July 15, 2025 • 48 mins
In this episode of The One Pebble Podcast, Kristine and Elsie talk to Alita Reynolds, President of Women of Faith. Learn how a crumbling life led to an incredible ministry. If you've ever had the thought that you're not enough, or you're too far gone, then this is for you.
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Kristine (00:04):
This is the One Pebble Podcast.
I'm your host, Kristine.
Welcome to the One PebblePodcast.
Listeners, it is my great honortoday and with my daughter and
co-host Elsie Duininck, KristineFladeboe-Duininck, today we
(00:24):
have a brand new friend to Elsieand I, someone that we've
admired from afar for a long,long time, doing amazing things
for God's kingdom.
And we're so excited to haveher on the podcast today, to
learn more about her, to hearher heart, to hear what God is
(00:45):
doing in her life, and just weare excited about her sharing,
and she's making a tremendousdifference in the lives of
others.
To you, the listeners, we'revery excited to have Alita
Reynolds.
She is the president of Womenof Faith, host of the Alita
Reynolds Show, a certifiedmaster Christian life coach, and
(01:06):
a sought-after trainer andspeaker.
She and her husband, G.J., arethe visionaries of Women of
Faith, a global ministryequipping women to live
victoriously with Jesus.
She lives in Nebraska and hasthree adult children.
Alita, thank you.
We're honored.
Alita (01:25):
Welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me on.
This is going to be good.
How long do we have?
Two or three hours?
I think there's going to beplenty to talk about today.
Yes, we could talk for sixhours or six days.
Let's do it.
Kristine (01:38):
Let's do it.
Alita.
You have a really big heart.
And what I'd love for you tofirst do is share with us your
story.
Start from when you were alittle girl and share only what
you're comfortable with.
But we'd love to learn about,you know, who is the heart of
Alita?
(01:58):
What was Alita like as a child?
What was growing up like?
And take us from being a childto where you currently are
today.
Tell us your story.
Alita (02:08):
I grew up right here outside of Lincoln, Nebraska.
At a very young age, at age 18,I ended up getting pregnant and
(02:33):
ended up marrying the man thatI was dating.
And we ended up having threebeautiful children.
And unfortunately, after 10years, we ended up getting a
divorce.
And it was a really, reallydifficult time in my life.
It was rock bottom for me.
I ended up moving back in to myparents' house.
(02:54):
when I got divorced and I losteverything.
I lost my job.
I lost my marriage.
I lost my car.
I lost my house.
And it was a...
horrible and in hindsight, abeautiful thing because I was
living a life that the Lord hadnot planned for me.
(03:16):
And I had gotten so far off thecourse that he had planned for
me that he says, okay, I'm goingto pull you all the way back
home and we're going to startthis over.
And at that point, I started mylife over and it was not easy,
but I feel like that's when Ireally found the Lord and
started having a realrelationship with Jesus.
(03:38):
And then back in 2011, myhusband, G.J., and I got
married, and now we have beenmarried for 13 years.
And we have a beautifulmarriage and have been able to
raise up our children.
And the thing that I think thatis really beautiful is that
(04:01):
G.J.
and I's marriage, Jesus is atthe center, and we always hope
that people see that.
And About eight years ago, wehad the opportunity to purchase
Women of Faith, and it was notsomething that we had ever
thought of doing.
We never thought we would be inministry, and I had done a lot
(04:21):
of administrative work.
I had just not been in anythingthat was communicating for the
Lord.
And so it was a great honor,but it was really, really
difficult because we just hadn'tbeen in that space, in that
world.
But I'm so thankful for thatshift, huge shift in my life,
(04:44):
because we were in aorganization.
We were doing really well tothe world's standards.
We had a lot of worldly successin what we were doing before,
and we At the end of the day, Istill looked at G.J.
and I'm like, is this seriouslyall I'm going to do with my
life?
Is this all that I'm called todo?
And so we were taken out ofthat organization and we.
(05:09):
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
All the glory goes to Him.
(05:42):
We have no idea what all He'sgoing to do for us, but we just
want to be loyal to His callingand be faithful and obedient to
Him.
Kristine (05:53):
What a beautiful story.
And thank you, Alita, forsaying yes to the call.
God often has a sense of humorand you would have never
believed the path that he wouldhave you and GJ on today.
But you also had to listen tothose nudgings and you had to
(06:14):
put your courage ahead of yourfear and say yes to leading this
organization.
Tell us more about the AlitaThank you.
Alita (06:53):
Yeah, so when we took over Women of Faith, I knew
right when we took over that Iwas supposed to have a show.
Well...
I had honestly no interest indoing a show.
I did not feel qualified.
And I love the quote, God didnot call the qualified.
He qualifies the called.
(07:13):
And I will say it took me yearsto actually believe that quote
because I did not feel qualifiedto do anything communicating
publicly at all.
And yet he just continued togive me what I needed day in and
day out, month after month,year after year.
We'll be right back.
(07:36):
Again, not sure why he washaving me be a life coach
because, again, I did not feelqualified for that.
But I just went on this journeyof learning how to help other
women, asking good questions andhelping them live a life of
(08:00):
freedom for the Lord.
So I developed the show.
I developed my coachingpractice.
And little by little, we landedon the Alita Reynolds Show.
And in the past, I had beeninterviewing people and having
wonderful conversations withfriends, with people who are in
(08:20):
ministry, people who arecreating films.
And that was and still iswonderful.
And currently, he has me onthis path of sitting down and
sharing my what are some of thethings that have worked for me
through a coaching lens?
I don't really talk about thefact that I am a coach all that
much because I just want peopleto hear my heart and what has
(08:43):
worked, the lessons that I'velearned.
And when I talk about thethings that are working and how
I've come into a hope and prayeris always that I can just share
what's worked for me and thatit can be something that can be
encouraging to others.
Our mission is for women toexperience a deeper relationship
(09:06):
with Jesus.
We just want women to livevictoriously because that is
what Jesus Christ came for, isfor us to live an abundant life.
And we do not have to live whatI call the circle of crazy.
You don't have to live justgoing around and around and
around being in chaos andconfusion.
You can live a life of freedom.
So I talk about living on theroad to freedom.
(09:27):
So I just wanna be the girlnext door that I can share
what's worked, and we do thatthrough our Women of Faith
ministry.
We have over 5 millioncommunity members across the
world that just have a heart forJesus, and I hope that they,
because of what I'm able toshare with them, can experience
(09:48):
a deeper relationship with Him.
That's really my heart.
I have three things that I liketo talk about.
Spiritual strength, that's likea given.
Clearly, deep relationship withJesus, and I want to show
people and disciple them in howto do that.
We talk a lot about realrelationships.
For me, real relationships hasbeen something that does not
(10:12):
come easily for me.
And I have had to learn how tohave real relationships.
And that has been a huge partof my ministry, my experience,
the struggles.
And then the third pillar thatwe really focus on is life
leadership.
Life leadership is literallyjust living a life of example,
(10:32):
living a life for the Lord,doing well in all areas of life.
I think it's so important forus to be emotionally, mentally,
physically, financially Wow.
Your passion and your
Kristine (10:54):
joy.
I can feel your joy, hear yourjoy.
And thank you for thedifference that you're making.
And again, saying yes to thatcall.
I want to talk a little bitabout what's currently in your
heart, Alita.
Elsie, what's currently in yourheart?
What is God teaching both ofyou at this time?
(11:18):
And I can share as well, butElsie, why don't we start with
you?
What is God teaching you?
I first
Elsie (11:27):
wanted to just follow up a little with what you shared.
Something that I love about youis you're just hands open and
you're saying, I never startedthis journey as an expert.
And I think that that's superencouraging for us.
My mom had prayed aboutstarting a podcast like six
years ago, but we all know thatneither of us are an expert at
(11:47):
this.
As well as people my age, I'm23 years old, to be able to be
vulnerable, share your story,walk in the way God has called
you to, but sharing with othersthat you're not an expert,
something that That actuallycame to mind through a book I'm
reading currently.
It's called Waiting is Not aWaste by Mark Vrogop.
(12:09):
And it's been one of the mostimpactful books I've ever read,
probably because the topic isextremely niche and that the
topic of waiting is brought upin the Bible a lot, especially
in the Psalms, a little bit inIsaiah.
But he starts out the book bybeing extremely honest that he's
(12:31):
not an expert at waiting ornot.
Five tips.
This is how you get better.
This is how you get closer tothe Lord through it.
