065 - Hearing God's Voice and Acting on Faith with Amanda Still

In this episode, Amanda Still shares her journey of faith, family, and the joy of outdoor activities. Living in Nashville with her husband and four children, Amanda discusses the differences between her life in Canada and the U.S., the importance of spending time outdoors with her kids, and how nature plays a significant role in her spiritual growth. She also shares her experience with the Thousand Hours Outside challenge, emphasizing the benefits of being in nature for both her family and her relationship with God. In this conversation, Amanda Still shares her experiences of connecting with God through nature, navigating life's valleys, and the importance of community. She recounts a memorable encounter with wildlife in Paradise Valley, discusses practical ways to engage with nature, and reflects on her journey of faith, including a significant move to Nashville. Amanda emphasizes the power of prayer, the challenges of sharing faith in non-believing environments, and the necessity of stepping out of comfort zones to find community and connection.

Connect with Amanda:

Instagram: @amariestill

@1000hoursoutside

Transcript

McKenzie Smith (00:00)
On today's episode of My Valley, His Victory, we have Amanda Still. Amanda is a Canadian living in the Nashville area. She's been married for eight years and has four children. Her walk with the Lord began when her oldest son was born. She has always found happiness in the outdoors, but found new joy in it once knowing the Creator and now loves exploring the beautiful world with her husband, kids and dog. Thanks so much for being with us today,

Amanda Still (00:35)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to just talk about being outdoors with your family and yeah, let's do it.

McKenzie Smith (00:43)
Yeah, absolutely. So I know I just read your bio, but why don't you go ahead and just share a little bit more about yourself and who you are.

Amanda Still (00:49)
Okay. My name's Amanda. I've been in Nashville for four years, married to my husband for eight. We have four kids. Um, and previous to Nashville, we did live in my hometown, which is Waterloo, Ontario. It's in Canada. lot of Americans don't know where that is, but it's kind of right across the border from Detroit and in, into Canada, few hours. Um, we lived there for four years after we were married and then we decided to move.

south so we've been here for four years. Our kids are seven, five, and then we have twins who are four. So we had them all very quickly. That was God's plan. And we just love living here and we try and spend as much time outside as we can. If I'm not being mom and wife, I'm hanging out with my dog or reading, working out, walking, baking.

Bread, lots of bread. And that's pretty much it. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (01:50)
Yeah.

Yeah, what kind of dog do you have? Black lamb.

Amanda Still (01:53)
We have a black lab. Yeah,

she's one. She is awesome. We did not plan on getting a dog, but she has been such a gift.

McKenzie Smith (02:04)
Yeah, we have a chocolate lab and she's she's just a love bug and we love her to death. So I love love the labs. So why why Nashville or kind of why that area is that where your husband's from or kind of what

Amanda Still (02:18)
He is,

yes. My husband is from Nashville. We have a crazy love story that when I tell people, I forget how crazy it really was, but we met when I was on vacation and I was visiting Nashville. I didn't think anything of it. He's like a very quiet guy. He said hi to me. We exchanged phone numbers and then we dated long distance the entire time.

We were engaged long distance and then he moved to Canada when we were married.

and that we were there for four years. But he was not like a huge fan of Canada. I think it's just so cold there and it's really hard to like get out. And then after we had our kids, I'm sure we'll get into this later, but I just felt like the Lord was calling us here. So we moved to the greater Nashville area and yeah, so he loves it here and I love it here too, but this is home for him. yeah, he feels very at home.

McKenzie Smith (03:14)
Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. I didn't know if there was a reason or if that was his home or kind of how that situation worked out. Cause yeah. Yeah. Very fun. So kind of talk to us about

Amanda Still (03:20)
Yeah, it's home for him. He loves it here.

McKenzie Smith (03:28)
growing up in Canada and like what what do you do in Canada? What is there to do? I've not really been there. We were just talking about how it's your parents house has six feet of snow on the ground right now. So yeah, like share with us a little bit about the Canadian life and maybe how it's different than your life now in the US.

Amanda Still (03:39)
Yes, yes they do.

It is so different here. And I don't think that a lot of Canadians, if they haven't visited here for like a long period of time, I don't think they understand truly how different it was. And I didn't either before I moved here. I grew up in a non-Christian home. I was very loved, but I didn't know the Lord at all. And then, being here, I mean...

Just being able to raise my kids in a Christian home and then they go to school and their friends are also talking about Jesus. And we have such a great church family here. I never had that growing up. I didn't know what I was missing, but now I do. It's very cold. It's freezing. It'll snow like four to six months out of the year. It's hard to get outside. We did.

Um, the summers are beautiful and we did live close to like the Great Lakes, which most people will know where that is. Um, so beach days, I mean, the beaches are beautiful there on the Great Lakes. Um, but yeah, there's a lot of snow where my mom lives is where I spent a lot of my childhood because that's where my grandparents live and they live on the lake. One of the most beautiful places in Ontario. And so I was very lucky there. Um, but yeah, it's cold. The people are nice.

McKenzie Smith (05:08)
Yeah.

Amanda Still (05:09)
I mean, people always say Canadians are nice and yeah.

McKenzie Smith (05:14)
Yeah, is where you grew up like a big a big city or is it near a big city or is it kind of

Amanda Still (05:18)
Do you grow up in a big

city? Yes, it's like two cities kind of joined together and there's two huge universities there. So it's pretty big. Yeah, I grew up. So my parents are divorced and remarried. So I have two sets of parents, which is a blessing now. And I have two step brothers, but other than that, I am an only child.

McKenzie Smith (05:28)
Okay.

Okay, okay, very cool. Yeah, I'm always curious. I've been to Canada, like drove through, I did a season, worked in Alaska for a summer. And so I drove through, but you know, wouldn't really say I've had the Canadian experience. You know, I stopped in like Vancouver, and, you know, went to like a brewery and went to a park and you know, did a few like touristy things. But outside of that, I'm like,

Amanda Still (05:49)
Okay.

