Why Kingdom LeadHERship - and Why Now?

Why Kingdom LeadHERship, and Why Now?

In this very first episode of Kingdom LeadHERship, host Stacy Jo sets the foundation for everything this podcast is about. She opens up about her own journey, from a near lifelong career in the legal field, to stepping out in obedience to start Freedom Support Solutions, to running full speed from the calling that became the Association of Christian Business Women, until God kept sending women to her doorstep one after another.

But this episode is about more than Stacy Jo's story. It is about yours.

Stacy Jo names the two biggest lies she has seen hold women back from their Kingdom calling: the wound of rejection that whispers you are not worthy of all God wants to give you, and the scarcity mindset rooted in financial wounds that keeps women leading from a place of lack instead of Kingdom abundance. She connects these wounds directly to what was birthed at the Kingdom LeadHERship Conference in January, an event centered on healing, wholeness, commissioning, and stepping joyfully into God's calling.

This episode will help you identify where you have been striving in your own strength, recognize the wounds that may be distorting your leadership, and hear the truth that your calling is intentional, your obedience matters, and you are not too wounded, too late, or too small for what God has assigned to you.

Includes reflection questions, a Kingdom challenge, and a closing prayer.

Transcript

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Welcome to Kingdom Leadership, the podcast for women pursuing kingdom purpose with faith and intention. This is a space for clarity, encouragement, and conviction. It's a place to pause, refocus, and realign your leadership with what God is asking of you. Whether you're leading in business, ministry, your home, or your community, this podcast is here to remind you that your calling is intentional. Your obedience matters, and your leadership is meant to be aligned with God, not carried in your own strength. I'm your host, Stacey, and together we are leaning into leadership that is whole, obedient, and rooted in purpose. Let's get started. Whether you found this podcast because someone shared it with you or because something in you has been stirring and you typed in a few words into the search bar, hoping to find something that feels like home, I want you to know that this is not by accident. You're here on purpose. And that word purpose is really something we're gonna talk about today. You know, before we get into the why behind kingdom lead hership, I want you to hear that kingdom lead hership. I just want to take a moment to ask you something. When was the last time that you paused, and I mean really paused, took a minute or 10 and asked God, am I leading the way you called me to lead? Not in the way the world told me to, not in the way I was trained to, not the way that earns approval or keeps everyone comfortable, but the way he designed specifically for me. You know, for a lot of us, that pause has been a long time coming. I know it was for me. And I want to start by telling you a little bit about who I am and how I got here because I think my story is going to sound familiar to more than just a few of you. I spent the better part of my career in the legal field. I knew what I knew. It was what I knew. It was comfortable, it was my identity in a lot of ways. And then God started doing something in me that I didn't ask for. And honestly, I didn't want. Have you ever been there where God calls you to do something and you don't really want to do it? But he started calling me out. He was calling me out of the familiar, he was calling me out of the comfortable. He was calling me out of the profession that I had literally built my life around. I had been 20 plus years, almost 25 years in the legal field. And he started directing me towards something that absolutely made no logical sense. He was asking me to start my own daily money management and bookkeeping firm. And I'm gonna be totally honest with you. I hesitated a lot. I hesitated a lot, and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I heard the voice of God and leap joyfully into the unknown because that would be a lie. And that is not at all what happened. Not at all. What happened is I wrestled, I questioned, I delayed. Because if I'm being real and I'm going to be real on this podcast, there was a part of me that didn't feel worthy of what God was asking me to step into. There was that voice, and maybe you know this voice. And it said, Who do you think you are? What if you fail? What if this isn't really God? What if this is your pride, or what if this is you just thinking this? Yeah. But here is what I know that I did not fully know then. You know, God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called. And he is not nearly impressed with our comfort as we are. Think about that for a minute. He is not as impressed with our comfort as we are. We're comfortable, we're in the position for, you know, we've been in that job for 10, 20, maybe even 30 years, possibly 40 years. And we're comfortable there. But there's no growth in comfort. There just isn't. So I went ahead and I stepped out. And can I tell you, he was so faithful. Freedom Support Solutions was born in that time, and God has used it in ways that I never could have orchestrated on my own. And then, because God has a sense of humor and also a very clear plan, he did it again. A few years later, well, actually, I say a few years, but it wasn't really a few years. It was Freedom Support Solutions started in 2019. And in 2021, he was putting something on my heart that I ran from and I ran hard and I ran full speed. And I'm talking in the other direction, picking up pace as fast as I could. Because he was calling me to start a networking organization for Christian business women. And I thought, Lord, I'm already doing the thing you asked me to do. Can we not? But God, he started bringing women into my circle one after another, through the financial services we offered, through church, through the community. Women who were looking for more