Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / Made for More | a conversation with Anita Agers-Brooks

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Made for More | a conversation with Anita Agers-Brooks · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hi friends, welcome back to the Simply Wholehearted podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: It means so much to have you choose to take our conversation along with you today.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Amy Wicks, your host, and here at Simply Wholehearted, we provide simple plans for life's most creative endeavors.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: The culture around us lulls us to complacency, half awake to our purpose, and more often than not, it seems as if everyone around us celebrates mediocrity.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: But we believe there is more to your story.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: Awaken your heart with extraordinary tales of the ordinary.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Find encouragement as you discover your creative purpose and be empowered to create your unique masterpiece in life, family, and community.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: If you've tuned in the last couple weeks, you know we're taking the weeks of Lent to realize our need for a savior and ready ourselves and our family for a fitting celebration of Easter.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm loving the conversations which have touched on our need to pause and notice what's more real than we imagine and draw us closer to the one who created and redeemed us.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Today, Anita Eggers Brooks joins the conversation with spiritual strategies for an intentional life.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Her newest book, Exceedingly, felt so hopeful and encouraging this Linton season.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: There seems to be a common thread in my conversations of late: suffering and struggle, pain and death.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: But even if our abundant purpose is birth through pain, we can believe God and partner with him.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: I think you'll walk away in power to discover and pursue what will transform your life.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, in this season of lack of doing without, right?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, less of us, more of God, what does it look like to walk in abundance and to walk in exceedingly powerful goodness of God?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And your, you know, your questions that you sent me were so good because it's interesting.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm sure you know this.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: You end up as you walk with God and you learn more about Him, just naturally implementing some things, but sometimes you forget where you were that's brought you to where you are today.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So when you were asking about Lent, like what I've given up, yeah, I had to kind of reflect back over several years and I thought, well, I've given up a lot of things.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: I've given up sugar, I've given up coffee, I gave up TV before.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: But what I've come to realize, it isn't what I give up so much, but it's what the sacrifice does for my focus.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I just let the temptations, you know, because we have the cravings, right?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's the craziest thing.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: And it's in front of you all the time, vying for your attention.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or your stomach.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: What I've learned to do is let the temptation become a trigger.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I feel tempted or I I have that craving hit, then I let that become my trigger to start praising God.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I just start thinking and reflecting on uh, you know, what he's done.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I were to share all of the crazy dramatic stories of what God's done in my life, we could be here for days.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: One of my friends said to me once, she goes, you know, Anita, things like this only happen to you and then lifetime movies.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's great.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's some truth to that.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: Great material then.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's well, even uh, and when she said that to me, uh I I found out at 46 years old that my dad is not my biological father.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Insane.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can imagine.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I tell the story actually in the first chapter of exceedingly, it's the first time I've ever been brave enough to publicly tell that in written storm.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've spoken about it from the stage.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's definitely writing it down in writing.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, when you go through something like that, I've been through many very dramatic things that have challenged me and it's felt very dark.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it feels like when you're there, it's never going to get better.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I just think about the darkness of Christ's tomb.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when we celebrate Easter, when we talk about Lent that leads up to Easter, you know, you always think about Christ dying on that cross, taking our sins upon himself.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, he buried our sins in that tomb as well.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: But the difference is, as dark as that tomb was, he left our sins there, but he didn't stay there.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: He was resurrected on that third day.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I like to celebrate.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So when I have the cravings, I just let that kind of remind me that you know what, because of Jesus, I'm free.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because of Jesus, I'm resurrected to new life, and I don't have to wallow in what happened to me in the past.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you don't have to stay in that emptiness and that dark place.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's good.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: I like that illustration.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's really powerful.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: This year, what does it look like to observe Lint, especially in the midst of book launch and the busyness of life?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Boy, that, and it is crazy.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's interesting.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've mentioned that I've been through a lot of adversity.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: To the point that I've had people in the past come to me and say, Oh my gosh, Anita, what is going on?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you are a female version of Joe because you're getting hit from every side.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And after a while, I just started saying, you know what, I'm just gonna roll with this because you can either laugh or cry.