Latest / UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth / EP 52 - From Abuse to Identity: Dena Hodges’ Story

Transcript

EP 52 - From Abuse to Identity: Dena Hodges’ Story · UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth

0:00
Some stories sound unbelievable, not because they're exaggerated,
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but because no one should have to live them.
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What happens when the place that was supposed to protect you
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becomes a place that breaks you? When truth is hidden, identity
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is distorted, and even your own story is used against you?
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And what do you do when healing isn't clean, When faith isn't
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instant, and when survival becomes the only thing you know?
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Today's conversation is about trauma, identity, and what it
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looks like to keep going. When your life has been shaped
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by things that you didn't choose, and what it means to
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begin finding your freedom and God after everything else has
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tried to define you. Welcome to Unmasked, where we
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take off the filters and get real about faith, failure, and
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finding freedom. I'm your host, Wesley
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Farnsworth, a dad, veteran, author, and a man who's learning
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that God does his best work in the middle of our mess.
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Each episode we have honest conversations with people who
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have walked through addiction, pain, or doubt, and with
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pastors, leaders, and everyday believers who are learning to
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live and lead authentically. So take a breath, pull up a
1:20
chair, and let's get real. This is Unmasked.
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Today on Unmasked, we are joined by somebody who has a story
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that's not or. Today on Unmasked, we are joined
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by a guest who carries a story that's hard to fully comprehend,
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not because of where she comes from, but because because of
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what she had to survive. Dina Hodges is the granddaughter
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of Charles M Schultz, the creator of Peanuts, a legacy
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from the outside that suggests stability, security, and care.
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But her reality looked very different.
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Her life has been marked by the loss of her father at a young
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age, years of several physical years of severe physical and
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psychological abuse, family deception, and the long term
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impact of complex trauma. Despite everything, though she's
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endured, Dina has continued to fight for her life, pursuing
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degrees in psychology, forensic psychology, and business, and
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she continues her doctoral work in criminal justice.
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But more importantly, she's learning what it means to
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rebuild identity, wrestle with faith, and move forward when
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healing doesn't come easy. This is not a polished story,
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but it is a real 1. Dana, thank you so much for
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joining us today. I'm unmasked and welcome.
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Thank you for having me. It's my pleasure.
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I've been looking forward to this, this episode.
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So I want to start with you just kind of sharing part of your
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story. I really want to help the
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listeners understand where you're coming from.
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So instead of walking us through every detail of your life,
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because I'm sure there's a lot there to unpack, I would love
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for you just to Share your story that take us through the
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specific moments that shaped how you saw yourself, your identity,
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your worth, and your understanding of God.
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OK well I can start with the first time I had an introduction
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to the Bible. I was about 9 years old and my
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mom threw it at my head and told me I was going to hell.
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So I need to read it. So I love to read at that point
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in time and I read it, did not understand it.
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Of course I was 9. I had no idea what was going on.
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I was kind of segregated for my family.
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My mom was abusing me so she segregated me for my family.
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All of her words and stuff like, you know, her saying stuff to
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me, horrible things to me and just demeaning me made me feel
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like I was worthless. And I kept trying to find my
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worth. Like my cousins live totally
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different life. And so I was always like, you
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know, I'm, I'm Charles Schultz's granddaughter.
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I'm Charles Schultz's granddaughter.
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Like I shouldn't, you know, I was trying to find my identity
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in him. And actually just recently I, I
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finally broke those chains and I realized I'm not his
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granddaughter. I'm a child of God.
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So but the abuse definitely destroyed me.
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The because I was abused, I went into substance abuse, anything
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to try to not feel the pain. And I finally felt happy for the
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first time in my life, which then it wasn't a very long
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period of time. I think maybe total four years
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total, you know, get clean and then go back and, and I've been
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25 years clean now, but I've never been able to live as a
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clean person. My family is, you know, my uncle
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said you're a loser, you're stupid, you're drug addict,
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you'll always be a drug addict. You're a piece of trash.
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Just everything, all their words.
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There's really the words that heard.
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I would take 100 million of my mother's beatings than the than
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the words. So and when I had my daughter's,
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you know, it was like they didn't I was a single mom and
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that's, you know, taboo. So, you know, don't want to be a
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single mom and kind of was shoved aside.
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I did have an aunt that was pretty good to us for Christmas
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only. I mean I never really was
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allowed in the family. Then I got sick in 2007 and I
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almost died in 2009 and I was begging the family for help and
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they turn their backs on me and told me that it was overdramatic
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and to figure it out and I was literally in subject shock.
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I was dying a multi system organ failure and they would not help
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me. They do state that they would
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pay for things. You know, they would have paid
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for the Mayo Clinic. However, I would have had to get
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rid of my kids. I would have had to let them
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make all of my medical decisions.
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So I was not allowed to make any medical decisions.
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I had to give up my entire trust fund and I was not allowed to
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have anybody travel with me. And at this point in time, I was
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literally dead ridden. I couldn't even walk to the, you
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know, to the bathroom. And then the next time really,
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you know, that really impacted me is when I found out this
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house had toxic mold in it in 2021.
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The whole family turned their backs on us again, left me and
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my daughters here in deadly mold.
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This, this wasn't just, and we didn't know it was behind.
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Everything was behind the kitchen cabinets, under the
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floor, behind the drywall. And we, we had no idea and we
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were left with nothing. And those big markers destroyed
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me as AI mean just obliterated me.
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I, I realized that I meant absolutely nothing to anybody in
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my family. Nobody.
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So. Wow, that is a lot.
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So when you look back at your childhood, before you had
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language for any of it, what did you end up believing about
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yourself because of everything that you were going through?
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Well, I believe that I was worthless.
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Yeah. I didn't even realize I was
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being abused. So I actually didn't realize I
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was being abused until I got into therapy six years ago.
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So I was like, it's normal, you know, everything is, is fine.
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So I just felt worthless. Like there's no place for me in
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this world. Like, why am I here?
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A lot of it was this. I didn't want to be on this
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planet and I wasn't one to like commit suicide, but I wouldn't
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have minded if I would have died like I was ready.
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I did not want, I never had wanted to be on this planet
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because of what my family has done to me.
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Wow. So with all of these years of
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abuse and confusion that you were talking about, what did the
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environment like? What did an environment like
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that train you to do emotionally?
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Did you learn to to fight or to shut down or survive?
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What did that look like for you? Well, I just learned that I've
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been in survival mode and I learned what survival mode was.
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So basically I've would fight people.
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If you get in my space, don't I get I I used to get I'm better
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now. I would, you know, shove you out
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of my way like please do not get my personal level because I'm
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uncomfortable and I feel like you're going to attack me
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emotional. I shut down completely.
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I just started being able to through therapy, open up.
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And you know, I told the therapist, I hate this because
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I'm starting to feel and I don't like feeling.
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So I mean, I basically went through life just completely
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shut down. The only feelings I had for
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anybody was for my kids. I mean, I had empathy for
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people, but it was always at an arm's length.
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Like I would not, I would not let anybody close to me at all,
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period, except for my children. Wow, so you've said that much of
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your life was built on deception.
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What does that do to a person when they realize that their
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story isn't what they were told that it was?
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You don't know who you are and you don't trust who you're
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supposed to trust. Like, you know, But you mean, I
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don't know if you want me to go into the story about what was
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deceptive, what was deceived, how I was deceived.
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Sure, you can share a little bit out of it.
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OK, so my dad, my real dad, passed away when I was 10 months
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old, 11 months old. He died a month before my
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birthday and my first birthday. And I was told my whole life
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that their whole family was dead.
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There was nobody left. And I was given one picture of
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my my dad. It was his high school senior
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yearbook picture. And I thought that was only
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picture of him. And then I was flipping through
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my mom's photo albums and looking at, you know, and I was
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like, oh, I wonder who this guy is?
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There's pictures of this guy over and over.
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And I'm like, who is this guy? Oh, nobody, nobody.
