The Holy Standard
Welcome to The Holy Standard - the podcast for women who don’t just want to grow, they want to lead. Here, we build spiritual authority, internal systems and bold standards that make you unshakable. If you’re done with watered-down faith, fluffy self-help and surface-level success... you’re in the right room. Let’s raise the bar and our standards.
The Holy Standard
'I feel behind and like everyone is winning besides me'
Your win will come and your victory is eternal. Let us root ourselves in the Lord and His words in how we conduct our lives and business. I pray this episode blesses you!
Welcome to the Holy Standard, the podcast for bold, god-led women with strong spirits, sharp minds and high standards. This is where kingdom authority meets high-performance discipline. Together, we're raising the standard for what it means to be a woman of God in business holy and high-level. I recently decided, after listening to Eddie Moore as podcast, that I'm actually going to start praying us in, especially when I'm speaking on biblical topics. So I just really invite you and ask, as you're listening to this, if you're not driving, please don't do this. If you're driving or running or operating anything, um, but I'm just going to pray us into this episode. Father, god, we just come to you today to just have you redeem our minds, renew our minds with the truth. Father, I ask that every single thing that I say is just guided by your wisdom. I pray that you give the women eyes and ears to see and to hear all the message that we're going to be speaking about today on topics of comparison and doubt and just really staying steadfast in our calling, so that we can reap the harvest that you have for us. Father, we know that you have good, good plans for each and every single one of us and I just ask that, through this episode, you bring this immeasurable peace among every single woman for exactly where she is in her journey, whether the journey consists of money or recognition, or power, or family right, meeting a partner or having children. Father, I ask that you just give them this insurmountable peace and comfort, that you are with them and that you have such a big plan over their lives and within their hearts. Father, I ask that you just comfort them, that you make it so blatantly clear that your hand is on them. Father, I just thank you for being so faithful, for giving me the testimony that I'm about to share on this podcast, and I just pray that this touches every single person that listens to this podcast in a very deep and a very special way, and it's in your name, jesus, we pray. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:I am so excited to get into today's episode. I wanted to actually start it by sharing a bit of my testimony. For those of you that might be new, I've had a really cool and crazy just last month or so. Within the last I think it's like the last 90 days I've had a couple of my videos go viral, which it's so crazy right, because it's like as soon as you surrender it and you don't care about this outcome. All of a sudden it just starts happening, um, and, needless to say, it was all messages that I had received from the Lord, which is just so insane. Right, he always will elevate and exalt the words that he has and the glory that he wants to truly come over his truth. Then, when I'm just trying to copy and paste like a viral formula which I just think is hilarious, props to being an entrepreneur in a secular world, um, trying to do things the worldly way isn't always going to work, but, um, I've had just an influx of people who are new listening to the podcast, um, who are new to even knowing who I am, which is just so, so cool. And I'm so blessed because over the past five years of entrepreneurship, I've really had like a really steady circle of like the same people, which is incredible. But you know, over time, they know my story, they know the quirks about me, they know things about myself. So I wanted to take an opportunity at the start of this podcast to kind of explain a bit of where I came from, and, of course, I kind of mentioned my testimony a while in one of the first episodes. But this is going to be so foundational for what I'm about to talk about today.
Speaker 1:For those who don't know me, a lot of my story starts throughout my childhood. I think most of ours does. But because I ran away from home at 16, at such a young age, due to just abuse, drugs, just there was a lot of conflict in the home, a lot of things that I didn't necessarily agree with. It was completely against my values at the time. Had you asked 16 year old me, this would not be the answer I'd give you, by the way. But just really looking back at it from a more spiritual and more mature lens, you know there was just a lot of conflict and a lot of inner turmoil for me, especially as a teenager. I think you know I I did mature very early on, and so I do believe that obviously, looking back now, I think it was a great decision that I did do it.
Speaker 1:Um, needless to say, it was probably one of the hardest things that I had done in my life. I didn't have my license. I pretty much had to work full-time as I was going through high school, didn't even have a have a license, mind you. So most of the time I'd be getting people to like pick me up from school, or I'd have to like walk and, you know, try and like meet people to like pick me up and drive me, etc. And then after school I'd pretty much walk over to work, work until 10, 11 p PM and then hope that one of my coworkers could drop me off.
