Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / Something Extra: The Power of Unwrapping God-Given Purpose With Lisa Nichols

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Something Extra: The Power of Unwrapping God-Given Purpose With Lisa Nichols · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

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  Hey friends, welcome back to She speaks Like podcast.
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  I'm so thankful you're here listening in for today.
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  I am so excited about our guest, Lisa Nichols.
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  Lisa is the CEO and Co founder of Technology Partners and the
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  creator and host of the highly acclaimed Something Extra
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  podcast. Over the years, she has
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  interviewed more than 340 purpose driven leaders across
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  business, technology, education and the nonprofit world, pulling
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  out the kind of wisdom that shapes how we lead and how we
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  live. The heartbeat behind all her
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  work is deeply personal. Lisa's daughter Ali, who was
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  born with Down syndrome, has been the inspiration for the
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  podcast and now her new book called Something Extra.
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  Uncover your strengths, unlock your potential, unleash your
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  impact. Lisas daughter Allie reminds
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  their family that every person carries a God giving gift meant
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  to impact the world. Lisa also weaves this truth
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  beautifully through her leadership message, and her new
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  book curates powerful insights and highlights traits like
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  resilience, humility, and servant leadership.
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  Lisa is a passionate leader, a woman of integrity and faith,
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  and someone who truly lives to empower others and strengthen
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  her community. I can't wait for you to hear
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  this conversation and be encouraged in your own
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  leadership journey. So if you're ready, I'm ready.
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  Let's dive into this conversation with Lisa Nichols.
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  Hey, Lisa, welcome to She Speaks Live.
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  I am so grateful you are here today.
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  Welcome. Thank you so much for the
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  opportunity. You and I've already been
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  chatting in a sidebar conversation and I think we can
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  talk for like 20 hours and still not run out of things to talk
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  about, so I'm delighted in here. Oh I love it.
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  I know it's just been a great time so far and we're just comfy
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  and ready to chat away about your message and wow your newly
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  released book. Congratulations.
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  It's called something extra. Uncover your strengths, unlock
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  your potential, unleash your impact.
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  And I love everything about that title.
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  It's so motivating. Well, thank you.
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  Yes, it's I, you know, back when I was seven years old, Jamie, my
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  parents gave me a little blue typewriter for Christmas.
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  And I can remember and I'm, I don't consider myself a writer,
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  but I've always loved writing. But I would sit down and try to
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  come up with stories. But this particular book, God
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  called me to write the book. It was a calling in 2017 to
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  write the book. And so we can go into that story
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  if you like, or we can go into the story later.
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  It's however you want to to talk about it.
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  But yeah, there's a story behind it.
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  I love it. No, we're gonna dive into that.
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  And that's special right there, that it's anointed and yes, and
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  made by the Lord. And so you are a CEO of a
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  technology company and you are passionate about leadership and
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  just having other women find their voice and really
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  unleashing everything that you said in your title, just really
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  unleashing that potential, that thing that is inside of them.
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  And I absolutely love this message that we are going to be
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  talking about. So before we do, I always love
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  to start out with asking the guests, what is your favorite
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  Scripture verse or maybe there's something that is resonating
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  with you right now. Yes, well, I've got lots of
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  favorites. I know to pick 1 is really
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  difficult, but this is just one that that I've been sitting with
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  recently and just that God is using to encourage me because we
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  run into situations all the time that we we don't know or we've
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  not encountered before, Sir, like you and I have talked about
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  when, when our source is the the vine, when our sources of vine
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  going back to John 15 five, God equips us with everything we
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  need. If he calls us, he equips us,
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  right? So that's right, This is this is
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  my this is my passage that I just love.
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  It's Psalm 11933 through 37 and here's what it says.
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  Teach me Lord, the way of your decrees that I may follow it to
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  the end. Give me understanding so that I
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  may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
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  Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find my
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  delight. Turn my heart toward your
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  statues and not toward selfish gain.
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  Turn my eyes from worthless things.
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  Preserve my life according to your word.
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  And obviously David King David wrote the song, but I love this
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  so much because, and I love that last line, Jamie in particular.
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  Turn my eyes from worthless things, Preserve my life
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  according to your word. Because in today's world, there
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  is so much noise. There's so much noise and
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  there's so many different things that can distract us from what
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  matters most, right. And yeah, it's just a great
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  verse to to hold on to and great.
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  And giving us understanding so that that we can keep as law and
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  obey it. And obedience, you know, the
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  Scripture tells us that obedience is better than
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  sacrifice. Yeah.
