Lead From the Front: Rising Strong with Mary Gulley

In this empowering episode of She Shines, Coach KG sits down with Mary Gulley — mother of three, minister, future psychologist, and champion of the underdog. Mary shares the defining moment that changed her life: joining the military against her aunt’s wishes, taking a stand for herself for the very first time, and discovering the grit that would carry her through challenges ahead.

Mary opens up about the struggle of wanting to be understood, the internal shift that helped her rise, and her unwavering belief that if she can, you can too. Now pursuing her bachelor’s degree in psychology at age 41, Mary reminds us that every great idea, change, and breakthrough began in someone’s mind — and yours is just as powerful.

This episode is a heartfelt blueprint for courage, clarity, and leading from the front. Whether you’re starting over, standing up for yourself, or stepping into a new version of you, Mary’s message will remind you that the rise isn’t easy… but it’s always worth it. #SheShines #WomenEmpowerment #LeadFromTheFront 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to She Shines with Coach KG. This is a podcast for women ready to rise, reclaim, and radiate. This is the soulful space where women's voices are honored, stories are celebrated, and transformation is ignited. I am your host, Karen, Coach KG Gilliam. I am a transformational strength-based coach and author, and this podcast is your weekly dose of real talk, inspiration, and empowerment. Each episode brings heartfelt insights, powerful coaching moments, and candid conversations with women who have overcome, healed, and are now shining in their truth. Whether you're navigating reinvention, reclaiming your voice, or simply seeking your next bold move, She Shines is your reminder that your light never, never has to be dim. It's just waiting to be seen. So today I'm sitting down with Mary Gully. Mary is the mother of three. She's a minister and a future psychologist, and she is a champion for the underdog. Mary and I will have a conversation about her defining moment that changed her life, taking a stand for herself, discovering the grit that would carry her through challenges ahead. She is a woman who wants to be understood. She shares the internal shift that helped her rise and her unwavering belief that if she can, you can too. Please welcome to our show and our community, She Shines, Mary Gully. Hello. Hi there, Mary. Welcome, welcome, the She Shines. And you know what? We just want to welcome you in the She Shines way. So here you are. How are you doing tonight? I'm doing great. I am so excited to be here with you, and I can't wait for our listeners to hear your story. So, this is what I'd like to do, Mary. I know I just gave a short bio of you, but I really want you to tell our listeners who you are.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Okay. Well, as she said, I am Mary. I am a mother of three all-teenage girls, 19, 15, and 13. So pray for me. Oh, I am endeavoring to finish my bachelor's degree in psychology. I am a full-time working mom. And I am a full-time minister as well. So I'm a busy bitty lady. And also, I have my own ministry called Woe. Women offering encouragement.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Well, that's so much better than woe, the word.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Actually, that's how it came to be.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Really?

SPEAKER_03 4:06

Yes. Because people say woe is me.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

They do.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Where they are.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

I wanted to put a positive spin on it. I like it. Yes. That's how it, that's exactly how it came to be.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Oh my goodness. Wow. Well, I am so excited to have you here. Just meeting you and talking with you not too long ago. You just heard who Mary Gully is at the core. A mother of three girls. Now come on. I have one. And I can't even imagine having three. And I love my daughter. She knows that.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

And you say you you love the underdog, Mary. I do. Why do they inspire you so deeply?

SPEAKER_03 5:06

Because the Lord loves those that are brokenhearted. The Lord loves to encourage us. He loves to give us that push. He loves to see us thrive, rise up out of what we are in. Yes, absolutely. To see what he's put in us, to see who he's called us to be, to see us meet the destiny that he's laid out for us. So I can't help but fall in line with that and say, you know what, Lord? I see so many people that are stuck in their situations and their mindsets and their emotions in their past and say, you know what? I was there. I've been there. I understand it, but that's not your final resting place. That's not where you belong. That's not who you are. It does not define you. So wow. I love to see people come up out of where they are.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Absolutely. Oh, I can hear the passion in your voice, Mary, as you talk about it. And it it resonates with me. I'm I am, I have a saying that nothing changes until you change your mind.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

Exactly. Yeah, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

You've got to change your mind. And like you said, do not say stay stuck where you are. It's time to rise. It's time to rise.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Yes. And everything I say, everything you see in the world, whether good or bad, it all started in someone's mind.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

