#188 When Pressure is Proof of Your Calling

What if the very pressure you’re trying to escape is the evidence you’re right where you’re meant to be? We dive into a candid and faith-filled look at pressure, proof, and calling—anchored in Zechariah 13:9—and unpack why resistance often rises right where purpose begins to take shape. Catherine breaks down clear definitions of pressure as force applied, proof as evidence, and calling as a deep sense of purpose, then connects them to the refining work God does when we step toward the life He designed.

We explore the “weight room” of calling: how spiritual growth mirrors physical training, why the burn is not a sign to quit, and how distractions, fear, and doubt can signal you’re actually on the right track. You’ll hear practical ways to keep pressing toward the prize when the path gets muddy, including what to do when a joyful hobby turns into necessary work, how to keep serving with or without applause, and how to trust God for provision instead of tying your purpose to outcomes. Catherine shares personal reflections on insecurity and trust, showing how God targets our concealed places first—not to shame us, but to free us.

You’ll leave with a simple but powerful assignment: grab a journal and list your dark places. Name the fears, patterns, and pressure points that keep you circling the same mountain. Then watch for small, honest shifts—apologizing sooner, setting one boundary, praying first—that move you closer to your purpose. Pressure might not feel good, but it can be holy evidence that you are being refined, readied, and rooted for impact.

If this speaks to you, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s in the thick of growth, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. Your story matters—what’s one pressure point you’re reframing as proof today?

A journey through spiritual refinement, identity, healing, and growth, learning how pressure produces purpose and reveals the diamond within.

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A Christ-centered journey of reset, refinement, and realignment, helping you confront darkness, heal deeply, and walk boldly in your God-given identity and purpose.

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Thank you for listening, and we hope you will return every week.