But saying that this is astruggle of mine and we're going
to learn about it together.
So I loved what you shared justwith your own journey that like
you never really did feelqualified, but you kept walking
in the way God had for you.
(12:51):
And so wanted to follow up onthat.
But yes, something that I havebeen learning currently is just
how much God talks about weightin the Bible and how much good
comes from being patient andknowing that God has something
for you and waiting.
He shares so many examples.
(13:12):
One of the things is thatAbraham and Sarah waited 25
years for Isaac to be born andhow God promised an entire
nation to come from them andthey waited so long even just to
have the first generation ofthat nation and then he asked
him to sacrifice Isaac so Ithink throughout all of this
(13:35):
it's God wanting us to bedependent on him and a lot about
growing into what he wants forus as an individual before we
have the job we want, themarriage we want whatever we're
looking towards for us to becomemore like him in the waiting.
So I would encourage you toread that book.
(13:56):
It's been really good.
And also just have a mentalflag come up when you see the
word wait in the Bible, becauseso many positive attributes go
along with that.
It is good for those who waitfor the Lord.
I know there's just variousPsalms.
Those who wait for him shallrenew their strength.
(14:16):
They will run and not growweary.
They will walk and not befaint.
So I've really, really beenlearning about that.
I could share more about whatthat's like in your 20s.
It's a little crazy because youare looking forward to, you
know, the dream job.
You're looking forward togrowing a family, anything and
(14:37):
everything.
But I think you can enjoy itmuch more when you just take in
where you're currently at andwait well, use the waiting well
by just being hands open andknowing that it's good.
Alita (14:51):
Elsie, I just want to respond to what you just said
real quick.
I wish I would have been ableto read that book in my 20s.
You know, I look at this younggeneration, your generation, and
I'm just so proud of...
How mature in Christ you areand how you're like, okay, I
(15:13):
know that I don't have toperform like the world tries to
teach us.
I think that's one of thethings I have had to unlearn for
so long is I don't have tostrive.
I don't have to perform.
I don't have to try to forge myown path.
And waiting on the Lord is...
Bottom line, that is theanswer.
We like to think that theLord's going to give us what we
(15:36):
want in days or months or evenyears.
And what I have learned is thatthe Lord works more in decades
than He does in the short, evenyears.
And so I'm so thankful that theLord is showing you that now in
these younger years and livinga God-honoring life because you
have that in place as afoundational belief in your
(15:58):
life.
Elsie (16:00):
Oh, thank you.
That means the world.
And I'm humbled to hear thatfrom you.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Alita (16:07):
You know, I have a small group at church that we're
working on a curriculum.
It's called Freedom.
And Wednesday night, We talkedabout forgiveness, and
forgiveness has been a hugejourney in my life after my
divorce and just a lot of reallydifficult things.
(16:31):
I had held on to unforgivenessof others, and I had held on to
unforgiveness of myself for avery long time, years, years,
years.
spiritual mentor came to me andshe said, Alita, you will never
go where the Lord has you to goif you hold on to this
unforgiveness.
And in fact, when you findforgiveness, it will be part of
(16:54):
your ministry.
And I just got it.
Forgiveness, I am in completeforgiveness in my life toward
myself, towards others.
And As I shared my storyWednesday night with just a
(17:15):
small group of women, Iremembered how much freedom and
victory I am able to live inbecause I have been able to
forgive.
And so the Lord commands us toforgive others as he forgives us
and for us to forgiveourselves.
And I think that's somethingthat has created so much
(17:38):
gratitude for I've justliterally spent the last two
days being so grateful that theLord has given me this complete
forgiveness, that because He hastransformed me, because He has
renewed my mind, because He hascommanded me to forgive, that I
am able to live in freedom andabundance because of it.
(17:59):
And I get emotional not becausethe forgiveness is hard,
because it is, not because I hadto go through all of that,
which was hard.
But I get emotional because I'mso very grateful.
So if there's anybody listeningright now and you're living in
unforgiveness, I'll just saythis.
(18:20):
If he can do it for me, he cando it for you.
And you can live with completeforgiveness, not just of others.
Because I think it's almost,I'll speak for myself.
It was easier for me to forgiveother people than it was for me
to forgive myself.
And when I was able to to alignmy life with what the Bible
(18:43):
says, the truth, that I cancompletely forgive myself
because God has forgiven me, mylife completely changed.
a life of freedom andabundance.
And I said this earlier, butthat is what Jesus Christ came
for, is to give us a life ofabundance.
And we have the opportunity tolive victoriously.
We don't have to live a lifethat is held into the bondage of
(19:07):
unforgiveness.
We have the opportunity tobreak free from that
forevermore.
Kristine (19:13):
Alita, that's beautiful.
I want to go back to when yourlife was falling apart.
And it's easy.
The story is beautiful.
Your story telling it today isbeautiful.
But for people that arelistening and their life in a
small way or a big way isfalling apart.
(19:36):
What you've learned today aboutforgiveness, and I'm sure this
was a process with the Lord, butwhat would you say to people in
those dark days if you had itto do over as far as when you
were climbing out of thedarkness and the brokenness with
Christ and In listening to yourshow, it took you a long time
(19:58):
to forgive yourself.
What would you say today, ifyou could do it over, what would
you do differently?
Alita (20:06):
So when I was still in the depths of sin, when I was
facing sin and I was notrepenting, I was not turning
from it, I was sitting in theback pew of our church on a
Wednesday night.
The kids were running aroundand having Wednesday night
church.
And the Lord said to me, hesaid, come to me, I'm all you
(20:28):
need.
And I didn't know what to dowith that.
I didn't know how to get out ofthe mess that I had created for
myself.
I was entangled in it.
I didn't know how to get out.
And like I said, he pulled mefrom that life.
I did not voluntarily removemyself from that lifestyle.
(20:53):
He pulled me from it.
And my encouragement to anybodylistening would be if you are
in a life of sin, unforgiveness,something that is not in
alignment with the Lord, myencouragement to you is to have
the strength.
Find truth tellers around you.
(21:13):
Find the people that are goingto give you godly wisdom and
leadership to help you get outof the mess that you are
currently in.
Because The Lord loves you somuch.
Your heavenly father loves youso much that at some point, like
he did me, he disciplined meand he said, we're not going to
(21:35):
live this life anymore, Alita.
I have plans for you.
And I think we all have tobelieve that God has really
great, big plans for us.
And he disciplined me and hesaid, okay, we're going to start
over.
And so my encouragement toanybody who is dealing with this
is, is come to me, I'm all youneed.
That is what the Lord istelling you right now through my
(21:58):
voice.
Come to me, I'm all you need.
That is what the Lord istelling you right this second.
And you do not have to continueliving the life that you've
been in.
You have an opportunity tobreak free from that.
And he has the plans andpurposes.
You're called.
You're anointed.
You are a 10.
That's what I always remindpeople.
(22:19):
You are a 10 in God's eyes.
You aren't too far gone.
You don't have to cleanyourself up before you go to
God.
You have the opportunity tocome right to him and start
living a life.
It may be difficult.
It may be painful.
But it will be worth it.
Elsie (22:34):
I have a couple things because that was so good and oh
man I'm just gonna go in orderof how they came to mind
otherwise I'll forget a few butthat reminds me of the verse
that his divine power has givenyou everything you need to
destroy strongholds and that'sbeen really significant to me in
my life which I'm sure I'llhave an opportunity to share at
(22:55):
some point but I love what yousaid that it literally wasn't
like voluntary on your end itwas like him pulling you and I
think sometimes people can'tcomprehend that because we live
in a society that's independentand it's effort and it's you you
sleep in the bed that you madefor yourself but I really know
(23:18):
that that's God's heart and it'ssuper cool that you can share
that but another thing that cameto mind is like the way you
talk about your story and theway you talk about other
believers listeners people thatare in that position I can just
tell you spend a lot of dailytime with Jesus because you're
exuding so much about hischaracter and his love for
(23:39):
people.
And what does that look likefor you with having your own
show and being in a career thatkind of requires you to be
somewhat vulnerable?
And your actual story and yourmistakes are your ministry.
And so how do you recharge withGod so that you can keep giving
(23:59):
out and keep sharing from suchan authentic place?
Alita (24:04):
I heard one time, and this really stuck with me, the
busier your day is, the earlieryou need to get up and be more
prepared than ever for that day.
And it's not just about theday, it's about your life.
And so I am committed tospending a significant amount of
my time with the Lord becausewe have the responsibility as
(24:28):
people who are ministering toothers that we When I'm
ministering to others, myprivate life better look the
same as it does publicly.