Speaker 1:And it's just so crazy thinking back to the state of my life. Because, if I'm honest, growing up and going through this at that time had you have asked me if I believed in God, it was a hard no, absolutely not. You know, I looked at my circumstances and my like, my rebuke almost, was how could there be a God if this is what I've lived through, if this is what I've done right? At that time I thought, well, bad things happen to bad people. And so I'm looking at myself, you know, looking at the youngest age of when everything started to happen in my life, when I was separated from my biological mother, all this stuff started happening. And, you know, at that part I didn't do anything, I didn't know how to do anything. Right, it's not like I was getting into bad things and a bad thing happened. It was like I was a child, I didn't know any better, and so a lot of this I felt like was a punishment for something I didn't do, which is so insane. Obviously, now looking back, it was such a huge refining season over my life.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, leaving home at 16 is such a huge part of my testimony and it really set the foundation for every single thing that I do here today, the reason why I am so. There's so much of my heart for calling women higher, getting women into leadership, really calling women into their voice, using a platform, working their fricking butt off because that's what I had to do in order to survive at that time and really just navigating life and doing it in a way that can be so fruitful, rather than playing the victim, because that's also what I did at that time. But it's so beautiful looking back because if somebody was to ask me why I believe in God right now, what I used to think was the circumstance of why I couldn't believe in him, like how could he he can exist if this happened? Now I look back at my circumstances and it's the reason why I believe, because leaving home at 16, you have to understand like I had no resources, I didn't have a ton of family, so I had nobody around me and over the year of just it was such a hard year that first year all fully on my own, because there's so much growing pains and, mind you, again, I did not have resources. So I was going couch to couch, couch surfing from some friends. Eventually their parents would get annoyed at me and want to kick me out, and it was really hard to first of all feel like I wasn't seen or loved or chosen by my own parents, but also other people's parents Not that I would expect them to, but there was definitely you know this like abandonment and my heart really did start to harden at this time, going from living with an ex-boyfriend at the time who was cheating on me while I was living with him and I was walking everywhere Again, didn't have a car, didn't have any support, had a boyfriend that was cheating on me. People were kicking me out of their house. It was so hard to eventually finding this tiny, tiny little bachelor studio Whatever room you might be sitting in right now is probably the size of that. It really was not big. There was enough room for a bed, a bathroom and half a kitchen sink pretty much it. It was just insane, and so that is where I lived and it was crazy because moving in you would think that I would I didn't have anything. I maybe had a box of my clothes, because you have to like.
Speaker 1:I want to bring some visuals to this when I left home this is pretty much how it went down. I got really frustrated because I was grounded, because I had snuck seeing my boyfriend at the time away from my parents, and they had just found out about it. So I was grounded for a month and they said, after the month I could have my phone back, my iPad back, etc. Obviously, there was other things happening in the house as well. And I went and I said, okay, the month is up, give me my stuff, I'm out of exile, like I'm ready to be a teenager again. And they were like nope, and we're putting, you know, all these different controls on you. We're going to have your location at all times. You know you have to give us your phone. I don't remember exactly what it was. I could be exaggerating, um, but there was all these things. And I just looked at my dad and I was like, absolutely not.
Speaker 1:And it's so crazy because I grew up with the understanding of like you don't talk back to adults, right? Authority figures when I grew up was important, right? You stay respectful. If you don't agree, just keep your mouth shut. Children are to be seen, not heard. And for the first time in my life it was like this, uncontrollable. I just started raging at my father and I remember grabbing my stuff, getting my stuff back I think I packed two bags in total called a cab and left Chelsea like what about any of your other things? Nope, gone, I just poof bye. And since then I just never went back. I think there was a couple times that I knew that my parents would be at work and I snuck in to steal some of my stuff that I forgot, but that was the extent of it. And so I want to put that visual in place, because when I finally got my own place at this age, I didn't think about stealing cups, I didn't think about buying salt and pepper, I didn't like you don't think of that at 16, moving out.
Speaker 1:And the reason why I have this unshakable faith now in Jesus is because I see him in hindsight. It's like I look in the rear view mirror and when I was driving at the time I didn't see it, but when I look in the rear view, he was in every single moment. When I tell you that people started fundraising to get me stuff for my house, that my coworkers bought an Ikea bed and mattress for me, I'm telling you that when I went to buy my first car and I was going to give hand him over the money I think it was like $1,500 or something. It wasn't huge, but to me at the time it was huge. Of course I'm buying this. You know Honda Civic. It's not the greatest, coolest car in the world, it was what I could afford at the time. And I remember him just looking at me and he goes you know what, just have it. I was like what do you mean? It's a car. He told me that he was just going to use the money to pay back his parents, so it didn't really matter to give him the money, and that he would rather me have it than for him to have it, which is just so crazy and such a blessing right.
Speaker 1:And I just consistently think what stirred these people's hearts to be so involved and to be so kind and to be so compassionate and so generous? I have never experienced generosity and still, to this day, I have never experienced generosity like that, ever, ever before and ever again. It's since that point in my life and you know there's so much more I was getting food boxes from the Salvation Army of just like the canned goods. Right, if you donated to the Salvation Army, I probably got your canned beans I was just getting. There was this outpouring of support and love in what should have been the lowest and most under-resourced time in my life, and it just goes to show the Lord will always provide. But I bring up and I start this podcast episode with this reminder, because I tell you at this time you have to think.
Speaker 1:At 16 years old, I have friends whose parents are buying them Lululemon, who are getting home cooked meals, who are able to go into like dance and sports and do all these extracurricular activities. They're hanging out, they're going on trips. You know they're doing all the things that a kid that's like, slowly, surely about to graduate high school is taking advantage of. Right, they're okay. Their mom just bought them a brand new Mercedes Benz Like, oh, cool, awesome, good for you. And I'm sitting here, I'm like I can barely afford a car. I'm eating three day old chicken fingers that were almost thrown in the trash, cause I worked at a restaurant and I would just take whatever is about to be thrown in the trash home to eat.
