They Call Me Mista Yu
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They Call Me Mista Yu
One on One with Mista Yu: Director of the Barnabas Foundation, Heather Day: Faith, Family, & Financial Freedom
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What happens when we strip away the façade of perfection and embrace authentic faith? Heather Day, Author and Director of Marketing for the Barnabas Foundation, joins us for a refreshingly honest conversation about finding purpose, peace, and financial freedom through surrender.
Growing up as a pastor's kid who always knew Jesus' love, Heather shares how her early financial struggles with her husband led to a transformative moment of surrender: "God, we've made a royal mess of things, help us." Rather than receiving an instant solution, they discovered the daily discipline of contentment and trusting God for "daily bread" rather than feasts.
Heather challenges the prosperity gospel head-on, asserting that our worth has nothing to do with our bank accounts. "If wealth equated to joy, all of Wall Street and Hollywood would be super happy right now," she observes. Instead, she's witnessed profound joy in communities with minimal material possessions but rich faith.
The conversation explores how authentic ministry happens when we break down walls between people of different backgrounds, approaching relationships with genuine care rather than a savior complex. Heather's work in underserved communities taught her that true connection happens when we recognize our shared humanity rather than focusing on differences.
Her book "Money and Spirit" stands apart from typical financial advice by addressing the heart issues behind our financial decisions. Until we confront misplaced trust and priorities, tactical knowledge alone won't free us from destructive patterns.
Throughout our discussion, Heather returns to a powerful truth: God doesn't call us to positions but to obedience. Finding your purpose isn't about discovering a perfect career path but asking daily, "What do you want me to do today, God?" This perspective liberates us from anxiety about our future and grounds us in present faithfulness.
One on One with Mista Yu
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welcome back to one-on-one with mr you. Of course, I'm your host, mr you, in studio with us today. Author. Minister. Director of marketing for the Barnabas Foundation. Heather Day is in the house Heather.
Speaker 2:Good morning. It's so good to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Pleasure's mine too, to have you here. We had an awesome pre-interview chat and there's so much to talk about, so I definitely want to try to jump into it. Let's start off with you. Let me always just put the background first. Where'd you come from? Your family dynamic? Tell us about Heather.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I am a PK. I have grown up in the church all my life. Yeah, we can go one of two ways. We tend to go off the rails or go deeper into the church, and I went the second route. But I have grown up in the church. I've never known a time where. I didn't know that Jesus loved me, and so that's where I come from. I have my husband, robert. We've been married almost 24 years this June.
Speaker 1:Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and we have an 18-year-old daughter, emma, and a 13-year-old son, jackson.
Speaker 1:All right, that's awesome, awesome. And what area of the country did you grow up?
Speaker 2:in Well. I've grown up all over the place with my dad as a pastor, but I've lived most of my life in Illinois. Currently I reside in Bourbonnet, illinois, about uh about an hour South of Chicago.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, I love that you had a little. You had a little funny quip about your name and what it meant. Talk to us about that. That's weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I. You know, like everybody likes to have some deep meaning behind their name, what their name means. And you know, looking, looking, Looking my name up as a kid, it was like Heather, a flowering weed. Nobody wants to be a weed. There's other times where you can look it up and it says a blossoming flower. I tend to go with that one. Why not?
Speaker 1:I tend to go with that one, why not? Why not? We did have a little talk about Chicago. I want to get into this a little bit because I got questions about the infatuation with this whole Chicago dog thing. I'm sorry, tomato and cucumber on a hot dog. I'm not catching what the infatuation is. Help me out with that and then share a little about Chicago and the Roseland community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Chicago dogs are so good it's like a gourmet feast in a bun. But I'll tell you, I'm not a purist. So I like a Chicago dog with the pickles, the relish, the ketchup. Oh, that's where I'm not a purist, because Chicagoans would immediately dismiss me by just saying that I put ketchup on my hot dogs or, you know, mustard only, but otherwise I really love it.
Speaker 1:Fair, fair, I don't get it. That's why I'm Okay, I don't get it. That's why I'm asking. I don't get the infatuation. I mean I'm from New York, so for me it's like mustard sauerkraut. You know, I get some onions and stuff. I don't get the whole pickle spear answer it's so good, I'm not getting it.
Speaker 2:So good You're making me hungry at this time in the morning.
Speaker 1:That wasn't my goal. That wasn't my goal at all. But tell us about Chicago a little bit. I want to ask you about something else Chicago related, but let's talk about that. You mentioned the Roseman community. Yeah, why is that place significant for you?