than a transaction. Who were looking for more than just a friendship. Women who were hungry and ready to link arms with other kingdom-minded women. Women who were leading, they were building, they were serving, and they were largely doing it alone. And that, my friends, is how the association of Christian business women was born, not from my willingness. Let's be very clear about that. At least not at first. But it was built from God's persistence and his perfect positioning. Oh, I share all of this, my friends, to tell you that I'm not sitting here today as someone who has always gotten it right. I'm standing here, I've sent, I'm actually sitting here, as someone who has just been obedient, eventually. Eventually. Not always as quickly as God would have wanted me to. But I'm someone who's been shaped by the running and the wrestling just as much as by the stepping out. And if that is where you are right now, if you're in the middle of the running, if you're in the middle of the questioning, but not yet, God, I'm not ready. I want you to know that there is room for you here. Now I want to talk about something that I did not fully understand about myself until I started walking with women. And I mean really walking with them in business and in ministry. And it's this that the biggest lie that holds women back from their kingdom calling is not that they can't, because they absolutely can't. It's that they don't believe they are worthy of all that God wants to give them. I'm gonna say that again because it's so important to hear this and understand this that the biggest lie, and lies come from the enemy, sisters, lies come from the enemy. But the biggest lie that holds women back from their kingdom calling is not that they can't do it. It's that they don't believe they're worthy of all God wants to give them. It's not that you aren't gifted, but that deep down, somewhere underneath the accomplishments and the titles and the to-do list, there's a wound that says someone like me doesn't get to have that. And that hurts me to say, but it's true, and that wound has a name. That wound has a name, and for many of us, it's rejection. It can be rejection from a parent who didn't see us, a friendship that ended in betrayal, maybe a relationship that left us questioning our worth. And sometimes, and this one's heavy, so brace yourself. I want to be gentle on this one. Sometimes it's rejection from the church from the very place that was supposed to be safe. And when rejection goes deep enough, it doesn't just hurt you, it shapes how you lead. It makes you shrink back. Makes you turtle, as one of my friends used to say. It makes you strive because striving feels safer than trusting, right? If we can if we can strive, if we can do it in our own strength, sometimes that feels safer than trusting because we're in control, right? It'll make you people please instead of God please. And it'll make you lead from the outside in, performing for approval instead of from the inside out, rooted in identity. I love Isaiah 43:1. It says, Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name, you are mine. Ladies, do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine. You were summoned by name. You weren't summoned by your reputation, you weren't summoned by your resume, not your record of perfect obedience, but by name. And what that means is before rejection, before the wound, before you ran, before I ran, God looked at you and said, Her, I want her. I want her. Ladies, he wants you. Think about that. Before any of that, before the wound, I'm saying it again, before the rejection, before that we were trying to run away, God looked at you and said, I want her. That's so powerful. And I hope that speaks to you. And then the second thing I see, it is so often tied to the first. And it's a scarcity mindset. It is a deep-seated belief that there's not enough, there's not enough provision, there's not enough opportunity, there's not enough for me. And that can cause a whole lot of other things that go along with it. And for so many women, that mindset was planted in childhood. In watching a family struggle financially, in being taught to survive rather than to trust God's abundance. I can relate to that. And here's why it matters for your leadership. You cannot lead others into kingdom abundance if you're still operating from a place of lack. You will unconsciously make small decisions. You will hold tightly and not be generous. You'll resist the bold moves God is calling you toward. All because of a wound that was never yours to carry in the first place. Philippians 4 19 says, And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. And my God will meet all your needs, not some of your needs, not a couple of your needs, not one of your needs. He's not a genie in a bottle that says, I'll give you three wishes. He will meet all your needs. He doesn't say all your wants necessarily, but all your needs. Yeah. You know, this past January, we hosted our, it was technically our second kingdom leadership conference, but this one was our first one-day conference. And when I was praying over what the theme of that conference should be, God made it very clear. It wasn't supposed to be strategy, it wasn't supposed to be networking, not how to scale your business or build your platform, although those are all great things. Those are all great things, and those are all important things. Strategy, networking, learning to scale your business and build your platform, those are important amongst other business-related topics. But he was very clear that this conference was about healing, wholeness, commissioning, and stepping joyfully into God's calling. And if I'm really honest, I wondered if that wasn't too soft, too inward, if women wanted practical and tactical, and I was going to show up talking about healing. Well, can I tell you what happened in that room? Confirmed everything that God gave me, everything that God gave my team, everything that was prayed for, because women came in carrying things they had been carrying for years. They came in carrying wounds that they had learned to work around. Have you learned to