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've cried, I I've spent many a tear, but I've also learned that I don't have to let the pain or the adversity completely steal my joy.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I call those seasons of life endearingly Jobette seasons.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Jobette.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So just call me Jobet.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jobet.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: We are actually going through another one right now.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm and this happened to me um three years ago when my book, Getting Through Itch You Can't Get Over, was was getting ready to release.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, How interesting, Lord, what is up?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I also have to remember all of the things that he has brought me through to date.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to remind myself that just because it feels like this is going to be forever, it won't.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've been released and rescued in the past.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: I've been redeemed in the past, and our God will do that again.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's my focus this Easter is I keep reminding myself it's not just about death on a cross, but it's about resurrection from a grave.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, it's difficult.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have this book releasing, uh, the publisher actually of getting through what you can't get over is releasing a mass market edition of that.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is coinciding at the same time.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: That would be crazy all on its own.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: But life has kicked up a lot of dust around us.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, or to maybe use a different term, a lot of storms.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it feels really stormy.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I learned a long time ago that I have a choice.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: I can either keep my eyes focused on the storms and the wind and the waves, or I can keep my eyes focused on Jesus.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm doing right now.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not able to do everything that I could and should do and would normally do to prepare for a book launch right now.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I just fall at Jesus' feet.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I trust that as much as he had power to overcome the cross and the grave, he has the power to overcome any storm that comes into my life.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm choosing to walk on water.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm doing.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't have another answer, a better answer than that.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like right.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: No, I think that's the best thing we can do.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's interesting.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: A friend, a couple of friends and I, we uh my kids have a thing called running club after school.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: And we're really blessed with a small private school not too far from us, and so they invite the parents to join in this running club.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: Now, not many of them do, but I found it to be a good bonding activity and encourages my kids to fulfill, you know, much needed energy expansion.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but we so just some of us moms were chatting yesterday, in fact, and the topic of spiritual warfare came up because I too have been involved in a couple of different book launches for close friends, been part of writing material and just different things.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I said I had kind of been talking about some of the wrestles and kind of going down the line, is this spiritual warfare?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Is this just life in a fallen world?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: Is this the result of sin?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, trying to go through all of those things.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: And my friend even said, Yeah, you know, I have to say, hearing you say all of this reinforces some of that idea of why I've been afraid to step out and step out of the boat and step into some of the things that I desire to do, some of my dreams and callings, because of that very thing, is that I'm sort of afraid what's going to happen on the other side.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so we were just practically talking through, okay, what do we do?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: And how do we sift through that?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: Because I actually feel I have this, well, based on conversations that I'm having with a lot of people in the body of Christ at large, it isn't that abnormal to be facing some of these really difficult circumstances.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: Even as I look around in the books and the meet the different authors and have the different conversations, this seems to be an ongoing thing that either the heat is being turned up or we're just finally acknowledging it and talking about that life on this side of heaven is really hard and we have to fight against a lot.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely agree.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, here's the thing it may seem odd based on the things that I've experienced that my faith is so strong.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, for the people who know some of the details of and the depth of some of the things that I've been through, they're like, Anita, how can you have such a strong faith?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that what has made your strong faith or your faith strong?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Or how can you laugh so much?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because like you're a happy person.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't get it.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that gives me an opportunity to share about not only what Jesus has done for me, but who he is to me.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, a lot of us, and I hear this a lot, you know, I speak all over the country, and and I'll often have people come up to me, and even whether it's a Christian setting or whether it's a general market, because I do a lot of that as well, but they'll come up to me and and you know, to the side and say, Well, you know, Anita, I believe in God.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And as soon as I hear that, that's a uh one of those kind of fun triggers for me where God has taught me to respond this way.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I say, you know, that is amazing, and I'm so glad to hear that.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: May I ask you a question?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no one's turned me down yet, so I always get to ask the question.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the question is this do you believe God?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do you believe that the promises that God makes in his word are as true for you as they are for other people?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you do, no matter what hits you in life, and and I agree, you know, I think it's important sometimes to be careful that we don't just like, you know, we're not looking for, you know, a devil around every corner and we're not just blaming everything on spiritual warfare.