Transcript

Welcome & Opening Prayer

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Hello, hello, and welcome back. Welcome back one more week. I am Catherine, and I am so glad to be before you. Um, it is certainly a great day to be alive. Hallelujah. Um, I hope all is well out there where you are. Amen. Amen. I am fired up and ready to get into our conversation today. But y'all know what we gotta do. We must pray. So, Father, I thank you so much for your grace and your mercy, God. Thank you for allowing us to be able to come together to hear what it is that you have given your servant to serve. I pray in the name of Jesus that your will will be done here. I pray that each and every one that you draw here will know uh or we will be able to discover the diamond, God, that you have placed on the inside. Pray that we can all tap into it. We give you glory, we give you honor. In Jesus Christ's name, we do pray. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. So I won't hold your patience very long. I just want to get into this word that by the grace of God He has given to us today. As we continue our conversation on the last episode, we talked a lot about we talked about why God refines what he values. Uh, we talked about just the fruit that comes out of, I would say, the beauty that comes out of the ashes and how you know what God values, he gives his uh utmost care. Does that make any sense to anybody? I hope it does because you know, at the end of the day, anything that we value, we do what we gotta do to keep it valuable. You heard what I'm saying? And anything that would uh harm it, hurt it, protect uh har harm it or hurt it or devalue, what will we do? We will get rid of it. Hallelujah. And so I just truly believe that that is what God is doing as we go forth to do what He's called us to do. So today's episode is called When Pressure is Proof, or When Pressure is the proof of your calling, when pressure is the proof of your calling, and y'all know if you've been with me any any uh amount of time, you'll understand you will know that I like to dive into meanings of different words, so we got complete clarity in in regard to the context of whatever we're talking about. So I wrote down what the meaning of pressure is, proof, and calling. And so one by one, I'll just share the meaning of each so we can bring this thing together, amen. Hallelujah. So pressure means when force is applied. Okay, if you are joting down notes, please write down these, these are so very important because you're gonna want to look back over these later on in your own personal time. So, what is pressure? Pressure is force applied. What is proof? Proof is the process or body of evidence used to establish a fact or demonstrate a statement uh that is true. Okay, I'm gonna repeat that again. It is the process or body of evidence, okay? So it's something there that is used to establish a fact or to establish that something is true. You know, investigations and things of that nature, they ask for proof. If you said something, they they want to have proof that verifies what you are saying and what has happened, it is true, okay. I hope we got a clarity there, okay? And then the word calling it means a deep sense of purpose, a deep sense of purpose, hallelujah. And so, with all of that being said, we put all of these words together, and we say, Well, how does all of that connect? Well, as I was praying and putting our episode together today, I was asking God, okay, let it make sense, let it make sense, hallelujah. Now, real quick, I'm gonna go back to our verse at hand, our main scripture for the month. It is out of Zechariah chapter 13, verse 9, verse 9, and it says, And I will bring the third part through the fire. Okay, it says, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, It is my people, and they shall say, The Lord is my God. Now, as we get into how we bring this together, but just for a moment, why do you think he said they shall call on my name? Pausing intentionally. Like, think about it. Like, when trouble comes, who do we call on? We say, Oh Lord, or we're oh God, please help me. Those are thoughts that enter our mind when trouble comes our way. Because and so, see, when in the refining process, and when we're being tried, what immediately we're calling on him. Hallelujah. So he says, Look, this look, this is a part of the plan. He wants you to call on him, hallelujah. He wants us to call on him for help, hallelujah. But the thing that we have to know and hold still and stand still on is that he is refining me, he's getting impurities out of me, he's getting things out of me that don't belong there, he's getting things out of me that are now retired, hallelujah. Because God don't allow anything without a purpose and a plan. Hallelujah. So when we look at those words, when pressure is the approve of your calling or my calling, uh, when we put it all together, we can kind of look at it like it's a weight room. Now, let's just for imagery purposes, let's say the weight room is the calling. Hallelujah. It is the thing that you've been called to do, okay? And the proof that you need to that you are in you are in the weight room for a reason, for a purpose, for a plan, is that there is some proof, there's something going on in your body, something going on in your health that says, Look, I gotta go to the gym, I need to go and work this thing out. Hallelujah. And so when we look at it, it's like when God has called us to something, He, in His infinite wisdom, He provides proof that this is my calling. Look, we don't need a whole lot of education to do the thing that God has called us to do because it is the gift that is within us. Hallelujah. Look, there is proof. Amen. There is some proof, there's some evidence that says that this is your calling, and the thing about it is that you gotta realize is that in the midst of us answering the call, we run into pressure. What do I mean? Pressure meets resistance. You hear what I say? When you are walking in the call and the plan and the purpose of God for your life, you're gonna meet resistance. Because why? Because the enemy, the Lord's our enemy, is Satan. He does not want us to succeed, he does not want us to be successful, he does not want the will of God to be fulfilled. So, what does he do? Think about it now for a second. What does he do? He brings about distraction, he tries to destroy everything around you, he tries to deter you. You heard what I'm saying? And so look, that is the resistance. What is the opposition you are meeting? What is the thing that seems like every time you get ready? You know that it's you know that this is your call, and every time you begin to pursue your your call, something gets in the way. What is it? I'm pausing intentionally again. Do you have a level of fear going forward? This again is resistance. We can become very fearful when we begin to answer the call because it's territory, it is places, situations we've