The Proverbs 31 Show
The Proverbs 31 Show, by Leanni Tibbetts, is a faith-based podcast that empowers women around the globe by sharing inspiring stories, actionable insights, and authentic journeys of influential female leaders from diverse fields. The platform will foster a community of support, faith, and courage by highlighting voices that challenge norms and redefine success.
The Proverbs 31 Show
She Walked Away From Everything. Here's Why.
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From Busy to Purposeful. Dawn has built a life defined by leadership, entrepreneurship, family and service. But after years of constantly saying yes, she began to recognize that her busy schedule left little room for God, reflection or her own well-being.
In this episode, Dawn discusses her journey from a demanding life in HR, business and charitable leadership to a more intentional walk with God.
The conversation also explores the challenges women face in leadership and entrepreneurship, the influence of praying mothers, raising daughters in faith, working alongside a spouse and learning to release relationships and responsibilities that no longer align with God’s direction.
Dawn’s story shows that slowing down is not the same as giving up. Sometimes it is an act of obedience that creates space for peace, health, family and a deeper relationship with God.
Watch the full conversation and sit with what this might mean for your own journey.
Host: Leanni Tibbetts
Produced by: Cayman Style TV
Purpose Partner: Jacques Scott (Food Division)
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I was on the go constantly. You know, I was on probably eight different charities, heading them up. Then having my business and then being a mom and then working full-time and being active in my mom's life. I wasn't eating properly because you're always on the go, you're picking up fast food. So I had a health scare in 2024. God just revealed to me that didn't give me a lot of time for God. That didn't give me a lot of time for church. That didn't give me a lot of time to self-reflect. And now I've changed my eating habits completely. So I I got off of every board. So now I actually have time for God. And I have time for God and I have time for families. That the walk with God is not easy. And it will make you lose some friends that you were really close with. Yeah. But but you you realize that not everyone that starts with you is gonna end with you.
SPEAKER_02It is an honor to have you on here. You're a fellow woman in aviation, you're an entrepreneur, not like just one business, but multiple. Um, you're a mom, you're a wife. I'm like, this woman is a proverb start one woman, and you have a relationship with God that you know you spoke about a bit, how how you got baptized. So it's just to start off, maybe um maybe talking about you professionally. Who are you professionally and on business-wise, you know?
SPEAKER_01So I started my entrepreneur life about maybe about 15-16 years ago. Um, my husband and I started a small restaurant, and then from there we went to Camarak and started a restaurant and bar in Alexander Hotel. Um, in 2019, we had that for about three years, but the traveling back and forth got a little much. So um, so that ended in 2022. And so we have a food truck, we have a smoothie truck. So uh we, you know, we're busy. We're busy in the entrepreneur world. So my husband really kind of runs everything operationally, yeah. And then I do a lot of the admin work.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01So that's who I am, Dawn, the entrepreneur. And then I have a 94, 95-year-old mom who's very active in my life, still very coherent, still tells me when to come and when to go and what to wear and what looks good and what I should eat. So, but she's been a Christian for about 70 odd years. Wow. So she's kind of the one that propelled me to look into my faith and to walk with God. So, um, and she lives with me. So, and then I'm a mom to a 16-year-old and a two-year-old. I know the the age difference, I know. But um, my two daughters are my everything. Oh wow. And um, and then I raised, um, I helped raise another young lady who's um in her 30s, she's a nurse in in New York, so so I've all and I'm very active with my nieces. So, um, so yeah, my my family is kind of everything. Wow. And then um my work life, my professional life. I've been in HR about 30 odd years, and I'm a chief HR officer for a statutory authority. And um professionally, I think really what propelled me to to be in in aviation is I started my HR career at Cayman Airways under Janie Banks. And I was probably about 14, 15 years old, and I was interning, and Janny Banks is really the one that molded me in in HR. So I've been in that ever since. And then I started public sector, private sector, and now I'm back in aviation, and this is just where I'm most comfortable. So um, so it's sort of like uh like a boomerang. I ended up where I started, which is back in aviation. So it's a wonderful ride. I love my job, I'm very people-oriented, and I love mentoring and coaching and seeing young ladies, especially, um, you know, helping to mentor and coach them to become who they they truth their authentic self.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So so that's one of the things that kind of motivates me. So throughout my entrepreneur life and me personally, I think where I get more gratification is just mentoring and coaching young people, predominantly young ladies.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and is that why you think you thrive so much in HR?
