#84: Setting Yourself Up for Success with God's Plan with Amy Allgood

Do you want God's plan for your life? Do you want to discover your calling? Do you want to build a business that's aligned with God's will? Hey girl hey! I'm Janette, business and faith coach. After a decade in the military, the Air Force said, see you later, and I had to find my true calling. Want to know how God directed my life from a cybersecurity engineer to a faith and business mentor? In this podcast, I'll teach you how to start a business, how to know your business is God's calling. How to use quantization techniques, how to trust the Holy Spirit, and how to set boundaries to listen to His word alone, ready to become unapologetically unstoppable. Okay, Amy, thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited. I love LOL and I'm glad that we hooked up through there because Brooke is a powerhouse anyways. And it's just great getting to know other women who are just like on fire for Jesus in a way that I didn't know was possible because I thought that most Christians were just like this like in a box Christian. And I love the like how she perpetrates this live out loud culture of like, no, I'm loud and unapologetic about Jesus and that's just who I am.

So take it or leave it. Yeah, I love it. I'm so glad we got connected. So I just love you already and I'm excited.

So thanks for having me. Yeah, so please share with me your testimony.

How did you meet Jesus? Yeah, so I grew up in church. But really when I came to the revelation that I wanted to give him my life, I was in middle school at a retreat with my church. And so it's so funny full circle. Now I'm working with our youth at our church. But partly, I think God kind of gave me that revelation of like that. It's such a critical time in your life. And I really didn't have a really healthy family life going on at that time. And so I knew as a young child, I was desperate for someone, some stability in my life. And so I think God just showed up and I'm so thankful. But I do believe that's why he showed up early in my middle school years during that time. And then I went to, you know, kept going to church. But I would say we weren't really living out the Christian life in my home, right? So it was almost like I grew up wanting and believing what I knew to be true after I made that decision. But we weren't really living that out. And then I went to college and, you know, I always say if you weren't, if sitting wasn't fun, you weren't doing it right. Because I was having a lot of fun in college and sitting a lot. And then right after college, I took a job, went to corporate. And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, these are like adults and they're sending a lot. Like I was so naive to think like, I just thought after college, let me get it all out of my system. And then after probably about a year or so into my corporate job, God intervened again. And I ran into a girlfriend from college who had actually started a Mary Kay business and had invited me to listen, all that. And again, I was working in corporate. I totally thought that was my route. But again, God intervened, had a different plan. Well, I didn't know that at the time, but it was a Christian company. And so their philosophy was you should put God first in your life, family second and career third. Well, at the time I was, you know, living work first, work second, work third, family tend to God who. So this was like a foreign concept, but I was so inspired by these women, went away to just like a small kind of event, but they did this church service on Sunday and God was just totally in everything that they did. And that's kind of how I got brought back to Christ in my early 20s. And then I just was like, oh, this is like I'm all in, like I'm all in. And so I would say since then, not that I haven't, you know, been a sinner since then, of course, let's be real. But I had really wanted to follow after him and put him first in my life. And so I'm forever grateful, you know, that I was surrounded by these women in Mary Kay who were living that out. I had never been around women who really did put God first in their life and really knew what that looked like. So that was where I learned how to have quiet time. And so I never saw that model. I never even heard church talk about it, even though I grew up in the church. But so it was in my early 20s that I really started, you know, having quiet time every single day. And that's been just the most spiritual discipline I've had. And I'm just grateful I learned that early on. And I think everybody should have that spiritual discipline for sure. Do you do quiet time in the morning or at night or throughout your day? No, always in the morning. So before the kids get up, you know, and there's been times where I will say that now in the season of life with the three kids, I still do it in the morning, but I almost do a second part after they get back from school most days of the week. You know, part of it is I feel like my first half is almost like worship and gratitude and journal and devotion and prayer. And then when I kind of get back with the kids, then I can get more in the word and do a little bit more of my reading in the Bible and that kind of thing.