Yes.

That is a beautiful part of Canada too. Canada is so beautiful and it's so huge. And if you can travel within Canada, mean, you're going to see everything. I mean, we have everything that there is to offer. So driving from there through to Alaska, it's a beautiful part of Canada. That's not where I'm from, unfortunately. I'm just from city with nothing. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (06:27)
yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it was beautiful. I just I was

really I think I was so blown away at the remoteness like of a lot of it was like once you got like two hours past, you know, the U.S. Canadian border, it was funny. I was just talking to a guy that's going up there to work for a season. I was like, stop at every gas station that you find because you will run out of gas if you don't even if you don't think you need gas, get gas because you don't know where the next one is. I didn't have cell phone service for like two days.

Amanda Still (06:38)
Yes.

McKenzie Smith (07:01)
on this drive, which was also crazy because my parents were worried about me because and then also I was like, I had a hard time finding things to eat, which is crazy. But like the gas stations that were along the road half the time weren't open on the inside and there was and there was nothing like to eat. Like there's no fast food or like there's literally nothing. It's like you have a

Amanda Still (07:17)
No, they're not the same here.

McKenzie Smith (07:27)
maybe a tiny grocery store attached to a gas station if you're lucky and like half the ones I passed weren't weren't even open and so I'm like sitting here like okay I have a couple granola bars. I wasn't that worried because I knew okay I can survive another day even if I eat nothing but I mean I'm driving you know what mean it's not like I'm walking or something but

Amanda Still (07:35)
Right.

I like, I survive.

Yes. There is something crazy

like nine. I don't know the exact percentage, so don't quote me on this part, but there's like 90 % of the population that lives within like that part of the border. Like a few hours into the into Canada from the US border and then everything else is just nothing. I mean, there might be a few towns here and there and you know places to see, but I mean, once you get past there, there's.

McKenzie Smith (08:07)
Yep.

wild land.

Yeah, I literally I literally have a video recording of myself talking to my phone because I was trying like recording my thoughts as I was driving and I was like What would happen like if somebody needed something out here? Like I saw these little towns and I'd see like a house and then I drive like 20 miles I'd see another house. I'd be like How do they have friends? What do they do and? What happens if something happens?

Amanda Still (08:20)
driving up there can be.

Yeah.

There's like volunteer...

McKenzie Smith (08:47)
Because you gotta drive 20 miles to go see your friend.

Like there's a lot of people who want to even drive 10 minutes down the road

Amanda Still (08:54)
Yeah, me now. Yeah, there's like volunteer fire departments. I mean, I'm sure places here have that too, but volunteer EMS, like, so you're not getting, I mean, if something happens, you're getting somebody that just woke up out of bed and he's coming on. He's just a volunteer. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (08:56)
you

You

Yeah,

yeah, crazy, crazy, crazy, side tangent. so talk to us a little bit about, you know, you said you have four kids that are kind of all under really between the ages of four and eight, seven. OK, so kind of talk to us about what getting outdoors looks like for you and your family in this season of life.

Amanda Still (09:16)
Yes.

My oldest is seven. Yes, just seven.

Yes, this season of life is chaotic. It's not always easy to get outside, but if I could tell another mom one thing, it's that getting outside with your kids will always be worth it, even if it's so hard to get out there. You're gonna be happier, they're gonna be happier. Everything just seems better outside.

And I'm very lucky that my husband and I have the same viewpoint on that. We would much rather parent at our local state park than parent in our house. So I'm lucky in that sense, but if that's not your spouse, like having somebody to hold you accountable, getting outside or doing those things with somebody helps a lot too. But we're not going on huge three day hikes. I mean, even like

A full day hike. That's not something we're doing right now. Are we hiking three, four hours with the kids? Yes. Are they maybe crying half the time? Yes. Am I maybe carrying one of them on my back and piggyback? Yes. It's not, you know, in the future when we don't have kids, it's going to look different. But right now that's just our reality is sometimes it's just walking in our neighborhood for an hour. Sometimes it is going to the state park. Sometimes it's huge trips across the country.

to see the mountains. I mean, it just really depends, but it's not, you know, solo backpacking trips or overseas trips right now to see the world. But it will look like that one day. It's just not the reality with four small children.

McKenzie Smith (11:16)
Yeah. So you said you'd rather parent them at a state park than your house. Talk to us a little bit about that and maybe, you know, some of the things that you've encountered or seen in your kids from making it a priority to get them outside.

Amanda Still (11:21)
Thank

Yeah, we, my husband and I have come to the conclusion that parenting the kids in a house or somewhere else like inside is just as hard as going outside, but possibly harder. but when you're out and there's like a field and you're like, okay, just like go pick up sticks or go do this, or you're looking at the water, you're finding turtles, you're, walking a trail, looking at trees. there's a deer. I don't.

know why, but they just, the kids seem so much happier and maybe they weren't always like that, but they're just used to our lifestyle now. but it's just so much more beautiful to being God's world with your little family. and just seeing them see things for the first time, whether it like an animal or kids get so excited about like the smallest things and, a little flower or they could throw sticks in a creek for

like hours, truly. And you're not, you know, you're not fighting them on the technology or the sibling fighting or, you know, all the things that you would have at home. Like there's not a TV when you go to a state park. There's, there's not, they can't be like, can I play video games? Can I do this? Like, no, we're, we're outside. We're just going to enjoy the real world, which is what my husband and I would just prefer to do. And I'm glad the kids put up with us.

McKenzie Smith (13:00)
Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think we talked about this before, but

Amanda Still (13:01)
They've put up with our adventures pretty well.

McKenzie Smith (13:13)
You did a thousand hours outside, right?

Amanda Still (13:16)
We did 500 last year because I did it, we did, we did the 500 hours in 20, was it 2024, 2023, but I did it very specific that I had to be the one outside with the kids to count the hours.

