Episode One: Freedom Day

Episode One: Freedom Day

Outrunning the Shadow™: A Freedom Season

Season Three of Thriving Through Chaos Living Intentionally & Resiliently ™ begins with a record of faith, legacy, formation, and freedom.

In this opening episode, Dyanna J. returns to the microphone one year later with more clarity, more evidence, more obedience, and a deeper understanding of who she is and whose she is. This episode honors the journey from survival to stewardship, the power of documenting the process, and the freedom that comes when old pain no longer gets to lead the story.

Through Scripture, journal reflections, legacy stories, and the wisdom of faithful women whose lives continue to speak, this episode invites Thrivers to slow down, reflect, and ask:

What deserves my energy in this season?

This is not an episode about pretending we have arrived.

It is about practicing freedom one faithful step at a time.

Living Scripture™: Galatians 5:1
Formation Word™: Truth
Season: Outrunning the Shadow™
Room: Thriving Through Chaos™ Podcast Campfire
Pillar: Thrive
Literacy: Legacy Literacy™

No performance.
 No perfection.
 Just conversation, testimony, truth, and the light God gives for the path ahead.

There is room for you here.

Welcome to the garden.

Let’s grow. 🌿💛

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Formation happens one faithful practice at a time.

Go Thrive. 🌿💛

Thriving Through Chaos Living Intentionally and Resiliently ™ is a faith-rooted formation podcast within the Thrivemosphere™, shared from lived experience, Scripture, reflection, testimony, and the lessons God continues to help me steward. This space exists to help Thrivers remember who they are, tend what God has entrusted, encourage one another with wisdom and grace, delight in His goodness, and thrive one faithful practice at a time. Together, we are learning to heal, discern, release, grow, and walk toward freedom without losing sight of God.

