Speaker 1: 0:41

Hello and welcome to the Fit Soul Podcast. Super excited to be here today and, as this is releasing, it's my birthday. I am 52 years old and I've been in a place of some deep reflection over the last year and I'm really excited to start a new series, probably the next two or three episodes. I'm going to call this called out and called up because, let me tell you something, this last year has been one for the records. It was not the year that I anticipated, it was not the year that I kind of had envisioned for myself, but it has been such a year of stretching and, honestly, I've been so far out of my comfort zone. But it's all been wonderful, but it's been obedience. And I want to share some of my thoughts that I have with you on here, because a lot of people ask oh my gosh, why is this so hard? And they take something that's hard or maybe fear of starting something new, and they take it as a stop sign and they don't move forward and progress in that thing. And what I want to ask you is what if it's not a stop sign but a signal? The hard is actually part of the process and the resistance doesn't always mean that you're off course. Sometimes it's the clearest sign that you're actually doing the exact right thing. Okay, so this is deeply personal to me, after turning 52 and being so stretched in ways that I never anticipated and the stretching wasn't bad at all, it was obedience and it was also preparation and I want to maybe share with you today prayerfully um, help you realign with what is God calling you to do. Where is it hard? Where might you be feeling some resistance and being stretched right now? And maybe God's calling you higher as well. So I think I'm coming to you as a believer, but also as a high performance coach and this is one of the things that I do is I help women unleash their potential, elevate their life. Unleash their potential, elevate their life, their habits and move forward in their lives in a way that is honoring God and walking worthy of their calling. That is my mission. God gave me that mission and as I was thinking this morning through this last year and actually what I wanted to share on this particular podcast was processing it through I got a little teary-eyed, honestly, and started to realize it was about a decade ago that I started the process of walking through redemption and healing.

Speaker 1: 4:02

I'm a believer. I was saved when I was eight years old and that's my salvation. But the sanctification process is what we walk out until the day that we die. And I was so stuck in really, really, really bad patterns, unhealthy toxic thinking, negative thinking, shame was suffocating the very life out of me. I hid in plain sight, all with pretty red or pink lipstick and with a big smile on my face. I feel like I had just mastered the art of hiding in plain sight.

Speaker 1: 4:42

But it was about a decade ago that I just couldn't do it anymore. I don't know if you've ever been there. It's like, oh my gosh, I literally I cannot do this anymore. I felt like I was made for more, but I also at the same time felt that was selfish and is that wrong to even think that I couldn't make the connections of identity, of who God said that I was in my own life? I would read the scripture and I had a very good working knowledge of what it said, but I could not get it translated into my heart and I felt like it was for everybody else but just not for me. And that's what the enemy does. He comes to kill, steal and destroy. He never wants you living fully alive and unleashing your potential. So there's a very real target on our backs, and especially when we get started moving forward in the things of God.

Speaker 1: 5:40

So back to this year, we went to Italy last fall. Back to this year, we went to Italy last fall and while I was in Italy, I had a Kairos moment, a moment in time that was not just Kronos, it was a God moment. There was something so powerful about well being out of town and oh, just Italy. I had never been before and the architecture, the, the culture, the domo. In fact, I had this Kairos moment actually when I was in Florence, italy, and we were getting ready to go to Rome. I'm trying to think of the timeline, of when it happened, but I just knew that God was speaking to my heart and told me that I will never reach my full potential as long as I stay distracted. And I would love to just break down how much time we lose with some distraction math, but I'm actually going to do that on the next podcast. I want you to know because it's pretty eye-opening.

