to that
is that my mother was diagnosedwith breast cancer back in 2000
or something and it kind of puta new perspective on things for
us.
I mean, if you've ever dealtwith cancer in a family member,
(07:33):
then you know that there's a lotof life that you start
examining and when you get readyto when that road comes closer
and closer to the end, you startpaying attention to even more
things and looking at yourself.
Well, we lost her to thatbattle.
She fought valiantly and shewas a real godly woman and she
just she passed the torch well,she died well.
(07:55):
She spent the last few years ofher life, and especially as
soon as she went in hospice, thelast couple months of her life,
being extremely intentional.
About what have I not told you?
How can I encourage you?
Do you want my cornbread recipe?
I mean, it was just like allthose things.
And I have an adopted son whowas only eight at the time and
she was on the floor with himSunday evening before she died
(08:16):
playing, before she died onThursday, and you know.
So watching that process reallyhit me deep in my soul and I
thought I don't want to, I don't.
She lived well, don't get mewrong.
She also lived well and I hope.
I hope that we each have theopportunity as we leave to go be
(08:37):
with Jesus, to be able to diewell.
Some of us don't have thatchoice.
Some of it is quick, you know,but she had the time and she did
it well.
But I thought, could I do what?
Would I have the time toactually make up for all those
things?
Am I living in a way that Iwill have very few things to
apologize for or remedy orreconcile for?
And so it really caused me togo inside and look and my dad
(09:01):
had bought for her a beautifulcalligraphy rendition, a piece
of calligraphy.
It's like a big frame ofProverbs 31 done by this Jewish
rabbi in Jerusalem, and it'sabsolutely.
It's gold filigree, it'sgorgeous.
And it made me really takeanother look at Proverbs 31 and
other passages.
I've been in scripture since Iwas very small and memorizing
(09:25):
scripture and so for me a lot ofit is just there, but sometimes
we forget how to use it.
It pops up and it's alwaysthere.
But what I did was I did thiskind of brain dump.
I said what do I want to standfor?
Right, I was working inuniversity, medical, uh like
schools of medicine.
I was.
Really I could have been ontrack to be quite successful,
(09:46):
but I knew I wanted to stand forsomething else and so I said,
well, how do I want to live mylife out?
And so I just brain dumpedeverything and then started
categorizing it and filtering itout and realized I had about
six categories and they fellkind of loosely into some um,
into some of the things thatProverbs 31 talks about, with
this excellent woman and, um,she is a business woman, she is
(10:10):
a, um, is an amazing wife, she'sa mother.
Her husband's name is wellknown because of her.
So you know, I mean it's likelike sweetie, do you understand
how this works?
But here's the deal they cameout, and so here's what I I love
to share them.
There's six of them.
It sounds like a lot ofinformation.
I do have a download that peoplecan get and kind of like, look
(10:33):
at them all, but they'rebookended with optimistic and
intentional.
So that's two of the sixThat'll tell you right there.
The first one's optimistic andit encompasses things like hope.
Like I do have a hope for thefuture.
I'm confident that, that I haveenough information to take my
next best step.
You know, like he says, you're alight into my path and that
(10:53):
means I can hold out the lightof hope, or I can hold out his
word and I can see I have onejust enough for that one step.
But it also means I prepare andI'm proactive, so that's
optimistic.
Being present is the second one, and that means more than just
being in the moment.
Right, bob Goff says it meansbe where your feet are, and I'm
(11:14):
like, well, that's nice, but Ithink it means more than that
too.
For me, it means generous withmy time and my resources.
It means like when my son says,mom, he's 15, now you want to
watch this latest meme, I'm like, yes, and really, really don't,
but you know being willing toshare my time and my energy and
(11:40):
even just doing something likethis, share my time and my
energy with others, but I callit.
The other piece of it is grownup wonder.
Like I said, we talk aboutchildren looking at the stars
and saying, oh aren't theypretty, or the Christmas lights
or something.
But I look up there and I knowwhat's out there, or at least I
have an idea based on what ourastronauts have seen.
It's like I know it's not justlights, I know those are planets
(12:02):
and stars.
