October 24, 2023 • 28 mins
Join me in hearing the inspiring journey of my dear friend Amanda, a high-performance coach and entrepreneur, as she details her unique path to founding Homegrown Collective and creating the Highest Potential Planner - a tool that is revolutionizing time management and personal success tactics.
Amanda’s compassion is revealed as she unveils her adoption story, taking you through her journey to becoming a mother. Brace yourself for a rollercoaster of emotions as she shares how her faith carried her through the intense process of adopting her second daughter from the Congo amidst a countrywide border closure. This episode will encourage you, whether you're seeking inspiration, personal growth, or simply a fresh perspective on embracing life's unexpected turns.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Oh man, you know I love a good story and I love
hope.
Today we have a leader, anentrepreneur, a high performance
coach.
This girl gets a lot of thingsdone with the same amount of
time as everybody else.
We're all given 24 hours a dayand she's going to teach you how
(00:22):
to structure that time.
She's going to teach you how towake up to your full potential
and what God has for you.
But stick around to the end.
A phenomenal story of God'sgoodness, his grace, even using
a childlike faith to bring achild home.
So special, such a specialstory.
(00:42):
So stick around to the endbecause you will not be
disappointed.
All that and more happeningright after this.
(01:06):
Hey, welcome back to the whenWords Don't Come Easy podcast.
I am Andy Howard.
It's so good to have you withus.
If it's your first time joiningthe podcast, I do want to
welcome you.
This is just a podcast abouthope.
I'm someone who's gone throughpersonal struggles with mental
health and I always want to pushor find someone who can bring
(01:29):
hope into your lives.
And that's what you'll find onthis podcast.
Nine times out of ten.
It may be just me sharing apersonal story from my life
experiences, but every once in awhile I'll get a guest on here,
and that's what we're doingtoday.
Have a dear friend of mine who,tiffany and I, we've had the
pleasure of working with for,I'd say, a couple years now.
I don't even know the exacttime, but let's just dive into
(01:52):
that.
First of all, let me bring onAmanda.
Welcome, amanda.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I'm great Thanks for having me today.
I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Oh, it's an honor to have you, and I guess I should
kind of explain to them who youare a little bit.
You're a busy person.
Yeah, you do a lot, youaccomplish a lot and it's very
proud of you.
I was going to say she's a wife, she's a mom.
High performance coach this ismy title I gave you, but you
actually put it better.
I was going to say you're asocial media guru, but yeah,
(02:23):
you're actually the founder ofHomegrown Collective.
We'll dive into that in here ina minute as well.
You're an entrepreneur and aswell as a brand new podcaster.
That's pretty cool.
We'll dive into that as well.
You do a lot of things, but noneof it happens by chance, and I
did want to dive into that.
I've noticed you.
(02:43):
You talk a lot about beingintentional, which I love that
word.
Nothing happens by accident,right, and so if you have a goal
, if you have anything, you haveto know how to manage your time
.
You have to know how to go forit.
You can't just always wanted todo that and then just sit and
wait and see if it happens.
So, so let's start with thatOne.
(03:06):
You wrote it.
I don't know if you wrote it oryou plan to put it out, but the
highest performance planner Letme get that right, that's OK.
Planner Tiffany, I have one aswell.
I'm not as good at it.
I need to get better.
Tiffany will not like leave thehouse without it.
She loves it.
Yes, so tell us about that andhow that came about, and and
(03:31):
more on that.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yes, so, as you said, I run two different companies.
So I do a coaching company andthen a marketing company, and so
, with the busy life as you say,I like to say it's an
intentionally full life.
But I realized that I neededsomething to keep me on track,
but something that wasn't just acalendar, but also something
(03:54):
that wasn't too much time right,because a lot of the ones that
are more mindset related are,like, very time consuming and
not sustainable, and so I waslooking for a way to combine
both the mindset piece and theplanning piece into a like five
minute a day planner, and so Ihad.
It was interesting because Ihave this history of reviewing
(04:16):
planners, which is kind of funny.
I didn't know what that waslike.
Come full circle right, like inmy early years of writing and
marketing, I helped other peoplewith their planners, market
their planners, and so I got totry out a lot of different ones,
and then I was like I think Ican do this.
And so I pulled kind of myfavorite pieces from each one
and put it together, did someresearch on what high performers
(04:38):
needed, and that's when thehighest potential planner came
along.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Well, I would think that would be very beneficial
for you, very helpful to get alot of experience from, from
doing that, isn't that funny howGod gives you the experience
long before maybe the ideal evencame about.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, I never even considered it at the time.
I just enjoyed getting to likereview other ones, and then I
ended up just being able todevelop from start to finish my
own.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well so neat?
Well, tell me, because in yourbio.
Excuse me, since you're a highperformance coach.
What is a high performancecoach?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, so I started my coaching journey back.
Oh, it's been almost a decade,which is crazy to say.
So nine years, wow.
And I I just was a life coach,right, like that.
You've probably heard thatphrase and I was like coaching
all these people and I realizedthat the client I enjoyed
coaching the most and Iattracted the most were what was
(05:30):
called a high performer, andI'd never heard that phrase
before.
I was like, what's a highperformer?
But they were basically peoplewho excelled at standards that
the average person didn't, andnot in like a better than way,
just in a way of like justreally high achieving people.
And so I was like, okay, ifthese are the clients I'm
attracting, these are clientsthat like working with the most,
I want to niche down and reallylike know how to serve them
(05:51):
well.
And so I don't know if you'veever heard of Brendan Bershard.
He's really big in the personaldevelopment industry, like
really well known coach, and hedid some training for coaches,
and so I think that was thatwasn't quite nine years ago I
don't even remember what yearthat was, but it was.
It was a while ago and Idecided to go and like really
(06:12):
learn how to serve highperformers specifically, and so
he coaches on teaching how tohelp people with clarity,
productivity, influence, courageand energy, and those were like
the main things, and he'sbasically like if somebody can
nail these five things, nomatter what industry they're in
or what they're doing, they'regoing to be good to go.
And so that was what I learned,and now I do have it coaching.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So well, I love that and it is very important kind of
touched on that earlier aboutbeing intentional.