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And then my mom made me a photo album when I was 40, about 43.
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And she put those pictures in the photo album.
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I was like, why do you have those pictures in the photo
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album? She's like, those are your dad.
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And I'm like you. I've been looking at them like
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my whole life, and you didn't tell me about them.
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But the worst part is, is when my Grandpa Schultz died, I found
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out at the funeral that my, my father's dad had been looking
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for me since I was 2 years old. For 25 years he had been looking
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for me and my entire family had hidden me from him.
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So and I was like, I could have been loved.
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Like if you didn't want me, you could have put me there.
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You know, I was blessed. And I thank God for this.
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I got 7, like 6 or 7 years with him before he passed away.
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But yeah, I found out at the press tents behind my
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grandfather's funeral, a hippie in a wheelchair came up and told
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me. Wow, I want to turn to your
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grandpa real fast here because I know everyone out there, if
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they're a little bit older, at least, you know, like me, they
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they've seen the Peanuts cartoon out there and around, they've
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enjoyed reading it. What was it like for you growing
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up in the wings or the shadows or whatever you want to call it,
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of a grandfather that was as famous as he was?
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So for me, it was very different in two different spots.
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So when I was in Colorado, where I lived, I was like, yeah, no, I
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don't believe it. You're that's not your
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grandfather. You're just trash.
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So I also was like bullied at school because I was the gawky
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little tiny kid. So I was bullied at school.
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I had nowhere to go. But when I was in California
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visiting my grandfather, I actually like my grandfather's
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awesome because if anybody came up to us during family time,
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he'd be like, no, goodbye. I'm spending time with my
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family. Like he would make us feel
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special. So it was like confusing, you
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know, he would, he would stop everything and just spend time
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with us and nobody was allowed. He would get angry if people
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would interrupt that special time.
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So was there a moment when everything that you had went
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through caught up with you and survival stopped working and you
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knew that something had to change?
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Not really I, but there was a moment like God reached out to
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me. So I was, I was driving my car
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back from school in 2006 and I was listening to life, houses,
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everything. And I felt more love than I've
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ever felt in my life. Like it was just in the car.
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It was weird. And so I started going to church
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very sporadically, extremely sporadically, because it was
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like every sermon seemed to talk to me.
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And I'm like, that's kind of creepy.
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I didn't really understand the concept of how God talks to you
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at that point in time. So it was really my, it was
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really God chasing after me that changed my trajectory.
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Wow. So let's dig into your faith a
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little bit here. So you mentioned that you had a
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little bit of faith growing up, your mom throwing the Bible at
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you, telling you that you needed to change, and you started
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reading a little bit. When did God first become real
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to you in the middle of everything that you were going
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through? And talk us through that journey
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from basically getting the Bible thrown at you to accepting
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Christ and following him. So we, you know, so I had the
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Bible thrown at me and that was obviously punishment.
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So I didn't take it seriously. And I also did not believe that
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if the whole proverbial, if there's a God, why is this
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happening to me? So like, I don't believe this.
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I don't believe in any, you know, I don't believe this
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because if there was a God, I wouldn't be getting, you know,
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treated like this. So it really did start in 2006.
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And then when I got sick in 2009, I was told by a doctor in
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the emergency room to go home and die.
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They weren't going to help me. And that's when I was like just
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on my knees and like praying for God, like save, please save me.
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I have two little girls and you know, they have nobody because
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none of my family, none of my family would help me.
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I had nobody to help me or them. And my family wanted to actually
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get rid of them. Not like in the family, like get
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rid of my kids in DCF and get rid of them completely.
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So I really started crying out to God.
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And then as my sickness progressed, I would sit there
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and my goals were to get to church.
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So I would be like, OK, God, I want to get to church.
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And so that's what I would do. You know, each time I would be a
16:29
success and I'm like, OK, I want to feel like a little bit better
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when I'm in church. I want to be able to stay and
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focus. So I want to go to church every
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week. So I just kept doing these goals
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of my, you know, sickness and stuff.
