August 14, 2025 • 27 mins
Ever caught yourself running full speed with a God-given vision, only to realize you've left God behind in the planning process? That's exactly where I found myself with Grace to Lead, and this raw, unfiltered episode pulls back the curtain on my personal struggle with spiritual obedience in leadership.
When God first gave me the vision for Grace to Lead, He provided clear initial steps: start a podcast and write a book. I followed through faithfully, and both initiatives began bearing fruit. That's when something subtle happened – success made me believe in my own abilities more than God's continued guidance. I joined mastermind groups, implemented marketing strategies, and created elaborate growth plans without once returning to ask, "God, what's next?" I was still praying, but my prayers had shifted from seeking direction to merely asking for blessings on plans I'd already made.
The dangerous part? This form of disobedience doesn't look like rebellion – it looks like initiative, enthusiasm, and good stewardship. I was working hard, investing resources, and pursuing growth, but I had substituted worldly business tactics for divine strategy. Despite all my efforts, I felt frustrated that results weren't matching the vision God had originally shown me. The disconnect wasn't in my work ethic but in my failure to continue seeking specific direction.
For leaders carrying God-given assignments, this serves as a crucial reminder: our obedience isn't just personal – it demonstrates a lifestyle of faith to everyone under our influence. When we get ahead of God's timing or substitute our plans for His, we model self-reliance rather than God-dependence. If you're feeling stuck with a vision that once seemed crystal clear, perhaps it's time to pause and honestly assess: are you still following God's specific instructions, or have you veered into implementing your own strategy?
Take a moment this week to surrender your plans back to God and ask Him if you've gotten off track. Remember, it's not about doing less – it's about doing exactly what He's called you to do, nothing more and nothing less.
Mentioned during the show:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Belinda Gaston (00:00):
Listen, today's episode is all about my big mess
up with Graced to Lead, and I'mtelling you it's a mess up
right now I am.
I've talked about this, but Ihad a God idea with Graced to
Lead and I think it's been goingwell, but the reality, the
truth of it is, is that Ihaven't been fully obedient.
(00:21):
I'm a little ahead of God herehere and I'm doing all these
things and not getting theresults that I thought, and I
know for a fact it's because I'mnot doing what God said to do.
So we're going to talk aboutthat today and if you want to
keep hearing more, keeplistening, let's get into it.
Welcome to the Graced to leadpodcast.
(00:56):
I am belinda gaston, your host,and listen.
Today I'm going to talk to youabout my big mess up, right, and
so listen.
If you have been followingGraced to Lead, you know that
Graced to Lead is a God vision,it's a God idea, and so I have
been in a place where I heardGod gave me this vision of
Graced to Lead and I thought,okay, I now have this vision.
(01:18):
I wrote the vision down.
I wrote down what thecomponents were of Graced to
Lead Graced to Lead the podcastand what the components were of
Graced to Lead Graced to Lead,the podcast and all the other
components of Graced to Lead.
And then I did what every goodChristian leader would do, right
, I prayed about it.
I prayed over it.
God is this?
You Am I hearing this correctly?
I got clarity.
(01:40):
I clearly heard God say startthe podcast, which I did.
And then, about a year later, Iheard God say OK, finish the
book, which I did.
So Graced to Lead podcast wasborn.
We're in season two, we'reactually preparing for season
three.
And then I wrote and got thebook published, equipped by God.
Graced to Lead.
That's all great, right.
(02:01):
And listen, as I was prayingabout this thing, god even sent
some people, some men and womenof God, to confirm what he said.
And that always happens.
I don't know if you heardsomething from God, or you feel
like something's from God, andthen you find yourself, maybe in
a grocery store.
Some stranger comes up and saysI don't know if this means
(02:22):
anything to you, but you knowGod says or I don't know why I'm
drawing to tell you this, butyou should do X, y and Z, and
that's how God works.
He does send us confirmation ofhis word.
And so I had the vision, I hadthe confirmation, I had the
steps, and so I did it.
That was great.
I did it and, as a result ofthat, I had some success.
(02:45):
The podcast began to grow and Iwas really excited about that.
People were giving me greatfeedback from the podcast.
I was excited about that.
And then a few months ago, thebook came out and now I'm
hearing from people who finallyread it.
It's a short read, but it'sreally taking people a minute to
get through it because of thecontent, but I'm getting some
great feedback from the book.
(03:06):
It's like, yeah, this is great.
And so I had the success and Iwent back to the vision and I
remember that oh wait, god saidthat there was these other
components.
Right, there is going to be allthese other pieces to Graced to
lead.
And so what did I do?
As the smart leader I am, Icreated a strategy.
(03:27):
I created an implementationstrategy and a business plan for
how to grow Graced to Lead fromwhat it is to what God had
shown me in the vision.
There's nothing wrong with thatright.
I started joining groups of howto grow your podcast numbers
and how to monetize your podcastand I went to.
(03:47):
I joined leadership circlesbecause, listen, we are in
community, right, leaders aresupposed to be in community,
we've talked about that.
But I joined groups where youknow, grow your coaching
business, do this, do that, allthese things right.
But here's where I messed up.
Not once in this process did Igo back to God and say God, what
(04:08):
would you have me to do next?
Remember, god gave me thevision, but he only gave me two
steps Start the podcast andwrite the book.
Those were the only twoinstructions I had.
Those were the only twoinstructions I had.