All of it. There you go. I hope y'all write that down. You know you come to She Shines with your notebook and your pen because you're gonna get nuggets on here. And that was one right there. Mary, say that for him one more time.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

Whatever you see in the world, whether it's good or bad, it all started in someone's mind. We started in God's mind.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

That is true. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, yes. Well, I said that we were going to talk about your defining moments. And in our pre-interview uh not too long ago, we talked about something that happened to you that definitely defined your life. Let our listeners know what that is.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

So I um I started on this journey finding out who I am by understanding that sometimes what someone else wants you to be is never gonna be enough for you. And so I chose to go into the military, and my aunt, who was raising me at the time, was adamant. Like, no, that's a man's world, you do not belong in it. Oh um, and so I defied her wishes and I joined the military.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Which brand Army?

SPEAKER_03 8:22

Army, yes, and in doing so, I found out so much about myself. A lot of what got me through, because a lot of people ask, you know, wasn't basic training hard for you? Wasn't, you know, and I'm like, yes. But more so, I was alone at my send-off. What? And no one, no one came to see me off.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

So other soldiers are, you know, saying goodbye to their campaigns, you know. I was just there observing them, watching them, like, okay, I'm I'm doing this alone. And I didn't know at the time that I was hearing the Lord. Okay, but that internal grit of if they think I'm going to fail, just watch me. Woo! It started there, and I was just like, I have to do this, I cannot let them be right. That's where it started. And I just got in the military, and every time I wanted to quit, I said, it has to get greater than this, it has to get better than this. This cannot be it. I know it's hard, but you cannot let them have the last word over your life. And so when it got hard and I wanted to quit, I would say, God put more in me. There's there's it's gotta get better. And through doing that and praying and saying, Lord, give me the strength to continue another day. Help me see you in this situation, though I feel alone. When other soldiers were getting, you know, letters, cards in the mail, I got a few, you know, but I was getting bills.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

My internet bill, I was getting my car insurance bill, and so I was like, it has to get better than this. And so every day when I woke up, I was like, thank you, Lord, that my arms work. Thank you, Lord, my muscles are sore, but I can I can get through today.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

And so day by day, I went on a journey of self-discovery, and that's really where God started to pull out of me what he put in me. There's a determination that I have that it can only come from God, it can only come from him.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Wow. I think I remember you saying to me, um, I have to do this for me. What what made you say that?

SPEAKER_03 11:13

Because at the end of the day, no one else is gonna be living in the skin I'm in.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

No one else is going to lay down at night and think the thoughts that I think. No one else is gonna have the low self-esteem, no one else is gonna have depression, no one else is gonna have the anxiety but me. So if I'm doing it for someone else, even when we do things, big accomplishments, yes, we have a why, but if that why is not based on you and your value, come on, come on, how you see yourself and what you want to accomplish for yourself first, yes, and you're doing it for someone else, you will not get through it. You won't, you won't, because you're not strive, you're not doing anything for yourself, you're doing it for someone else, and when that person changes, you no longer have a why.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah, okay, yeah, and like I said, I'm a transformational coach, and we talk about the why. And I had a coach, and my coach kept asking me why I wanted to do whatever I told her I wanted to do, and she said, for what reason? And I kept saying looking at her like I already told you, and she said, I'm asking you again, and she asked me probably, I believe, seven times, and then it was then that I had an emotional attachment to it, it made me cry, and she said, when your why makes you cry, that's what will carry you through to it.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Yes, so absolutely right about that.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Yes, yes, and I'm gonna just tell our listeners right now, you gotta stay around because we're gonna talk about this for a little success work. I don't call it homework because nobody wants to do homework, but we can do success work because we want to be successful, all right? So stay tuned. All right, Mary. Now, let's talk about the challenges that you faced. You shared that one of the biggest challenges was that you felt like you were misunderstood. What did that look like in your life?

