The Power of One: Obedience | S2E10

Sometimes the biggest transformation begins with one simple act of obedience.

In this episode of The Power of One, Kathy Tuley and Terry explore what it means to trust God without having all the answers. Through honest storytelling, personal experiences, and powerful reflections on faith, they discuss how obedience often requires stepping forward before the path is fully revealed.

This conversation dives into fear, vulnerability, leadership, betrayal, emotional healing, and spiritual growth while unpacking a deeper understanding of the Armor of God and what it truly means to walk in obedience.

One of the most powerful takeaways from this episode is the reminder that obedience is not always logical, comfortable, or easy. Sometimes it feels like risking everything with no guarantee except faith.

Key Takeaways:

•  Obedience often matters more than sacrifice 
•  Everything you want may exist on the other side of fear 
•  Vulnerability is not weakness in leadership 
•  The Armor of God is also protection against reacting from pain 
•  Faith requires trusting God even without a full roadmap 

Whether you are navigating uncertainty, leadership pressure, relationship challenges, or a season of growth, this episode offers encouragement and perspective for your journey.

If this episode spoke to you, share it with someone who needs the reminder that one decision to trust God can change everything.

Step into growth and purpose! Discover my books and resources designed to help you lead, learn, and live with impact.

✨ Click here: https://t-sml.mtrbio.com/public/smartlink/toolsforsuccess

//About

Cathy Tooley is the Founder & CEO of Tools for Success and a seasoned educator with over 40 years in K–12 classrooms and school leadership. From high school teacher to principal, Cathy has dedicated her life to supporting educators. In 2014, she launched Tools for Success to provide real, in-person instructional coaching—not just “PD in a box.” She’s the author of The Education System Is Broken, a national speaker, and a fierce advocate for teachers. Through this podcast, she’s spotlighting the ripple effect of great teaching.
🔗 Website | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Transcript

Armor That Keeps You Loving

SPEAKER_02 0:00

There's a scripture, I think it's in Ephesians, where it talks about pull put on the whole armor of God. I was kind of contemplating that earlier because my husband said it, and I was like, it's funny that the armor of God is in the book that is traditionally viewed as about love, you know. Husbands love your wife, you know, why wives obey your husband. It's about love. And I was like, Well, what does armor have to do with love? But I I recently went through an attack from people that were close, from family members that were close, and I realized that that armor, we always be like, oh, that armor is for demons, and that armor is for spiritual attack. Not just. No. Not just. That armor was for me to put on to protect them from me. That I had to go through the war that I had was not go out and attack. The war that I had was, I know you just attacked me, and I am going to forgive you and love you anyway. No matter what you do to me. And I'm putting this armor on to fight my carnality, to fight you. Because my carnality says I won't bust your head. My carnality says I want to cuss you out. My carnality says I want to set you up. But if I'm walking in this Christian queen thing, I have to put on this armor so I don't bleed on you. Like I gotta, let me put this on. Because I gotta love you knowing you just betrayed me.

Meet Terry And The Power Of One

Cathy Tooley 1:30

Hi everybody, thanks for joining us again today on the Tools for Success podcast. Today, I am joined with, I call her my soul sister. She is, she's my soul sister, my very, very, very, very, very, very, very, can I say very a hundred times? You can. Dear friend Terry. And I'll let her introduce herself uh in a minute. Um Terry and I go a long, boy, a long way back. A long way back. I met Terry when I was in transition starting my company. Um, you know, I'm talking transition, I'm I think I'm using that word nicely. When I was floundering. Floundering? It was floundering. Floundering. You know what I mean? Like fishy, you know, floundering. Like you.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Gotcha.

Cathy Tooley 2:13

All right, Terry, introduce yourself. Tell us who you are.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Hi, world. I am Terry Pittman. I am the CEO of the Gideon Group, a procurement strategy company, also owner of a home care, healthcare agency, and a medical lab. And like, just awesome. I'm an awesome person. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.

Cathy Tooley 2:34

Yes, you are. And so I send an email out to all the guests that have been in this series that we're doing called The Power of One. Yeah. And I said, I don't want to know what your one is. I want you to think about it, pray about it, and see what it is. So, Terry, what are we talking about today? The power of one one.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

It's obedience, but one decision to be obedient.

