Well, Hey There!

In this introductory episode, Danielle gives us a peek inside where the Hey There idea came from, her vision for the podcast and, yes, a recap her entire life's history in under 2 minutes! Tune in to get a feel for what they Hey There podcast is gonna be about, get encouraged, inspired and maybe learn a little something! 

Transcript

0:11  
Hey there, and thanks for joining me as I show up to give you powerful, practical, quick and Kingdom tools for you to go out there and live your best life to show up every day as the best, healthiest, fullest version of yourself and to live a joyful, abundant and destiny-filled life. You know, sometimes I might talk about things I've learned, being a wife, a mom, a sister, friend, Pastor, mentor, a mentee, a human being, I might share a ridiculous story. And there are some ridiculous stories from my own journey, my successes and the not so much. I might unpack practical tips and relationship tools, I might encourage you challenge you make you laugh, make you cry, and maybe some days it will be all of the above. The point is, I'm really excited. And I hope you are too. So grab your coffee, sit down with me, Danielle Stinespring. And let's start living.

1:20  
Well, Hey, there. This is so exciting. Welcome to my first episode ever of my podcast? Guys, I am so grateful that you're here. First of all, I just want to say thanks, I know that your time is super valuable. And that there are a million other fantastic podcasts out there that you could be listening to by people who are way smarter and way more qualified than I am. And yet, here you are. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So I thought for my first introductory episode that I would give you a little of the five W's introduction, we're going to talk about the "who", "what", "where", "when", and "why" of my podcast and of this new "Hey, There" endeavor and brand adventure that I'm on. I can't spill it all. But I will show you just a little bit into where I believe I'm headed with this venture. So let's just dive right in a quick intro of what's actually going on here. 

2:21  
So first of all: "Who"? Well, I'm Danielle Stinespring. I'm gonna give you a one-minute recap of my entire life up to this point. So stick with me, I was born and raised in North Carolina. My parents are incredible people. I was super lucky to be born into a family that really love the Lord really loved each other and really loved me really well. Really, really, really. I just said "really" a whole lot.

2:49  
I had amazing parents. I'm an only child. And I just had the joy of being super close to both my mom and my dad. And I know that that's kind of rare. And my parents were together my entire life until my dad passed away on my 24th birthday.

3:08  
But they just were rock solid, incredible people. So like I said, born and raised in North Carolina. And then I went to Elon University -- go Phoenix, if there's any of you out there listening! I got my degree in acting, which if you know me, you're not surprised. And if you don't know me, just give it a minute. And then it will all make sense. But I got my degree in acting. And then graduated college and move to Orlando. Long story short, which I'll just put a little flag in that one because I'm actually going to come back to that story another time. But then I just so happened to sort of stumble into a missions organization called YWAM, you know, just a small missions organization. No they're kind of they're kind of a big deal. So I was with youth with a mission for just over a year, I did three training schools with them. And in that time, I happened to meet two young girls (again, put a little flag right here because we're going to come back to this story at another time) two 18 year old girls who I believe their entire purpose for going to YWAM was to find a wife for their youth pastor. And it just so happened to turn out to be me. So they set me up with their youth pastor. His name is Andy Stinespring. And we've now been married for eight years. So again, that's a very long story that I'll save for another day. 

4:36  
Andy and I got married in 2012. The year after my dad passed away in 2011. We dated for a very short period of time -- we actually met, shook hands, said hello and then less than a year later, we were walking down the aisle and it was perfect. And again that's a story for another day. He was living in Georgia. So he moved to Orlando to be with me and we started serving at our local church, and we also began a missions organization that had been a dream in my dad's heart. 

5:06  
So we started taking trips to Honduras. Every summer, we were leading teams to Honduras, which was a country that my parents were very passionate about. And we were living that dream out for my dad,and my mom as well. And so we took these trips, and then we found an organization there, that was really doing what, what we dream to do, they were already doing it, and more above and beyond anything we had ever dreamed. So we, after three summers of going to Honduras, we, we just kind of decided let's support them, let's back them, and let them do what they're doing in Honduras, because they're already doing it so beautifully. And that way, we can double our efforts, right? Because they can be on the ground in Honduras seeing incredible change. It's an organization called Mi Esperanza. You can look them up online at thewomenofmyhope.org. It's incredible organization if you're interested. But Andy and I then would could focus all of our time, and energy and passion on the American church, which is where he and I both feel very passionately called. So we've been doing that together now for five additional years. 