So my wonder is bigger thanthat of a child and that helps
me be more present in the momentand it helps me be more kind
and open with others.
And that's so, that's beingpresent.
The third is energetic.
This is all about industrious.
You look at that Proverbs 31woman.
She buys a field, she plants avineyard, she makes the wine,
(12:24):
she sells it, she imports andexports.
She makes sure everybody isclothed in purple cloth, which
back then is the best, yeah,yeah, I mean even her servants.
And so there's this attitude ofindustry always being willing
to do something.
But it also has to do with joy.
You know, the joy of the Lordis my strength.
Paul says I've learned to becontent in all circumstances.
(12:47):
Rejoice always.
Paul says I've learned to becontent in all circumstances,
rejoice always.
All these things are kind ofencompassed in this idea that
when you have joy in the moment,whether or not you are happy,
joy is a different thing.
That's where energy comes from,as well as being life focused.
So I look for ways that I canaffirm life rather than
affirming anything else.
Life rather than affirminganything else.
(13:09):
People are always moreimportant than ideas or things.
But I'm happy and healthy in mybody.
We live in Charlottesville,virginia, and there are things
that we've been through up hereas a community that you learn
real quickly how to separatewhat's people and what's not
right.
You know, I mean you just do,and that has been very pivotal
(13:30):
in us learning how to truly loveGod and love others in a way
that has been different fromwhat we kind of were raised with
.
You know, I mean we're not.
There's only a certain amountof that that we're responsible
for, but then we are responsible.
So being life focused.
The fourth is courageous, havingcourage to be the leader.
I'm a transformationalleadership coach For two years.
(13:53):
My podcast was titledUnconventional Leaders and I
interviewed over 75 women whodidn't really consider, always
consider themselves leaders.
But I wanted women to see thathe's put you in the position
you're in, where you are, nomatter what it is to do some
sort of leadership, even if it'sleading yourself, and we have
to be willing to look at that.
So that encompasses leadership,having a sense of adventure.
(14:15):
And then there's thatresiliency that comes from
getting out there, falling downand getting back up, and falling
down and getting back up, it'sexercising those muscles.
So I love that courageous piece.
People usually resonate with it.
The fifth one, I have to tellyou, catherine, was really hard
(14:36):
for me to embrace and accept asmine.
But it's this idea of wisdom,right?
I mean this Proverbs 31 woman,she's wise, she gives counsel,
she's good at what she does.
And I noticed people werecoming into my office and
sitting down and talking.
On more than one occasion I'vehad people say you're a safe
(14:56):
place for me and understandingthat the experiences I've been
through are setting me up toshare the wisdom of even just
experience, or the wisdom thatGod has taught me Because, like
I said, I'm a Sunday schoolteacher being willing to say all
right, I'm okay to be wise.
I thought that was just for80-year-olds with curly purple
(15:17):
hair, but I'll do it.
But you've been around acertain number of times and that
gives us experience.
So I'm wise.
I want to understand what othersare going through.
I want to understand that whatwe receive on the surface is not
always it.
There's something underneath.
Many times it's a componentbeing careful with our words,
(15:40):
being really careful with how werespect others, don't demand,
only respect.
And then the last one isintentional, which kind of pulls
it all together.
It's like I don't do anythingwithout a purpose and I have a
plan and my intention is to grow, and so all those things
together make intentionaloptimism.
And so I just say that's theattitudes and mindsets, that I
(16:01):
live out my core values, mygoals, my dreams with excellence
with excellence, and that'sawesome.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
The simple fact that I myself I'm one of those ones
that's always trying to figuresomething out, and the fact that
God gave you the enlightenmentto come up with these six.
What are they called?
Again, tenders.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I call them tenets T-E-N-E-T-E-L Because we talk
about.
It's not a religious practice.
But a lot of times when Ilooked up what I wanted to call
them, are they principles?
No, principles we can take orleave.
Tenets are things that wepractice.
So if you look tenet up in thedictionary, it's basically it's
things that we practice.
So these are things that wewant to practice on a daily
(16:49):
basis.
So, like I said, it's theattitudes and mindsets.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I love it, I love it, and you have a podcast as well.