never seen before. We got uh we have human nature, and when we don't understand something, when we are when we don't understand and we can't see, the the immediate response is turn back, go the other way. Because I don't know what's ahead. It's dark up here, I can't see anything. Yeah, how hallelujah. Yeah, come on, somebody. I know I'm not the only one in the room, like when we can't see the automatic response. I know that's my response. I run the other way. Wait a minute. Uh-uh. I'm not going over there. Because it's dark, I can't see nothing. And see, and this is what happens. Look, it's almost as though God, it's not almost, God shows us the end at the beginning. You heard what I'm saying? He doesn't show us what's going to happen in between, but he shows us his desire for us on the end. Our desire and his desire, they run parallel to one another because he allows us to see the end. And we see the end, we say, Oh, yes, I want that. And then we begin to go forward in whatever that endeavor is, but we get into a place where it seems when it starts, it seems like everything is flowing right. Yes? But then once we get, you know, we get our foot in the ground and get stuck in the mud for a second, and we begin to go forward, and then all of a sudden we meet this mall. This we meet this wall that is ahead of us, saying to us, you can't go no further. You can't do this. Ain't no way in the world you can do that. Look at what you got. You ain't got this, you ain't got that. Am I by myself? Come on, somebody. Look at the end of the day, that is the resistance. But do you continue to press forward? If you press forward, that is the pressure that's gonna come toward you to keep you from going forward. But what do you do? He said, go after the prize that has been set before you. He said, You keep on pressing into how. I said, into, I know it's any. Hallelujah. You keep on going anyhow. Look, using the analogy of a weight loss, being in the gym, like why do you exercise? Why why would you exercise? Well, you exercise because you you you probably externally have some excess fat. You feel overweight, things ain't feeling the way you want it to feel. Hello, that's my problem. Things don't feel in our physical bodies what we want them to feel. When we feel weak, when we know internally we should be stronger than that, we know we shouldn't be overweight, we know all of these things, and so what do we do? We go run into the exercise room, we run to to find out this recipe and follow this diet and do this thing and do this because we have this desire to shine our best all the time, even in our physical health. We have the desire, but do we always pursue that desire? Look, I'm coming coming coming around something here. God puts us in the weight room of life. Do you hear what I'm saying? He has put you in the weight room of life, and in the midst of life, he is in the midst of refining. And what we have to know and realize and believe and know is that the things, the processes that God is putting us through and allowing to manifest in our lives, it is all to strengthen us, it's all to make us better. If God be for you, then look, it don't matter if you got the whole world against you. God is for you. My friend, my sister, my brother, look, he's for you. And you gotta understand that even though it might hurt, even though it might be you might feel like you, you know, you feel like you don't you can't grip what's going on, like you don't understand, like things are not going the way you desire them to go. You have to know that God is in the midst bringing some things into order. The pressure does not feel good. Hallelujah. How about how about when you when you pressing down on something, you pushing down anyhow, you're trying to push it, trying to force it to go. That's what you call pressure, and we all experience pressure, especially as sons, as the sons and daughters of Christ. We absolutely experience pressure because the human nature says, I want it to be easy, I want it to be comfortable, I want it to be nothing but flowers and roses, I want it to be picture perfect all the time. That's how we like the weather, right? We like the weather the way we like it, period. Whether it's cold or warm or hot or whatever, however, you like the weather to be, we want it to be that all the time. That's the way we want life to be. We don't want anything to fall apart, we don't want anything to expire, we don't want anybody to leave. Look, we don't want any anything that's going to bring unrest to happen. I'm pausing intentionally. At the end of the day, it comes down to us accepting the will of God and understanding that the call does not change because it is uncomfortable. You heard what I'm saying? Like, our brightest light is when we answer the call. You know, you know that feeling you feel is like, oh my God, I just I love this. Like, I can't get enough of it until it gets hard. Or something that we do as a hobby until it becomes work, then we don't want to do it anymore. You heard what I'm saying? Look, yeah, y'all know what I'm talking about, right? We could be doing something that we don't get paid for, we just do it because we like to do it. La la la la, you know, we're going along. But then all of a sudden, we take that same thing we was doing as a hobby and we make it something that it bec it yields income for us, for our families and stuff. And then all of a sudden, I'm tired of doing this. I don't want to do this no more because it's not fun anymore. Because now I have to do it, not because I want to do it, but I have to do it. That thing that you can do, and don't nobody gotta pay you to do it, that is the call. I promise you, nobody has to pay me to do what I'm doing right now. Nobody has to pay me to get in the pulpit right now. I will do it for free if that's necessary. Look, God has blessed me financially in different ways in regard to ministry in all different facets. He has. But I personally like at the end of the day, I'll do it with or without money. It doesn't matter. Like, it don't matter. At the end of the day, and that's where you got to get to. You do it with or without money. Look, I'm gonna do it regardless, whether they pay me or not, I'm gonna do it. Because at the end of the day, my trust and my faith is in Christ to provide all that I need for me. You hear what I'm saying? Like at the end of the day, that's where your trust must rest. It cannot rest in yourself, it cannot rest in the things that you think you're good at, it cannot rest in any of that because all of those things can fail you. God is the only one that will never fail you. He will never leave you, he will never forsake you. You have a calling on your life. For me, this is my this is the call. What I'm doing. Look, and it's beyond podcasting, it's beyond uh, it's it's really beyond the work at the church. It is serving. My call on my life is to serve God's people, whether they know they belong to him or not. Hallelujah. Through