McKenzie Smith (13:30)
Okay,

okay, let me ask the question the way I want to ask it then. That was what I thought we had talked about. So I'm familiar with A Thousand Hours Outside because my friend Devin did it.

Amanda Still (13:37)
Yes.

McKenzie Smith (13:45)
with her two little kiddos last year and I know I've heard amazing things from her about it. I think we talked about it and you said you did it but kind of in your own in your own way. I would love for you to share about about your experience with that and kind of what you guys did with that and maybe like share with listeners what what it is if they don't know.

Amanda Still (14:04)
Okay, thousand hours outside is basically that you're spending as much time outside, you're tracking it. And there is a podcast and like Instagram page of the person that runs it, I forget her name, but she kind of created this idea of like getting outside with your kids as much as possible, or even just like you getting outside. so it's a thousand hours, you are logging it. And it's just the idea of

going outside but not bringing stuff like you're not going to the park and bringing things for the kids to entertain. It's going outside and like being entertained and enjoying the outside. So just utilizing, you know, the parks, walking. And I don't mean parks like necessarily a playground. Like we spend a lot of time at parks that are just a creek, open field, baseball, diamonds, whatever, just an area to be outside.

Yeah, so we did it a little different. I decided to do it. Just me with the kids, so I wanted to do 500 that year, which I think that if we really calculated it, we would probably get 1000 as a family, but I wanted it to be like me being intentional by myself with the kids. Because I just wanted to remind myself that like I can get out with all four kids by myself. I don't have to have my husband.

and we're going to benefit from being outside. So we did the 500 hours that year. But I think any way you can challenge yourself, whether it be the thousand hours outside or like a 75 hard version, which I'm sure you know what that is, but you have to spend an hour outside or I guess it's 45 minutes outside every day doing a workout. And that's going to get you any kind of challenge or I don't know, maybe it's just me, but if it's a challenge, I want to do it. Now I'm interested. Tell me I can't, I want to do it. So.

McKenzie Smith (15:56)
You

Amanda Still (16:00)
Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (16:01)
I'm the same exact way. I'm like,

give me some challenge, give me something to like check the boxes and like, you know, I'm there for that kind of thing. And you know, like you said.

Amanda Still (16:05)
Yes. Yeah.

And then it kind of becomes

a habit. then you're, you know, after that thousand hours or the next year, you may not be tracking it because it's just a habit. You're just getting outside. You're doing the things you're just getting out there. So.

McKenzie Smith (16:14)
It does.

Yeah, well, and you've probably like built what I've seen with my friend Devin is like you've now built, built things that are interesting to them. And so now they're the ones like asking like, Hey, can we go to wherever like, I want to go do this today or whatever, you know, and it's like, they're, they're thinking broader, too, in terms of like, what what is on the table for them to do. And if, you know, every time they ask, Hey, Mom, can we go to the park? And you're like,

Amanda Still (16:46)
Yes. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (16:54)
no, then they are going to turn to their tablet or whatever they can find in the inside. And so, yes, it takes a sacrifice on your part to get out of the house and do the work and do all the things. But I think you're creating good long lasting habits, whether you realize it or not, you know, every time you say yes to some of those things. So, you know, I know you said you have kids seven, five and four, I believe.

Amanda Still (16:58)
They're gonna start asking.

sure.

McKenzie Smith (17:23)
What are like in the outdoors right now? Kind of like what's their what's their thing? What's their what's their request?

Amanda Still (17:32)
They like to scooter, which is not my choice. Like I, I would rather us all just walk, but they do like to scooter, which you are not allowed to scooter at most state parks. There are rules surrounding like bikes and scooters at certain areas, but are like other parks, like recreation parks will allow it. we live in a neighborhood with sidewalks, which when I first moved to Tennessee, I realized that a lot of

McKenzie Smith (17:35)
Hahaha

Amanda Still (18:01)
the neighborhoods did not have sidewalks. And when you walk places, people kind of look at you funny. And I sometimes get almost run over because I don't know, it's like this, they're just not, I feel like the world is not used to people being outside. And I think they're getting more used to it, but to see a mom outside walking with the dog and the scooters, I don't know if it's like common. I think it's becoming more common, but they're just not used to it.

But yeah, they just love to walk the neighborhood. We have a little path like down by our coffee shop. They like to go down there, look at the waterfall. They love the mountains. They like going places, seeing all the things, the beach. But I would say the thing that we do the most is just exploring in our area. Yeah. They like to the wildlife. We're big on wildlife. Yeah. Wildlife nerds over here.

McKenzie Smith (18:54)
Love the wildlife. Hey, I love it. You,

I need to recommend if you don't already know about podcasts for you and the kids, her name's, I think, Erin.

Yeah, her name is Erin Linum. Linum, she has a podcast and I think she wrote a book that I don't know if it's out yet, but she's going to be on the podcast later. I won't put this in there, but she'll be on the podcast later this next month. And she has like all these like nature lessons, biblical nature lessons for kids. anyways.

Amanda Still (19:14)
Okay.

Okay.

Ooh,

kids would love that.

McKenzie Smith (19:36)
Yeah. so I know we've talked a lot about your kids, Amanda, and kind of, I know that's the season of life that you're in and that's, you know, that's just where you are. And you're totally, you know, leaning into that. And I love that. But I would love to kind of hear how getting out in nature and being, being out in creation plays a role, maybe specifically in your relationship with Christ.

Amanda Still (19:56)
Yes. I always loved being in nature. Even as a kid, I like to be outside. But I think it's different now as a believer in knowing Jesus. It just feels different for me now that I have a personal relationship with the Creator. And I get to go outside and experience what He created for us to enjoy. It just feels...