I was never a structure person,believe it or not, and most
people aren't, I would think.
But what I found after beingwilling to step out and try it a
little bit when we stumbled onour health program, that we did
(07:01):
it helped me with the structureLike it.
You know, we have to eat everytwo to three hours, we're going
to have this, this, this, and itlaid it out for us and it ended
up being so easy, having theplan laid out for me.
All I had to do was follow it.
I was like, wow, what if Icould apply that in other areas
of my life?
Because for so many years itwas just kind of like, well, now
(07:21):
I want to do this and if it'sin front of me I would do it,
and then I would forget abouteverything else and just living
to survive the day.
And then you look back andyou're like some things I did
well, but then there was so muchI felt like I left off the
table.
You're a structure person.
You teach people how to bebetter, so how?
How would you encourage peopleabout structure?
(07:42):
And then what is?
I know you're big on routinesand starting your morning off
with a certain.
I've seen some of your podcastsrecently.
What, what is that?
How do you encourage someone toembrace structure if they don't
like it?
And then what's a good routineor something that anyone can can
start in the mornings?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, I love that question, Annie, because I'm
very similar.
People always think that I am avery structured type A person
because that's how I live mylife, but I'm actually I mean, I
am that, that's true, but I'vedeveloped.
That is not natural for me.
I had a lot of big goals andbig dreams and I realized very
similar to what you explainedwhere I was like, if I live this
reactive lifestyle of just liketrying to react to what's
(08:22):
around me or letting my lifelead me instead of the other way
around, I'm never going to getwhere I want to go.
And so I realized that freedomthat I desired so much, that's
like one of my top values isthis freedom.
I was like, if that's my topvalue, I'm actually not allowing
myself to be free if I'm nottaking charge of my own life and
living intentionally and so um.
(08:43):
So all this structure thatpeople see on the outside in my
life has been because I reallydo value freedom and creativity
and all these other things, andso, um, what I would say for
somebody who's wanting to startstructure, who doesn't naturally
feel that way, similar to howyou and I are wired is to start
small.
A lot of people want tostructure every part of their
(09:04):
life because they're like, oh,I'm, I lack structure, so I need
structure here, here, here,here here.
And it's like, well, yeah, youprobably do, but to start with
everything, you're just going toset yourself up for failure.
So, um, it's been interestingbecause my husband's actually on
a recent journey trying to addstructure to his life and I've
been able to watch him in thosebeginning stages and so what's
worked for him is he has used myplanner.
(09:26):
But even if it's not my planner, it can be a notebook, I don't
care what it is but just beingable to write down the top three
things you want to accomplishthat day is huge, because I
think so many of us we just makeit to do less.
We all know how to make to-dolists, we all know how to make
checklists, but then it's justoverwhelming because the to-do
list never actually ends right,it's just keeps going, yeah, and
(09:49):
we never feel successful whenthat happens.
It's like, oh, I didn't get itdone.
But if we can just name thethree needle-moving activities
in our lives that we need to doeach day, then we feel
successful.
And the other thing too,speaking of that, is to define
what success looks like each day.
So I mean, sometimes success forme just looks like quality time
(10:09):
with my kids, just havingeye-to-eye contact that day,
because maybe I haven't beenintentional with that, maybe it
looks like a bigger projectcompleting that, you know.
Maybe it just looks likesitting in gratitude for a few
minutes because I haven't reallyreflected on that, like I don't
know what it is.
But if we can define whatsuccess looks like each day, it
(10:30):
really helps us structure thewhole day around that and then
we can feel way more successfulat the end instead of feeling
like I don't even know what Idid today.
I was busy but I don't reallyknow what I got done.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
That is good.
I love the defining yoursuccess part, because so many
times maybe you have had asuccessful day and you don't
even realize it because youhaven't even defined what is
success.
And so then you look at the 17other things that didn't happen
instead of focusing on all thesuccessful things you did or
what you did accomplish and evenstarting small with just three.
(11:02):
I think anyone listening rightnow would say I could do that.
I could define three strategicgoals a day or whatever you want
to do, how many times a weekyou want to try that I think
anyone could try that and startsmall.
And then what I've found iswhen you start having success,
or when you start seeing howmuch how easy it is and how
structured does help.
(11:23):
You may can add to that, butjust a bare minimum of on my
worst day, I can do these threethings.
I love that.
Well, speaking of how to startyour morning, you got a brand
new podcast.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I'd say fairly new.
Oh yeah, it's not even been amonth yet, not even a month.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Okay, I knew it was just out.
I love it.
The whole concept of you you'llshare, like some daily
affirmations.
It's so quick, it's a punch inthe face, like a three, three to
five minutes, just a quicklittle podcast shot.
But it so, anyone can do, it.
It'll fit, so you don't have tothink, oh, I have to squeeze in
a 30 minute or an hour podcast.
(12:03):
It's quick but it's uplifting.
It's darts your day and I am.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Please forgive me, I'm lost the title of it.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Wake up to your life, love it.
It's available everywhere.
Yep, awesome.
Tell us the how it came aboutand then give a better job
describing it, because I don'tknow that I did a good enough
job on that.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
No, you're great.
Thank you for even bringing itup.
So it I just started it severalwell, a couple of weeks ago,
and it's a daily podcast which Iwas nervous about taking on.
I was like, oh my gosh, a daily, but it's just a few minutes,
like you said, and the wholepremise of why I started this is
because a lot of the types ofpeople I was coaching and then
(12:44):
also the types of people I wasworking with on the marketing
side of the business there thereare a lot of similar types of
people.
They're both high performingpeople.
It was amazing how they weregetting a lot done.
They were successful on paper,but a lot of them were just not
awake to the life that theycreated.
So they spent years and yearsand years working towards this
life of success.
Right, and success is differentfor everybody, whatever that
(13:07):
means.
But but they weren't awake.
They had their habits dialed in, they were able to, like,
accomplish a lot, but then theyweren't feeling fulfilled and I
was like there's somethingmissing here, because they're
doing all the right things, butthey're not feeling awake.
And so I felt this stirring afew months ago, and I was even
seeing it in my own life.