6:13  
So eight years of our marriage, math, eight years, that we've been together and serving the local church and speaking and leading and pastoring, and teaching and mentoring, and discipling. And all of those things that we get to do together, we have two young kids -- a four year old son named Everett, and an almost two year old daughter, Juliet. So that's it. I think I caught up, I caught us all up. So the who of this podcast is me, Danielle Stinespring. I'm a mom. I'm a wife, I'm a pastor. I'm a leader. I'm a speaker, I'm a podcaster. Now, I am an Instagram blogger, which just means that I don't have a blog, but I use my Instagram, like a blog. So it's not really a thing I know. That's not what Instagram is for. But if you want all of my deep thoughts, and all of my words that I have a lot of, you can read them on my Instagram account. @Heythere_itsDanielle.

7:10  
And then I'm a sister, I'm a friend, I'm a mentor. I'm a mentee, I try to stay being mentored by someone, I am a disciple. I'm also a discipler, and I'm an apprentice of Jesus. And so that is "who". And the other "who" is you! You, my listeners, whoever you are. So I'm super grateful that it's YOU listening. 

7:31  
So who. "What"? Well, WHAT is this, this is the Hey there, podcast. And my whole purpose for this time is to do exactly what I said in my intro, to equip and to empower you to go out there and be living your best life. 

7:49  
Listen, when I got saved, that was enough, Jesus was enough. My salvation, my freedom, abundance, joy, peace, everything he promises me was mine, without me having to work or to do anything was just freely given. And then I kept having these habitual thought patterns. I kept having these, these same shame cycles come back and forth, and around and around and again! Or I would get trapped in these lies, or these belief systems, or these areas of hurt, or areas of unforgiveness or bitterness that would just continue to surface. And so I recognized 'Okay, you know, what, Jesus actually is going to equip me to do the work to be emotionally, spiritually, mentally relationally, physically healthy, so that I can be the best version of myself. So that I can be the most effective, incredible, abundant, joyful, driven, passionate version of me.' And that version of me is the version that one enjoys life the most, to enjoy Jesus the most, and three, is the most effective for the kingdom of God. And so it wasn't that I needed other resources other than Jesus, it was that he was drawing me to resources, he was drawing me to health and giving me tools and equipping me to be the very best person I could be. And that is something that I'm really passionate about passing on. He's given me tools, he's given me tips. He's given me Kingdom truths, things that are in the Word things that he's spoken to me things that I have learned from experience. And when I say experience, what I mean is ridiculous stories where I've made huge mistakes and I will share them with you. And he taught me how to get out of my own pit so that I can turn right back around and help other people get out of theirs. So that is the what of the Hey There Podcast. Alright, so "who", "what"

10:00  
"Where"? Well, let me tell you where I am. I am currently sitting on the floor of my five-by-five-foot closet. I think that's a pretty good -- a pretty good assessment. Yeah, I'm sitting on five square feet of hardwood that is covered by dozens (I'm not kidding when I say dozens) of pairs of shoes that are just all over the floor, my clothes are hanging up around me. And my kids are sleeping somewhere in the house. Well, "somewhere". I know where they are. They're in their rooms, like good children with a good mom who knows what she's doing. 

10:37  
So here's why I'm sitting on the closet floor right now, with a microphone that I did a lot of research for and bought on Amazon. Here's why. Because I'm a perfectionist. Pause for effect. What do I mean when I say I'm a perfectionist, and I'm sitting on the closet floor? Well, I was waiting and waiting and waiting to pursue the dreams that were in my heart until conditions were perfect. And I am here to tell you, they are never going to be perfect conditions for you to move forward. For you to pursue your dreams for you to get healthy for you to do whatever, walk out forgiveness, whatever it is that the Lord is calling you to do. If you're waiting for perfect conditions, you're going to keep on waiting. And you know what, I had to really just shut down the perfectionist side of me, which is very real. Those of you who know me can attest to this fact, I had to shut that thing down and just say you know what, sitting on the floor of my closet, where I know that the sound is actually going to be great because clothes absorb echo, with my microphone stacked on a couple of shoe boxes. And my computer on the floor was about as perfect as it was going to get for this season. And so I went for it. I just decided one day, "you know what? if this is the dream that God has put on my heart, he's not afraid of my circumstances. He's not afraid or worried about the fact that I don't have a lot of time right now. He's not concerned that I don't have the finances, to have somebody awesome, edit my podcasts for me and record them in a beautiful studio. He's not worried." In fact, he was just whispering to me, "Go, you've got this, you can do this." And so I decided to learn how to do it. 