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes life is giving us a gut check.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we need to make some changes.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um but whether it's that or whether it is truly spiritual warfare, the thing is we can know that God is with us.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: He has not abandoned us, he has not forsaken us.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: We are not walking through these storms alone, and he will bring us through to the other side.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: If we believe God, we step like we believe God.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: If we believe God, we speak like we believe God.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: If we believe God, we show others what it's like to believe God.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one of the things that I think is one of my uh my missions, my purpose in life is to prove to other people that even though life is tough, and it's tough on on most of us, frankly, at one point or another, because I always say all of us have been through something that we'll never get over, or we will, and we just don't know it yet.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: But when it happens, when you have your grip on God and when you have your eyes on Jesus, He can get you through anything.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: The solution has been to tether ourselves to the Lord, tether ourselves to his goodness, his character, his strength, our hope in him, not in the situations around us, not in the people around us.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes I think it's exactly what the Lord uses to remind us that this is not our home.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: This is just our stopping, you know, little pause here for a little bit, and you know, we're just passing on through.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: Because I, for one, would probably get extremely comfortable and complacent and pretty satisfied if everything was going good.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I wouldn't be making move towards him or towards the direction of my hope in heaven.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, heaven or I mean sorry, earth is not our home, but we should be the best guest possible while we're here.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: How we do that is sometimes beyond what we're capable of on our own.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the time, we have to, or at least I should say this.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how people do it without God.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: I truly do not.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is amazing to me some of the miraculous things that He has brought me through.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something that I've taught through going through difficult things.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: People don't realize sometimes that you cannot experience a miracle unless you first have a problem.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that the truth?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So the bigger the problem, the greater your potential for a miracle.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I have lived enough life that I have watched God just do miracle after miracle in my life.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the greatest miracles is how he does take the ashes of something that can be really painful while you're in the midst of it.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: But then he crafts that in a miraculous way into a crown of beauty.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I tell people all the time, if I hadn't been through the tough stuff, I'd have nothing of substance to share with people.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: But because of what I've been through and because of the gratitude that he has instilled in me, I think it just makes me more alive and gives me more passion.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And frankly, I think it draws more people to me.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's interesting you touched on a couple things.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: The idea of making the most of our opportunity here on earth.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's absolutely a theme in my life and you know, Ephesians 5 scripture that has resonated and been a theme of a lot of what we've talked about here.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: And in that line of thinking, I know you talked to not just women, but businesses and families and professionals and homemakers about purpose and and really crafting and understanding your purpose.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: We love practical tools and we love plans.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: Would you give us just a little bit of insight of that?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: I know you have a free download that people can get and work through themselves, but just share a little bit, talk us through that idea of maybe better articulating our purpose.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, I for one thing, um I would be remiss, I think, if I didn't mention the spiritual aspect of that.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: I can remember several years ago where I was one of those people who literally did not feel as if I had any special talents or abilities or gifts.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um I wondered what my purpose of existence even was.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just crying out to God and I said, God, you know, what is it you want me to do with my life?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: What am I supposed to do?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't do this real often, but I ended up just cracking my Bible open and letting it fall.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it fell open to Micah 6.8.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where it says, and what does the Lord require of you?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: Fascinating.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: First and foremost, that's the guiding point.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: That is the compass, if you will.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: No matter what the specifics are of your purpose, right?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Remember to, you know, act justly, to love mercy, walk humbly with God.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: That will keep you on course.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: But from a very practical perspective, you know, well, let me just share this.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: I again, this is a spiritual aspect, but it has a very practical application.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so important.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just, you know, absolutely the first things first.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing, and here's the thing, too, I love to share with people, you know, if you look at the Bible closely, God is equal parts, spiritual and practical.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's very practical.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: But they they integrate, they they interlock with each other.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: But when God whispered into my heart that he had given me a talent for writing, and I was not, I had buried the talent.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't doing anything with it.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was very convicting, right?