There is room for you here. Welcome to the garden. Go Thrive. 🌿💛

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, and welcome to Thriving Through Chaos, Living Intentionally and Resiliently. I'm Deanna Johnson, the founder and steward of the ThriveMosphere, a faith-rooted formation ecosystem created to help thrivers remember who they are, return to who God created them to be, and grow one faithful practice at a time. The ThriveMosphere is anchored in five pillars. Remember, tend, encourage, delight, and thrive. Here, we remember who we are and whose we are. We tend what God has entrusted to us. We encourage one another with wisdom, truth, and grace. We delight in God's goodness, beauty, hospitality, and joy, and we thrive by faithfully stewarding the legacy God is forming through our everyday yes. This space is for the person who is healing, rebuilding, discerning, learning, releasing, and becoming. Here we talk about faith, formation, relationships, legacy, stewardship, hospitality, creativity, and the real life process of walking with God through transition. I do not teach from perfection. I teach from lived experience, prayer, reflection, scripture, and the lessons God has helped me steward along the way. The Thrive Masphere is not built to create followers, it is built to cultivate faithful learners who become wise stewards of what God has entrusted to them. There is room for you here. Welcome to the Garden Thriver. Let's grow together. I'd like to begin this episode with a word from another steward. Before I move fully into the very first episode of this season, Out Run in the Shadow, Season 3, I want to take time to honor something that I received today. Today I attended the funeral service for my older brother's grandmother. Her name was Sister Sandra Smith. And even in a service of remembrance, God found a way to speak directly into the season I am walking through. She was a Leo. And I want to say this clearly: astrology is not my source. It's a part of who I am. God is my source. His word is my anchor. But I do recognize patterns. And one thing I have seen in Leos, I know is the light, a willingness to shine, a warmth, a desire to encourage, a presence that can light or lift up a room without asking for anything in return. And today, even though she was no longer speaking through her physical voice, Sister Sandra was still speaking. She spoke through the words she had shared. She spoke through the pastor who carried her message forward. She spoke through the love she deposited into people. She spoke through her service. She spoke through her light. And that moved me because that is stewardship. When your words outlive the moment, when your encouragement keeps traveling, when your service becomes a sermon, when your life keeps teaching after you leave the room, the pastor described her as a good soldier, someone who fought the good fight, finished her course, and kept the faith. He talked about how she served, how she encouraged, how she loved the word of God, how she checked on people, how she sent messages, how she volunteered, how she showed up, and how she made what he what she called love deposits. That phrase stayed with me. Love deposits. Because some people do not just pass through life, they deposit something. They deposit courage. They deposit encouragement. And her love deposits were everyday hugs to everyday people. And when they leave, the deposit remains. She sent the teaching to the pastor, and he read it to us at her service. And that is how she was able to speak at her service without physically being present. And that message connected to the message connected to her was about batteries. And the way that they they spoke on it and the way that I received it, I'm not saying it verbatim how he delivered it, but it's what I took away. She said, all people need batteries. Some people need A batteries, attention, and affection. They need to feel noticed, cared for, loved, and appreciated is what I gathered from that. She also said some people need triple A, attention, affection, and acceptance. What I gather was they need all of that, plus the reassurance that they are accepted for who they are. She also said some people need C, which is compassion. What I gathered from that is they need patience, understanding, tenderness, and someone willing to care about what they are carrying. She also said some people need D batteries, direction, they need guidance, wisdom, advice, and help figuring out what to do next, is what I gathered from that. And when I heard that, I thought, this is the work, this is the ministry, this is formation. This is in the thriving sphere what we call relational literacy. It's also in the thriatmosphere what we call beneath the behavior. Because so often we look at people's behavior before we ask what kind of battery is low. Is this person asking for attention? Are they craving affection? Do they need acceptance? Do they need compassion? Do they need direction? Do they need someone to slow down long enough to see what is beneath their behavior? That does not mean we ignore accountability. It means we practice discernment. It means we learn how to respond with wisdom instead of reacting from assumption. And that is the part of what the Thrive Maspir was created to do. To help people walk back to God step by step, to help people understand themselves with grace and truth, to help people receive wisdom and practice it, to help people become better stewards of what God has placed in their hands. And what I received at that service, I received a message from another steward. She served, she encouraged, she loved God's word. She gave herself to people. She made love deposits. Her legacy is still speaking. I sat there thinking about my own assignment. I want my words and my service to match. I want the encouragement I give to people to become a deposit. I want the Thrive Muscle to be a place where people can come when their spirit feels low and receive the kind of charge they need. Sometimes that charge will be attention, sometimes affection, sometimes acceptance, sometimes compassion, sometimes direction, sometimes scripture, and sometimes testimony. Sometimes a reminder that freedom is still possible. And sometimes if we'll I'm sorry, and sometimes it will simply be enough. Light for the next faithful step. Legacy is not only what people say about you when you are gone. Legacy is what your life continues to teach. Legacy is what your love leaves behind. Legacy is the word someone carries because you gave it to them when they needed the strength. Legacy is the encouragement that keeps speaking after the room gets quiet. Legacy is the deposit that keeps bearing interest in somebody else's life. That is why I say formation matters. Because one faithful life can become a classroom. One faithful servant can become a sermon. One faithful woman can keep speaking through every person she's encouraged, loved, prayed for, and lifted. And today I received that. I received it as confirmation. Not that I need to become someone else, but that I need to keep stewarding the light that God gave me. So as I enter this season of outrunning the shadow, I'm carrying that reminder with me. The shadow wants you to believe your light does not matter. But legacy says otherwise. The shadow wants you to believe your service is small, but love deposits keep multiplying. The shadow wants you to believe you are just surviving. But God may be forming something special through your life that will speak long after the moment passes. So today, I honor Sister Sandra Smith, a good soldier, a faithful servant, a woman whose legacy is still speaking today. And I receive the reminder: keep fighting the good fight, keep running the race, keep keeping the faith, keep making love deposits, keep passing the light forward. Because freedom is not just something we receive, freedom is something we practice one faithful step at a time. And I also have to speak on my granny's legacy in this moment because this message did not come to me in isolation, it came in the middle of legacy. My granny, Justine Morris, celebrated her 80th birthday the day before Sister Sandra Smith's homegoing service. And Sister Sandra had celebrated her own 80th birthday just days before her transition. So she died 79, but at least she was able to celebrate 80. Two women, two lives, two 80-year witnesses, two sisters through Christ, two lights that have touched family, church, community, and generations. And the underlying message I kept hearing was legacy. Not legacy is something distant, not legacy is something we only talk about when someone is gone. But legacy is something living, something we honor while people are still here, something we carry, something we document, something we pass forward. My granny's birthday reminded me that legacy should be celebrated with intention. I went to bed around 7 in the morning, the day of my granny's birthday. Woke up around 11 a.m. and still created, printed, and cut 108 blessing keepsakes for her birthday celebration. Not because I had endless energy, because love gave me strength, because honoring her mattered, because 80 years of grace deserved something her people could hold in their hands and take home with them from the event. Those blessings were not random to me. They were love made visible, they were hospitality becoming legacy. They were my hands saying thank you, granny. Thank you for the prayers. Thank you for the stories. Thank you for the strength. Thank you for the laughter. Thank you for the lessons. Thank you for the faith. Thank you for the foundation. And then to sit in Sister Sandra's service the next day and hear about love deposits, encouragement, service, faithfulness, and a life that is still speaking, I understand even more clearly what God was showing me. Legacy does not stay in one room when love is pure. It travels. It travels through words, it travels through blessings, it travels through service, it travels through memory, it travels through family, it travels through faith, it travels through the work of our hands. My granny's legacy was being honored through celebration. Sister Sandra's legacy was being honored through remembrance. And both were still speaking. One through birthday blessings, one through a homegoing message, both through love, both through faith, and both through light. And the blessings I made for my granny's birthday carried different kinds of covering. Some were blessings for the heart, peace for the soul that needed rest. Joy for the spirit that deserved celebration. Hope for the person who needs to keep believing. Some were blessings for the journey. Strength for the days that require endurance. Grace for the moments that need gentleness. Wisdom for the path that requires discernment. Some were blessings for the family. Love for the bonds that hold us together. Family for the people who God uses to shape us. Legacy for what is passed down, preserved and carried forward. And when I think about it now, those blessings were not just for the party. They were a ministry. They were reminders. They were small pieces of formation because sometimes people need to leave with a word in their hand. Sometimes they need to be reminded that peace belongs to them. That joy is still available. That strength is already present. That grace is covering them. That wisdom is guiding them. That love is still alive. That family matters, that legacy is not finished, and that God is still speaking. This is legacy literacy in the Thrive Sphere. Legacy is not only what we leave behind, legacy is what we faithfully honor, document, steward, and pass on while we are here. It's also the hospitality literacy branch because hospitality prepares the room, but legacy preserves the meaning. Hospitality says, You are welcome here. Legacy says this moment is worth remembering. And over these last two days I saw both. I saw my granny celebrated. I saw Sister Sandra honored. I saw two 80-year lights remind me that a faithful life does not stop speaking when the event ends. So I received that wholeheartedly. I received the reminder to keep making love deposits, to keep creating blessings, to keep honoring legacy, to keep documenting what God is doing, to keep shining the light he gave me. Because when love is pure, it does not have to force its reach. It moves abundantly and effortlessly. And Granny's legacy did not stay in that room. It traveled through love, beauty, blessings, and the work of my hands. Today is August 8th. And before we begin, I want to leave a record of where I am today. I don't worship numbers. I do not make dates, signs, seasons, or alignment my source, but I do use them along the way as they are very helpful. And numerology is also meaningful as well. God is my source. His word is my anchor. But I do pay attention when timing, testimony, and transformation meet in a way that feels too sacred for me to ignore. Because sometimes when you have been walking with God long enough, you can look back and recognize that what once seemed like an ordinary moment became a marker. Not because the date had power, but because God was present in the journey. Last year I released this podcast season on August 8th, 2025. And today, one year later, I return August 8th, 2026, with more clarity, more evidence, more obedience, more wisdom, more freedom, and a deeper understanding of who I am and whose I am. Psalms chapter 119, verse 105 says, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And that scripture has become even more meaningful to me because God did not always show me the whole road. Sometimes He gave me just enough light for the next step. And then the next one, and then the next one. Looking back now, I can see that those faithful steps were taking me somewhere. So, yes, today is an abundance day for me. But when I say abundance, I'm not talking only about money. I am talking about the fullness of a life faithfully steward with God. I am believing for an abundance of peace, an abundance of wisdom, an abundance of courage, an abundance of discernment, an abundance of right relationships, an abundance of support, an abundance of healthy community, an abundance of provision, an abundance of divine strategy, an abundance of creativity, an abundance of opportunities that agree with my assignment, an abundance of rest that does not require guilt, an abundance of joy that I do not have to earn, an abundance of legacy, an abundance of strength to walk away from whatever no longer agrees with where God is taking me. Because I understand something today that I did not understand the same way a year ago. Abundance is not having everything. Sometimes abundance is finally having enough wisdom to know what you no longer need. Sometimes it is peace, sometimes it is space, sometimes it is clarity, sometimes it is the courage to say no. Sometimes it's the grace to let go, and sometimes it is realizing that losing access to something does not mean you lost yourself. And sometimes abundance looks like getting you back. So I'm not falling apart, I am becoming whole, I'm not returning to the shadow, I am still outrunning it. Not because I am running away from my story, but because I am no longer allowing old pain, old guilt, old access, old patterns, and old survival versions of me to lead it. Everything that once felt scattered in me is being gathered back into God's hand. My creativity is blessed my voice is blessed my hands are blessed. My family legacy is blessed my next location is blessed, my finances are blessed, my podcast is blessed my now transition is blessed, my birthday season is blessed, the thrivesphere is blessed, and I am learning that blessing does not mean everything will always be easy. It means I can trust God with what He has entrusted to me. I receive what God is placing before me. I trust the doors he opens. I trust the doors he closes, I trust the clarity he gives. I trust him when I understand, and I trust him when I don't. Proverbs chapter three verses five and six reminds me, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. That's the posture I want to carry into this season. Not control, trust, not performance, obedience, not perfection, formation. And I'm saying all of this out loud today for a reason. Not because I believe my declaration controls what happens next. God is sovereign, therefore I am sovereign. I'm saying it because I want there to be a record of what I believed before I could see all of the fruit. I've spent years writing prayers, questions, tears, dreams, lessons, and breakthroughs in my journals. And now I can look backwards and see that those pages became receipts, evidence of God's faithfulness, evidence of my formation, evidence that God was growing things I could not fully see yet. So these words are another receipt. Breadcrumbs for my future self. Something the woman I am becoming can return to one day and say, look at what God did. And maybe as you're listening, this can become permission for you to leave some breadcrumbs for your future self too. Write down what you believe. Write down what you're learning. Write down what God is showing you. Write down the prayer before you know the answer. Document the faithful steps before you see where the path leads you. Because one day you may discover that what felt like survival while you were living it was formation. So today, on August 8th, 2026, I speak this by faith. I am available for the abundance God has assigned to my life. I said I am available for the abundance God has assigned to my life. I am available for the community He is sending. I am available for the rooms he is preparing. I am available for the wisdom required to steward what I pray for. I am available for the courage required to release what cannot come with me. I am available for the legacy he is building through my obedience. I am available for the next chapter without dragging the shadow into it. And I don't need the whole path illuminated today. I only need enough light for the next faithful step. God is my source, his word is my lamp, faith is my foundation. Alignment helps me recognize what God has already been teaching me. Truth is the light I'm willing to walk in, and freedom. Freedom is what I am learning to practice one faithful step at a time. Galatians chapter 5, verse 1 says, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. So I'm not entering this season pretending I've arrived. I'm entering it willing to walk, willing to tell the truth, willing to learn, willing to release, willing to become, and willing to leave breadcrumbs behind for whoever needs enough light to take their own next faithful step. This is season three of Thriving Through Chaos, living intentionally and resiliently, outrunning the shadow of freedom season. No performance, no perfection, just conversation, testimony, and truth, and the light God gave me for the path ahead. It's room for you here, Thriver. Welcome to the garden. Let's grow together. Let's walk towards freedom together, and let's begin. Hey Thriver, welcome home. Wherever you're listening from today, I'm so grateful that you're here. Maybe you're driving, maybe you're taking a walk, maybe you're folding laundry, maybe you're sitting on your porch with a warm cup of tea, or maybe you've simply been looking for a place to breathe. However, you've arrived. Welcome, Thriver. Welcome to Thriving Through Chaos, living intentionally and re resiliently. As you know, I'm your host Deanna. In this season, we're journeying, we're journeying through Outrunning the Shadow of Freedom Season. This is a podcast within the Thrive Sphere where we learn to move through life challenges with faith, wisdom, and intentional practice. Whether you're rebuilding, discerning, grieving, healing, celebrating, or simply trying to take your next faithful step in life. I'm grateful that you're here. This is not a place for perfection, it's a place for formation. Together, we'll slow down, reflect on God's truth, and practice one faithful step at a time. Welcome to the Garden Thriver. Let's grow together. Outrun in the Shadow is a freedom season for those who are who are done letting old pain, old access, old guilt, old patterns, and old survival versions of themselves lead the way. This is a season of returning, not to shame, but to truth. Not to performance, but to faithful freedom. As I stated before, it's been almost, it's I'm sorry, not almost, it's been a full year. One year exactly today, from August 8th, 2025 to August 8th, 2026, since the last time I sat behind this microphone. And if I'm being honest, I didn't step away because I didn't have anything to say. As y'all still know, I still talk a lot. It wasn't the heart behind the thrivenosphere. It wasn't my desire to help people. What changed was me. Over the past year, I discovered something that now seemed so obvious. The ThriveMosphere was never a collection of ideas, as a lot of people may have thought. It was always one living ecosystem. I just didn't have the language for it yet. God wasn't giving me a new purpose. He was teaching me how to faithfully steward the one he had already placed in my heart. He showed me the pillars. He clarified the pathways. He gave language to what I had been living. And somewhere along the way, I realized he wasn't only building the Thriven Sphere. He was continuing to build me. If this is your first time here, welcome home, Thriver. If you've been walking with me for a while, welcome back, Thriver. I'm so grateful that you're here. You don't have to have the whole path figured out. You only need enough light for your next faithful step. And that's exactly what this season is about. Whoa, I just keep going back to it's been a year since I recorded the last episode of this podcast. And when I recorded it, I thought I understood freedom. I didn't. At least not in the way that I do now. Over this past year, life became one of my greatest teachers. Not because it was easy, but because it was honest. I discovered that freedom isn't simply leaving what hurts you. Freedom is learning what deserves your energy. Freedom is loving without abandoning yourself. Freedom is telling the truth without becoming bitter. Freedom is remembering whose you are and who you are. When life keeps asking you to forget that. Looking back, I can see that he was preparing me long before I realized what he was preparing me for. I thought I was simply trying to make it through each day. I was actually being formed. I thought I was documenting my life. I was documenting God's faithfulness. I thought I was writing in a journal. Those journals became receipts. And that's why this season matters so much to me. Not because I finally have all the answers, but because I have enough evidence to tell the full truth. The God truth. Today, when I think about freedom, I think about stewardship, I think about peace, I think about boundaries, I think about discernment. I think about finally understanding that I don't have to carry everything just because I can. That realization didn't happen overnight. It happened through quiet mornings with God, through tears, through unexpected joy, through difficult decisions, through letting go, through beginning again. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, God gently reminded me that He never asked me to become someone else. He was inviting me to become more fully who He created me to be. Maybe you're not looking for a perfect life. Maybe you're simply looking for enough light to take your next faithful step. If that's you, I want you to know something, Thriver. You're in the right place. I like to tell you about the moment that I realized I wasn't outrunning the shadow anymore. I was walking toward the light. I want to share something with you. Not because I think my journals are special, all of us are. If you choose to write what's on your mind, all of our journals are special. But because my journal became witness, they became reminders that God was speaking long before I understood what he was saying. I was looking back through some of my journal entries recently, and I realized something that made me stop. God had already been preparing me for this season before I had language for this season. Now, I'm not gonna read every single journey and journal entry word for word. Some things belong between me and God and the page. But I do want to honor the evidence because these journals reminded me I wasn't confused, I was being formed, I wasn't behind, I was being prepared, I wasn't losing, I was learning how to release, and I think somebody listening today needs to hear that because maybe you've been questioning your own process, maybe you've been wondering if God is still working, maybe you've been looking at unfinished pieces without realizing He's still building. I know that feeling all too well because I lived at Thrivers. One of the entries that stayed with me was from a season when everything felt heavy, not hopeless, just real heavy. And I remember writing something that still carries me today. I said, I don't have to know how, I just have to know who. And boy, do I know God. When I wrote those words, I didn't know where I'd be sitting today. I didn't know that doors would close. I didn't know what doors would open. I didn't know God was going to provide. I didn't know how the thrive the thriven spirit would continue to grow, but I knew him. And looking back, that was more than enough. I'd like to take you back to those journal pages, not so you can see my life, but so together we can witness God's faithfulness. Yes, this is the place where journals become living evidence, and I'm gonna show you how. I just have to know who. And boy, do I know God. I hope this time you were able to receive it. If you received it the first time, repetition never hurt nobody. And then another journal that I said, I wrote a prayer that still speaks to me. I said, God, thank you for seeing my sacrifice, my heart, and my dreams, even what others may only see clutter. Looking back, that prayer feels different now because sometimes people only see what's unfinished. God sees what He is building. A few months later, on March 23rd, 2026, I wrote about feeling what I called grounded pressure, not panic, not chaos, just the weight of transition. And I realized something as I reread it. Peace and heaviness can exist at the same time. You can trust God and still feel the weight of becoming. The very next day, while reflecting on Esther chapter 4, verse 14, I wrote something that made me smile when I saw it again. I wrote, I was built for this level of responsibility. At the time, I don't think I fully understood what I meant, but now I do. Because God doesn't just call us, He prepares us to carry what He's calling us into. Then again on March 26th, I wrote these words. I said, Wisdom is not loud, wisdom is stored, not scattered, stored, structured, and strengthened. When I read that again, I thought, that's the thrive sphere. That's what these journals have become. Not just memories, not just pages, a record of God's faithfulness. And then I came across one final reflection that has become an anchor for this season. I wrote, Truth is not just what you say, it's how you live. That one sentence reminded me why this season matters so much to me. Because outrunning the shadow isn't about pretending we've never been hurt. It's about living truthfully enough that the past no longer gets to define our future. Looking back now, I can honestly say the journals were never just journals. They did, in fact, become receipts. Receipts of God's faithfulness, receipts that remind me he was writing a story while I was simply trying to be faithful one day at a time. And maybe that's true for you too. Maybe one day you'll look back and realize that what felt like ordinary moments were actually the places where God was quietly forming you. I didn't know I didn't need to know the whole path. I only needed enough light for the next faithful step, y'all. And as Psalm chapter 119, verse 105 reminds us, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And that's still how he's leaving me, leading me today. And I want to go into more scripture at the thriven sphere. We call it living scripture. I call it living scripture at the thriven sphere. We as thrivers, what I created for us as thrivers. So before we go any further, I'd like all of us to pause because every story needs an anchor, and for me, that anchor has always been God's word. The journals became the receipts, but the scriptures became the foundation. This season is rooted in Galatians chapter 5, verse 1. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. I like that. I like to read that one more time, y'all. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. When I first read that verse years ago, I mostly heard permission. Permission to leave, permission to let go, permission to stop carrying what was hurting me. And there are seasons when God absolutely calls us to leave. But today I hear something deeper. I hear an invitation. An invitation to live differently. An invitation to stop measuring freedom by what I've escaped. And begin measuring it by how I now live. Freedom is not only what I walked away from, freedom is how I walk now. It's how I love, how I forgive, how I set boundaries, how I steward my energy, how I tell the truth, how I return to God day after day, one faithful step at a time. That's the freedom I want us to practice all together this season. Not freedom as a moment, freedom as a way of living. And maybe that's why this season had to wait. Because I don't think I could have taught this a year ago. I had to live it first, y'all. So now, after you've sat with that scripture, I'd like to invite you into something that I call a mirror moment. Not because I have the answers for your life, but because I've learned that some of the most important conversations happen quietly between us and God. So wherever you are, take one slow breath with me. Now take another. Maybe in a mirror, maybe in a reflection of a window, or maybe just close your eyes and picture yourself standing before God. No titles, no expectations, no performance, just you and the one who has always known you. Now gently ask yourself, where in my life am I still living from survival? When God is inviting me into freedom. Where in my life am I still living from survival? When God is inviting me into freedom? I don't want you to rush and answer. Don't judge what comes up. Simply notice, because awareness is often where healing begins. Now, ask yourself one more question. What deserves my energy in this season? Not what demands it, not what has already expected it, not what guilt keeps handing back to me. What truly deserves it? And finally, place your hand over your heart if you feel comfortable doing so, and take one more slow breath. And quietly remind yourself, I know who I am, and I know whose I am. If those words came easily, give thanks. If they felt difficult, receive grace. God is not disappointed in your process, He is present in it. When I started asking those same questions, y'all. I wonder what came up for you just now after that mirror moment. Maybe it was a memory, maybe it was a name, maybe it was a relationship, maybe it was a dream you quietly laid down. Or maybe it was simply the realization that you've been carrying more than God ever asked you to carry. Whatever came up, don't you rush past it, Thriver. Sometimes God doesn't reveal something to condemn us, sometimes he reveals it because he's ready to heal it. One of the greatest lessons I've learned this past year is that healing isn't pretending the pain never happened. Healing is no longer allowing the pain to decide who I become. That realization changed the way I see almost everything. I stopped asking, why did this happen? And I started asking, God, what are you teaching me through it? That question didn't erase the grief, it transformed my relationship with it. There are still things that I'm grieving. There are still chapters that I'm closing. There are still moments I wish had unfolded differently. But I've learned something very beautiful. Peace and grief can sit at the same table. Joy and uncertainty can exist in the same heart. I can be releasing one season while genuinely looking forward to the next. Those things are not opposite. They are part of being human. I also realize that freedom isn't measured by how little pain we have. Freedom is measured by how much truth we're willing to live. Because truth has a way of giving us back to ourselves. Not the virgin shaped by fear, not the virgin shaped by survival, the virgin God has been patiently forming all along. And maybe that's what you've been discovering too, Thriver. Maybe you haven't been falling behind. Maybe you've been growing roots. Maybe you haven't been forgotten. Maybe you've been prepared. Maybe what feels like delay has actually been formation. If that's where you are today, I want you to hear this. God is not finished with your story, and neither are you. So the question becomes: how do we begin living from that truth? Not someday, today. Let's practice it together, Thrivers. So before we leave today's conversation, I'd like to invite you into one faithful practice. Not ten, not a complete life overhaul, just one. Because formation doesn't usually happen through dramatic moments, it happens through repeated, faithful moments. This week, carry one question with you, Thriver. Not all day because you have to, but whenever life asks something of you, whenever you're about to say yes, whenever guilt starts knocking, whenever fear starts talking, whenever you feel rushed, pause and ask yourself, what deserves my energy? Not what demands it, not what has always expected it, not what makes me feel guilty, but what has God actually entrusted to me in this season? You might be surprised by what comes to mind. Maybe the answer is rest. Maybe it's a conversation that you've been avoiding. Maybe it's finally setting a healthy boundary. Maybe it's finishing something God asked you to begin. Maybe it's taking care of your body. Maybe it's spending time with someone that you love. Maybe it's simply sitting quietly with God for five minutes. Whatever comes up, don't you rush past it. Write it down. Pray over it. Return to it throughout the week. Notice what changes. Because every faithful choice is shaping someone. And that someone is you, Thriver. One of the biggest lessons that I've learned is that the life God is building isn't usually transformed by one extraordinary decision. It's transformed by ordinary decisions made faithfully over and over again. That's how trust grows. That's how wisdom grows. That's how peace grows. That's how freedom becomes more than a moment. It becomes a way of living. Also, before we leave today, I'd like to pray over that practice because we were never meant to practice faith alone. So, before we go any further, I'd love to pray with you, Thriver. Let's pray. Father, thank you for meeting us here. Thank you for never asking us to become someone you didn't create us to be. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your mercy, for your faithfulness in seasons when we couldn't yet see what you were building, Father. Thank you for every lesson that became wisdom, every tear that became testimony, and every quiet moment where you continue forming us even when we didn't realize it, Father God. Teach us to recognize what truly deserves our energy. Give us wisdom to release what was never ours to carry. Give us courage to walk away from old patterns, old guilt, old fear, and old survival habits that no longer reflect the freedom you've called us into. Help us remember whose we are and who we are. Who we are. Help us steward what you've entrusted to us with joy, humility, and faithfulness. Teach us to love with wisdom. Teach us to set boundaries with grace. Teach us to tell the truth without bitterness. Teach us to forgive without losing ourselves. Teach us to move at the pace of your peace. Father God, for the person listening today who feels tired, meet them with rest. For the ones who feel uncertain, meet them with wisdom. For the one who is grieving, meet them with comfort. For the one who is celebrating, meet them with gratitude. And for the one who wonders if you're still working. Remind them that you are faithful, Father God, even when the work is still unfolding. Let your word continue to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Help us trust the next faithful step. Even when we cannot yet see the entire road, we surrender this week to you, Father God. We surrender our plans to you, Father God. We surrender our becoming to you, Father God, and we thank you in advance for the ways you'll continue to grow us. In Jesus' name, amen. Before we leave, Thrivers, I'd just love to share one more small moment with you. Let's slow down together. Before we close, I have an invitation, one more invitation. If you have something warm nearby, tea, coffee, even a glass of water. Would you take a sip, a slow slip sip with me? One of the things God has been teaching me is that formation isn't rush. Neither is healing, neither is trust, neither is becoming. So often we feel pressured to hurry into the next thing, the next season, the next answer, the next accomplishment. But gardens don't grow because we rush them. They grow because they're faithfully tended. That's been one of my greatest lessons of this season for me. Not to force growth, not to chase growth, but to faithfully tend what God has already placed in my care. Sometimes that looks like building. Sometimes it looks like resting. Sometimes it looks like releasing. Sometimes it simply looks like sitting quietly with God and letting him remind you that I'm already loved. Letting him remind me that I'm already loved. Sorry, Thrivers. So, whatever is in your cup today, I hope it reminds you of something. You don't have to rush your becoming. God isn't asking you