SPEAKER_01Is that element? I think so. I think so. I'm a I'm a like I said, people person. So you usually really just kind of want to see people do better. And however you can help shape them, that's kind of where I fit in, you know. So um my mom was an entrepreneur. She used to do floral arrangements, and I got a lot of my entrepreneurial um spirit from my mom. And um she just uh she's has no filter at 95, so she just lets it rip. So I think living with me, I'm kind of getting the older I get, I'm getting a little more and more like my mom. So I have to temper that at times, but you know, it's good because you're you're able to tell people exactly um where they can improve and what areas they're doing well at. Yeah, and I think that helps in HR because you can develop people and say, here are some areas that you need improvement, but this is where you're excelling.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So okay, so that's kind of like how you know you'd be good in HR is some of these characteristics and traits, you know, for anyone who's interested in that field. That's that's very insightful. I am curious though, like you spoke about starting a restaurant, and my mind immediately went to how do you build a capital for that to just launch a restaurant.
SPEAKER_01Let me tell you, the the playing field is not even for women in terms of trying to get funding from banks. So you kind of have to use your own capital. You have to use your own savings, put up your your house, put up your own personal collateral to get funding. So that's what my husband and I did. My husband's a chef, so I kind of was the the brains behind it, but he's the operation, so I can't cook it all. But um, but he's very good at he's very good at that. So um that's kind of what helped us to get one restaurant and then move to the other because he's excellent at multitasking. And and because, you know, coming from Brack background where you got it, my mom always taught us you rob from Peter to PayPal. So meaning you take from one place to fund the other, and that's kind of what we did. So we took from one savings and funded this other one, and then when this one is doing good, seasonally you take from this one and fund the other. So that's kind of what that's how we funded our businesses.
SPEAKER_02Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur? You I know you spoke about your mom doing it. Is that something you wanted to do? You always knew.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think so. Because I mean, when I was raised, my mom always said, You, you know, when you work for yourself, you're able to define that for yourself. And the, you know, the the ceiling on what you make is is yours. You, you know, you can make as little or as much as you want because of the effort that you put into your business. So I was always raised that entrepreneurship was going to be in my future, was a as a part of my DNA. So I always knew that I would be an entrepreneur, and I think working for someone gives me the insight on what I want for my business, what I will accept, what I won't, and and having that um job as security too, as I mentioned to you, that funding is not easy for small businesses. So working for someone gives me that leverage of having the income that I can inject in my business when times are slow. So I kind of feel like I have the best of both worlds because I'm an entrepreneur, but I work for someone too. So when things aren't well in the business, I use my personal money and inject in the business. And actually, I I got my my PhD and um I started it in 2023, finished it um 2025, and my thesis was on shattering the glass ceiling for women and leadership in Cayman. And it's just it's a proven fact that there is a a ceiling that we have to kind of shatter to get through it, and where things are much easier for men to, you know, to get funding, like I said, or to get jobs or to get promotions, or that it's that much more difficult for women. So we have to prove ourselves even that much harder.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Whereas um males they'll say, Oh, well, you know, they and the the fact is they make more. They they do the same exact jobs that we do, but they make more. So so they can get the funding because of the revenue and the income that they make. So sad.
SPEAKER_02And that's interesting that you say that, because I maybe it's me being naive, but you know, like I always thought that, you know, yeah, okay, man, you see women in all these roles, so you know, like we don't really have that issue, and here you are highlighting, like, no, I see.
SPEAKER_01That's why we have the gender equality um commission here, and that's why we sell. I mean, that's why we have International Women's Month, because there there are differences. We shouldn't have to have that. We shouldn't have a gender equality commission. Why do we have that? Because there are, you know, anomalies and you know, unfairness between men and women. It exists. Otherwise, we wouldn't have that, we wouldn't have a need for that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Speaking on these issues, since really stepping into your walk with faith, do you navigate any of these arenas differently?