Like a gift, it's such a gift. So for me personally, like it can be as simple as when I'm outside, I'm not thinking about all the things I need to do in the house. So I really think just like leaving it all when you can, leaving it all and going outside and just maybe not listening. I love a podcast. I love an audio book, but sometimes it'll just be worship music in my headphones. Sometimes it won't be anything.

And I'll be just outside and I'll be praying, you know, maybe out loud. Maybe not. Maybe in my head. And just being able to experience what God created for us. mean, and seeing all the little details that he created, the small tiny little things, but then like the sunrise and the animals, the wildlife and I don't know. It's just been.

different since knowing the Lord. It's such a gift for me personally.

McKenzie Smith (21:29)
Yeah, yeah, and I know that... actually let me ask this, are you going to talk about how you came to know the Lord in your valley season?

Amanda Still (21:38)
I'm

not

It's hard. wasn't going to talk about that in my belly season. Not that I, not that I won't. Yes, of course you can. You can definitely touch on it. Yeah. Okay. Yes.

McKenzie Smith (21:47)
Can I ask about it?

Okay, I'm gonna ask about it right here then, if that's okay.

Yeah, I would kind of just love for you to share, know that in your bio you shared that your walk with the Lord became when you had your oldest son. Would love for you to share kind of how...

a little bit about how that came about. know this is not what this is totally about, but would love to just share because you were already married, had your first kid. It's kind of a unique time to find the Lord and just would love to hear a little bit about that.

Amanda Still (22:28)
Yeah. Yeah, so I was not raised in a Christian home, was not a Christian in my 20s, not when I met my husband even. It's not that God wasn't planting the seeds along the way. God had used people to plant the seeds and I was just running fast away from the Lord. My husband took a chance on me. He was a believer and he married me anyway. And we were told, I was told before I got married that I would not have children. Not naturally that I would need help.

And God said, no way. God said, I'm going to continue to plant those seeds. And I naturally conceived our first child thinking, you know, going into a marriage, like I found out right before we were married. And I thought, man, if we get married and then I then we can't have kids like it was like our dream to have a family. And because I didn't know the Lord, then I didn't have that hope. I didn't have any.

joy, had nowhere to turn, it was so dark for me. But yeah, becoming pregnant naturally was such a gift and I just felt like I never did anything to deserve this gift. Like, there has to be something more than me. Like, there's something more than me. And we had Nash, that's our oldest, he's seven. And I truly know that the Lord used my oldest son.

to just draw me home. I can't really describe the feeling of just knowing that God loved me even when I was running from him. Like the Lord had a plan for me when I didn't even know him yet. And Nash is a huge gift from the Lord. And not just in the sense that, you know, he's trusting me with this child to raise, but also that he used it.

to show me that I had hope and my hope was in Jesus. And I mean, later on I had friends and we joined a church and I had one really close friend that just poured into me. She gifted me my first Bible. I was baptized in that church and it was a really sweet season, one that I ran from for so long. And I think back and I'm like, Lord, thank goodness, thank you.

McKenzie Smith (24:51)
Yeah, thank you for sharing. know that was kind of a little sidebar, but it's just, you you said you, grew up, know, in the outdoors and things have changed and you you, you mentioned it in your bio. And so just wanted to, I wanted to touch on it because, you know, I think that it could be encouraging for someone. you know, I think we have so many rules around marriage and dating and this and that, and you know, some, not everybody.

Amanda Still (24:57)
Yes.

you

McKenzie Smith (25:21)
does those things exactly the way that they're preached. And it's like, there's, there's hope in that as well. You know, like, I married an unbeliever. Like, you know, this may be hopeful for someone who, who, you know, is, in that season. And I know this is not even the part of the podcast where we're supposed to be talking about this, but yeah, I just think you, thank you for sharing. I would love for you to share a story about a way in which maybe God has revealed himself or spoken to you in the outdoors.

Amanda Still (25:53)
I mean, there's many ways and small ways, I feel like.

God is in every single little detail. And I love that every big detail, every big prayer, every small prayer, like the Lord is listening and he's providing every big thing and small things. the most recent thing that I was thinking about when I was thinking about this is last year we took a huge road trip from Nashville to Missoula, which is in Montana. And we stopped along the way. We drove there one way and drove home a different way. And on the way home,

We drove through Yellowstone and I guess I didn't really say my kids names yet. So my oldest is Nash. My middle is Wolf, like the animal W O L F and then Navy and ever are my twins. So when we're like coming into Yellowstone, I mean, if you've been there, you know, it's amazing. Absolutely incredible. And we drove into the park from the North entrance and there's honestly like 20 minutes into the park. Okay. It's, it's amazing. mean, we.

McKenzie Smith (26:52)
That's the best int... That's the best int...

Amanda Still (26:56)
My kids already are asking to go back. We just love this.

McKenzie Smith (26:59)
Driving through

Paradise Valley, man, that's one of my favorite places.

Amanda Still (27:02)
Okay,

we didn't even do it. We didn't even get to Paradise Valley. But when we were driving in, was another valley, which Paradise Valley is the one where you see all the wildlife, right? I think...

McKenzie Smith (27:14)
Paradise Valley

would be if you were coming from the north from like Livingston.

Amanda Still (27:20)
Okay, yeah, okay, maybe it's like the first one on the way into the park. Okay, so that valley then, which I had already forgotten it was called that. Lovely. Okay, so we pull over, there's like people looking, you know, and I'm like, okay, yeah, pull over. So we see all these people out of their vans and I look over and there are a pack, there's a pack of wolves in, I mean, we weren't even in the park 20 minutes and there is a pack of wolves.

McKenzie Smith (27:24)
Yeah.

Thank

Amanda Still (27:50)
Not like bison or bear or an elk, like nothing. There was wolves. And I turned around so fast to rip my son Wolf out of the car seat so he could see these wolves for the in real life. The I mean, that's just an incredible and detailed. It gives me goosebumps to even think about. He gets out of the car and he's so excited. I mean, we are. Far away enough that, you know, we're safe.