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I still didn't know what to do with it.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: I had a raw talent.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: It was certainly not refined, it was certainly not publishing ready at that point.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't live in a, I live in a small bedroom community.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't live like where I have colleges nearby or anything like that.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't have the degree that said I should be able to write books.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just praying about it one day and I said, God, you know, do you remember where I live?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm grateful that that you've reminded me that you gave me that gift, but I don't know how to do anything with it.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I just felt like he said to me, Am I not still God?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Can I not still do what I want to do in your life?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about the how.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take care of that.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, then later on that same day, I went home and I was just studying in the book of Matthew.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And in Matthew 14, I think beginning in verse 25, it begins the parable of the talents.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And many people are familiar with that passage, but in the parable of the talents, the master um of I just think of it like kind of like a big plantation.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but he's getting ready to go off and he has these three servants.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: And to one, he gives five talents, um, which is a form of money, but I think it's interesting that it translates to that word.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, found it fascinating.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it says, based on that, servants' abilities.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: So he gave them five.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: To the next servant, he gave two, and to the last servant, he gave one.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then the master goes off and he's gone for a long time on this trip.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: When he returns, he goes to the servant with the five talents, and the servant says, Master, I took your five talents and I've gained five more.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the master says, Well done, good and faithful servant.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Come share in your master's happiness.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Servant two, same thing.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I took your two talents, I invest them.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Here's two more.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then the master goes to the wicked and lazy servant, as he is called in that passage, who buried the talent.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And this was the thing that God spoke to me that day.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I double highlighted it in my Bible because when God speaks to me personally, that's just what I do.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: But he says to this servant, he says, You should have at least invested with the bankers.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew that was a word for me.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't understand what it meant.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I wrote on a piece of paper, who are the bankers?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Who do you want me to invest your talents with?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I put that on my refrigerator and I began to pray over that.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I prayed over that for two years.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in the meantime, you know, I was I was working in the corporate world, I was following my path, and I had gone to a communication specialist certification program.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I was so sick.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was like that sick, like you're going, what in the world am I doing here?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to be home in my bed.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of that event, they brought a card around for a writer's conference.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I just began to cry because I knew that that was the answer to my prayer.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: That was where I was supposed to begin investing my talents, was at this writers' conference.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, fast forward a few years, and I've done the practical thing.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I went to the writers' conference, I learned some things, but then I didn't just absorb, but I did something with what I learned.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so I be I set a goal to read 100 books on the craft and business of writing.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people go, 100?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, yeah, a hundred books.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I did it.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um took me a little over a year and a half, but I did it.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And while I was reading, I was practicing.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so my my skills and my my uh craft was getting honed, so that by the time I finished that, I had two book proposals ready.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and so that was a very practical thing, you know.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I tell people, you know, we have to partner with God.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: When when God took the children of Israel to the Red Sea, he absolutely parted those waters, but what we lose sight of, he didn't carry them across.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: They had to pick up the bags and they had to walk.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: And trust that the waves weren't gonna come crashing down on them.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: They had to believe God.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, that's really kind of um the secret to my success uh is believing God, but then partnering with Him and listening to Him and being a doer of the Word, uh, not a hearer only, and taking the knowledge that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: He provides and investing it.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that he can then multiply what comes from that.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: You did the work, and that's really important.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where many of us get stuck is doing this.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, if you've been a friend of the podcast for a little while, you know we love to talk Enneagram around here.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: But you might still have lots of questions about the Enneagram, and you might want to know the best way to begin your journey.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you're in luck because I have several simple ways to get you started.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: First, I have a wholehearted Enneagram quick start guide.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: You can download it and it gives you a rundown of my favorite resources and the step-by-step discovery process.