Speaker 1: 7:02

So I'm sitting in this place of just taking in all of the beauty, and then I had very clear directive on that plane ride home from Italy, back home, god had my attention and I was removing distractions and I was sitting on that plane ride and I heard so clearly in my spirit to plan the worthy woman summit. Now, it wasn't called the worthy woman summit at the time, it was just have a conference for women the exact location, the exact time and five people who to talk to. I've shared this story before on here. I didn't know how hard that was going to be. I didn't even it wasn't on my radar to do something like that. In fact, I have people say, oh my gosh, I cannot believe that you're planning this in such a short time. It didn't matter to me whether it was a short time or a long time, I had marching orders and I just want to say right here sometimes I think that as believers, we feel like we can't hear from God, that he doesn't actually speak to us and to our spirit. And what I want to say to that is the more you lean into God, the more you ask him what do you want from me? Speak to me. He wants you to have an awakening, he wants you to know. Jesus says my sheep know my voice and he is talking to us. He wants us to go into what good works there's, good works that only you can do. So I had very clear directions.

Speaker 1: 8:30

I sobbed all the way home from Italy Back. We were flying into Charlotte. I just sat there to myself. Randy was watching his movies and doing his thing and we stood up in the airplane and I never forget. I just looked at him and said, okay, well, I'm going to have a, I'm going to plan a women's conference in our area. I need to talk to these five people and it's going to be the last week in March. And he just looked at me like I had four. I was like what? I just kind of took him by surprise. He was all in and all supportive of all, of course, course.

Speaker 1: 9:03

However, what I didn't know is how hard that was going to be. I mean, I can say it now and I'm not saying it looking for pity or even looking for a pat on the back at all. It was so hard. I stayed up. I had a hard time going to sleep because once I got started, I did not know how much money that was going to cost. I didn't know if we were going to sell tickets. I didn't know how it would turn out. I didn't know how to get all of the moving pieces and parts in place in time. I didn't know how to try to talk to people and go raise support, because I had to go do that.

Speaker 1: 9:42

It was all new and it was a lot. It was quick, it was a little overwhelming, a lot overwhelming, and I just struggled. I truly was not able to sleep at night because my mind tossed with all of the tasks, all of the details, and then I was struggling with worry and finally I was able just to release it in. It was probably in December. Finally, I was like you know what, lord, this is yours. You've called me to it. You're going to have to help me through it, because I am not equipped to do this on my own. What is that scripture that he calls he? What is he? Qualifies the called, not calls the qualified. I definitely was fitting in that category. Calls the qualified. I definitely was fitting in that category.

Speaker 1: 10:32

But what I want to say to you is that, hard, that struggle was not a stop sign. I just had to lean in. I had to trust God more. I had to ask for more help and I did. I moved forward on that. That Kairos moment that I had in Italy helped me to really see that I wasn't stewarding all of my potential, nor was I expanding my capacity at the rate that was possible. And so that's what I want to ask you right now Is there any part of you that feels like you know what I could be doing more? I think there's more in me for his glory, more in me for contributions to give. I just want you to kind of like hold some nonjudgmental space for that, because that's where I was.

Speaker 1: 11:21

So back to that summit. I had never done one before. There was no, I had no experience. There was no roadmap. There was nobody saying, hey, yeah, do this, this and this. But when the Lord gives you the direction to go, he'll provide everything that he needs for you. And I have a friend of mine who taught me a prayer that Lord, you put the people in my life that you want in my life and take people out that you want out. It was just powerful. It's a powerful prayer, and now I sit and watch that prayer come true on so many different levels. But he put so many people in my life to help me with that that felt called to it as well. So here's the thing Obedience is rarely convenient, but it's always a catalyst. Think about Joshua the waters didn't part until the priest stepped in.

Speaker 1: 12:19

Sometimes, when we're saying that we're waiting on God to take the, you know, for God to move, and when God is, I'm just waiting on God, I hear women say this a lot. Listen, I'll just call it out right here. I hear women say well, I'm just waiting on the Lord. I'm just waiting on the Lord. And here's what I want to propose to you has God already spoke to you what to do, and you haven't done that? First thing, let me just ask you that have you stewarded the things that he's given you? Now?