Yeah, I feel like if I just dedicate like one part of my day, it doesn't always work out. I like to have it throughout the day, kind of like what you're saying, like it's part of my life. It's not just like I have God and then I just go do whatever I want. It's God throughout the day with walking with me.

Yeah, yeah, I think praying continuously. But I know for me, if I don't do it first thing in the morning, then I'm not going to go and be kind to my kids when I get them up or when I pour out. So, yeah, that's for me why I really want to get up and get that time in first so that it just gives me that godly perspective throughout the day versus just waking up and kind

of get going. So what made you step out and be like, all right, I am a Christian and I'm putting this first, not only like in your home, but like in your business too?

Well, I had a mentor early on in Mary Kate that had said to me, take God as your business partner. And so really understanding what that looked like. So I learned that if I was just trying to do everything on my own, that I was going to be limited. And so really, I started praying more selfish prayers. I was in my early 20s and that was my journey. Now I've grown into wisdom and can pray differently. But really, just I think God is so great that he needs us where we are. And so he met me where I was. And so I have always been a big goal setter, a big dreamer, a visionary. And so I set really, really big goals. And my second year in the company, I broke a lot of records. And just that specific year, I set goals. And I remember my dad saying to me, well, this would just be great if you hit this. This would still be amazing. And I'm like, dad, don't doubt, you know. And I remember it was so cool because I knew that that specific goal was going to be there's no way I could do it. And so when I really like I remember just submitting it to God and saying, God, I know I can do this, but you can. And for whatever reason, I put my hand up and I not for whatever reason, I know why he used me because I did put my hand up and say, God, I want to be used. Please use me. I can remember the specific moment when I did that in my business and just say, you know, use me however you want, but I'm here and I'm willing and I'm going to do it. Now I didn't just sit back and pray. I worked. So my philosophy, Jeanette has always been work like it all depends on you and pray like it all depends on God. And so that's what I did. And so when I reached that huge goal, knowing it was not because I saw things come together, I saw things happen that were supernatural, like it was amazing. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is incredible. So I saw this supernatural. And then after that, I thought it just made me more, I'm fired to want more women to understand that because I was a sinner, because I was like, wow, God used me. Even though I screwed up, even though I've done these things, he still used me in such a big way. And because I broke those records, it gave me a platform to speak and inspire and put me on stage, put me on platforms to speak into other people.

And so it was just really cool to see, see how he did what he did. I am obsessed with that because I know that when we say God used me, it's never what we think that God is going to use us for it's even bigger for me. Anyways, I was in like, yes, God used me, however you want, take me. And then he's like, okay, are you ready? Are you ready? I don't know if I was actually ready for this, but let's go.

Right. Yeah. That's the cool part. It turns like instead of being fearful of the future, like excited, it's like, Hey, let's, let's go, God, you know, I heard someone once say it like this is it's like, come take all my issues. Let's go, like, come with me. It's like, you don't have to. And I think so many women think that it's like, no, it got, can't use you just when you're perfect and have it all together and everything's lining up. Just take your sins, take your issues. Like, and God's like, let's do it. Like, let's go because honestly, like then he gets the glory. Like if we think we're so great and, Oh, I have this talent and I have this gift. It's like, yes, he's given you gifts and he wants you to use those gifts for his glory, but to recognize like in your own strength, in your own ways, like there's no way you're going to get this thing done. So again, it started from selfish motives of like wanting to reach the goal and seeing him work. Um, and then it turned you like, wow, I want everyone to know it doesn't matter what you have done, like God, I mean, in class, just look at the Bible, all the stories in the Bible. I mean, right. I mean, he used anyone and everyone. So it's just, to me, it's like, who's, who's willing and, and God sees the heart. I mean, God knows God sees, God sees the purity in our heart. So I've prayed for that many times is God give me pure motives because, you know, when we are driven people and God's and God wired us to be that way. So we should be unapologetic about that, but it's also making sure we do a heart check very often to make sure that this is not my own, you know, motive, but God gives, so I pray that all the time, God give me pure motives. So I'm doing what I'm doing. I think so many times we feel like we have to do the what. And so when I do a lot of, I train a lot on setting goals. And so I always say, start with your who goals before the what goals. So, you know, who you want to be in your marriage, in your business, in your parenting, in your relationships. And once you're really clear on that, it's easier to know those pure, pure motives and then put kind of the what goals behind that.