It's crazy how close people get to the wildlife, how close the kids, some of the other kids were. And that's just something that he is going to remember for the rest of his life, that's such a tiny little detail that God orchestrated for our family. mean, it was just, yeah, we saw lots of other wildlife, but the fact that there were wolves when Wolf was there is just such a gift.

Yeah. Maybe that's like super specific, but yeah.

McKenzie Smith (28:50)
Yeah.

Hey,

whatever your story and whatever God spoke to you through that, can be as specific as you want it to be or as specific as it was. Like it could be just, you know, seeing a wolf and your name is Wolf and that spoke to you in some way. you know, that's really cool. I've been to Yellowstone like three times and I have not seen a wolf. So, I've seen lots of bison and never a bear though either, which I feel like is pretty common in Yellowstone.

Amanda Still (29:13)
Yes.

Oh really? I mean, we never

saw bears when we were there either, but we have seen lots of bears in the wild, but actually not a Yellowstone. yeah, just imagine. Go ahead. Yes.

McKenzie Smith (29:28)
Yeah, I think God knows, like, I'm good on

the bears. Like, I need to pretend in my brain that they don't, they're not as common as they are. it does. It's like my, it's my assembling block sometimes in the outdoors is the bears. And so I think God's protecting me by not showing me the bears.

Amanda Still (29:40)
If that gets you outside more.

Yes.

McKenzie Smith (29:56)
No, that's amazing. And yes, Yellowstone is a super amazing place. And that's just such a cool story. Such a cool story. And that, you know, that little seed or that little gift from God, you know, was there. And it's funny because like everyone else got to experience it too. And maybe it was just for you guys, you know. And so what a what a cool.

Amanda Still (30:17)
Yes, exactly. Everyone was

excited to see it, but I don't know if it meant as much to the mom saying it was not me as it did to me. God just, he's in every single tiny little detail.

McKenzie Smith (30:25)
Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. So, Amanda, I know that you live in Nashville or the greater Nashville area, and so this is your reality, and you've touched on it a little bit, but kind of just would love to share the practical, really simple ways to connect with God through nature on an everyday basis instead of having to go to Yellowstone or these super amazing places.

Amanda Still (30:54)
Yeah, we have been to huge amazing places, but the reality for most people and not just like because we have a family, just most people like you're working, you're you have life like you can't just always take off on a huge adventure. Sometimes you can and plan those, but you got to kind of put just like small ways of getting outside in your life. And it's got to be planned.

sometimes it's got to be planned. have, so in 2023, we decided we were going to go to as many state parks in our area as possible. And I think we got to maybe 18 or 19 that year. Granted, we live in an area where it is nice outside. I mean, it's beautiful in Nashville most of the year you can get outside.

So if you live somewhere where it's snowy and cold, you likely wouldn't get that many, but that year we, and that is all as a family we went, but really just carving out the time, looking at what's around. If you live in a city, like there will be green areas or maybe there's a state park, like there's tons of state parks. There's lots of national parks, but we have more state parks near us in Tennessee. So that's just what we do. It can be as simple as

walking, getting a dog. I'm just kidding. I do not recommend getting a dog if you don't want a dog, but she has really just up my walking game. So we take her on hikes. We take our walks, just getting out in your neighborhood even. And for me, it's like when I'm outside, I'm meeting people. And when we first moved our house, we've been in our house three years now. We didn't know anybody. We live in a neighborhood, but we didn't know anybody. Well, to meet people, you have to go outside.

McKenzie Smith (32:19)
You

Amanda Still (32:44)
If you want to know what your neighbor needs prayer for, you got to meet your neighbor first. If you want to know that the lady down the street had a baby, you got to get out there first so that you can bring her a meal. I mean, there's plenty of ways to kind of, I really feel like the area that you're put in is the ministry that God has called you to right now, like wherever you're planted. So getting outside and just, it can benefit you in so many more ways than just your mental health and your relationship with the Lord.

Yeah, I think too reminding yourself that it doesn't have to be something big. If you walk 20 minutes and you don't put in like you're not listening to anything and you're just looking at God's creation or you're praying or you're just noticing all the little details. Maybe you see a deer on your walk. We have a lot of deer in our neighborhood. That might be enough for this week. That's that might be all you get and that's better. Then sitting inside it's going to be better.

McKenzie Smith (33:41)
Yeah.

Yeah. I love that you said if you, you know, want to know what's going on, you got to go outside. I think we're.

Amanda Still (33:48)
Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (33:52)
blindfolded to the fact that we think we know what's going on in the world around us because of our cell phones and you know the news and all the things but it's like what what's happening in your neighborhood sometimes is is equally as important as you know things going on on a greater scale and so I love that you touched on that like if you want to know how to pray for your neighbor like you got to go over there you got to meet them you got to get out of your house to do that and I think that's really really practical and I always love you know the

Amanda Still (34:09)
Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (34:23)
the new, you know, kind of change of answers to this question. And so that one stuck out to me for sure in this response. So thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that, you know, what you said about even if it's something small and you have to just make the decision and go and do it and get out there. And it's as simple as that. So thank you.

Alright, Amanda, so switching gears a little bit into the title of this podcast, My Valley, His Victory, would love for you to share a valley or a season of wilderness that you experienced and just what God maybe taught you or prepared you for in that season.

Amanda Still (35:04)
I kind of already touched on just meeting the Lord when I had my first son. So I would say that before I knew Christ, I was in a huge dark lost place. But I think since knowing the Lord, what's more impactful for me is that I can look back and see the ways that God has walked with me through

the challenges through the hard times through it all like the Lord has been with me. So when we lived in Canada, we were there for four years. Our marriage, it was hard. We were newlyweds. We didn't live together before marriage. We had a bunch of kids really fast and we lived in a place that wasn't home for my husband. We have actually spent our entire marriage. One of us has lived not in home because now I live here and this is not home for me.

