Episode 37: When Success Still Feels Empty

You can chase every goal, hit every milestone, and still feel that quiet ache inside — the one that whispers, “Something’s missing.”
In this episode, Evelyn shares how achievement without alignment leads to restlessness and how Jesus invites us to pursue wholeness over hustle.
If you’ve ever reached the top and still felt empty, this conversation will remind you that true success is found in Him, not in what you do.

“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” — Matthew 16:26

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About Evelyn

Evelyn Tribble is a Latina Christian lifestyle coach, mentor, systems & automation business strategist, and Norwex Independent Consultant who helps women live cleaner, safer, and more purpose-filled lives by reducing harsh toxins and aligning their homes, bodies — and hearts — with God’s peace.

Through her brand, Aligned & Anchored, she empowers high-performing women to embrace wellness, faith, and freedom — creating homes that nurture both body and spirit, with Jesus in the center.

Evelyn is a wife, mom, avid lean muscle builder, and Jesus follower who believes that true success isn’t about doing more — it’s about becoming whole.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to Living with Purpose, the podcast for faith-driven women who are ready to rise, lead, and live fully aligned with who God created them to be. I'm your host, Evelyn Tribble, a Latina mom, life and leadership coach, systems and automation strategist and wellness mentor, and the creator of Aligned and Anchored. Here we combine faith, mindset, and practical strategy to help you simplify your home, your business, your body, and your life so you can walk in clarity, confidence, and peace. Let's live with purpose and anchored in him. Hey friends, welcome back to Living Well with Purpose. I'm your host, Evelyn. And today we're diving into a topic that is going to hit home for so many women, especially those of us who have worked hard, achieved a lot, and yet still like there's this quiet ache inside. You feel this quiet ache inside. Okay, I am titling the today's episode as When Success Still Feels Empty. Because here's the truth achievement without alignment will always leave us restless. I want you to think about that. It doesn't matter how much success you actually achieve. Um if you are out of alignment in specific areas, especially as women, right? You think about that. Like when we have have had an argument with a a close family member, whether it's your spouse or a sibling, you know, or um, you know, a friend, if it's if they're close to you, and you just like it's hard to just shut that out and go and do your thing, right? Um, it's hard. Not that you're not capable of doing it, right? We all learn to put on our big girl pants and do the thing regardless, but it's hard, it's difficult, it's hard to just keep that all inside. And so that's kind of how we feel when we have achieved achieve achievement success um in all the areas of our life, but something is off. Something is off, and you know it, you feel it, and it just leaves you restless, all right. So that is what we're gonna be doing. I thought this would be enough. That is a thought that has come through my mind a lot. Let me start with a moment, you know, from my own story. I thought this would be enough. That was a thought that I had that went through my mind at some point in my life. Um, there, but there was a season when on paper everything looked great. All right. The business was growing, my team was thriving, I was uh running consistently, I was eating well, so I thought. Um, and I felt like I was showing up for my family, right? In general, things were just going really well. I had just gotten a new puppy and I was getting to know my puppy. I was training my puppy, you know, not to pee uh inside the house, but um instead in a specific spot around the woods. So pretty much away from the grass. I didn't want the dog peeing, you know, where my kids were gonna be playing. And so, you know, that took time. It was like four months of just lots of training and dedication and commitment to my sweet dog, who is an amazing family dog. But if you can think about that moment, um, there was a lot of other things going on as well. And it was during that time that I just I remember waking up in in the middle of the night, and actually I was up because I was training my dog, and I was trying to train him, you know, to to stay in the crate as well and not whine or cry or anything like that. And um, I just remember thinking that um man, I would lie, I would just be awake thinking like this quiet whisper in my spirit, like, is this it? Is this really all that um that you have for me, Lord? And in a way, I had become, you know, uh content in everything that I had had, but at the same time, I felt this distance, you know, like maybe I wasn't fulfilling my entire calling that the Lord had called me to do. And I I just I just