Speaker 2:So I've actually lived in the South suburbs for my entirety of time here. But we get up to the city quite a bit and for special events we go up there to see the beautiful parts of Chicago Magnificent Mile. We see a lot of plays, we saw a lot of musicals. But also the ministry I work with, barnabas Foundation. We have a connection with Roseland Christian Ministries and they are a ministry that specifically works with the impoverished area of Roseland community.
Speaker 2:So I had, so we've worked with them as a ministry for quite a bit, but I had an opportunity last year to take a group of teenagers up there and serve breakfast to the homeless and to visit their shelter and to be part of their worship service and I was just blown away by this beautiful rose, you know, in the middle of a neighborhood that has really struggled. They haven't always struggled, but they've just been dealt a bad hand. There's been a lot of things that have happened in their history hand. There's been a lot of things that have happened in their history and I was just amazed at how God is at work in Roseland community there in Chicago.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. Now, we always hear and I always ask about people in their geographical evidence. We always hear things through the media about what it's like. Right For those pieces of information. So bust a myth for us about Chicago. Yeah, Tell us something that we hear about from Chicago that's actually not true, and then you can kind of confirm some of the things that are challenges in the area. If you'd like to Go ahead, yeah.
Speaker 2:So anytime I tell somebody I live near Chicago, they immediately say are you afraid of getting shot? You know, yeah, there's just a lot of there has been. It's not completely untrue that there are some. You know, there are some real struggles in the city of Chicago, but mostly I feel I feel safe when I go there. I love the people of Chicago. I have had a good experience when I go there. I love the people of Chicago. I have had a good experience.
Speaker 2:Now, that being said, there are some neighborhoods that struggle with poverty and gang violence and drugs and all these different things. But again, my experience has been that when I have visited those communities whether I've just been part of different things where we visited the city my experience has been that the people there are really deep in the midst of struggle. Again, they've been handed an unfair hand, they've been given difficult circumstances to fight through, and yet I have seen over and over again that God's people are also there ministering to those people who are in the midst of the struggle. So there is beauty there. We're all people. We're all people who are just trying to do our best and the more that we can shine a light into those communities and be part of it, the better off we all are.
Speaker 1:I wish that was something that I hope everybody that's listening and watching hears that, because, wow, I mean that's a big challenge, because we look at these things like we hear about, we talk about that are in other areas and we just kind of assume you know what, that's their thing. No, it can't happen here. It's somebody else's fault. This is happening, but you said like you said, doing the bad hand, and people have that across this country. So it's good to hear the beauty in that.
Speaker 2:And that's in the city of Chicago, which, again, I've visited and been part of. But even in my community, in the South suburbs, there there are pockets where, uh, where there are just people that have, um, generational poverty or generational struggle, um and um, and that, uh, uh, they just have all kinds of struggles from different things that have happened. They've not, they've not benefited from the same things that have been handed down to me. They've not had the same schooling that I've had, they've not had the same loving parenting that I've had, they've not had the same opportunity that I have. And so, the more that we can get to know the why behind the communities, that's not an excuse for those communities, but we can come in with a better understanding to be able to serve them better and help those of us have been given much. There's a lot of responsibility to help those out who have not been given as much.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful, that perspective right there. I want to. I want to spend a little time on that, because there are a lot of people who are probably watching and listening to this interview right now and they didn't have somebody. They have struggles out and they didn't have somebody. They have struggles I mean everybody has those, that's germane to all of us but they didn't have the struggles like what you're talking about. How are you able to go into that? Tell us how, as succinct as you can, how are you able to go into those communities, knowing that they know and you know that you guys didn't have the same struggle, but you could still be able to serve them and help them in a way that's significant for them?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'll tell you one of my first, one of my first jobs out of college was for St Ann Community High School and we worked one of the feeder communities into that high school. Uh was Hopkins park in Pembroke township, which is, uh remains even today. Uh, the demographics have changed Um, but the but it remains today one of the most impoverished uh uh communities in, definitely the state, but also in the country.
Speaker 2:And and so um, but I had an incredible experience working there because I got to know these kids and I got to know their families and they were so real and so full of joy and so just authentic that I couldn't help but be the same with them. And that's where these walls come down, when we don't look at people as less or more than we, just look at us as all in the same boat and our true selves. When I was just able to be myself and not pretend that I understood everything they went to, but that I just but that I deeply cared about them and they cared about me. It was reciprocal. When, when those walls came down, reciprocal, uh, when, when those walls came down, that's where true ministry happens, because it wasn't a um, I'm going to come in and rescue, and they weren't looking at me as somebody high and mighty, it's just we're in this together. How can we, how can we serve and love one another?