Cathy Tooley 2:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Yeah.

Cathy Tooley 2:58

Okay. Why did you pick that?

Why Obedience Beats Sacrifice

SPEAKER_02 3:00

I picked that because I think uh, you know, in the Bible, so we won't get to it. There we go. Let's go. Here we go. You know, it talks about uh obedience is better than sacrifice. And I I would hear that as a kid, right, and be like, what does that mean? Because sacrifice seems like the ultimate thing, right? You know what I mean? To forgive, but oh to give it of yourself is right. Yeah. And and and I I found as I get older, obedience is much more important. You know, and so it takes one act of obedience. Like, I'm learning it takes one act of obedience to really change your life. One act of obedience by God to change your life. Because what I'm learning, you and I have been talking about like everything we really want is on the other side of fear. And so oftentimes we slow that down.

Cathy Tooley 3:51

You and I say that all the time, but that is so true. Everything you want is on the other side of fear.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Yeah.

Cathy Tooley 3:56

It's on the other side of fear. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

And I I think I think people, when God has given them things, especially if it's walking them into their abundant place, they're looking for like the whole thing. Like, okay, God, you tell me I'm gonna be a multimillionaire or speak to one.

Cathy Tooley 4:12

Where is my land of milk and honey?

SPEAKER_02 4:14

Yeah, where it's like, okay, give me A, B, C, and D. And and and the ultimate thing is to make the decision to say, I'm supposed to step out. I will be obedient to that one step. And then God knowing you'll guide the next one. Yeah. I think we're trying to get all the steps. Like we want to, we want a manual. Like, Lord, give us a manual. And he was just like, I just need you to be obedient. So I have a story.

Cathy Tooley 4:39

I got a bunch of stories. I would love to hear it.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Okay, so you know you're niecy food. I do. She is. I do, she is. Um, the daughter that I had at 43, who does that? I'm Anna. My moon would shoot dust, and then God said, Here we go. That's for you, America. But uh, so I was getting up, so you know, she has her, there's days that she's got her play pen and she's right in there with us. And um, I

The Glasses Test For Obedience

SPEAKER_02 5:10

like to get up and pray early, but you know, you gotta kind of like, you know, they can wake up in an instant. And so the Lord um I have my glasses, and I was like, um, okay, let me got my robe, let me put my glasses on. And the Lord said, Don't put your glasses on. I was like, why? He was like, You're don't put your glasses on, it will wake the baby.

Cathy Tooley 5:32

And I was like, I don't put glasses on that loud, please.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

And I I but I was like, I'm in a space to be obedient, it doesn't have to make sense. And so I crept out, and when I got into the hallway, to our stairway, he said, okay, put them on. And I was like, okay, Lord, what was that? I was like, how are glasses going to wake up my daughter? He said, they weren't, but I would have. I'm just trying to test to see if you would obey, no matter what it is, without question. So it wasn't about the glasses were gonna wake her up. He would have had I been disobedient. He's trying to get me to a place where I'm obedient without rolling my logic. Like if he says, give Cathy the bottle of water. I just need to do it, hand it to you. Instead of being like, well, what did she need the water for? She's got a water over the water. She's got there. This doesn't mean I already drank out of it. It he's trying to get me because I know so much. He's trying to get- So there.

Cathy Tooley 6:36

Aaron, perhaps, perhaps could be part of the lesson is that we know so much. Right. Where did we get that lesson that we know more than the sovereign? Where did we get?

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Well, I think, I mean, honestly, as as as women, as as a black woman, as mothers, we as mothers, as fixers, as overachievers, as strong people, you know. I was thinking about you the other day from the place, and you know, when I couldn't get this hip up the tree. Inside story.

Cathy Tooley 7:09

Yeah, we'll learn about that. Yeah, we'll tell you about the story later. But let's just say she was on the struggle bus. She was on the struggle bus. And not even an inside joke that I, you know, I hate when there's inside jokes and you're like, no, I'm not gonna get the podcast. No, I'm just gonna, I'll cut it down simple. She was attempting to do something that she was unsuccessfully doing.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Yes. Period. Quite frankly, because of my weight. Quite frankly. I mean, it's quite frankly, and I we saw other people.

