When Life Changes Your Plans – Facing Trials With Faith: Amy Walker's Story - Latter-Day Lights - LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Brandley (00:00):
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.

Alisha Coakley (00:02):
And I'm Alisha Coakley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth andinspire others.

On today's episode we're going to hear how
one woman's call to provide forher family showed her that the
Lord will give us specificinstructions on implementing the
gospel in each of our lives.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day

(00:38):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today.
We're really excited tointroduce our special guest, amy
Walker, to the show.
Amy, welcome.

Amy Walker (00:44):
Thank you so much for having me.
Scott and Alisha.
I'm excited to be here with youand to get to have this
opportunity to share a littlebit about my story through the
faith lens.
I don't get to do that veryoften.

I know I actually first heard your story
when you were on the Lady BossAlliance seminar.
It's so funny because I feellike sometimes we have we have
that um, like Mormon radar right.
Like we just kind of get theselike little like inklings of
like I think they're a member ofthe church and that totally
just ping, ping, ping all overthe place when you're speaking,
and I was like I think she's amember of the church and I love

(01:19):
her story and it just spoke sodeeply to my soul and I was like
I want to meet this lady oneday.
And lo and behold, months later, like here we are.
I've had several conversationswith you, like the things that
you've taught have literallychanged my life and are
continuing to change it.
I never in a million yearswould think that I'd be where

(01:39):
I'm at now in such a shortperiod of time, just from like
knowing one person.
So I'm so excited for the restof the world to hear you and I
say world because I'm just goingto go big right, like we're
just going to have like amillion views on this one.
We're just going to do it.
Let's put it out there, thereyou go, manifest it away, but

(02:00):
we're so happy to have you.

I know Alisha, you know Amy, but I don't know
Amy.
So why?

Amy Walker (02:08):
don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Awesome, so I live in Georgia.
We've been here for 10 years.
My husband and I are about tohave our 24th anniversary.
He's currently serving as thebishop in our congregation, but
he's about to hit his five-yearmark, so yay.

That's nice, You're six right, Five
congregation but he's about tohit his five-year mark, so yay,
that's nice.

Amy Walker (02:27):
Yeah, Six right.

Five and a half, five and a half.

Amy Walker (02:32):
We're in the home stretch mode.
We have five boys.
They range in age from 11 to 22.
My oldest is engaged to a supersweet girl, and it is just so
fun to have another girl aroundthe house every once in a while
and be like see, it's not justme, this is like normal.
We didn't think this way, so welove getting to spend time with

(02:56):
our family.
I do own several companies andour work lives are really busy,
and so juggling like businessand family is always a thing for
us.
And then our family also reallyloves music, so we've got some
kids who are significantly moretalented than we are, and
there's always somebody singingor playing or doing something

(03:17):
musical at home.

Aw, and not only do you own several businesses
but I'm just going to give you ashout out but you teach other
people how to own severalbusinesses, don't you?
Yeah?

Amy Walker (03:30):
we, we do, we help people um buy and sell companies
and so, um, there's a lot ofopportunity right now in
acquisitions and and I justthink we we need more really
good people owning companies,because when you have those, you
know, when you have strongvalues, you bring that into your
organization and you create agood context for people to be
successful in a in a reallywell-rounded environment.

Yeah, absolutely , and I I I mean Scott has heard
, he's heard this whole journeyon my end, from the time that
that I met you at the Lady BossAlliance seminar to the time
that we're at now, and it isjust amazing what you've taught
us.
We just bought our firstbusiness.
I mean, my husband and I havebeen married for almost 20 years

(04:15):
now.
We've always wanted to bebusiness owners, but we've
always thought about, like, howdo we start a business?
How do you know?
What should we start?
What should we do?
I had no idea how easy it is tojust buy a business that exists
.
And so we're in it and I amloving it.
I'm so much fun, um, and I justlike, I just can't stop smiling
.
I'm so tired, don't get mewrong.

(04:36):
It is so much work, but I loveit and I just love what you're
doing, um, with that Cause, Ithink that it's just like, oh,
it's just like changing people'slives and it's just so good.

So we'll talk a little bit about that later.

but sure, yeah, but.

I've been.
I've been an entrepreneur mywhole life too, so this is going
to be a fun conversation.

Amy Walker (04:58):
Yeah, we'll ping between business and family and
gospel.

Yeah, like, how do you make it all work together
?
So that'll be.
It's going to be a funconversation.
So, for for anybody who is anentrepreneur or a business owner
or wants to be a business owner, like, stay tuned in, because I
think we're just going to coverso much good stuff on living
the gospel and being anentrepreneur and all the things
on this episode, but we're goingto get ahead of ourselves
because that's not how itstarted, right, like you didn't

(05:26):
start as a business owner,obviously.
So we would love to turn thetime over to you and just kind
of have you share your storywith us.

Amy Walker (05:35):
Absolutely.
Well, I'm going to, I'm goingto take it way back, we're going
to go old school, 14 year oldAmy sitting in Sunday school
class and having a really sadSunday because this lesson that
we had, I remember the teachersplit the board in half and one
half was all of the roles andresponsibilities of moms and
another half was all the rolesand responsibilities of dads.

(05:57):
And I remember feeling sodiscouraged because I looked at
that board and all of my skillsand all of my talents and
everything that I was actuallygood at fit on the wrong side of
the board and everything that Iwas legitimately terrible at or
kind of hated fit on the mom'sside of the board.
And I remember thinking, well,that's super disappointing.

(06:17):
But I kind of packed it away.
And then, when I was a juniorin high school, all the teachers
decided to send me as theambassador for our school to
this Awards for Women in Science, engineering and Math.
It was the awesome symposiumand so I went and we got to meet

(06:38):
with a lot of really successfulwomen who were in the sciences
engineers, professors,scientists lots of great careers
and they were there to inspireus to move our professions
forward and to consider studyingin those areas.
And I remember asking afterevery class.
I would go up afterwards and Iwould ask the question so can

(06:59):
you tell me a little bit aboutyour family, or how do you
balance this career with kids?
And I got a lot of, first ofall, really surprised faces like
why is this girl asking usabout this?
And then I got a lot of answerslike, well, you know, I decided
not to have kids because mycareer was so demanding, and or
you know, I may have kids atsome point in time, but there

(07:23):
was just really there wasn'tanyone there that I could see
that was doing both career andmotherhood.
And so in my mind I was like,okay, well, I guess, I guess it
can't be done.
And so I went to college and metmy husband and I knew I wanted
to finish my education, but Ialso planned to be.

(07:43):
The plan A was that I was goingto be a stay at home mom and he
was going to go and get a PhDand he was going to support and
provide for our family.
And we jumped in early.
You know I was.
I was 20 when I got married.
It was my junior year when Igraduated.
You don't see this in a lot ofplaces but BYU.
But when I graduated, I waspregnant.
I was six months pregnant whenI walked and we just jumped into

(08:10):
life and we started having kidsand we thought that we were
moving in the plan A directionand then all of a sudden it was
like the Lord said nope, there'sa different plan for you guys.
And so I was about six weeks,maybe even a month it was real
close to when I had my secondbaby that my husband was having
some pretty serious healthproblems and overnight, um, I

(08:33):
became the provider because hewas not able to work.
And he wasn't able to work fora couple of years, like in
between babies two and three, um, I was the sole provider.
And so I was running a coupleof different businesses and, um,
you know, just doing theentrepreneurial hustle and it
was hard and it was stressful.
And during that time I keptthinking I'll just do this until

(08:55):
you know, until he can get backin and his health things are
sorted out.
And I remember during that timeeven having a conversation with
my uncle and he said you know,amy, it's fine for you to work,
for your family to get by.
It's just not okay for you towork, for your family to get
ahead.
And I remember in that momentbeing like, oh, that's the false

(09:16):
belief that is making this sohard for me, because I felt so
much guilt and I felt so much um.
I felt so torn between twodifferent things of like, I need
to, I legitimately need toprovide for my family right now.
But also every time I amproviding for my family, I'm
also feeling guilty, like I'mnot, I'm not in the right place,
and so every time we wouldstart to really get successful,

(09:39):
I would put on the brakes andslow it down, and then we would
be like, oh, now we need moneyagain, so now I have to work
extra hard.
And so it was the start stopthing that was really hard for
my family, because we couldn'tget into a rhythm and they
didn't know what to expect fromme and you know, my kids were
small, and so at that point Ikind of leaned into well, if
this is the path that the Lordhas for me, then I'm going to

(10:00):
try to run it as best I can andjust have faith that he's going
to show us what balance lookslike, he's going to show us the
right way, and so from thatpoint forward, I've always
worked and I've always beeneither the main provider or an
equal contributor.
And it was hard, like I remember, especially during my
pregnancies, there was a lot oftimes where I would just feel

(10:24):
like a little bit almostresentment would creep in, where
I would feel like I shouldn'tbe having to work.
You know, I should be able tojust take care of my kids and
just do all of these things thatI'm doing at home.
And I knew motherhood was sovaluable that I battled that a
little bit.
And I remember, specificallywhen I was pregnant with my

(10:44):
fifth, feeling like I wasstruggling in that space and the
Lord reminded me one day.
He prompted me to go read theproclamation for the family and
I was like I'm not reading that.
That's the thing that makes mefeel bad in the first place.
So, it kept coming into my mindand as I read the proclamation

(11:06):
for the family, you know, and Ifinally humbled myself to be
like, okay, I'm ready to listento what you have to tell me.
I read it and I was like thereare so many ways that you can
structure and align your familyand still believe and honor all
of these principles.
And as I read it I was likewe're doing everything that's in
here and it looks different forour family than maybe it looks

(11:27):
for somebody else's family.
But, um, we've always, we'vealways been committed to our
roles as um husband and wife andwe've always been committed to
our family and our roles ofmother and father and, um, you
know, we we do teach ourchildren in love and
righteousness and we are umsupporting each other as um

(11:47):
equal, um partners and all, allof the language that's in there.
But it didn't fit what I wasseeing culturally and it wasn't
until I finally kind of let goof what.
You know.
What does this need to looklike?
Um, culturally?
And and embrace like the Lordhas a clear and specific plan
for our family that I reallystarted to see all of the magic

(12:10):
that he was working in his, inour lives and my husband and I
have been able to run businessestogether and we've been able to
have some really coolexperiences with our kids and we
get to serve in ways that, um,you know, we wouldn't be able to
serve if we hadn't had theexperiences that we've had.
And even you know, I I justspent I've spent about seven

(12:34):
years serving in state.
Communications just gotreleased, um, but you know, like
I, I learned all of the skillsof PR and marketing and
community outreach and how to beconfident walking into rooms
with government leaders andofficials.
I learned all of those skillsthrough my business training and

(12:57):
then I got to use them toreally serve in the church for
seven years.
So I know that the Lord has meon a path that's very clear and
specific for me, um, and I, justas he does for each of you, but
sometimes we just have to havea little more, a little more
faith in the process, I think.

Wow.
So you know, and when I amtotally with you on like that
guilt, that that we feel, aswomen, right For, like, being
away from the family to provideand to make the family life like
financial life better andeasier and things like that, and
wanting to give our kids moreopportunities, and blah, blah,
blah, and feeling like we haveto be with them 24, seven, like

(13:38):
we can't have anything else,that's just ours, otherwise
that's selfish, and we alsocan't have something that's
supposed to be our husbands,because then we're stepping into
his territory and taking itaway from him and so it gets
really, really difficult.
Um, but I think that, uh,especially now in this day and
age, with, like you just, oh, mygoodness, you have the divorce

(14:02):
rate is creeping up.
You have men and women, both,who are not stepping into their
roles and so, like you're seeingboth sides having to take on
responsibilities from the othertraditional role, and then you
also have, um, just, I mean gosh, like I can't tell you how many
friends and even family membersof mine I've had who their
spouse has passed away, and thenall of a sudden they're,

(14:25):
they're like, what do we do atthis point?
And how do we?
How do we do both and how do webe the provider and the nurture
and all that kind of stuff?
And so I think that that theLord really is kind of shifting
everybody to to be morespiritually in tune so that we
can receive that personalrevelation.
I love how, you know, that's oneof the things that we were

(14:47):
counseled by President Nelson afew years back in conference was
, you know, he's saying thatlike we're not going to be able
to survive spiritually if wedon't know what that sounds like
to have the Holy Ghost speak tous individually, you know, and
so I love that, like you wereable to do that.
But I'm sure even that I guess,like, what were your

(15:09):
conversations with your husband?

Amy Walker (15:10):
Like, because was he feeling the same thing, with
him not being able to work orthat was super hard and that was
like a two year window where hewasn't able to work and he
still, you know, he took kidsback and forth to preschool and
he helped a ton, he supported mea ton in me being able to be
the provider during that andother than that he's always

(15:31):
worked.
But his role is oftentimes moreof a supportive role in the
business and super important.
But it is funny because whenpeople meet us in business
versus when they meet us inchurch, there's a really
different impression.
You know, like when they meetus in business they they are
like, oh Amy, like she's the onethat is, you know, the speaker

(15:53):
and she and I'm I'm oftentimesin the forefront and he'll kind
of hang out in the background inthe supporter role.
But in church it's oftenopposite and so you know, he's
the one that's been serving asour bishop and before that he
was on the high council and sohe goes around and speaks and I
get to be in that supportiverole.
And I think this is one thingthat I've had to shift our

(16:15):
perspective around, because Ithink as women, oftentimes we
feel like asking for our familyto support us in our dreams is
somehow selfish or we don't wantour dreams and our family to
support us in our dreams issomehow selfish, or we don't
want to.
We don't want our dreams andour goals to inconvenience
anyone.
But guess what?
Everyone in my family hasdreams and goals and they're all
inconvenient to me, right?