Speaker 1:It was so hard Cause I was in this constant comparison of looking what everybody else had and what I thought I couldn't get. And let me tell you how many circumstances and how many opportunities that I automatically disqualified myself for because I looked at where I came from, not where I wanted to go. Okay, you hear me? Because I said well, my parents are addicts, I come from abuse, I have childhood trauma, I live on my own, know I'm poor, I'm this, I'm that and I over identified with my circumstance, so much so that I started making it the disqualifier of why I couldn't do the things that I wanted. I would look at and say, well, I'm not privileged like them, well, I don't have this head start right. It felt like I started in life like 80 million steps behind what everybody else had gotten and and there was this unfair advantage that it seemed that everybody else around me had. And so I'm looking at them with envy and with jealousy and comparing myself and feeling like I need to compete.
Speaker 1:It felt like I had one leg amputated and they all were like Terry Fox or they were like, they all were just like runners. And here I am. I'm like I got one leg, like how am I supposed to keep up with these people? And that's what it felt like, right, when everyone was buying you know the purse that was in style. I was sitting there being like, well, I got to try and afford my phone bill, right. And that was just where my mindset was and it obviously at the time was unfortunate and I don't want to negate that. There was definitely struggle and it was hard. Right, it's not to say, oh well, you're a victim, you should have been in this la la land. No, that's not what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:But because I took that victim role so to heart, there truly was such a big part of me that thought, when I was looking at my dreams, that I couldn't do it because of where I came from. And I want to bring this up to you today because at that time in my life, the season that I was in, felt like the setback. It was the reason why I couldn't have money. It was the reason why I'd never have success. It was a reason for all of these things in my life. I blamed it for the reason why I couldn't do something. Now, let me tell you, in the following years after that, it became the very reason why I got things. It was a reason why I got school scholarships. It was the reason why I got my car in the first place. He gave it to me because of my circumstance. It was the reason why in my first full blown apartment that I got not just the bachelor room that I had, my full blown apartment that I got by myself. She picked me because of my story.
Speaker 1:Right, there's all these times, you know, I can even think of the platform that I've built over the past five years is a direct correspondence of my situation. But I'm telling you, I'm sitting there and I'm looking at what everybody else has and is doing and gets to do and how well they seem like they're doing. They found the loves of their life. I'm like in abusive relationships all the time. I have no money. People are going on trips, right. There is this complete contradiction that I just felt like. I felt like I was in a cage. I felt like I was in jail and everybody else was roaming free in this beautiful paradise. That's what life felt like at that time and it just makes me honestly think of how many people feel that way in their entrepreneur, in their entrepreneurial journey and in business now, today, because I see so many people who are in that constant comparison. They're trying to compete, they're trying to keep up with people.
Speaker 1:And this message, truly, I hope, is a message of revelation for you that if you feel that way, that you're not where you want to be, it's not always the matter of how much hard work and determination you have to put in. Sometimes it's literally just the season that God has put you in. Because, I'm telling you, I look back at that season of whatever you want to call it, season of suffering, the season of setback, and it's the very reason why now I have the success that I do. And it took me, mind you, I'm 27. That was 16. That was nearly 10 years of refining and me fully starting to surrender to the Lord, even when I didn't know who he was right, even when I didn't have full faith in Jesus Christ, of me fully surrendering my will to whatever I felt in my spirit he was calling me to do. And even when I look back right, I can see the physical fruit of him being a part of my life, even if I wasn't inviting him in. Right, I can see so clearly that he was running after me because my spirit had such a hard. There was such a connection to Jesus, and I know that because he's guided me every single step of the way.
Speaker 1:And people are always like, well, how do you know? Why are you doing these big crazy things? And I'm like it just feels right, I don't know. I can't explain it to you. When you see the crazy things that I do. When I completely just decided to drive to Houston, to move to the States, right, those things didn't make sense, but there was this huge, just like calling in my spirit and all my heart. That's like it's just a thing that I need to do right Now. Obviously I know it because I can feel the Holy Spirit, I can recognize it now. But I truly tell you, throughout the entirety of my life, that is what I felt. But I truly tell you, throughout the entirety of my life, that is what I felt. And so I really just want to speak this life over you, because it's so easy for us to get caught up, caught up in what everybody else is doing. Oh, my gosh, this person's making X amount of money. I'm only stuck at this. Oh my gosh, this person's popping off on social media. I can barely get likes. Oh my gosh, this person and I and this person and I, compare, compare, compare. But can we just remember?
Speaker 1:And a verse that I try to tell myself over and over is Jeremiah 29, 11, right, it's such a hugely quoted verse, but I'm telling you, when you read scripture, when you read the word, it's not important that you're just reading the word. Oh, I'm reading, I'm studying the Bible today. That's awesome, cool. And also, are you taking it in as truth? There is a difference there than just plainly reading something and saying I believe this in my spirit, that it is true, and even if it is hard for me to believe it, I am going to make a choice to believe it. So Jeremiah 29, 11 says for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. So this is your reminder, if you are listening to this right now God's timing and his blueprint and his mapping over your life, they're not tied to the output that you can put out. I think obedience is important.