(13:28):
I was like why do I feel likeI'm not really feeling the joy
that I thought I would in thisphase of my life?
And I realized that God wantsus to be awake to the life he
has for us, not just the lifewe're building for ourselves,
but the life he has for us whichis even greater than the life
we can imagine.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So I feel like I had been in a phase in my life where
I was in a really dark place.
We adopted children fromdifferent places, some overseas,
some locally actually too, orfrom Texas.
Oh wow, you know you're fromyeah.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
And I want to be very clear that, yeah, exactly right
.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I want to be very clear, the darkness was not them
Like that wasn't what I mean bythat, and that's why I want to
be careful how I say this, butit was more just like.
The trauma involved in adoptionin general is very heavy, and so
I had to learn how to walkthrough that in a way that was
not only, you know, protectingthem from what they were going
(14:27):
through and trying to be therefor them, but also realizing
like it impacted me as well.
And but also it's difficultbecause, as an adopted parent,
it's not about you, it's aboutthem, and so it's really
difficult because it's so commonfor adopted parents to just put
how they feel to the side andnot deal with it until years and
(14:47):
years and years later.
So I spent about five years in aplace that looked really great
on the outside, but on theinside, feeling very dark and
heavy, because I didn't know howto handle the types of things
they had gone through in theirlives, and so, anyway, all that
to say is I felt like Godsometimes allows those things to
(15:07):
happen to you because he wantsyou to use that story, similar
to how you are, to speak truthto other people who might go
through that and it may not beas an adopted parent, but it
could just be anyone goingthrough mental health issues.
And so I realized that the keyto digging myself out of that
dark place was to be awake tothe life God had for me, and not
(15:29):
necessarily the life I wastrying to create.
And so that is where Wake Up Toyour Life came from is just
helping people see that God hasa plan for them in their life
and that he wants you to live upto your highest potential, but
in his version, not necessarilyour version, because it's so far
(15:50):
better.
I hope that made sense.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
And that made a ton of sense, and thank you for
taking the time to put it likethat, to find your words.
I have found that I have foundin this I would say most people
have found you go throughsomething, no matter what it is,
and you think it's for you andit is for you, it happens to you
(16:13):
, but there's something you willlearn from it.
But I have seen, as we'veshared our story, that so many,
there are so many people hurtingand we do get in that bubble of
why me?
Look at me and why did thishappen to me instead of for me?
And it's a mindset and it's anattitude.
And the more I speak and themore I share, I see, just, I've
(16:34):
seen hundreds of people that areweeping and broken, where it's
just so moving that it's notjust for me.
Yes, it happened in God, andI'll be clear as well God did
not do it to you or to me.
He's allowed it to happen.
He's now saying, well, ithappened.
Now what do we do with it?
Let's use it for his glory, forhis good, to help others, and
(16:56):
so thank you for sharing that.
And while adoption, I think, isprobably the greatest
illustration of God's love thatI can think of my pastor that we
serve for and we work for asyouth pastors.
At the time they adopted twokiddos and I remember one Sunday
when he was sharing anillustration of it and he was
(17:19):
talking about that, the judgestanding before the judge and
when they were finalizing it andeverything, and the judge says,
no, you do realize, if you gothrough with this and you adopt
and you accept this mission Idon't know I'm paraphrasing, but
he basically said that theyhave every single right that
(17:39):
your kids have, because he hasbiological kids as well.
And I mean basically laying itall out there, and it may have
went even to further detail, butit was so phenomenal and that
is what God did for us.
He adopted us, as his ownSinging the word says, even as
sinners right, even when we werein our darkest place, when we
(18:01):
were centered.
He loved us so much that hesent his son to die for us to
make a way for us to haveeternal life.
I didn't mean to go down thisrabbit trail, but it's just so
beautiful, so beautiful.
So thank you for sharing thatand I did want to dive into that
just a little more, if we can.
So this summer, tiff and I hadthe privilege and I'll throw
this out there If you're lookingto sponsor a kiddo man, we we
(18:24):
still have some kids.
We have a goal of a hundredkids that we're trying to
sponsor.
That just means help them getto school, help them get food,
help them with so many expenses.
Some of them don't even haverunning water.
It's just, it's very sad and itreally grabbed our hearts, and
so that's why God gave us thenumber hundred.
I didn't just throw it outthere, and we're making progress
(18:45):
.
I think we have 50 left, maybe40, 45.
And we have a link for it.
We will post it in the shownotes.
But you guys have adopted fromand I don't know if some may be
from Africa, but tell us more.
You said two are from Texas.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah, texas, and one is from Congo.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Here in Africa, awesome, awesome.
Well, tell us how that cameabout and what.
I'm sure there's a story behindit what you can share.
But how did God lay that onyour heart to to adopt a kiddo
from Congo?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, so it's again such a God story.
So back when David and I firstgot married, I think I was like
22 when this all started, whichis crazy.
I feel like I thought, you know, at 22, I was like, oh, I'm so
mature and so, you know, I lookback, I'm like I was like a baby
.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
But anyway, yeah right.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And so we were newly married and I always knew that I
wanted to grow my familythrough adoption.
That was just kind of a thing,and that was actually something
I expressed early in dating.
David was I said this is how Iwant to grow, this is how I want
to grow our family whether wehave biological kids or not, I
don't know, but I just want tomake sure you're good with that.
And he he's like I could goeither way, like I'm open to it,
(19:58):
but also if we don't, like I'mopen to that too.
And so I was like, as long asyou're open to it, great.
Well, I don't think you realizehow quickly I was going to move
on that, because we were likebarely a year married and I'm
like the adoption processoverseas takes time.
We got to like start theprocess and he was a little bit
hesitant, not to adopt, but justhesitant to start so early.
(20:19):
And anyway we decided to jumpin, thinking it was going to
take a long time.
But we quickly got matched withEvelyn, who she is my second
daughter in birth order, butfirst child and she's 11.
And we got matched with hervery fast, like within a few
months, because she wasmedically fragile and needed to
come home very quickly, and sothat was a surprise.
(20:42):
Like I said, I was thinking wewere in it for like a year or
two with the adoption process,and it was like we started it in
September.