SPEAKER_03 13:57

Being misunderstood for me was not feeling like anybody else when I was in the room. Having conversations and having that awkward pause, like that didn't make sense. Or um, people would actually be like, that what are you talking about? And it never quite made me feel like you get me. You get my mindset, you get my thinking. It was always outside of the norm, it was never in the stream with other people.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

If people were saying, you know, even just common things like, oh girl, work was so hard, and I'm like, but you got through it, you know, you made it. You've got eyes that open, you know, you've got your muscles worked, your arms worked, your fingers worked, that's a blessing. And people be like, see, and and they think that's weird. I can say it's hard, and I'm like, you can, but does that really help you? Yeah, yeah. And people just were like, hmm. So I started getting uninvited to conversations.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

See? See, I you know that people thrive on negativity, you know that, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:15

Yeah, I've actually been told to my face, I can't stand you because you're so happy. Ain't nobody happy in the morning like that. So I'm gonna need you to tone it down, please.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

Really? You know, I was kind of kind of shocked, and I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Well, I mean, look, just look, we got reality shows. People thrive on other people's misery. Yes, and it's entertaining to them. It's entertainment. Why are you kidding me? And see, I have a I have a saying, what you focus on magnifies. So you're watching it for entertainment, but guess what? It's gonna magnify in your life, right? Right. Wow, okay, Mary. Now, you mentioned that internal grit. I love that. I love that. And how did it build the internal grit you now carry? The challenges that you had. How did it build that internal grit?

SPEAKER_03 16:22

It let me know that I can. That what God put in me is not just fanciful words, it actually taught me how to stand on what He put in me. And in doing that, it changed my prayer.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Really?

SPEAKER_03 16:42

It changed the way that I prayed. Yes. So I would pray, you know, Lord, thank you for today, thank you for this. And as I grew, as I said, you know what, I don't feel understood. I started to pray, Lord, send the people to me that will understand me. Put the people around me that will see what you've placed in me, see the person that you've called me to be, and that I will feel as though they see the best in me. They see the best me. Yes, yes, and when my prayer changed, the people changed. And when the people changed, the way I saw my past changed. And when I the way I saw my past changed, the way I saw myself changed.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Wow, that's powerful right there.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

That is so powerful. My pastor, my mentor, you know him. Oh, yes, Dan Thomas. I'm telling you, he was sent by God to me for me to pull out of me everything he put in me. Yes, be careful the prayers you pray. Because Lord come on, that's right. I'm telling you. I'm like, you know, I think Holy Spirit put a spiritual amnesia on me at some of the prayers. Like, Lord, did I pray? He said, No, you. I called you. You you there? Come here. Come here. Yes. I was like, okay, and little by little, let me tell you, discipleship is not for the week. It's not for the week. If you are not ready to step outside your comfort zone, if you are not ready to change, that's right. I'm telling you. But it's the best thing I could ever do is submit to who God called me to be, regardless of what I thought about it.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

Okay, I don't see this in myself, but you said I can be it. So I'm gonna repeat that to myself for as long as it takes for me to believe it. When I start to see it, don't get cocky.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

Stay with me.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Now I don't mind confident, yes, not cocky, absolutely not. Oh, trust me, I've had days. I've had days, but Mary, I'm sure you had to push, girl. You had to push through some seasons. I can just tell. Yes, the seasons when you felt unseen and unheard. What helped you? What helped you push through those times?

SPEAKER_03 19:41

That God saw me. That he saw me. Um, and that I know that kind of sounds like, well, yeah, God always sees us. But to know he didn't just see my purpose and my future, but he saw where I was in time in my depression, in my anxiety, in my frustration, in my sadness, in, you know, my questioning.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Because I grew up under, you know, you don't question God, you take what he says at his word, and that's what you do. But how do you do that?

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Right. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

How do you figure out what it means to stand on faith? You know, how do you how do you move in faith if you don't really understand how do I apply it to my life?

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

And so, in learning that, you know, God sees these questions in me, and it's not wrong to question because he's the one that has the answers. Yes, yes. Oh, that's how I got through is questioning. Lord, what do you want me to do? How am I supposed to apply this? When am I supposed to move? What do you think about this? Is this okay? I heard this. Is that wrong? Show me in the word, Holy Spirit. Listen. Now, I've I've been told that you're a person, but I've never really talked to you as a person. So I can relate to this. I begin to do that because I feel crazy. I feel like I'm talking to my mercy, but I'm I'm imagining a person there. Is that real? Am I am I crazy? Am I really imagining? I mean, that's that's really how it developed, is just sitting with the Lord, and then the people he started to bring into my life started to say positive things about who I was. Yes, it's it's interesting when you know you you only learn that something is wrong with you because other people say it. Like growing up, you think you're fine and dandy until somebody says, hmm, that's that's not how you're supposed to think about that.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Whoa.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