And so, once I did that, what Ishould have done was gone back
(04:28):
to God and said, ok, I've donethese two things, they're up and
running.
I'm continuing to podcastbecause God hasn't said to stop.
What should I do next?
That is not what I did, y'all.
What I did was I built this plan, I got strategy.
I even went to God.
Listen, I went to God not forstrategy, I went to God for help
(04:50):
.
Lord, send me the people tohelp me with this vision.
And what did he do?
He sent me a couple peopleShout out to Mill and Kamari.
Kamari owns Chatty Hosting.
He helps with the website.
Mill is an amazing businessimplementation strategist, helps
with social media andnewsletter, all kinds of things.
So I had the help.
(05:11):
I went and prayed for the help,but I didn't pray for what was
next.
And God is so gracious with us.
God was so gracious to send methe people to help me, right,
but I never asked what was nextand so I messed up.
And so here's where I foundmyself.
Recently.
I found myself looking at whatI think is a beautiful social
(05:36):
media feed, thanks to my help, awonderful website, again thanks
to my help, all of these thingsthat I've put in place.
Thinking, well, why isn't thisaligning with the vision that
God gave me?
Well, the reason it's notaligning with the vision that
God gave me is because I didn'task God for the next steps.
(06:00):
I took God's vision, did theone or two things right that he
told me to do, and then I put myown strategy and my own
implementation and my ownplanning behind what he gave.
That does not work.
If God gives you a God idea,god gives you a God vision, then
(06:21):
God has the implementation, godhas the strategy behind it,
because God is responsible forthe success.
But I got caught up In real talk.
Let me tell you some of theways, some of the reasons I
think I got caught up.
One is I was excited.
I was excited because what Godsaid to do was actually working.
(06:42):
Isn't that funny?
I mean, god said to do wasactually working Isn't that
funny?
I mean, if we believe what Godtells us to do, why are we
surprised, when we do it, thatit works out?
That's the craziest thing.
But I was excited and so in myexcitement and my enthusiasm, I
began to lean on myself and myskills and my abilities and my
know-how and the people that Iknow to make things happen.
(07:05):
The other thing is I started tobelieve my own hype.
Y'all People would come up andsay, oh my goodness, I love
Graced to Lead, I'm so proud ofyou, and you start to believe
your own hype.
Listen, it's not me, it's theLord.
And even if only 10 people wereto have listened to the Graced
to Lead podcast, if those 10people were impacted in some way
(07:27):
, then that's the purpose,that's the job done.
I honestly don't know why God isdoing what he's doing through
me with the Graced to Lead, butI know what the vision said, and
so that would be.
So I started to believe my ownself, and we have to be careful
with that, especially as leaders.
Leave my own self, and we haveto be careful with that,
especially as leaders.
If you are a leader and you areleading well, that means that
(07:48):
you're going to have a certainlevel of success, and it's
really easy, when you have thatlevel of success, to begin to
believe your own hype, to thinkthat you're doing stuff on your
own.
It's easy to do that.
We have to be careful,especially as leaders of faith,
to remember that it's our faiththat helped us get to where we
(08:09):
are right.
We didn't get there byourselves.
We didn't create those winningteams or that winning business
or that winning strategy orwinning project by ourselves.
It's our faith that carried usto.
It's the Graced of God to getthose things done, and so
carried us to.
It's the Graced of God to getthose things done.
And so I got excited.
I started believing my own hype, and then the other thing that
(08:30):
I started doing is I startedimplementing other people's
strategies.
Listen, there are somesuccessful people out there,
some of whom I call friend, someof whom I call colleague that
are doing amazing things Ifsomething works for you know,
joanne, it doesn't mean thatit's meant for me to go that
same path, but it's so easy tosay, okay, well, joanne did X, y
(08:54):
and Z and she got these results.
And Bob did X, y and Z and hegot these results, and so I'm
just going to apply theirstrategies and it's going to
work for me.
And that may not be what Godhad intended, but you can find
yourself caught up in the lateststrategy and it's so easy to
(09:15):
find somebody's class coursecoaching program to help you get
from point A to point B.
And I strongly y'all knowbecause of my guests I strongly
believe that people need coaches.
I strongly believe that ifpeople have expertise, they can
help you get through what you'regoing through because of their
(09:36):
expertise.
I believe in systems, I believein best practices.
I believe in all of thosethings.
What I'm saying is that whenyou have a God idea, then God
gives you the strategy and canpoint you to the right systems,
the right coaches, the rightprograms.
(09:56):
And if you're not focused onthat, what begins to happen is
you just go from group to group,from program to program, from
coach to coach, and you neverend up getting to the successful
vision that God gave you in thestart.
And so I found myself in lots ofgroups with lots of masterminds
(10:21):
and group programs and fourweeks to this and all of that
and all it did I mean again, theinformation was great and sound
, but I never asked God which ofthese should I be connected to.
And the funny thing is Ihaven't done this with Graced to
Lead, but I do this in my lifeall the time.
(10:42):
God, who should I be connectedto God?
What's this person'srelationship with me?
Are they a friend?
Are they a colleague?
Is this someone that I shouldconnect with?
Is this an assignment for me?
I do that in almost every otheraspect of my life, but when it
came to Graced to Lead real talkwhen it came to Graced to lead,
(11:03):
which was God's idea in thefirst place, I found myself not
even consulting him, not evenasking.
I was praying.
So let me talk about this for asecond.
So when I say consulting, Imean asking God what should I do
(11:26):
?