We were matched with her inFebruary which in that world
that's fast and then we broughther home.
Well, we actually didn't bringher home till the end of that
year, but I went to meet her inOctober and then I stayed there
the rest of the year with her.
(21:04):
So anyway, it happened quickly,but she it was actually a
pretty scary process becausewith her being some medically
fragile, she got malaria twicewhile she was over there and she
was a year and a half I forgotto mention that.
So that was the age she was wasabout a year when we started and
then about a year and a halfwhen we brought her home, and so
(21:26):
she was very malnourished.
She was only eight pounds atsix months old, and so we tried
to find a foster family for herover there, because we were like
we got to get her out of theorphanage.
Like we, she may not survivethis, and so we matched her with
a foster family.
But that was so hard just to beover here and try to get all
(21:46):
that process going.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And help us, I'm sure yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, it felt very helpless.
It was very.
That was a dark time as well,and again I was 22.
I'm like I don't know how I didany of this stuff then, but I
was just learning how to be anadult on my own at the time.
But basically, once we got,well, this is a God moment too
and I don't want to take up toomuch time with this.
But basically, right before weleft, we were told not to go
(22:13):
because to go get her becausethe country had shut down.
They said we aren't letting anycitizens out of the country.
So it wasn't to do withadoptions, but it affected
adoptions because we couldn't.
We could come and go, but thechildren could not.
And so our agency told everyonelike hey, the country's closed,
we don't know when it's goingto open.
(22:34):
It could be a year, it could belonger and I was I just
remember the moment it happenedand I was like just gutted.
I was like what?
Like she needs us, like thisisn't just?
I mean, every child needs ahome.
I want to be clear about that,but at the same time, like,
medically, she needed us tobring her home.
And so I was crying in the carwhen I got the news and I told
(22:54):
David, I was like I don't knowwhat to do.
I don't know what to do.
I was frantic.
And then I felt this like peacecome upon me.
There's been few moments likethat where I've just it's been
very, very clear, the voice ofGod.
And I heard the word go and Iwas like what, what does that
mean?
We were just told not to go.
In.
Now I just we're supposed to goand I feel peace about it.
(23:15):
And I shouldn't feel peaceabout it because this is like
anything but peaceful.
But that's what that's, god,right, when you feel the
unexplained peace.
And so, after I was done beinghysterical, I looked at David in
the car because he's driving,probably like what is wrong with
her?
What's going on?
And I was like, oh, we'resupposed to go, we're going to
go.
And he's like what?
You just said that they closedthe country.
(23:36):
What do you mean?
We're going to go.
And I was like God told me togo.
So good thing, because we didend up getting stuck over there
for like longer than we hadplanned, but we were one of the
few people who were able tobring home our child in a timely
manner.
Everyone else pretty much hadto wait a year or longer after
that, and we got her the helpshe needed.
(23:57):
So we brought her home on.
Christmas Day.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
My brother.
He, my brother's a lot youngerthan me and he was, like, I
think, 10 or 11 at the time Idon't remember his exact age and
he was praying that we'd behome by Christmas every day.
And I remember telling my mom Idon't want his faith to be
rattled, like we're probably notgoing to be home, like there
was no sign that we were cominghome.
And I was like that sounds soterrible.
(24:23):
But I'll just be honest.
I was like praying this I don'twant this to be something that
he, like, can't forgive God for.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Anyway, on Christmas Day we came home, his so,
instead of his faith beingrattled, his faith was
strengthened by his prayersbeing answered.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Right, who am I to stand in God's way?
Right, but wow.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Well, that's a phenomenal story and I thank you
for sharing that and for beingvulnerable, and thank you for
what you're doing.
Wow, all these kiddos, liveschanged and I think if you're
out there and you're prayingabout it, or if you've been
thinking about adoptions, man,maybe that's your sign, because
how special was that.
So, thank you so much forsharing that.
(25:07):
In closing, is there anythingbecause we could probably go
anywhere with all the differentthings you have going right now?
Excuse me, but is thereanything on your heart or
anything you'd like to push orplug that you're doing right now
or in the next coming monthsthat you'd like to talk about?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, I mean, I just think, like with the wake up to
your life stuff, I justencourage you to tune into the
podcast.
It's a new podcast but I reallylike that there's actionable
steps.
So it's not just like feel goodinspiration, which isn't fun to
, but it's like okay, here'sactual things you can do to wake
up to the life God has for youand to be open.
(25:45):
That it may look different thanwhat you have in mind, but it's
so much better.
So, yeah, you can listen tothat podcast.
Or even if you're looking for atool, as you mentioned, the
highest potential planner is agreat tool to get started, so
you can check that out as well.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Well, I love that.
And if they're very interestingand reaching out about even
your high performance coachingand everything that you offer,
how do they find you?
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah, so that is on a new website, so I have to
remember it.
I think it's calledwakeuptoyourlifeco, so I changed
the name of it due to podcast,so that's marketing.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I love it.
Yeah, well, very cool.
Well, amanda, I thank you foryour time today.
I love your story.
I feel like I got to know you alittle better today, Even
though we've known each otherfor a while.
I heard some things I've neverheard today, and so thank you
for being vulnerable, forsharing.
I know it will help so manypeople, but best of luck with
everything you continue to doand thanks for doing this.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Thank you, Andy.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Thank you, Amanda, for being vulnerable.
That is something so manypeople struggle with is opening
up and just being vulnerable,and I get it because it is hard.
But you know why it's so hard?
Because the enemy, the devil.
I'll just get a littlespiritual here.
As we're closing, We'd lovenothing more than to keep your
story wrapped up, because itwill help so many people.
(27:05):
There are so many people I knowright now hurting and
struggling, and your story canbless them.
So my encouragement to youtoday is open up, share the
goodness of the Lord, hisfaithfulness, even if it isn't
in failing.
We learned so much more fromfailure, I think, than from
success.
So God can use your, yourhumility and the hard times or
(27:28):
the trying times to bless others, because nine times out of 10,
those same people are goingthrough something too.
So so good.
Thank you, Amanda, for sharingthat.
So so good.
If you haven't got the book yetwhen words don't come easy, it's
available.
You can get it fromAndyHowardcom.