Speaker 1:that's beautiful. I love this. Now. We talked a lot about resilience in our pre-interview chat. Talk to me about this whole situation with the White Sox and the Cubs, because I don't really understand that part either.
Speaker 2:You know I.
Speaker 1:That's a story of resilience, if ever there was one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we just keep coming back to remember that one time when we won a world championship there's, you know, we're just, we're just always one season away from that world championship. So, um, but yeah, my, I, I am a white socks fan, mostly by marriage. I can't pretend, I can't even pretend yeah, robert, I don't know what, what.
Speaker 1:What is he? What's he hanging his hat on us? This, this is. I'm a huge baseball fan After. My first sports love was baseball being in the inner city. That was weird because there was not many fields and they were poorly kept. I thought that was my way out of the community. But the White Sox name it never comes up Every year. There's nothing said about them. There's no highly touted prospects. What does he hang his hat on as a White Sox fan? What is he holding on to?
Speaker 2:Well, they've got a beautiful park, they've got a great experience. We have fun there. But I will tell you A beautiful park.
Speaker 1:Is that where we are in life, Robert? Oh, poor fella. No, here's the thing.
Speaker 2:I should also tell you that he's also a Jacksonville Jaguars fan, so I just think he likes to dive into misery. I think like he could shoot. I think he, yeah, I think he every year on these teams. I think he's got high hopes that about halfway through the season they completely fall apart and, yeah, I spend the rest of the season calling him.
Speaker 1:I truly don't know how to even encourage him. Jacksonville Jaguars, really, robert? Okay, let's stay on Heather.
Speaker 2:That's a rabbit hole.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we can't go down that rabbit hole. It's not possible. But you notice some things in some of your work regarding authentic faith. Define that because and keep in mind the listeners and the viewers today because we hear about faith, I mean we have a faith to sit down in a chair and think it's not going to break. We do that all the time. We don't think about it as faith, it's just instinctual. But talk to us about what you think authentic faith actually means and how it makes sense to those that could be listening today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think of authentic faith as just being absolutely real about what I believe, but also my struggles. I think sometimes in my experience, one of the biggest lies that the enemy will tell us is that we're all alone and we're the only one struggling with what fell in the blank. You know, I, when I, when I had my daughter, I uh, 18 years ago, I struggled with postpartum depression and in the midst of that depression I felt like nobody would understand. I felt like nobody gets me, I'm all by myself, and that was a lie. The moment I was started to talk about that and to open it up and that other people then were open about it with me, it gave me hope and it gave me a light.
Speaker 2:Um, so I think that as Christians, we tend to like, like to present our best selves and we like to put a pretty bow on things and say it's all good, life is perfect, and and that's not helpful for anyone, it's not helpful for us to be able to be ministered to, and it's not helpful for others to feel like they're working with someone who, who they can identify with, with someone who they can identify with. So, the more that we can be straight about like I, I, you know. There's a story in the Bible where he's like I do believe, help me in my unbelief. That's that's where. That's where I am in my faith, like I truly hold hang on to God for dear life. But there's also struggles along the way and I want to be real about that so that we can journey together.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that During our pre-interview chat, I challenged you on one thing that you were saying. You were saying that you were ordinary, there was nothing special about you, and hopefully I didn't jump on you too hard, but I challenged that because of what you're talking about right now. There's just so much in us, you know and this is 2 Corinthians 4, I believe it is talks about how we have a treasure in each earthen vessel. There's something, there's something special about us, something special in our DNA we have. We have creative ability in us. So there's something special about you and me and all of us that are listening.
Speaker 1:How would you encourage somebody in in that, in that truth, because a lot of folks feel like you, what they haven't been, they haven't. Maybe they haven't been fathered, maybe they haven't even been mothered. In some areas where they were, they were nurtured in their gifts and abilities and realized that they had something to offer to this big, huge, massive world. How would you encourage somebody who may have been through that? And because they are ordinary and they feel there's nothing special about them, how would you encourage them?
Speaker 2:well, first of all, if you're ordinary, you are just like all the people we read about in the Bible, all the faith leaders that literally changed history, that Jesus used. When I talk about being ordinary, I talk about I am that earthly vessel that there's nothing spectacular about me, but not yet. Not I, but Christ in me. So Moses Moses is like he spent way too much time arguing with God about how could you use me? I stutter, I'm not ordinary or I'm not special.