But he, my husband really did not enjoy living in Canada. Anyone that knows us knows this. It's not a secret. It was not his favorite. It really took a toll on our marriage and I spent a lot of time praying and just feeling so lost and so defeated. And I prayed every day, Lord, what would you have us do?

Lord, are we supposed to be here? Lord, what will help my husband? Lord, what will help our marriage? And I would say it wasn't like just a huge valley or like it was more like we would kind of go like this. Like it was like ups and downs of marriage. And we just had a lot of stuff thrown at us so quickly.

And we just loved each other so much. And I think that if God was not at the center of our marriage and really helping, the outcome would have been a lot different. But the Lord, I mean, he was so gracious to us in just guiding us in where we should be. I, so I prayed, I prayed constantly, Lord, what are we doing here? Lord, are we ever gonna own a home? Lord, is our marriage gonna be okay?

McKenzie Smith (37:03)
Cough cough

Amanda Still (37:19)
God, are our kids going to be okay? Lord, is Ontario where we're supposed to be? And after COVID hit, they were pretty strict where we were in Canada. And that really took a bigger toll on my husband's mental health. Somebody who had never struggled with mental health before. And I had heard people talk about God speaking to them, but I had yet to have that happen to me.

So it's not that I didn't believe it, it's just I had never experienced it for myself. And I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and I prayed, God show me the way, God show me what you would like me to do. And I was sitting on the floor of my living room and my husband actually wasn't even home. And I heard the Lord speak to me in a way that he had never had before and he said, go pack up, leave, you're going to Nashville.

like you are leaving, you are packing up your whole family. It will be okay, I will be with you. And I was like, are you sure? God, are you sure? Really? Is now right now like, okay. And that act of obedience was one of the first big I mean, I had acted on obedience before with the Lord, but that was the first time that I was like, okay, Lord, like, I trust you completely. I told my husband, God told told me like, let's go.

And when I told my family and friends that don't know the Lord, they thought, are you kidding? Really? I was like, we're going. God said, we're going, we're going. So we packed up, we moved. When I say we, I mean, it was hard to move during COVID, but we, within five weeks we were gone. moved from, Waterloo is my hometown. We moved from Waterloo to Nashville within five weeks. We left.

almost everything behind. couldn't bring anything. I had to fly. My husband drove. It was like a mess. And I I knew that God was going to heal our marriage, heal my husband. I believed. I knew that that would happen. And it did. God, I mean, my husband was like night and day. When we moved here, his depression, his mental health, I mean, he is one happy camper in Tennessee.

McKenzie Smith (39:40)
haha

Amanda Still (39:41)
one happy camper. And I know that that was the Lord working. So then we get here and God really had his hand on our marriage, on me and everything. And then it started to sink in for me. I am 12 hour drive from home. I know nobody. I have nobody. Okay, Lord, now what are you doing with me? And it was, it was hard. was, I didn't, I knew, I believed that the Lord

would carry me through and that God had a plan for me, just like he had a plan for Andrew and he had a plan for our marriage. But then it was like, okay, God, now what? Now what are we gonna do? Now what am I gonna do? What am I doing in Nashville? What's your plan for me? And God always has a plan and his ways are so much better than our ways and his plan for me was.

so much more beautiful than I could have ever thought. it took a while, I mean, moving to, I'm sure a lot of people can relate to not living at home or moving away from home because I feel like a lot of people now are starting to be like, you know what, let's move, let's move to a new state, let's move abroad, let's move, you know, we don't stay maybe in the same place our whole lives anymore. And so I think a lot of people can understand where I'm coming from that.

You move somewhere new and you're like, I love this place. This is great. And now what? And I, I missed home because of immigration. couldn't visit. So I feel like that's something that most people won't experience in their life is you go somewhere and you can't, you can't leave. So when I came here because of immigration, was stuck. I could not leave America because if I did, I might not be allowed back entry into America. So it was this like,

what if something happens? This like anxiety of like, I can't even go home. I can't go back to Canada. And so I'm waiting on immigration for my paperwork over two years. So yeah, so over two years and, and you know what? I, in that time, like we found our home church. We, we have friends, we have, I mean, we live a beautiful life. And God has really shown me that his plan for me in Tennessee,

McKenzie Smith (41:42)
How long did that last?

Amanda Still (42:04)
is also just as beautiful as his plan for my husband and for our marriage and for our kids and for everybody else. Like he has me also in his plan. His plan has been so beautiful. being stuck is, it's hard. And I prayed and I prayed and I was like, okay, Lord, like I need a green card. Like I need my paperwork. I need to be able to go home. And I know exactly where I was sitting when I got the email that I was approved. We had to jump through a lot of hoops when you do immigration. It's not as easy as.

McKenzie Smith (42:17)
you

Amanda Still (42:33)
you just moved to America. There's more to that, more to it than that. But I just sat there and I cried and cried and cried. And we were actually in the Smoky Mountains when I found out. And we were with my family because they had visited. So that morning I got to tell my mom, hey, guess what? I can come home. And I don't know. It's just...

Everything he has, the Lord has taken care of. Anytime that I'm like anxious about something, he has really like just been working and everything. So after two, just over two years, I was able to go home. And I really feel like that lifted this weight off my chest of, hey, know, I can love it here and I can visit home now. And I live a life here that God has just

blessed us and he has shown us so much grace and it's something more than I could have ever asked for in Canada. I don't know how to exactly describe it other than God had a plan for me and I'm living his plan and we're not done but like it's been beautiful and he has just he's really worked in our marriage and in us separately and I would not have that hope or

you know, if I didn't have the Lord, I just don't know where this could have been a lot more difficult if I didn't have a father that I know I can lean on. So, yeah.