remember feeling um restless. Um, and I'm like, okay, I'm just working so hard for this one thing, but is this really what you want from me? You know, I was wrestling with all of that. And I guess you could say, is this is this really all there is? But I guess I was just like, Lord, you know, what have you called me to do? Like, I feel like this is not all that it's it, right? So maybe you have felt that too. You hit that milestone, you get the promotion, your kids are thriving, but down deep inside, just something feels off. And here's where the Lord began, you know, just to show me quietly that success without aligning, um, alignment in these specific areas that he was calling me to align, which was my body, my mind, and my home. That if I don't do that and I just chase after the success, that I'm only gonna be thriving. I'm only gonna be just chasing, chasing, chasing, and it's gonna exhaust me to the point of burnout, right? And that's exactly what happened for the second time. So we can produce fruit that looks so good on the outside, but what ends up doing is on the inside it grows from a root of striving and just not surrender. That I I talked about in one of my episodes about being in that moment of that posture of rest. Um, so that's you know, that's not what I was doing at the moment. Um, all right. So here's a story in Luke 10 that beautiful, um, that just beautiful uh so beautifully describes or captures what I'm what I'm sharing with you today. Okay. Um so it's a story about Martha and Mary. You have, if you've been raised in the church, you've probably heard of this story, the story of uh Mary and Martha. And basically, Mary says to Martha, Martha, Martha, the or um, you know, uh Mary is sitting with with the Lord, and um, and Martha is just out in the kitchen, um, trying to get all the food ready. She's walking past Mary and Jesus, and she's, you know, maybe starting a load of laundry or just making sure that um all the guests have what they need. Um, and um she's just going back and forth, right? While Mary is sitting with Jesus, and the Lord, you know, um, I just I love this. The Lord says, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, and and it's only one thing that you really, really need, and that's to sit in my presence. And Mary has chosen what is better, and and it's not gonna take, you know, it's it's not gonna be taken from her. And so this was was in the book of Luke, uh 10, um, chapter 10, and I've paraphrased it just so that you can kind of get the idea of what I'm sharing. But what the the thing was that Martha wasn't doing anything wrong, right? She was taking care of her home, she was feeding her guests, she was prepping the the home, the food, um, the atmosphere. She wanted it to just be so heartwarming and just welcoming. And and she was doing all of this for Jesus. So she wasn't doing anything wrong, she was serving Jesus, and I really want you to get that. Um, but at the same time, she was serving out of just striving to do the right thing, as opposed to just surrendering in God's presence and just understanding that there's times where we can do, do, do, do all that we know to do. But at some point, God also calls us to rest. I mean, think about, um, and I'll get into this, but Jesus, you know, rested on the seventh day, and I'll talk about this here in a little bit. I'm probably getting ahead of it, but Mary, on the other hand, she sat at Jesus' feet and she was aligning her heart before acting with her hands. And that is what God calls us. It's to a point of surrender, uh, this posture of just um being in God's presence, so much so that everything else that we do just comes out of abundance and overflow. And so we're not striving and there's no chance for you know being burnt out, feeling burnt out, because the joy of the Lord becomes our strength, right? Because we've been in his presence. So this story isn't about choosing between being productive or or staying uh prayerful in your life. No, it's both. It's both, it's about aligning, you know, your heart, your mind, and and being in that posture of rest and um and having been in his presence before you achieve, because everything else, achievement and success is gonna come from the rooted from God's presence, from being in his presence. And it's just gonna be so much more effective. Think about how successful you are now. Think about how much more success you can experience if it comes from a place of surrender and that posture of rest, having spent time with Jesus, right? So when our work and our motherhood and our business or our ministry just comes from that place of presence, oh my goodness, it's no longer gonna drain us. It just becomes a form of worship because we're so we've been in God's presence and that joy becomes our strength. And out of that joy, just we just want to give and do and serve. And so it just becomes a form of worship. Like it, it's totally different, totally different. I honestly experienced this even on Halloween. Um, you