I am responsible to the Lord,and I don't want to be anything
out of alignment.
And so it looks like a lot oftime sitting in my front room in
(24:50):
my blue chair with Bibles andjournals and spending a lot of
time in worship is and beinginvolved in my local church and
having godly friends, spiritualmentors, conversations about
what God is doing in my life.
I've had these conversationsbefore.
I talk about this a lot becauseI need to talk about it a lot
(25:15):
to get it straight in my soul,in my spirit, and in my mind.
I have to have it what isactually happening here and Does
it align with truth?
I don't want to say anythingthat is out of alignment with
the truth.
And so being in God's word andpraying for him to give me the
(25:36):
right words is imperative.
And it is a significant amountof time.
It is spending time with himfor hours and hours.
And sometimes I will say,sometimes I feel like I'm not
getting a lot done.
I'm like, I just sat here in myblue chair for three hours this
morning and And I think that'sexactly what the Lord needs me
(26:00):
to do because I want to goperform.
I want to go strive.
My natural tendency, I want togo strive.
I want to go perform.
I want to go show everybody howmuch I can do.
And the Lord has worked thatout of me so much already.
This is what I do.
I do women of faith ministry,and this is what I have to offer
(26:23):
the world.
And in order for that to beauthentic, in order for that to
be true, in order for it toimpact others, the number one
thing I have to do is to loveGod and know God.
And the Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
(26:44):
I
Elsie (26:58):
love it.
It's just so authentic.
And we don't want to get intowhat other people are doing
that's distracting or too much.
But I think so many ministersare worried about programs.
They're worried about content.
And when you just keep it thatsimple, love God.
and love others, you can do somuch from right there.
And people also see it as thislike very rare authenticity that
(27:21):
I don't think you see fromothers.
So it's super, super special.
Kristine (27:26):
And Alita, I'll say that I can just tell that you
are being still with the Lord asto what else he talked about.
And you're very much listeningto him.
That's an encouragement to allof us.
You have put tremendous purposebehind pain.
You put that right to work forChrist and his kingdom.
You are walking out yourcalling.
(27:48):
You're just walking it rightout.
You are living out your faith.
And something for all of us ashumans, We all struggle.
Every one of us has bigstruggles, small struggles, but
we just struggle.
And life is beautiful andjoyful at times.
(28:09):
And that's the goal is to havepeace in the Lord and joy in the
Lord.
And he's our strength.
But life is hard.
And we all struggle inlistening to your show.
And by the way, I'm amazed.
I mean, Alita, you haveinterviewed king and country.
You You listeners, go to theAlita Reynolds show.
(28:32):
You will be knocked off yoursocks.
You'll listen to one of herinterviews and then you'll go to
the movie theater and you'll belike, oh, my gosh, I just
listened to Alita interviewingthese people.
And Alita, you just oozehumbleness.
And I so appreciate it.
the character and heart behindwho you are.
But there's two shows that Ispecifically want to talk about
(28:55):
today because they wereimpactful to me.
Men, women, children, elderly,all of us struggle.
And in your show, you areenough.
I think what is a battle for alot of people is, and you
battled it yourself, isbelieving that you are enough.
(29:18):
And we do have to go throughthose steps of forgiveness with
the Lord and repentance and allthose things.
But going back to you areenough, We want to listen to
you.
Just speak to us again andremind people they're enough.
What does that look like?
(29:38):
What does that feel like whenpeople are in the struggle and
their heart is hurting in pain?
And I think so often we getstuck, but how do you get past
that for God's purposes?
How do people believe andaccept and receive the love and
forgiveness of Christ that theyare enough?
Alita (29:59):
Yeah.
So the thing that I think wehave to start out with is we
aren't enough.
We are enough because Christ isalive in you.
When Christ enters your life,then we are enough.
Because Christ is alive in you,you are enough.
You aren't enough in your ownself.
The only way to be good enoughis to let God make you good
(30:22):
enough.
And so I always like to prefacethis conversation through that.
Because Christ lives in you,because you have made Jesus your
Lord and Savior over your life,because you are a disciple of
him, because you are living thelife that he wants for you, you
are enough.
Romans 8.10 says, And Christlives within you, so even though
(30:44):
your body will die because ofsin, the Spirit gives you life
because you have been maderight.
And I think for me, not beinggood enough, I didn't think that
I had enough strengths.
I didn't think I had enough ofanything in my life.
(31:06):
I didn't have enough education.
I became a mother too young.
I lost everything.
I've had things that I amabsolutely...
not proud of, of the thingsI've done in the past.
So how do I sit here withoutany shame, without any
(31:28):
condemnation in me?
And it's because of Jesus.
And so you are enough becauseJesus makes you enough.
And I always have to remindmyself that the Lord has a plan
and purpose for me Before wewere created in our mother's
womb, I'm not sure, I think it'sin Jeremiah somewhere.
Excuse me.
(31:48):
I think Jeremiah, but also inPsalms.
Before we were created in ourmother's womb, the Lord knew
exactly what he had for us.
And he gave you unique talents.
He gave you unique giftings.
He gave you a grace upon yourlife.
I mean...
so often we go looking into theworld, trying to find places
(32:09):
where we are enough or wherewe're good enough or where we're
going to be accepted.
And then we finally realizethat the hope of the world is
Jesus Christ.
The solid foundation that westand on is Jesus.
It isn't what the world tellsus.
It isn't how we can perform.
It isn't because we have thesetalents and strengths that
matter to the world, but it'sWhat the Lord has us doing.
(32:31):
And so I think for me, one ofthe things that I had to learn,
a lot of things, I had to learna lot of things, but one of the
things I had to learn was to notmeasure myself or compare
myself to others.
And when I knew that...
When I understood that there'splenty of amazingness in me,
(32:54):
there's plenty of amazingness inKristine, there's plenty of
amazingness in Elsie.
When I understood that the bodyof Christ was to work together,
a thumb is not supposed to dowhat a kidney is supposed to do.
And the body of Christ, Elsie'scall, Kristine's call, my call
are all different.
And when I understood that Idon't have to look like her or
(33:17):
do the things that she does orhave Whatever talent that she
has, when I finally realize thatI could be who I am and live
into an authentic way of beingwho I am, then I'm doing what is
pleasing to him.
I don't have to try to comparemyself or compare.
mimic somebody else.
(33:39):
So I know I just threw out alot of different things there,
but for me, it was getting thatall the identity of Christ,
getting myself to understandwhat he has for me instead of
aligning with the enemy.
The enemy steals, kills, anddestroys.
(33:59):
through relationship, throughcomparison.
The enemy stole many years ofmy life because of comparison.
And so when I finally came backinto an alignment with the Lord
and with what this Bible says,right?
What this Bible says, when Ibelieved it, truly believed it
(34:20):
in my heart, Then I knew that Iwas good enough or I was enough
because Christ was alive in meand I could go out and do what
he was calling me to do.
And I'll just say one finalthing.
One of the things that I had tolearn in ministry was I don't
have to sound like her.
I don't have to look like her.
I don't have to be able to praylike her.
(34:41):
I don't have to be able to dothe movements like her, whatever
it is.
Because the Lord will have eachof us connect with the right
people to have an impact onthem, and it's exactly what they
need.
So we are actually withholdingsomething that people need when
(35:05):
we are not our true, authenticselves in Christ.
And that is my encouragement toanybody.
If you try to be somebody else,if you try to be something that
the Lord didn't give you, Wow.
Just take that weight off yourshoulders and lay it down and
say, I'm going to be exactly theway the Lord wants me to
because I hear the voice of God,because I know how he's
(35:27):
speaking to me.
I'm going to do exactly whathe's calling me to do instead of
what somebody else is doing andtry to look or sound like her.
Kristine (35:37):
I love that.
Another show that I love ofyours on the Alita Reynolds show
(36:03):
is the show titled You Are aTen in God's Eyes.
And I don't know if you haveused these words or not, but
something that I've oftenthought of is, you know, what
story are we telling ourselves?
We all wake up every day andwe're And so.
(36:23):
Yeah.
We have to remind ourselves,myself equally, what story am I
telling myself?
Do I have confidence in Christ?
(36:44):
Am I trusting in him?
And do I actually believe thatI'm a 10 in God's eyes?
And so I'm excited to hear yourheart and to hear you share
more about that because yourwords behind that, what you
remind us of is so beautiful.