Right, I do.
What's the name of your?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
podcast again.
I changed the name of it inSeptember of 23 to Stand Tall
and Own it, and part of that wasbecause I realized I was
listening to other women'sstories and sharing them, which
was a real, it was a gift and itwas.
It was beautiful, but God wasteaching me so much and I had
learned so much and I had beenthrough some other things and it
(17:21):
was time to say you know what?
It's time to, just, like I said, be that wise, stand tall and
just own it right.
This is this is what I have tooffer, this is the way I do it
and, um, so it is targetedtowards women, but I have men
who listen.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I was.
I was actually just gettingready to ask you is it more
targeted toward women, or oryeah, Okay, that's awesome.
So, at the end of the day,you're really teaching um
practical leadership and what itreally means to be a leader.
Yes, Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yes, and outside of practicing, is there anything
else that are really becomestandards for leadership?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Sure, like I said, I'm a Maxwell Leadership Speaker
, trainer, coach, so a lot ofhis stuff I espouse to.
I love his stuff.
It's talk about practical andit's easy to understand.
But the first piece is that thefirst person we lead is
ourselves, and so I walk all ofmy clients through and I
actually have a digital courseand a hybrid coaching program,
(18:27):
this idea that we need tounderstand our core values,
which God has basically placedin us from the beginning.
These are not family and churchand these are not country,
family, freedom and whateverthose are.
I mean freedom might be, butthey're the things that are
inside us.
This is where our internalboundaries come.
This is everything that we'veever experienced, reacted to,
(18:48):
been happy about, been angryabout, has probably pushed on or
stepped on or celebrated a corevalue.
And there are things that arekind of our own non-negotiables.
Right, you have people that saydon't lie to me, right?
Or you know so honesty might beone of theirs.
For me, there are things likeautonomy of thought Don't tell
me how to think.
So I'm a very critical thinker.
(19:09):
I'm a natural deconstructionist.
When you give me something, I'mgoing to break it down and I'm
going to see, hmm, and then Imight put it back together.
I might say, well, I'm going tokeep that part, or, you know,
and that actually helps me in myBible study.
But the other pieces, the othertwo for me that are real
important so that people canunderstand what a core value
might be is.
The second one is authenticity.
(19:30):
So I'm always going to tell mystory, I'm always going to show
you the warts, I'm always goingto make sure that I am who I am
and I don't mean to, you know,take God's words there, but you
know it's just.
This is how he made me and Iwant to glorify him in all that
I do, but at the same time, Idon't need to be like somebody
else.
I get to be like me.
And then the third one I reallyit is so important to me and I
(19:53):
didn't realize it is belonging,making sure that we belong.
Right, I, catherine, want youto feel like when you're talking
to me, you belong in thisconversation.
I want you to feel like youbelong in the family of God or
in my church, or when you cometo my home or just even if we're
(20:14):
out, you know seeing each otherin the supermarket.
I want to make sure that,whatever space I create, because
I need that, I need to belongand I want to make sure I create
that for other people and thatopens you up to being.
You know, it's like we havethis open arm stance.
I tell people.
It's like when you do this withyour arms, you are leaving
yourself exposed, you're leavingall your vital organs exposed.
(20:37):
But when you open your armslike this, who do we normally
think of?
We normally think of Jesus withhis arms open, and so it's a
very, it's a defenseless stance,which means people feel very
safe and welcome.
And so when I work with peopleon their core values, I help
them understand what theirnon-negotiables are.
That's a, I mean, thatbelonging piece.
(20:58):
That's a non-negotiable for me.
When somebody, if I'm in asituation where people are
talking and excluding me fromthe conversation they may not
mean to, but like I notice it.
Right, right, right, and then Ihave to talk to myself every
once in a while.
They're not doing it on purpose, oh, okay, that's right, and
it's not always about you,andrea.
(21:19):
So understanding our core valuesgives us the ability to have
the authority that God gave eachand every one of us to respect
others, to live out all of thosetenets of intentional optimism
and set the boundaries that weneed.
You know, how many people doyou hear talk about?
I need to set some boundariesout here.