That's when you learn, okay, I'm not like that person. And the more you hear it, the more you start to believe, well, there's something wrong with me. Well, I had heard it enough where I said something is wrong with me here. And so in my journey, I started to say, God, fix me, fix me, fix me, fix, fix everything that's wrong with me because I'm broken and all of these other people are right. Well, over time, I began to receive words of prophecy. I began to get in the word and I begin questioning. Okay, you said I'm made righteous, you said I'm justified, you said these things, and yet other people are not believing that, or they're not repeating that, or right, what is going on here? There's there's more, and I'm telling you, Coach KG. Yeah, the the questions you ask when you really are just like, I'm tired of where I'm at, I'm ready to move, but I don't know how to move. Those are the questions that get you on your journey. Those are the those are the questions that you end up saying, you know what? This is how I started my destiny. This is how I this is how I got started.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yes. I I love it. I I felt the same way. I mean, growing up, being the oldest of four, um, you know, my parents didn't have an instruction book on how to raise me, and they based it on how they were raised. And but I always had that feeling that it wasn't supposed to be that way. And uh, when I wanted to be positive, just like you said, when I wanted to be positive, everybody thought weird, you know, that you went in the army, I would have been the first private Benjamin, the movie. Okay. I I wouldn't have made it. But but yeah, I I said, Well, I didn't like negativity. I I just didn't, even at a young age. And then when I got married and had my children, we used to say in our household, um, if you can't say something good, don't say anything at all. Because negativity hurts my ears. And I remember one time my daughter was talking to her friends that were visiting, and they said something negative. She said, You can't say that. That hurts my mommy's ears. I love that. So she actually thought that it hurt my ears, but it did. So, oh my goodness, I love this. I love this. So, how does you you have how is it that your influence when you work, when you're ministering, and motherhood, how do you influence how you show up?

SPEAKER_03 25:10

It's it's I mean, it's literally being myself, being unafraid to be the genuine, true me. Me that's in my head is who I am in my body. Come on, come on, that's great. Tell me today, she was like, You're just you're just so full of joy. And I said, I said, my pastor's wife actually, she called me a joy bringer. She was like, Oh my goodness. She was like, that word just came to me about you. And I was like, that's that's what I hear.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Yep, yep. You are, I mean, you you just exude joy, positiveness, your face just lights up. I I just love it. And I can I can relate, I can so relate. So love being me. So you you like I work with women. And what message do you have for women who I know there are some listening to this podcast right now, and they feel it's too late to go back to school, to pivot careers, or start over. And the reason why I ask you that is because, ladies and gentlemen, listening, at the age of 41, Mary will be graduating with her bachelor's degree in psychology. Congratulations. So, for those that are sitting there thinking, oh, it's too late for me. My time has passed. What would you like to say to them?

SPEAKER_03 27:08

It has not. It has not. It is never too late. And we hear that often, you know, oh, you can always go back, and people will say things like, Oh, but I can't remember. Watch what you say. That's it. You will, you shall have what you say. And that does not, it's not limited in scale. So if you say you you're having a conversation about school and you say, Oh, I can't remember, that don't mean in 15 minutes when you're looking for your keys and you can't remember, you just professed it.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

That's right.

unknown 27:43

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Because your ears didn't say, Oh, this only pertains to the schooling that we were talking about. No, no, no. It's over your all the cells in your body. So you can go back to school. Even now, when if you believe that you cannot do something, begin to tell yourself, I can do whatever I believe I'm capable of doing. No matter how big that is, or no matter how small that is, because you can actually accomplish what you believe. If you don't believe it, figure out why. What is it? What have I been told? What have I believed? What have I seen? What have I heard? What have I tried and failed at that makes me think I can't do this? Because failures are steps. That's right. That's all it is. It's a step to the next level. You learn what you can't do, you learned a better way. I mean, how many times has peanut butter was tried and tried and tried and tried and tried repeated over and over and over and over and over again? And then I think peanut butter was actually an accident.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