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: Then I'd love to answer your Enneagram questions on the podcasts or on the socials so you can submit your questions in just under a minute on our Enneagram question form.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: And now, best of all, I'm a certified Enneagram coach and I have a few limited spaces this spring with me, your wholehearted living coach.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: With years of life experience in addition to an understanding of the Enneagram, together we can discover your type and the best plan of growth for your spirit, mind, and body.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Let's move past the messy middle.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: Get free from the shame-based ending, and instead reboot your story by better understanding your season and uncover the fruit of your best life.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: Now, not everyone is right for this type of coaching, but if you want to find out if you'd be a good fit and get your 30-minute consult, you can get your name on the wait list.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: The links are in the show notes, and you can find out more at simply wholehearted.com.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: The beauty of perseverance.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's so great.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, tell me a little bit how this book was birthed.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: You shared your right at kind of at the beginning of this of the book.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: You shared one of the first stories you share in the in the beginning of the book was uh about a traumatic time that you faced of finding out that the dad who you'd known for 46 years was not your biological father.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: What else caused you to say that this is the message and this is a book that needs to get in others' hands?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so this book was born by one of those crazy God moments.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's another thing.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you keep your eyes and ears open, he will bring crazy, amazing God moments into your life.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: But we gotta listen.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: We do, we gotta be looking for it.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: We can't just talk at God.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: We we really have to listen.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I was working again in that corp corporate culture, and I was managing a big music festival, and we happen to have the country music group Montgomery Gentry.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: So some of your listeners may listen to country music, may be familiar.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: My husband.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, awesome.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: Went to a country music concert not even a month ago.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: It was Aaron Watson from Texas.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: It was good.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that's well, this was 2012.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I have to so I'm gonna confess I'm not a country music listener.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh certainly not a groupie.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: No worries, no worries.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: You got to make it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: When I was back behind the stage, yeah, and I was working with, you know, some of the radio personalities.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: We were talking about we had a storm possibly coming in and what we were gonna do if it did, and so forth.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: But this gentleman walked up to me and he looked like one of the stage hands, you know, just jeans, t-shirt, you know, just normal, whatever.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he stuck his hand out and he said, Hi, I'm Troy.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Oh, nice to meet you.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Anita.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And he kind of chuckled a little bit and he said, Uh, you don't know who I am, do you?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know how sometimes you just blur.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I went, no, should I?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's very he does like this slow motion turn and he points to this bus behind him, this big, you know, lavish bus, and he goes, Right.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Troy Gentry of Montgomery Gentry.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh, I said, Okay, nice to meet you.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I apologize.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: I said, So I'm gonna be honest.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: I said, I don't really listen to country music.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: I said, I don't have anything against it, I just don't listen to it.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he started laughing and he goes, Oh, I'm not offended at all.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, but do you mind me asking what you do listen to?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, I listen mostly to contemporary Christian music.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: I said, it just it lights up my day and it makes me feel inspired and energized.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, I love contemporary Christian music.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh, wow, you know, that's really cool.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we just kind of had this moment.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: A few hours later, I was up in the green room just checking to make sure that everything was as it should be.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: And he and his crew and his partner, Eddie Montgomery, were finishing up uh their meal, and they were getting ready to go when he spotted me.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I heard him say, You guys go on ahead.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to this lady for a few minutes.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: And um I thought that was kind of odd.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then, like his bodyguards like bristling up and going, Oh no, we'll wait with you.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, No, I'm fine.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've got this.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: You guys go on ahead.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: She's not gonna hurt me.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: So what we ended up doing, um, there was a big like wraparound deck where we were at.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so we walked out on this deck and he just starts to tell me, he said, Anita, he goes, I just want to thank you for being so open about your faith.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: He said, as you can imagine, with what I do in my life, I don't hear people talk about God very much.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, and it's hard.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, and I'll be honest with you, he said, I've made some mistakes, I've slipped big time.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he said, I think a lot of it is because I don't have that faith support around me.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: So when I heard you just naturally talk about your faith, he said it was refreshing.