Speaker 1:Obviously I've done podcasts about your ambition. I think it's important to have stewardship, to have godly ambition right To biblically look at your, your stewardship and how you're working and just really making sure that you're, you know, really running your fields. But you have to recognize that he has your future marked out. I was actually reading this morning. I had flipped to some Psalms to include in my prayer and there was Psalm 13, was Psalm 139, where David is talking about I believe it's written by David, david or Solomon, whoever was writing about just our path right that God had for us. Psalm 139,.
Speaker 1:But verse 16 says your eyes saw my unformed body right. He knit me together in my mother's womb. And so when I'm seeing this, god knit me together in my mother's womb. He saw me before my body was even formed. Right. He knit me together in my mother's womb and so when I'm seeing this, god knit me together in my mother's womb. He saw me before my body was even formed right, when I was just starting to form my fingers, and all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be, before I even had one day here on earth, he had written all of my days and I consistently I was actually telling Sal about this the other day. The wonder that actually, when God created Adam, he already had all of my days planned out Like that is how good God is right. He has this huge, huge plan for each and every single one of us that was already made before you were even born.
Speaker 1:So whenever you're feeling like you're late or maybe God forgot about you, like, remember that part. It wouldn't have seemed like it back when I was 16 and poor and going through all the trials that I went through, that I would have a successful future. But now I'm telling you, if it was not for that part of my life, I wouldn't be here, right? I'm telling you, very, very often your setbacks become your slingshot and if you start looking at them as though they are, you will start to catapult and you will start to really look at the things that are placed in your life right now, instead of comparing what everybody else has thinking. You need to be there already. You'd be taking the fruit of what's coming to harvest now, and I'm going to tell you a lot of the fruit that it even takes to have the physical and outward success, especially from a biblical standpoint. It all starts within your heart, right, and so if right now you're comparing yourself, you're just, you know you're stuck in this lack and scarcity.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, right now you are not living in accordance to God's word. In God's word, it literally says in 2 Corinthians 10-12, when they measure themselves by themselves, they are not wise. Your lane is to be so fully focused on God, your faith, your path, your lane, that you can't even look at somebody else's. I'm going to tell you, right now, competition is demonic. That's exactly what the enemy would want you to do is to be looking at, well, what has he given other people? Because, let's be so real, a lot of you are comparing God's blessings in your life to the devil's blessings in somebody else's. Which life do you actually want? Because they sacrifice their soul to get a lot of the stuff they have. And you're looking, you're like, oh, I want that. God's looking at you and he's like I gave you 10 times more eternal, better fruit. And you're comparing yourself to these people over here who are acting like heathens, like, let's just be so real. So when you're looking at it from that type of perspective, it really starts to put your heart in check, right, we know to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. Nowhere in the Bible does it say well, if other people are winning and succeeding, that means that you suck.
Speaker 1:No, there's actually a Psalm and I can't remember off the top of my head. I should have found it before filming. But when we're looking at comparison, there's a Psalm that really talks in depth to wicked people and them succeeding and why they succeed and how we just measure ourselves up to them over and over. I had to find it for you guys because it's so good and I remember the first time I ever saw this Psalm and I it hit me like a ton of bricks because I just recognize how true this is. It was true before, but now it's also true today. So Psalm 73, surely good God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped because I'd nearly lost my foothold, for I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. How many times do we envy the prosperity of the wicked we're like? Well, they're not good people, so how do they have success? That's the question I get asked a lot, especially when you start trying to do business in a biblical way. Right.
Speaker 1:And this person goes on to say they have no struggles, their bodies are healthy and strong, they are free from common human burdens, they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore, pride is their necklace. They clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity. Their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff and speak with malice. With arrogance, they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven and their tongues take possession of the earth. Lay claim to heaven and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore, their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say how would God know? Does the most high know anything? And this is what the wicked are like. Always, free of care, they go on amassing wealth, surely in vain.
Speaker 1:I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence All day long. I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all of this, it troubled me deeply, until until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground, you cast them down to ruin, how suddenly they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors. They are like a dream when one awakes. When you arise, lord, you will despise them as fantasies. When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand and guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish. You destroy all who are unfaithful to you, but as for me, it is good to be near Lord. I've made the sovereign Lord my refuge and I will tell all of all of your deeds.
Speaker 1:This is such a rich psalm you guys Like. If I could break it down verse by verse, I will. When I started Bible study, that could be one of the ones that we go over. But he continues to say you know, these rich people, these people are amassing in wealth, they have no cares about them, they're just living these good lives, they're in perfect health. They have all these things going for them? Why do I consistently struggle? And here you are, you're sitting and you're going. Wow, I could have written that one myself. I'm looking at all these people comparing myself and here I am and I'm going. What the heck? I kept my heart pure, I washed my hands in innocence, I read my Bible, I do the Christian things, but I'm afflicted and every morning brings new punishments. Why? Right? But catch himself.