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And I finally, and when my daughter was 12, so she's 24
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right now, about 12 years ago, I found a church and it was
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definitely what I needed at the time at South Point Community
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Church here in Jacksonville. And it was perfect for what I
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needed at the time. And that's when I really started
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to feel God, like, I mean, I felt him in my heart.
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And that's when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.
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And then as South Point progressed, we moved out to
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Middleburg and which is about an hour outside of Jacksonville.
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And so I was like, I need another church.
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And I found the Church of 11/22 and that is my home and I have
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been so deep rooted in my faith because of that pastor, because
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of everything like just it's amazing, so unwavering.
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And no, my life is not a good neat little bow.
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I still, I still at life or death store at this point in
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time with illness, but my faith is so strong and I know that
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God's protecting me so. And we're thankful for that.
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Praise God for it. So you said something really
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important and I want to come back to it.
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You mentioned that you still struggle to understand God
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sometimes and how God could love you.
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What does that tension look like for you day-to-day?
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So I love people, but I don't understand how anyone can love
18:13
me because I was never shown, I can't say never shown love.
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My grandma and my grandpa showed me love, but it was when I was
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four years old and under, so I don't really remember that.
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So it's really like a constant battle where the enemy is in my
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ear. Like you're not worthy, you're
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trash, you know, just all the stuff that you know, my family
18:34
has said and I have to get into the scripture and constantly,
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you know, be in that scripture and I don't understand it, it,
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it does not connect. So which I pray one day it will
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connect. But it's like there's this
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disconnect that I know cognitively God loves me, but in
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my heart, how could anybody, you know?
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So it's it's a constant battle, but I get in the word all the
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time. Oh wow, so after everything that
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you've been through, how do you begin rebuilding the sense of
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identity that isn't shaped by trauma?
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Well, I did trauma therapy, so I first had identified that I even
19:27
had it because I didn't, I didn't know my mom was.
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I think you're not abused. There's nothing wrong with you.
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This is discipline. I'm just giving you tough love.
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And so I went to therapy and when I was telling my story,
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like their jaw dropped and like, how are you still alive?
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And I'm like, what are you talking about?
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Like anything was that bad. So I had to identify that there
19:53
was a problem and that I had, I did have stuff happen to me and
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I did. That's why I acted the way I
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did. And then so then adding the
20:04
faith to it was like. When I have anxiety, all I do, I
20:09
put the Bible on my head or I put a sermon on or I do so I I
20:12
have to have God in my ear. Between those two things is
20:17
therapy in my faith and being involved in the church and also
20:22
helping others heads like really, really made me feel
20:28
worthwhile. You know, just being a being
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there and being able to help, like kids that have been abused
20:34
and stuff like that, or people that are going through substance
20:37
abuse, just being able to touch their lives and change their
20:40
lives. It's been such a blessing to me.
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So I mean, I'm serving the Lord. Yeah, I'm doing his work and
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he's working through me, so. That's always a good feeling
20:50
when that when something like that happens, being able to
20:53
serve others. So I want to go back to
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something you said just a second ago and you were talking about
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the difference between knowing that God loves you and feeling
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that God loves you. And the difference there.
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Walk us through on a day-to-day basis what that struggle looks
21:13
like for you. And then what would you say to
21:16
the listener that's that's hearing you Share your story
21:20
right now and they're feeling the same thing and they're
21:23
struggling with this and even being able to connect those
21:28
dots, so to speak. What would you say to that
21:30
listener? Well, what I would say it, you
21:33
know, for like, for example, the the enemy knows how to get in
21:37
your ear, so he's going to take your weakest point.
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So that's the point that enemy uses for me.
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I have people around me, you know, that are church going
21:44
people that are like, you know, God is done with you.
21:48
He's going to pour his wrath down on you.
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He does not like you, you know, and I'm like, OK, the enemy most
21:55
important part is being in Scripture.
21:57
You got to keep reading that God is love.
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And I know there's a lot of, you know, love your neighbor, all
22:05
that kind of stuff. It God is love and you have to
22:08
remember that. And anytime, I mean, I'm in it,
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I'd say I'm almost in scripture, probably 3 or 4 hours a day.