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, I just I wanted to talk to you some more.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we we had conversation, and he was telling me about his wife and his daughters and everything and how proud he was, and about some of the things that you know they've been through.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden, he got kind of quiet and his eyes I could tell were glistening.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Can I ask you a question?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, sure.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, How do I find out what God's purpose is for me?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: Hmm, interesting.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know, and I was just like, Oh my goodness, with your platform, you know, and and we began to have this amazing conversation.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I I told him, I asked him if he was plugged into a home church.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, you know, I'm on the road a lot, but when I'm home, you know, we do go to a church in our area.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, if you haven't done it before, I said, schedule some time with your pastor.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sit down with him and talk to him about your heart's desire to find out what God's purpose is for you.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, but more than that, every day, go to the Bible.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: I said, because so many people say that they don't hear God speak to them.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, that's the platform from which God always speaks, is for the world.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if you go to the Bible and you go with that question on your heart, I said, he will begin to answer.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: I said, it may not be a fast, dramatic thing, it may take time for it to seep in, or he may just instantly give you an answer.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how he'll do that because I'm not God.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: I said, but begin to do that.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, you'll see amazing things happen.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, later that evening, he was getting ready to go, but just before he did, he saw me again and he stopped and he turned around and he came over and he said, Can we stay in touch?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I said, absolutely.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: So we exchanged emails and we emailed back and forth periodically.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not, you know, we're both very busy, so it wasn't like, you know, ongoing all of the time.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, when his daughter was getting baptized, I got this amazing email from Troy.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: He was so excited.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_02: That is so precious.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um, we had emailed just two weeks before um he was tragically killed in a helicopter accident.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't until I was writing exceedingly, because see, the book was birthed, it was born from Troy's question.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because I realized when a celebrity who had the kind of reach that he did, he still wondered what God's purpose was for him.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: It just reminded me of all the other people that I've met who've said, How do I find out what God's purpose is?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, no matter who you are, that's a burning question.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to answer that.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, but when I was writing the thing that has so many of us befuddled.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: What is it?
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: And what does that look like?
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: How do I articulate it?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: How does it impact my daily life?
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: So what I ended up doing um was what I something I hadn't done before is I was writing the end of the book.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: I went and found the YouTube video of Troy's funeral.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I hadn't seen it before.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was very emotional, but what I learned from that was how Troy gentry from that meeting that we had in 2012, and this is not about me, I don't want anybody to misunderstand.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not patting myself on the back because I was only one very tiny seed that God used as he planted a lot of things in Troy's life, a lot of people too.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: But you're a willing seed, right?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: You're a willing vessel.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: I certainly want to be that, yes.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: But what Troy did was he cultivated that, and he was involved in a regular men's Bible study.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: He was reaching out into his community and doing amazing things and working with men in the area and and homeless um shelters and things of that nature.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it just changed my tears from sadness to happy tears.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because what I believe from that is that Troy Gentry did find God's purpose for him before he left this earth.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: It sure sounds like it.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and and the the very last album, they had just finished this album and put it to bed when he was killed.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and there's a song on there called Um Better Man.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when I listened to the words of that, matter of fact, it's making me emotional right now.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: When I listened to the words of that, I knew Troy Gentry.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I knew his heart, and I knew what God was doing in his heart, and God helped him to become a better man, but not just for Troy, but for what Troy could do to touch other people and to make a difference.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the heart of the message I want people to understand.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what God's exact purpose is for you.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what gifts, talents, and abilities that He's crafted into you, but I know that they're there.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: They may even be a part of your everyday life and you don't recognize them.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I want people to begin to see what God has done and what he's willing to do so that they can experience that blessing of when the last breath of their life comes, like I believe happened for Troy Gentry.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: They will stand before God and they will hear him say, Well done, good and faithful servant, come share in your master's happiness.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_02: That is powerful.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_02: What an incredible testimony of you being faithful to your purpose and the power of purpose once we can understand it, how it can transform our lives.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: That is really incredible.