Elsie, I can tell you want tosay something.
(37:04):
You go ahead.
Elsie (37:06):
Yeah, it goes a long way.
along with that I think um andalso just how you started out
the last question about how doyou approach that of of us
wanting to really truly knowthat we're enough through Christ
and I thought it was superinteresting that you started out
by saying you aren't enoughbecause that is what the bible
says that you know you youdidn't live a life um that was
(37:29):
perfect, but God still came.
There's so many verses that sayat just the right time, Christ
died for the ungodly.
And while we were stillsinners, Christ died for us.
And so I just find that so, sounbelievably profound that we
didn't need to be any betterthan where we were at for him to
(37:49):
come and save us.
And I know that that's theheart of the gospel, but I think
that that is just as profoundthan anything else we'll share
is at just the right time hecame while we were still broken
and I think that that's kind ofimportant that that's where you
start when it comes to thisconversation that Yeah, he came
(38:13):
right as we were.
We didn't need to change atall.
And obviously we grow throughChrist with him as we get a
relationship with him, get toknow him, get to understand his
sacrifice for us.
But pretty amazing that he diedwhile we were still sinners and
that we didn't need to changeor be any better.
Kristine (38:34):
Amen.
Thank you, Elsie.
Alita, what does it look liketo be a 10 in God's eyes?
Alita (38:44):
I think it's God confidence.
God confidence.
We have to hold our head up andhave a heart posture of God
confidence.
It's not my confidence.
It's not my self-esteem.
It's God confidence.
I think we have to hold ourhead up and say, Christ came for
(39:04):
me.
He died for my sins.
He rose again.
He ascended into heaven.
He brought peace.
life to us, abundant life, andwe have the opportunity to live
a life for him.
And like I said earlier, Godhas big plans for you.
God has big plans for you.
My question is, do you actuallybelieve that?
(39:24):
Do you live a life day in andday out that reflects Does your
behaviors reflect that God hasbig plans for you?
Do you doubt?
Do you have unbelief?
Or do you hold your head up andhave God confidence because he
sees you as a 10?
You were made in his image.
And then the question is, doyou live like it?
(39:45):
Do you live like it?
Do you practice day in and dayout living a life that you are a
10 in his eyes?
We just have that opportunity.
And I think...
We just have to practice everyday.
His mercies are afresh everymorning, every time we, or every
moment.
(40:05):
We don't even have to wait tilltomorrow morning, right?
His mercies are afresh everymorning and we have an
opportunity to live out the lifethat he's called us to.
Kristine (40:16):
Alita, give our listeners some examples of that.
And I don't think there's aright or wrong.
I don't think that the goodLord is shining down and saying
there's a perfect time where youhave to spend time with them or
a perfect amount of time.
But what does people believingthat they're a 10 in God's eyes
and starting their day, winningtheir day, Tell us about your
(40:41):
day.
What does being a 10 in God'seyes look like for Alita?
Give us a day in your life asfar as winning the day and
starting the day with him.
Alita (40:52):
One of the things I actually just started doing, I
have on my kitchen counter, Ihave my Bible sitting there.
And I want to honor God bytaking care of the temple that
he gave me, my body, and Andthis is just a very specific
example for me.
So I have always had a highreverence and a priority to take
(41:19):
care of my body.
I used to teach group exercise.
I understand nutrition.
We were in the health andwellness industry prior to this.
So I understand a lot of that.
I've lived a lot of that out.
And then I As we took overWomen of Faith, my spiritual
growth took first priority, andI'm so thankful for that.
(41:41):
And at the same time, myphysical part of my body, part
of my life, all of a suddenreally took a backseat.
And I wasn't feeling well.
And I wasn't able to do what Ifelt like I should be doing.
I didn't have the energybecause I wasn't putting the
right things into my body.
I was just eating kind ofwhatever.
(42:02):
It wasn't set as high of apriority.
And I got to the point where Ihad to say, I don't do that
anymore.
I wanted to allow the Lord tolead in every area of my life
for my spirit to lead and mybody to follow the instant, I
(42:28):
want to be fed type of thing.
And so I put a Bible on mykitchen table and I am allowing
that to be my daily bread andchoosing better.
And it's made such adifference.
I actually started At thebeginning of 2024, I'm like, I
am a 10 and the Lord has bigplans for me.
(42:50):
And I have to take care of thebody that the Lord has given me.
The temple that the Holy Spiritresides in, I have to take care
of that.
And so that's one of the thingsthat I have set as a standard
for myself.
I was talking about lifeleadership and being a role
model for others.
And we are to take care of thetemple that the Lord gave us.
And so that is something that Ifeel like I have to remind
(43:13):
myself, you are a 10 And I canlive like a 10 in every area of
my life.
And so that's been somethingI've really been working on of
aligning my physical life withmy spiritual life.
I think a lot of times we thinkit's two separate things.
And I want to live aGod-honoring life in every area.
(43:35):
So my daily bread is on mykitchen table.
And I'm like, I'm going to goto that first, not go to the
things that might comfort me ormake me feel better, I think.
In my past, I have said itmakes me feel better.
So that's probably the mostpractical example of something
that I have done most recently,and I will tell you it has made
(43:59):
a difference.
Kristine (44:00):
Thank you for that encouragement.
Alita, there's a hundredquestions that we'd love to ask
you, but for today's time, we'regoing to soon be done.
I I want to say on behalf ofElsie and I, sincerely, wow, are
you humble.
You are the girl next door.
You are the girl next door.
(44:21):
But you have a huge heart forthe kingdom.
We've been very, very inspiredby you today, encouraged by you
today.
And thank you for reminding usall that we're enough.
We're a 10 in God's eyes and weneed to believe it and we need
to live like that.
I want to share with ourlisteners again.
(44:44):
Please go to the Alita Reynoldsshow.
You will be amazed at thiswoman.
I mean amazed.
She talks about the circle ofcrazy.
She talks about upcomingChristian movies, past movies.
She talks about this, that, andthe other thing.
(45:04):
And Alita, you've sharpened me.
Iron sharpens iron, and you'vemade me a stronger person.
Do check out Women of Faith aswell.
That's an amazing organization.
You can be a part of them onFacebook.
I know Alita posts wonderfulscriptures and passages and she
posts thoughts almost daily thatare an encouragement to people
(45:28):
amongst other things that Womenof Faith is doing, teachings
they have.
She's a life coach, a Christianlife coach.
And so by all means, for thepeople that are listening,
either get close to her fromafar or call her and get close
to her because I'm excited.
(45:50):
Elsie's excited about our newfriend and we're really excited
about your ripple effect in thekingdom.
The reason why we do the OnePebble podcast is we believe
there's a lot of joy.
Elsie and I and our son Harris,who is often involved, we love
the hearts and stories ofpeople.
(46:11):
We love to be educated bypeople.
We love to hear We love to beinspired by them.
And that's exactly who you areand the purpose and the calling
that you're walking out.
But we also love to beencouraged, and you've greatly
encouraged us.
When we say goodbye today,promise me one thing.
(46:33):
When you lay your head on thepillow tonight, will you know
that you were a tremendouscourage?
Alita, will you know thatyou're a 10 in God's eyes?
And I can't say it enough whatan honor this has been and how
proud we are of you.
But thank you for speaking intoour lives, for sharpening
(46:53):
myself, sharpening the LCA andall of our listeners.
So we want to give you the lastopportunity to throw out the
final pebble.
And a pebble, it might seemlike a small thing, but pebbles
can create large, large rippleeffects.
And I want our listeners toknow you don't have to be the
(47:16):
president of Women of Faith,which is a big deal.
You don't have to run anonprofit.
You don't have to be a founder.
You can be a common person.
Nobody is better than the next.
And that pebble can have anunbelievable ripple effect.
And so everybody keep listeningto those promptings.
(47:39):
But Alita, we want to give youthe last words.
What word of encouragement orwords would you want to leave us
I
Alita (47:48):
love this quote.
That's it.
Rest your head.
Rest your life.
on that promise.
If all I've ever got is Jesus,I have all I ever need because
he is truly the one answer toour lives.
Thank you so much for having meon.
(48:08):
This was so fun.
Let's do it again.
Thank you so much.
Let's do it
Kristine (48:11):
again.
He is where the joy is.
Elsie (48:13):
Alita, thank you.
Elsie?
It was so wonderful to meetyou, Alita.
I'm just very honored to havedone this with you today.
We're grateful.
Blessings to you always.
Kristine (48:25):
Thank you.