Speaker 1:In this Psalm he goes on to say if I had spoken out like that, if I went to God and I said, well, why are you helping them? But I have such a bad life, he says, I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand how all of this is going, it troubled me, until I in the presence of God and I actually got eternal understanding that just because people have wealth, nice houses, nice cars, etc. You will always look and think that their life is better until you truly understand the salvation that Jesus bought and the eternal life that you have. There's a lot of Christians who don't fully understand the promise of eternal life, and so you're sitting here thinking you have it worse off. Let me tell you I would rather have a middle income and go to heaven than to be rich, amassing wealth and going to hell.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I think that this is so important for us to recognize in this game of comparison because, let me tell you, when I first came across that Psalm, I was like I could have written as myself, but remind you what does he say? He says earth has nothing I desire besides you. Right, we can look at the state of comparison and really honestly like, take into consideration in our hearts why is there all these worldly things that I desire with so much of my heart? And instead of chasing those, how do I chase God faster, harder, like, deeper? How do I chase God more than any other thing that the world could give me? Because, if I'm honest and I'm going to give hi, I'm Chelsea.
Speaker 1:I have a confession when I looked at a lot of the goals that I set for myself over this previous year and obviously most of my life, you know, being on Forbes 30 under 30 was super important to me Um, you know, having a nice house, all these things which still would be nice, right, but they don't seem like absolute. I need to do them anymore. It just seems like, yeah, that would be cool, but the coolest thing in this world is that I get to talk to Jesus every single day. Right, like we underestimate the gift that we truly have. If I was to say, hey, I will give you a million dollars and you can't have God or Jesus in your life, or you can have the king of the universe by your side every single day.
Speaker 1:Like which one would you choose? I would want, hey. The creator, the guy who created the sunsets, the beaches, the world, human brain, all wisdom, good and evil, the entire world. I think that I want him in my back pocket, actually, the one who brings me peace, the one who's given me the love I desired my whole life. But we don't see it that way. You see, we especially if you do call yourself a Christian we're looking at all these worldly things people have and then we think we're worse off. Let me tell you once again your setback, or your slow season, is the very reason you will be successful. But let me tell you what is the thing that you're positioning yourself towards? What has the throne of your heart? Because if it's not God, then it's something else and that needs to be looked into. So how can we chase God with all of our heart. Because, let me tell you, when you are so full of the joy of the Lord, it's not even going to come into your head to go and compare yourself or to envy other people.
Speaker 1:I have gone over this last year. It's been such an interesting battle, if you will, and just going back and forth in the duality of being in a secular industry like entrepreneurship that is so worldly, with idolatry and the spirit of mammon and all of it, to also being so deep in my faith. And there is obviously days where I'm more in one than the other and trying to really balance that out. But let me tell you, when I'm so, when I'm so rooted in my faith, I am unshakable. There is nothing that could throw me off, that could make me feel like I'm lesser than that could make me feel like I've done something wrong or I need to be somewhere that I'm not when I'm in the presence of the Lord. Y'all.
Speaker 1:This morning I was just dancing by myself, like in the corner of my bathroom just dancing. I don't know why. I was like I just got to get it out and I'm like giggling to myself, and I was like the joy of the Lord is my strength, the fact that I'm so consumed with this joy, that is my power in this life not anything else and the fact that I get to be submitted to the creator. Let's just think about that. I'm a fan of sunsets. When I look at the person, the creator, who created that sunset, and I think, well, he wants to create my life too. I'm going to let him do his thing, let him cook, because he wants to do something so big and so great and so mighty. Are you letting him? Are you letting that presence come through your entire life?
Speaker 1:I could spend hours in the word of God. I spent hours in my Bible. I could spend hours just in worship, and it's the most beautiful thing, because nothing, there is nothing that fulfills my heart the way that that does. And if you haven't experienced that yet, I just want to encourage you to go experience that. Go find a good worship service Like. Go find people who will pray with you. Go onto the enduring word and study your Bible. It is something so supernatural that will come over you If you're in this season right now, and I can tell you, matthew 6, 33 always rings through my head and it says seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
Speaker 1:So these things that you want, these things that you, that you speak of, you think of, you compare if you just seeked God first, first and foremost, above all else, those things will already be given to you. You know, he will provide not just at what you need, he will provide over and abundantly what you could have ever even asked for. And I think that's so big because, especially if you're like me and you got expensive taste and you had big vision boards, like I just can't help but wonder. Okay, if I'm thinking of the life I tried to design myself and I think that he wants to give me abundantly more than I could ever ask for, than the life I created, I'm gonna let him cook. I'm gonna let him do his thing. I'm gonna just stay so steadfast in the spirit that I'm gonna let him cook. I'm gonna let him do his thing. I'm gonna just stay so steadfast in the spirit that I'm just gonna let him do his thing, whatever he needs to do. Okay, and so I just really want you to recognize where you might be doing this in your life.
Speaker 1:Is there a specific area of your life that you're caught in comparison, looking at what everybody else is doing. Maybe is it the record months? Is it the Instagram? Is it clients? Is it? I don't know what it is for you, but I know that there's something, because you're listening to this episode and you're also a human being. Okay, um, and so I wanted to read from Galatians six nine. It says let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Speaker 1:And I just really want to take something that my friend, kevin, actually said on our podcast a couple episodes back was talking about looking at your business as though it's not a rocket ship but a garden. Oh, like, do you just feel the exhale in that? It is not about going to Mars as quick as possible, as fast as you can, going and doing the thing. It's a garden and I surely know that if I plant a bunch of seeds and I water them and I pull the weeds and I give them adequate sunlight and there's rain and there's an environment for it to flourish, that my soil is good, I can count on there being a harvest. There's no way I'm going to plant all these seeds. Do everything. Well, you know, work hard, that there's not going to be anything that grows. I'm not a gardener, okay, so people can check me on this. I might be wrong, but for the most part, as far as I know, if I planted a hundred tomato plants and I went and meticulously watered them, did what I needed to do, I could promise you that there would be growth, there would be a harvest.