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: And most of the time it's right in front of us.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's probably part of what we do on a regular basis.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: We just haven't paused and considered what the Lord wants to do with it.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: Really good.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when God first, you know, reminded me about the writing, I I have to tell you, I said, Well, Lord, everybody can write.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I thought it was it was so natural to me.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, it's no big deal.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you're right, it's usually right in front of our noses.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it is.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: And it's amazing though.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I I have told so many people about this book, it's almost embarrassing.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's a book called The War of Art.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and yep, and it's not a Christian book and it uses adult language, but Stephen Pressfield, look it up, you can get out at your library.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's a two-hour read, maybe, but it articulates perfectly the battle going on against the purpose of our lives, whether it's a specific craft that you want to define or an art, how you would label it, it doesn't matter.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like we all have a God-given purpose to create beauty in this world, and the enemy wants to shut us down.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: And Stephen would name it resistance.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so and that's why all the time I think for so many people, it's really quite obvious to the rest of the world what their purpose is, but the enemy has blinded them, and it's a tragedy to not wake up to it before it's too late.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think the invitation to wake up to it and explore that is really um just well-timed and beautiful.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: It is, and you know, one of the things that I learned through finding out about my DNA, you know, that was it was a shock, first of all.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: I had to go through all of the stages of grief.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: But one of the things that I discovered is essentially I'm the product of a date raid.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: That is not something that I would wish on anyone because it makes you question everything about your life.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you talk about wondering why you exist.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Boy, did that you know question resound.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I felt like an accident that shouldn't have happened.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: But because I had a relationship with God, because I turned to him and I was listening to him, he began to speak truth into my soul.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that God reminded me, and this is the the theme, if you will, behind um exceedingly, is, and this I this is true for every individual.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not saying this about myself.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: I want your listeners to really absorb this and take this into their own hearts because God created you on purpose, with purpose, in order to fulfill an abundant purpose, to do things far beyond what you're capable of on your own.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter how you were conceived, it doesn't matter what kind of childhood you had, it doesn't matter what adversity happened before this point, it doesn't matter what's happening to you right now, God is still in the miracle-making business and He is willing to craft an amazing purpose, even if it comes through pain.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I want people to know.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's so good.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: I really yeah, we've been exploring the idea of no matter the root of our conception, our connection with our moms, just kind of a bunch of different stages of our life connected to our motherhood, but also how we were raised and what shaped a lot of us and our understanding of purpose, right?
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_02: And over and over again, as we relate it to just the stories in the Bible and the illustrations of the Bible, and the the things the Word of God teaches us over and over again.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: He can redeem anything, and that is his purpose to redefine and redo redeem and repurpose our lives for his glory and for our good, no matter the origin of our conception, or how we maybe even have been living up until that moment, kind of like you said, at any point in time he can redeem all things.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: So one of my favorite scriptures to share with people who feel like either uh life has kicked them into the in the teeth to the point that you know there's nothing left, or too much time has passed, or they've made too many mistakes, is Joel 2.25.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: And Joel 2.25 says, I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I have lived long enough to have watched God restore time for me over and over again, no matter what I've been through.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I love that you all are focusing on that.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's amazing because I think in a hurting world, and we are in a herding world, people need that hope and that assurance that we can still believe God.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, so much hope.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: Love it, love it, love it, love it.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_02: Now we've kind of gone deep here.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_02: We've talked about the voice of God and our purpose, and and even, you know, those who have lost their lives, it feels way too young, but we've seen the hand of God work in their lives and through your story to totally turn it a very lighthearted way.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_02: And because even though even though Lent is this time of reflection and sometimes kind of almost entering that dark tomb with the Lord, and maybe even some of the feelings that he had leading up to what the sacrifice that he knew he had to make.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_02: Because I can't imagine that, you know, he knew all of the years he was here on earth, but especially in probably those last days, the intensity had to be felt.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: And and we know that as he prayed in the Garden of Ghost and we he you know just sweated and and cried and poured his heart before the Lord saying, Please don't make me do this.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: But in those feelings, he had the hope that God was in control.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so as we journey through Lent, we have this hope that we look forward to.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_02: We have celebration that we can anticipate, we can we can put our stock in the hope of heaven and the resurrection.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: So for you in this season of Lent, what is it that you're anticipating about in the celebration of Easter?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: What is it that you really look forward to that kind of is your stake in the ground through the season of Lent and as you as you wait?