Speaker 1: 12:47

One of the things that I have learned over and over again as I walk through waters I've never walked through before is that it is just obedience. And I was even in church on Sunday and my pastor was reading through some stories in Samuel, but where King Saul, god, had given him a command and King Saul didn't fully, fully, fully obey it. He obeyed most of it, but didn't fully obey it. And in that God said that obedience is better than sacrifice. And so what is God calling you to do? What is he putting on your heart and where have you not activated in that? And maybe you're waiting on another sign, or maybe you just don't feel like God speaks to you, and so are you too distracted to where you can't hear, because that's where I was. I was too distracted and that beautiful opportunity that I was able to get when I was in Italy just was such a game changer for my life and it really showed me what is available and that God is speaking. But if I'm constantly scrolling on social media or watching, just numbing out with whatever that it is that we're numbing out with, with consumption, how is he going to speak to me? In fact, I heard a podcast this morning and the lady was talking about how important, how gaming and the phones are built for such, to keep us addicted to them, but we go to it constantly and it's in those spaces where God can talk to us. Okay, so let me just share with you a little bit further in the year.

Speaker 1: 14:41

So after the summit that was in the spring, I declared on the summit because I do 90-day goals, I love 90-day goals, they're powerful and I declared there at that summit before, like the very last day, I said, okay, I'm gonna write the my high performance planner. It's something I've been saying I was gonna do for years and I haven't done it. I had partially written it but I didn't have the entire thing. So I said, okay, over the next 90 years I'm gonna do it. I declared it all and let me tell you, I turned in the final copy to that yesterday to get beta print. I have a whole group, a coaching group, that's about to get started and that's one of their deliverables is they get first dibs to that.

Speaker 1: 15:30

That was so hard Like. I'm still super exhausted from it because it was so hard. I did not know. I don't know what. I don't know. I'll be the first one to tell you that. But here's what I do know is that it was the right thing for me to do. I was supposed to do that and it was just obedience. It wasn't that. Oh my gosh, this is so hard I can't do it. Or this is so hard can't do it, or this is so hard, let me just do it over the. I'll just take the next year and complete this. No, in fact, I don't even know fully. Actually, I'm being very honest. I will. I will know this, hopefully in the next two weeks. I don't even know how I'm moving forward with publishing it and or marketing and all of that, like I don't have those pieces figured out.

Speaker 1: 16:19

The first piece was to write it and now that it's written, my prayer is is that it changed lives, because using that formula that I've written inside of the planner changed my life, increased my purposeful productivity. So it's not just about a product, but to me this was about obedience, but also legacy, a tool that can help women move forward. My mission is to walk worthy of my own calling that Ephesians 4.1, and powerfully use my voice and help other women walk worthy. This is another tool to help that mission. So here's the thing I didn't do the planner thinking, okay, now I'm ready to write a book. No, I was. I just knew that it was the right thing to do and I did it. I didn't feel ready, but I went ahead and did it anyway.

Speaker 1: 17:18

So here's what that stretch taught me and kind of putting those two together, those two things is you don't need the full blueprint to say yes. And the resistance, the hard, the struggle, is not a stop sign. It's a sign the way is worth it. What's on the other side is going to be worth it, and what you learn in the process is part of who you're becoming, to step into that. So I want to give you a couple of things to help you shift, for your stretch season as well.

Speaker 1: 17:59

Maybe you're in a stretch season, maybe you're in the place where you you're ready to walk some things out too, but you're facing some resistance. You feel the struggle. Heck, this could even be in your own health and wellness journey, right? So here's mindset shift. Number one is shift from am I ready to, am I willing?

Speaker 1: 18:24

You moving forward in obedience is key. This is what God expects of us, and delayed obedience is disobedience. You're not going to feel confident when you're moving forward right away. That's part of the process. You'll gain confidence once you're more competent in the skill sets that you need. And God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. This is a faith walk.

Speaker 1: 18:57

Every elevation requires separation. You may want to write that one down. Every elevation requires separation. You can't carry everything or everyone you used to. Every time you level up in life it is going to demand that next level version of yourself, the one that's more resilient, the one that's a stronger mindset. Every time God takes me through an elevation. It shakes the very core of who I am, and I have to build a different level of thinking and dreaming and imagining and envisioning of what God wants. Okay, so where? What are you waiting to feel ready? Let me get my words out. Okay, what are you waiting to feel ready for that? God's just asking you to start to get after it. Start to get after it. This is kind of funny.

Speaker 1: 20:01

We were out to dinner with our kids and I was had been. We were talking about the planner that I was writing and my, my daughter, my bonus daughter, said oh, so that's so neat, because I don't know anything about that. What are you going to do? She started asking me like logical questions about writing a book. I was like, oh, I have no idea. What are you going to do with publishing? How are you going to? I have no idea. The first step I just had to write it and I didn't. I don't know the next steps, but I do know that I can figure it out. I do know that I can be resourceful. I do know that right now, as it stands, I am making lots of phone calls and talking to a lot of people, right.

Speaker 1: 20:35

So what are you waiting to feel? Ready for that? God's just saying go, obey me. That's number one. Number two is a spiritual shift from God, giving you that sign to God. I heard you the first time. Let's go, stop re-asking over and over and over again what God's already told you to do. I have kept myself crazy in crazy cycles for that one thing alone and now it's seared a solid lesson in me. When you start to be, when you're activated and you're moving forward on the things that God's calling you to move forward on, you're going to feel resistance because you're out of your comfort zone number one. Number two then there's spiritual warfare, where you're going to have a target on your back and when I started to move forward, absolutely shift everything that I did and move forward in this trajectory where God has me right now.

Speaker 1: 21:31

Woo, I thought there were so many times that I quit. I would quit, I would quit for a few minutes. I would go and cry real hard and suck my thumb and hide under my desk and say I don't want to do it, and then I would come back together and I would go for a walk and regroup and get back at it. But I wish I would have understood now. I kept going to God and said okay, god, are you sure you want me to do this? Are you sure you want me to do this? And finally, I actually had a friend who said didn't you say God told you to powerfully use your voice to help other women walk worthy? Yes, didn't you say God told you to build the walk-worthy mentorship? Yes, this is true, this is true. Then why are you asking him the same questions again? He's already told you, he's already spoken, what to do. That was such an aha moment for me. It gave me the permission to build instead of constantly going back and asking the same question.

Speaker 1: 22:36

It's kind of like if you've got like a little child and they're like hey, can I have this? My grandson calls me Mamie, hey, mamie. Well, he doesn't talk yet, but if he did, hey, mamie, can I have this bag of Cheetos? And I'm like sure, of course you can have the bag of Cheetos. And then he comes back and says but wait a minute, can I really have the bag of Cheetos? Yes, of course you can really have the bag of Cheetos. Go ahead and eat them up, they're yours, they're yours. And then comes back just 10 minutes later still holding the bag, scared to open the bag. But can I have that? And the answer was yes all along.

Speaker 1: 23:11

But that insecurity and the self-doubt keeps us from moving forward and I just want to share with you, like in so much love because I've been there so much is. That is just fear, that's all it is. It's fear. I also believe it's the enemy saying kind of hitting you with that insecurity, like yeah, you're not ready, look at her, she's ready. Like that puts us in that comparison lane of when we scroll in and we see so-and-so and man, they've looked, they got all their stuff together. They're like where you're on chapter one in your book or chapter two, they're on chapter 439. So polished, so eloquent, so got all of the things pulled together and you're like but, but, but, but you know that's the enemy. That is the enemy and that is comparison. So we have an audience of one and that is what we need to focus on.

Speaker 1: 24:00

To God I heard you the first time the first instruction is still your assignment and it really is important that we really do move forward and activate on the things that God is calling us to do and to know that he's a good God, and he's so gracious and he's so patient with us, isn't he? I love him so much. Okay, the anchor verse here is Psalm 119, 105. God, your word, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. So what is the last thing God's told you to do that you haven't quite activated on yet? Go do that, let's get activated on yet. Go do that, let's get activated on that.

Speaker 1: 24:37

The third thing is is an action shift from it's too hard to this is what I must do? It's such a different. I mean, just kind of think about that. Even say that out loud, if you don't look crazy, if you can say it out loud wherever you are From. Oh, this is just too hard to. Oh, I have to obey God. Let me go do it and praise God.

Speaker 1: 25:01

That is where I was with the two big hard things that the Worthy Woman Summit and then this planner. Oh, my gosh, they were both so hard, but I didn't even let myself sit in that too long, because this is what God's called me to do. He's going to, he's going to do it, he's going to do it through me and when, when things are hard, he empowers me to do everything, I'm not doing it on my own, I'm doing it through his spirit. So here's the thing this is a faith walk, and faith is we can't see it ahead of time, and we want to see it. We want certainty, we want to know. We're like, oh, but Lord, no, no, no, give me another sign, right? But it's so beautiful that when our faith is being stretched, on the other side of that, refinement is more precious than gold, is what 1 Peter says and what I was thinking this morning as I was walking, just putting my thoughts together.

Speaker 1: 25:52

I was thinking about the pruning that God's done in my life over the last 10 years, over the heck, over the last six months. But God's pruning those things that aren't fruitful and we want him to cut them out of our lives. What's not dead, the cutback isn't punishment, and we want him to cut them out of our lives what's not dead. The cutback isn't punishment, but it's preparation for what's next. So what hard thing can you commit to moving forward and having and shifting that mindset? Here's the deal. You feeling stretched doesn't mean that you're failing. It's something that God's doing inside of you. It's not about striving, but it's honestly about surrendering and putting your yes on the table. God, what do you want me to do? I'll do it. It's hard. I'm out of my comfort zone. I don't know all the next steps. Okay, god, it's really, really hard. God's like, yeah, yeah. So what I want to share with you is that that stretch is sacred and that obedience is everything, because our lives in obedience to God is. That's where the beauty of being able to just hear from him and to be able to walk with him intimately. So I just want to encourage you with this.

Speaker 1: 27:11

I'm going to come back with the next several episodes of this podcast. This is more information than to just put in one, being called out and called up. I'm grateful for so many things. I'm grateful for you, by the way. Thank you for being here and listening to this podcast. I'm several weeks behind on creating. I do create a podcast every single week, and I'm a few weeks behind because, I'll be honest with you, I had no idea what writing that planner would demand of me, and I know as soon as I'm putting it out here, you're going to say but where I want to buy one, it's not for sale yet. I've got to figure that piece out. Now that we're talking about all this, you're getting a little BTS behind the scenes of how I operate.

Speaker 1: 27:58

I am the queen of taking messy action and this is not who I used to be. My stuck self 10 years ago was so scared and then I got the call to go online with my business. What I was so scared about? That I was the girl that hid in plain sight. Are you kidding me? Go online, what? And here it is. And now look what God's doing. Look what God's doing. This is him. But the last 10 years have been preparation and it's been little bitty steps along the way, faithful and consistent, not perfect. I had to learn a lot to. I was thinking about that this morning. I was like, you know, it was so interesting to do.

Speaker 1: 28:49

The summit required a whole bunch of skill sets. A lot of them I had. I'd never put them in use for a summit, but when it came down to it I was like, oh okay, so asking for sponsors to support it by the way, if you want to support Worthy Woman Summit 2026, holler at your girl. But part of that is the same skill sets that I used with fundraising for St Jude, for Make-A-Wish, for Breast Cancer Awareness Things that I love to do and support good causes. I'm like, oh okay, well, that's kind of a skill set. And then rallying the troops and getting a team, that was again a skill set of leadership and pulling things together and making them fun my gift of hospitality I was able to start to see how some of it were skill sets and some of it were just spiritual gifts. But God utilized those things. But I had already practiced them so many times.

Speaker 1: 29:47

So be faithful in the little things. Don't despise small beginnings. I remind myself that all the time. Don't despise small beginnings. It's okay to say I don't know, let me go figure it out.

Speaker 1: 30:02

I want to leave with one final story that came to me when I was running through the airport recently. I was like, oh, it was the closest call ever for Randy and I to make our flight and it was an international flight. It was the last one of the day. There were delays after delays, after delays, after delays. You know how it is If you fly much. You already know that drill. But we were able to calculate exactly where we were we flew to Charlotte and how far away the other gate was, and that it was probably not going to happen and the only way it was going to happen if we divided and conquered. And I sprinted all the way there.

Speaker 1: 30:48

Randy waited on my suitcase to come up. They checked my bag and wouldn't let me put it on the airplane because it was so tiny, the airplane was so tiny and so he couldn't go with me. He was like you go ahead and go, he goes, run your fastest down there and then ask if they'll wait for me when you get there. That was our best chance, okay. So let me just set the scene for you. I've done this before and it feels like the amazing race. We love the amazing race. So this was like an amazing race.

Speaker 1: 31:21

Sitting in the airplane as we were taxiing, getting ready to get off, and the stewardess was with me. She's like go run, You're going to have to run your fastest. We'll try to call down there, we'll try to get. I mean, everybody on the plane right there was trying to help me get off first so I could get out. I had my heavy backpack on and my adrenaline was pumping. I've run a lot of races, but I don't run anymore. I do a lot of walking. I don't sprint anymore. So let me tell you, sister was on it, I got off of that plane and I started sprinting.

Speaker 1: 31:53

I had seven tenths of a mile and I had, I believe, 10 minutes to get down there and a whole bunch of people with this big heavy backpack on. I wasn't quite sure why I was going about halfway through. Finally, when I got to the middle of that concourse if you've ever Charlotte airport, you know where all those um rocking chairs are I got to that point. I'm. There's so many people in there. I'm having to weave around people. My legs were on fire, my lungs, oh my gosh. I could barely breathe. It was bad. It was bad and I knew in that moment that I couldn't slow down. We would, we would miss the flight and I couldn't stop.

Speaker 1: 32:40

And at the same time, I was like Amy, you've got this. You've run a whole bunch of half marathons. You've run a whole bunch of. You've run a bunch. This feeling of pain that you're feeling right now is temporary. You've proven this to yourself a hundred times. A thousand times, I would say Go, go, go, go. I was able to because I had done that so many times before, even though I'm not running right before, even though I'm not running right now, even though I'm not race ready right now at all. I've done that before.

Speaker 1: 33:14

I knew what to tell my body, I knew what to tell my mind, and so I was able to make it to the gate and to say that we were the last people on that flight. We did make it. They held off until Randy got down there. He came down there sweating. We were both like literally drenched with sweat, but we had been training for that, and so what I want to encourage you to is to train in this stretching season, in this season of preparation. This is training ground for you. Every day is training ground. We're conditioning ourselves either to be average or to be excellent. What do you want to be in your life? So I want to just call you higher too, as I call myself higher and I call all the ladies that I coach higher.

Speaker 1: 34:01

I'm going to go ahead and sign off now. If you are in a stretch season and you're ready to walk it out with more strategy, structure, support, accountability, I'd love to walk that with you. I have one-on-one coaching. I also have a Walkworthy mentorship where I help women build their faith and habits to follow. So you can message or you can check the show notes here, or you can message me on any social media. I'm happy to give you all the details and I want you to know that I'm cheering you on. We're called to walk worthy, so let's go get after it. Okay, my friend, I will see you next time here. I'm back, baby. I'm back. I'm out of writing that book. I got a little more space, so I'm excited to be back. All right, I love you.