Speaker 1:Now I'm just so curious and obviously this gets strengthened the deeper that you go in the spirit but why we, as entrepreneurs especially, who are tied to our hands and our feet are the work of God, that we feel like, if we plant a bunch of seeds, that it's just not going to. Nothing's going to grow? The law of having a garden as your business is that things will grow. Now, this would be my question, though is that there's two things that I would start to audit in my environment? If you felt that this was not the case, right? If you were sitting in a place where you thought that doubt was more inevitable than your eventual success that is a promise from God, mind you, I'd look at two main things in my life, and the first thing would be well, what's the environment right? I'd be looking at is the environment likely to produce growth. And so, obviously, for you, this is your external environment.
Speaker 1:Are you hanging around people who are biblically sound? Do you have discipleship within the church or within like a study group? Do you have you know? Do you take time to read your Bible, to worship, to do those things right? How is your environment around you, the people, the places, what are you listening to? What are you watching? You know all of these things matter. It's been such a huge year for me because when I'm telling you I've like given up Tate McRae, like I look at Tate McRae and Sabrina Carpenter now and I just look at, oh my goodness, like I was listening to this every single day. I watch the videos now and I'm like this is so provocative and lustful Like I can't even look at it anymore. Like I can't watch horror movies. I will not. I rebuke that in the name of Jesus. Anything that I watch like pretty much has to be like biblically sound, and obviously to a lukewarm Christian that's going to sound very extreme, it's going to seem very harsh, but when you start to recognize the change in your spirit, you're going to be like, oh well, I want that kind of environment, because I've seen the fruit that comes from it. Okay, you're following.
Speaker 1:So the second thing that I would get is not only the environment to produce growth, but I'd also be looking at the soil. If your soil is not good, if you were planting seeds and like dry, bummy soil, it's not going to produce fruit. And your soil, in this circumstance, is what you are rooted in, which is the word of God, it is your relationship with God, it is your soil, is your heart. Okay, that's what I'm going to say. If your soil is crooked and wicked, you can expect that the fruit will reflect that. But if your heart is rooted in servanthood and is pure and you've been washed with innocence, right, like how good of a God do we have that all of my marred, scars, cuts, scrapes, all the bruises in my heart get washed clean by his blood and he makes me white as snow, like what a blessing that I get to show up with a heart so pure, because he's purified me, right, and so my fruit will reflect that. So those are the two things that I'd be looking at is your environment, and then also looking at the actual soil that you're planting yourself in. Now to go back to my initial point. If you're doing all of those things, you're putting in the work, you're pulling the weeds, you're in placing it in good environment, you have good soil what makes you think that you won't have the harvest?
Speaker 1:And I think that this says so much more about where your faith is. If I'm being really honest because I talk to people all the time about where your faith is, if I'm being really honest because I talk to people all the time and there was actually the verse of the day today if you guys don't have the Bible app, it's the greatest thing in the world, because I just love. I love reading my verse of the day, and the verse today was Mark 9, 23,. And it says everything is possible for one who believes. And in this circumstance, the father was actually bringing his demon-possessed son to Jesus and saying, hey, can you, if you can, heal him? Like, would you be able to? And it was like this doubt, like this, can you? And Jesus responded and he said if you can, said Jesus, everything is possible for one who believes. Right, and we're just constantly reminded that the question isn't if he can, but it's whether we believe that it will happen.
Speaker 1:And constantly I'm reminded that faith is a choice and it's whether we believe that it will happen. And constantly I'm reminded that faith is a choice and it's a byproduct of making the decision to live as though there is no limitation on God's power. But more than that, the belief isn't in ourselves. The belief is in God's ability and character. He has the power. We're just the hands and feet Amen. So when we're looking at this, we need to remind ourselves that it's not in your striving, it is not in your power, it is not in your belief, but in God's, and this actually becomes your superpower, because he has more power than you ever will. Period right. Like everyone nowadays is trying to be their own God, I don't want to be God. I'm not good at being God. I don't have enough power to be a God. I'm gonna let him do the work, because he's done big and mighty things that I could never even fathom doing.
Speaker 1:So, knowing that there is a due season. That is inevitable. Okay, their season might have come quicker. They might have planted different seeds, that's okay. That doesn't mean that your garden's any worse off just because they planted zucchini and they're getting the harvest of zucchini. You planted tomatoes. Your tomatoes aren't ready yet doesn't mean anything about who you are as a gardener, okay, but compare this to business, right? Okay, people have different businesses, they have different models, they have different. They just people are different. Right, it doesn't make any sense to compare or contrast any of that, it just stay in your lane. If you spend more time in your garden pulling weeds, making your environment well, plugging at your soil, than you did looking over the fence at someone else's garden, you'd have more of a harvest by now.