It's also available on Amazonand available on Audible, where
(27:50):
I will even read it for you, oryou can get it on Kindle.
I thank you guys so much foryour time today.
God bless you.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
If this episode helped you inany way, it would mean the world
to me If you would leave areview and share it with
somebody else.
Thanks so much.
I'll catch you next time.
Oh man, you know I love a good story and I love
hope.
Today we have a leader, anentrepreneur, a high performance
coach.
This girl gets a lot of thingsdone with the same amount of
time as everybody else.
We're all given 24 hours a dayand she's going to teach you how
(00:22):
to structure that time.
She's going to teach you how towake up to your full potential
and what God has for you.
But stick around to the end.
A phenomenal story of God'sgoodness, his grace, even using
a childlike faith to bring achild home.
So special, such a specialstory.
(00:42):
So stick around to the endbecause you will not be
disappointed.
All that and more happeningright after this.
(01:06):
Hey, welcome back to the whenWords Don't Come Easy podcast.
I am Andy Howard.
It's so good to have you withus.
If it's your first time joiningthe podcast, I do want to
welcome you.
This is just a podcast abouthope.
I'm someone who's gone throughpersonal struggles with mental
health and I always want to pushor find someone who can bring
(01:29):
hope into your lives.
And that's what you'll find onthis podcast.
Nine times out of ten.
It may be just me sharing apersonal story from my life
experiences, but every once in awhile I'll get a guest on here,
and that's what we're doingtoday.
Have a dear friend of mine who,tiffany and I, we've had the
pleasure of working with for,I'd say, a couple years now.
I don't even know the exacttime, but let's just dive into
(01:52):
that.
First of all, let me bring onAmanda.
Welcome, amanda.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I'm great Thanks for having me today.
I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Oh, it's an honor to have you, and I guess I should
kind of explain to them who youare a little bit.
You're a busy person.
Yeah, you do a lot, youaccomplish a lot and it's very
proud of you.
I was going to say she's a wife, she's a mom.
High performance coach this ismy title I gave you, but you
actually put it better.
I was going to say you're asocial media guru, but yeah,
(02:23):
you're actually the founder ofHomegrown Collective.
We'll dive into that in here ina minute as well.
You're an entrepreneur and aswell as a brand new podcaster.
That's pretty cool.
We'll dive into that as well.
You do a lot of things, but noneof it happens by chance, and I
did want to dive into that.
I've noticed you.
(02:43):
You talk a lot about beingintentional, which I love that
word.
Nothing happens by accident,right, and so if you have a goal
, if you have anything, you haveto know how to manage your time
.
You have to know how to go forit.
You can't just always wanted todo that and then just sit and
wait and see if it happens.
So, so let's start with thatOne.
(03:06):
You wrote it.
I don't know if you wrote it oryou plan to put it out, but the
highest performance planner Letme get that right, that's OK.
Planner Tiffany, I have one aswell.
I'm not as good at it.
I need to get better.
Tiffany will not like leave thehouse without it.
She loves it.
Yes, so tell us about that andhow that came about, and and
(03:31):
more on that.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yes, so, as you said, I run two different companies.
So I do a coaching company andthen a marketing company, and so
, with the busy life as you say,I like to say it's an
intentionally full life.
But I realized that I neededsomething to keep me on track,
but something that wasn't just acalendar, but also something
(03:54):
that wasn't too much time right,because a lot of the ones that
are more mindset related are,like, very time consuming and
not sustainable, and so I waslooking for a way to combine
both the mindset piece and theplanning piece into a like five
minute a day planner, and so Ihad.
It was interesting because Ihave this history of reviewing
(04:16):
planners, which is kind of funny.
I didn't know what that waslike.
Come full circle right, like inmy early years of writing and
marketing, I helped other peoplewith their planners, market
their planners, and so I got totry out a lot of different ones,
and then I was like I think Ican do this.
And so I pulled kind of myfavorite pieces from each one
and put it together, did someresearch on what high performers
(04:38):
needed, and that's when thehighest potential planner came
along.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Well, I would think that would be very beneficial
for you, very helpful to get alot of experience from, from
doing that, isn't that funny howGod gives you the experience
long before maybe the ideal evencame about.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, I never even considered it at the time.
I just enjoyed getting to likereview other ones, and then I
ended up just being able todevelop from start to finish my
own.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well so neat?
Well, tell me, because in yourbio.
Excuse me, since you're a highperformance coach.
What is a high performancecoach?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, so I started my coaching journey back.
Oh, it's been almost a decade,which is crazy to say.
So nine years, wow.
And I I just was a life coach,right, like that.
You've probably heard thatphrase and I was like coaching
all these people and I realizedthat the client I enjoyed
coaching the most and Iattracted the most were what was
(05:30):
called a high performer, andI'd never heard that phrase
before.
I was like, what's a highperformer?
But they were basically peoplewho excelled at standards that
the average person didn't, andnot in like a better than way,
just in a way of like justreally high achieving people.
And so I was like, okay, ifthese are the clients I'm
attracting, these are clientsthat like working with the most,
I want to niche down and reallylike know how to serve them
(05:51):
well.
And so I don't know if you'veever heard of Brendan Bershard.
He's really big in the personaldevelopment industry, like
really well known coach, and hedid some training for coaches,
and so I think that was thatwasn't quite nine years ago I
don't even remember what yearthat was, but it was.
It was a while ago and Idecided to go and like really
(06:12):
learn how to serve highperformers specifically, and so
he coaches on teaching how tohelp people with clarity,
productivity, influence, courageand energy, and those were like
the main things, and he'sbasically like if somebody can
nail these five things, nomatter what industry they're in
or what they're doing, they'regoing to be good to go.
And so that was what I learned,and now I do have it coaching.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So well, I love that and it is very important kind of
touched on that earlier aboutbeing intentional.
I was never a structure person,believe it or not, and most
people aren't, I would think.
But what I found after beingwilling to step out and try it a
little bit when we stumbled onour health program, that we did
(07:01):
it helped me with the structureLike it.
You know, we have to eat everytwo to three hours, we're going
to have this, this, this, and itlaid it out for us and it ended
up being so easy, having theplan laid out for me.