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  And yeah. So the book was an act of
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  obedience because like I said, God specifically called me to
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  write this book. And.
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  Yeah. Yeah, that's a beautiful
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  passage. Yeah.
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  And just a reminder, like you said, keep your eyes on his
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  word, not get distracted. And I just love the Father's
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  heart because it's all for our benefit.
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  It's not, you know, because I told you so.
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  And there's no purpose behind it.
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  It's for the best of us to be, you know, prosperous and be
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  successful. And when we're got our eyes on
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  the world and you know, that's not lasting, that's not
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  sustaining, and we will fail. And it's, it's superficial.
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  And so I just love that reminder.
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  I'm just getting stirred up just by hearing that right now.
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  That's so good. You know, kind of to piggyback
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  off of what you said just said, you know, you said he wants us
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  to, I mean, I'm going to use the word flourish.
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  Yeah. He wants his daughters to
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  flourish, right. And I think Jamie about and I've
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  always and I think people that don't have a relationship with
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  God, I think oftentimes really struggle.
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  Well, why am I even here? What is my purpose?
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  We should all be asking that question.
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  But as a believer, we know from Isaiah that our purpose is to
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  glorify God. That's right.
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  And that is whether whatever we're doing, whatever we put put
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  our hand to the words that we speak, our behaviors, the way we
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  lead, it's to glorify him, right.
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  And yes, one of my other favorite verses, I mean, this is
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  a life first for me is John 15 five that says I'm the vine, you
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  are the branches, He who remains in me and I and him will bear
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  much fruit. For apart from me you can do
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  nothing. But if you go on down and read a
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  little bit further, I think it may be verse 8 there, 7 or 8, it
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  says that he wants us to bear much fruit.
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  Yeah. Not for our benefit, but to his.
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  Glory. Yes, that's right.
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  So if our main overarching purpose is to glorify God, right
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  by bearing much fruit and flourishing, we can point other
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  people to him. Because you know, then the
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  Scripture goes on to say that that that they will know that
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  you are my disciples. That's right.
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  That's right. Amen.
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  I love it. Your title of your book,
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  Something Extra, was inspired by your daughter Ali, who's got
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  Something Extra that how did this core concept of this book,
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  how did this evolve from your daughter Ali and share a little
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  bit about that story. Oh, I'm so glad you asked.
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  This is what lights me up, talking about all my children.
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  I'm so blessed with three amazing children.
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  Jordan's our oldest. He's 33, lives in Oregon, living
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  his best life in Oregon, doing all the adventuresome things
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  that people do in Oregon. And then we've got Paige, who's
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  32, and she's my, she's my BFF. We are, we are BFF.
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  We truly are. And then Allie is our baby.
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  But she's like, I'm not a baby. I'm not a baby.
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  I'm like, you're my baby. Yeah.
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  I'm not a baby. Allie's 30 and was born with
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  Down syndrome. So if you know anything.
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  But she's only about. She's about 4-8.
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  Yeah. She.
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  She's about four feet, 8 inches tall, Jamie.
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  So people can't believe she's 30.
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  They think she's 12, you know? Yeah, Yeah, she's a tiny little
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  thing. But yeah, if you know anything
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  about Down syndrome, for you don't.
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  Basically, Down syndrome is an extra 21st chromosome.
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  So every cell of a person with Down syndrome's body has an
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  extra 21st chromosome, an extra pair.
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  And so scientifically, she does have something extra.
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  But I say when you get to know her, she's got so many something
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  extras. I mean, the list is a long of
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  the something extras. She's got extra love.
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  She's got extra acceptance. I've got stories in the book
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  about the acceptance that she does not see.
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  She does not see color she does not see and I'm not gonna run
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  it. People need to get the book and
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  and read about a mission trip that we did in El Salvador, that
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  she really has this concept of a MAGA day, that people are human
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  and therefore they deserve to be loved on.
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  My mom was a special Ed teacher and so I grew up with Down
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  syndrome kids around me and they are extremely special.
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  I mean, like you were just sharing the love and you could
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  just see God's heart through them.
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  I mean, just really. People have said that they are
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  God's angels on earth. Yeah, they're Earth's angels.
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  That. And I say, really.
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  And I will tell you, Jimmy, Ally, I I say it all the time.
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  She's truly been one of my greatest teachers.
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  You've learned so much from just seeing how she approaches life.
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  I mean she, I say. When Ally Nichols walks in the
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  room, the joy meter goes up. She brings.
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  Joy, she does Now I I'm going to, I'm going to preface this
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  because sometimes don't think that they can't get a little
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  spicy. Sure, right.