Speaker 2:And yet when he opened himself up to allowing God to work through him, he literally led people into the promised land. We see that over and over again. We look at the disciples they were kind of a hot mess and yet God worked through them to literally change the world. And so if you're feeling like there's nothing special about me, first of all God has given you unique gifts and unique skill sets that he wants to use. But it's not because of those that he's using those. He wants to use you, in spite of your weaknesses, and use the things that he's given you to work in the lives of others and really make a difference.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. One thing that we shared in common when we were having our chat is about the the emphasis of purpose in our lives and, uh, most folks watch me I've done some stuff in my background where I have to speak to people about purpose and and they kind of help them locate that to some small degree, to kind of help them, you know, understand their part in this, in this picture. Why do you feel like it's your responsibility to help people find purpose?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, I think part of that big jobs it is a big job, um, and it's, quite honestly, something that I spent way too much of my teen years and my twenties trying to like. I felt like I was walking on this tight rope of I have to find God's will and walk along that rope and make sure I don't fall off it and make sure I find the exact spot, the exact footing and what was freeing to me and I referenced this in the book my dad gave me really good. My dad's very wise and he gave me really great advice of that.
Speaker 2:God doesn't call people to positions. He calls them to obedience, meaning that he may ask you to a specific occupation he may not, but what he asks you to do is that every day, I just live in complete surrender and obedience to what do you want me to do today, god? And as long as we're staying faithful and following his word and in prayer and seeking his will, then you are achieving your purpose. We have that like inner, the Holy Spirit guiding us. If we, if we allow the Holy Spirit to that will, that will. If we get too far off path and we're wandering down a path of destruction, the Holy Spirit will guide us back, you know, and say hey, you need to. There's some correction that needs to happen here. But as long as we're listening to that voice and being obedient to what God has to do today, then you are in the center of his will and you are living out your God given purpose.
Speaker 1:I love it. Love it If all our viewers and listeners. If you have any questions for Heather or myself regarding what we're discussing, whether it's Chicago Dogs or if it's about finding your purpose, drop your comments in the comment section. We'll answer those as soon as we can get to them during the course of this episode. Now, one thing that you mentioned in regards to trying to help people find their uncommon purpose. What we talked about also was how cheerleading can morph into a full-time job Constantly affirming people and I do that in my life, I believe you do as well when we talked about but how do you support people in your opinion? How do you support people without becoming a crutch for people? That's really important that we don't do that, but how do you? How are you handling that part?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a good question and that's something sometimes I can struggle with because I want to, you know, with my kids. I want to step in and and fix their problems and lift them up out of it. But but the truth is that, like a lot of my spiritual formation and who I am is because of the struggle and and them learning to do it for themselves and learning to know I can tell them till I'm blue in the face that's not gonna work. But they have to experience that's not gonna work and I use that example with my kids, but that's true of other people as well. We want to encourage them, we want to be a support system, but also we have to avoid. We can sometimes I know I've struggled with this whole like savior complex that I have to fix it and that's not my job.
Speaker 2:I am not the, I am not the savior Jesus is. So I can walk alongside them, I can be encouraging, I can help affirm their gifts, but ultimately they have to walk that path for themselves.
Speaker 1:I loved it. I love that. You know history is teaching us that you know people. Sometimes people don't want relatability and leadership. They want somebody who's expected to be almost superhuman. You know you can't be like me, like what you're talking about in scripture. You can't be like me because I know how I am. So if you're like me, we're both screwed. So they kind of want something that's above that superhuman. They kind of want something that's above that superhuman. How do you balance between being relatable and still honoring that unique purpose that you have to do to do what you're doing?
Speaker 2:If that makes sense. Yeah, I think I think I understand the question. So I I definitely want to be authentic and not put up a air of I've got it all together and yet there are some things that I have. I'm in accountability with those just closest to me, so I'm not going to broadcast all my dirty laundry to no, that's OK.
Speaker 2:No, it drives me like as a as a as a leader like I want to be careful about, like like having people in my life that I can be really real with and that I can share my real struggles with and making sure that I have them in place to encourage me and to help correct me and help guide me. But that's not necessarily out for the whole world, but the whole world. I do want to know that. Look, we all have struggles and I have struggles too. And, yeah, just be authentic in that way.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that you also talked about you know way. I love that. I love that you also talked about you know the the growth process that you've gone through. You know I know people that people are kind of programmed to avoid painful and hard things. You know, don't touch that because it hurts. You know, and what did you learn about yourself through the growth process? Do you think it would be valuable to our listeners and viewers?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, um, I've had growth in a lot of different areas and a lot of struggles In Money and Spirit. I talk specifically about our financial lives and how early on in you know, I came out of college with a lot of debt and in our early 20s and early marriage we made a lot of mistakes. You know that we had to navigate and part of the struggle was admitting first of all, admitting that there was a problem and my husband and I, you know, there was a moment where we literally prayed this prayer of God we've made a royal mess of things, help us and that we had to have that prayer of surrender, we had to have that prayer of confession. But that didn't immediately fix it. It's not like we were like we prayed that prayer and then got a check in the mail. That fixed it all.