my life, through my through the things that I've been through, I witness to people, to my brothers and sisters in Christ, to men and women, anywhere and everywhere, the goodness of who God is through the things that he has brought me through. That is the call that is on my life. Hallelujah. Now he allows me to do those things in the pulpit. He allows me to do those things here on the podcast. He allows me to do those things at the community center. He allows me to do those things through um Diamond Destiny ecosystem. He allows me to do those things at the grocery store. He allows me to do those things, finish the sentence. No matter where I am, I'm able to answer the call that he's given to. It's not always easy, though. You hear what I'm saying? Because I have to answer that call when I'm dealing with my husband. I have to answer that call when I'm dealing with my children. I have to answer that call when I'm dealing with myself. It is not always easy. And that is where pressure comes into play. It is not easy. The pressure does not make it easy, but it is proof that you're where you're supposed to be. Hallelujah. Look, where you will, let me read this thought that I had. Let me read this thought. I tend to skip words because my mind is moving faster than my fingers when I'm writing. Hello, somebody. Hope I ain't the only one. But look, the places and areas where you will see the shifts in your life, they will move you closer to your purpose. And that leads to the call. Okay? I'm gonna try to say that again because I don't even know what I wrote, y'all. To be honest with you, I was just listening to the spirit and gone. Look, where you see small shifts in your life, those small shifts are moving you closer to the purpose that is on your life, and that allows you the ability to be able to answer the call. Hallelujah. Now, we all got dark places, we've all had and have dark places in our life, and this is really where your journal is really an essential thing to have. Identify the dark places, amen. I want you to, as a task, an assignment, if you because I I hope that I hope that I am able to walk in the vein of discipleship here in regard to the season of refinement for God's diamonds in the rough, is to walk alongside you and disciple you. Like I hope that you have a journal. If you don't have a journal, get a journal, re-listen to this episode, okay? And I want you to jot down the dark places in your life, okay? Dark places, look, you get it's undeniable, all of us have them, okay? All of us have dark places. The question is, are you willing to deal with those dark places? Because this is a part of the process of refinement. Now, I don't want to get into the next episode too quickly. Hallelujah. But this leads right into the next episode. This assignment. Okay? So I'm gonna pause here for a minute, and again, I want you to identify the dark places in your life because it has everything to do with you answering the call on your life, it really does. Yes, and whether or not you are rushing the process, mm-hmm. Yes, we can easily rush the process and not even realize it. So we're gonna take time here and we're gonna slow down and we are going to really look with in. Really, really look within now. I'm gonna play my music here for a second. And I'm gonna give you my final thoughts here. But I want you I want you to get that book and jot down dark places. Let me give you some examples of dark places. Dark places, and I'll just tell you one of mine, one of mine is insecurity. Like, um, and I'll tell you why. And that's just the one that's come to me. I'll tell you why I have an issue with insecurities because I've had several relationships where they made me feel like I was the problem. Mm-hmm. And so, and and you know, that goes beyond an intimacy type of relationship. It's any kind of relationship, like insecure to the to the fact that I got a few trust issues. Let's just be honest and be clear. Like at the end of the day, and because I have those issues, that is one area of my life that that the Lord is working on. And and here's the thing is what you gotta realize is that the thing that you're struggling with is the thing that God is gonna deal with. And so for me, I struggle with insecurity and trust. And so, because I struggle with it, I have I am constantly in different situations where I have to trust and be secure. You hear what I'm saying? Like, those are dark places that most of us, I might be the only one, you hear me, kind of brush over and kind of put on concealment. You know how women put on makeup and they kind of conceal what's really underneath. Like, yeah, that's the thing. Like, we don't want to deal with the dark places, but those are the very places that God deals with first. You heard what I'm saying? And when we are willing to uncover those places, identify them, call them what they are, then they can no longer have power over us. Hallelujah. Amen. That makes sense. No longer can they have power over you. So I'm pausing here for a minute, and you're ready to come back with my final thought. So I want you to, as you're waiting for me to come back for that final thought, find your find your journal and begin to write. Whatever comes to mind, write it down. Because those are the dark places. Amen. All right, so final thought. As I was sitting here thinking and waiting, pressure is a part of the plan of God. Don't dismiss and don't try to get rid of the thing that God is using to bring you to where you need to be. Hallelujah. Don't dismiss, cancel it out. Don't do that, don't do that because you're gonna mess up and miss the thing that was meant to bless you. Hallelujah. You keep on going, keep on pressing. There is some proof that you are where you need to be. There's gonna be some proof of that you are answering the call that has been put on your life. Amen. Look, the pressure, the proof, the call, they're all important in the sight of God. Let me pray for you. Father, I thank you again for your grace and your mercy. Thank you, God, for allowing us another moment, another um portion of time to be able to pour into your people. God, I just pray that you would pour into me that I can pour out to them. I pray, God, the blessings of the Lord would be upon your people, and I pray that you would just have your way. We give you glory, we give you honor, we pray it, we ask it in Jesus Christ's name. We do pray. Amen. Amen and amen. Hallelujah. I hope that you will come on back with me next week as we jump into our next topic, which, as I said earlier, it kind of just leads where we were, where we are today, leads on to the next, and it is answering the call without rushing the process. Answering the call without rushing the process. I want to make sure that you join me. Join me on tomorrow, and we look forward to meeting you once, once again. Amen. Amen. Don't you forget it, don't ever forget it. You are a diamond, you are a diamond in the sight of God, amen. Amen.