Reclaiming Your Hue: A Podcast for Women Rediscovering Themselves in Motherhood & Entrepreneurship

Ep. 97 with Molly Sandborn | The Cheeseball Chick

• Kelly Kirk

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Cheese Balls And Grit

A giant orange cheese ball backpack sounds like a joke until it becomes the most unexpected doorway into real conversations about faith, pain, and purpose. I’m sitting down with speaker, author, and social creator Molly Sanborn, also known as the Cheeseball Chick, to talk about what happens when God uses ordinary humor to do extraordinary work.

We unpack Molly’s path from early entrepreneurship and a chaotic coffee shop season to decades of public speaking and ministry. Molly shares how her faith became real in middle school, how comparison nearly stole her joy as a young mom, and why her book Cheese Balls for Jesus still connects with people who need encouragement that feels human. We also get honest about social media and motherhood: TikTok growth, authenticity, boundaries, and the real questions parents ask about posting kids online.

Then the story turns sobering and powerful. Molly walks us through open heart surgery, complications, and the long recovery that followed, including the role of prayer, community support, and the peace that shows up when you cannot explain it. We talk about Whatever You Do Ministries, living on support, choosing family-first priorities, and why Molly’s message now centers on one line: if you have a pulse, you have a purpose.

Subscribe for more conversations on faith and real life, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more women can find these stories.

Event Opportunity:

  • April 27th - Medical Journey's for Jesus, RVSP HERE

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Contact the Host, Kelly Kirk:

  • Email: info.ryh7@gmail.com

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Credits:

  • Editor: Joseph Kirk
  • Music: Kristofer Tanke 


Thanks for listening & cheers to Reclaiming Your Hue! 

Spring Energy And How We Met

Kelly

Good morning, Molly. Good morning. How the heck are you? I'm doing swell.

SPEAKER_02

It's spring.

Kelly

It is.

SPEAKER_02

It is.

Kelly

It was officially spring last Friday.

SPEAKER_02

I think so. In high school, I used to make a cake every every spring. I would make a cake and bring it to school that says happy spring because I'm so excited about spring. Do you know what's so funny?

Kelly

That does not surprise me. I'm like, that tracks. That for sure tracks of what I know of you. And we can dive into how it is the two of us got connected. Would you like to share that?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, sure. Well, um, so you attend the church where my husband was a youth pastor. Yeah. And so that's how we know each other.

Kelly

We have more to this story, though. Do you want me to dive into it?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, why don't you? Because I think it's more on your side a little bit.

Kelly

Yeah, for sure. So I was explaining to you before we hit record that I disciple with Pam Evans, right? And this is a this is a name that some of the listeners who are tuning in right now have probably talked, heard me talk about her, right?

SPEAKER_02

And I love her, by the way. She was one of the first people to make me feel so welcome when we started at Wooddale.

Kelly

She's a I love you, Pam. She's a gem. She's a gem. Hi, Pam. I'm gonna make sure that she listens to this one. She's like, Kelly, I've just gotta be really honest with you. I don't listen to podcasts. And I'm like, you're not hurting my feelings. It's okay. There's so many other mediums of getting like information or like what is your thing. Right. And for some people, podcasts is just not their thing. That's okay. Yep. Anywho, so Pam knows about the podcast, and I was telling her about um learning more just about your family, you, what you do, which we'll get to in just a moment. And I was like, gosh, I really should have her on the podcast. She's like, oh yeah, Molly, it'd be great for you to have on the podcast. Really wonderful. And then I forgot. Yeah, we do that. Just how like life is as a mom. I'll just speak to it in that context. And then, as God would have it, I think it was like a year later, and here we are at an Amplify meeting. And so some of the listeners who are tuning in right now know about Amplify as well. And in I walk, and here is Molly. Here you are. And I'm like, well, if God isn't telling me that this is the right opportunity now to just at least go, hey, you probably don't know who I am. However, we used to go to Wooddale together. I know that you guys are doing something different now, but I would love to just connect. And I don't think I even shared anything about the podcast at that point. I think I was like, because you were getting ready to speak. Right.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. But yes, you were not an interruption. It was great to connect with you. I definitely recognized you. But yeah, that was probably our longest conversation, honestly.

Kelly

It was. Yeah. For sure. Because while Edina Wooddale is small, er, there's still people that like I I will recognize them if I were to bump into them, say at Jerry's. Yep. Here in Edina? I'd be like, yep, they go to our church. Probably couldn't tell you their name. Yeah. That's just, and then there's some people who I'm like, yep, I know exactly who you are, and we've served together or we've ushered together. And just as life would have it, even though you guys were serving uh on the ministry side for the church, like we just hadn't had the opportunity to connect further. And that's okay. So here we are. And here we are. Now I'm having you on the podcast. And I am, I have to say, I am so thrilled to have you on. One like one specific reason is because when I started this podcast candidly, like faith has always been very important to me. And so this is just where I'm gonna go with this for a hot second. So it's always been important to me. And because my relationship with God has started to develop so much, especially through the discipleship with Pam, I have a newfound reframe of how I want to show up for the podcast and who I want to have on the podcast. And it doesn't mean it's like every single woman who's on the podcast is a Christian and a believer of Jesus. However, because it's an important pillar for me, I'm like, whenever I have someone on who like Jesus is king for them, it is like it lights me up in a different way.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I don't know.

Entrepreneurship Before Motherhood

Kelly

And so I'm so excited for you here because of that. And man, your story is cool. Aw, thanks. It's all done. It's so cool. It's so cool. So let's go ahead and dive in and allow this opportunity for the listeners to get to know Molly. So, first, I would love for you to share what came first for you. Was it motherhood or was it entrepreneurship?

SPEAKER_02

So that's an interesting question. And I was telling my husband about this podcast last night, and I was like, yep, I'm gonna be on this mothership podcast. And I was like, wait, mothership, no. Mothership, I mashed it together. So I do feel like actually entrepreneurship and motherhood mashed together in my life. But I would say probably yes, technically, first, entrepreneurship came first, but it's so eclectic. It's like there's been so many different things God's called me to. Yeah. From opening a coffee shop in my mid-20s, though I do need to be upfront and say that was my my parents' building and they were funding it, but I did everything. Like I was everything, and it just about drove me into the grave. But that was before kids, that was before marriage. And then speaking also started when I was 22 years old. So I would go into public schools and I would speak during health classes on the topic of abstinence. Can you believe it? Like in public schools, I wasn't allowed, you know, to bring up the God faith piece, but it makes sense. And so, anyways, I got my start in speaking when I was 22, and then that combined with opening a coffee shop, and life goes on, and then I got married and had kids. So, yes, entrepreneurship came first.

Kelly

You definitely dabbled, and more than dabbled because just in we'll share with the listeners here in just a moment the name of your book. Oh, yeah. When reading your book, I was like, I I can't, I can't even imagine. And yet, like, as you were explaining how everything emotion-wise was happening to you, I'm like, I felt like I was literally right there next to you. Yeah, it was so fascinating.

SPEAKER_02

Are you talking about the coffee shop experience?

Kelly

Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

There were some high highs and very low lows there. Absolutely.

Coffee Shop Chaos And Perseverance

Kelly

Well, I'm curious. I want to just tie this in with um, we'll do we'll do a little leap over some of this historical part from the coffee shop to where we are now, just for a hot second. We'll and then we'll catch the listeners up to speed. I'm curious what you can draw from that experience, what you learned from it, and how that ties into motherhood. Because hear me out, uh there's been so many occasions with other women who have been on the podcast where there's so many parallels to what they're learning in their business and what they're learning in motherhood, and vice versa. It depends on what came first for you. Like when if you're a mother first and then you started a business or you were an entrepreneur or in your your case helped your parents open up a coffee shop and then had kids.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So, you know, I would say if I had to sum it up with one word, I would say perseverance. Like, don't give up, right? Doesn't that work for motherhood too and business? And I mean, because you like we can't we don't we don't have a playbook for how our kids are gonna act or what might happen in their lives or their personalities or their wiring or just things that happen, right? And same with business, like so when I opened the coffee shop, it was going really well in the beginning, but then the person we had hired to be the manager ended up kind of taking some money, and basically I was left solo opening this coffee shop and managing it and running it when I did not feel like that was my gifting at all. But what I learned through it is that when God calls you to something, he will equip you. And so I guess maybe that's number one. Maybe maybe perseverance is number two, because when God calls us to motherhood and he gives us these kids, however, he gives them to us, right? In whatever way, um God will he has what you need. And so that's what I learned, I think, through the coffee shop experience, as hard as it was, definitely gave me some grit for every other thing that would come on in life after that, including motherhood.

Kelly

That was beautiful. I love that. You mentioned that you started speaking relative relatively early on in your life, 22 years old. I mean, that's ambitious.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and I just realized I'm 44, so that's I've been speaking professionally for 22 years for half of my life. That's so I mean, I started speaking probably when I was, you know, nine months, but not that kind of speaking.

Kelly

So I love it, Molly. The way that you talk and joke, I mean, it's it's so true to the book. Yeah, it really is. Like, it's like I I love it. Thank you. It's so fun. Okay, so 22 years old. Yep. You're starting to speak. That's super ambitious. Like, I I just have to share for a brief moment. I would honest to goodness, how do I want to phrase this? Speaking is not at the top of my list of things that I would love to do.

SPEAKER_02

I think you'd be good at it.

Kelly

You are and I have had the opportunity to get up and speak. I I actually did that when I had the podcast anniversary event last year, the first anniversary event. And I was like, I've got to get up and speak. Yeah. I can't go this whole event without getting up there and like thanking everyone and thanking them for being here. And so interestingly enough, so I just want to share this real quick with you because um this is my quick speech story about overcoming fear and the power of prayer. Yeah. I walked into that event and my girlfriend pulled me aside and she was like, How are you? Like there, she had gotten there early because her husband was helping to get everything set up alongside my husband and many other. We called him the wingmen.

SPEAKER_02

Nice, I like it.