And waiting for God to give mean answer.
I was praying for success ofGraced to Lead.
I believe in prayer.
I pray often, every day, I praymultiple times a day.
I'm in communication with Godall the time, but I never asked
God about Graced to Lead.
What I said was Lord, help thisepisode make a difference.
(11:48):
Lord, help my podcast reachmore people.
God, help me get new coachingclients.
Like all of these things weretied to Graced to lead, but it
wasn't tied to the steps.
I wasn't seeking direction fromGod.
I was seeking a give me.
God, give me this, god, give methat, give me, give me, give me
(12:08):
, give me, give me, give me.
Thank you, lord, because I'mGraced to lead.
It sounds ridiculous evensaying this, right, but I'm
being transparent because I'mhoping that this will help
somebody and because God told meto say it.
God said this was the episode.
This is what you're going to do.
I even did a live about this onFacebook and YouTube, because
that's what God said, and Idon't like to be live.
(12:30):
I don't mind talking behind thecamera, but I definitely don't.
I mean talking behind amicrophone, but I definitely
don't want to be in front of thecamera, but what happened is it
was a give.
It was give me prayers, lord,give me this, give me that.
Or it was give me or don't letlet me.
God, don't let me fail.
God don't let this happen.
God don't let that happen.
(12:51):
Not once did I say God, what doyou want from me today?
Again, as it related to Gracedto lead, I would do that in my
everyday, though.
This is how wild and how subtleit is to become disobedient to
God.
It is so subtle If I had toteach something like, let's say,
(13:15):
bible study or something likethat.
I pray God.
What would you like me to sayIf I am encountering someone and
God has put someone on my heartto pray God?
What would you like me to prayIf I, when I wake up on a
Saturday morning and I'm likeI've got a lot of things on my
list to do, god, what would youhave me do today?
(13:36):
So this was not like I wasunfamiliar with seeking
direction from God, but when itcame to Graced Delete, because
of the success and because ofthe vision, I easily felt out of
the habit of giving it all backto God continuously, and so I
(13:57):
fell into the trap.
I messed up.
And the last thing iscomparison.
Again, we talked aboutcomparison on this show, but I
had.
There were people, there areother people doing podcasts.
There are other coaches.
There are other ministries.
There are other leadershipgurus.
I have friends in my circle whohave PhDs in some form of
(14:17):
leadership right, phds inleadership.
And it's really easy to saywell, we have similar audiences.
I'm talking to women who lead,they're talking to women who
lead, or they're talking togroups of leaders and so I
should be doing what they'redoing.
No, that's not what God said.
I messed up y'all with thishere Graced to lead, and so now
(14:40):
I'm correcting it right, and I'msharing it, because you may
have found yourself with a Godidea.
You may have a vision or an ideafrom God where you know for
sure you're supposed to write abook, or you know for sure
you're supposed to start abusiness.
You know for sure that you aregoing to get a specific role at
(15:02):
work, you're gonna be promotedand you have seen yourself doing
it.
You know that you're supposedto start that organization.
You know you're supposed to bespeaking or writing or teaching
or whatever it is, because Godput that in your heart, and God
may have even said this is howyou start You're going to go
back to school, or you're goingto start writing a book, or
you're going to start going tothis course, or you're going to
(15:25):
start going to these meetings oryou're going to attach yourself
to this particular group.
You may have had that and you'vetaken the first step, and then
you get a little bit of success,because God rewards obedience.
Obedience is worship unto theLord, and when you worship God,
god is pleased.
And so then that thing beginsto happen.
And then you're like, okay,let's go, and you're doing all
(15:47):
the things I mean all the thingsand you're frustrated because
it's not matching up with thevision.
And I'm here to say thatperhaps it's because you didn't
get direction from God andsomehow you've managed to find
yourself, like I did, ahead ofGod.
And again, it's not like it'snot sound strategy that you're
(16:12):
doing.
It's not that the things thatyou're doing is wrong, it's just
not what God told you to do.
And so that's where I findmyself in this very moment.
I am going through this as I amrecording this.
So now I have to change.
So the first thing I did was Iwent to God and I repented, and
that's what I tell you is.
One of the first steps is justrepenting to God.
(16:33):
Listen, god, I'm sorry.
I messed up.
I took you out of my plans.
These are not.
So that's the thing I had tosurrender my plans to God.
It's not my plans, it's God'splan, and if I trust God as a
leader, I follow his plan,because as I follow his plan, it
(16:53):
helps those who follow me, whoI have influence over, to also
follow God.
As a leader, your obedience toGod is not just about you being
obedient to God.
You are demonstrating to thosewho you have influence over as a
leader a lifestyle of faith.
And so I repented, I prayed andGod told me stop.
(17:17):
And so then I had to say, ohboy, you mean I, I have this
help, but I've got to tell themall of their hard work.
They've got to just pause for aminute.
How is that going to go over?
I sent the email to them sayingthis is what we're going to do,
and I didn't go into a lot ofdetail and they were like oh,
(17:40):
okay, so that's the other thing.
We think that when we want toget back on track, like the
whole world's going to endbecause we're going to stop
doing all these things, and whenyou stop doing all the things,
it's going to be devastating.
But it's not.
I still have a podcast episodethis week, but it's not.
I still have a podcast episodethis week.
(18:06):
The team understood.
So I repented, I prayed to God,like, okay, lord, what would
you have me to do?
And then I began to listen.