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  Because she can get a little spicy.
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  We we had a little spice last night and we had to gently
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  correct. But but she's amazing.
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  So really how the book came about in 2017, Ali Allie was my
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  sidekick for the day. We're running errands and she's
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  sitting in the passenger seat. And we pass a little animal on
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  the road that had been hit. And Allie cranks her neck and
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  looks back at this animal and looks back at me, huge crocodile
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  tears just streaming down her face.
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  And she goes, that poor baby, that poor baby.
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  And the thought just struck me. And, and I just had this
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  epiphany that this child understands the sanctity of life
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  so well. She is so sad that this little
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  animal lost her life. But in Jamie, I'm not.
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  Please do not think I'm sitting in judgment.
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  I'm just stating a fact here. But eight in 10 women that find
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  out they're going to have a Down syndrome child and they have the
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  option to abort. They will abort.
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  Yeah, 80%. I mean, and I was like, wow, if
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  she had been possibly in utero with another family, she may not
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  be here. And the world needs more of Ally
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  Nichols. The world needs more of these
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  people because they really do show us how to live.
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  And I have never, I'm just going to say this.
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  I have never heard the audible voice of God speak to me.
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  But he speaks to me all the time in my spirit and in my heart.
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  Yeah. And I clearly heard him say you
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  need to tell your story because you're on the other side of
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  this. And you see, what a blessing.
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  And we and I don't think people are ill intentioned.
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  It's a fear of the unknown. Sure.
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  Yeah, you don't. Even know what this means, and
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  quite truthfully, we didn't either, Jamie.
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  It's like, what is this saying for us?
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  What does this mean? Yeah.
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  I mean, this is sounds a little selfish, but it's like, wow,
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  retirement might look a little different for us.
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  How's this going to affect our other children?
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  And what if, you know, somebody is unkind at school and how
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  how's that going to affect them? How's it going to affect her
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  when she sees her older siblings driving and perhaps she's not
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  able to drive? Is she going to be sad about
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  that? Yeah.
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  Yeah. And really internally, I mean,
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  she says to people now she goes, I don't want to drive.
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  She goes, it's very dangerous. Yeah, I have.
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  I had all these questions too, right?
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  I had all these questions too. And it's like that's that's what
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  it is. It's just a fear of the unknown.
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  And so Rod was like, you got to tell your story.
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  So Jamie, not really knowing what I didn't know.
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  I am learning every day. I that's one thing I say all the
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  time there. I didn't know that.
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  I didn't know that. The older I get, the less I know
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  that's what I feel like. But not knowing what I didn't
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  know, I took a month sabbatical from work, started writing the
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  book. I had no idea how long this was
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  going to take, right? And then, of course, things got
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  busy. I didn't finish the book in a
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  month. That would have probably been a
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  record, some kind of record that I would have set.
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  But I had no idea really what it would take and so said it on the
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  shelf because life got busy. And last summer I told my
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  husband Greg. I said there is something that's
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  gnawing at my heart and I said God called me to write that
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  book. Yeah.
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  And every day that goes by, I am not being obedient.
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  And if he calls me tomorrow, I don't want to be standing in
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  front of him saying I'm sorry I never wrote the book.
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  Right, right, right. And, and it's a book that truly,
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  I mean, I felt like at the time could help people understand
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  that there is a different way and it's not all the things that
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  you're fearing. Is it hard?
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  I'm not going to say it's not hard.
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  I mean, my goodness, Ally had every kind of therapy known to
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  man OTPT speech therapy, you know, for your mom being a
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  special Ed teacher, it's it's not easy.
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  I mean, simple math is really hard for her.
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  However, what you find is there's so many other awesome
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  things that you know wouldn't wouldn't have come and and, and
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  as far as our kids, our other kids, our kids are our other two
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  children are better people because of her.
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  Yeah, yeah. More empathic.
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  I mean, they were the kind of students at school that if there
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  was a child sitting by themselves, they would be the
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  ones to go sit by them. And I know that that empathy
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  comes from having family in their life.
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  Yeah, 100%. Wow.
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  It just, you know, and it changes your life, but changes
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  your life for good, you know, and what's really important in
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  life. And hey, math, simple math is
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  hard for me. So me too.
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  Me too. Chemistry.
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  Forget it. I did not like chemistry at all.
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  Yes, I. Know so.
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  But Jamie, I don't know if you knew this or not, but Ellie is
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  an incredible ballroom dancer. Yes.