SPEAKER_01Completely differently. Um you know, when when I started my journey um with God, I got um I became a Christian in 2023, got baptized in 2024, and gosh, I I never I I guess I never understood when people would say they would hear God's voice. I never understood that until becoming a Christian because I never used to hear his voice before that. And when I became a Christian and I would, you know, pray and have my my quiet moments with God, I would hear like a voice. And I said to my husband jokingly, I said, Oh my God, I think I'm going crazy. Like I'm answering myself. And he said, Why would you do that? And I said, I don't know, but I'm hearing a response. Like when I say, Dear God, please let so and so happen, I will hear a response. And he says, But why would you think that that's your own voice? You're so full of yourself. And I said, But I never heard the voice before. So it kind of made me think like I'm answering myself. He said, No, that's God talking to you. So I say that to say that now when I pray, you know, I hear the answers, and now before it was always what I wanted. God would say, Okay, yes, this is gonna happen. But now at my walk is where he'll say, No, Don, take a step back. This is not the journey for you. You don't need to do this. Wow. So now my my relationship is is where he's saying, No, don't do this, or don't go this way, or don't venture into this.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_01So now I know it's definitely God, because before it was like, sure, I'll, you know, you'll get this or this will happen. But now it's like, no, Don, you know, or sometimes when people upset you, you kind of want to respond. And now God will just say, you know, just leave it in in my time, it'll happen. So I I look at things so differently. My mom, she lives by a philosophy that says, um, in order to deal with death, you have to live well. And the foundational idea behind that is when you accept mortality, it reduces your fear and you live a more meaningful life. So I see that there's a beginning and an end, and in between is really what matters. So I just now I understand that, you know, I I don't be I'm not so quick to temper, I'm not so quick to say things on my mind. I pray about things before, like, you know, if you even submit an application to the bank, I pray about it. And then sometimes God will say, This is not the time to put that in. Whereas before I would submit it and you know, and I'm and then get upset if I don't get it. So now I'm like, God, what should I do here? I I just channel everything through God, and I I never had that relationship before.
SPEAKER_02Wow. So so I remember you sharing that he caused you to shed a lot. So, you know, like what did your life look like before?
SPEAKER_01Because you were doing all of these things, and then you found God, and he was like, Yeah, I was, you know, I was on probably eight different charities, heading them up, not just directors, not just a member, but heading them up. And then um, then having my business and then being a mom and then working full-time and being active in my mom's life. I was on the go constantly. But that didn't give me, God just revealed to me that didn't give me a lot of time for God. That didn't give me a lot of time for church, that didn't give me a lot of time to self-reflect. So I I got off of every board. And now I have time. I spend my Sundays in church, you know, I go Wednesday night prayer meetings. So now I have time. I didn't understand at the time why God was saying, you don't need you've already made your mark. 20-something years on these charities, you've made your mark. Yeah. So when he was guiding me to step down from these, I was like, why? I'm passionate about these things. Miss Ca Man and this, this, this. I was on all of these things. And God was like, step down, step down, step down. I stepped down of all, all eight of them. And then I realized later why. And it was to spend more time in reverence with God and be able to go to church and Wednesday night prayer. You have to excuse me because I have a little cold. So um, yeah, so I understood why. So, you know, before, like I said, when when I would speak with God, he was like, Okay, yes, I'll grant you this, I'll do this. But now he's now he's starting to say, you need to slow down and do this and spend more time in my presence, get to know me more. And and it's it it was challenging, I would say, because a lot of people don't understand your journey, they don't understand your walk. Like my friends would say, Oh, come on, let's go do this and let's go do that. And for me to have to say, Well, you know, I don't do that anymore, you know, I don't go to the bars anymore, I don't drink like that anymore, I don't go on girls' trips like that anymore, you know, not as often. So, like your friends don't understand it, and they're like, Oh, you're not the life of the party like you used to be. So they don't get the journey, yeah. But this is a walk with God, and this is this is the way God wants me to walk, you know. So that's so it's a different, it's a different life completely.