Elsie (48:25):
Thank
Kristine (48:26):
you.
This has been the One PebblePodcast.
One pebble, so many ripples.
What will you do to make adifference?
This is the One Pebble Podcast.
I'm your host, Kristine.
Welcome to the One PebblePodcast.
Listeners, it is my great honortoday and with my daughter and
co-host Elsie Duininck, KristineFladeboe-Duininck, today we
(00:24):
have a brand new friend to Elsieand I, someone that we've
admired from afar for a long,long time, doing amazing things
for God's kingdom.
And we're so excited to haveher on the podcast today, to
learn more about her, to hearher heart, to hear what God is
(00:45):
doing in her life, and just weare excited about her sharing,
and she's making a tremendousdifference in the lives of
others.
To you, the listeners, we'revery excited to have Alita
Reynolds.
She is the president of Womenof Faith, host of the Alita
Reynolds Show, a certifiedmaster Christian life coach, and
(01:06):
a sought-after trainer andspeaker.
She and her husband, G.J., arethe visionaries of Women of
Faith, a global ministryequipping women to live
victoriously with Jesus.
She lives in Nebraska and hasthree adult children.
Alita, thank you.
We're honored.
Alita (01:25):
Welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me on.
This is going to be good.
How long do we have?
Two or three hours?
I think there's going to beplenty to talk about today.
Yes, we could talk for sixhours or six days.
Let's do it.
Kristine (01:38):
Let's do it.
Alita.
You have a really big heart.
And what I'd love for you tofirst do is share with us your
story.
Start from when you were alittle girl and share only what
you're comfortable with.
But we'd love to learn about,you know, who is the heart of
Alita?
(01:58):
What was Alita like as a child?
What was growing up like?
And take us from being a childto where you currently are
today.
Tell us your story.
Alita (02:08):
I grew up right here outside of Lincoln, Nebraska.
At a very young age, at age 18,I ended up getting pregnant and
(02:33):
ended up marrying the man thatI was dating.
And we ended up having threebeautiful children.
And unfortunately, after 10years, we ended up getting a
divorce.
And it was a really, reallydifficult time in my life.
It was rock bottom for me.
I ended up moving back in to myparents' house.
(02:54):
when I got divorced and I losteverything.
I lost my job.
I lost my marriage.
I lost my car.
I lost my house.
And it was a...
horrible and in hindsight, abeautiful thing because I was
living a life that the Lord hadnot planned for me.
(03:16):
And I had gotten so far off thecourse that he had planned for
me that he says, okay, I'm goingto pull you all the way back
home and we're going to startthis over.
And at that point, I started mylife over and it was not easy,
but I feel like that's when Ireally found the Lord and
started having a realrelationship with Jesus.
(03:38):
And then back in 2011, myhusband, G.J., and I got
married, and now we have beenmarried for 13 years.
And we have a beautifulmarriage and have been able to
raise up our children.
And the thing that I think thatis really beautiful is that
(04:01):
G.J.
and I's marriage, Jesus is atthe center, and we always hope
that people see that.
And About eight years ago, wehad the opportunity to purchase
Women of Faith, and it was notsomething that we had ever
thought of doing.
We never thought we would be inministry, and I had done a lot
(04:21):
of administrative work.
I had just not been in anythingthat was communicating for the
Lord.
And so it was a great honor,but it was really, really
difficult because we just hadn'tbeen in that space, in that
world.
But I'm so thankful for thatshift, huge shift in my life,
(04:44):
because we were in aorganization.
We were doing really well tothe world's standards.
We had a lot of worldly successin what we were doing before,
and we At the end of the day, Istill looked at G.J.
and I'm like, is this seriouslyall I'm going to do with my
life?
Is this all that I'm called todo?
And so we were taken out ofthat organization and we.
(05:09):
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
All the glory goes to Him.
(05:42):
We have no idea what all He'sgoing to do for us, but we just
want to be loyal to His callingand be faithful and obedient to
Him.
Kristine (05:53):
What a beautiful story.
And thank you, Alita, forsaying yes to the call.
God often has a sense of humorand you would have never
believed the path that he wouldhave you and GJ on today.
But you also had to listen tothose nudgings and you had to
(06:14):
put your courage ahead of yourfear and say yes to leading this
organization.
Tell us more about the AlitaThank you.
Alita (06:53):
Yeah, so when we took over Women of Faith, I knew
right when we took over that Iwas supposed to have a show.
Well...
I had honestly no interest indoing a show.
I did not feel qualified.
And I love the quote, God didnot call the qualified.
He qualifies the called.
(07:13):
And I will say it took me yearsto actually believe that quote
because I did not feel qualifiedto do anything communicating
publicly at all.
And yet he just continued togive me what I needed day in and
day out, month after month,year after year.
We'll be right back.
(07:36):
Again, not sure why he washaving me be a life coach
because, again, I did not feelqualified for that.
But I just went on this journeyof learning how to help other
women, asking good questions andhelping them live a life of
(08:00):
freedom for the Lord.
So I developed the show.
I developed my coachingpractice.
And little by little, we landedon the Alita Reynolds Show.
And in the past, I had beeninterviewing people and having
wonderful conversations withfriends, with people who are in
(08:20):
ministry, people who arecreating films.
And that was and still iswonderful.
And currently, he has me onthis path of sitting down and
sharing my what are some of thethings that have worked for me
through a coaching lens?
I don't really talk about thefact that I am a coach all that
much because I just want peopleto hear my heart and what has
(08:43):
worked, the lessons that I'velearned.
And when I talk about thethings that are working and how
I've come into a hope and prayeris always that I can just share
what's worked for me and thatit can be something that can be
encouraging to others.
Our mission is for women toexperience a deeper relationship
(09:06):
with Jesus.
We just want women to livevictoriously because that is
what Jesus Christ came for, isfor us to live an abundant life.
And we do not have to live whatI call the circle of crazy.
You don't have to live justgoing around and around and
around being in chaos andconfusion.
You can live a life of freedom.
So I talk about living on theroad to freedom.
(09:27):
So I just wanna be the girlnext door that I can share
what's worked, and we do thatthrough our Women of Faith
ministry.
We have over 5 millioncommunity members across the
world that just have a heart forJesus, and I hope that they,
because of what I'm able toshare with them, can experience
(09:48):
a deeper relationship with Him.
That's really my heart.
I have three things that I liketo talk about.
Spiritual strength, that's likea given.
Clearly, deep relationship withJesus, and I want to show
people and disciple them in howto do that.
We talk a lot about realrelationships.
For me, real relationships hasbeen something that does not
(10:12):
come easily for me.
And I have had to learn how tohave real relationships.
And that has been a huge partof my ministry, my experience,
the struggles.
And then the third pillar thatwe really focus on is life
leadership.
Life leadership is literallyjust living a life of example,
(10:32):
living a life for the Lord,doing well in all areas of life.
I think it's so important forus to be emotionally, mentally,
physically, financially Wow.
Your passion and your
Kristine (10:54):
joy.
I can feel your joy, hear yourjoy.
And thank you for thedifference that you're making.
And again, saying yes to thatcall.
I want to talk a little bitabout what's currently in your
heart, Alita.
Elsie, what's currently in yourheart?
What is God teaching both ofyou at this time?
(11:18):
And I can share as well, butElsie, why don't we start with
you?
What is God teaching you?
I first
Elsie (11:27):
wanted to just follow up a little with what you shared.
Something that I love about youis you're just hands open and
you're saying, I never startedthis journey as an expert.
And I think that that's superencouraging for us.
My mom had prayed aboutstarting a podcast like six
years ago, but we all know thatneither of us are an expert at
(11:47):
this.
As well as people my age, I'm23 years old, to be able to be
vulnerable, share your story,walk in the way God has called
you to, but sharing with othersthat you're not an expert,
something that That actuallycame to mind through a book I'm
reading currently.
It's called Waiting is Not aWaste by Mark Vrogop.
(12:09):
And it's been one of the mostimpactful books I've ever read,
probably because the topic isextremely niche and that the
topic of waiting is brought upin the Bible a lot, especially
in the Psalms, a little bit inIsaiah.
But he starts out the book bybeing extremely honest that he's
(12:31):
not an expert at waiting ornot.
Five tips.
This is how you get better.
This is how you get closer tothe Lord through it.
But saying that this is astruggle of mine and we're going
to learn about it together.
So I loved what you shared justwith your own journey that like
you never really did feelqualified, but you kept walking
in the way God had for you.