(16:35):
The amount of hours that I'vespent, you know, we've spent
shuffling kids back and forth sothat they can pursue their
dreams, and the amount ofSaturdays that we've driven to
different cities to go listen tothem do competitions.
That's not convenient, but theway that we've approached it is
that everybody's dreams andeverybody's goals are important

(16:59):
and as a family, we sacrifice todo the things that are
important for each of us.
So I have not been shy inasking for my family's support
and asking for them to sacrificeto support me.
But I'm also not saying that mystuff is the most important
stuff.
It's just important.
My stuff is important, yourstuff is important and together

(17:20):
we're a family, we're going tofigure out how we can support
each other.
We're a family, we're going tofigure out how we can support
each other.
And so, um, that's been a shift.
That and when I, when Irecognize that I was like you
know what?
That is the best way that Ithink I can actually raise sons
to be really good husbands is tolet them practice supporting me

(17:40):
instead of to have the the onewoman in their life Cause they
don't have sisters, you know butthe one woman in their life,
just everything for them, andset that as the expectation.
And I have one that's engaged,but just I've watched the way
that they're planning theirlives together and he really is
accommodating her plans andmaking his plans fit with her
plans and figuring out whattheir lives are going to look

(18:03):
like, instead of just saying,well, this is what I'm doing and
Kylie gets to come along andsupport me.
It's like her goals are on anequal playing field with his,
and that has been reallywonderful and beautiful to see,
because I think it makes for ahappy life, and I do know that
it is.
I watch this sometimes as um.

(18:24):
I see husbands struggle whentheir wife starts to earn more
money than them or she starts tohave success that maybe looks
different than what theirs islooking like, and and I think
you can be jealous of yourpartner, but I will tell you,
I've never seen a woman outgrowher husband when the husband

(18:44):
just gives her space to growRight, like if he just is like I
want.
And that's how my husband isfor me and I know, alisha, your
husband is great like that too.
And Scott, I'm going to giveyou the benefit of the doubt.
I know we just met, but I'massuming.
But I just think when you giveyour partner, when, when what
you really want for your partneris for them to be able to be

(19:05):
their best and happiest andhighest self, like that only
blesses you Right.
And so my husband has given me alot of space to grow and to
stretch and to do things thatare hard and look crazy on the
surface, but he's always beenwilling to support me and, as a
result, I'm happier, I'm moresettled, I'm more grateful for

(19:33):
him.
I don't feel like it pulls.
I don't feel like being my bestself ever pulls me away.
I do feel like there are timeswhere I have to really assess my
balance and look at it and say,okay, we got too much going on
right now and we need tosimplify.
That absolutely happens.
And living a balanced life doesnot mean that you're always
perfectly balanced.
It means that you're alwayscommitted to balance and then
you're course correcting whenyou get off, and we definitely

(19:56):
have to do a lot of that becausewe have a very busy family and
everybody has a million thingsgoing on.

So how does that look for you, like, how do you
maintain balance, especially,especially with being, you know,
such an entrepreneur and abusinesswoman and a speaker and
all of these things, and beingable to incorporate time serving
and living the gospel andteaching the gospel to your
children, and then just being awife, and then being just you,

(20:26):
amy, the woman who is just awoman with awesome glasses and
friends, and all the things likehow do you do that?

Amy Walker (20:36):
I do actually have some tips on this.
So I, you know, I had a littlebit of a unique situation
growing up where I actually hadlike four different women
figures that I got to watchraise us for a while.
So my mom and dad got divorcedwhen I was 12 and we lived with
my dad, and so I had my mom forthe first 12 years, and then my

(20:59):
aunt and uncle moved in with usfor a little while while they
were building their house, andso then I got to see my aunt and
got to watch her and how sheshowed up as a mom, and then my
grandma also lived with us forabout a year, and then my dad
got remarried and I had mystepmom, and so I had four very
different women that I got tohave as role models, and they

(21:22):
were each really great atdifferent things.
You know, my grandma was theultimate homemaker.
She could cook anything, shecould sew anything, um, and she
was very like resourceful.
My mom was fun and she wasplayful and, um, she like really
uh, made the house a place thatwe wanted to bring our friends

(21:45):
to.
Um, my aunt was, uh, intuitiveand emotionally connected and
the kind of person who you couldjust talk to and go really deep
with.
And then my step-mom was, um,like, uh, so good at uh again,
homemaking, like cooking andbaking, and making every party

(22:08):
and every birthday feel special.
And so when we first got married, I kind of took the best of
everyone else and set that as mystandard of what it meant to be
a good wife and a good mom.
It's like, well, they're alllike and it was the best of
everyone else.
And while that was great and Irespect and admire all of those

(22:31):
things, none of those wereactually what my skills were.
And so I felt for several yearsreally pulled and like I didn't
feel like I was as successfulin business as I wanted to be.
Um, I didn't feel like I was asgood of a wife as I wanted to
be.
I didn't feel like I was asgood of a wife as I wanted to be
.
I didn't feel like I was asgood of a mother as I wanted to
be.
And so I, through a lot ofprayer and a lot of the Lord
teaching me, I actually one daywrote down my job description

(22:54):
for being a mom and for being awife and I changed my perception
from what everybody else wasgood at to like what had the
Lord actually given me in termsof my gifts and my talents.
And so I and you know, by thispoint I'd been an entrepreneur
for quite a while, and so Iactually wrote out a job

(23:18):
description.
So I wrote out, like here's mytitle, my title is mother.
I wrote out what department amI a part of?
My department is eternalprogression and growth.
Who do I report to?
I report to God.
Who do I consult with?
I consult with my husband.
Um, I consult with my dad.
I have, you know, a smallhandful of people that I really
respect, who they are as parents.

(23:39):
I consult with them.
And then I wrote down what aremy actual responsibilities, and
it was to teach my children tolove to work and to work at what
they love.
To teach my children faith andvalues, to teach my children to
live outside of the box ofsocietal expectations, to teach
my children compassion andrespect, to play and have fun,

(24:00):
to honor who they are asindividuals and to help them
develop their strengths andtheir skills and to love them
unconditionally.
And then I wrote down what aremy qualifications, and this was
really great, because so much ofhow I'd been judging myself was
based on things like, um, youknow, my like I was, I was
equating the role of being thehousehold manager with being the

(24:22):
mother, and there are actuallytwo really different roles.
And for our family, householdmanager with being the mother
and they're actually two reallydifferent roles and for our
family, household manager is ashared responsibility.
It's not my job, it's thefamily's job.
But mother, that's my job.
And um, and I also had this longlist of things that you know I
was trying to, I was alwaysfeeling unqualified, um, like I
wasn't doing a good job.
So I actually wrote down thequalifications.

(24:43):
So here's mine.
I am actually really patient.
I do love them unconditionally.
I partner with God to make thebest decisions for my kids.
I am fun and playful andthey're mine, like the Lord gave
them to me.
So obviously I'm qualified.
And then my duration ofemployment.
So this is, this is an eternalrole that I get to have and get

(25:05):
to share with them.
And so when I, when I shiftedthat and I really like took a
stand for who is the mother thatI, that I am and that I want to
be, then it was like, okay, Ican lean into this.
So I do have really goodrelationships with my kids and
we have very deep conversationsand I get to go through life
with them and I'm I feel like I.