SPEAKER_02With you talking about like I mean, you described what it looked like now. What did it feel like? There has to be a completely different feeling.
SPEAKER_01I was I was on the go constantly all the time, but you know, being on the go also impacts a lot of aspects of your life. Like I wasn't eating properly because you're always on the go, you're picking up fast food, you're eating all kinds of stuff that's not healthy. So I had a a health scare in 2024, and now I've changed my eating habits completely. I'm more organic, vegetarian. So it allows me time. Now it allows me time. I cook my food. I mean my husband, you know, he cooks. So like I said, I'm not the best cook, but you know, I can I can manage. But so I'm focusing more on me, on my health. So it's allowed me now to spend more time at home. Like I said, my mom is 95, so I'm cherishing this time with her. As I mentioned, families, everything, but I wasn't able to see them a lot because I was on the go. It's it's like I said, it's a completely different world for me. Like, you know, going home at five o'clock. I didn't know that. I would get home at 10 o'clock most nights. I was on the road from 4:35. I live in in Lower Valley, so to beat the traffic, you're out of the house by 6, 6:30. And then to get home at 10 o'clock at night, that's difficult, you know. So, so now I I actually have time for dawn, you know, and I have time for God and I have time for family. So it's it's a whole new world. I'm like, oh my god, this is the I'm I'm in five o'clock traffic, whereas before I was like, what are they talking about? Traffic, I get home at 10. There's no traffic.
SPEAKER_02So it's a completely different world. So would you say now, like, or even in terms of getting advice, the the foundation or the first step really is that check-in with God.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Every morning I have my little meditation, and that kind of sets the pace and the tone for my day. And then you just go on with your day, and then throughout the day you have a little more check-ins, like you know, sometimes something will upset you, and you're like, oh Lord, if it wasn't for you, what I would say. So no, I just no, and just like okay, and you smile and you grin and bear it, and you and then you know what's funny is things do have a way of working out. Like sometimes, you know, somebody will, you know, like you want something to go through, or somebody will say something you don't like, or you know, kind of test you, and then you just you say, I'm leaving it to God, and like a week or so later, the person either will come back and apologize, and you're like, Look at you, Jesus, look at how you showed up. So it's just amazing when you really just let go and let God tell things happen because it's like, look at you. And these are people that would never normally come and apologize, or tough people that never take responsibility, and they will just come and say, you know what, Ton, you are right. I'm like, Jesus, we don't leave the house without our armor of protection.
SPEAKER_02So that is so powerful. Because I know, like, for me too, um going back to like a lot of people. Uh there was a phase in my life where I was hanging out with people who a lot of people did not like. Yeah, and anytime I would get around them, they like, yeah, but she's so disagreeable, she don't like that person, and da-da-da-da. And every time that would happen or come up with like being like, Yeah, this person can't get along with anybody, or they don't like me, how they like you, I'd be like, I don't have a problem with nobody, like at all. Yeah, and maybe they don't say it to my face, but the things you describing, I don't see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't see it at all. Yeah, I'm exactly like that. Yeah, but like my friends will say to me, Why do you have such a group of disgruntled friends? And I'm like, I don't see them that way. My friends, I can't stand that whole group, and I'm like, they're cool with me, but I just don't see, I don't I I tend to see more the good in people, and I have a lot of patience for people and empathy. So maybe that is why I get along with people that most people don't get along with. You know, maybe it's that, I don't know. But you know, I pray, and then being in HR, I tend to like everybody anyway, yeah. Until I give people a lot of rope. Yeah, so I like everybody until you give me cause not to, but otherwise, I get along with everybody, and my even my sisters are like, I cannot believe you hang out with this person, they are so miserable. And I'm like, they cool, I like them actually.
SPEAKER_02So I get you. Yeah, that is clearly your gift and your calling. Um, you spoke about your daughters. How has the dynamics with them changed as well?