12:36  
I got on YouTube did a whole lot of googling. And I figured out how to do this. And now I'm trying to figure out how to be tech savvy and edit my own stuff. And my gosh, we're doing it. So that's the where the where is my closet floor while my children sleep. And also, wherever you are listening. My goal is to keep these podcasts short and sweet so that you can listen to them on a quick commute. On a quick walk. Just a quick little nugget. Is that an okay word to say?

13:12  
A quick takeaway, a quick nugget for you to grab and use and say you know what, actually, if I apply this tool, this truth, this thing, if I actually apply this to my life, it's going to change things for me. So all right, Who, me? What? Hey, there were my closet floor surrounded by shoes. When Well, my dream, the goal is once a week that once a week you can come to expect my podcast is going to drop on this day of the week at this time. And you can get really excited and come to work it into your schedule. That's the dream. That's the goal. So let's just say that once a week when.

13:55  
And also when will it happens for me whenever my kids are asleep, or I've got one at school and one with a sitter or whatever, whenever I can squeeze it in. It's not when motivation strikes. I'll tell you that right now. Because motivation. Motivation is tricky. It is not something that you can just wait to come you actually have to create it yourself. If you're sitting around, waiting for conditions to be perfect or waiting for motivation to hit yet or waiting for inspiration, my friend, you're gonna sit around for years and then look around and wonder where your dreams are. So you can't wait for perfection and you certainly can't wait on motivation. You got to create that stuff. Create the inspiration yourself. 

14:33  
So WHEN is it happening? Well it's happening when I can squeeze it in during nap time? Praise the Lord. All right, who, what, where, when? And why? Well, I kind of told you a little bit at the beginning but the truth of my WHY is my three vision words that the Lord gave me for the entire Hey their venture, and yes, there is more to it than just a podcast. 

14:59  
Can't wait to share those little things with you as they unfold. But my three vision words were to encourage, I want to encourage you, wherever you are in your journey, I want to encourage you to be the person that God has created you to be, I want you to tune into this podcast and know that you're gonna laugh, that you're going to get a truth that you're going to hear something that just encourages you to take the next step or encourages you to do the work or encourages you to just love who you are, encourages you to believe what the Lord says about you. I just want to encourage you. And it's something that has been really given to me, I feel as a love language, that that the father just uses me as an encourager. I think maybe that's because it's how I receive love to. But it's just just what I love to do. So to encourage, 

15:58  
to empower, I want to empower you, I want you to feel the power and the authority that Jesus died to give you. Now, look, I can't actually give you that authority. He already did that. But what I can do is remind you that you have that authority, and give you the tools that you need to feel empowered to go out there and claim the life that he died for. It says that he came to give you life and life more abundantly. And if you're not living that abundant life, then I want to empower you to go out there and claim what is rightfully yours. 

16:37  
And then the last word that I have for you is to equip. Encourage, empower and equip. You can tell that I am a pastor, because they all start with "E". To equip you. I want to give you the tools that you need little quick tools that I feel like are really going to change your perspective, change the way you see things change the way you approach things. Maybe equip you to have the tough conversation that you've been avoiding equip you to know how to manage healthy relationships, equip you to know how to be just better at life. That's what I want to do. I want to equip you

17:22  
to live out the life that the Lord has created you for. So encourage, empower, and equip. So that's the who, the what, the where, the when, and the why of the Hey There Podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in for giving me your time today. I am so grateful for you and I'm excited. I'm excited for this journey, and I can't wait to see where it takes us. So with that being said, have a great day and I'll catch you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai