Speaker 1: 0:40

how to pursue your calling, but also how to have more energy in your life, how to have more joy in your life. I feel like for so many of us. There's a lot of midlifers that listen to this podcast and sometimes people think that maybe the best of their days are behind them and I'm just here to say nope. So all right, well, let me pop right into that story. So, as the time I'm recording this, this happened on Father's Day, so I'm actually recording this on a Monday and it will go live on Tuesday, but this happened on Father's Day, which was yesterday. My husband and I were driving to Vicksburg Mississippi meeting my parents who were driving in from Monroe, louisiana. So I live in Jackson, flowood, mississippi area. So I was headed west and the fact that I just got that direction right is quite the miracle, because I'm dyslexic. Don't ask me north, south, east, west. I mean, I just can't get them straight. But that's going west. My parents live in Louisiana, they're driving east, and halfway for us is Vicksburg Mississippi. Now, I am not throwing shade on Vicksburg Mississippi. Please don't hear that. I am not throwing shade on Vicksburg Mississippi, please don't hear that. But it is not a destination that most people would say, hey, I'm going to Vicksburg, mississippi, to meet for lunch. I'm just saying I'm just going to throw that out there.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Anyway, we wanted to meet for Father's Day, to celebrate Father's Day together, and Randy and I went to church yesterday morning and then we left from church and then we went straight there, drove straight there. As we were driving on our way there, it was about an hour drive. This driver was sporadic with their driving. You know how sometimes you'll be on the inner, especially like on the interstate, somebody will drive, they'll drive really, really fast and you'll then they'll slow down and like that gets on my nerves. I like a cruise control. Anyway, we went to try. I think Randy tried to get around him and he would speed up. Anyhow. We were getting close to getting there and I said go ahead and go around him and he would speed up. Anyhow, we were getting close to getting there and I said go ahead and go around him. As we went to get around him, he sped up and we we made it around him and it he started following us really close, which was super uncomfortable. I was like, oh my gosh, now we've got some crazy person behind us.

Speaker 1: 3:24

A few minutes later, as we were driving and it was uncomfortable, he was uncomfortably close, he he slowed down just a little bit and then we heard a very loud pop. It startled both of us because we weren't quite sure. It sounded like it was in the back of the car, but we weren't sure. Was it in the car? I had a box back there. Did it come open? It sounded way too loud for that. In fact I almost I told Randy, I said let me go look back there and see what's going on. He goes no, no, no, because the lane had narrowed in. There was traffic, traffic. It felt you know how when you're driving and it starts to feel tense. It felt tense, but then we heard a loud pop again and then we heard one more really loud pop and we even kind of talked about it. Did we just get shot? What is going on? It was confusing. It was very confusing.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Fortunately, we exited thestate. Our exit came up. Not too long after that. We pulled into the restaurant, surveyed my car and, yes, we got shot. Can you believe that?

Speaker 1: 4:35

The passive-aggressive driver? By the way, it was on I-20 in Vicksburg, mississippi. They were driving a dark gray two-door Lexus. That's all I have. I don't have their tag number or anything, but they shot at us, which is crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, right. I mean, what is this world coming to? So, anyhow, I put this on Facebook last night, honestly, just to let people know, like, hey, be careful out there. And the post has gone viral, with people sharing it because I mean, it's just concerning right. But I've had a lot of people reach out to me and say, oh, my gosh, you must have been traumatized, are you okay? So I just want to like pop in real quick and say we are totally fine. We are absolutely fine. We were. It was. It was uncomfortable, obviously, but we were just humble. We just couldn't believe that we were shot at driving down the interstate.

Speaker 1: 5:48

But it really did make me think of a couple of things and that's what I want to share with you today. I wasn't scared. A lot of people said were you scared, are you okay? No, I wasn't. I'll tell you what I was. I was mad, and not because my car is damaged, which I mean I'm not happy about that, but let me tell you why I was mad.

Speaker 1: 6:12

My very first thought was, honestly, it was not panic, it was this no weapon formed against me shall prosper. Who does he or she whatever, I think it was a he, pretty sure it was male who does he think he was trying to shoot at me? Shoot at us? Like what in the world that could have hit our tire. He could have shot us. I mean, I understand it could have been so much worse. We know that, we realize that, but my first thought and reaction was how dare you? I am, I am a daughter of the King how dare you? So I just want to throw that out there. But I do want to share with you three takeaways that I was really able to think about and process with that story and being so fresh on my mind right now.

Speaker 1: 6:57

Number one your life is precious. We're not promised tomorrow. We truly don't know how many days that we have. I love knowing that God has our days numbered. I don't have to worry about that. We don't know how many days we've got. Everyone matters. Every day matters Like. Every day you get up is a gift to you, and every day that you get up, you are a gift and have the option to be a gift to someone else. When you show up fully. Your life is so precious. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Every conversation, every assignment, every opportunity to serve it, all matters. We don't have time to waste time and to play small. Okay, your life is precious.