SPEAKER_01That the 16-year-old I thought would not have the patience for for the two-year-old, because you know, 16, you know, teenagers they're into themselves and social media and TikTok and whatever, but she really engages good with the two-year-old. I mean, she really gets along. They get along well. The whole dynamics of my house, having a baby in the house again, the house is so lively. My two-year-old talks from 7:30 a.m. until her bedtime, 7:30 p.m. My husband and I were saying, how can somebody talk incessantly? I mean, there's I I just I don't even understand it. I'm like, where did she get that from? I thought the 16-year-old would be like, oh my, I just I can't, I can't with her. But she has a lot of patience. So it's good. She the vibrancy and the energy in the house, and it's really, really good for my mom. Yeah, that's a good one. 95. So she she has my mom dancing, like to, you know, um, she loves this song Johnny, so it's uh it's a monkey, and he sings all of these songs. So she has my mom dancing at 95, just having movement of an elderly. She has my mom high-fiving and singing. We we sing Miss Rachel songs. So it's like, oh wow. So the entire dynamics of the house. I mean, my husband is humming little nursery rhymes. I'm like, stop it. In the car we're driving, and he's humming, he's like, it's just it's catchy. So the whole house dynamics has changed.
SPEAKER_02It's just crazy. That's beautiful. And just out of curiosity, like, what is your relationship like with the teen daughter? You know, um, because I know some I know what I was like as a teenager, and I don't know how my mom did it, if I'm being honest with you. So, like, how's that dynamics, especially since your transition, you know, like walking so closely with God?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, my my walk with God has helped me. It's given me more patience and tolerance and and has allowed her to kind of come in her own rather than me saying, These are the courses I think you should take, or this is how you should do this, or this is how you should dress. I've learned to kind of step back and say, But like my mom always used to say, What would Jesus do? So I kind of allow her to come into her own relationship with God. And, you know, I teach her, you know, before you leave the house every day you pray. When I drop her off to school, I always say, make good choices. So I I try to make her come into. To her own and have more patience with her. Yeah. So, but um, you gotta you kind of gotta let them shine and you just gotta be there for them. But having the two-year-old in the house has given me even more patience. So that has helped me with the teenager because you gotta have plenty of patience with them because they test you. So, and the social media, I mean, every minute of the day there's there's a moment for TikTok. I'm like, so the two-year-old talking and the TikToking, I'm like, oh my goodness, I just I don't even know what's happening in the house. It's uh then she has a two-year-old TikToking with her, so it's like, oh my goodness. So you just gotta monitor them and just give them enough um, I guess, leverage to find themselves and then just keep you know, monitoring her to keep her on the straight and narrow. We take, you know, we go to church every Sunday as a family, so um she sees our journey as a family, so I'm hoping that she'll she'll walk the walk with us too.
SPEAKER_02I started to remember our very first guest who came on. She said, Let your children see you love the Lord. Yes. That was something that she said that really stuck out to me, and it's them watching you read your Bible and hearing you pray to God. Because I know, like, for me, my grandmother lives for me, she's also nine or five. And I will go to bed hearing her praying. There is not a night that she does not pray. Yeah, I mean, like, and she puts down some prayers and she'll go to sleep, it'll be quiet for a little bit. All of a sudden, like, you wake up to use the bathroom at three o'clock, boom, she's up praying again. You know, like she prays without ceasing, and it is a beautiful example.
SPEAKER_01It is, it is. When you come from that background and you you have, like my mom always says, you know, praying mothers, there's something to be said with having praying, you know, strong, you know, females in your house, and and fathers too, right? But yeah, but my mom prayed, like you said, prays constantly in the car we're driving, and all of a sudden she'll just break out in a prayer, and then you're in a grocery store, and then you'll just hear, dear Jesus, I don't know how these prices are so high. Father, let them look at DC. She just breaks out into prayer. I'm like, oh God, mom, please, these people are around, don't say it so loud. But she'll just anything, just pray. And she says, You got pray over these prices, you gotta pray. We go to the gas station. She's like, it's four dollars. Dear Lord, please let them do something with the gas price. So it's constant prayer. So I'm you know, I'm now like her. I'm like, oh my goodness, when I see the price, I'm like, oh no, this was it's $16 for this. Lord, please let it go back down to 12.
SPEAKER_02That's so funny. She said, I don't know the owner, but I know who made the owner. So let me just talk to him. Oh, we love our praying mothers. Oh my goodness. How is your especially being a mom, your prayer life for your children must be like especially raising girls, yeah, must be so strong.