(25:27):
My kids know that I'm there forthem, and yet I'm not at every
single thing, so I'm at most ofthe things I'm at.
Anything that they tell me isimportant to them, that they
want me to be at, I will bethere, but I do miss some things
and and that's okay, nowhere onmy job description does it say

(25:47):
that I have to be at everysingle sporting event, every
single music event, every singleclass event, every you know
like.
That's not in my jobdescription, and so when I look
at my life and I look at youknow what we're trying to fit in
.
Then I can look at it andassess are these things in
alignment with my core roles orare these things that are extra

(26:08):
and they're nice and I lovebeing there to support my kids?
I really do.
I try to be at as much stuff aspossible, but when I miss it, I
don't beat myself up for thefact that I miss it, because my
kids know that they're mypriority, they know that I'm
there for them, they know thatI'm someone who they can depend
on and that if they have needs,like I will, I will jump in and

(26:31):
I will take care of whatever,whatever they need and what that
support is going to look like.
But at the same time, they'reyou know I'm, I'm.
My goal is to raise independentpeople, um, who can handle life
on their own, and so they'vegotten to learn independence and
skills, as they've supported mein being very busy and

(26:51):
supported their dad and having abig responsibility and a big
calling.
So it's interesting.
I don't know that people, Ithink from the outside, might
look at it and I have no ideawhat their opinions are of us.
I don't know if they look at usand go well, they really have
it all together or if they lookat us and they go.
I can't believe they're not atmore things I don't know.

(27:12):
I don't ask.
It doesn't matter to me whatthey think.
What matters to me is what thepeople within the walls of my
home think, and we know that welove each other and we know that
we're growing, Um, and we'renot perfect, um, we definitely
are just always trying to be alittle better.

Just love each other a little more, be a little
better.
I'm a big fan of your resume.
I love the job description Likethat's genius.

Amy Walker (27:42):
I really like it was my time, it was like, and I am
qualified to live my own life.

That feels good.
I haven't done.
I haven't done that for aresume, but I've done that for
my funeral and I wrote down allthe things that I wanted people
to talk to say about me when Idied.
That was an interestingexercise.
That is interesting.

Amy Walker (28:06):
I.

I love I that you are an entrepreneur and I
love that you're trying tobalance, you know, work with
family and uh and spirituality.
Do you see um like what?
How do you see the youth oftoday and and um, how they view

(28:31):
being?
You know women being in theworkplace?
Do you think that thosetraditional views have kind of
relaxed a little bit just withkind of the world we live in now
?

Amy Walker (28:42):
You know, it's interesting because, even like
and this was 10 years ago, but10 years ago I read an article
in Utah that 85% of women inUtah work while their children
are at home 85%.
This was 10 years ago, and whenI read that I was like, oh okay
, I get this.
Like we are at some point oranother, we're jumping in.

(29:05):
And so my advice to all youngwomen is make sure you have
something to jump into.
That's not a terrible paycheckand terrible hours and no
flexibility.
If you're 85% likely thatyou're going to be working at
some point or another, you mightas well have a really good
backup plan.
So I don't know if every.

(29:27):
I do still think that there area lot of, because, as I've
worked with youth in the church,I think that there are a lot of
uh, cause, as I've worked withyouth in the church, I think
that there's a lot of youngwomen who do value motherhood,
but I think that they're alsolooking at it saying I'll
probably also need to be working, I'll probably also need to
have an education, and so Ithink that when you look at

(29:51):
today's um younger couples,their, their roles, tend to be
pretty balanced, like you've gotdads who are really leaning in
and loving sharing thoseparenting roles and sharing the
mental load of running the house.
So I do think it is shiftinggenerationally, but I don't
think that means that we're nothonoring and respecting our
roles of, you know, the thehusband being the provider and

(30:14):
the protector and the mom being,um, the nurturer and the
caregiver.
I think you can still havethose roles and have the actual
uh checklist of to-do items be alittle bit more balanced.

Well, and having that as a backup only makes
that person better.

Amy Walker (30:35):
Yeah.

Right.
Even if the girl or the youngwoman never actually goes into
the workforce, she's got theskills to do it if she needs to,
and it helps her when she haskids to be able to be in a
better place to be ready to helpthem be in a better place to be
ready to help them when I wasin BYU.

Amy Walker (30:55):
At BYU I was taking an econ class and the professor
said that you know there hadbeen a study done that what were
the two biggest predictors ofsuccess in a child's life?
And number one was the mother'seducation.
So I was like, okay, number twowas the father's income.
But it was mother's education,the father's income, and I

(31:16):
really think that there isnothing bad that happens.
When you are more educated,more prepared, you're going to
serve better in the church,you're going to be more capable
of juggling all of the thingsthat your family has going on
Like it just, it just is to meit's a good thing all around.

Yeah, you know I like that.
I don't know why, I just hadthis thought.
But when you mentioned just howlike your husband still is a
provider and stuff like that andand you still get to be a
nurturer, I think sometimes wefill in the blank, right.
Like we'll read theproclamation proclamation, for
example and we'll be like, oh,like the husband's role is to be
a provider for his family andwe automatically think that
means he has to providefinancially for the family.

(32:04):
But what if provider meansproviding strength, providing
support, providing love,providing safety?
You know what I mean?
Like a provider of what?
Like it doesn't specify exactlywhat in the proclamation, at
least not to my memory.
I'll go back and reread itagain, but I don't remember it
saying financial provider in thefamily and and it's, it's um.

(32:25):
It just makes me think of, likemy own patriarchal blessing,
where my blessing literallytells me that I part of my
mission in life, outside ofraising a family and
righteousness and stuff likethat and beating being a leader,
um is to um, prepare to providefor my family, and I always
read that as a oh, my gosh, whatit's like is my husband going

(32:48):
to die and then I have to goback to work, you know.
And then I thought, oh, youknow what it does say prepare to
provide.
It doesn't necessarily meanlike I have to be the only
person that's providing, butmaybe I do need to be a part of
it.
So I need to take it moreseriously and not um, and not
just settle into only one roleas a wife or a mom.

(33:10):
I need to keep educating myselfand my education is not formal
Like I.
I I love when people do haveformal education for me.
I have found personal, morelike, personally, more value in
educating myself on all sorts ofthings instead of just the one
college route, you know.
So I have done workshops,seminars, and I have read

(33:33):
thousands, literally thousandsof books and listened to talks
and I um any job that I've everhad in the past or any passion
that I've had, I have like goneall in and studied up on it, and
so it's like when I'm I'm ajack of all trades and a master
of none type of thing, but Ifeel like in doing that, but I
feel like in doing that, I have,as a stay at home mom, the

(33:56):
first part of my, my marriage, Iwas able to be really
resourceful, right Like.
I was able to do a lot of thingsand get really creative with
coming up with how to solve thisand how to figure that out and
how to save money here, becausesomething as simple as like I
went to cosmetology school for awhile.
So guess what?
My parent I'm like my familyhas not paid for haircuts in

(34:19):
almost 20 years, minus the lastfew years where I just decided I
don't want to anymore.
Now I send the boys to the barwith my daughter's hair, and we
all know women's hair is themost expensive to do so.
So it's like how?
How many thousands of dollarsdid I save my family Because I
learned how to do hair?
You know, um, and I love whatyou're saying about you took

(34:39):
your skills and then the Lordwas able to put it into your
callings at church like inchurch, too, right.
So, yeah, like we don't have tohave that role.