McKenzie Smith (44:12)
Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you so much for sharing that. And I felt like I wrote down quite a few, quite a few things because I have a, no, it's okay. I have, I like to make little notes to myself so I remember what I want to ask. So kind of, I want to go back to, you know, you're sitting in your living room, moving.

Amanda Still (44:20)
Sorry.

McKenzie Smith (44:38)
getting this revelation from the Lord that you're supposed to move back to Nashville. You said that you've never experienced God speaking before. You believe that he could speak to people. You just had never experienced that before. I think that's a, I mean, we could spend all day there, I feel like, because I feel like that's one of the most commonly asked questions is like, how do know God's speaking to you? Or like,

Amanda Still (45:03)
you

McKenzie Smith (45:05)
Well, God, you know, these people say that God speaks to them, but like, I've never heard it. Like, what does that mean for me? You know, like there's there's a lot of like tension in that topic. But I don't really want to land there. I want to land with like, how did you know that that was God speaking? And like, how did you have the confidence to, you know, say, okay, let's go.

Amanda Still (45:27)
Yeah. I always, and it's not that I haven't felt like God has spoken to me with other things. And I just always know that it's not something that I would tell myself. Like that is not something I would have done. Like I would not have told myself, okay, yeah, let's just move to Nashville. Sure. Let's just do it. Like that is not my personality as a mom of four who's like responsible.

And I just, I knew and I feel like you know if it's you telling yourself something or if you really think it's God. I also think that I had prayed about it for so long. The Lord knew that I was in a desperate state. I had prayed and prayed and prayed and I asked him for a word. That's not the only time that he has given me a word or spoken to me. And I would say every time that it's happened, I have

asked for it. I have prayed. I have asked God like I need you. I'm desperate. I don't know what to do like Lord lead me lead our family or it might be simple like I need a word from you. I need you and I think that God knows we need him, but there's something about just admitting to the Lord like I am weak and I need you.

McKenzie Smith (46:43)
Hmm.

Amanda Still (46:53)
that really built this intimate relationship with God that is just so important. So yeah, I really just think it's praying and asking and believing that he can.

McKenzie Smith (47:09)
Yeah, yeah. Well, and I love what you said there at the end. Like you are so, you know, desperate and you are like, God, I need you. Like I can't, like I can't do this on my own. And I think that that humility, you know, is really where God can work in a lot of situations. Where I want to spend a little bit more time though, I said I wasn't going to land the plane there because I think that this is a

something that I know a lot of people, a lot of people can can get caught in or I don't even want to say caught in that's not even the right word but you told your family, God told me to go somewhere and your family's not believers and your friends you know were like what like excuse me you know

Amanda Still (47:59)
Hmm.

your

site.

McKenzie Smith (48:11)
Because you know you also said you didn't grow up in a Christian home and you gave your life to Christ as an adult and you know now everything that you knew or all those relationships that you have are are different in a way and so You know, I would I'd love for you to just spend a little bit of time talking about navigating

that in your faith when the people that should support you and should be there and should understand, like actually don't understand at all. Yeah, I don't know. I hope you understand my question.

Amanda Still (48:47)
Okay.

I do understand your

question. It's not always easy. So I would say here in Tennessee, I have a very strong Christian community, a very strong group of friends that love Jesus, very connected at church. And that's a blessing, a blessing that not everybody has.

And when we were in Canada, I did not have that. had, we loved our church. We had a tiny little sweet church that we loved, but I had one Christian friend. And it's always hard for me to speak the truth. And sometimes, you know, when I'm, when I'm around my non-believing family and friends, I really do have to ask the Lord for help. God give me a chance to share you. Lord, tell me when to shut my mouth.

Tell me, Lord, help me know when it's what you want me to say. And Lord, help me not be, not unkind, but like, I don't want to ever be pushy. But I always try my best to share the truth. And the truth is, is that God told me to move to Nashville. God told me to trust him. And the Lord has done those things since. mean, and it is really hard, but I try and remind myself that

There were times where other people planted seeds in my life before I knew the Lord. And I now think back to those times and I'm grateful for them. Whether I saw them as seeds then being planted or God using somebody to share the gospel with me, even though I wasn't listening, even though I was still running from God, I remember those times now. And so I just think,

maybe God has put me in these people's lives or has kept me in these people's lives because I'm going to be the light to share the Lord, share the gospel. Whether that be like sitting someone down and sharing the gospel with them, that's not how it always looks. And that's not necessarily how it worked for me either. But sharing, you know, it might be just as simple as like my childhood friend who doesn't believe, like me telling her like,

you know, I'll pray for you. I believe in prayer. I'm going to pray for you on that. Or can I pray for you? Or do you want to come to church when you're visiting? I've had people visit. Hey, you want to come to church? No, yes. You sometimes people come to church with us and we love our church so much. And that's just something small of like sharing Jesus with them. Or it might be, yeah, hey, God told me to move to Nashville. I'm going to move to Nashville. You might think I'm crazy, but I trust the Lord.

It's not easy, but just believing that God may have you with these in these friendships or in this family. He's using for his glory and for his good. I just have to trust that even when it's uncomfortable.

McKenzie Smith (51:43)
Yeah.

you

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for answering that. I know my question wasn't super clear, but I just know that, you know, I'm, I'm, I've been in a similar season. You know, I came to know the Lord as an adult and I've had some situations with some family and some friends where, you know, they've just looked at me sideways about certain things and they're just like, why would you ever do that? And so I know that this question was, was

probably more for me than for anyone else. But I love what you said about like not hiding the truth, but that doesn't mean that you have to push anything on them. So it's like, yeah, God told me to do this. That is the truth and that is why I'm doing it. And that doesn't mean anything for them necessarily. And so I think that that's really important is it's like, you're not asking them anything in that.

Amanda Still (52:39)
Yes.

