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Hey friends, welcome back to the Fit Soul Podcast. Really excited about this episode number 147, where we are going to break down something that I am pretty sure you struggle with. If you've been running hard but you still feel empty, you want to pay attention to this one. God has never called you to perform, strive, hustle at the cost of your peace. Ouch. Amen. Oh, I'm stepping on my own toes. Like I'm hopping on my own toes over here. Today I am really like I am walking this journey with you, and I really have something to share with you that's coming from the depths of my heart and soul. I want to share with you a truth that just this week, it literally stopped me midbite. But it also changed just, you know, when you have those kairos moments, those God moments, it's not just a linear moment like, oh, this one is really, really gonna change the way that I'm I'm thinking, I'm processing, and that I'm moving forward. All right. So if you're new here, welcome. My name is Amy Ramsey. I'm a high performance coach, a mentor. And let me tell you something. I am a woman on a mission to help you walk worthy of your calling. For over 25 years, I've helped women lead with purpose, live with peace, and perform with excellence. I know that you've got um a legacy to leave. And I know that if you're listening to this podcast, you are a woman of impact. And this is really important to you. So this podcast is where faith, strategy, and real life and growth collide, baby. But today's conversation is a reset for every achiever who's tired of running hard and still feeling empty. And if you're like me, I am back and forth of this of like, oh my gosh, I run so hard and I come back to a place of okay, I gotta slow down. I need to reset and recharge. And in my reset and recharge, I'm like, okay, I gotta do things a little differently. And I could I can say this that I'm truly making um growth and strides in this area, but for some of us, it's how we're hardwired. And also the culture that we live in today really has us conditioned to go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And what I want to share today is listen, I'm gonna share with you a story here in just a minute of something that really caught me in my tracks just this week. And I was like, what? I didn't know that verse existed. But on my own journey, I am in that place of back and forth, back and forth, like I just described. But I can't tell you how many times I have said, okay, hang on, honey, give me just five minutes. Let me go pop in and do this one thing with my work and just give me five minutes. And five minutes is never five minutes. It's usually an hour. And then I get frustrated with myself because I got stuck in the vortex and violated like the personal boundaries and and balance that I'm trying to create. But more than that, I just said I was gonna be five minutes and I wasn't. And so I've been really on my own um journey to figure out okay, how can I implement work from rest? Okay. How can I really embody this? I just got through writing my high performance planner. And at this point in time, whenever you're listening to this, it is in an editing process. I'm still months away from um releasing it, but it took me on a journey that, who my gosh, I was underprepared for how much work that that was going to take and hitting the deadlines and uh all of the things. But in the book, as I was writing it, I wrote through belief systems that as high performers, as women that are the women that get stuff done, what are the mantras that if if I could just pick 10 beliefs, like Bible-based biblical belief systems, what would what how how do you like just bring it down to 10? So I've got this really cool, it's called a cheat sheet. And so I had to do that. Like I really had to get, oh, it was really difficult to just go, oh, how, but but but it made it really defined on what could move, what could move you forward? If you had to practice a new thought, a new belief that's based on the Bible, that's um where currently you're in a place, I call it a stuck cycle. How can we create a new truth loop in your life? And so I've been repeating this, not just a mantra. I think mantras can sound almost new age. Um, and I'm all about a mantra and an affirmation. So don't I I think that they can to some people, it could be a turnoff, and you might be listening to this, and you're like, oh girl, wait, she's new age. I'm off. No, no, no, hang with me. I promise. I bring it with a Bible verse. But God works from rest. I want you to think about that. God works from a place of rest. I am really a huge fan of the work of Jamie Winship. He has written a book called Living Fearlessly. He is amazing. Go and check out his work. And then there's another um through through Jamie Winship's work. I did one of his coaching programs. Like I'm just, it really has changed the way that I think and that I can that I'm hearing from the Lord. He really just walks you through living fearlessly and living from a place of inside out, spirit-led life. And he introduced me to um through his work. I I learned about Bob Hamp and I had the pleasure of meeting him actually recently at a conference, and just what does it mean