Faith Roots And A Call To Speak

Kelly

The wingmen there helping, otherwise, it was gonna be a room full of women. And she pulls me aside, she goes, Kelly, how are you doing? Because she knew, like she knew that I was I was getting really nervous leading up to that because I had expressed that. And I was like, I'm great. And I said it just like that, like calm. And she was like, Really? I'm like, yeah, really. She goes, Did you take a gummy? Oh my goodness. I said, Yeah, no, did not take a gummy. Maybe accidentally. She goes, Did you grab some wine? Like, have you had a glass of wine? And I was like, No. She goes, What is going on with you? I'm like, Jess, I have literally I knew that this was bigger than me and that because of the fear that I have for it, I could only draw upon God. And I've been praying. Yeah. And she was like, oh, blink, blink, blink, blink, like crickets. Now she's a Jesus follower too. She loves, loves Jesus with her whole heart. And I just think that that was like rather a surprise to her. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm ready. Let's go. Let's do this. Was I nervous? I had butterflies. But I think like the reason that I share that is because I I feel like there's a lot of women who are listening right now that are probably in the same same camp as I am. Yep. And so that is just so powerful to me to hear that at the age of 22, not only were you like, okay, I'm gonna step into this, I'm gonna speak, and I'm gonna tackle a topic. Oh, yeah, that is otherwise like, you know, I mean, yeah, these are 20, like you're 22 years old and you're going into, and that's you know, like frankly, when things are starting to get explored a little bit more. Yeah, absolutely. So I I'm curious. Faith has obviously been very important for you. When I want to tie this in, and then we can talk through the speaking experience and engagements that you do. But talk myself and the listeners through when did faith become prevalent for you?

SPEAKER_02

Man, I you know what, I'm so thankful that I was raised in a Christian home. But being raised in a Christian home doesn't mean that you're you're gonna be a Christian, right? Or a genuine Jesus follower. So uh I was blessed to have that like um discipleship through church. I even went through a Christian school and um Christian parents, but it was it was middle school for me that like my faith became a reality in my life because I went through a hard time. I was I was um made fun of and bullied by some girls who were otherwise like my best friends. It happened when I ended up making a higher-up basketball team than them and just like just like a switch, like they were so mean to me. And I remember crying myself to sleep. I started journaling letters to Jesus when I was in middle school because a camp counselor told me this is how she processes her feelings. She's like, your diary doesn't care about you, but Jesus does. So I started writing letters to Jesus, basically prayers, pouring my heart out in middle school, and that drew me so close to the Lord. And then, you know, life, life, there's ups and downs, and there's times when I felt far from God, but I would say it was that time in my life that really made me understand for myself that like there is no one closer than Jesus. Like, he is there for you no matter what. And he's been through it all. Like he's been betrayed by friends, he was falsely accused, he was, he was, you know, I mean, all the things that we read about in scripture. So that's when my faith started to grow, and then through high school, it just continued to grow. And it was in, it was actually when I was 16 years old at Bethel College, I went to a youth event, and there was a powerful public speaker on stage, and everyone was like so engaged, and he was telling this story about what he'd been through in his life and how he'd like struggled so much and all these things, and then he came to God and God changed his life, and I remember being so inspired. And in I can see the seat I was in because I've been there since because I've done that same event, it's so cool. So, in that auditorium at Bethel is when I just felt this prompting. Like I said to God quietly in my seat, I'm like, God, I want to encourage people for you. I want to inspire people, but I don't have a story like that. And I sat shotgun in the church van after that with my youth pastor driving, and I told him, I'm like, I was so inspired. I'd love to do that sometime, but I don't think, I don't think I have anything to share. And he got on me so good, and he said, Molly, you don't have to go through all the things he went through to know of God's faithfulness. You might have a different story. And lo and behold, I have been through a lot since then. You have. But um, that's where I felt the call to speaking at 16 years old. And then I went away to Youth with a Mission, um, YWAM, super awesome, like gap year discipleship program missions. Then I went to four years at North Central University, and it was right after, it was right in the middle of college where God called me to speak in these public schools, and that's where speaking started for me. And then that launched into youth groups and camps, and like word of mouth, people would just say, Hey, you need to have Molly. And then I ended up marrying a speaker and a youth pastor, and God brought our passions and gifts together. And we're headed to Chicago this weekend to speak at a youth event. And next week in Iowa, we're gonna be at a Christian school spiritual emphasis week, and then we do marriage conferences. Like, oh my gosh, what is happening?

The Domain Name Proposal Clue

Kelly

That it's really I love the story about how you and your husband, Craig, um found one another. Yes, yes, uh like and him purchasing the website domain name.

SPEAKER_02

I know. Oh my gosh, we have to tell them.

Kelly

Seriously, yes. Go ahead, share this story. You have to.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so oh my word. Okay, so what happened? Oh, I remember. We'd been dating for like, I don't know, a month or two. You know more. You read my book more recently than I shared this story, so you're gonna have to correct me if I'm wrong. But I think we'd been dating like a month or two. I knew I wanted to marry this guy. I was 26, he was 35, so we were like, you know, more mature in life, and we just knew. And so, but he hadn't, we hadn't talked about marriage. And so I had my domain, Mollybarnhart.com. That was my speaking website. And I was like, well, you know what? When I get married to Craig, I want Mollysandborn.com. Yeah. I should see if it's available. I'm not gonna buy it, I'm just gonna see if it's available. So I go to like Mollysandborn.com and it this thing pops up and says, This page is owned by it, doesn't say who it's owned by.

Kelly

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I had recently learned how you can like research and find out who owns it.

Kelly

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And so I did this like digging, and I get to this page and it pops up and it says, the owner of this domain is Craig Sanborn, and then it says his address, and then I freak out. I feel like he just proposed to me. I'm like, are we married? And I didn't know it. Where's the ring? And so it was so sweet because Craig said that it played out exactly like he wanted. He wasn't gonna tell me, he just knew I'd look sometime. Yeah, and I actually didn't tell him for months until he proposed to me because I didn't want, I thought, well, maybe this is part of the proposal or engagement or something. And so it was so sweet. He had bought the domain because he knew I'd want it and just figured I'd find it that way. And I did. And so now it's Craigandmolly.com.

Kelly

I think Mollysandborn.com might still get you there, but yeah, so it's so wild, and it just like really goes to show the power of one companionship and just knowing your person. Yeah. And even though you guys by by all other standards, like the way society may look at this is like, well, you guys only knew each other for a month and a half. How would you know that? Right. But when you know you know, yeah, you do. I can 100% testify to that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Kelly

When you know you know. Yep. Oh, it's so cool. I remember reading that and I was like, wow, Craig. Yeah, good move, right? It was just so interesting too. Um, might I just add this that, you know, I've obviously I've met Craig and it's it was just kind of in these like moments of coming into church and saying hi, and but you gave such an a different perspective of who Craig is as a as a husband that I'm like, wow, I just loved hearing you.

SPEAKER_02

He's so cute. That's so sweet. Thank you. He is so much an introvert, I am so much an extrovert. I am I am ENFP, he is I S T J. We are could not be more different. And so, yeah, people, even his family, read read my book, and they're like, um, I think I know my brother or my son now more, Molly, after you wrote the book and the chapters that he's in.

Cheese Balls For Jesus Explained

Kelly

So yeah, he definitely is he's very introverted. Yes, he is. I I like picked that up relatively quickly. Okay, so since we are talking about a section from the book, let's talk a little bit about the book because you've got speaking. Yep. You also do a ton on social media because of stuff within the book. Yep. You are an author, and I won't share the next part. Okay. I will let you share the next part. Okay, so the title of the book is. Let's talk about the book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Name of the book. Okay, so here's where we take a turn. It's called Cheese Balls for Jesus. Funny, faith-filled stories to encourage and inspire. And for people who don't know the whole cheese ball thing and what I do, I was thinking about this the other day. People probably think I'm talking about like being a cheese ball for Jesus, like whatever, weird. And that's, I mean, maybe. I guess I am a little unique and strange, but no, we're talking about literal cheese balls, Kelly. And you just ate some like before we were rolling.

Kelly

I sure did. It is a guilty pleasure of mine. And I told you I was like secretly going, I hope she brings her cheese balls. If she doesn't, then like it's a thing. It has to be a thing.

SPEAKER_02

Like okay, so the book is not all about cheese balls, as you know, because you've read it. It's 15 short stories. Someone described it like chicken soup for the soul but cheesy style. Do you think that works? Like encouraging faith stories, funny, but like deep and for all ages. Um, but the title is inspired, and it's chapter one. It's the whole story. The whole story's chapter one, but the title is inspired by something that happened to me when I was, oh gosh, I was, I had, I was just about to meet Craig. I was 26 years old. Years old, and I was speaking at a youth event in Virginia, and it I was given a container of cheese balls to bring back to Minnesota. And here's the funny part that I don't know if this is in the book or not, but the reason I brought the cheese balls is because my sister, who was a mom of four young kids, had recently said, Hey, keep your eye out for like toy storage containers. Anything and everything. Did I say that in the book? Yep. Okay, so it wasn't even about cheese balls. It was about the container of cheese balls. So for the listeners, picture the big, huge, giant container of cheese balls, you know, you can get at the store, or just quick Google cheese ball chick. Oh, yeah. Then you can see a visual. See it right away. Yeah. So I was, I was really just bringing these cheese balls home for my sister, the container. And as I'm walking through the airport, I realize that everybody is staring at me and kind of giggling. And I realize it's because I have this giant container of cheese balls. I was not trying to draw attention, I was not trying to start conversations, but holy cow, it did. Everywhere I went, people would talk to me and smile and laugh. Then I get in the security checkpoint. They go in their own bin through the X-ray machine and they get stalled. And I'm like, oh, they're way too big. They're gonna confiscate them. Like I know they have the liquid rule, they probably you probably can't bring a thousand cheese balls on the plane. Yeah. Um, they didn't take them, but they did surround them, and all these security guards are laughing and cracking cheesy jokes. And it was just so fun everywhere I went. Then I get on the plane, and this is where like I could not have come up with this. I'm sitting in my seat, the middle seat, holding my cheese balls, mid-flight. The flight attendant gets on the PA and says, ladies and gentlemen, if any of you are hungry, there's a cheese ball lady with snacks in seat 9D. He says my seat number. Oh my gosh. The people on either side of me look at me like I'm a celebrity. It was hilarious. And then I hold the cheese balls up and shake them, and people are laughing and smiling and like asking for cheese balls. Then this is where it took a turn where I know this is a God thing, and he is the author of humor, right? And he is he is the creator, he is the creative one, and he's got great ideas. So the people on either side of me started talking to me because of the cheese balls. It was the icebreaker, the conversation starter, and they said, Why do you have cheese balls? And I said, I was I was just giving them at a conference I was speaking at, and then they said, Well, what were you speaking about? And I summed it up with the word Jesus. So it was like cheese balls to Jesus in 10 seconds. It was non-threatening. They brought up the conversation, and it literally led to spiritual conversations. Like I could not have planned this. Then in Chicago, O'Hare, at my connecting flight, I'm way removed from the first flight, but people are recognizing me from their flight because I'm the lady with cheese balls. And then a woman at my gate started talking to me because of the cheese balls. It led to a spiritual conversation. Pretty sure she's the one who brought it up. It led me inviting her to my home church back in Minneapolis, and she came. I'm like, what is happening? It was like unreal. So I told my friends over dinner a couple nights later, like, just got together with some friends. I'm like, you guys would not believe what happened in the airport and on the airplane with cheese balls. And one of my friends who's known me forever said, You should carry cheese balls around and like encourage people and see how God uses it. And I was like, What? Like, that is weird and bizarre. Um, I didn't see the vision at the time, but I kind of saw it as just something funny, like this is a little dare. So I created a duct tape backpack, wore the cheese balls on my back to Rosedale Mall, walked around with my friend. Mind you, I'm 20, what did I say? I'm 26 years old at the time. And I learned very quickly, Kelly, there's a fine line between being creepy and unique. Okay, so I don't go up to people and be like, Do you want my snacks? And like, I wear it like a backpack, and people approach me. Yep. They start the conversation and it's so fun. We shut the mall down that night. Literally, the security guard was part of the conversation. But then he was like, Okay, we really do need to go. But this is so fun. Can I have another cheese ball? But this is what I learned that first time. Not a ton of people wanted to stick their hand in the container, right? Yeah. I mean, this was pre-COVID, but that's a lot of germs. And so that's when I decided I needed to create a sanitary dispensing system. So for those of you who are listening who can't look at a visual aid right now, I have this like PVC pipe thing that comes out the bottom with a paint scraper that shaved down with a screw and a rubber band, and you pull it, and a couple cheese balls drop out every single time. It's the best. Thank you.