McKenzie Smith (52:57)
situation, you know, and you're not trying to share the gospel or anything of that nature. It's solely just, it's solely just, you know, this is this is a matter of fact kind of thing. And yeah, and I like what you said about, know, you remember the seeds that were planted for you before. And I'm the same way. Every time I was sitting over here shaking my head like, yes, yes, And

You know, you just may be planting those seeds and you may be opening the doors for them to ask some questions and to, you know, whenever they start to get curious, like, you know, maybe now that they know where you stand, like you might be the person that they come to. And so you've kind of opened that door. And so I think that's really helpful and I think that's really valuable.

Amanda Still (53:32)
Yes.

Yeah, I hope so.

McKenzie Smith (53:50)
And I just appreciate you sharing that because like I said, I know I've experienced a little bit of that and I'm sure many people have come to know the Lord in their adulthood. And so, yeah, I would love for you to share, know, looking back on your journey, would love for you to share a piece of encouragement or word of advice for someone who's maybe going through

a similar season, you can kind of pick and choose which part you want to share on. I know we didn't touch much on the, you know, not being able to go home and feeling stuck. So you pick which part you want to share a piece of advice about.

Amanda Still (54:27)
Yeah.

I think when it comes to a piece of advice, I would say that whether it is that you feel stuck or whether it is that you have found yourself in a place that's new, really think that if it's whatever it is that you're looking for. So for me, it was a community. Like I needed a community. I needed a village. I needed friends. needed

I mean, being a social person, just personally what I needed, but that may look different for you. may need, you may be looking for a different job or you may be looking, you're gonna be in a different season. But I think that my main advice would just be to know that the Lord hears your prayers and that praying is this powerful tool.

that he wants us to use. it's gonna be like a conversation with the Lord. Just inviting those decisions or, know, praying like, I need a community, Lord, like help guide me to somebody who will be like a strong Christian friend. Lord, help me find a church that you would have me be at. And just.

being consistent in your prayers, not always is God gonna answer your prayers how you think that he should answer them. And I've heard it said that God will say, answer prayer, no, yes, or not yet. And it may be a no, like it may be, no, actually that church isn't for you, that's not your community. It may be a no, but just trusting that if you are telling him that you need to be guided, he will.

He knows he's going to listen. He's going to guide you a practical way. is just putting yourself out there. You're not going to make friends in a new community by staying in your four walls. You're just not, you're not going to meet people. We think we're connected and you touched on this earlier because you have a cell phone, but you're not actually connected with that cell phone. You you're connected to Instagram or whatever your app may be, but you don't

You're not knowing people. You're seeing what they want you to see and you're posting what you want them to see. So putting yourself out there and whether that be in our area, we had like mom walking groups. So you know what? I went and I knew nobody or like a mom's night out. I went and I knew nobody. Putting yourself out there for what you need and trusting that the Lord will deliver it. You're not always going to be in your comfort zone. God is going to

occasionally ask you to step out in faith and it's going to be scary and not comfortable but just trusting him and knowing that he has a good plan for you.

McKenzie Smith (57:34)
Yeah,

yeah, I think on that note, know, just the being bold and, you know, going and searching for what you need. It's also being open to what's there, you know, too, because I think a lot of times we go into these situations and, know, we walk into a new church and we have our arms crossed and we're just like expecting people to talk to us and we're expecting people to approach us and.

Amanda Still (57:44)
Mm-hmm.

Hello.

McKenzie Smith (57:57)
you know, like it's just fall in our lap and it's like, no, sometimes like you need to go and introduce yourself. Sometimes you need to step out and not just like be waiting for.

for something. And so I appreciate that you touched on that because it does take boldness, but it also takes being bold enough to go and introduce yourself and say hello and do the things. Showing up is only half of it, you know, because I think a lot of people, you know, they sit there and they're just like, well, nobody came and said hi to me. It's like, did you say hi to anybody? No, why would I? Why would I do that? Well, you're there to meet people, right? And so

Amanda Still (58:30)
Yes.

Yes.

McKenzie Smith (58:40)
I think that's always an important piece of the puzzle is just be bold, go, but also be bold and say hello, introduce yourself and all things. Amanda, thank you so much for just being here and for sharing your story with us and walking us through this experience. I know there's a lot of different layers of this valley that I think that someone can relate to.

Amanda Still (58:48)
Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (59:06)
you know, from from being in a new place, knowing nobody. I don't know how many people can relate to the, you know, being stuck and not being able to go back to where they're from. That's kind of a wild, a wild piece of this that I also never thought about whenever you were sharing your story with me of. Yeah, that would be a hard, hard part. Yeah, with like no timeline either, because you said, you know, they're. Yeah.

Amanda Still (59:23)
I don't wish it on anybody. don't. Yeah. It's a unique situation.

the stuff to immigration, the government just,

yeah.

McKenzie Smith (59:35)
Yeah,

that's wild. And just, you know, listening to God, being obedient to what he's saying, even though it doesn't fit what you want, or, you know, it's like, my husband gets everything he wants. What do I get? You know, like, that's challenging. And so I just really appreciate you walking us through that and sharing all of that. I would love for you to share just...

to close out just how listeners can connect with you whether that's social media or whatever that looks like for you.

Amanda Still (1:00:07)
Yes, I do share a life on social media. Instagram, my Instagram is amarie still, A-M-A-R-I-E still. I share our adventures and our trips and our small walks around the neighborhood with our dog. And that's pretty much the only place I really am. The only place I have time for, yeah.

McKenzie Smith (1:00:32)
Yeah.

Hey, that's okay. She's got bread. We didn't touch on the baking piece, but she's got some bread. Yeah. So if you are a mom who needs some encouragement getting outside with your kiddos or just, yeah, need, need, need someone to chat with. Amanda's here. So reach out to her and just thank you so much again, Amanda, for being here.

Amanda Still (1:00:34)
If not, I mean, I'm in my kitchen, so come on over. Yeah, lots of sourdough

Thank you. This is so fun.