Speaker 1:Okay, so just really recognizing like it is inevitable, and especially like going back to God's word. Every single promise that he has in there is for you. Okay, it's easy to think about, oh, but he said this to Jeremiah and he said this to Isaiah. And maybe I don't feel like I'm a worthy Christian and maybe I feel like, for some shape, way or form, what is written in the Bible doesn't apply to me, but that is the enemy. There's every, every single thing that is written in here applies to you, it is for you. Okay, it wasn't written to you, but it was written for you. And so we're recognizing that, simply, when we're reading this text, there's so much certainty in the way that Jesus speaks. If you go through the gospels where he says you will succeed, I will be with you, this will happen. There's not. It might, I don't know, or maybe it's always with divine certainty, and what I think is so beautiful about that is it reflects the promise he has for us. Right? Let's go back to Jeremiah 29, 11. I know the plans I have for you. It's not. There might be plans. I know the plans are to prosper you, not to harm you, and there's plans to give you hope in the future. That's period Periodcom.
Speaker 1:You can't erase what God has said and then try and put in your own version. That's you trying to be God. Me submitting to the will of God is saying that every promise and everything that he has promised within the word of God applies to me. That's what being fully submitted is, and then I obey it. Right, so stand firm in that. Let that really move you and let that be so fruitful in today's episode to really ground you in the grace of God.
Speaker 1:Like you know that your labor, if it is for the Lord, is not in vain. Like he will see you and he will reward you, and not only physical and worldly rewards, but also being rewarded in heaven, like I don't know what they got up there, if they got like Cinnabons, if there's like front row seats to meeting him more hugs I don't know what it's going to look like, but I can promise you I'm going to try to get as many brownie points down here on earth as I possibly can so that when I go up there it is glorious and it is all for the glory of the Lord and not for my own glory. So I just really hope that if there's anything that you take from this is to not compare yourself. But I also want to just like sidebar a little bit and talk about so much time where we spend in that comparison is not only for the fruit that other people are getting, whether it's money, likes followers, like whatever it is for you, family oh, they have a better partner than me, they're better in shape than me, blah, blah, blah. Whatever it is for you still doesn't matter, okay, we're still not. Comparing does not matter. If you think your circumstance calls for it, it does it, okay. But we're also recognizing that so much of your worth is not tied to your productivity or recognition.
Speaker 1:Again, I was saying it as I was going back, when I really reflected on wanting to be on the cover of Forbes and I was like, okay, well, why do I actually want this? And I really sat with myself and I prayed about it, I wrestled with it, it was really awkward and I'm going to tell you guys, cause I'm just going to be transparent about it. But I sat and so much of it was out of a place of self-importance because I sat and I was like what difference would it actually make to do that? And I was like, oh well, I'd feel important. Then people would have to take me seriously, right, it would feel like I won. And I kind of sat with myself and I was like that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. Like, of course, making it on the cover of Forbes or in Forbes 30 under 30, I'm not diminishing that, it is a huge accomplishment. But why would it make me feel any different about what I'm doing, who I am or why I'm doing it? I shouldn't, right, all it was tied to was my recognition. And again, right, I'm looking at.
Speaker 1:If you guys haven't read the story of Mary and Martha, it is so humbling to me because it convicts me every single time. Because I am Martha. I was born Martha. I am a Martha trying to live in Mary's composition, okay, but essentially the story goes Martha.
Speaker 1:So imagine this Jesus comes in your house. There's two sisters. Martha is cooking, making food. She's like the housewife, right, she's like the host. She's getting all the things together. And Mary is sitting at his feet, fully present, thinking and chewing on every single word that Jesus is saying. And Martha goes over and is like Jesus, like are you just going to let her sit there and just be lazy and not help me? Right? She had this pride about her of do you see everything that I'm doing? Like, how dare her just sit in your presence when I'm putting all this work in? Like I deserve the recognition. And it's so funny because Jesus tells Martha that Mary chose the better option, that she chose the better portion because she was so consumed in his presence.
Speaker 1:But Martha was so consumed in her performance, right, how well she's doing. Is she doing a host? She's striving right? And if anything, if we're hosting, if we are to make others food, it should never be out of that place. It should be out of being a joyful giver, right? That is what the Bible ordains us to be a joyful giver, to being generous in spirit, and so it just really allows us to recognize that God values the intimacy with him more than any hustle, any striving, any recognition, any of those things. And if we can be so at peace in like the truth of what God gives us, that that will make everything else seem so small. And I promise you, if you live for the world, you are going to look for worldly rewards, but when you're living for your spirit, you're going to feel the difference in that and how you feel. You might not be able to see it like outwardly right away, but let me tell you you are not forgotten Like God has big plans for you. He wants to prosper you Because, mind you, in the podcast episode that I did with Rachel go back and listen to it y'all.