All I had to do was follow it.
I was like, wow, what if Icould apply that in other areas
of my life?
Because for so many years itwas just kind of like, well, now
(07:21):
I want to do this and if it'sin front of me I would do it,
and then I would forget abouteverything else and just living
to survive the day.
And then you look back andyou're like some things I did
well, but then there was so muchI felt like I left off the
table.
You're a structure person.
You teach people how to bebetter, so how?
How would you encourage peopleabout structure?
(07:42):
And then what is?
I know you're big on routinesand starting your morning off
with a certain.
I've seen some of your podcastsrecently.
What, what is that?
How do you encourage someone toembrace structure if they don't
like it?
And then what's a good routineor something that anyone can can
start in the mornings?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, I love that question, Annie, because I'm
very similar.
People always think that I am avery structured type A person
because that's how I live mylife, but I'm actually I mean, I
am that, that's true, but I'vedeveloped.
That is not natural for me.
I had a lot of big goals andbig dreams and I realized very
similar to what you explainedwhere I was like, if I live this
reactive lifestyle of just liketrying to react to what's
(08:22):
around me or letting my lifelead me instead of the other way
around, I'm never going to getwhere I want to go.
And so I realized that freedomthat I desired so much, that's
like one of my top values isthis freedom.
I was like, if that's my topvalue, I'm actually not allowing
myself to be free if I'm nottaking charge of my own life and
living intentionally and so um.
(08:43):
So all this structure thatpeople see on the outside in my
life has been because I reallydo value freedom and creativity
and all these other things, andso, um, what I would say for
somebody who's wanting to startstructure, who doesn't naturally
feel that way, similar to howyou and I are wired is to start
small.
A lot of people want tostructure every part of their
(09:04):
life because they're like, oh,I'm, I lack structure, so I need
structure here, here, here,here here.
And it's like, well, yeah, youprobably do, but to start with
everything, you're just going toset yourself up for failure.
So, um, it's been interestingbecause my husband's actually on
a recent journey trying to addstructure to his life and I've
been able to watch him in thosebeginning stages and so what's
worked for him is he has used myplanner.
(09:26):
But even if it's not my planner, it can be a notebook, I don't
care what it is but just beingable to write down the top three
things you want to accomplishthat day is huge, because I
think so many of us we just makeit to do less.
We all know how to make to-dolists, we all know how to make
checklists, but then it's justoverwhelming because the to-do
list never actually ends right,it's just keeps going, yeah, and
(09:49):
we never feel successful whenthat happens.
It's like, oh, I didn't get itdone.
But if we can just name thethree needle-moving activities
in our lives that we need to doeach day, then we feel
successful.
And the other thing too,speaking of that, is to define
what success looks like each day.
So I mean, sometimes success forme just looks like quality time
(10:09):
with my kids, just havingeye-to-eye contact that day,
because maybe I haven't beenintentional with that, maybe it
looks like a bigger projectcompleting that, you know.
Maybe it just looks likesitting in gratitude for a few
minutes because I haven't reallyreflected on that, like I don't
know what it is.
But if we can define whatsuccess looks like each day, it
(10:30):
really helps us structure thewhole day around that and then
we can feel way more successfulat the end instead of feeling
like I don't even know what Idid today.
I was busy but I don't reallyknow what I got done.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
That is good.
I love the defining yoursuccess part, because so many
times maybe you have had asuccessful day and you don't
even realize it because youhaven't even defined what is
success.
And so then you look at the 17other things that didn't happen
instead of focusing on all thesuccessful things you did or
what you did accomplish and evenstarting small with just three.
(11:02):
I think anyone listening rightnow would say I could do that.
I could define three strategicgoals a day or whatever you want
to do, how many times a weekyou want to try that I think
anyone could try that and startsmall.
And then what I've found iswhen you start having success,
or when you start seeing howmuch how easy it is and how
structured does help.
(11:23):
You may can add to that, butjust a bare minimum of on my
worst day, I can do these threethings.
I love that.
Well, speaking of how to startyour morning, you got a brand
new podcast.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I'd say fairly new.
Oh yeah, it's not even been amonth yet, not even a month.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Okay, I knew it was just out.
I love it.
The whole concept of you you'llshare, like some daily
affirmations.
It's so quick, it's a punch inthe face, like a three, three to
five minutes, just a quicklittle podcast shot.
But it so, anyone can do, it.
It'll fit, so you don't have tothink, oh, I have to squeeze in
a 30 minute or an hour podcast.
(12:03):
It's quick but it's uplifting.
It's darts your day and I am.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Please forgive me, I'm lost the title of it.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Wake up to your life, love it.
It's available everywhere.
Yep, awesome.
Tell us the how it came aboutand then give a better job
describing it, because I don'tknow that I did a good enough
job on that.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
No, you're great.
Thank you for even bringing itup.
So it I just started it severalwell, a couple of weeks ago,
and it's a daily podcast which Iwas nervous about taking on.
I was like, oh my gosh, a daily, but it's just a few minutes,
like you said, and the wholepremise of why I started this is
because a lot of the types ofpeople I was coaching and then
(12:44):
also the types of people I wasworking with on the marketing
side of the business there thereare a lot of similar types of
people.
They're both high performingpeople.
It was amazing how they weregetting a lot done.
They were successful on paper,but a lot of them were just not
awake to the life that theycreated.
So they spent years and yearsand years working towards this
life of success.
Right, and success is differentfor everybody, whatever that
(13:07):
means.
But but they weren't awake.
They had their habits dialed in, they were able to, like,
accomplish a lot, but then theyweren't feeling fulfilled and I
was like there's somethingmissing here, because they're
doing all the right things, butthey're not feeling awake.
And so I felt this stirring afew months ago, and I was even
seeing it in my own life.
(13:28):
I was like why do I feel likeI'm not really feeling the joy
that I thought I would in thisphase of my life?
And I realized that God wantsus to be awake to the life he
has for us, not just the lifewe're building for ourselves,
but the life he has for us whichis even greater than the life
we can imagine.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So I feel like I had been in a phase in my life where
I was in a really dark place.