I think it was. George Washington Carver.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Well, he was the peanut, but then yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:03

I mean, it's like, listen, we can accomplish whatever we believe we can accomplish. That's it. It's too late for you. I'm telling you, it's not. But figure out why do I believe these things about myself. Because once you figure out why you believe it, then you can get on the path to changing it.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

But when you figure out your why, so that's my why, is that I said to myself, I want to see my kids achieve great things. I believe in them. And I said, that will create a divide in where we can bond.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

So if I tell them you can go to school, you can do this, you can be great, you can remember. Anything you can pass tests, you can achieve your master's degree, you can get your bachelor's degree. They're gonna look at me and say, Why didn't you do yours? Yeah, and I'm gonna say, Okay, so I have to have an answer, right? So I'm leaving them no excuse. I believe that I can achieve what God, what the destiny that God's laid out for me. Yes, does that mean it's going to be easy? No, no, God says in this world we will have trouble. Yes, but then it says, Take heart, for I have overcome.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

So that part right there.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Though it may not be easy, though the trouble is there, it does not mean that you sit and you worry and you stress and you have anxiety and you think the worst of yourself because you tried and it didn't work out. No, that's not what that means. What that means is to remember the second part of that verse. Take heart, build your courage up, build your mindset, build up your emotional stability because guess what? When it gets hard, he has overcome the world. So, in saying that, anything you are going through, anything you come up against, anything negative you think bad about yourself, he's already overcome it.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Yes, that's where we get that's how that your phrase that you said to me if I can, you can too. And you're leading by example, lead from the front, leave from the front, and that's the lead from the front in the title. Leave from the front, and I love that. Leave from the front, get come from behind there, yeah, and come to the front. I love that. Well, Mary, let's talk about purpose, ideas, and your why. Let's elaborate on that why, because I really want people to know the why. You encourage people not to hold back on their good ideas. And what's a time you held back? And what did you learn?

SPEAKER_03 32:19

A time I've held back, oh, many of things.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

I know she said, well, Coach KG, you just calling me out.

SPEAKER_03 32:32

So I I've started school over and over and over and over again. And I've had idea after idea after idea after idea. And I've even thought about, hmm, I should do this, I should do that. And the recurring thought that came up was, what are they going to think?

SPEAKER_01 32:58

Oh, there it is.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

What are people going to say about me? What are the people that knew me in my past going to think?

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

And so when you talk about purpose, I think now to myself, if God gave me the idea, then it's going to help one of his other kids. It's going to help one of his other children.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

So if I'm supposed to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but I'm holding on to all the ideas, how can I help my sister or my brother? Because I may have the very thing inside my head, the idea inside of me that's going to lead them to their destiny. That's going to give them the spark to say, maybe I need to try that. And there came woe. Wow. I wanted a place for women. I wanted a place where people could come and thrive and say, you know what? I don't have it all together. I I got this problem, that problem. I don't believe this. I have questions about the Bible. I got questions about myself. I don't know why I think this way. I don't know why I act this way. And where you can feel safe to figure it out with no judgment, no condemnation, knowing you are loved, having what God says about you reiterated to you, repeated to you as you go through the renewing of your mind. Yes, it is renewing. Yes. Renewing. And again, re means to do again. Again. So you have to renew your mind to the things that He's called you to be, the things He's called you to do, the things that He has shown you that are in you.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

So we we don't move on. There's no gift that we do, whether by accident or by skill or by trade, that God has not put in us. It's nothing by happenstance.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

See? There's a purpose to it.

SPEAKER_03 35:10

And that's that's exactly what it all is.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

I love it. I love it. Now, let me tell you, someone is sitting listening to this episode, and he's like, okay, fine. I renew my mind. And then the next thing that comes to their mind is fear. What if I fail? What if I succeed? How do I maintain it? We know fear is false evidence appearing real. Mary, tell our audience a time where you pushed forward despite fear.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