Kelly

Seriously, it's the best.

SPEAKER_02

And then one month later, I went on my first date with Craig and I wore the cheese balls.

unknown

Dude.

Kelly

And what's interesting is that he already had had like a glimpse into who you are as an individual because you had, wasn't there like a video that you had posted? And so hilarious. Oh my gosh, he probably He creeped on me.

SPEAKER_02

He says he researched. I say he stalked. He says it was research. Um, yeah. Same, same. Right. Okay. Because I was speaking primarily for youth at the time, I had a speaking website, you know, for people to book me, but also I wanted a place for teens to go because social media wasn't really big yet at that point in 2008. And so I would send kids to my website and there was a tab called Fun Stuff where they would just get to know me more. And I had like crazy videos, like me jumping off a cliff on the island of Saipan when I was student teaching and like riding my motorcycle with cheese balls on my back. And um, but there was this one video, oh my gosh, it's still oh, I'm so embarrassed. But it was Craig's first impression of me. I was dressed in footy pajamas, wearing a wig, um, acting like I was pregnant, and it was to help my friend who was nine months pregnant induce her labor. Like I heard if you laughed, you have a baby. So yeah, yeah. And that was his first impression of me. Um, but so he did know about the cheese balls, but they were still brand new. I mean, I'd only been doing it for a month. I did not know what God was gonna turn it into. And he he and so the cheese balls have been a part of our relationship ever since. And um, Craig is just it, he's perfect because he is an introvert, so he does not mind that when we're out and about I'm wearing cheese balls, that I have all the conversations. Yeah, and he might just lag a couple feet behind or sit on a bench at the mall and wait for me to have 600 conversations. It works, it totally works.

Kelly

Okay, something that I wrote down that I want to talk through is the evolution of what you're speaking to with the cheese ball cheese ball backpack and how that pertains to entrepreneurship because you mentioned like this is how it started, right? And you to to weave in faith and God into this, like you didn't at that point understand the bigger vision of what God was gonna do with this, right?

SPEAKER_02

No, I literally I I was because I was speaking to teens, it was this fun little thing. So I'd I'd walk on stage with it and I'd be like, guys, look what I invented. It's a cheese ball dispenser and backpack, and kids would love it. I mean, everyone loves it. Well, and who does like kids love food? Exactly.

Kelly

But they're grown up, they want more food.

SPEAKER_02

So then what happened is um little by little, I I learned too that it was just a great, it was a great way for kids, like when I was speaking at a conference, especially if it was on the topic of like sexual integrity, right? That's a big topic. There's all there can be a lot of hurt and pain attached to that. And so kids would come up to me at the end of my speaking to get a cheese ball. I'm putting quotes, you know, yeah, like tell their friends, I'm gonna go get a cheese ball for Molly, but then we'd end up in this super deep conversation where I get to encourage them, pray for them, connect them to someone in their life who can walk through what they're doing. Um, and so it I started to realize the cheese balls are more than just a funny thing. Like it, it literally draws people together. Yeah, it gives me an opportunity to go deeper with people to spread joy and encouragement. And um, and then yeah, it just like I had no idea that it would become how I was known. So a lot of people out and about in public or whatever, people might be like, oh my goodness, like you, you, you're the cheese ball chick. I'm sorry, I don't know your name, but what but you spoke at my school 15 years ago. I mean, I have kids now, adults like who are parents, who are coming up to me and telling me, thank God, like the impact that I made, but they remember me because of the cheese balls.

Kelly

It's hard not to. Right, exactly. It really, it really is. And for me, the the impact that it had on me was when your family was still at our church for Wooddale, and Craig it was like every other week, I feel like Craig was getting up there, Ben was getting up there, Craig was getting up there, and it was Craig's turn, and he shared a video of yours from TikTok. Yeah, and um I don't know if the cheese balls came into that video, however, he did mention it. Yeah, yeah, because it's at Cheeseball Chicks, right? Right, right, exactly. And I was like, oh wow, okay, okay. And there's so much more to this story, again because of the reason that he was sharing that it was it was because of a bigger thing that had happened to you as well. And um the reason that I I I'm bringing this up is because you do a ton with social media. A ton. For an individual like myself, where being in real estate, social media is like it it's super important. It is it's where clients go to basically validate who you are as an individual. I my husband and I find social media to be like a catch 22 almost. Like damned if you do, damned if you don't. And it's tough when you want to be authentic and real while also just being present with your family and with your children. It's it is it's literally probably every other week we're having conversations about like how we want to approach social media. Yeah. Do we want to revamp it? Do we not want to revamp it? Do we want to just kind of keep it as is? And frankly, it's exhausting.

Building A Social Media Ministry

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

Kelly

And I'm curious what has navigating social media, especially being on a platform like TikTok. Oh my word. Right. I mean, it's important, right? You understand the power of social media as it pertains to exposure. Yeah. Right. And you do such a beautiful job of weaving in faith into that, but I do want to hear from you how you have navigated through this for your business. Being present with your family, and and then just the very essence of social media, the more that I continue to like dig and dig and dig into social media, what it is, and the power and the psychology behind it. How do you utilize that for the better, not the worse? If that if if you're tracking with what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_02

100%. 100%. So my my journey with social media was well, the whole the cheese ball thing started in in 2008. Didn't we have MySpace then? Or MySpace was like ending in 2005.

Kelly

Facebook because coming.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Kelly

Well, there was Facebook. Facebook was there because I was in college from 2004 to 2008. Oh, yeah. And Facebook had made its name.

SPEAKER_02

I think MySpace was phasing out. Yep. So so I ended up, whatever. For a while, I think I was just Molly Sanborn. And then as the cheese ball thing took off and I realized like, wow, God's really doing something with this, I became like cheese ball chick on social media, whatever platform there was at the time. But initially, I just posted there was one season where I felt God prompted me to post what I called daily cheese balls, which were just like encouraging little like verses or something, not really videos yet. Um, fast forward, go through life. Like I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I'm speaking. I had gone through grad school for um marriage and family therapy, and like life was pretty busy. Okay, what was where are we? 2026. It was 2020 when I felt prompted by God and my counselor. I had gone through a really tough thing in life. Um, just a not my immediate family, but some stuff in my family of origin, like really, really, really tough, tragic things. I was in Christian counseling, and my counselor looks at me and she says, I'm crying, I'm literally crying in her office, and she says, You're gonna write a book. And I was like, No, I'm not. Do you see me? I have nothing to offer. I'm such a mess. And she's like, Oh no, you are. God's gonna use your story for his glory. Your pain has a purpose and a platform, and I just want you to think and pray about that. The thing is, she didn't know this. God had already been like really giving me other little signs here and there to write a book. But before writing the book, he he he got me, um, I don't even remember how it all happened, but just enough people said things that I felt God was very clearly saying, okay, you need to get on social media and post very intentionally and do it daily. And I'm like, Are you kidding me, God? This is are you serious? And so, in about six years ago, um, that's when I got TikTok. Okay, it was like, really, God? TikTok? God, do you want me to tell you about what's on TikTok? Like, this is TikTok doesn't have a good reputation. And and that's when I I felt like the Lord was saying, not in audible voice, but you know, through people and through his word, and just like, you need to be a light. Like, I have given you a light to share, and you need to be a light. So I signed up for TikTok six years ago. I didn't know what I was doing, but I would do one short video. I'd post it on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook every day. And it was it was hard at first because I'm a mom of how my kids are how old are they now? 13 and almost 12. So fast rewind, you know, rewind. They're like six and seven years old. I'm homeschooling, by the way. So I'm I'm homeschooling. That's right.