Speaker 2:We had to learn the struggle and the discipline of walking in daily contentment and daily peace and trusting that if we followed God's ways and what he asked us to do on a daily basis, trusting that if we followed God's ways and what he asked us to do on a daily basis, that he would be the provider of our daily bread to walk with us. He wasn't going to give us a feast every day. He was going to give us our daily bread of what we needed, and we had to trust in his provision and his peace and his comfort and his guidance and know that he's our source of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those weren't things that came from us. He was the source of things.
Speaker 1:I love that I got so many questions. I hope we have time to get into them. I'm so excited about this conversation. I want to ask you also I want to get into your book also. I want to get into what you're doing at the Barnabas Foundation. I want to make sure we have time to hopefully get into all this stuff. But we got a comment to this that jumped over the comment. We'll go ahead and share that with you. I'd love for you to speak into that. Thank you, courtney, for first off listening and watching the show. Courtney says I went forward at churches today because I have a disability. And Courtney says I went forward at churches today because I have a disability and sometimes I feel like a burden. So we want to say they assured me I have abilities others don't have. I think that's pretty profound because what we're talking about so far. But go ahead and speak to that. Speak to Courtney in regards to that, and then we'll move on to our next question. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, courtney. So a few different things. One, I want to confess that as a church my local church and the global church that we have not done a great offer, a unique gifts. Because you have understanding of the challenges of others that are going through those same struggles that you can minister to in a way that I never can, because you get it and you understand. So you have a unique ability to serve them in that way. But beyond that, you are not defined by your disabilities, whatever they might be you have. You have a mind, you have insight, you have personality. That is that God has given you and wants to use in a special way. So don't let those, don't let your, your disabilities quote unquote be your defining factor. I can't, I can't hit a three point shot, I can't run without getting winded, but I don't define myself by those. I have other abilities that God wants to use. It's not going to be on the basketball court.
Speaker 1:I love that. Thank you, courtney, for your, for your, for your comment, for being transparent about your situation. Excuse me, we're so proud of you for doing that. Our hair will. All you people are watching, so we're just thanking you. Thank you, heather, for your response to Courtney. We talked about so much. We talked about the impact of anxiety and imposter syndrome and I've been dealing with that because a lot of our listeners are either in the content creator media, podcasting space and you know it's, I think you mentioned earlier. It's really easy for us to hide the imperfections and try to look like all is well. Talk to me about your challenges with anxiety and imposter syndrome. For those that are listening to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have often felt like this. I heard somebody refer to it as the sense of ought, like I needed, I ought to do this, I need to write this, or I need. Felt like this I heard somebody refer to it as the sense of ought, like I needed, I ought to do this, I need to write this, or I need to say this. And a lot of times that imposter syndrome creeps in where I think what in the world? Why? You know what I? What does that difference? Does it make that stupid or that's whatever?
Speaker 1:that's not as good as whatever this person can offer.
Speaker 2:And I found that when I, when I'm true to what I know, that God is asking me to do, that he uses it in ways that are amazing and beyond me. It's those things that I put out that I think I don't even know why I'm writing this, but I'm putting it out there because I just feel like this strong purpose that I have to do this. It's those times where I've had people come to me and say you, you, that you provided the words I needed to hear at just the right moment.
Speaker 2:And again and that's not me, that's because that's because of obedience and God speaking to those. He speaks through broken, cracked vessels, that that don't have it all together, but he wants to work through us.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's really good. So what inspired you to write Money in Spirit?
Speaker 2:So it was a few different things. Again, I work for Barnabas Foundation.
Speaker 1:You're blushing already guys, you know it's going to be good. She's blushing. It's going to be great.
Speaker 2:That's just extra makeup. So we got a grant at Barnabas Foundation to be honest with you, we got a grant to produce a resource for the church.
Speaker 2:And we had my boss and I had this meeting and there was one other person in there and I know you've had these meetings where you're just in a conversation that's going nowhere and you're like you want to bang your head against the wall because they're like this is not productive. We were going in circles and just no good ideas we got. We got lots of bad ideas out of the way and my boss is a very spiritual um, he's very, he's guided by, he lives out the the uh, lives the, walk, uh, he. So he stopped the meeting and he prayed God, this is your project, this is your ministry, we want to do what we want to do, what you want us to do. So he prayed like help us find, give us the ideas. That's your idea. And literally he prayed amen.