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  You know, that is something I recognized when we would have
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  these. I think they were like open
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  house events at the school. So my mom worked at a school
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  where it was all special needs. So then they had the Down
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  syndrome and then high functioning kids and then so,
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  but they all loved to dance. I mean, they were like Michael
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  Jackson fans. As soon as Thriller we get on
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  there they were and they have a rhythm.
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  I mean, it's so fun to watch them have a blast and just be
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  able to rock it like that. Well, yeah, and No Fear.
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  No Fear. I personally think Ali would
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  perform in front of 1,000,000 people and would not faze her.
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  Jamie, I seriously. I mean, yeah, No Fear.
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  I mean, like I said, and I kind of talk about that in the book.
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  I mean, really, she's she the humility there.
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  I mean, she doesn't even think of herself as really all that
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  great, right? And and it's like so like to
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  like looking foolish and stuff in front of people.
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  They didn't even cross her mind. She's just like, I'm gonna go.
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  This brings me joy. And I told somebody the other
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  day, I mean, she's a really good dancer.
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  She she won Dancing with the Saint Louis Stars here in 2019
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  and it's gone on to compete, but she did a dance Invitational.
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  I want to say it's maybe two months ago.
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  I don't know exactly precisely, but she that day she danced 29
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  dances, 2929 dances. She did bolero, lumba cha cha.
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  I mean, I would be so confused. Oh, yeah, this is a cha cha step
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  or a wall step or what is this? And it was really remarkable
• 19:12
  because the judge had flown in from North Carolina for this
• 19:16
  damn invitation. And he came and found Greg and I
• 19:20
  afterwards just to meet us. And he said, I just have to tell
• 19:24
  you something. He goes, I am not a crier and he
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  goes When she was up there, I cried.
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  Yeah, she is phenomenal. She ended up winning best female
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  dancer that day, Jamie. Oh my goodness.
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  But I said, here's the thing with her.
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  The dancing brings her so much joy.
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  It, yeah, it brings her personally so much joy.
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  Yeah, yeah. But it's a double portion
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  because when she sees you in the audience and she sees how much
• 19:52
  joy it's bringing you, that just elevates her joy.
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  Yeah, overflow all. It's an.
• 19:59
  Overflow. Yeah, it's a double portion.
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  So yeah, so much fun. But that's the whole idea behind
• 20:06
  the book though. Yeah, I believe we are all
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  fearfully and wonderfully made. Yeah, and God's given each of us
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  unique gifts, right and. One example that we can get from
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  Ali to be bold, don't care about what others think.
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  I mean, we can apply that to anything.
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  And let's dive into your book. It's divided up into four parts.
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  And so the first one, it starts on the inside.
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  That's what you have for that first one.
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  And then the second one is focus on others.
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  Third one is practical leadership.
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  And the last one is keep going for the long haul.
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  And so how did you determine the structure and why was it
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  important for you to start out with?
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  It starts with the inside. Because I know it sounds
• 20:59
  probably like a tired adage, but you can't lead others until you
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  learn. To lead yourself.
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  That's right. Wow.
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  And if you want to be an extraordinary leader, you have
• 21:08
  got to make sure that your heart posture is correct.
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  Yeah. In the humility, listen,
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  leadership is a privilege. The I look at leadership as a
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  stewardship. It's not a title.
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  Yeah. It's not the big corner office.
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  God has entrusted you there. He's put you there and entrusted
• 21:30
  you with people on your team to steward their gifts, yes, and to
• 21:35
  help them be their best version, right.
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  It's not about you. So his very first chapter is
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  humility. And then where's your identity
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  found where? I mean, and, and, and it may not
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  be my, my identity is that I am a daughter of the King of Kings.
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  I am. But you know, for people that
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  may not have faith, you're going to put your identity somewhere.
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  And I mean, I'm hoping it's in a solid foundation of values,
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  values that you will not compromise no matter what.
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  Because The thing is, Jamie, titles change.
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  Yeah, yeah. Titles change, Roles change.
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  That's why it's. Important that our identity is
• 22:18
  in Christ because that does not change.
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  So you had referenced CS Lewis on humility.
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  It's not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of
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  yourself less. That's what CS Lewis says.
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  So how do you distinguish? Let's talk about humility.
• 22:36
  How do you distinguish between genuine humility and false
• 22:40
  modesty and leadership? Mm hmm.
• 22:43
  Oh, that's a good question. Because people can say, oh, I'm
• 22:46
  humble. Yeah.
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  So I really think you have to look at the fruit.
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  So are you and a simple thing in something that I try to practice
• 22:58
  because I'm usually I can tell you are too.