work around your wounds? Not work through them, but work around them. And by the end of our time together, something shifted. Something beautiful, beautiful happened. Not because of anything I did or anybody else did that was there, but because when women are given permission to be healed and whole, the kingdom assignments that were always there suddenly become visible. They rise, they rise up. And that conference was the seed. This podcast is the ongoing harvest of it. It's a place to keep returning to week after week for the for clarity and encouragement and the conviction to lead the way God has always intended for you to lead. So why kingdom leadership? And why now? Because, ladies, the world does not need more women who are busy. I'm sure we can sit back and I can say I'm busy, and you can say you're busy, and she's busy, and she's busy, and we're all busy. But God doesn't need more women who are busy. It needs more women who are called, healed, and obedient because there are kingdom assignments that have been sitting on pause, not because God hasn't spoken, but because the women He's called haven't yet believed that they were worthy of the yes. Because your leadership in your business or in your ministry or in your home or community, it matters. It matters not just for you, but for the people God has assigned to you. Someone's blessing is on the other side of your obedience. I love that saying. Because he knows that healed women in their kingdom assignments are dangerous in the best possible way. And you are dangerous, sister, in the best possible way. And the enemy doesn't want you to have any part of it. So, ladies, this is not just a podcast. This is an invitation. An invitation to come as you are, to be healed where you need healing, to be commissioned where you need courage, and to step joyfully, boldly, and with God into everything He has been preparing for you. Esther has always been one of my one of my favorite books of the Bible, one of my favorite stories I can remember being a child and reading the story of Esther over and over and over. And even before I could read it, um, my my mom or my dad or my grandparents reading it to me. And I love Esther 414. It says, and who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this. Ladies, this is your such a time as this moment. And I am honored to walk this road with you. So before we close today, and we're coming, we're coming close to closing up here, but before we close, I want to leave you with three questions. I would really encourage you to pull out a journal, sit with these in prayer, and let God meet you in the answers. The first question is where in your life or leadership are you striving in your own strength instead of resting in God's? The second question is, and this is a deep one is there a wound of rejection from a person, a relationship, or as I said, maybe even the church? That has been quietly shaping how you see yourself as a leader. And the third question is what kingdom assignment has God been speaking to you about that you have been hesitant or maybe running from, like I was, that you've been hesitant to step into. This week I want to give you a kingdom challenge. I'm going to challenge you to take 15 minutes this week, just you and God, and ask him this specific question. Because belief is the foundation of it all. And I want you to ask him, Lord, what have I been believing about myself that you never said? I'm going to repeat it again. Lord, what have I been believing about myself that you never said? And then write down what he shows you. Write it down. You don't have to fix it this week. Just let him name it. Because you can't heal what hasn't been named. And healing begins with honesty. So before we close out, I do want to pray for you today. We could just bow our heads. If you're driving, don't bow your head. You can pray with your eyes open. We do it all the time on our prayer call. But Lord, thank you for every woman who has found her way to this space today. You know exactly what she is carrying, the wounds, the hesitations, the questions, the running. And I thank you that you are not intimidated by any of it. Lord, I pray that as she begins this journey with us, you would begin the work of healing in her that only you can do. That you would uproot every lie the enemy has planted about her worth, her calling, and her capacity to receive all the things you want to give her. I pray, God, that you would replace the voice of rejection with the voice of the Father who called her by name. Commission her, Lord. Not when she feels ready, but now, in the middle of the mess, in the middle of the uncertainty and in the becoming. Because you are not waiting for her to be finished. You are walking with her as she goes. Lord, I pray a blessing over each one of these women. Thank you for what you are doing in and through them. Thank you for the work that you continue to do. And we give you all the praise and all the honor and all the glory, Lord, because it's all due to you. And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Oh, ladies, thank you so much for being here for our very first episode of Kingdom Leadership. If this spoke something into you today, I would love for you to share it with a woman in your life who needs to hear it. And make sure you subscribe so you don't miss what's coming because next week we're going even deeper. And the weeks after that, we're going to be having some guests come on, and you don't want to miss a thing. I can tell you that. But until then, lead whole, lead obedient, and lead with joy. And we will see you next time on Kingdom Leadership. God bless. Thank you for spending time with me on Kingdom Leadership. If today's conversation encouraged you or brought clarity, take a moment to reflect on what God highlighted for you. Trust him even when the path isn't clear, because he is faithful to direct every step. New episodes of Kingdom Leadership are released every Monday, and I invite you to join me again as we continue pursuing kingdom purpose with faith and intention. Until next time, lead with wisdom, walk in obedience, and trust God with where he's leading you.