Cathy Tooley 7:33

She couldn't get her hefty butt up there. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

We were we're at a professional development team building thing, and you're supposed to climb up a tree.

Cathy Tooley 7:41

And so I just want people to stop right there. I want you to just look in your cameras right now. Do Terry and I look like three climbing folks. Why don't you look at your camera right now? Okay. Do you need to hear any more of

The Tree Climb And Vulnerability

Cathy Tooley 7:55

the inside joke, or do you kind of get it? Okay. Continue with your story.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

So I couldn't get booty liches over the over the hump, right? So, so for me, that's an overachiever. First of all, I remember this. Well, to back it up, what nobody knew is that you had to put on a harness, of course, for safety.

Cathy Tooley 8:15

That those places that no harness should be allowed to go. Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

And they had all instructed us in how to put on a harness. And I had my harness on, but I was like the last, I think last to go. But when I was getting ready to go up to the tree, the guy said, Oh my God, you have a malfunctioning harness. Sorry. Right. So he's pulling you up this thing. Yeah. You can die. Sorry. We'll just put another one on you. With your hefty setup. Right. When it goes back down, and and so he puts a new harness on, but now in my head, that's right. Is what if this I'm gonna die. Yeah. What if this is malfunctioning? And because I don't think light people fall as hard to the ground. When we get, I I don't think they fall as hard. I think they fall slower too. I think it's like they go, ooh, and then we go boom. And then we'll go pick us up. Well, because we've converted the hole now. Now they gotta get us out of the hole that we could. Yeah, okay. So so as I shimmied up the tree, I got up the tree, and there was a point where you had to like lift your body up.

Cathy Tooley 9:25

I do. And and it stuck out. So you had it, you were going up like this, and you had to go around like that. Like, so I want you to just get a visual. We're already up here. Now you gotta heave all that we have, hang on by your arms, and somehow go, whoop. Mm-hmm. And there is nothing in my body that goes whoop.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Not on purpose. No, right, because you're already 30 feet in the air. Correct. And and on a harness, on a harness. It was not meant for us. So I was I was freaked out. And and and I was freaked out. I literally had a panic attack, and nobody had ever seen me that vulnerable before. So I didn't know what to do. And I was like, I want to come down. And you know, they're like, no, go. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it. And and I looked to you and I was like, help. Because I didn't I didn't know how to like. And they were just go, go, go, Terry. And I was like, I was done. And you were like, let her down. Let her down. She wants to be down. And I remember after that, after that, because at the time, I was killing it. I was ahead of everybody, all the things we were doing.

Cathy Tooley 10:30

Everything in that activity that we had done. We had been at a training, guys, at this point for three months. She was winning at everything. This would be what I would have considered, I never did, but what would have been viewed as a loss.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I was killing it. I was what, you know, I got all the pluses and I was what pushed up from gold stars all over your place. Everywhere killing it. And so with this one thing, everybody else killed it. And quite transparently, some of the people that were not killing it begin to come over and be like, oh, it's okay. You did your best. And you said to me, You're like, they are saying that because they see your in a way they're gloating in your failure. Because, oh, the great one can fall. Can fall. So it wasn't a girl, you could get up and do it again. I never thought you could do it to start with. Right. Well, I don't know. I don't even know if it's that. I think it's look, I see the chink in your armor. And let me oh, poor baby. I never went over there when they had issues and said poor baby. Like, well, we gotta keep it moving. So um where do we want that story? Obedience. Obedience. I'm with you. So, so right. So this is why.

Cathy Tooley 11:45

So you get a cheap sheet, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:49

But be because of that, you know, as overachievers, it's almost like we're the strong ones in our groups. We're the we are both big personalities. We are people that either you love us or hate us. And we win. We win. And they people know if we're on their team, whether it's paintball, whether it's sewing, whether it's singing. Unless it's running.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Running.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Don't do that. Unless we're the referee. We will call you.

Cathy Tooley 12:15

If we are running, you better get in front of us because they suck behind us in the first place. Oh, we're gonna walk real fast.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Don't run. We don't run. That's right. If I'm running, there's a dinosaur or alien class. You better. You better obedience fear. Right. So yet, so it is we are used to having all the answers. We're used to I can make it. We I think we're both learning to be vulnerable because that was a that was a bad word for us. Vulcan was like you like I can't be vulnerable because they can't see me cry because I'm CEO or I'm boss or I'm principal. You can't see me cry because then that'll make me look weak.

Cathy Tooley 13:02

We have never in our journey toward obedience been taught that it's okay to not have the answer. That's good, Kathy. That's good. Why thank you? Should I write that down? So I think we should. Those are bars. But we have never, ever, ever, you know, our obedience has to be successful to have successful companies, to raise successful children, to have successful marriages. And vulnerability doesn't align with what we think the power of our obedience is. That's very good.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Absolutely.

Cathy Tooley 13:36

And I think for me, I of course I knew you well prior to the tree. Yeah. And as funny as that story is, and and we could laugh at them now. There was nothing funny that day. No, that was a. What's hysterical about it now in irony is in that moment when you I will never forget you looking me in the face like, please get me down.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Because nobody else.

Cathy Tooley 13:59

Make them stop. They weren't listening. Make them stop. And I remember saying, turning to the person and saying, lower her down. And when they were all coming over, giving their platitudes, and I believe that they meant those from a good place. I do. Um what I and I remember saying to you, sitting down beside you and saying, true success isn't whether or not you heaved your butt up over that tree. It's the idea that you were obedient to go it all.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Yeah. That's so good. That's man, that that that's real. We're gonna get to that because we were talking about armor. Yes. But on the whole armor of God.

Cathy Tooley 14:33

See, this is us too. Those of you that are watching this group, we're gonna apologize now. We have a dear friend that says all the time that she needs us to draw a map. So would you please draw the line for people that are like our Diana, who does do not get how we got from getting your hefty butt up a tree to obedience and armor. Please draw that line.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Yeah.

Cathy Tooley 14:53

I get it. I'm there with you.

Armor Of God As Self-Control

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Yeah. But yeah, I'm learning in being vulnerable, right? And being more vulnerable. Look, like okay. In being vulnerable, that you're gonna get hit with attacks. You're gonna get hit. And my normal way is to fight back. Like you will not. I told my husband, my motto used to be, you might win, but I'm not gonna lose. Amen. I'll do I mean you can win too, but I'm not losing. And that that was my that was my come from. And and and now I've changed what winning and losing is, right? So like when you are a person that does start to walk out in their obedience, attacks are coming. And you're gonna get hit. And sometimes you're gonna get hit from people that you thought loved you, which are the most painful hits. Those are the most painful hits. And what I'm learning, and I, you know, levels of journey. I think there was a time where God had me where my level of journey was to conquer all. They attack you, you hit back. But as I'm becoming a queen and a ruler, you know, David went from being a warrior to a king. When you're on the battlefield, yes, cut heads off, kill the sheep, do all that. But as you you progress from being on the boots on the ground to the king, to a queen, you now have to use strategy because you're ruling over these people in some ways. And so what I've been learned, there's a scripture, I think it's in Ephesians, where it talks about pull put on the whole armor of God. I think it's in Ephesians. Y'all help me. But if it is in Ephesians, I was kind of contemplating that earlier because my husband said it, and I was like, it's funny that the armor of God is in the book that is traditionally viewed as about love, you know. Husbands love your wife, you know, why wives obey your husbands, it's about love. And I was like, well, what does armor have to do with love? But I I recently went through an attack from people that were close, from family members that were close, and I realized that that armor, we always be like, oh, that armor is for demons, and that armor is for spiritual attack. Not just. No, not just that armor was for me to put on to protect them from me. That I had to go through the war that I had was not go out and attack. The war that I had was I know you just attacked me, and I am going to forgive you and love you anyway, no matter what you do to me. And I'm putting this armor on to fight my carnality, to fight you. Because my carnality says I won't bust your head. My carnality says I want to cuss you out. My carnality says I want to set you up. But if I'm walking in this Christian queen thing, I have to put on this armor so I don't bleed on you. Like I gotta let me put this on. Because I gotta love you knowing you just betrayed me. I gotta love you knowing you still might talk about me. I gotta love you knowing y'all I might be the topic of conversation over uh brunch over brunt that I have to wore to be like, I really do love you and forgive you.