to bloom overnight, He's inviting you to faithfully tend today's garden. One prayer, one conversation, one boundary, one act of courage, one faithful step. And maybe that's enough for today. I'd like us to end the same way we began with gratitude. I just really don't want to leave. But before we leave today, I'd like us to practice one more thing together. Gratitude. Not because life is always easy, not because every prayer has already been answered, but because gratitude helps us remember that God has been faithful, even while we're still becoming. Today I'm grateful for the journey. I'm grateful that God has been patient with me. I'm grateful that He didn't rush my growth. I'm grateful that He stayed with me in the questions, the waiting, the rebuilding, and the becoming. I'm grateful for the journal pages that became receipts. I'm grateful for the lesson that became language. I'm grateful that once that what once felt heavy helped prepare me to carry this season with greater wisdom. And today, I'm grateful for you, Thriver. Thank you for making room for this conversation. Thank you for trusting me with your time. Thank you for bringing your whole self to this space. Whether this is your first episode or you've been walking alongside me for a while, I'm grateful that you're here, Thriver. And before we part ways, I'd like to invite you to notice one thing that you're grateful for today. It doesn't have to be extraordinary. Maybe it's a quiet morning, maybe it's a deep breath, maybe it's the strength to keep going. Maybe it's simply the reminder that God has never stopped walking with you. Hold on to that. Because sometimes one remembered blessing is enough to carry us in tomorrow, into tomorrow. And before we close, I'd like to leave you with one sentence. One sentence that has quietly shaped this entire season. That sentence should carry you into this week. It should be one that you can return to when life feels heavy, when the answers aren't clear, when you're wondering if God is still working. Here it is, Thrivers. Formation happens one faithful practice at a time. Not one perfect day, not one extraordinary breakthrough, not one flawless decision, one faithful practice, one honest prayer, one act of courage, one healthy boundary, one remembered truth, one surrendered yes. Don't underestimate what God can do through one faithful step because today's practice becomes tomorrow's testimony. And tomorrow's testimony becomes someone else's hope. So whatever this week holds, keep practicing, keep trusting, keep tending. God is not finished with what he's growing in you. Let me send you into the week, Thriver. I'd like to leave you with one invitation. Not to do more, not to become someone else, simply to take your next faithful step, whatever that looks like for you. Maybe it's making a phone call you've been putting off. Maybe it's choosing rest without guilt. Maybe it's beginning again. Maybe it's offering forgiveness. Maybe it's setting a boundary. Maybe it's asking for help. Maybe it's finally saying yes to something God has been quietly placing on your heart. Whatever it is, Thriver, don't you wait until you have the whole picture. You don't need the whole path. You only need enough light for your next faithful step. If today's conversation encouraged you, I hope you'll carry it with you. Share it with someone you love. Invite someone else to pull up a chair. Because you never know how one honest conversation might become someone else's turning point. And if this space has encouraged you, thank you for being here, Thriver. Thank you for making room. Thank you for growing with me. The Thrive My Spirit has many paths, but every path begins the same way. One faithful step. So wherever you find yourself this week, remember God is already at work. Trust what he's growing, honor what he's entrusted to you, and keep walking toward the light. Go thrive. Also, thrivers, I want to I want to invite you to support the work of the Thriven Spear because I too am a thriver. I'm growing, building, learning, stewarding, healing, creating, and walking this out one faithful practice at a time. And every time you listen, share, subscribe, purchase, pray, comment, or send this to someone who needs it, you help me continue pouring into other thrivers. If this episode met you where you are, there are a few ways to stay connected and support the work. You can subscribe to ThriveMosphere Press on Substack. That's where I share deeper reflections, devotionals, prayers, formation resources, behind the scene updates, and all things ThriveMosphere. You can also purchase my first devotional ebook, First 30 Days of Thriving, a Thriver's Daily Formation Collection. The first of many faith-rooted resources created to help thrivers slow down, reflect, pray, journal, and take one faithful step at a time. The links will be in the show notes. Your support helps this garden keep growing. It helps me keep creating spaces where thrivers can remember who they are, return to God, and grow with grace. Thank you for listening. Thank you for receiving. Thank you for helping me pour back into the people God has assigned to this space. There is room for you here, Thriver, and your presence matters. So again, before we part, I'd like to leave you with a blessing as you go. May you remember whose you are, may you tend what God has entrusted to your care. May you encourage others with wisdom and grace. May you delight in his daily goodness, and may you continue growing into the legacy he faithfully forming through your everyday yes. May you trust the next faithful step, even when you cannot yet see the whole path. May God's word continue to be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. May peace guard your heart. May wisdom guide your choices. May love shape your relationships and may hope remind you that God is never finished with the story He's writing. Thank you, Thriver, for making room for this conversation. Thank you for trusting me with a small part of your journey. It's an honor to walk beside you. Until next time, remember whose you are, trust what is growing, and always remember that there's room for you here, Thriver. Go thrive. I'm Deanna, and this has been Thriving Through Chaos, living intentionally and resiliently. I'll meet you here again soon, Thriver. Love you. Take care.