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  You and I are women of many words.
• 23:04
  Yeah, I I've got words. I just.
• 23:07
  Said that about me because my husband is the true talker and
• 23:11
  then I almost I want to be like no, I've got words to say too
• 23:16
  it's just. Yeah.
• 23:19
  He just kind of dominates a little more in the conversation,
• 23:22
  but I have a lot to say too, so thank you for telling me that.
• 23:27
  That I am. A woman of.
• 23:28
  Words. But you're a woman of words.
• 23:31
  And so for me, like 1 little practical thing that I try to do
• 23:35
  because I've always got an opinion.
• 23:37
  So like being in a meeting, I'm always thinking, I'm like, oh,
• 23:41
  here's what I think we need to do.
• 23:43
  I have, I have purposely and intentionally trained myself to
• 23:49
  just hold back and let other people speak first, right?
• 23:54
  Not just immediately give my opinion on something.
• 23:57
  It's like, well, Jimmy, what do you think about that?
• 23:59
  Or what do you think we need to do about this?
• 24:02
  Yes. There are certain little things
• 24:06
  like that and we have some reflection questions at the end
• 24:10
  and exercises that you can do, which was really, really
• 24:13
  important to me to have that because I didn't want people
• 24:15
  just blowing through the book. But I think looking at the
• 24:19
  fruit, another thing is do you, are you a leader that really
• 24:26
  acts like you're the most important person in the room?
• 24:30
  I mean, this is terrible, but this is true.
• 24:33
  You know, sometimes leaders, it's all about them and
• 24:37
  elevating themselves and even sometimes, and I've seen this
• 24:42
  happen, taking credit for other people's ideas.
• 24:45
  I'm the. Leader and.
• 24:49
  And that's a pride thing, right? Yeah.
• 24:52
  It's a pride thing. Yes, it is.
• 24:54
  Or, you know, thinking that they have to do that to protect
• 24:58
  themselves. But listen, I, I talk about
• 25:00
  vulnerability in the book I love you.
• 25:04
  And I talked about John Maxwell before and one of my favorite
• 25:08
  quotes from him is this. He said if you want to impress
• 25:11
  people, talk about your successes, but if you want to
• 25:14
  impact them, talk about your failures.
• 25:17
  Yeah, that's good. Because that really then when
• 25:21
  you show that vulnerability, because, I mean, you may impress
• 25:25
  your people talking about your successes, but you're certainly
• 25:29
  not going to, they're going to just go, well, I can't be her.
• 25:34
  Yeah. When when you're vulnerable and
• 25:37
  you say, no, I that was my bad, my mistake on that.
• 25:41
  And I'm sorry that I took us down that path and it wasn't the
• 25:44
  right path or whatever the case may be.
• 25:47
  Or maybe you blow your stack at work or what not just being
• 25:50
  vulnerable or saying here's something that I did in my
• 25:55
  career and being able to to be humble enough to bring that for
• 26:00
  it really then gives other people the permission then to go
• 26:04
  well, then I can not be appear perfect as well, right, sure.
• 26:10
  So. And people remember those
• 26:12
  stories way more than the ones that you're just starting out at
• 26:16
  the peak. You know, we all want to hear
• 26:18
  the underdog story, you know, how did they go from there to
• 26:23
  this? You know, and I think even our
• 26:28
  experiences that we have with the Lord, it's the same when we
• 26:31
  have experiences in life, we, we just don't experience them.
• 26:36
  And then God expects us to hold it in and, you know, not share
• 26:41
  it like we are to share our life experiences also so that we can
• 26:46
  encourage others to, you know, not do it that way and do it the
• 26:52
  other way that, you know, would work.
• 26:54
  And, and that's wisdom. That's, that's, that's wisdom
• 26:57
  too. So, and a lot of times we got to
• 27:01
  go back to OK, was I led by the Holy Spirit with this decision?
• 27:07
  Was God at the helm of this? Because we know with God, with
• 27:12
  the Holy Spirit, there is no failure.
• 27:14
  So going back to that and going, OK, was that just me, my mind
• 27:21
  wanting to do this or, you know, my own good decision And I
• 27:26
  didn't bring the Lord involved in that.
• 27:29
  So that's another thing to think about and go, OK, how did I
• 27:35
  start out with this? Oh, you know, of course it
• 27:39
  didn't succeed. I didn't even have God involved
• 27:42
  in it. Or maybe you did in the
• 27:44
  beginning and you, this happens all the time.
• 27:47
  You start out with it. You're wrong.
• 27:49
  You veer off and you start going, OK, I got it from here.