Speaker 1: 8:43

I was on a call with my Walkworthy mentorship this morning and we go through a framework morning and we are. We go through a framework and we were talking about our just understanding that we are an ambassador. When you are a Christian, the Bible says that you are an ambassador, like we are the representative for Jesus here on this earth. Which brings me to point number two you're created for more. You have an assignment with your name on it. You're not here to survive. You're not here to drift through the days. You are created to be fully activated in your life, right here, right now, to live fully as an ambassador for him, right where you are, in every sphere, you walk into your ecosystem. You have an opportunity to bring heaven to earth every single day. You know when we are walking through life.

Speaker 1: 9:34

Sometimes it's easy just to get on autopilot, but that's not what we're called to do nor created to do. So, number one your life is precious. Number two you are created for more. So let me ask you have you fallen on the autopilot? Just a little bit, maybe a defaulted lifestyle, and you forgot that. I just want to gently remind you that, hey, let's get to it. Let's get to this calling that's on your life. And then number three, I mean honestly not today, satan, not today.

Speaker 1: 10:06

Here's the thing. My first response was not fear, it was truth. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. God's got us, he's got our days, he's got every detail of our life. Fear doesn't have to run the show. This is where that Proverbs is it Proverbs 4 or Proverbs 3? I should have looked that up before.

Speaker 1: 10:28

But trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. Trust in the Lord, like when we're walking in this place of full trust in God. He's got it, he's got me. It really does. You really are able to walk with such confidence. And this is a thing that, hopefully, as believers and I'll just ask you, like I'm just going to ask you right here Are you growing in your trust? Are you growing? Do you have a confident faith in the Lord that he's got your back?

Speaker 1: 11:07

Fear doesn't have to run the show when we start to not trust him. Fear and anxiety take over, and that's not God's best for you, nor is it his plan, nor is it trusting him. I love you enough to say that it's not trusting him. They are emotions that we have to address. Everybody feels anxious at some point. Everybody feels fear at some point. Everybody feels fear at some time. That's why there's over.

Speaker 1: 11:33

I've heard 365 places in the Bible where it says do not fear. But God does call us to be strong and courageous, and when you start to understand the promises that he has for you and the authority that you've been given here on this earth, you activate differently. So your life is precious. You are created for more. No, no, not today, satan. So I just want to encourage you and be real with you in this moment. Are you sitting on anything? Are you sitting on something that you know God's already called you to do? Are there conversations you're avoiding because of fears? Or there's things that your actions you're avoiding to take because you're letting that fear take over you? And what? What would shift if you fully owned who God says you already are and just started walking like you believe it. It is super powerful when we stop allowing our emotions to hijack our actions I shared with.

Speaker 1: 12:44

I had a coaching call this morning and I was sharing there that when you're activated and you move forward, the fear doesn't go away. It's really interesting. I was telling my coaching group this morning as I was talking to them. We were talking about walking in your authority and what does that mean and what I shared with them as I'm getting ready to release a book, starting the podcast. You know I've got a podcast. I have the summit, I speak on stages, I have coaching groups. I do all of these things.

Speaker 1: 13:21

Listen, it's a miracle. I almost quit a million times. And especially, you're more vulnerable when you first get the call and you're being, you're being activated to move forward. You are actually more vulnerable than because the enemy just wants to keep you down and so he starts to attack you and those attacks are real. That spiritual warfare is something.

Speaker 1: 13:49

So if you're walking through a season of you're getting activated and you are finding that you are almost shutting down at every single step, sister, let me just tell you oh, it is hard and I have definitely been there, but stand in your authority. Okay, stand in your authority and keep going. There's been several times you could have found sucking a thumb underneath a desk, I quit, I quit, and I would quit for like three minutes and cry and then I would shake it off and get my faith back on and move forward. But the more you activate and the more you pursue, like I'm writing this, this book, this planner, right now, I just I know it's an obedience, it's an act of obedience.

Speaker 1: 14:36

I don't know all the steps. All I know is it's it's really hard right now, but because I've done so many things, activated on it, now I understand the process of how those emotions come. They don't, they're not as strong anymore because I've built more capacity to understand this. Oh, this is part of the process, this is part of the growth process and I'm not sharing with you those things to brag at all. Please, please, please don't hear that. What I'm sharing with you is that I know so many people get so stuck in those early stages of moving forward and I promise you that you will get stronger the more you go.

Speaker 1: 15:15

So not today, satan, all right. So let's get activated, let's stand strong. The enemy is going to come. Crazy things are going to happen. Be careful on the interstate. You might get shot at. By the way, passive-aggressive driver. I will have to regroup. I'll have to just let them have it. Before I try to pass somebody again, I will say that.

Speaker 1: 15:40

But the days are precious, your assignment is real and you've got work to do. You have got work to do. We cannot control the crazy people in this world. We cannot control the crazy people in this world, but we do get to control how we show up, who we serve and the impact we make with this life we've been given. So let's get at it, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. Okay, my friend, thank you for being here. If this episode encouraged you, I would love to hear from you. Please do me a solid and share it to your Instagram story. I'll reshare you or share this with some friends. Let's get this positive mojo going. And if you would like to take a look at doing some deeper work, check out the show notes. I've got all sorts of things. I am so grateful for you. I love you. Have an amazing day. Okay, bye-bye for now.