(21:39):
Y'all need to.
You know, stay up.
The boundaries that we need toset are in here, you know.
I mean there are somelegitimate boundaries outside of
ourselves, but most of them arein here.
Nobody comes walking in myfront door without knocking.
They know the door is shut.
That's a good boundary, right.
So this is some core stuff.
I hate to use that word, corebut this is some foundational
(22:02):
pieces that I work on withpeople, and because everybody's
a little different, I have likea.
Some people can just readinstructions and figure their
core values out.
And gosh, catherine, somepeople, some people just live in
, wanting to fit in.
I grew up allowing my corevalues to be pushed to the side
or tamped down or compromised ordishonored, and so it took me
(22:40):
some work to do that.
I mean, I've been working onthis.
I don't know if you can seethis, but are you familiar with
Franklin Covey?
No, like the Franklin Planner.
Okay, so that's also leadership, but this is back in the 90s.
I'm dating myself I'm 57, bythe way, and this was back in
like 93.
I went through Steve Covey'sbook Seven Habits of Highly
(23:00):
Effective People and one of thethings is figuring out your
governing values, and that wasthe start for me.
So I've been working on this along time and I believe it to my
core in my soul and I know I'vewatched how it really helps
people.
So those are some foundationalpieces that I think we just need
to recognize in ourselves.
It's good to have them and it'sgood to know them.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I just want you to know I love your spirit.
I love it because everythingthat you're saying I just 100%
can agree and attest that.
You know, I mean withoutboundaries.
If you don't set any boundaries, how will anybody know, even
yourself?
And so what you're saying, itjust completely makes sense.
(23:46):
And you know, sometimes, Ithink, we apologize for our
boundaries.
We will become apologetic forour core values and our
standards.
We will apologize to make otherpeople comfortable.
And what I'm hearing from youyou can correct me if I'm wrong
if you don't have these things,you will lose yourself and even
(24:10):
before you lose yourself, youwon't be able to find yourself
without it.
Is that what I'm hearing?
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, I think it's possible to live in a very
self-aware way without fullyunderstanding your core values.
But we might trip up, and Ilove that you brought up that we
apologize for these things.
I would say we apologize forthem because we have not owned
them and we don't have the.
We have not yet understood andkind of taken hold of the
(24:40):
authority that we have to ownthem.
And so we apologize forsomething that we're kind of
stepping on authority, right.
That's why we usually apologize.
So when we understand who weare and the authority that we
have, there's no need toapologize.
We're not defensive about themand, quite frankly, we're not
offensive about them.
I don't go out there tellingpeople well, y'all didn't make
(25:02):
me feel included, you know.
I mean, I'm not in third gradeanymore, I don't need to do that
.
But at the same time, like Isaid, I have the conversation in
myself, inside, and I givepeople the benefit of the doubt
because I want to make sure thatyou know who knows what's going
on with them, and sometimes myvision gets cloudy, all you know
.
And so for me being able to sayI have a conversation, to tell
(25:25):
myself it might not be you, itmight be something else, which
then opens my eyes to say, yeah,I don't even need to be
defensive about this, this isnot a boundary I need to have.
If somebody doesn't like myenergy, who wouldn't like my
energy?
If somebody doesn't like myenergy, I've had people tell me
I am too positive, which youknow.
They just haven't heard mecomplain or yell at my son, and
(25:48):
you know because they justhaven't been privy to that yet.
But that's okay, you know.
I mean, my place is not witheveryone and I have learned that
I can be truly authentic and Ican truly belong all by myself
with God, through Jesus, andthen in my husband and my family
(26:08):
.
So when people talk aboutneeding to set boundaries or
apologizing for boundaries, Ithink a lot of it is just being
able to understand when we havethe authority for those
boundaries.
We can then communicate them ina way that other people can
accept.
And it may be that at the verybeginning because it's when I
counsel people, when you start,when you get them don't go out
there telling people that theyneed to respect your boundaries,
(26:29):
just start setting them in away that is gracious and kind to
them.
And you right, because if youdraw a real hard line.
All of a sudden, people aregoing to be very confused and
it's going to be a situationwhere you need to apologize.