• 27:53
  God, I mean, you're not really really saying that consciously,
• 27:56
  but subconsciously you end up just going off and leading the
• 28:01
  way you think it should go and you totally left God.
• 28:06
  Out of it. Out of the acquaintance, yeah.
• 28:08
  At the at the stop back there, you know, and you just kept
• 28:13
  driving so. That's so good.
• 28:16
  We just know that when God's in it, I mean, he can do
• 28:21
  immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.
• 28:24
  Why wouldn't we want him to be in it?
• 28:26
  But yeah, Jamie, to your point, we have to be surrendered.
• 28:30
  We have to be totally surrendered.
• 28:33
  And I'm burning, you know, God's still teaching me what that
• 28:37
  means. But I just did a LinkedIn post
• 28:40
  this morning about surrender and just a story about when I was 16
• 28:47
  and and then a little bit Fast forward that.
• 28:50
  But but that is and it's not a one and done.
• 28:53
  That's the other thing that I want to say to your lizards.
• 28:55
  It's not a one and done. It's a daily thing.
• 28:57
  Yes, it's a daily thing. And that's why daily we, we need
• 29:00
  to sit and be communing with the Lord.
• 29:03
  Because I guarantee you when I don't do that, Lisa's not going
• 29:06
  to say the right things to somebody.
• 29:08
  She's not going to maybe, maybe I wouldn't say something wrong,
• 29:11
  but I'm certainly going to not be God's mouthpiece and say
• 29:15
  something that's going to be transformational for that
• 29:17
  person. Right?
• 29:19
  Yeah. Yeah, yeah, daily crucify the
• 29:21
  flesh and let the Holy Spirit lead.
• 29:23
  And so you had a car accident. And so I mean, speaking about
• 29:32
  humility, how did this car accident change the way you had
• 29:38
  your perspective on humility? That that that rocked me because
• 29:44
  I grew up in the church. My husband and I met in church.
• 29:49
  I said it's a great place to meet your spouse.
• 29:51
  Yes, We were about 3:00 and 5:00 when our parents started going
• 29:54
  to the same church. We didn't date until we were in
• 29:57
  high school. But yeah, but.
• 29:58
  We were in the same church, and when I was about four years old,
• 30:03
  the choral director figured out that I could hold a tune and I
• 30:08
  had pretty good clone tone quality.
• 30:11
  And so she just made it her mission to develop my voice.
• 30:14
  And then it just continued going from there.
• 30:16
  And then I did state competitions and all kinds of
• 30:20
  things. And when I was a sophomore, I
• 30:23
  was 16. And when I was a sophomore, I, I
• 30:28
  was in a state competition and like got the highest score.
• 30:32
  And you know, and, and so here's the thing.
• 30:34
  This is where This is why we have to have self-awareness.
• 30:38
  To your point before, is this false humility or is this truly
• 30:43
  humility? We have to have self-awareness
• 30:44
  because I know Lisa was getting a little prideful because people
• 30:48
  would say, oh, my goodness, you sang that solo.
• 30:51
  And it was just, oh, sounded like an Angel, you know, so
• 30:54
  beautiful. You start, you start believe in
• 30:57
  the headlines and you start and then thinking it's you.
• 31:02
  Yeah, right. Yes, yes.
• 31:04
  And listen, I don't even, I can't even take a breath without
• 31:07
  the Lord, you know, go back to John 15 five you can do.
• 31:11
  I can do nothing apart from him, right?
• 31:13
  Yeah. That's the trap of man's
• 31:15
  approval right there, right? Yeah, I know.
• 31:19
  Man's approval. Yeah, yeah.
• 31:21
  And I've had to really do a lot of soul work, you know, to
• 31:26
  unravel that because I, I realized I got addicted to man's
• 31:29
  approval. And so I had this car accident
• 31:34
  and, you know, it was a, where my, my, I was thrown forward
• 31:40
  into the steering wheel. And it was a time in Kentucky
• 31:43
  where the, there was no seat belt law.
• 31:46
  And I basically came out of that not being able to talk like
• 31:51
  this, like Jamie, like this, much less singing.
• 31:56
  And I had surgery, so I was able to talk again.
• 32:00
  But my mom, bless her heart, she drove me for a whole year.
• 32:05
  There was a voice rehabilitation coach because I obviously
• 32:10
  because I was singing, I was in show choir, I was in a Capella
• 32:14
  car, I was in madrigals, I was in all the choirs, right?
• 32:16
  And thank solos at all the school performances.