Speaker 2:And I had this idea for a Bible study that it started out as a video Bible study of what we're going to do, but it morphed over time and became this book. But it was all born out of that prayer of help us get out of the way, how can we help people in the church, and it began to form over time of there are a lot of people in the church and outside the church that are under the bondage of money, whether it's some of its debt, but sometimes it's greed, sometimes it's mismanaged priorities that money has a hold on people, and we felt like this is something that we can speak into and that I could speak into specifically because of the struggle that my husband and I had been through.
Speaker 1:I love this. I love this For my next question. Let me ask you this part have you ever noticed a warped or kind of an inconsistent view of who God is? That's tied to the financial problems of your clients, because, beth and Mark I the financial problems of your clients, because we know things and we know what we know and we don't know what we don't know. A lot of times we look at these things, and especially in the charismatic churches, we see emphasis on finances and giving and we don't realize how that makes us view God. Have you ever seen a view like that? It's inconsistent, it's tied to financial problems and how do you help people get past that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So one of the big ones that comes to mind is this idea that once I, if I follow and I do all the right things, that the whole health and wealth gospel, I do not buy into that, you know. I think that, uh, I think that God can and does some bless some people with, with finances, um, and and asks them to use those in ways to fund ministry. But I think he has also called and ministered to people that do not did not receive that form of blessing, who are not going to ever be rich, who are not going to be wealthy, who may always be wondering where the next paycheck is coming from, and God loves them equally and that is not a sign of their faithfulness, that's not a sign of God's blessing. I believe that God gives us different gifts, traits, characteristics, skills, but also in the financial realm, some he blesses in that way, some he doesn't. And our worth has nothing to do with our bank account or our faithfulness. That's not a measure of God's goodness.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a mic drop right there.
Speaker 2:Thank, you, that's really good.
Speaker 1:So with so many books on management finances out there and trust me, there are plenty of them what makes money and spirit stand out in your humble opinion?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So in my humble opinion, money, money and spirit. There are a ton of books out there about tactics and how you need to save more, work harder. Here's your investment strategy those those different things. You can find a number of those resources. So and that's not my expertise, nor did I want to try to gain that expertise, but what?
Speaker 2:what's different about money and spirit is it comes from the, the, the paradigm of. We can have all the tactics and the tips in the world, but until we address the underlying problem of misplaced trust and priorities, we will keep slipping back into those old patterns. We have to get our hearts right. We have to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. Until then, we'll just be spinning our wheels.
Speaker 1:That's powerful stuff. You mentioned about a public battle of will with your preschooler. If you remember what that's about, please share that. That's an incredible story.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, just a side note. My son is now 13, and he hadn't read the book, but he knew he was in it and so he was bragging to his sister. He's like I'm in the book and you're not. And she's like what? Oh, wow, oh wow. He's like spoiler alert, you don't come out looking good. But.
Speaker 2:But at the time, um jackson was about three years old and we were at disney world and he was hot, he was tired and his stubbornness was on full display for everyone. You know, within a mile radius probably, like it was. Just, he was very set on what he wanted to do and he kept fighting, fighting me on it and really just stubbornness and battle of wills. And I kept picking him up his little body and putting him in his timeout chair and saying, like this makeshift timeout chair, we're going to sit here until you can calm down and we can have a peaceful conversation. He'd get mad and he'd storm off there and then keep picking him up and putting him back in the time chair. This went on a ridiculously long time, um, so the the funny thing was like he was.
Speaker 2:I don't even remember what started the fight. I don't remember if you wanted a cookie, I don't remember, but whatever it was, I just said, jackson, if you wanted a cookie, I don't remember, but whatever it was I just said, jackson, if you will just stop fighting me and listen and calm down and just do what I ask, we can move on with our day. I want to have a good time, you want to have a good time, but until you stop fighting, we're going to just stay here in this misery. Um, and so I in the book, I liken that to our fight against, our battle of wills and our battle against the spirit.
Speaker 2:You know, we, we want to do things our way and we keep coming back to this is mine and this is what I want to do. And God is meanwhile saying if you would just listen, I want to take you down a path of joy, I want to take you to peace, I want to take you, to bless you in so many ways. But you have to give up that fight and you have to be willing to walk hand in hand with me and listen to me, and then we can get on with our day and do something good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's children of Israel stuff right there. An 11 day journey took 40 years.