Speaker 1:I've listened to it two to three times myself she says something that really shook me and she talked about how, in the Old Testament, one of God's favorite evangelism tactics was using jealousy. Yeah, he was like I'm going to send my people to the land flowing with milk and honey. I'm going to give them the best and the best, so every other nation will look at them and see my glory. We need to understand here, as Christians, that the martyrdom of not having anything doesn't exist. Right? God wants you to have things. He wants you to have things abundantly, which means more than what you actually need. It's above what is the bare minimum, right? It's not just like barely paying your bills and getting by. God wants you to have abundance. He wants you to have this incredible life because, not just for our own goods, because he wants to take care of us. He also wants to glorify his name.
Speaker 1:And so when we're looking at well, why would I just be a Christian and submit myself and just care about my spiritual health more than I compare or care about everything else? It's because he will do the work for you. He can put more opportunities and placements in your lap than you ever could by working seven days a week, 24, seven. And when you're able to submit to the Lord and submit to the plans that he has for you, you are essentially saying like, hey, I want the better portion. Like I want the bigger piece of cheesecake. Yes, please, right. I don't know why we still try and think that we need to do it on our own, but I think right now, in this season, if you feel like maybe you're forgotten about or you're abandoned, because it feels like everybody else is winning and not you.
Speaker 1:Obviously apply the earlier portion of this podcast episode to yourself, but it's also, you know, a huge recognition of do you just feel like God doesn't see you? Do you feel like the orphan spirit takes over and I've heard this from so many women the orphan spirit of oh, I'm just the odd one out. Why would God care about me? Why would he love me? Hagar in Genesis calls God Elroy, which means the God who sees me. All the recognition that you get from your peers, from social media, from all those things, fade away. People like your post and then they never think about it again.
Speaker 1:God's acknowledgement is eternal. He's thinking of you. We have to think about this, like let's actually set the scene for the character of God. He is thinking of you 24 seven. He knows the hairs, every single hair on your head, like he knit you together in your mother's womb, and every single time that I call on him, he comes close and he comes near. In this moment, I can say Father, come and meet me in this moment. Come, just exude your Holy Spirit. In this entire podcast, father, I ask that you just come and you give us an encounter so great that I know that you are here. Lord, fill my heart, fill my spirit with your presence. I can call on him in every moment and know that he is here.
Speaker 1:And so you're sitting here thinking that he is not here. He can't hear you, he doesn't have plans for you, he forgot about you. But if I was to make a submission, I would say that you're probably not close enough to him to hear him or to feel him. He never leaves. He never leaves your side. It's you who distances yourself and it's you who walks away.
Speaker 1:And so if you are looking at trying to live for the world, you are going to be running after the world. You're going to be running into compromise. That is going to be inching you further and further away from the Lord. But I'm telling you, if you want the eternal reward and you want to do things in a biblical sense, you're going to be inching closer and closer to God and it's going to be less likely to look like the way that the world is doing it. So when you're looking at the wicked and the worldly people doing the things they do, don't compare yourself to a path that is given from Satan than your path that has been given from God, because what matters more than literally anything else in the entire world is to hear at the end of my life well done, good and faithful servant. And I just pray that every single one of us can live in that, to live in the freedom that comes from it, and for us to ground ourselves in that. And I will say, obviously, if you are an entrepreneur and you're like, how do I do this thing biblically, like God, there is so much about leadership and about just your positioning as a person, money, all of this stewardship in the Bible, and I do truly think that having a mentor that understands this, that is rooted in this, deeply matters.
Speaker 1:I've done it so many times. I go to mentors who are rooted in the world and they're all of a sudden. I start having all these idols, I start finding myself in bondage to things that I never thought I cared about before, right, but now, all of a sudden, I'm in shackles, I'm in chains to money, to impressions, to blowing up, to scaling, to all of these things, and I sit back and I ask myself and I go that was never from me. But in joining this and even just going into certain mentorships, I found myself making agreements with the enemy that I never verbally consented to out loud. But my actions and what I agreed to, what I nodded to, the calls that I listened to, put those agreements in me right, let us not be naive. To what we listen to, who we consume, right, what we put ourselves around, because that stuff matters.
Speaker 1:The enemy doesn't need you to say, hey, come into my life. He just needs a small little open window to sneak in and to create a foothold. That foothold then becomes a stronghold. So, be cognizant of who you are hanging out around. To the mentors that you hire, especially within this context, and just recognize too like, what states in your life do you compare more than you live truly and fully in peace in your spirit? Right, those things are going to matter. And I pray also that I can always continuously be the mentor to the people who are under me, who always feel prayerful and like deeply compelled in the spirit to get closer to the Lord.
Speaker 1:And what I will say is I'm actually going to be starting a Bible study in the next few weeks. Okay, I'm like, stay tuned. I don't have any details yet. Um, obviously I will be adding them on my podcast as I go and as I announce it. Um, obviously, for free. Um coming onto zoom, having discipleship, being able to, you know, ask for prayer and all of these things. So definitely stay tuned for that. If this, if this podcast, resonated with you, and if anything came up for you, please know that you can come to me individually if you need prayer, if you have questions or anything of the such, but I just pray that you keep your eyes on him. God is the most important piece of anything that you would do today, and so, if there's anything that this podcast invites you to do, I hope it's to go open the word, go just even sit in prayer for five minutes and just invite him into your life, because he wants to do significantly more for you than you could ever do for yourself.