SPEAKER_01I found these prayers that you say over your daughters, it's like four or five prayers, and so now I have to wake up even earlier in the morning because I have to say my prayers for the daughters and prayer for the house and prayer for the business and prayer for my day. So where I used to wake up like an hour now, now early, I have to wake up like an hour and a half because I have extra prayers and I need to get in for the day. So I have to cover my daughters and cover their brain and cover their health. It's how I get through the day, you know, and once you pray, you just feel like you have the energy and the positivity to make it through the day. I don't even know how I did it without God before 2023. I just don't know. I don't know how I manage because now, I mean, now it's not that things are easier, it's just that you know you have God that will never leave you or forsake you. But before God, I don't know how I I can't even imagine how I did it because things are difficult. Life is lifing. Yeah, and then when you have God, it's still challenging. So how I did it without God, yeah, I don't even know how I made it, but I made it to get to this point, is all I can say, you know?
SPEAKER_02Wow, and I mean I guess the Bible does speak about the peace that surpasses understanding because in the middle of chaos, you're just I mean, there's the whole scene in the Bible where a storm is happening and Jesus is sleeping on the boat. Yeah, and that is what life looks like once we walk with Jesus. And I know like you spoke about your busyness, and as you're talking, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm just looking at my life and I'm like, God, that kind of sounds like me, you know. Like, I don't make it home till nine o'clock sometimes, you know. And yes, I have him, and he's caused me to shed some things, but even in the middle of it, I'll be completely honest. I've said yes to some things that I think I should have said no to. So it's like, do you have any advice for those people like myself who's been doing this thing and you take it on and taking on and taking on? Thankfully, I don't have a family yet, but the dynamics are gonna change when that happens, you know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I think I think you're doing the right thing by just um praying first before you get into things and make God lead you. And I mean, like I said, I I did it for 20-something years, right? So it wasn't as if I came to this overnight. So 20-something years in the in in that life, but you have to do, I mean, God's timing is perfect. So once once he wants you to start shedding things, he'll let you know. So you just continue doing what you're doing, and then one day he's just gonna say, Leanne, mm-mm, step away from this, like he did with me. Because I honestly kept saying to myself, I wonder if it's me like giving up or whatever, or walking away or abandoning the the charities that I've been so passionate about. But it was God's way of just saying, slow down and find time for yourself and find time for for me. So you you have to he will he will guide you. So continue doing what you're doing because he'll stop you when he's when he's ready.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, wow, that is beautiful. Is there like anything else at all that like while you were talking or even before you even came here today, it's like, man, if I before I leave here, I have to talk about this one thing.
SPEAKER_01You know, I never wanted to be that kind of Christian that was kind of like in your face and and and saying to people you must um walk with God. But I really want people to know that the journey and the walk with God is the best decision you'll ever make. Because while I said it, it it doesn't, it doesn't mean that life is easy, but it just means that you have God with you to get through the storms. And and like I said, I never knew how I did it before God. So I just want people to know that walking with God will change your life immensely because you know that you have someone there with you that you can that will guide you. Because I, you know, being a bracker, we're we're quick to temper and tell people how it goes. Quick, quick. And and now I've learned that that's that's not the way, that's not the godly way. And and in God's timing, he will address these things. So it's made me be become a better person, and it's made me stand in my own truth. Because a lot of times I noticed that I would say things that I would regret. Now I find that I normally don't do that. I whatever I say, it's intentional. And and I say it knowing that I've prayed about it, and this is how God wants me to address things. So my advice to people is pray, find God, and when when the timing is right, walk with God because God is coming and and we want to all be in a in a place that we can be with Him. And and I just want people to know that it's that the walk with God is not easy, and it will make you lose some friends that that you were really close with. Yeah, but but you you realize that not everyone that starts with you is gonna end with you, and not everyone that that seems to be your friend is really your friend. That's true. So you you have to to and you have to pray about these things, and the closer you become with God is the more you value true friendships. Yeah. So, like I said to you, my friends are like, oh, you're not the life of the party, because you know, being from the back, we know we know how to drink, and I could put it back. And now I now I just don't find, you know, pleasure in that anymore. You know, I just you've lost the taste for it. Yeah, I actually have like now I have to force myself when I go out to have like, you know, a little glass of wine, because you don't want to be like drinking water. So you drink a little glass of wine, you sip it, and I will sip on that all night. Whereas before, listen. So I'm really not I'm really not the life of the party in that way, but I think I'm the life of the party in terms of people now see the change in me. Yeah, and they see that this is not the dawn before. Yeah, some people like the change, like my Christian friends are like, oh man, you're you're really relying and walking with God. So that would be my advice. See the differences in people that are walking with God, and they should they should glow different, they should walk different. That's true. We we have more peace and you know, perseverance, and you know, we want more, we revel more in our privacy, and you know, we we have a lot more patience, and that's what I focus a lot on the peas, the perseverance and peace and privacy, and you know, just trying to impassion and those kinds of things. So I I start my day focusing on like pe my peas, the presence and privacy and peace, those things. Yeah. So so that's what I would say.