We adopted children fromdifferent places, some overseas,
some locally actually too, orfrom Texas.
Oh wow, you know you're fromyeah.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
And I want to be very clear that, yeah, exactly right
.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I want to be very clear, the darkness was not them
Like that wasn't what I mean bythat, and that's why I want to
be careful how I say this, butit was more just like.
The trauma involved in adoptionin general is very heavy, and so
I had to learn how to walkthrough that in a way that was
not only, you know, protectingthem from what they were going
(14:27):
through and trying to be therefor them, but also realizing
like it impacted me as well.
And but also it's difficultbecause, as an adopted parent,
it's not about you, it's aboutthem, and so it's really
difficult because it's so commonfor adopted parents to just put
how they feel to the side andnot deal with it until years and
(14:47):
years and years later.
So I spent about five years in aplace that looked really great
on the outside, but on theinside, feeling very dark and
heavy, because I didn't know howto handle the types of things
they had gone through in theirlives, and so, anyway, all that
to say is I felt like Godsometimes allows those things to
(15:07):
happen to you because he wantsyou to use that story, similar
to how you are, to speak truthto other people who might go
through that and it may not beas an adopted parent, but it
could just be anyone goingthrough mental health issues.
And so I realized that the keyto digging myself out of that
dark place was to be awake tothe life God had for me, and not
(15:29):
necessarily the life I wastrying to create.
And so that is where Wake Up Toyour Life came from is just
helping people see that God hasa plan for them in their life
and that he wants you to live upto your highest potential, but
in his version, not necessarilyour version, because it's so far
(15:50):
better.
I hope that made sense.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
And that made a ton of sense, and thank you for
taking the time to put it likethat, to find your words.
I have found that I have foundin this I would say most people
have found you go throughsomething, no matter what it is,
and you think it's for you andit is for you, it happens to you
(16:13):
, but there's something you willlearn from it.
But I have seen, as we'veshared our story, that so many,
there are so many people hurtingand we do get in that bubble of
why me?
Look at me and why did thishappen to me instead of for me?
And it's a mindset and it's anattitude.
And the more I speak and themore I share, I see, just, I've
(16:34):
seen hundreds of people that areweeping and broken, where it's
just so moving that it's notjust for me.
Yes, it happened in God, andI'll be clear as well God did
not do it to you or to me.
He's allowed it to happen.
He's now saying, well, ithappened.
Now what do we do with it?
Let's use it for his glory, forhis good, to help others, and
(16:56):
so thank you for sharing that.
And while adoption, I think, isprobably the greatest
illustration of God's love thatI can think of my pastor that we
serve for and we work for asyouth pastors.
At the time they adopted twokiddos and I remember one Sunday
when he was sharing anillustration of it and he was
(17:19):
talking about that, the judgestanding before the judge and
when they were finalizing it andeverything, and the judge says,
no, you do realize, if you gothrough with this and you adopt
and you accept this mission Idon't know I'm paraphrasing, but
he basically said that theyhave every single right that
(17:39):
your kids have, because he hasbiological kids as well.
And I mean basically laying itall out there, and it may have
went even to further detail, butit was so phenomenal and that
is what God did for us.
He adopted us, as his ownSinging the word says, even as
sinners right, even when we werein our darkest place, when we
(18:01):
were centered.
He loved us so much that hesent his son to die for us to
make a way for us to haveeternal life.
I didn't mean to go down thisrabbit trail, but it's just so
beautiful, so beautiful.
So thank you for sharing thatand I did want to dive into that
just a little more, if we can.
So this summer, tiff and I hadthe privilege and I'll throw
this out there If you're lookingto sponsor a kiddo man, we we
(18:24):
still have some kids.
We have a goal of a hundredkids that we're trying to
sponsor.
That just means help them getto school, help them get food,
help them with so many expenses.
Some of them don't even haverunning water.
It's just, it's very sad and itreally grabbed our hearts, and
so that's why God gave us thenumber hundred.
I didn't just throw it outthere, and we're making progress
(18:45):
.
I think we have 50 left, maybe40, 45.
And we have a link for it.
We will post it in the shownotes.
But you guys have adopted fromand I don't know if some may be
from Africa, but tell us more.
You said two are from Texas.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah, texas, and one is from Congo.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Here in Africa, awesome, awesome.
Well, tell us how that cameabout and what.
I'm sure there's a story behindit what you can share.
But how did God lay that onyour heart to to adopt a kiddo
from Congo?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, so it's again such a God story.
So back when David and I firstgot married, I think I was like
22 when this all started, whichis crazy.
I feel like I thought, you know, at 22, I was like, oh, I'm so
mature and so, you know, I lookback, I'm like I was like a baby
.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
But anyway, yeah right.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And so we were newly married and I always knew that I
wanted to grow my familythrough adoption.
That was just kind of a thing,and that was actually something
I expressed early in dating.
David was I said this is how Iwant to grow, this is how I want
to grow our family whether wehave biological kids or not, I
don't know, but I just want tomake sure you're good with that.
And he he's like I could goeither way, like I'm open to it,
(19:58):
but also if we don't, like I'mopen to that too.
And so I was like, as long asyou're open to it, great.
Well, I don't think you realizehow quickly I was going to move
on that, because we were likebarely a year married and I'm
like the adoption processoverseas takes time.
We got to like start theprocess and he was a little bit
hesitant, not to adopt, but justhesitant to start so early.
(20:19):
And anyway we decided to jumpin, thinking it was going to
take a long time.
But we quickly got matched withEvelyn, who she is my second
daughter in birth order, butfirst child and she's 11.
And we got matched with hervery fast, like within a few
months, because she wasmedically fragile and needed to
come home very quickly, and sothat was a surprise.
(20:42):
Like I said, I was thinking wewere in it for like a year or
two with the adoption process,and it was like we started it in
September.
We were matched with her inFebruary which in that world
that's fast and then we broughther home.
Well, we actually didn't bringher home till the end of that
year, but I went to meet her inOctober and then I stayed there
the rest of the year with her.
(21:04):
So anyway, it happened quickly,but she it was actually a
pretty scary process becausewith her being some medically
fragile, she got malaria twicewhile she was over there and she
was a year and a half I forgotto mention that.