know, we were serving with our church and it was a Friday night. I would have typically on Friday nights, I'm at home cuddling up with my dog, my my um and my husband, and the kids are typically taking a um, they have done their chores by the end of, you know, by the after school and after dinner, you know, they enjoy some time on media, video games, being on their phones, playing, you know, games there, and they enjoy that time. And that's like a reward for that, for them, right? For us, it's like a we've had a long week and we get to just cuddle up and watch a movie and relax and just rest with each other, right? In each other's presence, and that's a treat instead. Um, Halloween and Harvest Fest ended up, you know, being on Friday night. So I would have rather been at home than doing that. But just think, what if I hadn't been in God's presence that day, where my desire to serve my community along with my church would have come out of like striving and just like no desire because I've been empty, because I hadn't spent time with Jesus, because I hadn't, you know, um taken the time to be in his presence. So then my my joy came from being in his presence because he's the source of joy, he is joy, right? And then out of that, I just wanted to serve. And I was excited and had this joy in my life, and I knew that it wasn't me. I knew that it was God's presence. So I want you to ask yourself, am I more like Martha right now? Am I doing all the things for Jesus? Or am I more like Mary, where I'm sitting with him? Right? And I just want you to think about that. All right, so let's go a little deeper here. And I referenced a little bit about creation and the beginning of time and when the Lord created the heavens and the earth, right? In Genesis 2, it talks about how God rested on the seventh day. So not because he was tired, but because he was got he looked at everything and he said, That is good. He was satisfied with the work that he that he had done, right? He was satisfied, it was good. He looked at it and he said, It was good. And so on the seventh day, he rested. So I want you to see rest in scripture isn't this um inactivity, it's not it's not that you're you know being lazy by any means, it's it's this this inner completion, like, oh my goodness, you know, it's the state of the soul that just knows, ooh, it is finished, it is good, and you feel satisfied, right? And so that's the rest that Jesus invites us to when he says, Come to me in 11, uh Matthew's 11, 28, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burden, and I will give you rest. He wants you to start out your day with him, he wants us to start out our moment, our every breath with him, because he can be that source of strength for us. And everything that comes out of our hands and our mouths is gonna be good. Then he calls us back to spend time in his presence. That is rest. That is rest. He calls us to physical rest as well, right? All right, so um the rest isn't found in vacations, though. Or we've, you know, we write every at the end of every month, we write our goals for the next month, new goals, right? Um, and that's not where we find rest. Um just or or maybe uh a promotion, you know, within your your company. Um it's found in alignment. True rest is found in aligning ourselves with the one who called us. That's him. That's where rest is. It's imposture. So when we operate from that space, our success just becomes an overflow of peace and not pressure. That's so beautiful, isn't it? We're not gonna do this out of expectation or because we feel that stress or that pressure to to perform. Instead, it's just gonna come out of overflow of peace and joy. All right, so how do we move? I want to I want to give you three ways that you can move from restlessness, this state of restlessness, to realignment. Okay, so here's I want to ask you three reflection questions that I challenge you to pray through this week as you you know start out your week. I challenge you to ask yourself these three questions. Number one is what am I building that God never asked me to build? Have you ever asked yourself that? What am I doing now? What am I putting my energy and my time and my resources into that perhaps the Lord never asked me to do? Think about that. Think about that, not out of shame, not out of guilt, but just out of curiosity, so that it can help you move forward and get you out of that place of just feeling restless. Okay, number two is where am I striving for validation instead of resting in the identity that you are his daughter, the daughter of the high living king. Where are you striving for validation? In other words, what are you doing now that perhaps the reason why you're doing it is because you're looking for that validation from you know, either your boss or your husband, your spouse, your parents, your your children, um, you know, the the pastor at work, like who, who, or the promotion, the company, right? Where are you looking for that validation? And so you're finding