(12:51):
And so wanted to follow up onthat.
But yes, something that I havebeen learning currently is just
how much God talks about weightin the Bible and how much good
comes from being patient andknowing that God has something
for you and waiting.
He shares so many examples.
(13:12):
One of the things is thatAbraham and Sarah waited 25
years for Isaac to be born andhow God promised an entire
nation to come from them andthey waited so long even just to
have the first generation ofthat nation and then he asked
him to sacrifice Isaac so Ithink throughout all of this
(13:35):
it's God wanting us to bedependent on him and a lot about
growing into what he wants forus as an individual before we
have the job we want, themarriage we want whatever we're
looking towards for us to becomemore like him in the waiting.
So I would encourage you toread that book.
(13:56):
It's been really good.
And also just have a mentalflag come up when you see the
word wait in the Bible, becauseso many positive attributes go
along with that.
It is good for those who waitfor the Lord.
I know there's just variousPsalms.
Those who wait for him shallrenew their strength.
(14:16):
They will run and not growweary.
They will walk and not befaint.
So I've really, really beenlearning about that.
I could share more about whatthat's like in your 20s.
It's a little crazy because youare looking forward to, you
know, the dream job.
You're looking forward togrowing a family, anything and
(14:37):
everything.
But I think you can enjoy itmuch more when you just take in
where you're currently at andwait well, use the waiting well
by just being hands open andknowing that it's good.
Alita (14:51):
Elsie, I just want to respond to what you just said
real quick.
I wish I would have been ableto read that book in my 20s.
You know, I look at this younggeneration, your generation, and
I'm just so proud of...
How mature in Christ you areand how you're like, okay, I
(15:13):
know that I don't have toperform like the world tries to
teach us.
I think that's one of thethings I have had to unlearn for
so long is I don't have tostrive.
I don't have to perform.
I don't have to try to forge myown path.
And waiting on the Lord is...
Bottom line, that is theanswer.
We like to think that theLord's going to give us what we
(15:36):
want in days or months or evenyears.
And what I have learned is thatthe Lord works more in decades
than He does in the short, evenyears.
And so I'm so thankful that theLord is showing you that now in
these younger years and livinga God-honoring life because you
have that in place as afoundational belief in your
(15:58):
life.
Elsie (16:00):
Oh, thank you.
That means the world.
And I'm humbled to hear thatfrom you.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Alita (16:07):
You know, I have a small group at church that we're
working on a curriculum.
It's called Freedom.
And Wednesday night, We talkedabout forgiveness, and
forgiveness has been a hugejourney in my life after my
divorce and just a lot of reallydifficult things.
(16:31):
I had held on to unforgivenessof others, and I had held on to
unforgiveness of myself for avery long time, years, years,
years.
spiritual mentor came to me andshe said, Alita, you will never
go where the Lord has you to goif you hold on to this
unforgiveness.
And in fact, when you findforgiveness, it will be part of
(16:54):
your ministry.
And I just got it.
Forgiveness, I am in completeforgiveness in my life toward
myself, towards others.
And As I shared my storyWednesday night with just a
(17:15):
small group of women, Iremembered how much freedom and
victory I am able to live inbecause I have been able to
forgive.
And so the Lord commands us toforgive others as he forgives us
and for us to forgiveourselves.
And I think that's somethingthat has created so much
(17:38):
gratitude for I've justliterally spent the last two
days being so grateful that theLord has given me this complete
forgiveness, that because He hastransformed me, because He has
renewed my mind, because He hascommanded me to forgive, that I
am able to live in freedom andabundance because of it.
(17:59):
And I get emotional not becausethe forgiveness is hard,
because it is, not because I hadto go through all of that,
which was hard.
But I get emotional because I'mso very grateful.
So if there's anybody listeningright now and you're living in
unforgiveness, I'll just saythis.
(18:20):
If he can do it for me, he cando it for you.
And you can live with completeforgiveness, not just of others.
Because I think it's almost,I'll speak for myself.
It was easier for me to forgiveother people than it was for me
to forgive myself.
And when I was able to to alignmy life with what the Bible
(18:43):
says, the truth, that I cancompletely forgive myself
because God has forgiven me, mylife completely changed.
a life of freedom andabundance.
And I said this earlier, butthat is what Jesus Christ came
for, is to give us a life ofabundance.
And we have the opportunity tolive victoriously.
We don't have to live a lifethat is held into the bondage of
(19:07):
unforgiveness.
We have the opportunity tobreak free from that
forevermore.
Kristine (19:13):
Alita, that's beautiful.
I want to go back to when yourlife was falling apart.
And it's easy.
The story is beautiful.
Your story telling it today isbeautiful.
But for people that arelistening and their life in a
small way or a big way isfalling apart.
(19:36):
What you've learned today aboutforgiveness, and I'm sure this
was a process with the Lord, butwhat would you say to people in
those dark days if you had itto do over as far as when you
were climbing out of thedarkness and the brokenness with
Christ and In listening to yourshow, it took you a long time
(19:58):
to forgive yourself.
What would you say today, ifyou could do it over, what would
you do differently?
Alita (20:06):
So when I was still in the depths of sin, when I was
facing sin and I was notrepenting, I was not turning
from it, I was sitting in theback pew of our church on a
Wednesday night.
The kids were running aroundand having Wednesday night
church.
And the Lord said to me, hesaid, come to me, I'm all you
(20:28):
need.
And I didn't know what to dowith that.
I didn't know how to get out ofthe mess that I had created for
myself.
I was entangled in it.
I didn't know how to get out.
And like I said, he pulled mefrom that life.
I did not voluntarily removemyself from that lifestyle.
(20:53):
He pulled me from it.
And my encouragement to anybodylistening would be if you are
in a life of sin, unforgiveness,something that is not in
alignment with the Lord, myencouragement to you is to have
the strength.
Find truth tellers around you.
(21:13):
Find the people that are goingto give you godly wisdom and
leadership to help you get outof the mess that you are
currently in.
Because The Lord loves you somuch.
Your heavenly father loves youso much that at some point, like
he did me, he disciplined meand he said, we're not going to
(21:35):
live this life anymore, Alita.
I have plans for you.
And I think we all have tobelieve that God has really
great, big plans for us.
And he disciplined me and hesaid, okay, we're going to start
over.
And so my encouragement toanybody who is dealing with this
is, is come to me, I'm all youneed.
That is what the Lord istelling you right now through my
(21:58):
voice.
Come to me, I'm all you need.
That is what the Lord istelling you right this second.
And you do not have to continueliving the life that you've
been in.
You have an opportunity tobreak free from that.
And he has the plans andpurposes.
You're called.
You're anointed.
You are a 10.
That's what I always remindpeople.
(22:19):
You are a 10 in God's eyes.
You aren't too far gone.
You don't have to cleanyourself up before you go to
God.
You have the opportunity tocome right to him and start
living a life.
It may be difficult.
It may be painful.
But it will be worth it.
Elsie (22:34):
I have a couple things because that was so good and oh
man I'm just gonna go in orderof how they came to mind
otherwise I'll forget a few butthat reminds me of the verse
that his divine power has givenyou everything you need to
destroy strongholds and that'sbeen really significant to me in
my life which I'm sure I'llhave an opportunity to share at
(22:55):
some point but I love what yousaid that it literally wasn't
like voluntary on your end itwas like him pulling you and I
think sometimes people can'tcomprehend that because we live
in a society that's independentand it's effort and it's you you
sleep in the bed that you madefor yourself but I really know
(23:18):
that that's God's heart and it'ssuper cool that you can share
that but another thing that cameto mind is like the way you
talk about your story and theway you talk about other
believers listeners people thatare in that position I can just
tell you spend a lot of dailytime with Jesus because you're
exuding so much about hischaracter and his love for
(23:39):
people.
And what does that look likefor you with having your own
show and being in a career thatkind of requires you to be
somewhat vulnerable?
And your actual story and yourmistakes are your ministry.
And so how do you recharge withGod so that you can keep giving
(23:59):
out and keep sharing from suchan authentic place?
Alita (24:04):
I heard one time, and this really stuck with me, the
busier your day is, the earlieryou need to get up and be more
prepared than ever for that day.
And it's not just about theday, it's about your life.
And so I am committed tospending a significant amount of
my time with the Lord becausewe have the responsibility as
(24:28):
people who are ministering toothers that we When I'm
ministering to others, myprivate life better look the
same as it does publicly.
I am responsible to the Lord,and I don't want to be anything
out of alignment.