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So either in my, in my head, doing Bible study with my kids
22:22
church, you know, conversations. I have to be there because I
22:26
have to know God loves me. And I got to remind myself
22:30
because the enemy is using, you know, he's using all of my, my
22:34
weak point to come after me. So, and what better, you know,
22:39
the pull on the full armor of God.
22:41
Yeah, Which is mainly the belt of truth.
22:44
You've got to have that truth in there.
22:45
And you've got to keep telling yourself over and over.
22:48
And it you may be telling yourself over and over for the
22:51
rest of your life. I don't know how long I'm going
22:53
to have to tell myself, you know?
22:57
Yeah, I mean, I, I think we all have times like that where we
23:00
have to tell ourselves and remind ourselves, hey, it's OK,
23:04
you're not perfect. You know, God still loves you
23:07
because it's very easy for us. I mean, we're all broken people
23:09
in a broken world and none of us are perfect.
23:13
And it's very easy for the enemy to to work himself in there and
23:18
be like, hey, you just did that. Now you're too far gone and God,
23:21
God won't use you or God can't use you.
23:23
And and that's just what you said.
23:26
It's a lie from the the pit of hell.
23:28
It's what the enemy wants you to believe.
23:31
Exactly. Exactly.
23:34
And the enemies use my family against me.
23:37
And, you know, I've father forgive them.
23:38
They know not what they do. They don't know what they're
23:40
doing, you know, And the devil's using them to get to me.
23:45
And sorry, you know, I've got God.
23:48
I'm covered, you know? So it's just a fight, you know,
23:53
it's like I've been fighting my whole life.
23:54
It's just another battle that I'm doing, you know, And you got
23:57
to know that it is a battle. And when you accept Christ, it's
24:01
not all, you know, rainbows and unicorns.
24:05
It is a battle. It is a hard battle.
24:07
But I also truly believe that God gave me the life He did so I
24:13
could be one of His greatest warriors in that spiritual
24:16
battle. Yeah, and that's a good point.
24:19
You know, a lot of people say, Oh, well, I accepted Jesus last
24:22
night, so or you know, my when I was 5 or whatever.
24:25
So my life is going to be perfect.
24:26
I'm not going to trade. I'm not going to face anything
24:29
hard or, or anything like that. And it's going to be all
24:32
sunshine and rainbows or unicorns, as you said.
24:36
And that's the furthest thing from the truth.
24:38
Trials are still going to happen.
24:40
Yeah, and you're still going to. I mean, bad things are going to
24:42
happen all the time and but without the bad you wouldn't
24:46
know the love of the Lord. Absolutely.
24:48
And that's where, and honestly, that's where living unmasked
24:51
comes from. I mean, the show, the title of
24:54
the show is unmasked because we're, we need to take off our
24:57
masks and be vulnerable and honest with other people and,
25:01
and rely on our community to help us through it because you
25:05
can't do life alone. Exactly.
25:07
And that's what you're, that's what you're learning now through
25:11
your counseling and basically learning to feel again.
25:15
Yeah, absolutely. And I've been alone pretty much
25:21
my whole life. You know, I was alone with my
25:23
kids. Thank God.
25:25
I thank God for my kids. They saved my life.
25:28
If I hadn't had them, I would have not probably been here.
25:31
I wouldn't have been able to cope because I've been by
25:33
myself. Everything's figured out
25:35
yourself. Do it yourself.
25:36
Figured out yourself, you know, So I'm so grateful for that.
25:41
And I'm grateful for my church people, you know, they hold me
25:45
up so. Yeah.
25:49
So there's a pressure out there for survivors to move on or be
25:55
healed, you know? So what?
25:58
What do you think it is that people most misunderstand about
26:03
what real healing actually looks like from traumas and things
26:08
like that that you have gone through?
26:12
So from a psychological perspective and a biblical, I've
26:16
got out of psychology because I think it's nonsense, Biblical
26:21
perspective, God takes you through the trauma and he opens
26:25
the boxes that he knows that you can handle at that time, and
26:30
then he unpacks them with you. These therapists are like, you
26:35
know, just forget about it. Just forget about it.