Cathy Tooley 18:12

That that's the armor, which is the true act of obedience. The true act of obedience is it's I always say that you know, we we had a conversation driving into the studio today because there's things that are happening in our world that are that are not um Terry and I share a lot of very similar views. And um I would say that we are not in alignment with what many believe to be true. Correct. And Lord knows by the time that this airs, there'll be 27 different other topics that y'all try to figure out what we're talking about. And and the point is it's not the topic.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Correct.

Cathy Tooley 18:48

It's not the topic. I think that Jesus made it very clear how he expects us to be obedient.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Amen.

Cathy Tooley 18:54

And that is to not question him. Um you can question. Okay, yeah. You question

Risking Everything To Obey

Cathy Tooley 19:00

what does putting my glasses on have to do with anything with Waking Kai?

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Yeah.

Cathy Tooley 19:04

I mean, I don't exactly rattle a cage when I put my glasses on. This podcast is an example of obedience.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Yeah.

Cathy Tooley 19:11

Yeah. I still struggle with why I'm sitting on the other end of this camera and why I'm inviting guests and have a producer sitting over there because I I, like anyone else, go through the same humanness of who am I to have a podcast? Right. But what I love about what you said about is it may never be about this podcast.

unknown 19:34

Right.

Cathy Tooley 19:35

The podcast may simply be the vessel that he's going to use later in something else for obedience just to test to see if I would listen.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

Absolutely. That that's the thing. Would you actually do it? Because I told you to, not because it makes sense to you.

Cathy Tooley 19:49

Right. Not because there's any profit. This is costing me, not gaining me. No, right. This is right. There's no financial gain to this. There, it's it's it's everything to risk and nothing to gain, is how it feels. Can you say that again? It's everything to risk and nothing to gain. Wow. That's that's the that's my takeaway when you said that.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Yeah.

Cathy Tooley 20:10

When you when you I remember, and and from the from the Kai story to the to the tree story to the armor of God, it's really about I'm gonna step out in the obedience of what you've said. Yeah, full of the risk that I know I can see the risks, hands down I can see them. Yeah, knowing that you've got a reward. Yes, yes, or I won't step out in it.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

That's it.

Cathy Tooley 20:35

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

Well, on that note, oh, oh, yes.

Cathy Tooley 20:40

On that note, um, thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being a part of the podcast. I will absolutely have you out as another guest. And I I, you know, I like to leave you all with kind of what I think are takeaways or things that you can ponder. And I think for me, when I think about Terry and talking about obedience, and you know, I it's it's I think Terry's one of my tougher guests because we just know each other so well. And we talk regularly, as you can tell. And um but what you don't see on the other side of the screen is Terry and I have gone at it tooth and nail. Tooth and nail. Ugly. Ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly. But what we always do, and I think that is why I appreciate your power of one is we stay obedient. We know this relationship is driven from the Lord. Amen. Absolutely. And therefore we don't have to understand it because she drives me crazy sometimes. I, on the other hand, am I don't understand why.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

She wakes up like the energizer bunny, Jesus. I don't even understand.

Cathy Tooley 21:41

How do you pop up at 8 30 ready to go? What I could do to irritate her. I just hear that it does.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

We were in a hotel. And I you know how you try to kind of like wake up, you know, because you're like, I'm up, but I'm not ready to get up. And she's sound asleep. Sound asleep. And I'm like, good morning. Jesus. I think, oh, I'd have to go to the bathroom. I don't know. And then I look over and she pops up like, Terry, what are we doing today? I think we'll, you know what? I think we should have breakfast.

Cathy Tooley 22:11

And then maybe I'm like, uh Jesus. I'm just okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

We do breakfast and then okay at lunch. What we're doing at one o'clock. I think

Final Challenge To Practice Obedience

SPEAKER_02 22:25

what we had. Girl.

Cathy Tooley 22:28

We will wrap this podcast up with my challenging you to this. Look for your opportunity to be obedient. Look for your opportunity to be obedient. And thanks for watching. We'll see you on the next episode. God bless everybody.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Bye.