Speaker 1:Think about that You're planning to go on an 11 day trip and you end up taking 40 years to get there. That sounds awful, but it was. It was. It was necessitous because we weren't willing to embrace that, like you said. That's a great segue to my next question what does it look like to have peace and joy, regardless of your circumstances? Speak to our listeners and viewers about that, because I think people think in my stuff. That's why I find peace, in people in my life. That's why I find joy. And man, why haven't we learned after all these years, decades, that that's just so, not true? No, people are not bringing us joy. No, things don't bring us peace. Speak to that.
Speaker 2:Right. So I truly believe in my heart of hearts that God is the only source of true joy and true peace, and that's not connected to how much or how little we have. If it was all about how much we had, then all of Wall Street and all of Hollywood would be super happy right now and super full of joy and super full of peace. And we know that they are not, by and large and meanwhile, on the opposite end of the spectrum. I've been, whether it's in Roseland or I did like a trip years ago to India, where they were literally, you know, living with nothing, nothing, and they had more joy in their hearts because they were just reliant on God and who he, who he was, and how blessed they were to have in their lives and they literally like had, didn't have two rupees to rub together and they found great joy.
Speaker 2:And so I know, and I've seen it in my own life, that when I'm at peace and when I have the greatest joy, it's because I've chosen to rest in God's provision and rest in his comfort.
Speaker 1:I love that. One more question, heather, about money and spirit. Did you experience any? I wrote my first book in 2016. There's plenty of revelations to come out of that. Do you find any personal, I guess, or unexpected revelation, any personal surprises that came out of writing the book that you can share? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:One thing that came to me is just again um, you know, we think about, we sometimes use this language as Christians as are you saved or are you you know? Like as if this is a one-time thing.
Speaker 2:And um, what I found is it's an ongoing daily surrender that we keep having to come back to. And what was surprising to me? I don't know why it was surprising, except that, like was how much the struggle continued as I'm writing this book and that, yes, we'd had this transformational moment, but it, but those old habits continue to creep back in, and those old struggles continue to creep back in.
Speaker 2:I write about in the book like a temptation to, because our, our refrigerator went out and it became. By the end of the weekend, we're like, well, let's redo our whole kitchen. That doesn't make any sense, but but you get you. I was reminded how like we are. Just, we are just beings that we want to go down our own path Again. We're like those grownup Todd toddlers we keep wanting to go down our own own path and we just had to keep coming-up toddlers. We keep wanting to go down our own path and we just have to keep coming back to surrender and asking over and over again God, what do you want me to do today and how can I be more like you?
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. So tell me quickly about what you're doing with the Barnabas Foundation, what's the foundation doing and how you would be part of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Barnabas Foundation. We help generous Christians give to their church and other favorite ministries in ways that honor God and provide for their families. So that might look like giving a gift in your will, or it might look like giving gifts of non-cash assets that help reduce your taxes. So we help give in those ways. In my work, I'm very privileged because I get to work with about 200 Christian ministries who are doing God's work all around the world and in their local communities, and so we help them to connect them. We connect the people that love and support them to give in the most efficient way.
Speaker 1:I love that. Love that You're doing so much stuff out there. I mean not just an author, but doing your marketing director work with our Barnabas. And you got an awesome blog blog at Heather day net. I mean you guys need to check that out. She talks about faith and leadership and family and motherhood, marriage. Heather day dotnet. Please check it out. It's really awesome. You're gonna get something out of it for sure. This is is really awesome. One of the things that I see in myself as it pertains to being in any kind of ministry is you experience challenges in trying to lead people and helping to help aspiring leaders. What's your top two challenges that you face in your work in trying to help aspiring leaders grow?
Speaker 2:in your work in trying to help aspiring leaders grow? That's a good question.
Speaker 2:So one of the things I do in my personal life is I work with, I help with the teens in our youth group and I work with a leadership council of teens specifically, and one of the challenges that they face is just our youth are facing struggles that we didn't have to deal with in our you know, maybe we dealt with a little bit, but the level of anxiety and mental health struggles and the pressures that they face on a daily basis are really challenging. So I've been just really convicted to pray and encourage and mentor and walk alongside. Pray and encourage and mentor and walk alongside our that's all right, to walk alongside these youth because they need godly men and women who are just pouring into them and reassuring them that God's got them and you need to be a positive force in their life.
Speaker 1:You do so much. I probably did a hard work job of telling everybody all the stuff you've done. I'm talking about in the marketing world and fundraising over 200 nonprofit organizations you've been helping with your writing and Christian Leadership Alliance and all different Generosity Today, all these magazines. I'm like I didn't get a chance to get into all that stuff. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2:No no.
Speaker 1:But one thing I want to ask you, though, because you do so much and it's good, I'm sure you have the capacity to do so, but in in doing, obviously it has to be a time for rest and relaxation. If you can go any place in the world that elicits, elicits the best memories and gives you peace, where would you be going? And don't say your closet, that's.