And so that's what I'm doingright now listening for
instruction.
And for me to listen, I had todedicate time specifically for
this, so not just any of myprayer time.
(18:27):
Remember, I told you, I praythroughout the day.
I have dedicated time with Godin the morning, but I had to set
time aside just to pray and tolisten about Graced, to lead
specifically, and so that's whatI've been doing.
And then I had to silence someof the other things.
So, remember all those groupsand things I had, I had to
(18:47):
remove myself.
I had to silence them.
I can't be a part of all thatwhile God is trying to download
strategy.
For me, that meant I had topause some subscriptions, right,
I had to get out of the chats.
And then I began to do what Iheard, and the first thing that
I heard this week was to do thispodcast episode.
(19:09):
And the second thing I heardwas to go live on social media
and share.
And so the podcast episode iseasy, because that's what I do
every week, right, but socialmedia live is not something I'm
excited about, but I did it Now.
(19:30):
If you were to ask me right nowOK, what's next, I will tell you
that in this very moment I haveno idea, and so that's the
other part of this is, you'relistening for instructions,
you're doing what you're told,but also you have to be
comfortable in the wait.
If God tells me not to doanything else for the next three
(19:52):
days, I have to be comfortablewith that.
Even though I've got a postingschedule for Instagram and I've
got content that I can put outfor my website, unless God says
it, I can't do it.
The one thing that I do havepermission to keep putting on my
website right now and updatingis the blog posts, so those will
(20:16):
be updated, but I have to becomfortable waiting.
Oh my gosh, and it's not easy,let me tell you, because I want
to do stuff right now, because Ican see it, I can see the
vision, but my waiting tells GodI trust you, and so the other
thing that I have to do while Iwait is ask God also is there
(20:40):
anything I should be doing whileI wait For me?
What I know for sure is that Ishould continue to pray and to
continue my Bible study andcontinue making the podcast
episodes for season two.
I only have one more episodefor season two and then the rest
(21:02):
is going to be preparing forseason three, and I know that
he's already given me thoseguests, because that that's
something that hasn't stopped,and so I'll focus on what I know
that he told me to do.
The last thing I'll share withyou is that in my prayer time,
as I took this pause and I didthe things right, I contacted
(21:24):
the team, I did the live, I didthis recording.
Right now got brought back to mymemory three names of people.
These are not podcast guests.
These are people I'm going toreach out to and connect with.
Do I know what I'm going to sayto these people when I reach
out?
You know one of them I knowwell and we've talked about
(21:44):
getting together so that one's alittle bit easier.
The other people I don't reallyknow well.
I mean, I think we know of eachother but we don't know each
other well.
But God said to reach out andso I will.
What am I going to say?
I have no idea.
I might look strange.
(22:06):
They might think what in theworld, they may even talk about
me.
But I have to be obedient and Itrust that as we speak, god
will reveal.
If he doesn't reveal before, Imake the contact right, so I
have to be comfortable in thewait.
I make the contact right, so Ihave to be comfortable in the
wait.
But I also have to becomfortable doing things that
(22:35):
don't seem like what thestrategy is of the world.
Calling somebody you don't knowBecause God told you to.
It is not really in thebusiness books, is not in the
how to grow your podcast books,how to grow your coaching
business book, how to getspeaking engagements book.
It's just not.
But it's what God said for meto do, and so I just want to
(22:58):
encourage you if you're in thisspot, because, listen, I'm
transparent.
I just want to encourage you ifyou're in this spot because,
listen, I'm transparent, that'sall.
If you've read my book or ifyou've listened to these
episodes or you've even heard meteach or minister, you know
that transparency, that's what Ido.
But if you are in a place whereperhaps you are feeling
discouraged or you're feelingfrustrated, or you have a God
idea or a God vision and youstarted it and it's like well,
(23:20):
it's not looking like what Godsaid.
I encourage you this week topray to God and say am I doing
what you told me to do?
Have I gotten off track?
Have I mixed my own plans inwith your plans for me?
I would encourage you to dosome assessment Am I doing what
(23:45):
God told me to do?
And listen, I feel this one, soI'm just going to go ahead and
say it.
Some of us in ministry are evenin roles and positions where God
didn't tell us to be there.
God may have said this is whatyou're doing in this particular
season, and then he's waiting togive you more instruction, but
(24:06):
you're all in doing this thingand you're out of sync, out of
position.
Every aspect of our lives isguided by God If we are
believers, by God, if we arebelievers, and so I encourage
you to assess am I doingsomething I wasn't even supposed
(24:30):
to be doing?
Maybe that's part of yourstress, maybe that's part of
your frustration.
Maybe you can free yourselffrom the tension, the stress,
the frustration, whatever it is,by simply getting back in
alignment with what God told youto do, so what to expect from
Graced, to Lead, going forward,whatever God says Graced to Lead
(24:54):
will do.
The podcast is continuing.
We will finish up season twoshortly.
I'm already planning for seasonthree and already getting those
invitations out for speakers,so I know that will happen.
But however else you hear fromme, or whatever else I do, it's
totally up to God and Iencourage you to do the same.
(25:19):
So that's all I have this weekand I encourage you to do the
same.
So that's all I have this week.
If you found that you related tothis and you go through this
assessment, I'd love to hearabout it.
You can, if you're listening onBuzzsprout, you can actually
text me and I'll get it.
You can text me directlythrough the, send a text message
and just let me know you cancontact me.