I like how you were talking about how you have these big audacious goals and you were like, God, you have to do this because a lot of times I, I'm from a military family, right? And we think of ourselves almost as we have to do this. We have to have these things. We can make these big goals, but we have to do this. And you're saying, no, I can't do this. God has to come in here and he has to do this because I can't do this myself. It's almost like with the military, you're your own God and you're like, I have to do this. I have to push through. But then realizing early on, I wish I would have realized early on that I can still have these big audacious goals because that's who God made me to be. But always glorifying him and knowing that he's the one that helped me do these things because I can't do these on my own. Like you're saying, like the pure spirituality and the like unforeseen things that happen because of God. Like, I just love how amazing he is because some people don't realize like they're like, oh, it's just a coincidence. No, there's no such thing as a coincidence. It's God. God is in our being.

God is doing this thing. That's right. Yeah. No coincidences. 100% agree on that.

So why did you start your business? Why did you start going towards Mary Kay and leaving corporate? Cause it sounds like once you, once you got there, it was like all God driven. And I love that. But like, what was that one thing that you were like, no, this is definitely what I should be doing.

So I, well, I think it came out of discontent in my corporate job. First of all, you know, I just kept remembering going to that job every day and you know, I was like, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that job every day. And there was just something inside of me that said like, this isn't it. Like this is not. And, and it's so funny. I will never forget as long as I live the bathroom in Boca Raton, Florida, where I was working because I would go into that bathroom and there was this huge mirror on the wall and I would look in the mirror with tears in my eyes a couple of times a week, just saying, God, this cannot be it. This cannot be what you have in my life. It does break my heart. Like it could bring me to tears right now to think about all the women who settle, who like, and it's not just, oh, I'm having a bad day or I'm not happy. It's like, there is something inside of you. There is this restlessness and see my word for two years was rest. And, you know, when you look at restlessness versus rest, like God doesn't like, he's creating something in that, like if you're in him, you've got to pay attention to that. So it was really me responding to this restlessness of this, of something wasn't right, something wasn't, um, this just didn't, it didn't feel like the right fit. And I just knew that deep down in my soul. And I think how many people just push past that and not pay attention to that. And so I remember I was driving and I was listening to this like CD at the time, you know, now we listen to the podcast, you know, at the time I was listening to CDs in my car motivation. And she, this woman was like talking to someone else on the CD complaining about, what are we all complaining about? I don't have enough time. I don't have enough time. Still today. It's the same thing. And I remember that she said, you know, God gives you 24 hours in the day and whatever he's not intended you to do. You need to eliminate that from your life. Like I still get chills to that, like, on that, because when I heard that I was like, that's it. And I remember calling my parents and I said, don't freak out. And I'm going to pursue this, you know, entrepreneur thing. Well, you know, my parents were both teachers. Nobody in my family had ever owned their own business, been entrepreneurs. And my parents being teachers, I was making great money in corporate. And again, I was living on my own. I wasn't married yet. I was, you know, living away from them and they're thinking, just don't quit your job and you can do it on the side. And I have been, but at the time I knew I needed to take that step of faith. And it was scary. I'm not, it wasn't like, Oh, this is going to be, you know, I I'm covered. Like I have money saved up or I have, you know, a husband to fall back on. It wasn't, that wasn't my situation. I was in my early twenties, but I just, I had to listen to that. I had to listen, you know, and at the time I wasn't spiritually as mature. Like I didn't know what I know today, but I'm almost like grateful for that. Almost that naivety, that just like not knowing, you know,

sometimes we know too much. You're like, I'm going to figure it. Like if I don't, God's got this, he's got to, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.