yourself striving, striving, striving for that instead of knowing and being assured, having that uh assured confidence, uh, confidence, assurance, confidence, assurance in who you are in Christ and what Christ did at the cross for you, the work that he did on the cross for you. He died, he was buried, and he rose again, so that through faith, through faith, he took on uh your striving, your sin, and he who knew no sin, who never knew any sin, but took on that weight off of you, and he put it on his shoulders so that you, my beautiful friend, can feel and know that you can have peace and love and joy, and you can rest in his in who he is within you, how much he loves you, right? Your identity is in him. He took all that for you so that you can have that confidence assurance that you are you have been given access to that joy now, right? Just resting in his presence. So, what are you striving for validation instead of resting in identity in him? What number three, what is one daily rhythm that could bring you back to his presence? What could you do? Are you starting out your day with God's presence? Are you starting out your day in word, in his word, reading his word, meditating his word, in in doing a Bible study, right? Um, because reading it's a start, but it's not it's not what is gonna grow you. What's gonna grow you is when you get taken through different uh times of challenging and testing, and um, you know, not everything goes perfect, right? You grow out of that. Um, so but maybe it's it's uh worship, you know, on your way to work or before work or maybe it's while you're doing an ex, you know, your workout. Maybe it's praying over your planner and just saying, Lord, I just give you my day, and you you you know help guide my steps. And I have a I have I'm I'm a very you know type A personality, so I like to have a plan, I like to know what I'm gonna accomplish, what my top three priorities are, but even with that in my productivity, it doesn't mean that I don't have to include God in it or that it's one or the other and that I have to be praying all day long, right? But not doing. He calls faith without action is is, you know, faith without works is dead. Like you have to put in the work too, if you're gonna see the results, right? You can't just pray it into existence, right? You have to do the work, you have to do the thing. So having your planner is wonderful, but asking the Lord to guide you and to, you know, here's the things that I have to do. Well, but Lord, I know that you have given me all the time in the world to do all the things that you have called me to do. Is this what you have called me to do today? If it's not, Lord, I just pray that as I do these things, you would guide me, lead me, and open the doors, open my eyes, open my ears to know if you're calling me or speaking to me about there may be in some help me to be flexible and adapt to that, right? Um, so maybe it's praying over your plan, or maybe it's just whispering, Lord, just align my heart with yours before I move today, right? Okay, so remember this Jesus doesn't call us to do more, he's just calling us to be whole, y'all. That's it. He wants us to be whole, right? Um, so if you have been in a season where success just still feels empty, know this. It's not a failure, it's it's an invitation. Okay, this is only out of curiosity. You ask yourself these questions. It will help you to move forward, not out of guilt, not out of shame. So may you see this as an invitation, an invitation to come closer to him, to release the hustle, and just to be able to rediscover that true wholeness isn't in what you do, but it's in who you're becoming in Christ, because you've spent that time with him. So, my prayer for you this week is that the Lord would remind us that we're not defined by our success, but instead that we would um look for his presence and that God would help us to seek alignment over achievement, and that God would help us to find that rest for our souls and him alone. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So thank you again for tuning in to Living Well with Purpose. Um, and if you, if this message spoke to you, would you share it with another woman who's just running hard but just needs to hear that that rest is holy too, right? Um, yeah, and until next time, stay aligned and anchored with Jesus in the center. Thanks for listening to Living with Purpose. I pray today's conversation helped you realign, refocus, and remember that your purpose is powerful when it's anchored in God. If this episode spoke to you or resonated with your heart, will you do me a favor and send me a DM on Instagram? You're gonna find the link in the show notes and share your biggest takeaway with me. As I thank you, I'll send you a free copy of my four week Bible study how to practically align your mind, body, and home. Until next time, keep your faith strong, your system simple, and your heart anchored with Jesus in the center because you were made to live with purpose.