Amy Walker (34:53):
I would love to read what it actually says in the
family proclamation because Ithink we we should all read this
more often, to be honest.
So here's the part, the onlypart, that talks about the
difference in roles betweenhusbands and wives, and it is
like a couple sentences out ofthe whole document.
So it says by divine design,fathers are to preside over

(35:15):
their families in love andrighteousness and are
responsible to provide for thenecessities of life and
protection for their families.
Mothers are primarilyresponsible for the nurture of
their children.
In these sacredresponsibilities, fathers and
mothers are obligated to helpone another as equal partners.
Death, disability or othercircumstances may necessitate

(35:36):
individual adaptation.
Extended family should lendsupport when needed.
So that is very open, rightLike very open.
And the principles when I readthe family proclamation, the
principle is reallyunderstanding that the family is
the center of the gospel andordering our lives.

(35:56):
Where our families are, youknow, our family unit is a happy
, loving place where we can growand where our children can
thrive.
And it talks a lot more aboutthe principles upon which we
base our families than eversaying the mom.
It never says anywhere in therethat moms should be stay at
home moms and not have careers.

Never says that anywhere Right, not even in
there, and it also doesn't saythat the men can't be stay at
home dads either and have acareer that's helping to provide
for the family's necessities.

Amy Walker (36:29):
Yeah, so I think that there's a lot of um again.
This is where, for me, I I,when I was younger I really
didn't see anybody who wasrunning a family and having a
good, strong career.
I just wasn't something that Isaw, and so I assumed that it
wasn't possible to do both.
Um and now I.

(36:56):
You know, I was speaking at anevent, a women's event in New
York city, and there were thesetwo um interns that were there
from the college and, uh, theywanted to come up and talk with
me afterwards and, um, they thethe thing that they said to me
that I was just so I was like,okay, this feels like a moment.
You know, it was one of thosefull circle moments is moments.
They said thank you so much forshowing us that we don't have

(37:18):
to pick one or the other, but wecan do both.
And I was like, oh, thank you,cute girls, they're not of our
faith.
You know, most women are goingto be working and at least at
some point, you know, whilethey're, while they're raising

(37:40):
their families, most are goingto be working.
So they might as well dosomething that they love,
something that feeds their soul,something that makes them a
better version of themselves.
And I remember early on, when Iwas really bad at business I was
not good at being anentrepreneur.
For my first solid five years Iwas really terrible at it, and

(38:01):
I remember one night I drove tothe Provo Temple parking lot and
I was sitting there because mywhole night had fallen apart.
And I was in the parking lotand I was like, okay, heavenly
Father, I really want to quit.
And apart.
And uh, I was in the parkinglot and I was like, okay,
heavenly father, I really wantto quit.
Like I'm not having fun, I'mnot making money, I'm spending
time away from my family, like Ikeep feeling like this is where

(38:21):
you want me to be, but I don'tsee any reason why.
So I I need you to tell me.
And I remember him sayingyou're here because this is
where I need you to be, so youcan become the woman that I need
you to be.
It was like this is yourdevelopment path, and so I was
like, all right, I'll stick withit.
Then I'm not throwing in thetowel, I will stick with it.
And I look at all of the skillsthat I've developed through

(38:44):
pursuing business andentrepreneurship, and I mean
things like people management,conflict resolution.
There's like not anything thatyou can throw at me that is
going to phase me and I'm, Iwant I don't want to say I'm
unoffendable, because I'm suresomebody could test that, but
I'm pretty unoffendable and so,um, I know how to run really

(39:08):
efficient meetings.
I know how to um, reach outwithin the community and be
comfortable navigating, um,navigating relationships with
other churches who maybe don'tnecessarily like us, but we're
trying to find common ground.
There's a lot of really usefulskills that I can use to build
up the kingdom of God.
That I clearly learned throughbusiness, and it's not like that

(39:29):
was the only way I could havelearned them.
I'm sure I could have learnedthem through being super
involved in the PTA, but thiswas the path that the Lord put
me on and that's what I think isat the heart of it.
If we're really listening towhat our prophet is telling us
right now is it's get, get knowwhat the Lord is telling you and

(39:49):
get really good at hearing hisvoice.
And I cannot, I could not havegotten to where I am in life, in
business, in parenting, if Iwasn't consistently talking with
the Lord and consistentlyreceiving revelation for my life
and for my companies.
That is where I go to first.
Before I go to businessprinciples, before I go to

(40:10):
parenting books, I go to myprayer journal and I ask the
Lord.
I'm like here's where I'm at,heavenly Father, what do you
want me to do?
What do you want me to know?
How do you want me to thinkabout this?
What have I not looked at yet?
And I have pages and pages andpages of inspiration that he's
given me over the years thatthey just work.
And it's like I got to go inthe fast checkout lane and I

(40:34):
don't have to stand in linetrying to figure it out for
quite as long, because the Lordwill just tell me and I really
believe that he will have thatkind of a relationship with all
of us that if we will spend thetime to ask and we'll spend the
time to be willing to change andbe willing to make course
corrections, and if I was stillwanting path A, I think I'd be

(40:57):
pretty bitter in life, like Imissed so much time with my kids
and I had to work so hard and Ididn't want to be the provider,
I wanted to be the stay at homemom.
I could look at my life that wayand I think I could be really
disappointed.
But instead I look back and I'mlike, wow, what an amazing,
amazing time we've had raisingour kids together and, um, and
it really has been together Likemy.

(41:19):
You know, when I look back towhen my older boys were little
and my husband was working allthe time, they, they don't have
memories of their dad andthey're like I don't remember
him being gone.
I just don't have any memorieswith him.
And then, you know, I look backto when I, when I launched my
consulting business and itreally took off and started

(41:40):
being very financiallysuccessful and that allowed my
husband to be able to come runthe company full-time with me,
and my kids don't rememberanything without their dad there
, like he's always been sopresent and so involved and so
available and accessible, andthat family life that we always

(42:00):
wanted to have was exactly whatthe Lord was giving me when he
was like, listen, your path isgoing to be faster, easier and
get you what you want, versushis path would be harder, slower
and he's going to be gone allthe time.
And so I just think we have totrust the Lord that he's got a
plan for our lives.
We have to trust ourselves thatwhat skills and talents we have

(42:26):
are specific for us and theywill be used in our path, and
discipleship can look a lot ofdifferent ways.
There's no one right way to bea member of the church.
Right, like, there is gospeland living our covenants and all
of the things that we promiseto do in the temple, and those

(42:46):
are all clearly right things.
But even when you look atthings like how we build up the
kingdom of God, right, that canlook so many different ways,
right?
Right, there's a lot of roomfor us to be unique individuals
within this great gospel andthere is room for differences
and there is room for variations.

Yeah Well, you're building up the kingdom
of God through buying andselling businesses.
I mean not necessarily throughthat directly, but like through
the lessons you've learned frombusiness, you've been able to
apply them in your life, and andby having God involved in that,
you know that's.