Speaker 2:That's everybody's answer no, no, not my closet, my closet's mess stresses me out. No, that's an easy answer for me. I would go to the beach and I would lay on the beach and I would. I would just hear the warm sun and the crashing waves. And I have a. I have a portrait on my wall of a beach that reminds me of my husband and I. He has family down in near Jacksonville, florida. That's the. Yeah, we're not going to go there, but anyway I just. When I am, he has family down in um near jacksonville florida.
Speaker 1:That's thus.
Speaker 2:That explains yeah, yeah, yeah, we're not gonna go there but anyway, I just when I am, when I sit on the beach and I see those crashing waves, a is just very peaceful, but I'm reminded of how small I am in comparison to god's, god's creation.
Speaker 1:Um yeah I love this. I love this, and please let your answer not be the thing that we talked about earlier in the show. But if you had to eat anything, one thing, eat one thing every day for the rest of your life yeah what would it be?
Speaker 2:and please do not say chicago dogs oh, I won't say chicago dogs, they'll say chicago. See, I know that this is a battle between New York and Chicago, but we do have the best pizza.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to say that's debatable. Here's my question. I've tried them all. That's how I can speak to this. This is very recent. I tried Chicago pizza. I tried the deep dish. How long is forever if you're eating that stuff every day and that's all you're eating? How long do you think forever is going to be Because all that?
Speaker 2:cheese. It's only a matter of time before. Yeah, if you're eating that every day, all day, forever, it's a very short time. Yeah, why do you pick that? But you got your vegetables. You got your dairy.
Speaker 1:What vegetables?
Speaker 2:What.
Speaker 1:Where Tomatoes are supposed to be fruits.
Speaker 2:They got seeds in there, right, they're fruits. What?
Speaker 1:vegetables. Throw some mushrooms in there, then you'll live a little longer. Oh my, maybe this is really fun. Thank you for taking the time to do this. I got one more question for you. Yeah, with all the I've just named that that you've been doing authoringing books, doing fundraising, writing your blog, your heatherdaynet all you're talking about with life and motherhood and marriage. If you weren't doing any of these things, they were all off of the table. What would Heather be doing right now?
Speaker 2:I would just to boil it down to what like, and I could get almost emotional here. But if I could boil it down to one thing, if I could only do one thing, it would be my family. I was reminded a few years ago about my number one ministry is as a wife and a mother. If I can't reach and love the people in my own household, then what good am I doing? So when it comes to finding rest, I am often reminded that anything I'm saying yes to, I'm saying no to something else. I have to prioritize being present and being authentic in my own home.
Speaker 1:So you'd be a stay-at-home mom then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it wouldn't take long, though, before I'd start picking up projects, because I just got to keep busy.
Speaker 1:What kind of projects would you be doing though?
Speaker 2:Oh, um, I would love to do more writing and speaking. I love, I love doing that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:You're already doing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'm doing. I'm doing a little bit, but I'd like to do more of that.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, that's awesome. This is a fantastic conversation. I'm sure it's not going to be the last we hear from each other. I know you'll be writing more books. It's difficult to have you back on again. Tell everybody where they can find your work. You've got a lot of things going on. I already mentioned it HeadToDaynet. You can mention it again. And where to find your fundraising work with Barnabas. I mean, go ahead and share that and, if you don't mind, section on the YouTube channel so you can be able to find the links and everything and tap into what you're doing. But go ahead.
Speaker 2:Sure, so you could follow me, follow Barnabas Foundation at barnabasfoundationorg. You can find out all about our ministry there. So that's a great way to stay connected. Also, on the social media world, I tend to be old school. I'm on Facebook, so if you look for Heather M Day, yeah, yeah, I, yes, and we're not going to go into that, but I I post there regularly. I would love to connect with you on there. If you write me on Instagram, I may not, may or may not respond because my daughter's still working on me to understand it and embrace it fully. But but, yeah, that's a good way to take it.
Speaker 1:You are a delight. Thank you for jumping on here and having this time with us today for all of our viewers and listeners. Thank you for listening. Heather is going to drop all of her information in the comments section on the YouTube channel. Under this episode you can find her and all of her work her blogs, all her writing and all of our fundraising work. Thank you again for jumping on, heather. This is fantastic. Any closing thoughts for our listeners and viewers before we go?
Speaker 2:No, well, I would just remind you, god loves you, he wants you to walk alongside this with you, and yeah, just lean into him and that's where you'll find your joy and peace.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful Heather Day, mr you. We're out. Have a great day.