to actually hear from the Lord? And these gentlemen really opened up my eyes to God works from rest. We can go back in Genesis and look. And he actually wants us to work from rest. And I'm gonna read you a scripture that my spiritual mentor uh talked about at dinner just this week. And I'm like, what, what, what? So it just really brought it this full circle picture of what I'm really trying to practice in my life, a better balance and basically a better rhythm, right? And I'm trying to practice this in my life, and and I want to get this right because I want to please God, but I also feel the responsibility of leading well just this week alone, on a coaching call. Um, I got a text message just this morning and from women that are high performers and they're going, going, going, going, going, and they want to be obedient, they want to please God, they want to do all the things. Oh, and I got a Facebook message. Yeah, like I had three like messages with women with great hearts. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I just hear my story in them. Like, we we're we're facing this challenge because the culture really has shifted to just going and being on the go. Um, notifications, we're constantly bombarded. And so we're gonna talk about the neuroscience and the scripture around this. This is gonna be, it's not gonna be a long podcast. It's gonna be good though. And you might have to listen to it again, as my aunt says, chew it up whole, swallow it on the way down. Um, all right. So let me tell you about where this dinner went. I am so blessed to have a godly, godly mentor couple in in our lives. My husband and I, they were our marriage mentors. We've been married um at the time at the time of this recording, actually, next week is our anniversary of 12 years. I don't know where 12 years went. Like, oh, I'm so blessed. If you guys know my story, holy smoke or rolly, the first, the first uh two decades of my adult life were filled with trauma, abuse, um poverty, shame, guilt, left on the train in the middle of the night with my kids, left a 15-year marriage, one that was um in ministry. Like, let me tell you, it is I I still look back and go, oh my gosh, it was like a movie that I I was able to in real time go, is this really happening to me? Oh my gosh, this is crazy. Anyway, so I'm so blessed to have um just a beautiful relationship with my husband now. And we have these mentors and we don't get to get to, we we don't have the we don't get together as much as we would all like, but we do make an effort to get together. And when we get together, it's typically me with my Bible asking a bunch of questions to to uh my friend Bill, who's older, he's wiser, he's just oh, just filled with such good advice. He told me though, because we were talking about this idea of working from rest. And so he's much older than I am. Um, I don't know exactly how old he is, but he's definitely in his um, I believe probably mid-70s, and I'll I'll just need to ask him anyway. Maybe in Bill, if you're listening, I I meant like late 50s, right? Ha ha ha ha. Okay, but he is retired, has been he had just retired actually when we met full time, and he is so busy um really operating in the in the in his spiritual gifts. Like what he's doing is making so much of a difference and an impact and leading, and it's mostly like he's an elder at our church. We go to a very large church, and he does mentorship, discipleship, and very involved with his family, of course. But he told me that at his age, his type A personality still keeps him hustling. And I thought, you've got to be kidding me. Really? Because I keep thinking, because I hear younger mothers tell me, oh, well, when my kids get older, it'll I'll have more time and then it'll it life won't be so busy. And I'm looking on the other season of that and going, yeah, no, that's actually not the it's a different, it's a it's a different season, but I would say I I almost feel busier. I I really hate that word, but I I feel my like my cup and my plate are much fuller now, even than they were when I was, you know, raising my children. And I remember thinking then it was such a busy season, like, oh my gosh. But when he told me that in the 70s, type A personality for him has not slowed down, and he's been chewing on this work from rest, too. We had the most beautiful conversation around this, but here's what he told me that, and I'm gonna read this scripture right now for you. Here's what he said Hebrews 4 9 through 11. And I want you to go, and I've just really been meditating on this passage this week, and it says this that so there remains a Sabbath rest for God's people. For the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did his. God worked from rest. He rested from his work, God worked from rest. And then the next part of that says, listen, therefore let us be diligent to enter rest. Diligent to enter rest. I'm just like gonna stop right there. I want you to go and read the entire passage like three times nice and slow. Pray, ask the Holy Spirit, what do you want me to learn from this? What do you want for me to learn from this? Okay, but when I think of the words diligent and rest, those two words, that's like antithetical, right? That doesn't even