(25:40):
You can go to my website,belindagastoncom, and you can
contact me there.
There is a contact form whereyou can get information on how
to contact me, but I'd love tohear it.
If you are listening to thisvia YouTube, you can actually
put the comments in the commentbox and if you do respond, I
(26:05):
always particularly if you dothe text feature I always
respond back and for some of youI'm still praying those of you
who've reached out.
I'm still praying for you, Istill intercede for you.
I am an intercessor, so I wantto encourage you to take a
moment to pause.
It's not the end of the year,so you still have time, but
everything happens in God'stiming, but everything happens
in God's timing.
So that is the show for today.
As always, I appreciate youlistening.
(26:29):
I don't take your listening,your subscribing, your sharing
for granted.
I appreciate that more than youknow For those of you who are
new welcome and for those of youwho are returning.
I appreciate you and until wetalk again, remember you are
indeed Graced to lead Bye-bye.
Listen, today's episode is all about my big mess
up with Graced to Lead, and I'mtelling you it's a mess up
right now I am.
I've talked about this, but Ihad a God idea with Graced to
Lead and I think it's been goingwell, but the reality, the
truth of it is, is that Ihaven't been fully obedient.
(00:21):
I'm a little ahead of God herehere and I'm doing all these
things and not getting theresults that I thought, and I
know for a fact it's because I'mnot doing what God said to do.
So we're going to talk aboutthat today and if you want to
keep hearing more, keeplistening, let's get into it.
Welcome to the Graced to leadpodcast.
(00:56):
I am belinda gaston, your host,and listen.
Today I'm going to talk to youabout my big mess up, right, and
so listen.
If you have been followingGraced to Lead, you know that
Graced to Lead is a God vision,it's a God idea, and so I have
been in a place where I heardGod gave me this vision of
Graced to Lead and I thought,okay, I now have this vision.
(01:18):
I wrote the vision down.
I wrote down what thecomponents were of Graced to
Lead Graced to Lead the podcastand what the components were of
Graced to Lead Graced to Lead,the podcast and all the other
components of Graced to Lead.
And then I did what every goodChristian leader would do, right
, I prayed about it.
I prayed over it.
God is this?
You Am I hearing this correctly?
I got clarity.
(01:40):
I clearly heard God say startthe podcast, which I did.
And then, about a year later, Iheard God say OK, finish the
book, which I did.
So Graced to Lead podcast wasborn.
We're in season two, we'reactually preparing for season
three.
And then I wrote and got thebook published, equipped by God.
Graced to Lead.
That's all great, right.
(02:01):
And listen, as I was prayingabout this thing, god even sent
some people, some men and womenof God, to confirm what he said.
And that always happens.
I don't know if you heardsomething from God, or you feel
like something's from God, andthen you find yourself, maybe in
a grocery store.
Some stranger comes up and saysI don't know if this means
(02:22):
anything to you, but you knowGod says or I don't know why I'm
drawing to tell you this, butyou should do X, y and Z, and
that's how God works.
He does send us confirmation ofhis word.
And so I had the vision, I hadthe confirmation, I had the
steps, and so I did it.
That was great.
I did it and, as a result ofthat, I had some success.
(02:45):
The podcast began to grow and Iwas really excited about that.
People were giving me greatfeedback from the podcast.
I was excited about that.
And then a few months ago, thebook came out and now I'm
hearing from people who finallyread it.
It's a short read, but it'sreally taking people a minute to
get through it because of thecontent, but I'm getting some
great feedback from the book.
(03:06):
It's like, yeah, this is great.
And so I had the success and Iwent back to the vision and I
remember that oh wait, god saidthat there was these other
components.
Right, there is going to be allthese other pieces to Graced to
lead.
And so what did I do?
As the smart leader I am, Icreated a strategy.
(03:27):
I created an implementationstrategy and a business plan for
how to grow Graced to Lead fromwhat it is to what God had
shown me in the vision.
There's nothing wrong with thatright.
I started joining groups of howto grow your podcast numbers
and how to monetize your podcastand I went to.
(03:47):
I joined leadership circlesbecause, listen, we are in
community, right, leaders aresupposed to be in community,
we've talked about that.
But I joined groups where youknow, grow your coaching
business, do this, do that, allthese things right.
But here's where I messed up.
Not once in this process did Igo back to God and say God, what
(04:08):
would you have me to do next?
Remember, god gave me thevision, but he only gave me two
steps Start the podcast andwrite the book.
Those were the only twoinstructions I had.
Those were the only twoinstructions I had.
And so, once I did that, what Ishould have done was gone back
(04:28):
to God and said, ok, I've donethese two things, they're up and
running.
I'm continuing to podcastbecause God hasn't said to stop.
What should I do next?
That is not what I did, y'all.
What I did was I built this plan, I got strategy.
I even went to God.
Listen, I went to God not forstrategy, I went to God for help
(04:50):
.
Lord, send me the people tohelp me with this vision.
And what did he do?
He sent me a couple peopleShout out to Mill and Kamari.
Kamari owns Chatty Hosting.
He helps with the website.
Mill is an amazing businessimplementation strategist, helps
with social media andnewsletter, all kinds of things.
So I had the help.
(05:11):
I went and prayed for the help,but I didn't pray for what was
next.
And God is so gracious with us.
God was so gracious to send methe people to help me, right,
but I never asked what was nextand so I messed up.
And so here's where I foundmyself.
Recently.