26:37
Like I've had my therapist, you know, move on.
26:40
Well, I can't move on. Everywhere I go, there's Snoopy.
26:44
Every single place I go, it's not that easy to just be like,
26:47
oh, you know, la di da, everything's great.
26:51
I believe in a spirit that and I know from my experience, God has
26:56
taken boxes in my brain, unpacked them as I could
27:01
emotionally deal with them. So I allow God to take the
27:05
reins. I trust him with everything and
27:10
let him do the healing for me. And he will bring up memories
27:14
and it will be like, OK, now we're going to deal with this
27:16
memory or you know, now we're going to deal with this happen.
27:19
So I just surrender and give it to God and allow him to do it.
27:24
You cannot heal somebody and be like, poof, forget about it
27:28
because those wounds run deep. Your body does.
27:32
Your body keeps the score. There's so many things, you
27:36
know, you have to do it methodically and you have to do
27:38
it in God's timing, not the therapist timing.
27:41
And especially these therapists that just read books and they
27:44
have no idea, no idea about what trauma is.
27:47
You know, I've, I've had a person do some serious damage on
27:50
me that had no clue because they had not been through any, any,
27:54
you know, trauma. Yeah.
27:58
And I think that's a good spot, too, to talk about, you know,
28:00
the difference between a secular counselor and a Christian
28:06
counselor, you know, somebody that's going to walk you through
28:09
things and help you keep rooted in your faith versus giving you
28:14
advice of the world. Yes, exactly, exactly.
28:18
I mean, I don't even I'm in the world, but I'm not of the world.
28:22
Like I don't even participate like that so.
28:30
So you're sharing your story publicly right now.
28:35
How has telling the truth changed your life?
28:42
Has it cost you anything had or has it been worth it?
28:47
Well, I'm about to find out. I'm publishing.
28:50
My book is coming out at the end of this month or end of or
28:53
beginning of May. I think so.
28:55
We're on target to publish my book, so I'm about to find out.
28:59
But honestly, it's not going to cost me anything because my
29:01
family hates me anyway, so there's no cost to that.
29:06
For me, it's freedom that my voice is heard.
29:12
Not necessarily it's so much my voice is heard.
29:14
Maybe I can help other people that are in this position or you
29:19
know what I mean. They have dealt with a variety
29:22
of things that I dealt with, all the things I've dealt with and
29:25
just help them crawl out of the hole that they're in so they
29:28
don't feel so worthless. Like my intent is to spread this
29:32
as far and wide like my grandfather, but spread it in
29:35
the light of Christ about forgiveness, about, you know,
29:38
forgiving yourself, forgiving the people that have harmed you,
29:42
and loving yourself and trying to build back that love for
29:45
yourself and that love of Christ.
29:50
That's a powerful story and a powerful message because that's
29:53
something that's not always easy to do.
29:55
So for for somebody that's out there listening right now and
29:58
they feel like you felt, they felt on they're, they're feeling
30:03
unseen, unheard, or like their story simply doesn't matter.
30:12
What would you say to that person right now?
30:16
Write it down. You never know.
30:19
Write it down and then Share your story with, you know, if if
30:23
you're in a position where you're just destroyed, go find a
30:28
good church, find a good non denominational church or, you
30:31
know, somebody, make sure they read the directly from the Bible
30:34
and go and talk to somebody, you know, because you're not unseen
30:39
and you're not every single person on this planet is
30:42
valuable. Every single person on this
30:45
planet has value. Otherwise God would not have put
30:48
us here. I don't care if you're on the
30:50
street stuck in a fentanyl comatose, you are important.
30:54
If you're homeless, you are important, you know, and, and it
30:58
even says it in the Bible. I mean, Jesus went to the
31:00
misfits. Jesus didn't go to the people
31:02
that held it all together, you know.