That's a really cool story, and well, I love, I
mean, and so sorry to, I'm gonnapromote right now, and so sorry
to, I'm going to promote rightnow.
I'm going to get on my pedestalfor you.
I love that.
What, what you're doing with um.
So so you have a businesscalled the exit school, which is

(43:49):
the thing that we were talkingabout a little earlier, which
teaches people how to acquirebusinesses that are already,
that are already established,that have been around for a long
time, especially like the oneswho have gone through COVID, who
have gone through the 2008market crash.
You know really sustainablebusinesses and I.
One of the things that just likemade me fall in love with the

(44:10):
program is typically, wheneveryou have anything business
related, right, you have a lotof people that are like, okay,
you're going to want to get thebest deal for you, right, it's
all it's.
They approach it selfishly,like make sure you talk them
down to the bottom dollar sothat you can get this and you
have the most blah, blah, blah.
But what you and and yourbusiness partner, john Rogers,

(44:32):
is doing is you guys are sayingno, like we want to make it a
really great deal for everybodyinvolved.
You know you have thesebusiness owners who have put
decades of their time and theirenergy and their resources into
these businesses and they nolonger want to run them, for
example.
You know, and maybe their kidsdon't want to take it over.
We've we've had theseconversations before about how,
like, our kids tend to want todo the opposite of what we're

(44:56):
doing.
So if we're an entrepreneur,the kids want to go get a
regular job.
If we're working a regular job,the kids want to own a business
.
They kind of just want to likebe like I can do my own thing.
You know, sometimes you havepeople build these businesses
and it's what's going to happenif they don't find a buyer.
It's going to, it's just goingto go under.
They're going to lose employee.
You know, like employees aregoing to lose their jobs and

(45:24):
their benefits and theirsecurity and that kind of stuff.
And so really what you'reteaching is you're teaching how
we can take our resources and wecan go.
You know, help somebody else tobe able to keep what they've
got going going right, and howcan we make it even better so we
can provide more jobs, so thatwe can provide more security for
people, so that we can providethe type of environment that

(45:44):
people enjoy working in, becauseI feel like a lot of a lot of
my friends who go to work there.
They're always complainingRight About the people that
they're working with or aboutthe long hours, or they have to
work on these holidays orwhatever else people that
they're working with, or aboutthe long hours, or they have to
work on these holidays orwhatever else.
And it's like what, what wouldhappen if we had control of that
and we got to incorporategospel principles into our

(46:05):
companies and we got to blessother people, because we know
that we're really trying to oneshow Christlike love to all of
those that are connected withour business?
How would that change productsin the way that they're made?
How would it change the way theservices are given?
How would it change employeesrelationships Right, like, like.
We really can change so much bydoing something like this.

(46:29):
I'm not saying that this is theonly way to do it, right, like,
like.
You can do it no matter whatjob you're in, but I just love
that.
That's something that you'vetaken and you've incorporated
into this business and nowyou're teaching other people how
to do it and at the same time,it's just increasing the pie for
everybody, financially, likewith, with emotional stability,

(46:53):
with opportunity.
It's just, it's a beautifulthing and I feel like it's truly
in line with that, thatcommandment that they were given
in the garden of Eden, which isto multiply and replenish the
earth.

Amy Walker (47:04):
You know, not just about as you were talking about
this too.
I love Jacob too.
Jacob, chapter two, and I wantto read this this is what I
consider the formula forrighteous wealth creation, and I
want to read this this is whatI consider the formula for
righteous wealth creation.
And people always think ofverse 18 and they don't go on to
verse 19.

(47:25):
And you've got to go on toverse 19.
So, jacob, 2, 18, but before youseek for riches, seek ye for
the kingdom of God.
We always hear that right, butthey don't go on to 19.
And after you have obtained ahope in Christ, you shall obtain
riches.
If you seek them, and you willseek them for the intent to do
good, to clothe the naked, tofeed the hungry, to liberate the

(47:51):
captive and to administerrelief to the sick and the
afflicted.
It's not that we're notsupposed to seek for riches,
it's we're supposed to seek inorder.
And it doesn't say that afteryou have a perfect knowledge of
Christ or after you've beentranslated.
It says after you have a hopein Christ.
And so I look at the years ofour life when we were the most

(48:11):
financially struggling and howmuch of our capacity went to
things like stress and overwhelmand fear and doubt, and the
devil thrives in thatenvironment, right?
And then I look at the yearswhere we've had abundance and
we've had peace and we've hadplenty, and it's not that we
didn't still have stresses inour life, because money does not

(48:32):
reduce, it doesn't make youexempt from stress, but it does
allow you to focus outward andto be able to serve more in your
communities.
And so when I look at the worldtoday, we have the baby boomers
that are retiring.
In the next 10 years there willbe $10 trillion worth of

(48:53):
businesses that need totransition hands.
There's not enough peoplebuying those businesses and if
we lose those businesses that is, jobs that's a huge hit to the
economy.
And so when I think, who do wewant to be really wealthy before
the Savior comes?
I really want good people to bereally wealthy.

(49:14):
I want people who are going touse that wealth to, you know, do
exactly what we talk about inJacob to clothe the naked, to
feed the hungry, to liberate theprize, but to place money as
the vehicle for us being able toprepare for the second coming,

(49:47):
to get people ready so that whenwe get there, you know and I'm
not saying I'm not saying thatit's not going to be hard but,
like we have been promised inscriptures, that if we're
prepared, we need not fear, andthere are more businesses for
sale right now than there arepeople buying them.
So it's just a really wonderfulopportunity to have um, to set

(50:09):
ourselves up.
That we can.
You know, we can work hard nowwhile we can and while we have
the time, and we can build greatcompanies.
We can set up wonderful values,we can be amazing employers,
provide good service, workbusiness with integrity and good
values, and we can also buildwealth and we can do it in order

(50:33):
because we're following thoseprinciples.
I love those scriptures, butevery time someone stops at 18,
I'm like go on to 19.

Read more.

Amy Walker (50:43):
You're not done yet.

Yeah, it's hard to lift up people if you are on
the same level, and you know Ilove your ideas of really
empowering people and teachingthem so that they can lift
themselves up, so they can liftothers.

Yeah, it makes me think of the.
I don't know like a lot ofpeople have heard this quote
before, the Marion G Romneyquote that he says without
self-reliance one cannotexercise this innate desire to
serve.
How can we give if there'snothing there?
Food for the hungry cannot comefrom empty shelves, money to
assist the needy cannot comefrom an empty purse, teaching

(51:26):
cannot come from the unlearnedand, most important of all,
spiritual guidance cannot comefrom the spiritually weak.
And I think it's like it's oneof the beautiful things of this,
of this church specificallyright, and the way that it
incorporates the gospel into ourdaily lives, is that we have
been taught for literally aslong as I have been a member of

(51:48):
the church 30 years to worktowards self-reliance right, and
I don't think thatself-reliance honestly means
that you are completely relyingon somebody else, just because
they're your spouse, to be ableto live right, to manage Like

(52:12):
it's great to be and we shouldbe able to help each other out.
But at the same time, I feellike we're better off when we're
both able to really improve allareas of self-reliance you know
, like even down to like ouremotional health right, like
that's something that the churchhas been incorporating in their
programs recently is like healfrom your garbage.

(52:35):
You know what I mean Like.
Stop being so offended, garbage.
You know what I mean Like.
Stop being so offended.
Don't live in depression andanxiety and fear and and um,
don't play small right Like thatdoes not serve the world, it
doesn't serve the kingdom of God, it doesn't serve you or your
family or anyone else to stay inthese ruts and to stay in these
situations where you'reconstantly asking everybody else

(52:58):
to take care of you.
You know, and and I think thateven goes as wives too right
Like I, I've always been a bigbeliever that once my kids were
out of the house, this is what,this is my plan.
Once the kids were out of thehouse, I was going to go back to
work, right, like once theywere all gone.
And then it kind of changedlike well, maybe when they're in

(53:18):
school full time, and then weended up homeschooling, so that,
yeah, but, um, but I do.
I think that the moreself-reliant we are, the more
opportunities we have to blessothers and to and to share that
Christlike love.
Just like you were saying, ifyou're not stressing out about
money and the necessities oflife, you're actually able to,

(53:41):
like, think bigger and have agreater perspective, and you're
able to see the needs of otherpeople more clearly and not only
just see them and feel bad forthem, but see them and help them
.
You know, and that's like themost amazing feeling ever is
being like it's fine, I'm likeheavenly father's got me, he's
going to make everything workout and I get to help people in
the process.

Amy Walker (54:03):
And one of the things that I have loved over
the years of working with,because I, you know, I've been
working in the small businessgrowth space for a long time Um,
even before helping people buybusinesses, that's what I was
doing was consulting withcompanies and helping them grow.
And it's been amazing.
When you take a really valuecentered and I don't want to
just say Christ centered,because, um, you know, I've met

(54:23):
people of other faiths as wellwho they're, like their faith
centered individuals, and whenyou take them, you help them
create a business where nowtheir needs are met, because I
truly think most people spendlike 80, 90% of their capacity
just trying to meet their basicneeds.
And so when you get them to thepoint where, like, their needs

(54:43):
are met, then what comes next isso exciting, and that's where
you watch them step intophilanthropy and they go and
start solving the problems intheir communities and in the
world and they do amazing things.
And so I've watched my clientsget to that point with their
business where they're like, oh,now our needs are met, okay,

(55:05):
what comes next?
And then they go startnonprofits in Haiti and they're
doing humanitarian work andthey're paying for wells and
water in Africa, which is apersonal passion of mine,
because when you get wells inAfrica, you also get girls that
go to school.
And in developing nations, everydollar that a woman earns, 80

(55:28):
cents of that goes back intobuilding her community.
So if you can get the girls inschool, you can then get the you
know you can then get thembuilding up the next community.
So, like for me, so much startswith a well you know you get.
Then get them building up thenext community.
So, like for me, so much startswith a well, you know, you get
a well, and all of a suddenyou're you're on a very
different trajectory for yourcommunity.
So those are the types ofthings that when I, when I see

(55:50):
us get to that point where weare no longer so consumed with
meeting our own personal needs,now we can look beyond and we
can say how can I help and howcan I serve and what can I do
and what can I build in mycommunity.
And that is a really beautifulplace to be.
And it doesn't mean that wecan't do that when we're still
in a place of scarcity, becauseI've seen some amazing people

(56:13):
start nonprofits that do a lotof good and I know their needs
are not all met right, but it'sjust a little easier.
It's a little easier, it's alittle smoother.
And so, again, you look atMother Teresa.
Mother Teresa was amazing atwealth creation.
She just channeled it all toother people.

(56:34):
But that woman raised a lot ofmoney in her life and she did a
lot of good with it.
And so I think that, as membersof the church, um, for us to
really uh and I, I don't know,I'm not going to say this is the
past path for everyone, um, butif, if we have people who are
listening and they feel likethey're in that place of
financial struggle and theydon't know what comes next, I

(56:57):
would just prayerfully ask theLord what he wants you to do in
order to open up the windows ofheaven, because that's another
promise that we've been given inscripture is that the Lord is
willing to bless us with so muchabundance that we don't have
enough room to receive it.
And if that's not where we'reat right now and that's not what
we have, then I think that's agood time to go and be prayerful

(57:19):
and ask the Lord.
You know, what do we need to doin order to align with that.
And I remember being in thatprocess where we were super poor
, we were super strapped andbarely getting by and really
having a repentance conversation, because I kept telling myself
I'm doing the best I can, we'redoing the best we can, we're
doing the best we can.

(57:40):
And then I finally got to thispoint where I was like you know
what Actually I'm not, I'mliving in fear constantly and
I'm constantly seeingopportunities for things that I
could do, but saying no to thembecause they're terrifying.
And so I repented and I waslike let me use the atonement
for my finances and repent forall of the mistakes that I've
made, whether they were justdumb financial moves or whether

(58:03):
they were me being too scared togo after the thing.
It's like when you're prayingfor something and then the Lord
puts it right in front of youand you're like no, thank you,
give me it in a different way.
I was doing a lot of that.
The opportunities were coming,but I was not taking them
because I was scared.
And so I utilized the atonementfor that.
And I remember having thismoment where we were on a youth

(58:27):
conference trip and they weregoing to bury, you know, and
then they went and buried it inthe ground.
And what I wrote on mine wasliving below my potential, that
I was going to bury that.
And I was going to say, youknow, just like the in the Book

(58:50):
of Mormon, they buried theirweapons of war, right, and they
were like we are never goingback to this place again and I
buried that.
I was like I'm going to buryliving below my potential.
I don't even know what mypotential looks like, but when
you show me something that youwant me to do, I'm going to jump
in and I'm going to trust thatyou're going to help me rise up
to the occasion.
And that was a real turningpoint for me in my business and

(59:11):
my career and my life.
And I'm not saying that 100% ofthe time I'm living at my
potential, because potential isunlimited.
I'm probably always living alittle below it, but I no longer
allow fear to be the thing thatmakes the decisions and drives
my car.
Fear can sit in the back seat,it can be in the trunk, but it
does not get to drive.

(59:31):
It's the Lord and inspirationand what his path is for me that
I'm like okay, I'm doing that,I'm going to do it to the best
of my ability, I'm going to lethim make up the differences.
I'm going to cry when I fallflat on my face.
Then I'm going to get over it.
I'm going to try, wow, wow.

Well, let me ask you how?
How has this path, how do youfeel like it's helped your
relationship with the Lord?
How do you feel?

Amy Walker (59:58):
like it's helped your relationship with the Lord.
We talk a lot and we are somuch closer because he's my
business partner and so I won'tsay necessarily every day, but
most days we're having goodconversations where I am writing
down everything that's going onin life and in business and I'm

(01:00:18):
asking the questions of what amI supposed to do with this,
what should this look like?
And he is guiding my footsteps,he's guiding my path, and so we
talk a lot.
I frequently feel like I amfalling short and I am
frequently asking for him tomake up the difference and

(01:00:40):
that's the beautiful thing aboutthe atonement versus just
personal development.
You know, personal developmentis you trying to change and be
better.
The atonement is yousurrendering your weakest parts
so that the Lord can make themstrong.
And I've seen that show up inmy life and in my career so many
times and like my every, everything that you would look at

(01:01:01):
from the outside and say, wow,that's successful.
Um, I could find you a day insome journal when the Lord gave
that idea.
So I feel like it's more, morehis business than it is mine and
I just, I just try to do.
I try to do what he tells me todo as fast as I possibly can I

(01:01:22):
love that.

Scott Brandley (01:01:22):
That's awesome.
I've never I mean I've been anentrepreneur since I was like
five I've never had the thoughtthat God is my business partner,
until you just said it.

Alisha Coakley (01:01:33):
Right, I love that, I love that.

That's like just changed my whole mentality.
I'm going to totally bring Godinto my business as my partner
man.
Thank you for that little.
I don't know if that was likeinspiration or not, but that's
going to be amazing.
That's so funny, it's the samething.

That just stuck out to me too.

Amy Walker (01:01:55):
I was like I love that he's such a good business
partner too.
Like I'm telling you it makeslife way easier.
Because sometimes you're juststuck out to me too.
I was like I love that he'ssuch a good business partner too
.
Like I'm telling you it makeslife way easier.
Because sometimes you're like Idon't know how to get to this
thing Truly don't know how toget there.
And then you turn it over tothe Lord and you're like okay,
can I put you in charge of that?
And then all of a sudden itmagically comes together and
you're like great, I'll takethat, save me a few months.

Yeah, I wrote it down.

Sorry, go ahead.

I just said I wrote that down because I'm
going to make that part of my mybusiness from now on.

So thank, you for that.
I love it when I left you howyou mentioned that you use the
atonement for all of your badfinancial decisions and mistakes
and and your ignorance in itand stuff like that.
Cause I I feel like that's onething that I carry on me all the
time and that even like myhusband too right, Like my
husband's always been the saverand I've always been the spender

(01:02:49):
and he he likes to really bringup all of the ways that I
didn't make sense when it cameto finances and stuff like that,
and and I beat myself up for ittoo.
So I love that, Like I've nevereven considered that a sin.
But in reality, if the Lord isgiving us everything and it's
our responsibility to be goodstewards with what we're given

(01:03:11):
and we're not, either because wedon't choose to educate
ourselves, or because we makepoor decisions based on that
instant gratification bug thatbites us all the time, or
whatever it is, or even maybeyou know, not following the
spirit or not taking it to theLord and counseling with him as
your business partner.
Yeah, I just I've neverconsidered using the atonement

(01:03:32):
for that, so it's something I'mI'm going to do it.

I think we barely scratched the surface with our
understanding of the atonementand how powerful it is as a
change agent.
And so I remember being incollege and listening to Elder
Eyring said he used theatonement every day and I was
like what does he do every day?
Like I only need to repentevery week?

(01:03:59):
And I just I didn't understandthat is, that is the Lord's plan
for helping us to become morelike him.
It's how we ease our burdens,it's how we, um, strengthen our
shortcomings.
It's like that is the plan, andso, um, I I just think it is so
much more far reaching thansometimes we give it credit.

You're incredible, amy.
I'm so happy that you're like aperson in my life now.
Well, thank you, I've learnedso much from you.
I feel like I'm foreverindebted.
I owe you so much.
I really appreciate that Atdinner, hey, hey, I'll give you
a free venue if your son wantsto come have his reception in
Lubbock, texas yeah, I mean heserved his mission in Dallas.

He might not be so so sad about that.

Oh man, is there anything that you'd like to
share, as we kind of wrap thingsup here, I guess my advice to
everyone would be share, as wekind of wrap things up here.

I guess my advice to everyone would be to trust that
the Lord has a very clear andspecific path for your life and
when you have moments where youfeel like you are adhering to
the covenants that you made inthe temple, you have been
listening to personalinspiration and from the outside
in, it might look like you'reoff track.
That's not the Lord telling youthat.
That's the adversary trying tomake you doubt the Lord's plan

(01:05:28):
for you, because he does have aclear and specific plan for each
of us, and there are so manyways that you can be an amazing
wife, an amazing mother, anamazing husband, an amazing
father, an amazing disciple ofJesus Christ.
There's a lot of different waysand there really is room in the
gospel for all of us.
There's room at the Savior'sfeet, and so go, sit there and

(01:05:49):
learn and he will talk with youand he will teach you and he
will guide you on your best path.

I love it, Wow.
Well, for those who areinterested whether they want to
reach out to you, um, knowingabout, like, the next time
you're going to speak or give afireside, or if they're wanting
you to be on their podcast, orthey want to, uh, reach out to
you about the exit school whatis the best way for for people

(01:06:17):
to get in touch with you?
Uh probably just through email.

Okay, yeah, I would say just email me, amy, at the
exit schoolcom.
Um, and if you want to go checkout the web, the website it's
just the exit schoolcom.
But I would love to um help andserve any way I can.

Okay, awesome, we'll make sure that we share
that link in the description foryou and um, I can just vouch
it's.
You're incredible.
I've seen nothing but, goodnesscome from you and from the
things that you touch, and I Ijust love that you're sharing
your light with the world, sothank you.

I appreciate you having me on and giving me a
chance.
Normally I just get to talkbusiness, but it was really a
joy to talk business andspirituality at the same time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah .

I feel like our lives are just a little better
today because of you and becauseof this podcast, and I believe
that this is going to helpinspire a lot of people, so
thank you for taking the time tobe on today, really, appreciate
it, you're welcome.

All right.
Well, that's all we have forguests today.
Guys, make sure that youcomment.
Let us know what you loved mostabout this.
Uh, this episode today aboutAmy's story and and just the
million of little nuggets thatshe gave us.
I I tell Scott all the time weneed to start selling bumper
stickers with the things thatour guests are saying and I feel
like we would have make afortune off of your episode.

(01:07:43):
You gave us so many good things, but really honestly, guys, to
our listeners, we are soappreciative of you guys chiming
in here and being patient withus as we learn and grow and
develop and become better, andwe love hearing feedback about
our guests and about the storiesand the way that they have been
able to touch your life.

(01:08:03):
So please, please, please,comment and let us know what you
thought of Amy's episode todayand the things that meant
something to you, and do yourfive-second missionary work.
Share, share, share.
We love when you hit thatlittle share button.
It takes no time at all and youhave no idea how the Lord will
use it to get in contact withthe person who needs to have it

(01:08:23):
the most in their life at thistime.

So be sure to do that and we'll be forever
appreciative yeah, and if youhave a story that you'd like to
share on our show, go tolatterdaylightscom and let us
know about it so we can have youon the show as well.
So once again, amy, thanks forbeing here and thanks everybody

(01:08:45):
for tuning in, and we will talkto you next week with another
episode of Latter-day Lights.
Until then, take care, see ya.

Bye guys.

All Episodes

When Life Changes Your Plans – Facing Trials With Faith: Amy Walker's Story - Latter-Day Lights

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

24/7 News: The Latest

Therapy Gecko

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}When Life Changes Your Plans – Facing Trials With Faith: Amy Walker's Story - Latter-Day Lights