I found myself looking at whatI think is a beautiful social
(05:36):
media feed, thanks to my help, awonderful website, again thanks
to my help, all of these thingsthat I've put in place.
Thinking, well, why isn't thisaligning with the vision that
God gave me?
Well, the reason it's notaligning with the vision that
God gave me is because I didn'task God for the next steps.
(06:00):
I took God's vision, did theone or two things right that he
told me to do, and then I put myown strategy and my own
implementation and my ownplanning behind what he gave.
That does not work.
If God gives you a God idea,god gives you a God vision, then
(06:21):
God has the implementation, godhas the strategy behind it,
because God is responsible forthe success.
But I got caught up In real talk.
Let me tell you some of theways, some of the reasons I
think I got caught up.
One is I was excited.
I was excited because what Godsaid to do was actually working.
(06:42):
Isn't that funny?
I mean, god said to do wasactually working Isn't that
funny?
I mean, if we believe what Godtells us to do, why are we
surprised, when we do it, thatit works out?
That's the craziest thing.
But I was excited and so in myexcitement and my enthusiasm, I
began to lean on myself and myskills and my abilities and my
know-how and the people that Iknow to make things happen.
(07:05):
The other thing is I started tobelieve my own hype.
Y'all People would come up andsay, oh my goodness, I love
Graced to Lead, I'm so proud ofyou, and you start to believe
your own hype.
Listen, it's not me, it's theLord.
And even if only 10 people wereto have listened to the Graced
to Lead podcast, if those 10people were impacted in some way
(07:27):
, then that's the purpose,that's the job done.
I honestly don't know why God isdoing what he's doing through
me with the Graced to Lead, butI know what the vision said, and
so that would be.
So I started to believe my ownself, and we have to be careful
with that, especially as leaders.
Leave my own self, and we haveto be careful with that,
especially as leaders.
If you are a leader and you areleading well, that means that
(07:48):
you're going to have a certainlevel of success, and it's
really easy, when you have thatlevel of success, to begin to
believe your own hype, to thinkthat you're doing stuff on your
own.
It's easy to do that.
We have to be careful,especially as leaders of faith,
to remember that it's our faiththat helped us get to where we
(08:09):
are right.
We didn't get there byourselves.
We didn't create those winningteams or that winning business
or that winning strategy orwinning project by ourselves.
It's our faith that carried usto.
It's the Graced of God to getthose things done, and so
carried us to.
It's the Graced of God to getthose things done.
And so I got excited.
I started believing my own hype, and then the other thing that
(08:30):
I started doing is I startedimplementing other people's
strategies.
Listen, there are somesuccessful people out there,
some of whom I call friend, someof whom I call colleague that
are doing amazing things Ifsomething works for you know,
joanne, it doesn't mean thatit's meant for me to go that
same path, but it's so easy tosay, okay, well, joanne did X, y
(08:54):
and Z and she got these results.
And Bob did X, y and Z and hegot these results, and so I'm
just going to apply theirstrategies and it's going to
work for me.
And that may not be what Godhad intended, but you can find
yourself caught up in the lateststrategy and it's so easy to
(09:15):
find somebody's class coursecoaching program to help you get
from point A to point B.
And I strongly y'all knowbecause of my guests I strongly
believe that people need coaches.
I strongly believe that ifpeople have expertise, they can
help you get through what you'regoing through because of their
(09:36):
expertise.
I believe in systems, I believein best practices.
I believe in all of thosethings.
What I'm saying is that whenyou have a God idea, then God
gives you the strategy and canpoint you to the right systems,
the right coaches, the rightprograms.
(09:56):
And if you're not focused onthat, what begins to happen is
you just go from group to group,from program to program, from
coach to coach, and you neverend up getting to the successful
vision that God gave you in thestart.
And so I found myself in lots ofgroups with lots of masterminds
(10:21):
and group programs and fourweeks to this and all of that
and all it did I mean again, theinformation was great and sound
, but I never asked God which ofthese should I be connected to.
And the funny thing is Ihaven't done this with Graced to
Lead, but I do this in my lifeall the time.
(10:42):
God, who should I be connectedto God?
What's this person'srelationship with me?
Are they a friend?
Are they a colleague?
Is this someone that I shouldconnect with?
Is this an assignment for me?
I do that in almost every otheraspect of my life, but when it
came to Graced to Lead real talkwhen it came to Graced to lead,
(11:03):
which was God's idea in thefirst place, I found myself not
even consulting him, not evenasking.
I was praying.
So let me talk about this for asecond.
So when I say consulting, Imean asking God what should I do
(11:26):
?
And waiting for God to give mean answer.
I was praying for success ofGraced to Lead.
I believe in prayer.
I pray often, every day, I praymultiple times a day.
I'm in communication with Godall the time, but I never asked
God about Graced to Lead.
What I said was Lord, help thisepisode make a difference.
(11:48):
Lord, help my podcast reachmore people.
God, help me get new coachingclients.
Like all of these things weretied to Graced to lead, but it
wasn't tied to the steps.
I wasn't seeking direction fromGod.
I was seeking a give me.
God, give me this, god, give methat, give me, give me, give me
(12:08):
, give me, give me, give me.
Thank you, lord, because I'mGraced to lead.
It sounds ridiculous evensaying this, right, but I'm
being transparent because I'mhoping that this will help
somebody and because God told meto say it.
God said this was the episode.
This is what you're going to do.
I even did a live about this onFacebook and YouTube, because
that's what God said, and Idon't like to be live.
(12:30):
I don't mind talking behind thecamera, but I definitely don't.
I mean talking behind amicrophone, but I definitely
don't want to be in front of thecamera, but what happened is it
was a give.
It was give me prayers, lord,give me this, give me that.
Or it was give me or don't letlet me.
God, don't let me fail.
God don't let this happen.
God don't let that happen.
(12:51):
Not once did I say God, what doyou want from me today?
Again, as it related to Gracedto lead, I would do that in my
everyday, though.
This is how wild and how subtleit is to become disobedient to
God.
It is so subtle If I had toteach something like, let's say,
(13:15):
bible study or something likethat.
I pray God.
What would you like me to sayIf I am encountering someone and
God has put someone on my heartto pray God?
What would you like me to prayIf I, when I wake up on a
Saturday morning and I'm likeI've got a lot of things on my
list to do, god, what would youhave me do today?
(13:36):
So this was not like I wasunfamiliar with seeking
direction from God, but when itcame to Graced Delete, because
of the success and because ofthe vision, I easily felt out of
the habit of giving it all backto God continuously, and so I
(13:57):
fell into the trap.
I messed up.
And the last thing iscomparison.
Again, we talked aboutcomparison on this show, but I
had.
There were people, there areother people doing podcasts.
There are other coaches.
There are other ministries.
There are other leadershipgurus.
I have friends in my circle whohave PhDs in some form of
(14:17):
leadership right, phds inleadership.
And it's really easy to saywell, we have similar audiences.
I'm talking to women who lead,they're talking to women who
lead, or they're talking togroups of leaders and so I
should be doing what they'redoing.
No, that's not what God said.
I messed up y'all with thishere Graced to lead, and so now
(14:40):
I'm correcting it right, and I'msharing it, because you may
have found yourself with a Godidea.
You may have a vision or an ideafrom God where you know for
sure you're supposed to write abook, or you know for sure
you're supposed to start abusiness.
You know for sure that you aregoing to get a specific role at
(15:02):
work, you're gonna be promotedand you have seen yourself doing
it.
You know that you're supposedto start that organization.
You know you're supposed to bespeaking or writing or teaching
or whatever it is, because Godput that in your heart, and God
may have even said this is howyou start You're going to go
back to school, or you're goingto start writing a book, or
you're going to start going tothis course, or you're going to
(15:25):
start going to these meetings oryou're going to attach yourself
to this particular group.
You may have had that and you'vetaken the first step, and then
you get a little bit of success,because God rewards obedience.
Obedience is worship unto theLord, and when you worship God,
god is pleased.
And so then that thing beginsto happen.
And then you're like, okay,let's go, and you're doing all
(15:47):
the things I mean all the thingsand you're frustrated because
it's not matching up with thevision.
And I'm here to say thatperhaps it's because you didn't
get direction from God andsomehow you've managed to find
yourself, like I did, ahead ofGod.
And again, it's not like it'snot sound strategy that you're
(16:12):
doing.
It's not that the things thatyou're doing is wrong, it's just
not what God told you to do.
And so that's where I findmyself in this very moment.
I am going through this as I amrecording this.
So now I have to change.
So the first thing I did was Iwent to God and I repented, and
that's what I tell you is.
One of the first steps is justrepenting to God.
(16:33):
Listen, god, I'm sorry.
I messed up.
I took you out of my plans.
These are not.
So that's the thing I had tosurrender my plans to God.
It's not my plans, it's God'splan, and if I trust God as a
leader, I follow his plan,because as I follow his plan, it
(16:53):
helps those who follow me, whoI have influence over, to also
follow God.
As a leader, your obedience toGod is not just about you being
obedient to God.
You are demonstrating to thosewho you have influence over as a
leader a lifestyle of faith.
And so I repented, I prayed andGod told me stop.
(17:17):
And so then I had to say, ohboy, you mean I, I have this
help, but I've got to tell themall of their hard work.
They've got to just pause for aminute.
How is that going to go over?
I sent the email to them sayingthis is what we're going to do,
and I didn't go into a lot ofdetail and they were like oh,
(17:40):
okay, so that's the other thing.
We think that when we want toget back on track, like the
whole world's going to endbecause we're going to stop
doing all these things, and whenyou stop doing all the things,
it's going to be devastating.
But it's not.
I still have a podcast episodethis week, but it's not.
I still have a podcast episodethis week.
(18:06):
The team understood.
So I repented, I prayed to God,like, okay, lord, what would
you have me to do?
And then I began to listen.
And so that's what I'm doingright now listening for
instruction.
And for me to listen, I had todedicate time specifically for
this, so not just any of myprayer time.
(18:27):
Remember, I told you, I praythroughout the day.
I have dedicated time with Godin the morning, but I had to set
time aside just to pray and tolisten about Graced, to lead
specifically, and so that's whatI've been doing.
And then I had to silence someof the other things.
So, remember all those groupsand things I had, I had to
(18:47):
remove myself.
I had to silence them.
I can't be a part of all thatwhile God is trying to download
strategy.
For me, that meant I had topause some subscriptions, right,
I had to get out of the chats.
And then I began to do what Iheard, and the first thing that
I heard this week was to do thispodcast episode.
(19:09):
And the second thing I heardwas to go live on social media
and share.
And so the podcast episode iseasy, because that's what I do
every week, right, but socialmedia live is not something I'm
excited about, but I did it Now.