Kelly

I'm homeschooling. That was thank you for mentioning that because that was something that I was like, I need to write this down. I need to write it down. But we'll let's put a pin in that for just the topic.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we've been a homeschool family since the beginning, and so I'm homeschooling, and Craig and I are speaking often, and I'm juggling all these things, and then God prompts me to post on social media. I I really resisted for quite some time. I mean months and months. And finally, I just knew I'm supposed to do this. He's calling me to this as a ministry, not to make money, by the way. I didn't even explore how to make money. I didn't even, I never paid for anything. I never paid to be promoted, I never did ads, I didn't even know what I was doing. Like, no one taught me anything. I just posted, and my goal was to keep it real and authentic. Use humor, but also like don't be afraid to go deep and share with people how you're doing. And that was six years ago, and I don't even know how it happened, but I have almost a hundred thousand followers on TikTok. Like, yeah, what? I didn't even I it's like this is just God. And then Instagram um really blew up a couple months ago. We'll get there on why, but a viral video from what I went through this last year in my life. Um, one of the videos had five million views, and like followers went up to almost 70,000. And anyways, it's not about like I'm I'm throwing out the numbers because I can't believe it. Yeah, because I didn't try. I just said yes to God, and I I posted daily, and I tried very hard um to not let the the making the videos, editing the videos, and posting the videos take over my responsibilities as a mom, a wife, and a homeschool mom. And so I would try to be really intentional about okay, this is my time to quick film a video, I'll edit it later when the kids are sleeping or when Craig's at youth group. And I cannot say that I always did it perfectly, and I cannot say that it hasn't sometimes crept in to interfere with what I believe are my higher priorities, but I tried to be really intentional and God has super duper blessed it. And I feel like after maybe two or three years of doing daily videos, I felt like God was giving me this kind of green light to breathe a little bit and not do daily videos, but still post pretty frequently and just keep it real. Yeah, like that's and I think that's the video you're talking about. Um, if I remember, it was this last summer where I'm actually crying in the video, right? Was that the one I'm in the car? And I think I'm just saying, like, this is so hard.

Kelly

Okay. I believe he must have maybe there were two different occasions because there was one where you guys had been going through like a cavern. You were overseas, you were in a cavern.

SPEAKER_02

What was the first one? Israel has the highest tunnel. Yes, oh, he showed that.

Kelly

Okay, so that's when you first learned about it. I first learned about what you were doing on social media, and I I I think that it was then the second occasion where he did share that. He shared about okay, yes. Um, shared that video. I believe you were there. You were, you know what? You were. You were literally sitting in front of me. Oh, and I have to I just want to share this with you real quick because I'm a little ashamed that I didn't do what I know God now was prompting me to do, which was literally just put my hand on your shoulder.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, you're so sweet.

Kelly

And and just do that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Kelly

Because um, frankly, I have a hard time with words in the moment because I'm like, I'm gonna stumble over my words. I I start thinking too much about it. And I'm like, sometimes it's just better to not even say anything, yep, and just know, like have that person understand, like, yep, we see you. Yeah, right? Okay, so that was the other video. And go ahead and share.

Open Heart Surgery And Unexpected Provision

SPEAKER_02

Okay, well, here's the we've been keeping this from them. This is kind of a big deal. So we we waited to share about the cheese balls, it's ramping up. Um, so um, May 27th, 2025, we're approaching 10 months. Oh my gosh, almost. Well, anyways, whenever this is posted, it's gonna be nearly um 10 months, 11 months from when I had open heart surgery. And so my heart was stopped for three hours. I was on a bypass machine where they um switched around some valves in my heart. I got a donor valve, a 27-year-old um male. Uh, I have his valve, and that was sobering to find out. I've written his family a letter. I really, really hope to hear back from them. Um, but I hear it's not super common for um donor families to write back. It's just really hard. But I hope they're encouraged by what I wrote. Anyway, so I had this big, huge surgery, and then I was recovering from open heart surgery, and I think that's when Craig Craig preached this summer. Yes. And oh, he was preaching about John 9, I think, where Jesus healed the man born blind, and the the disciples said to him, Jesus, is is this man blind because of his sin or his parents' sin? And Jesus, thank you, Jesus. Thank you for this story, Jesus. Jesus says, Neither. This is not because of his sin or um their sin, it's so that God's glory may be displayed through him. And so this is what we learned through my open heart surgery journey that God had a plan bigger than I could ever have imagined, and that is for him to get glory and for other people to be encouraged. Not to mention me growing super a lot in my faith and my kids, and but um I ended up that's what you saw. The sermon was Craig preaching on that, and then he shared a video. It was my son's 11th birthday, and I was in the car outside Chuck E. Cheese, where Craig and the kids were inside celebrating his birthday, and I did not have the energy. I mean, I was like 10 days post-op. I was laying in the in the car with my heart pillow because anytime you'd cough or sneeze or breathe, it hurt because you're, you know, your chest cracked open and sewn shut, wired shut. But it was in the car that day where God gave me this revelation: like, yeah, there's some setbacks, it's gonna take a long time to heal. You're not in there with your son, but you are alive. You're alive, you're alive. So that's become my theme. In fact, I just showed you this morning t-shirts I got that showed up for an event coming up. I'm doing it says, I'm alive on the front. The back says, and so are you. Let's make the most of it. And then the shirt I'm wearing right now says, if you have a pulse, you have a purpose. And so cool. That was a huge revelation. And then just a quick fly by the rest. Um, I thought open heart surgery was going to be this nice little three-month thing where at three months I get the green light to get back into a restriction-free life. I can lift more than 10 pounds. I do the sport of ninja with my kids and I compete in the 40 plus female category, and I could not wait to get back to that. Instead of being released to get back to that, I was back on the operating table on September 9th because my sternum didn't come together with the wires. There was clicking and popping. It was heartbreaking and yeah, not fun. And um, they opened me up and they put in five titanium plates and 40 screws. And then three weeks later, I clear my throat at the kitchen table just like a little cough. I felt a pop in my chest. I called my surgeon. He said, Oh, I can't believe it'll be anything, you know, let but come in for a CT scan. I was at Mayo, so I went a week later. I told Craig to stay home. I'm like, honey, it's gonna be fine. I'm super optimistic about everything. So I said, don't even come. So he was not in the room when I got the news that my sternum still was not together. And if I ever wanted to get back to the lifestyle that I enjoyed, um, then they would need to try one more time. And so they did October 13th. I was back on the operating table. They took out all the plates, all the screws, added a longer plate and 40 longer screws. Oh, but there was like a miracle in it. They thought they were gonna have to cut through all my bone again. My surgeon was quite convinced. And we prayed and we prayed and we prayed, and I begged God like I'd never before. I'm like, God, please, most of my sternum is fused. Can we not cut through the whole thing again, please? I even asked my surgeon, like, can we have a CT scan before my surgery? Like, right before to give God the weekend to do a miracle. And he he's a sweet man. I love him so much. And he said, Molly, I believe in miracles, but I don't think this is gonna be one of them. And I was like, Oh God, did you hear that? Did you hear that, Lord? Like, come on, show up. On the operating room table, I prayed. Um, this was such a powerful moment. I I asked if I could pray. I'm in the room, I'm about to be put down. That sounds like a dog. Like you put under. And I said, Hey, could I pray? And one of the nurses was like, Yes, please, honey, that'd be so sweet. She held, she holds my hand. I'm gonna cry. I look around. I mean, you see all the instruments, you see the fluorescent lights. Like I prayed and I said, God, please guide their hands. I pray that this would go smoothly. Thank you. I thanked God for the people that were working there. Everyone seemed to appreciate the prayer. And then I went to sleep. I woke up with my surgeon next to me. And there's a video of this online. Just scroll back to like October 13th. It's the sweetest thing. He's holding my hand and he tells me they did not have to cut through my sternum. It looked better than they expected. There was a loose plate. And then he says, he says this. He said, Molly, I believe your prayers benefited the surgery. So crazy, like so cool, right? And it was that day, Kelly, that the craziest thing happened in the pre-op room where a nurse who wasn't even my nurse found out there was a lady with cheese balls because I brought my cheese balls to all the appointments because the God prompted me to. And I'm like, okay, Lord, this is weird, but fine. Every single time, every waiting room. I'd get to meet people, encourage people, pray for people. It was so fun. I'm like friends to this day with many people that I met. This lady comes in, nurse Jen. She thinks it's the coolest thing ever. Um, my husband just films it and we ask after, we're like, Can we can we throw this online? And in the video, I give her a book because I always travel with extra books and give them to people I meet. And we have this super sweet connection. Throw it online. Don't even know like what's happening because I'm recovering from my third surgery. I'm still like tripped up on drugs and anesthesia. And I have friends texting me, and they're like, uh, Molly, your nurse Jen video is totally viral. You should check it out. That led to me being on K-Love Radio, and all these people started buying my book like online. Like, I wasn't trying to be a commercial. And this all coincides. This is how cool God is. This all coincides with literally a few weeks later, uh, Craig ended his job at Wooddale. We loved Wooddale Adina. He'd been a youth pastor in in churches for um almost 30 years. That was his calling. But in the middle of all of my surgeries, God decided it would be a good time to call me and Craig away from local church ministry and into starting our own ministry, whatever you do, ministries, support funded. Like we're missionaries, we're living on support. And and God called us to this in the middle of not one surgery, not two, but three. And he provides in so many ways. So never, like I said in the beginning, I never tried to make money on social media. I never ever wanted it to be about making money. I never wanted anything I post to be like, oh, will this get a lot of views? I mean, I yeah, I'd say 90% of the time I'm not wearing makeup in my videos and my hair isn't done. I don't care what I'm wearing, like I just want to be authentic. And I accidentally started making money, like this fall. Like, I don't even, it's not like a ton, but it it helped us. And then people buying my books on Amazon, like they keep buying my books. Like people are buying my books, and I never even tried. And so that's like God just saying, I got you. Like, in so many crazy ways, God has provided for us as we've stepped out in faith. And it's totally his MO to call us to things that we can't see how he's gonna bring us through. And that goes back to when I opened the coffee shop. He called me to open this coffee shop as 25 years old. I didn't even drink coffee. I had an elementary ed degree, not business. God did great things through it, and then he calls us to motherhood, right? And we're like, how do we do this?

Your Village Requires Honest Asks

Kelly

Like, there's no like book on this. No, there's definitely no manual. And we're hanging on by the we're hanging, we're just hanging on for dear life and getting through it with coffee and prayers. Oh, I drink coffee now. And our village. Okay, I oh my gosh, mom. I know there's so much. I have so many different directions that I want to go with this, but in in just the spirit of like where we're kind of like coming off of this particular, I wanna I want to talk through what your village of support has looked like because I think village is just so pivotal. And when it's interesting, I had this moment probably within the last few weeks of interviewing other women where I'm like, oh, I think when w women get asked that question, they initially think like my my village of support is it's my husband, or it's my wife, or it's my like in-laws. But your village of support can look like your neighbors. Yeah, absolutely. It can look like you know, people who are a part of the ministry. Like, what has that looked like for you in the context of this the season of life that you're in with motherhood and and harmonizing that really with multiple facets of entrepreneurship?