So that was the age she was wasabout a year when we started and
then about a year and a halfwhen we brought her home, and so
(21:26):
she was very malnourished.
She was only eight pounds atsix months old, and so we tried
to find a foster family for herover there, because we were like
we got to get her out of theorphanage.
Like we, she may not survivethis, and so we matched her with
a foster family.
But that was so hard just to beover here and try to get all
(21:46):
that process going.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
And help us, I'm sure yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Yeah, it felt very helpless.
It was very.
That was a dark time as well,and again I was 22.
I'm like I don't know how I didany of this stuff then, but I
was just learning how to be anadult on my own at the time.
But basically, once we got,well, this is a God moment too
and I don't want to take up toomuch time with this.
But basically, right before weleft, we were told not to go
(22:13):
because to go get her becausethe country had shut down.
They said we aren't letting anycitizens out of the country.
So it wasn't to do withadoptions, but it affected
adoptions because we couldn't.
We could come and go, but thechildren could not.
And so our agency told everyonelike hey, the country's closed,
we don't know when it's goingto open.
(22:34):
It could be a year, it could belonger and I was I just
remember the moment it happenedand I was like just gutted.
I was like what?
Like she needs us, like thisisn't just?
I mean, every child needs ahome.
I want to be clear about that,but at the same time, like,
medically, she needed us tobring her home.
And so I was crying in the carwhen I got the news and I told
(22:54):
David, I was like I don't knowwhat to do.
I don't know what to do.
I was frantic.
And then I felt this like peacecome upon me.
There's been few moments likethat where I've just it's been
very, very clear, the voice ofGod.
And I heard the word go and Iwas like what, what does that
mean?
We were just told not to go.
In.
Now I just we're supposed to goand I feel peace about it.
(23:15):
And I shouldn't feel peaceabout it because this is like
anything but peaceful.
But that's what that's, god,right, when you feel the
unexplained peace.
And so, after I was done beinghysterical, I looked at David in
the car because he's driving,probably like what is wrong with
her?
What's going on?
And I was like, oh, we'resupposed to go, we're going to
go.
And he's like what?
You just said that they closedthe country.
(23:36):
What do you mean?
We're going to go.
And I was like God told me togo.
So good thing, because we didend up getting stuck over there
for like longer than we hadplanned, but we were one of the
few people who were able tobring home our child in a timely
manner.
Everyone else pretty much hadto wait a year or longer after
that, and we got her the helpshe needed.
(23:57):
So we brought her home on.
Christmas Day.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
My brother.
He, my brother's a lot youngerthan me and he was, like, I
think, 10 or 11 at the time Idon't remember his exact age and
he was praying that we'd behome by Christmas every day.
And I remember telling my mom Idon't want his faith to be
rattled, like we're probably notgoing to be home, like there
was no sign that we were cominghome.
And I was like that sounds soterrible.
(24:23):
But I'll just be honest.
I was like praying this I don'twant this to be something that
he, like, can't forgive God for.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Anyway, on Christmas Day we came home, his so,
instead of his faith beingrattled, his faith was
strengthened by his prayersbeing answered.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Right, who am I to stand in God's way?
Right, but wow.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Well, that's a phenomenal story and I thank you
for sharing that and for beingvulnerable, and thank you for
what you're doing.
Wow, all these kiddos, liveschanged and I think if you're
out there and you're prayingabout it, or if you've been
thinking about adoptions, man,maybe that's your sign, because
how special was that.
So, thank you so much forsharing that.
(25:07):
In closing, is there anythingbecause we could probably go
anywhere with all the differentthings you have going right now?
Excuse me, but is thereanything on your heart or
anything you'd like to push orplug that you're doing right now
or in the next coming monthsthat you'd like to talk about?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, I mean, I just think, like with the wake up to
your life stuff, I justencourage you to tune into the
podcast.
It's a new podcast but I reallylike that there's actionable
steps.
So it's not just like feel goodinspiration, which isn't fun to
, but it's like okay, here'sactual things you can do to wake
up to the life God has for youand to be open.
(25:45):
That it may look different thanwhat you have in mind, but it's
so much better.
So, yeah, you can listen tothat podcast.
Or even if you're looking for atool, as you mentioned, the
highest potential planner is agreat tool to get started, so
you can check that out as well.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Well, I love that.
And if they're very interestingand reaching out about even
your high performance coachingand everything that you offer,
how do they find you?
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah, so that is on a new website, so I have to
remember it.
I think it's calledwakeuptoyourlifeco, so I changed
the name of it due to podcast,so that's marketing.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I love it.
Yeah, well, very cool.
Well, amanda, I thank you foryour time today.
I love your story.
I feel like I got to know you alittle better today, Even
though we've known each otherfor a while.
I heard some things I've neverheard today, and so thank you
for being vulnerable, forsharing.
I know it will help so manypeople, but best of luck with
everything you continue to doand thanks for doing this.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Thank you, Andy.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Thank you, Amanda, for being vulnerable.
That is something so manypeople struggle with is opening
up and just being vulnerable,and I get it because it is hard.
But you know why it's so hard?
Because the enemy, the devil.
I'll just get a littlespiritual here.
As we're closing, We'd lovenothing more than to keep your
story wrapped up, because itwill help so many people.
(27:05):
There are so many people I knowright now hurting and
struggling, and your story canbless them.
So my encouragement to youtoday is open up, share the
goodness of the Lord, hisfaithfulness, even if it isn't
in failing.
We learned so much more fromfailure, I think, than from
success.
So God can use your, yourhumility and the hard times or
(27:28):
the trying times to bless others, because nine times out of 10,
those same people are goingthrough something too.
So so good.
Thank you, Amanda, for sharingthat.
So so good.
If you haven't got the book yetwhen words don't come easy, it's
available.
You can get it fromAndyHowardcom.
It's also available on Amazonand available on Audible, where
(27:50):
I will even read it for you, oryou can get it on Kindle.
I thank you guys so much foryour time today.
God bless you.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
If this episode helped you inany way, it would mean the world
to me If you would leave areview and share it with
somebody else.
Thanks so much.
I'll catch you next time.
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