But I think I'm convincedthere's a way to do it without
having to do that, and I've doneit in my own life and I'm
(26:52):
watching my clients do the samething.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Oh, my, my, I mean it's good, it's really good
because you know for me and Ijust say this for me personally,
and I hope that it speaks tothe diamonds the same way you
know everything that you'resaying.
It really it's my language thatI don't oftentimes know how to
speak.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, yes, and I think that a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
People have that same language but they don't know
how to speak it the right way,where it can be perceived, the
way that you're trying to say it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
So you know, this is definitely a God appointed time
for me.
Anybody else you know for me?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Hey, and I just want to encourage you because you've
done a really good job askingspecific questions and helping
me to say what I want to say.
So, all y'all listening, if youhaven't, pause a minute and go
give her a five-star review andshe was apologizing that her
husband wasn't here today.
I don't know any reason to dothat now.
I haven't interviewed with himyet.
(27:58):
But give her a five-star reviewbecause she's asking very she's
on your side, right?
She's asking you questions thatare really going to help you
and I you know.
I wanted to share too that myfavorite Bible verse is
Ephesians 2.10, where Paul talksabout we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to dogood works that he ordained for
(28:19):
us long ago.
So, speaking to diamonds in therough, that's what we are, you
know.
So he has created you to be youand I just want to encourage
you to to step out and say Iwant to just show up as me,
because that's plenty goodenough.
And you know there are waysthat some of you may have grown
(28:40):
up in situations that havetalked you down more than my
situation did, and you know, inthe demographic, or in your
community or in your family, andyou know, I, I understand that,
but you still, no, I don'tunderstand all of it.
I can't say I understand all ofit.
I understand my part and I'mwilling to meet you where you
(29:01):
are.
Reach out to me and let me.
I mean, I'm actually I'm theone who answers all my emails,
you know, and, and my DMs andthat kind of thing.
So I think that, um, that,catherine, this is, I'm thrilled
.
I love it when, when we show upand it's the right thing for
the right time the right people,absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
And so, as we get ready to wrap up, um, what the
thing that I got out of thisoverall is that these core
values and these tenets, theyare meant for us on purpose, for
purpose.
So, whatever struggle you'refacing, whatever you know giant
(29:47):
is in front of you, with thesethings, you are able to overcome
it.
You're able to face it ifyou're intentional, if you got
the right perspective and ifyou're doing it unto God and you
know.
Miss Andrea, I just encourageyou to continue to go forth and
(30:07):
I say thank you.
So if you would final thoughtwhatever it is that you want the
people to take away thediamonds to take away from this
interview, please share that now.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
You're worth it.
Every one of you has beencreated in God's image, with his
fingerprints all over you, andyou are unique and you are
different, and yet we are allthe same in the sense that we
all are created with specificcore values, with specific
things and ways that wecommunicate patterns.
So do not underestimate thevalue that comes from knowing
(30:45):
who God created you to be.
I think that's the mostimportant thing from knowing who
God created you to be.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I think that's the most important thing.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Hallelujah, amen Would you close us out with
prayer, Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
Sure Father, God, what aprivilege it is to speak these
beautiful words to yourbeautiful creations, that we
might be able to encourage eachother to grow in you and to
learn who you have created themto be, so that they can each
show up as the workmanship thatyou designed them to be.
(31:13):
I ask, Lord, that you wouldtake these words and plant them
in their hearts and give them acuriosity and a courage to grow
not just in who they are but inyou, that they might be able to
reflect your beauty to the worldaround them and others would
say what is it about you that'sdifferent?
And they might be able to sharethe world around them that
others would say what is itabout you that's different?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
And they might be able to share.
In Jesus name, we pray Amen,amen, amen.
Thank you again, andrea, forbeing here.
We certainly do appreciate yourpresence.
It was definitely a pleasure.
Yes, it was.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Mine too.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
All right, all right, diam right, diamonds.
Y'all know what time it is.
Until the next time, rememberthat you are a diamond in the
rough.
Amen from us to you so muchlove and prayer.
Hopefully we'll see you thenext time.
Blessings and love, amen, amen.
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