SPEAKER_02

Yep, yeah, it is. I know it's like it's interesting, um, the all the different like ways that God is well, it actually just a quick tie back to the name, whatever you do ministries is called whatever you do ministries because it's based on 1 Corinthians 10 31. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. So if God can use cheese balls to encourage people, if God can use open heart surgery journeys to encourage people, if God can use, you know, having a barbecue in your front yard with your kids and your neighbors to like he will use everything. And so Craig and I feel God has called us to a lot of different avenues of ministry, including hosting um neighbors for like a very small home church on Monday nights. We speak for Why Zeta Breakfast Club um two Thursdays a month where high school students come at 7 a.m. They wake up early before school to come hear about God and eat cheesy potatoes and monkey bread. It's amazing. And it's what a combination, by the way. It's so good. I know cheesy potatoes in the morning, they actually work. Oh God, I do love really good. I know I'm hungry now.

Kelly

Can we go raid your refrigerator? Well, it's so funny. We can. Um, it's so funny. I think of like this is two times in less than call it 24 hours where I've had this thought about like if cabo flower can become pizza, yeah, you know, you can you can do whatever you want, right?

SPEAKER_02

So I think it ties in. Okay, we're distracted though, because I don't remember, I didn't answer your question, but go ahead.

Kelly

Well, the harmonization, yeah, really it's the well, village, your village of support, and then like because you're harmonizing so many different facets of entrepreneurship with being a mom as well. Okay, and I do firmly believe that it takes a village.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, 100%. I'm gonna answer like both of those questions. Um, the village, listen, your village, whoever they are, is not going to know you need support unless you tell them. That's the thing. It's so Minnesota nice. I'm fine. Really? Let's fire fine and just tell people how you are. So I remember um before open heart surgery, it was a couple weeks before, and oh, I'd been posting my my journey up to surgery and through surgery, not having any idea how big God would blow it up and how people from around the world would be writing me still saying, I'm watching every video, you're encouraging me because I'm going through this, or my mom's going through this, or my kids going through this. Like, thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, so I just kept posting, and Craig says to me one night, he's like, You haven't posted an update lately. You should like let people know, like, how are you doing? Okay, I was doing okay that night when Craig said it. The next morning, Craig leaves for work. I am homeschooling the kids. I get frustrated with my son. I'm frustrated at myself that I'm frustrated at my son. I'm feeling all of this pressure. I have a ton of speaking engagements leading up to surgery. I mean, like literally, I think a couple days before I was having a speaking engagement. All these responsibilities with just being a mom and a homeschool mom, I felt like I was failing. I just felt like I was, and I was short with my son. I needed to apologize. And so I remember Craig said, You should post an update for people. Okay, so I go into my bedroom, I close a door, and I post a video of me letting people know how I'm doing. Not because I was expecting the outpouring that I got from my village, which represented a whole lot of people, and I'll tell you about that. Um, I posted it because I wanted to stay true and be authentic. And if I'm posting all these fun videos of me handing out cheese balls around the world and doing these speaking engagements, I also need to let people know like this is real. Yeah, I'm overwhelmed, I'm exhausted, I feel like I'm a bad mom, I feel like I'm feeling as a homeschool mom, and I'm just gonna let you know that I draw my hope from God. But yes, I'm crying and I have a blotchy face and snots running down my face. Okay, so that night um a friend shows up, she saw my video, and she literally did not ask to come over. She shows up and she just sits with me, she just hangs out with me. I have other people that saw the video and are sending me messages and scripture and encouraging me. And so I had no idea like the outpouring of love I would get. I was literally posting the video to like try to encourage other people. Like, it's okay, you should be real. And so you don't have to post a social media video, you know what I'm saying? Like, but you need to let people know how you're doing, be authentic because it also gives other people permission to be real. It's so easy to assume that someone is doing well because of what we see on the outside. For sure. So my village looks like um random followers who I've never met that are encouraging me, but more so like the people that I do life with, right? Like friends that I can just send a text to and say, today is a really hard day. Will you pray for me? Like that's it. Um, or family members or fill in the blank. Yeah, neighbors, our neighbors came around me through my open heart surgery journey bringing meals. And oh, I will say this too. One of my friends said before open heart surgery, um, she was signing doing a meal plan uh meal train thing for after surgery. Well, when I posted this video a couple weeks before, she had she had been asking me, she's like, Molly, uh, you seem a little overwhelmed. Can I start a meal train now? And I was like, no, that doesn't feel right. Like, I can do this, I can do this. So I turned her down multiple times for a pre-surgery meal train. Well, then she saw my video and she's like, okay, we're gonna do a meal train. I'm like, okay, let's do it. And it was the best thing ever to let people help. And it gave them a purpose. It also showed my kids, right? Like, you like if our kids think we have it all together, what happens when they don't have it all together?

Kelly

Right.

SPEAKER_02

We need to be authentic with our own kids and let them see us asking other people for help. And this this kind of ties into your second question, I think, about like harmonizing all of it. Craig and I so want our kids to feel like this is a family thing, like our ministry, right? Like our calling. It's not mom and dad, and then poppy and tal just like you know, kind of go along with it. So this weekend we're taking them to Chicago. They're gonna be a part of the youth event we're speaking at, they're gonna help at our table. Oh, but they also make money every time we speak, they get a dollar for every illustration or picture or story we share about them. And if it's embarrassing and approved by them, they get five dollars. So they they feel like they're a part of it. How did you come to that agreement? I think we heard a pastor say that that like years ago. And so we've been doing it forever. So our kids love when we speak because they're like, how much money did I make? Yeah. So I did a parenting talk at a mop's in Oatana, a mom co a couple weeks ago. It was specifically about parenting. They made the most money in one talk they've ever made. They each made$32 in one message. I love it.

Kelly

So that's so incredible. Okay, this is really off of the traditional set and series of questions that I ask, but I am I'm being prompted to ask this just in light of social media privacy. Yeah. Have you had any reservations about posting like pictures and videos and stuff of the kids on social media? Because I mean, I'm sure you've heard everything about like Epstein and all of that stuff. It's like I get chills even thinking about it. Yeah. Like evil at its finest. Yes, yes. And what you're speaking to right now is authenticity in like this is a family thing. Yeah, we do this together, and I think about like our family motto is achieving excellence together. I love that in whatever we do, whether it's picking up dog poop outside or it's um the kids help, like the boys help get stuff cleaned up around the house before I have guests come over. Like there's this whole thing that we do together as a family, and it's very similar. Like, this is what you're talking about. And how do you not show that on social media? Right. But then I also have just been so high alert, and I'm like, do I need to make a shift, or am I just so far down the rabbit hole already? Yeah, with like I've already posted pictures of and videos of the boys, the boys have done videos for us for real estate, and like so. I am curious your take on this. Um, again, this is very off the yeah off the cuff of what my traditional questions are, but I think it's an I want to talk through this. Yeah. Sit here for a moment.

SPEAKER_02

That's super important. And I believe that um if we check in with God, each one of us individually, I believe He will lead us to what is the right thing for our family and our context. And I think it could be different for different people. Sure. I mean, I have I have, you know, you you'll scroll on Facebook and you'll see people who post family pictures and they blur their kids' faces, right? I respect that. I think I I say that's great.

Kelly

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Personally, um, when I post, it is almost always like videos of me or pictures of me or me and Craig. The kid, but the kids are on there. You could go on there, you could see I sometimes post their ninja competition.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I'm gonna be so I'm gonna be very particular about what I post though. And like, of course, always making sure if it's like our house, like we don't have the address in it, or there's not things that are gonna be so overtly giving away of like this is where we are. Um, also, like there was this one video where I did a hyper speed of cutting my son's hair, which was terrible. He says he will never let me cut his hair again. He's like, Mom, it took like, it took like four hours. I'm like, I know, honey, and it was bad. But and I did a hyper speed video of him, and it was so funny, it was really cute, and I was gonna post it, but for part of the time, like he he was itchy and he didn't have a shirt on. And I'm like, no, I'm not gonna post. Like, that is not so use wisdom, right? Like, and there might be some listeners right now who say you should never ever post your kid on social media at all. And I respect that. I do not feel that is a personal conviction God has given me in our context, again, because I think part of me and Craig's calling is to elevate that like family ministry can happen together. And I there's a line between like you need to be wise, but we also need to trust God. And if God has called you to something and the heart behind it is his him being glorified, then I'm gonna trust God with the protection for that. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, but we can't be dumb, we can't be and and if if the motivation is something totally different, like you're using your kids to try to get likes or follows, or that is not okay. Not okay at all.

Kelly

Okay, that was a really good answer. Well, you put me on the spot. I know I think well, I figured that how you approached it and how you answered it is is pretty par for the course from what I was thinking. And there is, there's just a point where you do have to, yes, there's so much grossness. And and frankly, like I saw a friend of mine post something. It's very on the edge of conspiracy, right? Like she was posting on her stories and it's very on the edge of conspiracy, and I don't disagree with her. I won't share it because it doesn't matter. If you know me and you know me very well, I will have those conversations with you. But otherwise, like we're just gonna talk about all the fun stuff here on the podcast. But I was like, you know, it's interesting. I just made a quick comment to her direct a direct message. I'm like, it's interesting that we're starting to see more and more of some of this stuff, but it's always been there. Yeah, yeah. All of that ickiness has always been there. And this is where faith is so important, and you can see the difference. I want to tread lightly here. You can see the difference between the people who lean so much into their faith and have faith, and those that don't, and the toll it takes on them mentally, right? Because frankly, I've I've got faith. I pray every single day, multiple times a day, and the stuff that has come up has literally taken a toll on me mentally. Yeah. And then I go, but good always prevails. Good is good is always gonna prevail, God is always gonna prevail. And this is just where faith is so heavily important. Yeah. I'm on a tangent.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well, to sum up, to sum this whole thought up, I think it it does truly go back to like what God calls us to, he equips us for, and he's got our back, you know. But it doesn't mean life will be easy, it does not mean like you will not experience trials or hardships when you follow him and say yes to his calling. But that's why to know God's calling, right, we need to know him. And so investing our our most important relationship is our relationship with Jesus and getting to know him through prayer and through fellowship with other believers and through his word. And um, and then he will direct you and guide you. And I don't ever want to do anything in life, I don't want to waste my time if God's not behind it because that is going to be so useless and so pointless, and we will be so burned out, right? Right, right. So, priority number one is relationship with God. Then I believe if you're married, your relationship with your spouse, then your kids, and then anything and everything else, ministry and business. And so just trying to keep those priorities.

Family First When Work Conflicts

Kelly

It's so fascinating that you're bringing this up. Pam and I have talked about this. Yeah, it was probably one of the first components of us starting our discipleship that she like we were reading through, I think it's Dr. Scott Engel. He had written um a passage about um scripture from Paul. Okay, yeah, when he was in jail. And Scott was in in his writing was talking about the order of importance. Yeah and it was this yeah, God, fa spouse, family, yeah, community, yeah, everything. Everything else, yeah. And I I can't unread that and know that now. Yeah. And it is like I'm always thinking about that in context of decision making, what we're doing within the business, how I approach my marriage with my husband. Like I can't uh like know that now. But it's it's hard, isn't it? It's so it's so hard and you You nailed it earlier on in this interview when you were like, Am I perfect in how I approach things? No, no, no, matter of fact, far from it, because we're human, we're imperfect, we have flaws, we are sinful in our nature.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Kelly

And to just always be able to come back to that, thinking about the uh the path that is narrow and keeping it as narrow as possible and and knowing that you're walking that path with Jesus as well.

SPEAKER_02

Can I give you can I give you a quick story that illustrates this whole total of priorities? We don't always get it right, but I'm super thankful that God made a way for us to put this into practice so practically. So in a couple weeks, Craig and I were booked to speak for a family life weekend to remember marriage conference in Branson, Missouri. Oh my word, we'd advertised it. We'd told people come hang out with us. And we specifically requested Branson, Missouri because we wanted to go have fun at Dolly's Dixie Stampede, you know, when we weren't speaking.

Kelly

You guys are so geeky and I love it. I'm here for it. I'm here for it.

SPEAKER_02

So it's been it's been on the schedule, on the speaking schedule. Um, and and we also get paid for this, right? So this is part of our family income. Like, this is especially when you're raising support, the supplemented speaking money is like kind of important. So we are booked for this, we're excited about it. Our kids last minute decide to try out for the Lion King Jr. musical. It was it was a total god thing how it happened. I literally ran into the director on a flight on the airplane. It had been on my radar to connect our kids to kaleidoscope performing arts, and but they I just didn't think it would ever work out. I'm on the flight with the director, and it led to my kids trying out last minute. They end up getting lead parts. My son is Timone and the little Mirkat. And my daughter is one of the main narrators, Rafiki the baboon. With the staff, she gets to hold up Simba. Okay, guess what? The performances are only on the weekend when we're supposed to be in Branson, Missouri. I mean, we're we committed to this months ago. We gave Family Life our availability. Like our pictures are up on the website for this weekend. And so Craig and I were like, oh, what do we do? Like we committed to family life, but our kids are like, this is a big deal. We miss every single performance. Yeah. So we pray about it, we talk about it, we reach out to Family Life, and thank God, because they're all about the same priorities, right? Um, our our friend and the speaker coordinator says, Molly, you have to be there for your kids. We will find a replacement speaker. And so to be able to tell our kids, mom and dad are not going to this weekend where we and you know, we'd be pouring into hundreds of marriages, we are gonna pour into you. Yeah. Because someone else can do that, but no one else will be Poppy and Tell's biggest fans. And so, yeah, have we taken a little bit cut in speaking? Sure, but God will God will make it up because our priority is our kids over business and ministry. So this was a good, like, we don't always get it right, but yay, win.

Kelly

That was that was incredible. What an incredible story, seriously. I think it also speaks to just the power of entrepreneurship, right? It it ebbs, it flows, the more you have faith about what the ebbs and flows are gonna look like, it things always seem to work out. And how beautiful is it that you could go, is it is it ideal to to do this little cut from the paycheck? Yes. And you would you would inevitably look back at that moment and go, hmm, did we do it right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Kelly

Oh, yes.

Why We Homeschool And How

SPEAKER_02

We would say, no, why the heck didn't we say bye-bye to Dolly and hello to our kids? Hello, Dolly. Right. See where I'm going with that. Okay, anyways. Homeschooling.

Kelly

Let's talk about this because holy cannoli. I know. I just am I'm floored at all of it. I mean, okay, so let's just go down the list of entrepreneurial things that Molly and Craig are doing. Speaking, social media, social media engagement.

SPEAKER_02

I'm writing a new book called Surrender to the Surgeon. It's gonna be 90 devotionals from an open heart surgery survivor. I'm so excited, but um, I haven't author, yeah. Yeah, right? Like that's a big one, yeah.

Kelly

Yeah. And my motherhood is entrepreneurship in its own way, shape, and form. Add on top of it homeschooling. Yeah. Okay, so something that you and I have in common, other than we we love God, we love Jesus, we love our faith, and are devoted to our husbands as well. Also, degree in elementary education. Um, I I meant to like write that down as well. I'm like, oh, we have that in common. I love it. That's obviously gotta play a role in like going, okay, well, I I've got the degree. Right, right. I can I can utilize this. But there are many women out there, and probably some that are listening right now, where either they've explored the option or the opportunity of homeschooling and they don't have that degree to be able to back it. Um let's let's talk through the ins and outs of like why did you guys make that decision? Was it always the case? Was it not always the case? How do you approach homeschooling? Like it's it's a yeah, let's just yeah, let's just talk through this.

SPEAKER_02

That's great. And from the get-go, I want to say this that um you gotta stay in your lane because as someone might be listening, they might think, Well, I don't think I'm called to homeschooling. And I'd say, Great, then stay in your lane and make the best of wherever it is that God has called your kids and your family. But that's why we stay committed to God first, right? We seek direction from him to know what he is calling our family to. So I always want to say that because I think that there can be some sometimes women can feel like, oh, I just couldn't homeschool. Well, you you could if God called you to it. Is he calling you to it or isn't he? Wherever he's calling you, just do you stay in your lane. Do you know what I'm saying? I just got to get that out there because um I know that God called us, our family, to homeschooling. And I'm gonna go back to it again. What he calls you to, he equips you for. Uh, that does not mean that I don't lose my mind from time to time. It doesn't mean that I don't need to apologize to my kids for raising my voice or being frustrated or trying to multitask and not giving them the attention that they should have. So it's a learning, it's a it's a learning thing for sure. But um, did we always know we were gonna homeschool? I sort of always knew that it was an option, but I wasn't like, this is what we're doing. And Craig actually would say that as he got to know me as, you know, his girlfriend and fiance and wife, he would say he never could picture me homeschooling because I have so many other interests and passions and callings, right? And he didn't, he just didn't think that it would all work out. And so because he wasn't on board as our kids were approaching kindergarten, I just assumed our kids would go to, we were looking into a charter school close by, you know. But Craig actually went to a like a parenting seminar. It was specifically on media. This was when our daughter was probably four or five approaching kindergarten. And he came home from this like one-hour thing, and he sits down on the couch with me after the kids are in bed, and he's like, I think God's calling us to homeschool. And I was like, What? And he was like, Yeah. And I'm like, okay, because like I'd already heard, I'd always been okay with it. And what for us and for our family, the big takeaway that this this speaker had said is that uh nobody is going to ever care more about your kids than you. You are gonna care the most about your kids, and so if you're able to, and if God's calling you to it, why wouldn't you spend the majority of your time with your kids by homeschooling? And and again, the reason I had to start off by saying, like, not everyone's called to it is because I think there can be some guilt and shame for some parents who maybe don't feel called to homeschool, or it's just not, it's not possible. Like, what about the single parents or whatever, right? Um, but I know God called us to it, and so we we we jumped into it. Our kids could go to like a little preschool, and now they're in sixth and seventh grade. We very much utilize like homeschool co-ops. So our kids go two days a week for a couple hours to some classes where they sit in desks and have real uh, you know, a teacher teaching them and they have homework assignments and friends and all that. So it works out really well for us in that, but it is definitely a process of balancing all of the things and keeping the priorities the priority. And um, I have discovered through it, well, okay, this is kind of funny. Um, someone told us last year, someone very close to us that spends a lot of time with our kids, they're like, um, yeah, your son has ADHD. And we're like, oh, okay. Like, this is just how he's always been, and we've adapted. And like he's always tapping his pencil and he's humming and he's singing, and his poor introverted sister, two feet away at the kitchen table, is like, Tal, stop it. And and he's always getting up and he's moving around. I'm like, this is just tell because we've grown with it, right? So we started to explore, and my husband is listening to like some ADHD book on I want to say tape that shows you how old I am. Audio book, okay.

Kelly

You're not that old. 1981. Okay, so yeah, you're four years older than I am. Okay, guys, no. Happy 40s. Yeah, so I'm loving the 40s. That's great.

SPEAKER_02

So, anyways, Craig Craig comes to me and he's like, So I have learned a lot about our son Tal and he definitely checks the boxes for ADHD. What I didn't realize I was gonna learn is that you definitely have ADHD.

Kelly

And I'm like, oh, you know, that kind of makes sense for a lot of things. This is so funny that you're bringing this up because the second that you said something about it, I was like, Poppy's more like Craig. Yep, Tal's more like you. Yep. But and I I mean, here's the deal. For me, like, by no means an expert on anything ADHD. I am pretty confident that my husband has some form of it. Yep. And like, yeah. So I just think that there's varying forms of ADHD. For sure. Yeah. So I wouldn't consider you like the hyperactive, like super hyperactive. I would just say that you are it in motion gap. For sure.

SPEAKER_02

Like we got a we got a walking pad. I have actually I brought it outside yesterday on our patio. Good for you. And I was had to get work done. But I also, yeah. So that when it comes to homeschooling, now you have an ADHD son and you have an ADHD mom, and you have a mom who has her hands and a whole lot of other things and always wants to be active and doing things and checking things off the list and involved with everyone and everything. And so it's not easy. It's not easy. And I um we have to set up systems and we have to stay accountable to those systems. And now that Craig is full-time ministry with me, like it's us together, it's been so great because we can tag team homeschooling. And so there'll be a couple days a week where he's kind of on duty dad doing the homeschool stuff, but also able to, you know, sit at the table with his laptop and be answering emails or connecting for upcoming speaking engagements or setting up a mentor meeting. One of his big things is he's mentoring youth pastors because Craig is 53, he's been in youth ministry for over 30 years, so he's getting together with younger youth pastors and mentoring and coaching them, which is really special.