And so it looks like a lot oftime sitting in my front room in
(24:50):
my blue chair with Bibles andjournals and spending a lot of
time in worship is and beinginvolved in my local church and
having godly friends, spiritualmentors, conversations about
what God is doing in my life.
I've had these conversationsbefore.
I talk about this a lot becauseI need to talk about it a lot
(25:15):
to get it straight in my soul,in my spirit, and in my mind.
I have to have it what isactually happening here and Does
it align with truth?
I don't want to say anythingthat is out of alignment with
the truth.
And so being in God's word andpraying for him to give me the
(25:36):
right words is imperative.
And it is a significant amountof time.
It is spending time with himfor hours and hours.
And sometimes I will say,sometimes I feel like I'm not
getting a lot done.
I'm like, I just sat here in myblue chair for three hours this
morning and And I think that'sexactly what the Lord needs me
(26:00):
to do because I want to goperform.
I want to go strive.
My natural tendency, I want togo strive.
I want to go perform.
I want to go show everybody howmuch I can do.
And the Lord has worked thatout of me so much already.
This is what I do.
I do women of faith ministry,and this is what I have to offer
(26:23):
the world.
And in order for that to beauthentic, in order for that to
be true, in order for it toimpact others, the number one
thing I have to do is to loveGod and know God.
And the Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
(26:44):
I
Elsie (26:58):
love it.
It's just so authentic.
And we don't want to get intowhat other people are doing
that's distracting or too much.
But I think so many ministersare worried about programs.
They're worried about content.
And when you just keep it thatsimple, love God.
and love others, you can do somuch from right there.
And people also see it as thislike very rare authenticity that
(27:21):
I don't think you see fromothers.
So it's super, super special.
Kristine (27:26):
And Alita, I'll say that I can just tell that you
are being still with the Lord asto what else he talked about.
And you're very much listeningto him.
That's an encouragement to allof us.
You have put tremendous purposebehind pain.
You put that right to work forChrist and his kingdom.
You are walking out yourcalling.
(27:48):
You're just walking it rightout.
You are living out your faith.
And something for all of us ashumans, We all struggle.
Every one of us has bigstruggles, small struggles, but
we just struggle.
And life is beautiful andjoyful at times.
(28:09):
And that's the goal is to havepeace in the Lord and joy in the
Lord.
And he's our strength.
But life is hard.
And we all struggle inlistening to your show.
And by the way, I'm amazed.
I mean, Alita, you haveinterviewed king and country.
You You listeners, go to theAlita Reynolds show.
(28:32):
You will be knocked off yoursocks.
You'll listen to one of herinterviews and then you'll go to
the movie theater and you'll belike, oh, my gosh, I just
listened to Alita interviewingthese people.
And Alita, you just oozehumbleness.
And I so appreciate it.
the character and heart behindwho you are.
But there's two shows that Ispecifically want to talk about
(28:55):
today because they wereimpactful to me.
Men, women, children, elderly,all of us struggle.
And in your show, you areenough.
I think what is a battle for alot of people is, and you
battled it yourself, isbelieving that you are enough.
(29:18):
And we do have to go throughthose steps of forgiveness with
the Lord and repentance and allthose things.
But going back to you areenough, We want to listen to
you.
Just speak to us again andremind people they're enough.
What does that look like?
(29:38):
What does that feel like whenpeople are in the struggle and
their heart is hurting in pain?
And I think so often we getstuck, but how do you get past
that for God's purposes?
How do people believe andaccept and receive the love and
forgiveness of Christ that theyare enough?
Alita (29:59):
Yeah.
So the thing that I think wehave to start out with is we
aren't enough.
We are enough because Christ isalive in you.
When Christ enters your life,then we are enough.
Because Christ is alive in you,you are enough.
You aren't enough in your ownself.
The only way to be good enoughis to let God make you good
(30:22):
enough.
And so I always like to prefacethis conversation through that.
Because Christ lives in you,because you have made Jesus your
Lord and Savior over your life,because you are a disciple of
him, because you are living thelife that he wants for you, you
are enough.
Romans 8.10 says, And Christlives within you, so even though
(30:44):
your body will die because ofsin, the Spirit gives you life
because you have been maderight.
And I think for me, not beinggood enough, I didn't think that
I had enough strengths.
I didn't think I had enough ofanything in my life.
(31:06):
I didn't have enough education.
I became a mother too young.
I lost everything.
I've had things that I amabsolutely...
not proud of, of the thingsI've done in the past.
So how do I sit here withoutany shame, without any
(31:28):
condemnation in me?
And it's because of Jesus.
And so you are enough becauseJesus makes you enough.
And I always have to remindmyself that the Lord has a plan
and purpose for me Before wewere created in our mother's
womb, I'm not sure, I think it'sin Jeremiah somewhere.
Excuse me.
(31:48):
I think Jeremiah, but also inPsalms.
Before we were created in ourmother's womb, the Lord knew
exactly what he had for us.
And he gave you unique talents.
He gave you unique giftings.
He gave you a grace upon yourlife.
I mean...
so often we go looking into theworld, trying to find places
(32:09):
where we are enough or wherewe're good enough or where we're
going to be accepted.
And then we finally realizethat the hope of the world is
Jesus Christ.
The solid foundation that westand on is Jesus.
It isn't what the world tellsus.
It isn't how we can perform.
It isn't because we have thesetalents and strengths that
matter to the world, but it'sWhat the Lord has us doing.
(32:31):
And so I think for me, one ofthe things that I had to learn,
a lot of things, I had to learna lot of things, but one of the
things I had to learn was to notmeasure myself or compare
myself to others.
And when I knew that...
When I understood that there'splenty of amazingness in me,
(32:54):
there's plenty of amazingness inKristine, there's plenty of
amazingness in Elsie.
When I understood that the bodyof Christ was to work together,
a thumb is not supposed to dowhat a kidney is supposed to do.
And the body of Christ, Elsie'scall, Kristine's call, my call
are all different.
And when I understood that Idon't have to look like her or
(33:17):
do the things that she does orhave Whatever talent that she
has, when I finally realize thatI could be who I am and live
into an authentic way of beingwho I am, then I'm doing what is
pleasing to him.
I don't have to try to comparemyself or compare.
mimic somebody else.
(33:39):
So I know I just threw out alot of different things there,
but for me, it was getting thatall the identity of Christ,
getting myself to understandwhat he has for me instead of
aligning with the enemy.
The enemy steals, kills, anddestroys.
(33:59):
through relationship, throughcomparison.
The enemy stole many years ofmy life because of comparison.
And so when I finally came backinto an alignment with the Lord
and with what this Bible says,right?
What this Bible says, when Ibelieved it, truly believed it
(34:20):
in my heart, Then I knew that Iwas good enough or I was enough
because Christ was alive in meand I could go out and do what
he was calling me to do.
And I'll just say one finalthing.
One of the things that I had tolearn in ministry was I don't
have to sound like her.
I don't have to look like her.
I don't have to be able to praylike her.
(34:41):
I don't have to be able to dothe movements like her, whatever
it is.
Because the Lord will have eachof us connect with the right
people to have an impact onthem, and it's exactly what they
need.
So we are actually withholdingsomething that people need when
(35:05):
we are not our true, authenticselves in Christ.
And that is my encouragement toanybody.
If you try to be somebody else,if you try to be something that
the Lord didn't give you, Wow.
Just take that weight off yourshoulders and lay it down and
say, I'm going to be exactly theway the Lord wants me to
because I hear the voice of God,because I know how he's
(35:27):
speaking to me.
I'm going to do exactly whathe's calling me to do instead of
what somebody else is doing andtry to look or sound like her.
Kristine (35:37):
I love that.
Another show that I love ofyours on the Alita Reynolds show
(36:03):
is the show titled You Are aTen in God's Eyes.
And I don't know if you haveused these words or not, but
something that I've oftenthought of is, you know, what
story are we telling ourselves?
We all wake up every day andwe're And so.
(36:23):
Yeah.
We have to remind ourselves,myself equally, what story am I
telling myself?
Do I have confidence in Christ?
(36:44):
Am I trusting in him?
And do I actually believe thatI'm a 10 in God's eyes?
And so I'm excited to hear yourheart and to hear you share
more about that because yourwords behind that, what you
remind us of is so beautiful.
Elsie, I can tell you want tosay something.
(37:04):
You go ahead.