Oh, I have so many. So one that stands out in my mind is when I was in the military, I had to climb a 35-foot ladder straight up in the air. And as you go from the bottom up, the rungs get wider and wider and wider. So the higher you go, and you have on no safety gear. You have on your nothing. I mean, you got on your, you know, your BDUs. That's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you're holding on to these big poles, you're holding them, and you're reaching for the next one, and you're wrapping your arm and you're putting your foot and you're climbing. And I got to the top. And I said, I'm too scared to come down. I'm I'm terrified. I was crying. And these poles are huge. You know, they're huge. And I was like, okay, I got up here, I can't get down. Uh I'm I'm I'm terrified. And I started to cry. And I never forget it. I'm gonna cry. Sergeant Zimmerman. He said, Booth, if I have to come up there and get you, I will. But you can come down here. You got up there, you can get down.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 37:22

And I said, okay. And I sat there and I said, okay, I can do this. I can do this. I got up here, I can get down.

unknown 37:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 37:34

And it took me a minute. I had to gather my wits. I said, you know what? The hardest part is over. I've survived the climbing.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

Okay. Don't look down. Just grab the poles and work your way back down. And I did that. And when I got to the bottom, I mean, my nerves were shaken. But I felt so accomplished. I felt so accomplished because I said, you know what? I didn't let the worst version of me tell the best version of me what to do. Ooh, say that again. Say that again. The worst version of me. Tell the best version of me what to do.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

I love it. I love that. I love that, Mary.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

It's an internal battle every day. Oh yes. Do I believe this about myself? And that negative thought you hear immediately after you say something positive to yourself is the worst version of you. Saying, no, you can't. They're not going to hear that. They don't want that. They're not accepting this. And that bet that future version of you, that version that you're like, oh, but I see myself. I see. I think I can do it. You got to tell that person, no, you have to be quiet. This is not your time. Take a back seat. Matter of fact, take several. Take several backseat.

SPEAKER_01 39:10

Okay, you know what I see that as I teach about the persona, the avatar, which was curated by the world. And that's who you're talking about. Because the essence of you says, I can. But we listen so attentively to the persona. That avatar. Stop listening to that avatar, that persona. Listen from within. The spirit of you will never lead you astray.

SPEAKER_02 40:01

Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Oh my goodness. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Right. Oh, you are so right.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

Yeah. I I and and I've told the story how I came about this because I do strength-based training uh coaching. And I talk about the time my son was playing video games. And I asked him what he was doing because I don't play video games. And he said, I'm creating my avatar. And I went, What are you doing? And he said, I'm creating my avatar. I create the avatar the way I want them to be. And I went, Oh my gosh, that's it. And he said, That's what? I said, that's the way we are. We have been created externally. Parents, other family members, teachers, bosses, friends. And we forget that God is spirit. We are created in his image. Therefore, we are spirit. And he's put strengths, talents, and gifts in you to discover. He didn't give you a sheet to say, okay, this is what I put in you. Right. And that's what I do. So when you said that, yeah, get go back, go several seats back. I I talk to my avatar all the time. Like, no, no, we're not doing that.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

I heard somewhere that you should name the future version of yourself. And every time you're doing something, you know, whether it's trying to save, you are saving for Bertha or Jennifer or Susan or Amy, whatever you name your future self. Yeah. You know, so you're saving for that person. And that person is going to say, you know what? Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 42:16

One day, because you're on a journey to becoming that person. Yes. Though you are not them yet, you can still say, you know what, this deposit, though I want to go to the mall, spend this money for these shoes, I'm going to save it. Because Bertha is going to need somewhere to lay her head and she's going to want it to be nice. She's going to want to sat in seat. Yeah. She's going, you know, she's going to want to drive a nice car. I'm putting this over here for you. Yes. And guess what? One day Bertha will be birthed.

unknown 42:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

She's going to say, thank you. Thank you for doing that. I know it was hard for us to buy them shoes.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

Thank you. I love it. You know, Mary, we've we've talked about defining moments. We've talked about facing fear. We've talked about the why. And before we go into my signature fire realm, what is your why today?

SPEAKER_03 43:15

My why is so that number one, that I discover everything that God has for me. I don't want to leave any gifts in me that He's placed. Come on. When I go to the ground, I want everything that He's put in me out of me. I want in some form or fashion to be seen, known in the world. Even if it's just my own children. I don't want to leave anything in there. Number two, I want to be able to encourage people as I go, you go. Come with me. Yes. Though our past and it may not be the same. Take encouragement from what you can, take wisdom from what you can, but let's go. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

I love it. Oh my goodness. Wow. I can be around you all day long, Mary. So this is the time that we have the signature fire round. Now, those of you that are listening and have been listening for a while, you know each guest goes to through the super the signature fire round. And I name it. So for Mary today, I name it the Rise and Shine Rapid Fire. And so I have short, punchy questions, Mary, that so you can just, whatever comes to your mind, this is just something fun, but I knowing you, it's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. So here we go.