SPEAKER_02You did speak a lot about prayer though, and I feel like prayers pe some people think that prayers have to be this polished thing where it's all scripted and using big words. And can you can you share what your prayers look like or sound like for those who are like, Well, how do I do this? How do how do I pray?
SPEAKER_01You know, what I struggled with that, like in church one time, the um it was maybe a a year into my Christianity. I was fearing, oh my goodness, I hope the pastor doesn't call me to pray in church because you don't know what words to use, and how I speak to God privately is not how I felt like I should be talking in church. Because I pray to God like I'm talking to you now. Listen, Lord, you know how I feel about this, and I need your guidance with this because this is stressing me, and I just need you to tell me whether to go this way or that way, or what do you think? So I just speak to God like I'm speaking to anybody else, and sometimes, like like your grandmother, in the middle of the night, something will come to me and I'll say, you know what, let me just get this out of the way. Three o'clock, Lord, what do you think about so and so and so? And then I just put that to rest and go back to sleep. But so it doesn't have to be scripted, you don't have to Google or chat GBT how you're speaking to God. You just come to Him as you are, yeah, and He'll understand. Driving, because you know, like I said, I live up in the lower in up in the Eastern District. So that drive to work, I use that time to just pray and talk with God, or I listen to a podcast that's you know, like a Christian podcast, and just you know, sort of edify myself. But that's the time you bond with God, you just find those moments like lunchtime. I put on a little um, you know, CC Wineins and I listen to my gospel music. I have my lunch and I talk to God. So whenever you feel like talking to God, take that moment. But you have to find that quiet place and just talk to God because it's important, is what gives you that armor to get through the day. Because it's like I said, life is lifing for a lot of people. It's challenging, it's hard. So, prayer, I mean, come to God as you are. It doesn't have to be scripted, it doesn't have to be polished, you don't have to use big words because he knows us better than anybody. So come as you are.
SPEAKER_02And I like that you use the words talk to God. So if you don't know how to pray, let's just throw it out the window, right? Just talk, just talk to him, have that conversation, right? And if you I know like one thing that I've seen recently too is a lot of people feel a lot of shame and guilt, and God already knows all of that. Just take all that dirtiness, bundle it up, throw it in your hand, and say, God, you see this, I don't want it. Take it. And you tell him just like that.