Elsie (37:06):
Yeah, it goes a long way.
along with that I think um andalso just how you started out
the last question about how doyou approach that of of us
wanting to really truly knowthat we're enough through Christ
and I thought it was superinteresting that you started out
by saying you aren't enoughbecause that is what the bible
says that you know you youdidn't live a life um that was
(37:29):
perfect, but God still came.
There's so many verses that sayat just the right time, Christ
died for the ungodly.
And while we were stillsinners, Christ died for us.
And so I just find that so, sounbelievably profound that we
didn't need to be any betterthan where we were at for him to
(37:49):
come and save us.
And I know that that's theheart of the gospel, but I think
that that is just as profoundthan anything else we'll share
is at just the right time hecame while we were still broken
and I think that that's kind ofimportant that that's where you
start when it comes to thisconversation that Yeah, he came
(38:13):
right as we were.
We didn't need to change atall.
And obviously we grow throughChrist with him as we get a
relationship with him, get toknow him, get to understand his
sacrifice for us.
But pretty amazing that he diedwhile we were still sinners and
that we didn't need to changeor be any better.
Kristine (38:34):
Amen.
Thank you, Elsie.
Alita, what does it look liketo be a 10 in God's eyes?
Alita (38:44):
I think it's God confidence.
God confidence.
We have to hold our head up andhave a heart posture of God
confidence.
It's not my confidence.
It's not my self-esteem.
It's God confidence.
I think we have to hold ourhead up and say, Christ came for
(39:04):
me.
He died for my sins.
He rose again.
He ascended into heaven.
He brought peace.
life to us, abundant life, andwe have the opportunity to live
a life for him.
And like I said earlier, Godhas big plans for you.
God has big plans for you.
My question is, do you actuallybelieve that?
(39:24):
Do you live a life day in andday out that reflects Does your
behaviors reflect that God hasbig plans for you?
Do you doubt?
Do you have unbelief?
Or do you hold your head up andhave God confidence because he
sees you as a 10?
You were made in his image.
And then the question is, doyou live like it?
(39:45):
Do you live like it?
Do you practice day in and dayout living a life that you are a
10 in his eyes?
We just have that opportunity.
And I think...
We just have to practice everyday.
His mercies are afresh everymorning, every time we, or every
moment.
(40:05):
We don't even have to wait tilltomorrow morning, right?
His mercies are afresh everymorning and we have an
opportunity to live out the lifethat he's called us to.
Kristine (40:16):
Alita, give our listeners some examples of that.
And I don't think there's aright or wrong.
I don't think that the goodLord is shining down and saying
there's a perfect time where youhave to spend time with them or
a perfect amount of time.
But what does people believingthat they're a 10 in God's eyes
and starting their day, winningtheir day, Tell us about your
(40:41):
day.
What does being a 10 in God'seyes look like for Alita?
Give us a day in your life asfar as winning the day and
starting the day with him.
Alita (40:52):
One of the things I actually just started doing, I
have on my kitchen counter, Ihave my Bible sitting there.
And I want to honor God bytaking care of the temple that
he gave me, my body, and Andthis is just a very specific
example for me.
So I have always had a highreverence and a priority to take
(41:19):
care of my body.
I used to teach group exercise.
I understand nutrition.
We were in the health andwellness industry prior to this.
So I understand a lot of that.
I've lived a lot of that out.
And then I As we took overWomen of Faith, my spiritual
growth took first priority, andI'm so thankful for that.
(41:41):
And at the same time, myphysical part of my body, part
of my life, all of a suddenreally took a backseat.
And I wasn't feeling well.
And I wasn't able to do what Ifelt like I should be doing.
I didn't have the energybecause I wasn't putting the
right things into my body.
I was just eating kind ofwhatever.
(42:02):
It wasn't set as high of apriority.
And I got to the point where Ihad to say, I don't do that
anymore.
I wanted to allow the Lord tolead in every area of my life
for my spirit to lead and mybody to follow the instant, I
(42:28):
want to be fed type of thing.
And so I put a Bible on mykitchen table and I am allowing
that to be my daily bread andchoosing better.
And it's made such adifference.
I actually started At thebeginning of 2024, I'm like, I
am a 10 and the Lord has bigplans for me.
(42:50):
And I have to take care of thebody that the Lord has given me.
The temple that the Holy Spiritresides in, I have to take care
of that.
And so that's one of the thingsthat I have set as a standard
for myself.
I was talking about lifeleadership and being a role
model for others.
And we are to take care of thetemple that the Lord gave us.
And so that is something that Ifeel like I have to remind
(43:13):
myself, you are a 10 And I canlive like a 10 in every area of
my life.
And so that's been somethingI've really been working on of
aligning my physical life withmy spiritual life.
I think a lot of times we thinkit's two separate things.
And I want to live aGod-honoring life in every area.
(43:35):
So my daily bread is on mykitchen table.
And I'm like, I'm going to goto that first, not go to the
things that might comfort me ormake me feel better, I think.
In my past, I have said itmakes me feel better.
So that's probably the mostpractical example of something
that I have done most recently,and I will tell you it has made
(43:59):
a difference.
Kristine (44:00):
Thank you for that encouragement.
Alita, there's a hundredquestions that we'd love to ask
you, but for today's time, we'regoing to soon be done.
I I want to say on behalf ofElsie and I, sincerely, wow, are
you humble.
You are the girl next door.
You are the girl next door.
(44:21):
But you have a huge heart forthe kingdom.
We've been very, very inspiredby you today, encouraged by you
today.
And thank you for reminding usall that we're enough.
We're a 10 in God's eyes and weneed to believe it and we need
to live like that.
I want to share with ourlisteners again.
(44:44):
Please go to the Alita Reynoldsshow.
You will be amazed at thiswoman.
I mean amazed.
She talks about the circle ofcrazy.
She talks about upcomingChristian movies, past movies.
She talks about this, that, andthe other thing.
(45:04):
And Alita, you've sharpened me.
Iron sharpens iron, and you'vemade me a stronger person.
Do check out Women of Faith aswell.
That's an amazing organization.
You can be a part of them onFacebook.
I know Alita posts wonderfulscriptures and passages and she
posts thoughts almost daily thatare an encouragement to people
(45:28):
amongst other things that Womenof Faith is doing, teachings
they have.
She's a life coach, a Christianlife coach.
And so by all means, for thepeople that are listening,
either get close to her fromafar or call her and get close
to her because I'm excited.
(45:50):
Elsie's excited about our newfriend and we're really excited
about your ripple effect in thekingdom.
The reason why we do the OnePebble podcast is we believe
there's a lot of joy.
Elsie and I and our son Harris,who is often involved, we love
the hearts and stories ofpeople.
(46:11):
We love to be educated bypeople.
We love to hear We love to beinspired by them.
And that's exactly who you areand the purpose and the calling
that you're walking out.
But we also love to beencouraged, and you've greatly
encouraged us.
When we say goodbye today,promise me one thing.
(46:33):
When you lay your head on thepillow tonight, will you know
that you were a tremendouscourage?
Alita, will you know thatyou're a 10 in God's eyes?
And I can't say it enough whatan honor this has been and how
proud we are of you.
But thank you for speaking intoour lives, for sharpening
(46:53):
myself, sharpening the LCA andall of our listeners.
So we want to give you the lastopportunity to throw out the
final pebble.
And a pebble, it might seemlike a small thing, but pebbles
can create large, large rippleeffects.
And I want our listeners toknow you don't have to be the
(47:16):
president of Women of Faith,which is a big deal.
You don't have to run anonprofit.
You don't have to be a founder.
You can be a common person.
Nobody is better than the next.
And that pebble can have anunbelievable ripple effect.
And so everybody keep listeningto those promptings.
(47:39):
But Alita, we want to give youthe last words.
What word of encouragement orwords would you want to leave us
I
Alita (47:48):
love this quote.
That's it.
Rest your head.
Rest your life.
on that promise.
If all I've ever got is Jesus,I have all I ever need because
he is truly the one answer toour lives.
Thank you so much for having meon.
(48:08):
This was so fun.
Let's do it again.
Thank you so much.
Let's do it
Kristine (48:11):
again.
He is where the joy is.
Elsie (48:13):
Alita, thank you.
Elsie?
It was so wonderful to meetyou, Alita.
I'm just very honored to havedone this with you today.
We're grateful.
Blessings to you always.
Kristine (48:25):
Thank you.
Elsie (48:25):
Thank
Kristine (48:26):
you.
This has been the One PebblePodcast.
One pebble, so many ripples.
What will you do to make adifference?
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