light up. That doesn't even make sense. Like work diligent to rest. But I want you to think about that. Diligent to rest. I would love to hear from you. How does that land for you? Like, are you like me going, wait, what? I literally was sitting at the dinner table, catty corner across the way from him. I'm like, I'm sorry, did you just say diligent to enter rest? He goes, Yes. And we went on and and just had, oh man, it just hit me in a fresh way. Uh, so I want you to think about that. I know that you're a high achiever. And what if the greatest strategy that you have, the most productive thing you can do is to work from rest. I know you're like, but you're a high performance coach, Amy. I know, I know, but let me tell you something. I'm a Jesus girl first and foremost, through and through. And here's the cool thing: when we think about the power that is at work within us and we partner with God, he increases our capacity. But we we live we live in a fallen world. We live on this side of heaven. And on this side of heaven, there is a constant battle between our self-reliance and supernatural reliance. It is going to be that way until the day we die. And my my question for you here is that what if this is your blueprint for life? What if this is that productivity secret nobody talks about? Is working from rest. What if the very thing that gets you to the next level is you getting out of your way and resting? And it's hard. Oh my gosh, this is so hard for me. It has been so hard for me to really try to it to incorporate a true Sabbath and to not pop in even just for a second. I have an email. Listen, if you're not on my email list, you absolutely want to be. Go to amiramsey.com connect, slash connect, I believe. Yeah, slash connect. Jump on my email list because I send out a brilliant email. I'm not trying to brag, it's just like where I pour my heart and soul for content creation is mostly in my newsletter that goes out. And so I send out a Sunday success strategy email on Sundays at three o'clock central. And so that's been something new. I started that about a month ago. And I found myself on Sundays just trying to tweak it just a little bit. Just let me add this one more thing. Because, you know, I mean, I guess in all transparency, if if you don't know this, this is what everybody does. We write content ahead of time and we schedule it and automate it. It's very rare something is written in real time, and okay, let me push send on this. So my goal is to not work at all on Sunday and to rest and to just enjoy life and nature. Also, there was a time when I was like incredibly vigilant of no social media, no emails, and no shopping on Sunday, like a true Sabbath. And I I can't say that I'm fully practicing all of those things, but I'm I'm I want to work to get back to that of just enjoying God and being with God. I hope this is maybe encouraging you in your own walk to where can you take that rest? What's really cool, and I'm gonna come back and talk about this a little bit next week, too, more of the science behind this. Neuroscience, neuroscientists have found that when we step away from constant doing, our brain shifts gears and it activates um well, like quiet space activates the part of our brain that's responsible. Check this out, for insight, creativity, and aha moments. Aha moments. Listen, you can't force that when you're rushing. So here's the deal neuroscience, neuroscience validates what God is already saying. We need to slow our role, audit our rhythms of rest and restoration. And this having margin in our lives multiplies your capacity, your creativity. And I'm wanting to think of another C word right there, just because I feel like I should. Things come in threes and I love an alliteration. But it just will um help you to not just recharge, but to march more fully into that thriving life. Isn't it beautiful though that God modeled this? You know, when we talk about high performance, and so I merge it with scripture, of course. One thing we talk about in leadership. So leadership is a high performance habit. I want you to know that you are called to lead. I um lead actually uh ninth grade girls in high school in in my church. This is new. I just started it this year. Y'all, I feel so I feel so incompetent. Can I just say, like, I'm like, oh, little guys, I got like I love, love, love little guys and women, let's roll. But y'all, um, high school, it this is a whole new world for me. But I sat even just with them this this week and um leadership, you know, I sat and talked to them about being a leader. They have homecoming this weekend, and they were talking about, you know, how can they go forward and not um bow to peer pressure? How can they go and obey God and be strong and be unapologetic for their stance with what's coming up with a lot of temptation? That's what the message was on. And so we were just talking about that. And so leadership means we role model the way. We're all called to be leaders. You are called to be a leader. Those ninth grade girls, I looked at them all sitting around that table. I'm like, is God calling you to be a leader? Every one of them instinctively raised their hand. They knew.

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They knew.