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's the celebration itself, the celebration of life.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, it's not just that Christ died on a cross and was buried in a tomb, but he was resurrected.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: He has the power over death in the grave.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: And okay, call me silly, but um I do have lighthearted things that I do sometimes in my everyday and sometimes in my darkest moments that do remind me of that.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I do is um, so I don't just listen to contemporary Christian music.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: I also like some of the uh uh, I don't know, I like to go back to music, some of it even before my own time, but I have some favorites, like um the monkeys.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm a believer.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: So like I'll just like get in my car and I'll drive and I'll sing, I'm a believer, but I sing it's Jesus.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: How deep is your love by the Bee Gees is another thing, you know.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: The fighter, you know, with Keith Urban and uh Carrie Underwood.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: When I sing those songs, I sing them to Jesus.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like he and I are just laugh and play and have the best time.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then as far as Easter itself, uh one of my favorite go-to little celebrations that I allow myself are Starburst uh jelly beans.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, is that a favorite?
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: Which uh which color?
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm actually the the strawberry.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love the strawberry.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Strawberry hands down.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_02: If I'm gonna have fruity candy, it's gotta be strawberry.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not much of a chocolate, so like if I had a choice between the jelly beans and chocolate, I would choose the jelly beans.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, look at you, not me.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's chocolate all the way and it's available all year long.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, exactly.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, I think as as Christ followers, one thing that we do need to remember, we all know the world is watching, right?
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we are gonna go through difficult times.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not that I would ever be a proponent of masking or denying your grief or the truth of your feelings, but equally to remind yourself that you have a lot to be grateful for, right?
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that it's okay to laugh, it's okay to play.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: I tell people, I'm a Christian, I'm not dead.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, I mean it's It's okay.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Have fun.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: And enjoy the life that God has given us because Christ gave everything so we could have what we have today.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: Abundant life in Him here on earth.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, what a great way to end this conversation.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think that you have encouraged many.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: Let um could you tell my friends who are listening how they could find you, or uh more appropriately, could you tell us a little bit more about that resource that you have that they can download and find on your website?
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you go to my website, um, there is a sign-up.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so some of your listeners may be familiar with um oh, the five regrets of the dying.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: That uh there was a nurse and she was a palliative nurse, and she worked with a lot of people who were getting ready to pass.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there were five specific things that people over and over said that they regretted in their life.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: I turned those upside down and I call those the five fresh starts for the living.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because here's the thing if we have breath in our body, we can make a change today.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's right, amen.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if people just go to my website, which is anitabrooks.com, so it's a n-i-t-a-b-r-o-o-k-s.com, uh, they can find that.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, just great, you know, connect with me, uh, send me an email.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very responsive with people, and I love to encourage people.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: You talk about purpose.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think there's a greater purpose than being able to help lift other people up.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: I agree.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's a powerful gift that we can give to others that doesn't cost anything.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you can take some time to reflect and look through Anita's abundant purpose exercise and the fresh starts for the living.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: Also, I wanted to share some simple family-friendly ideas for celebrating Lent and preparing for Easter this year.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: Resurrection eggs has been something my kids have come to expect every year when we celebrate Easter with their Aunt Laura.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: I put a link in the show notes for a quick way to order your own set to try out this year.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_02: Also, if you didn't catch our series kickoff with Barbara Rainey, you might want to check out Ever Thine Home for some gorgeous resources to help you prepare your home and hearts for Easter Sunday.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_02: I personally am excited to use the Holy Week cards with my family.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's just eight days of readings, which feels much more manageable in this season.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so grateful to have spent the time focusing our conversations on Lent, as it's been the best way to ready my heart and help me be more intentional to share the preparation with my kids.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: Stay tuned for two more conversations during this Lent season to encourage us as we reflect, remember, and celebrate Rebirth.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_02: We'd love to have you share these episodes with your friends and family to join this wholehearted community.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_02: Also, our 100th episode is coming up in May.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_02: I can't believe how many amazing conversations there are to have.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_02: I would love to celebrate by reaching 100 reviews on iTunes so as to let others know which episodes are your favorite and why you like the podcast.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_02: We only need about 60 more, and I know we have thousands of downloads a month, so it should be easy to reach 100 in no time.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_02: Let's invite others to join us as we continue to pursue perspective, purpose, and plans for a simply wholehearted life.