Kelly

Are for the course.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, so great. And then, um, and then I have a couple dedicated days a week where like I can come to a podcast or I can work on writing or I can edit social media videos.

Kelly

Thank you for your flexibility, too, by the way.

SPEAKER_02

Well, yes, we we made it happen. So, um, there was one other thing I was gonna say about homeschool, too. That oh, I know. One reason too, I know that God called our family to homeschooling is because of our unique ministry setup so we can be flexible and like so. Tomorrow, Friday, we're gonna leave for Chicago to drive with our kids, and they can do homeschool in the minivan if they need to, or don't tell them this, I'm gonna actually let them skip math tomorrow, okay? Because we can do that. I counted out the days, we're gonna be fine. And so our kids can actually come on the road and travel with us because of homeschool. And when Craig was a youth pastor, his day off was during the week. And so from when our kids were young, we would have like a Friday fun day where we could get homeschool done in four days, and then the fifth day it was time with dad because the weekends were busy with church ministry. Sure. So again, every family has their unique calling and seat God on it, right?

Trauma In The Body And Prayer Peace

Kelly

And then He will equip you. I have so many more questions that I want to ask about the homeschooling, but I think we'll just kind of tie that up in a nice neat bow for now and we can always talk about it off air. Um, and I think we'll always give an I always give it an opportunity, excuse me, let me back up a little tongue-tied there for a second. I always give listeners the opportunity to be able to find a way to connect with guests. And so if you're okay with it, it'll for them to know. Not right now, we can give it um once we're wrapping everything up, but there's just a few more things that I want to touch on, and then we can start to land the plane. I wrote down trauma plus faith. Okay. And trauma as it pertains to what you've had to go through with the heart surgery and how that impacts the body. Yeah. And you have done a very beautiful job of talking about faith through that. There are so many women who let's just take pregnancy and going through labor, for instance. Whether you've had the traditional pregnancy, labor and delivery, or it's been via um c-section. This is just a pure example, right? There's trauma that happens to the body, and when not necessarily handled properly or worked through properly, how your body can hang on to that. There's a book out there Body keeps the score. It is. That's the one. I'm getting chills right now because I can't even count the number of times that this book has come up on this podcast, and I am done. Like I am ordering it as soon as you not read it! I have girl. The first time they came up, I had a gal on here who's uh she's a massage therapist, and I mean she's she does so much more work in that healing area, and she was the first person to bring this book up, and it has come up so many other times, and I'm like, okay, like just buy the book and read it for God's sakes. But I have literally a stack of books of like women who have recommended books or talked about books, and I'm like, I need to read that one, I need to read that edit, edit. It's literally like probably as tall as I am. Anyways, I want have you thought about the trauma that your body has experienced and the power of prayer and how that has just helped you work through the healing process? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that I'm so glad. I uh The Body Keeps a Score, such a great book. I read it like while I was going through grad school, I think, and it's just come back so many times in my own life and understanding what other people are going through. Um, but yeah, you know what? I do kind of live life at 100 miles per hour. So I appreciate the opportunity to like pause and think about this as it relates to me, because I haven't actually thought about that principle as it relates to me and what I've been through. But I can tell you, um, like my chest hurts all the time. So, like, I've been opened up three times in six months, and um, you know, there was clicking and popping. Praise God, there's not any more. The last CT scan shows that we're together and the bone is strengthening. I just got released to go back to ninja two weeks ago. And I've been working out with a trainer since January to strengthen my muscles. But um, every single day, I mean, even just taking a deep breath, like there's a little bit of pain. My surgeon says it's okay, but it's a reminder to me of what I've been through. Like for sure. And I think I'm gonna be, I think if I have this pain in my chest, like as long as it's not my heart, right? If it's incisional pain and nerve damage and all that, I I think I'm gonna be okay with that because it's a reminder of what God brought me through. I just love you. Well, so I would say too, to like any listeners who maybe maybe they're still dealing with actual physical pain from something. I even have like I had two C-sections. Yeah. If you push in the right spot, from we're talking, you know, almost 12 years ago, my last baby. Like I can still feel it. But it's a reminder. It's a reminder that I made it through, that I have this beautiful baby. But then sometimes the pain that we have is maybe not a good reminder.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I would just go back to if you have a pulse, you have a purpose, like you are here, even if there's pain. Um, and so uh when you talked about prayer, there is a huge way that prayer played a part in my journey, specifically after the second surgery, which was unexpected in the middle of the school year, in the middle of starting like to raise support for this ministry, right? Yeah, I was overwhelmed. I couldn't believe I had to have a second surgery. And then the night, okay, the morning before I had that pop that led me to a third surgery, that morning, God prompted me to just up my prayer life. Like he knew what was coming. I didn't. I could not even imagine a third surgery. It wasn't even, it wasn't even like I never would have guessed there'd be a third surgery. So it was a Monday morning. I wrote out um one uh, what do you call those things? Post-it notes. Not post-it note. What is it? See, this is surgery brain. Actually, there's mom brains. No, my kids say mom, you've always been like that. It's worse. Like it, it is like I cannot um not a post-it.

Kelly

A note card. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. No, that's okay. So I got one note card for me, one for Poppy, one for Tal, one for Craig. And I wrote out specific like prompts because of my ADHD. Hello. Um, I need to stay on track. I also have a hard time sitting. So that Monday morning, there's a park across the street from our house. I got out and I would do one lap, which would take five to seven minutes, and I would pray for Craig. Then I'd do another lap, I'd pray for Poppy, then I'd pray for Tal, then I'd pray for me. There was scripture inserted in. Oh, I gotta, I I think I have it. I think I might have it here in my backpack, but I'm just gonna go off memory here. There was a prayer that I prayed put to scripture. I believe it was um in Proverbs, but it it basically was praying, God, prepare me for what's next, help me face the future with fear with with without fear. And I started praying that that Monday night is when the pop happened in my chest. And then a week later, I was getting the news that I was having this third surgery. Are you kidding me? But when they told me in the office that day, I had this supernatural peace. Like literally, like you talked about when you had that speaking engagement. You cannot explain it. I I it's the Holy Spirit. It is, and there's a verse that says it, right? Philippians 4, 6. Do not be anxious, don't worry about anything. But in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let's not forget that part, being thankful in all things. Let your requests be made known to God. And then you're circling it. The peace of God. This is the part which transcends all understanding. Yes, it means we can't understand it. Will guard your heart. I love it. It guards my heart, like literally my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. So oh, I love it so much. I'm so glad you asked that question because prayer 100% trumped all the fear that I should have had going into a third surgery. I had more peace, more joy going into that third unexpected surgery. More things happened, like more, like that's when the videos went viral like crazy. Like people from around the world are reaching out to me, like, you have no idea like how this has impacted me. I wanted to give up. One person said they watched the nurse, the video, the viral video of me and nurse Jen. Nothing in it says anything about worship or church. But she says, your video made me realize I need to get worship back in my life and go back to church. Like that's the Holy Spirit. I would not I I believe God allowed me to go through consecutive surgeries, complications because He had a plan bigger than just me. And so it's pretty exciting to see how he uses anything.

Kelly

I love how you guys. And just your story is providing an opportunity for people to see the love of God. Oh okay. That was incredible. Yes, I circled it. Yes, you did. Because I do, okay, so every year I create a vision board, and I'm I'm such a visual person. And last year I did something new for the first time ever with my vision board, and I put scripture on it. I'm telling you, like my faith journey has continued to grow and develop, and and um God put Pam in my life for a specific reason.

SPEAKER_03

I love that, yes.

From Envy To Reflecting God

Kelly

So I I'm I know that that scripture was on there. Oh, that's it. Because I I like literally I have it in our room, and then I had it at our office too, and I the it was always at like the eyesight level. So, anyways, okay, moving on. We're gonna start to land the plane. Yep. I do want to tie in. So the name of this podcast is called Reclaiming Your Hue. H-U-E.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

Kelly

Long story short, the reason that I started is because I was at a point in my life, a season of life, while being pregnant with Maddie, and then after being and after having Maddie where God was shifting me and I just wasn't sure what was happening. Yep. And I didn't feel like myself anymore. Yeah. Turns out it was because I was completely out of alignment. Yeah. And as soon as I made the pivot, at that point I was in the mortgage career and I I pivoted out, and now I'm doing business with my husband and the podcast, and all of this has just been kind of the symbiotic way of like everything coming together. Yep. And my hue, the coloring of who I am, has shifted. At that point, when I had when I first started the podcast, and and probably a year leading up to the podcast starting, it was a very dull pink. So the story of flamingos. Yeah. You know the story behind flamingos? Yeah. It's it's isn't it what they eat? It is. And also it is very much in conjunction to after they have their babies, they turn white and then they start to get their color back.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay.

Kelly

Get your pink back. Yeah. Right? Which is, anyways. Cute. Story for another day. I am curious what hue you think you're in right now. You didn't write that in the notes. No, no. Did I skip that part? You didn't. What hue? Um, what hue you are, and can you recollect on a moment where you felt like that hue was like it was white. Okay where it was like a very dull pink. Yeah, I know. I'm kind of thrown across the phone.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, this might be so totally different than any answers you've ever got before. It's like formulating in my head right now. So, dear lord, help this make sense. Um okay. I would say I love that you brought this up because it reminded me of a time when I had two young kids. I was just finishing grad school. You read about in the book, it's the chapter I hate Kelly called Confessions of Jealousy. Do you remember that one? I hate that chapter. And guess what? I get asked to speak on it. It's one of my most requested topics called obsessive comparison disorder. I'm speaking at an event in Mankato, Minnesota in May, and I'm gonna give that message. But this is where I felt off after having kids, right? And like it's all in. I mean, you got babies on your boob and you got you're carrying all the things. And of course, I'm not you, I'm not walking around with cheese balls making everyone's day because I have, you know, a baby on my hip and one by my side. And um, I was trying to figure out who on earth I was in that season because speaking had kind of slowed down. It had to, it had to because of my priorities, right?