31:08
Yep, absolutely. He will go after anyone and
31:11
everyone. You are more important than the
31:12
rest of the flock, so to speak. You know, I think of the parable
31:17
of the lost sheep. You know, he leaves the 99 to go
31:20
after the one. And if you're out there
31:22
listening right now and you, you are struggling, you feel like
31:26
your story isn't important enough, that you're not
31:28
important enough. You are important enough.
31:31
And I'll just echo what Dana just said.
31:34
He wants you, he loves you, and he wants to come after you.
31:38
He just wants you to be able to turn to Him and seek Him and ask
31:42
for his help. Yep, absolutely.
31:47
So one of the things that I love to do is I love to leave my
31:51
listeners with an action step. But before we get to the action
31:55
step, I want to give my listeners a chance to be able to
31:57
find you online. So if they're out there and they
32:01
want to hear more of your story, where can they find you online?
32:05
And what is the name of your book that's coming out?
32:08
OK, so you can find me at Dina M as in Marie Hodges hodges.com.
32:15
That's my website and I am on X I'm on Facebook and I am on
32:22
Instagram and TikTok. And the name is Snoopin for
32:26
Jesus. So SN0 0PN the number 4 Jesus.
32:33
And you'll see a little snoopy with a cross there.
32:35
So that's and my book is called In the Shadow of the Family Dog
32:42
and it will be released. I think we're releasing it in
32:44
May. Awesome, so this this episode
32:48
will be coming out right around that time.
32:50
So make sure you check out the links in the bio or I'm sorry,
32:56
links in the show notes to her website and then her book.
33:00
If it's out by then, I will link it there as well.
33:04
So do you know what is one thing?
33:07
Let's get to that action step now.
33:08
What is the one thing that somebody out there, if they're
33:13
listening, can do, That one step that they can take this week if
33:20
they're feeling stuck in their past and they want to start
33:24
moving forward towards healing? Make goals.
33:31
Make attainable little goals to get going.
33:34
Don't worry about the big goal at the end.
33:38
You know, if you're an addiction, I'm not going to use
33:41
today. If you're in, you know, you, you
33:45
want to start to talk to a therapist, but you're not quite
33:48
sure, make start looking for a therapist.
33:52
You know, it's better to find a faith-based ones or go to a
33:57
church, you know, go to a church, find a good church and
34:01
let God guide you on that one because God will put the right
34:05
people. I mean, God did it perfectly for
34:07
me. He put the right people where I
34:09
needed to be to get me to the right church.
34:14
But just the biggest problem is like just small actionable
34:17
goals, something that you can't achieve.
34:20
And that way I did it, you know, it doesn't have to be a huge
34:24
goal, it's just a small one. Absolutely.
34:28
And then if you're going to set a goal like that, make it a
34:30
smart goal. If you're not familiar with what
34:33
that is, just go out there and Google smart goal and it'll give
34:37
you the specific format to be able to do it.
34:41
And that'll help you make sure that your goal is isn't
34:43
obtainable and it's a it's applicable to you.
34:47
So that's it. That is a great tip.
34:51
Well, Dana, thanks so much for joining us today and Unmasked
34:54
and being willing to Share your story or at least a part of your
34:57
story with the Unmasked community.
35:00
The full stories in the book, it's a it's a doozy.
35:09
Well, thanks for joining me today on Unmasked, and again, a
35:11
huge thanks to Dina for joining us and being so open and honest.
35:16
If something in this episode spoke to you, don't let us stop
35:19
with you. Share it with the one person
35:21
that got put on your heart while you were listening because you
35:23
never know whose breakthrough might start with just a simple
35:26
message from you. If you want more encouragement,
35:30
you want to work with me one-on-one, or you're interested
35:32
in having me speak at your church or event, you can find
35:35
everything that you need to know at wesleyfarnsworth.com.
35:39
And make sure you join the Unmasked community by connecting
35:41
with me on social media so that we can keep walking this journey
35:45
together. Until next time, remember that
35:48
grace is greater than your past, and true freedom, real freedom,
35:53
begins the moment that you choose to live unmasked.
35:58
God bless you.