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Role model leaders role model the way. We role model the way. I had a coaching call with a client just this week, and we were talking about energy management. Oh, let me finish my thought on that. Okay, so role model the way. God role modeled this way for us. He works from rest, so we work from rest. Remember, there goes that biblical mantra for you. Every morning I write that down. God works from rest. I work from rest and overflow, overflow of the Holy Spirit. Because when I am partnered with God and I am surrendering to him, my capacity is unbelievable. My energy level is through the roof. But I can't do that running on empty. I cannot, cannot. That is not the way he has designed our physical bodies, nor can you, right? So back to role model the way God does that for us. I was on the call with a coaching client just this week, and we were talking about the high performance habits of energy and the way that I break that down. I don't have time to do it on this podcast, but we talk about energy. I mean, sometimes when we think about energy, oh, we think about did I exercise and is my diet right? And that's why I'm tired, right? And no, let's bring it a step further. Energy management is um diet and exercise 100%. A hundred, but it's also rhythms of rest and restoration and recharge. And so we're talking about this supernatural rest and recharge. And and my client and I were kind of, you know, talking about this. I I was sharing her with her, I was sharing this message with her because I had just had the dinner the night before with my mentor. I'm like, this, let's talk about this. And what's really interesting is that we can Sabbath on Sunday, but when we come, when we talk about this from a place of energy management, from like high performance habits, taking time each day, even just a moment, I'm gonna talk about more about this next week. Even just a moment, Juliet Funt has a brilliant book, The One Minute Pause. Highly recommend. Talks about one minute of pause a day, even if just for breath work. Gratitude, writing out your gratitude. One minute pause for me. Sometimes I'll take like just maybe uh three-minute pause if I just need a refresher. I'll walk literally. This is gonna sound so dumb, but I this is what I do. Take that breath, I get outside, and I will walk to my mailbox and back just to get some fresh air and to to like step away. Step away, baby. Put the phone down if you know what I mean. Okay, so taking these uh breaks during the day, during the week, and then also like having a plan of how do you recharge your batteries for a quarter once a year. You know, some people think, oh, well, I'm gonna go on vacation, my yearly vacation, and that's when I recharge my battery batteries. Absolutely. However, that's not enough to sustain you for the year. Um, I'm gonna wrap up this podcast, but I think I'm gonna share this one last story is I just got back from two conferences. And it just happened to be that the conferences events were both on the same week. And I would have never, I mean, I normally I I had bought my ticket for the one event on my birthday in July, and it was October the 15th. It's Brooke, um, Brooke Thomas's Live Out Loud in Dallas. And I knew I needed to get myself in that room, and I knew that I was gonna get a recharge. I love Brooke Thomas, she's amazing. If you're not following her, go follow her, um, go listen to her podcast. But she just, I've been in her mastermind before, and I I knew that I was gonna, I was gonna get my batteries recharged and be with like-minded women, kingdom-minded women, entrepreneurs. We have, you know, we we all have our own special unique things and challenges that go along with it. So when I knew I'd step into that space with other high achievers, high performers that are kingdom-minded, and and you know, we we understand the lingo and and what we're going through. So it was so amazing. And then it just happened that there was another event that I actually needed to be in. It was up-level in communication. It's the Firebrand Story Room, and that was up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. So I was like, uh, okay, this is kind of crazy, but I'm actually gonna go to both. And I flew from Dallas to Grand Rapids and then came back home. And let me tell you, it was exactly what my soul needed and my spirit getting myself into both of those spaces and rooms. I came away with friends and um like-minded uh women that just we get each other and we support each other. And I've been talking to my new friends this week. It's been it is recharged my batteries. So think through how you can incorporate rhythms of rest and reset, not just once a year, not just once a quarter, but regularly in your life, and to know that we are to enter into a diligent place of rest. Because God is speaking. God is speaking to you. I was even reading through Psalm 23 this morning, and um actually I'm gonna try to pull it up real quick, and I will continue uh talking until I have that thing pulled up. But you know, if we think about Psalm 91, abiding in the shelter of the Most High. Psalm 23, David starts out with, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Gosh, that just makes me want to cry. There's enough. There's enough. I want you to think about that. I shall not want. There is enough. You have enough time, but there are enough resources. We serve a God of supernatural everything. And then the next scripture says this He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul. God makes me lie down in green pastures, but I have to be obedient to make myself stop and go do it. God works from rest. Let's work from rest and relying upon him. Okay, so I love you so much. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. And if you found value in this, could you share it with me? Help me get the word out of this podcast. And you'll want to come back uh next Tuesday is the next installment, if you will, part two of this. We're gonna continue this conversation. And I really do enjoy hearing from you what resonates with you. It really does. It just encourages me so much. Um, okay. So, all right, my friend, have an incredible day. Work from rest, process that, chew it up, swallow it whole, and implement. Implement. Don't just listen to this and go on about your merry way. Like, how can you implement that? Like today, right now, today. Okay. Bye bye right now.