SPEAKER_01He don't mind, right? And he don't mind me for all of that. Forgive me because you are once you ask for that, you are forgiven. He knows, he knows. You just have to do that. Everything you've ever done in your life, he knows, and he knows the future. He knows that we're coming to he knew I was coming to this point. Yeah, so he knows it all. So just come to him straight. I mean, I come straight sometimes, and and sometimes I get frustrated, like I'll ask for something, and then you know they say you ask, and then you stop asking, because if you keep asking, at least how I understood it, if you keep asking, it's almost as if you're doubting that God is going to give it to you. So if you ask for something once or twice, you go on to claiming and thanking him for it. Yeah, so that's how I I pray now. Now I'm like, God, thank you for the finances that are gonna enrich my life for me to be able to help people, and I move on to the next. So you have to pray, ask, and then thank him and claim it. Yeah, you can't keep asking because it's like you're doubting that he's gonna give it to you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So and the Bible does warn against that. Anyone who asks should not doubt because he is double-minded and should not believe that he'll receive anything from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I every morning there's three things I four things I say. Um, like, because you never know what's going on in your body. And since I had my health scare by his stripes, I am healed. The same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives within me. Um, and then what else do I say? I am whole, I am healthy, I am healed, I am blessed. So you just those are things, and I say that, you know, three, four times throughout the day. I just keep saying those over and over, just for reassurance for myself, and so that it, you know, it's always in the forefront of my mind. I will live and not die so that I can see the works of the Lord. So I say those over and over and over and over.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that is amazing. Thank you so much, Dawn, for sharing your life story, your walk, your tips. Oh, thank you for having me. Yeah, no, I mean, this is this has been absolutely amazing to hear, you know, like to some degree, almost like a mirror, especially that first part that you spoke about, and then like I see where God is like, no, not that. Because even in my life right now, he's yeah, calling me away from things. He called me away from my job that I worked on. Like, I worked towards that since I was 15. Like, I finally made it, and he was like, Okay, now leave what? Like, you know, and it's that obedience and stepping out in faith that all right, whatever he's calling me to, um, I'm willing. Um one thing that I want to just jog back to is the the prayers that you have, the heart posture behind, even though you're giving thanks for something financially, your heart posture behind it, your why is also I think very important to God. It's not so that I can make more money full stop, it's so I can bless people. That is beautiful. That is beautiful, yeah. Yeah, so thank you. You all had any questions too, or yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, but working with your health. How is that help you're gonna take care of it? Like if it's gonna challenge people to do it.
SPEAKER_01Well, this is my to be honest, this is my second marriage. So I think that the first marriage you you kind of learn what things, you know, you take responsibility for what role you played and why it didn't work. So in my second marriage, I knew I was intentional on this is what I want and and uh and a partner. Yeah. So my husband and I are very like-minded, we're very family-oriented, we love the Lord. Um, you know, we we want to always help people and give back to people. And we in our tithing, we give to the church and we give to people as well. Yeah. So um, working with him wasn't challenging because we're we're very like-minded. But I think what became challenging is um he is very passionate. Chefs have a very different temperament than than other people, maybe because they work in the heat or I don't know. He's just very quick, you know, and pass me this. Even at home when we're cooking, he'll act like I'm his sous chef. Like, give me this knife and pass me this. And I'm like, hold on a minute. We're not in a restaurant, take it easy. So, with that, I mean, that was the most challenging part because I mean, he would boss me around like, I'm like, hold on, we we in this, we co-owners in this, you know. So that was more challenging for me is to see the different personality in him when he's working than when he's home. Because I was like, oh my god, who is this person? So, so that was challenging, but um, we're we're on the same page in terms of how we treat staff and you know, where we want our vision for the business, that kind of thing. We're on the same page with that. And we became Christians together, we got baptized together, so so we're on the same journey at the same time, which really solidified our relationship. So we really didn't have many challenges, and like I said, this is my second go-round, so I knew what I was tolerating from what I wasn't. Yeah, so I knew what was deal breakers, and and he, I mean, the way he treats my mom, if I never loved him one more time, it's just how he interacts with my mother. He's very patient with her. Sometimes, even she has she's getting a little bit of dementia now, so she'll repeat herself a couple of times. And where else I'll say, Mommy, you said mommy, I answered that already. You said that already. Dwayne will answer it a hundred times if she asks him. And I'm like, Oh my god, this is why I love you. Because I will say, Mommy, I just told you you have your shoes on. But he will just say, I'll go get them. And I'm like, Oh my goodness, you're so patient. So I just I think he's he makes me even a better person because of just the way he interacts with family. He's just phenomenal with my mom. I have to tell you, phenomenal.
SPEAKER_02Hey, thank you for watching today's episode, and I hope you really enjoyed it. If you did, please feel free to like, share, and subscribe, especially because as you subscribe, it actually allows us to make more content like this. So join the Proverbs 31 family and subscribe.