SPEAKER_00 44:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

What does rise mean to you in one word?

SPEAKER_03 44:52

What does rise mean?

SPEAKER_01 44:54

In one word.

SPEAKER_03 44:55

Up.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

There you go. What's a quote you live by?

SPEAKER_02 45:04

Um, it's a scripture, I think. Do unto others as they would as you would have them do unto you. Uh-huh. That's a scripture.

SPEAKER_01 45:13

That's the golden rule.

SPEAKER_02 45:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

All right. A moment you knew God was leading you.

SPEAKER_03 45:22

Every time I get in front of the Bible study, camera, anything. Anything public.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

All right. What is your superpower as a mother? Patience. Ooh, yes. Yes, yes, yes. A book, song, or scripture that fuels your grit. Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 45:49

Our founding scripture for woe. Hebrews 10, verse 24 and 25. You want to say? Yes. Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.

unknown 46:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 46:07

I love it. What is the biggest misconception about you?

SPEAKER_03 46:13

That I'm always happy.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

But you are. One thing you want every woman listening to believe about herself.

SPEAKER_03 46:28

She can do it. Maybe not in her own power all the time, but she can definitely do it with her hand in God.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

Love it. And finish this sentence, and then we have one more. A rising woman is determined, destined.

SPEAKER_02 46:49

Determined and destined, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

All right. And lastly, lead from the front means do it first.

SPEAKER_03 47:01

Go before them. Don't wait for somebody else to go and be tagging on after. Jump out there.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Oh my goodness. Ah, well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, especially the ladies. Guys, I'm not trying to discount you, but hey, this is women ready to rise, reclaim, and radiate. So that is Mary Gully, the founder of Woe. She took a word that was negative and turned it into the positive. Women over offering. Offering encouragement, right? Yes. So let me pull up so you can reach out to Mary. And I think okay. We froze, but it's all good. Well, I don't know why it's not letting me. All right, I'm gonna put it up on the screen, everyone. If you want to be a part of, nope, that's the wrong one. Sorry. We'll get it right after a while. There we go. If you want to be a part of what Mary is doing with women offering encouragement, and they there's not enough room on the screen, go to Facebook, find out what they're doing, join them, and be a part, get involved. You know, you'll be the sum total of the people you hang around, the books you read, and the things you say. So if you don't like what you where you are right now, change the people you're hanging around, change the books you read, and change for sure. You can do this one first. Change what you say.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

And then we also have a Facebook group right there, and it is uh facebook.com slash groups slash she shines 2025. So join us. And as a matter of fact, your success work is this. We talked about the importance of knowing your why. So I want you to write out what your why is. The first time you answer that question will be a surface answer. Ask yourself, and what else? Six more times. And when you get to that seventh time, that happens to be God's number of completion, you will have the emotional connection to the real reason. So do that. Come on over to Facebook.com slash groups slash she shines 2025 and put it in the comments. You got to join first, but I'll, you know, accept your um your membership and put that success work in there. I want to read what your why is, and then through that group, we're going to encourage you. We're gonna hold you accountable. Uh-oh. I knew there was a catch. No. But hey, if if we don't hold you accountable, this up here is gonna talk you out of it. So, Mary, I'm gonna let you close us out. What would you like to tell our listening audience as we close?

SPEAKER_03 51:36

Lead from the front. That means that's not just a military statement. It means in every area of your life, if you don't like what you see, you be the first to start the change. Whether that's in word, whether that's in deed. So if you don't like it, you be the first to start the change that you want to see in the world.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

That's it. That's it. Thank you so much, Mary. Oh my goodness. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm gonna give you my own. And thank you, those of you listening. And I just want to say real quick, we are in 17 countries. She shines with Coach KG, 172 cities across the United States, and we just started in July. I can't wait to see what God's gonna do in 2026. So until next time, this is your host, Karen, Coach KG Gilliam. I love you. Take care.