(19:30):
If you were to ask me right nowOK, what's next, I will tell you
that in this very moment I haveno idea, and so that's the
other part of this is, you'relistening for instructions,
you're doing what you're told,but also you have to be
comfortable in the wait.
If God tells me not to doanything else for the next three
(19:52):
days, I have to be comfortablewith that.
Even though I've got a postingschedule for Instagram and I've
got content that I can put outfor my website, unless God says
it, I can't do it.
The one thing that I do havepermission to keep putting on my
website right now and updatingis the blog posts, so those will
(20:16):
be updated, but I have to becomfortable waiting.
Oh my gosh, and it's not easy,let me tell you, because I want
to do stuff right now, because Ican see it, I can see the
vision, but my waiting tells GodI trust you, and so the other
thing that I have to do while Iwait is ask God also is there
(20:40):
anything I should be doing whileI wait For me?
What I know for sure is that Ishould continue to pray and to
continue my Bible study andcontinue making the podcast
episodes for season two.
I only have one more episodefor season two and then the rest
(21:02):
is going to be preparing forseason three, and I know that
he's already given me thoseguests, because that that's
something that hasn't stopped,and so I'll focus on what I know
that he told me to do.
The last thing I'll share withyou is that in my prayer time,
as I took this pause and I didthe things right, I contacted
(21:24):
the team, I did the live, I didthis recording.
Right now got brought back to mymemory three names of people.
These are not podcast guests.
These are people I'm going toreach out to and connect with.
Do I know what I'm going to sayto these people when I reach
out?
You know one of them I knowwell and we've talked about
(21:44):
getting together so that one's alittle bit easier.
The other people I don't reallyknow well.
I mean, I think we know of eachother but we don't know each
other well.
But God said to reach out andso I will.
What am I going to say?
I have no idea.
I might look strange.
(22:06):
They might think what in theworld, they may even talk about
me.
But I have to be obedient and Itrust that as we speak, god
will reveal.
If he doesn't reveal before, Imake the contact right, so I
have to be comfortable in thewait.
I make the contact right, so Ihave to be comfortable in the
wait.
But I also have to becomfortable doing things that
(22:35):
don't seem like what thestrategy is of the world.
Calling somebody you don't knowBecause God told you to.
It is not really in thebusiness books, is not in the
how to grow your podcast books,how to grow your coaching
business book, how to getspeaking engagements book.
It's just not.
But it's what God said for meto do, and so I just want to
(22:58):
encourage you if you're in thisspot, because, listen, I'm
transparent.
I just want to encourage you ifyou're in this spot because,
listen, I'm transparent, that'sall.
If you've read my book or ifyou've listened to these
episodes or you've even heard meteach or minister, you know
that transparency, that's what Ido.
But if you are in a place whereperhaps you are feeling
discouraged or you're feelingfrustrated, or you have a God
idea or a God vision and youstarted it and it's like well,
(23:20):
it's not looking like what Godsaid.
I encourage you this week topray to God and say am I doing
what you told me to do?
Have I gotten off track?
Have I mixed my own plans inwith your plans for me?
I would encourage you to dosome assessment Am I doing what
(23:45):
God told me to do?
And listen, I feel this one, soI'm just going to go ahead and
say it.
Some of us in ministry are evenin roles and positions where God
didn't tell us to be there.
God may have said this is whatyou're doing in this particular
season, and then he's waiting togive you more instruction, but
(24:06):
you're all in doing this thingand you're out of sync, out of
position.
Every aspect of our lives isguided by God If we are
believers, by God, if we arebelievers, and so I encourage
you to assess am I doingsomething I wasn't even supposed
(24:30):
to be doing?
Maybe that's part of yourstress, maybe that's part of
your frustration.
Maybe you can free yourselffrom the tension, the stress,
the frustration, whatever it is,by simply getting back in
alignment with what God told youto do, so what to expect from
Graced, to Lead, going forward,whatever God says Graced to Lead
(24:54):
will do.
The podcast is continuing.
We will finish up season twoshortly.
I'm already planning for seasonthree and already getting those
invitations out for speakers,so I know that will happen.
But however else you hear fromme, or whatever else I do, it's
totally up to God and Iencourage you to do the same.
(25:19):
So that's all I have this weekand I encourage you to do the
same.
So that's all I have this week.
If you found that you related tothis and you go through this
assessment, I'd love to hearabout it.
You can, if you're listening onBuzzsprout, you can actually
text me and I'll get it.
You can text me directlythrough the, send a text message
and just let me know you cancontact me.
(25:40):
You can go to my website,belindagastoncom, and you can
contact me there.
There is a contact form whereyou can get information on how
to contact me, but I'd love tohear it.
If you are listening to thisvia YouTube, you can actually
put the comments in the commentbox and if you do respond, I
(26:05):
always particularly if you dothe text feature I always
respond back and for some of youI'm still praying those of you
who've reached out.
I'm still praying for you, Istill intercede for you.
I am an intercessor, so I wantto encourage you to take a
moment to pause.
It's not the end of the year,so you still have time, but
everything happens in God'stiming, but everything happens
in God's timing.
So that is the show for today.
As always, I appreciate youlistening.
(26:29):
I don't take your listening,your subscribing, your sharing
for granted.
I appreciate that more than youknow For those of you who are
new welcome and for those of youwho are returning.
I appreciate you and until wetalk again, remember you are
indeed Graced to lead Bye-bye.
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