Kelly

Yep. Seasons of life.

SPEAKER_02

And so, how where do I find my identity? Is it in what I do? Is it in what I'm known as? Or is it that I am a child of God made on purpose for a purpose? And in that season of young kids, my purpose was keeping them alive and teaching them about life and Jesus. But in that, I felt like my color was way off. I would call myself green with envy because look at you. I know. Do you like how that came back? This is all just kind of me right now.

Kelly

I'm like, my cheeks hurt right now. I've been smuggling and giggling this whole time.

SPEAKER_02

But I hate, I hated bidding this. I hate it's a whole chapter of my book. So if ever, if you want to hear the whole story, all the iffy stuff about Molly's heart, I was I ended up the short version, right? Is that uh instead of staying in my lane of motherhood of two young kids and and knowing that speaking would come back at some point, like if God had it, he'll he's got me. I was looking at another speaker who was getting all the opportunities because she wasn't a mom yet at that point. And she didn't have the same like priorities. Like she had good priorities, they were great for her, and God was blessing her. Anyways, that led to me realizing holy cow, I am so looking at someone else and who I want to be and not embracing the season that I'm in right now. And I was green with envy. It led to uh this powerful time of confession on a hotel room floor, calling my Pam. You have your mentor, girls, get a Pam in your life. I called my Jen mentor, confess to her. James 5, 16 says, confess your sins one to another, pray for each other, and you will be healed. Confess to God, receive forgiveness, confess to another person, start healing. You need accountability. So I poured my heart out and my tears on the hotel floor at this conference in South Carolina where I'd met this woman, and I was so jealous of her. Anyways, that led to me getting together with her, confessing to her how I felt. Like we are friends, like good friends. And she's given me permission, like her pictures in my love. Isn't it so? I honestly love it.

Kelly

It was that probably was um a nice little turning point for me as I was reading the book because it allowed me to realize, and even as we're talking through this from the book, I'm having realizations myself of like that comparison. Yes, and it does lead to jealousy and envy and wishing and and hoping and you know, praying for something that like God isn't even like you're meant to be in this season of life. Yes, yes, and who knows what opportunities are gonna come, and that is something that has like resonated with me, and also that moment in time that I was speaking to about like starting the podcast, like I was in the thick of that thing. Yep, yeah, and just seeing other um women who were in mortgage lending at that point in time and they were just skyrocketing, they were also mothers, and I was like, Well, how can they do it? Well, they just had different resources around them that allowed them to be able to do what they were doing in their business, yeah, but also be present at times with their family as well. Yep, yeah, and that's okay, that was their season of life as well. And I just like wow, yeah, eye-opening.

SPEAKER_02

So, okay, so I was green, green, green with envy, not pale pink or white, and then God brought me through that. Praise the Lord, and me and this woman, Abby, have become friends, and she's so sweet, and I'm I'm like her biggest fan. I'm so thankful for how God's called her and God's called me fast forward now, okay. Um, what color am I now? Can I say how do you say this? I want to be the color of like iridescent, where it's like reflective, like you know, like like you get those clearings, yeah, like that chrome.

Kelly

Yeah, it's like chrome, like a mirror.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I'm trying to think see if it was like around like a chrome, like in here. But when when people look at me, I want them to see God. Like I want them to, I just want to reflect him in the good, the bad, the ugly, the hard, the times I mess up. I want him to be the one who people see. Does that work?

Kelly

That 100% works. Okay. How would people describe you, Molly?

unknown

What?

SPEAKER_02

Haven't we just done that for the last throw in a couple words? Describe me. Um, probably evervescent. That's a good word. Probably. Um I I do, I say this humbly, but this we get this again and again, like on speaker feedback when people give feedback for speaking, authentic. And that's that's what I want to be and um real. Yeah.

Favorite Room Books Advice And Connection

Kelly

I agree. Okay, thanks. I article that. We're gonna start to land the plane. Just a few more questions, and then we'll get you back to your kiddos. So being in real estate and wrapping everything up with my real estate license, I am out in houses frequently now. And I'm as I'm listening to whether it's somebody who is on the verge of purchasing a house or it's a seller who's about to sell their house, there's always a this is the favorite room. Oh, sure, yeah. What is your favorite room in your house?

SPEAKER_02

Oh my goodness, girl, you didn't prompt me with this ahead of time either. What is my favorite room in my house? I think it is our family room, which is off of our kitchen, which is an addition to our home. Correct. When we bought our home, our house ended like in the kitchen, but then we built this addition um and it fits a lot of people, and it's where we spend most of our time as our family, and it's where most of the ministry happens in our house. Like when our neighbors come over for Monday night church Bible study. We got our neighbors who have their specific chairs, like they nope, don't sit there. That's her chair. Like, yeah. Um, it's where we host neighborhood Christmas parties, it's where we do homeschool by the fireplace, okay, and it's where we play family games. And it is, it's actually a it's a blessing from God that we were able to build this edition um in the first place and expand our home to create room for people and to do ministry. Beautiful.

Kelly

What's a book you're currently reading or obsessed with right now and why?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, you know what? I'm I'm reading to my son at night. Do you remember that? Did you ever read DC talk um Jesus Freaks? It's it's stories of Christian martyrs. I've heard of it. Yeah. But I have never read it. It's it it you might need to pre like preview some of the stories because it can be kind of graphic. But um, my son in particular has been talking about how he wants to be bold in his faith, but it's hard. And I'm like, yeah, it's hard, honey. So I just pulled this book off the shelf and we're reading a story every night before bed, and it's inspiring me. Like, I think I sometimes I think life is hard. I'm like, oh, this is nothing compared to our Christian brothers and sisters around the world. So, whatever it is, there's there's a um, I think Voice of Martyrs also put that. There's there's all kinds of books. I love real life stories of Christians who persevere because we need to persevere. If life isn't hard right now, it's gonna be hard in a month or a year. And so stories that remind me that God brings people through and to keep our eyes on him. I love it.

Kelly

What's a piece of advice you would give a younger version of yourself knowing all that you know and have been through?

SPEAKER_02

I would say it's all about him. I think they're like back going back to that season when I experienced some extreme jealousy and envy, you know, that I had to work through. And also, I would say, like my younger self, probably initially on social media, I was like, you know, you get caught in that trap of like the likes and the follows, and thinking that somehow you're worth more if more people follow you or like your stuff or tell you good job after a speaking engagement or whatever. And I am I'm just so thankful that now I do feel, and not that I'm never tempted to like seek people's affirmation, right? Like I'm human and that will be a part of the struggle that we have till the day we die, but I would tell my younger self, it is all about him. And life is so fun and so fulfilling when you're not living for yourself or your own glory, but you're living to encourage others and draw them to Jesus. So there you go.

Kelly

What's a piece of advice you would give a woman listening right now who uh needs to be bold in her faith? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, if you feel like you're not bold, ask God. Don't pretend, like just say, hey, this is hard. Like, I tell him all the reasons why. Like, I'm afraid of what people will think. I don't want to lose a friendship, I don't wanna and ask him for that as a gift. Like, God, will you help me be bold? Help me recognize the opportunities, help me take baby steps. And God is God is gonna honor every single part of surrender, like every portion of it. And also, I would say that if you don't take the leap to say, like, start a spiritual conversation, and it doesn't have to be like, hey, can I please tell you how to become a Christian? Let me take you through the Romans road. Like, it could literally be, it could literally be like, You've, you know what, you seem kind of down today. Are you okay? And then when they share something, you say, could I pray for you? Like, I'm gonna pray for you, but and then take the leap, like, can I pray for you now? You will never know how they will respond if you don't ask. And you know, like statistics say that the majority of, I don't know the number off the top of my head, but then the majority of people will say yes if you invite them to church. It's just that we don't invite them because we're afraid. So um, you'll never know what could happen if you don't just take that leap. We've we've done a lot, like in our neighborhood, with inviting people to different functions and things, and then actually like church, like church, like what will people think? We're just so surprised by like who shows up, you know, like you don't know unless you ask.

Kelly

So, yep. Love it. I'm a woman who's listening right now, and I have thoroughly enjoyed everything that you have talked about. How can I connect with you to get some cheese balls? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, just look for the big orange backpack out and about. Um yeah, well, online social media at cheeseball chick. If you are on social media, if you're not on social media, you're better off because of it. Just like if you're called there, just go there. I'd love to encourage you. Um, at cheeseballchick.com will also take you to me and Craig's website. Like all those addresses get us there. Um, yeah, that would be a great way. And I honestly, social media is where I do most of my updates and things. And also, I will say this for anyone who's in the cities who's local. I am so thrilled about what God has prompted me to do, and I've said yes to, and I'm stepping out in faith and being bold. I'm doing an event on April 27th called Medical Journeys for Jesus. And it's gonna be a night of encouragement and inspiration. I will share some stories of my open heart surgery journey, but I'm gonna have guest speakers. One that I'm really excited about, I'm getting together with him next week. He's training, he's trying out to be in the Paraolympics for rock climbing. Wow. He was on his way to becoming like a pro athlete, and then he got this terrible disease that's taking away his function, and he's in a wheelchair and he's a dad of two kids. But he has found purpose in the pain. So he is gonna be a speaker and having other people in different seasons, um, some people who have chronic pain, some people who have terminal illnesses. It'll be a night of encouragement for anyone and everyone walking through any kind of medical journey, or just someone who wants to be encouraged that God will use anything. So find more details about that at um, I'll post it also on our website, but social media.

Kelly

Beautiful. I'll make sure to drop a link and just make sure that this drops your episode drops before then.

SPEAKER_02

I didn't even think about that.

Kelly

So then no, it's okay. It will make sure, and I think actually timing-wise, it should probably be I might have to shift things a little bit, but that's okay. Or just cut this part out. No, it's not gonna get cut out. No, very rarely do I have to do much editing for this podcast, which is just beautiful. So Molly, such a pleasure. I adore everything that you wrote in this book, which makes me adore you even more. Thank you. Grateful for the opportunity that God had our paths cross again at the Amplify event and that you're here and that you've been able to share your story of perseverance, truly. So thank you very much. Thank you for having me. You're welcome. Have a great day. Okay, thanks. Thanks. Seriously, that part I can cut out.

Head Shot

Kelly Kirk

Host