• 32:21
  And so my choral director in high school knew a voice
• 32:25
  rehabilitation coach and my mom drove me twice a week, an hour
• 32:30
  each way to this voice rehabilitation coach for a whole
• 32:34
  year. So I was able to regain my
• 32:37
  singing voice. But before my accident, I was a
• 32:39
  high soprano and he hit like a B, you know, above high C And
• 32:49
  and so I never, I lost my upper register.
• 32:52
  And so like if I would try and sing something where, you know,
• 32:58
  it was AG, probably an E truly above high C, it was probably
• 33:03
  where I cracked and I would sing and I, my voice would start
• 33:07
  cracking. And I've never regained that
• 33:09
  high register. But I'm telling you that's I do
• 33:12
  tell that story. I'm like, either humble
• 33:15
  yourself, yeah, or be humbled. And I realized, Lisa, you know,
• 33:22
  probably you're doing doing this for the wrong reasons.
• 33:25
  You're not glorifying God through this.
• 33:27
  And you're starting to think that it's all you.
• 33:32
  And, you know, I know I'm not saying I'm perfect at this,
• 33:35
  Jamie. I, I still sometimes, you know,
• 33:37
  but I, I check myself. It's something I keep in front
• 33:40
  of me all. Of course, I mean, it's in
• 33:43
  Scripture over and over again about humility.
• 33:46
  I mean, Paul talks about it. It's a lot of that in the New
• 33:49
  Testament and, you know, because the pride thing, I mean, that's
• 33:54
  that's huge. I mean, that's like the, you
• 33:57
  know, one of the first. Sins, you know, cardinal sin.
• 34:02
  Yeah, yes, I lusted the flesh and the pride of life.
• 34:05
  That's right. I do love that you wrote in your
• 34:09
  book that your family does a nightly gratitude session
• 34:14
  tradition. And so I just love that.
• 34:17
  I had a Bible study at my church recently and we're just talking
• 34:21
  about thankfulness and gratitude.
• 34:24
  And you know how it's not just around Thanksgiving time, but
• 34:28
  this is something every day that there's that we should be doing.
• 34:33
  There's so many benefits when we write down or say what we're
• 34:39
  grateful for. And one of the things I like,
• 34:43
  Doctor Caroline Leaf, I don't know if you know her.
• 34:46
  Brain. Yes.
• 34:48
  Yes and combining the faith and you know how God created us and
• 34:54
  stuff and she had said gratitude and anxiety cannot coexist.
• 35:00
  That's right in your brain. It just can't.
• 35:02
  So if you're ever down, you're, you're, you know, you just
• 35:07
  that's why everyone tells you, you know, start saying, you
• 35:11
  know, things that you're thankful for because it's a
• 35:14
  automatic mood lifter. And you can't be worried and
• 35:19
  fearful and anxious at the same time of being grateful.
• 35:23
  Yeah. Can't coexist with each other.
• 35:25
  I mean, there's an old hymn. Yeah, I know you know it.
• 35:28
  Jamie, count your blessings. Yes.
• 35:30
  Name them one by one, count your blessings, look at what God has
• 35:34
  done right. So yeah, yesterday was thankful
• 35:40
  Thursday and I had so many meetings.
• 35:42
  Yesterday it was go, go, go all day.
• 35:46
  But I had a lot of driving that I was doing and I was just like
• 35:49
  thinking, God, just thank you for the breath of my lungs.
• 35:52
  Thank you for waking me up this morning.
• 35:55
  Every day that he wakes us up, Jamie is an opportunity, right,
• 36:01
  to be an ambassador for him and to help build the Kingdom.
• 36:05
  But we, I, we're big on that. So we, we live in Saint Louis.
• 36:11
  We live right outside the outskirts of Saint Louis proper,
• 36:15
  if you will, in what's called Saint Charles County.
• 36:17
  And we live on 40 acres. So the only person that does not
• 36:22
  live on our property is our son Jordan, who lives in Oregon.
• 36:26
  And our daughter Paige has a son, Sawyer.
• 36:29
  And so we wanted to model this for him.
• 36:31
  So every single night before bed we all gather in a circle and
• 36:36
  each person and sometimes even I will call my mother-in-law is
• 36:41
  the only living parent. My parents have both passed away
• 36:44
  and Greg's father has passed away.
• 36:46
  But we will call her and FaceTime with her.
• 36:49
  She's in Kentucky, we're in Saint Louis and include her in
• 36:52
  the gratitude circle. And he loves it.
• 36:55
  It just brings her so much away. But but as her four year is our
• 36:59
  grandson and we will usually let him say, OK, are we going to
• 37:03
  youngest to oldest or oldest to young?
• 37:06
  And then we go around the circle and everybody says what they're
• 37:09
  grateful for. So that's really kind of
• 37:10
  interesting too, to hear what people say too.
• 37:14
  Exactly. I love that.
• 37:19
  Super special. OK, I'd love to conclude with a
• 37:22
  take away. Is there anything that you
• 37:25
  wanted to share about the book before we close and just give
• 37:29
  somebody or give our listeners something to ponder on, take
• 37:33
  action in and where we can get your amazing book?
• 37:37
  Well, the book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and
• 37:42
  the URL. I even have a landing page for
• 37:44
  it. It's it's really hard
• 37:46
  www.somethingextrabook.com so you can go look at it more there
• 37:52
  and even see some of the examples on that.
• 37:54
  But I would just really encourage people.
• 37:56
  Every person is uniquely, fearfully and wonderfully made.
• 38:02
  And this is people on your teams.
• 38:03
  I feel like that are, and I always say, Jamie, that God
• 38:08
  gives us these gifts not for us, not for us to hoard them, but
• 38:13
  for us to share them. Yes.
• 38:15
  And make the world a better place.
• 38:17
  And so if you think about giving somebody a gift, if I gave you a
• 38:23
  gift and you never unwrapped that gift, what good is the
• 38:25
  gift? Right.
• 38:27
  Right Yep, but you have to actually unwrap it.
• 38:30
  So I would just encourage people you are fearfully, wonderfully
• 38:34
  made and God has gifted you with things, but make sure that you
• 38:37
  are sharing them because the world needs them.
• 38:39
  The world needs them and just one thing that I will say and I
• 38:43
  just I I LED a LED a Bible study prayer call this morning at 7:30
• 38:48
  and one of the things that that I said to the ladies and I
• 38:53
  thought, wow, would this like change our day or what I said
• 38:57
  what you do today is part of God's eternal story.
• 39:03
  What you would do today is part of God's eternal story.
• 39:07
  If we really believe that the people that you encounter, the
• 39:10
  people that you're able to to maybe somebody else had said we
• 39:17
  have a a sweet housekeeper that we've honestly, she started with
• 39:22
  us three months after Allie was born.
• 39:25
  So she's been with us for. 30 years, she's family. 80s now
• 39:29
  she's. Family.
• 39:31
  Yeah, she's. A family, she's like a
• 39:32
  grandmother. You guys are children.
• 39:34
  But she said that her mom, Christine, told her one time.
• 39:39
  This is what she told me today. She said if you see someone
• 39:42
  without a smile, give them yours and it can change somebody's
• 39:49
  day, right? We have that eternal, if you
• 39:52
  have that eternal perspective, and I know that your listeners
• 39:57
  are Christ followers, so they will get what I'm saying.
• 40:01
  We need to be storing up eternal treasure.
• 40:04
  Yeah. And you have the opportunity to
• 40:07
  do that every single day. And if you really do believe
• 40:11
  that, if you really believe that, would we live our life
• 40:14
  differently today? Yes, I love that so much.
• 40:19
  Well, that saying needs to be on wall art, you know.
• 40:24
  I agree. I agree.
• 40:26
  I always say we need to put that on a T-shirt.
• 40:28
  Yes, T-shirt. Exactly.
• 40:33
  Well, thank you so much Lisa. I mean, we could just keep
• 40:35
  chatting away. I mean this could be a Joe Rogan
• 40:39
  3 hour podcast. I know, I know.
• 40:43
  I feel this time. Yeah.
• 40:46
  We're just gonna have to do it again.
• 40:48
  Definitely. You're lovely.
• 40:51
  Thank you, Lisa, for coming on here and giving your wisdom on
• 40:54
  this and your fantastic book called Something Extra.
• 40:57
  I love it. Thanks for having me, it's been
• 41:00
  a joy to be with you. Thank you so much for listening
• 41:05
  today, and I trust that God has encouraged you through this
• 41:08
  story. Did you know this podcast is on
• 41:11
  YouTube? Hop on there and subscribe and
• 41:14
  you can see a live recording of each episode.
• 41:18
  And For more information on this ministry and to access free
• 41:21
  downloads, please visit my website at jamieelizabeth.com.
• 41:26
  That's JAYME elizabeth.com and let's connect beyond this
• 41:32
  podcast by going to my Instagram handle, Jamie Elizabeth.
• 41:35
  She speaks life or Facebook. Until next time, my friend, I
• 41:39
  hope God reveals himself through your own life story.