So that was great. That's great. Yeah. So, I mean, it was scary, but I knew at the time and I had been, you know, kind of building my business on the side, I would say for a year and a half at that point, you know, so it wasn't, I wasn't like where I felt confident to leave. I knew it wasn't like, I wasn't making what I was making at my corporate. I wasn't going to replace my income, but I knew that if I would sacrifice for a season of my life, it would set me up for the rest of my life. Yeah. And that's exactly what it did. In fact, I remember on my goal poster, I'm like old school. I still got my, I still got my like goal, you know, right here, it's like paper. Like I keep my, my goal posters, but on that, in that season of life, it said, if you will do for the next two years, what most people won't, you'll be able to live the rest of your life like most people can't. And so I did make sacrifices in my twenties. I wasn't hanging out with the friends. I wasn't doing all that. You know, I would leave my corporate job and I would go do my side hustle. And so it was, it was a grind for a while, but I keep this ruler. I did a training recently with a lot of my leadership team and I showed them just like kind of like your lifespan, which I think the average is 68, which is crazy in today's world with, you know, all the medical and doctors and health and all that stuff, but if people, what that would look like, like if you look at where you're at today, right, like let's say someone's 38 today and then in two years they're going to be 40. Like if you would take a focus for two years on something that you know, that God is telling you to do, it's going to set you up for the rest of the life. Like, and if you don't do that and keep just getting distracted, then, then yeah, 40 is going to come like that. And you're going to be in the same exact place. So I am very future focused. Um, my number one, I don't know if you're familiar with strength finders, but that's a lot of, when I do my masterminds or my coaching with women, I, that's what we work in, but my number one is futuristic. So it's thinking about the future. What's the future going to look like? So I think because I was wired that way, and again, I didn't know this at the time, Jeanette, when I was leaving my job, but it allowed me to look five years from now, 10 years from now. And so I tell people all the time, if you would ask yourself, what am I doing

today that my future self will thank me for? Like that's such a great question to ask yourself. I love strength finders and I didn't know anything about them until probably the last year or so, and I don't remember all of my top five, but, but futuristic is in my top five. It's like futuristic or later. I don't remember the other three, but yeah, like being able to see those pieces, I, I love to excel puzzles. So I like always release something back to a jigsaw puzzle, but being like, I can see the big picture from all these tiny pieces and if I, like you said, if I just dedicate this time to doing what God is telling me to do, there's no way I can fail because God wants us to be a member of the kingdom, to have abundance, to depend on him, to have all this wealth, spiritual and physical, right? So like, go do what he's telling you to do. Always like, like forget all the small things. And that sometimes I think that's hard because we think we should be doing things, especially like if I'm like, I should be doing X Y and Z. I should be spending all my time on Saturdays doing laundry and dishes and cleaning my house for who nobody's coming to my house this weekend. Like, why do I need to do that? Right. Like, obviously don't be like, like suit of your things, right? But I don't need to spend all that time when I could be doing something that's either fostering my children's growth or doing something that God's telling me to do.

Right. Right. Forget that. Yeah. It's like the concept of seeing for women, I would, you know, I think this relates to a lot of women because we do feel like, oh, I got to clean that. I got to do this. It's like your window could be dirty. And so you just see the dirt on the window instead of seeing like the gorgeous sunset that God's giving you, right? Like right there. No, it's just not getting caught up with like that small stuff. And what I think I will tell you for, cause I'm sure, you know, you have people that are entrepreneurs listening to this. One of the biggest advices I give women is get out of your house when you go work. So take, I call it like my power hour or my, the first two things on your to-do list should really be your most proactive, you know, intentional things. So just get out of your house and do those two things, like, which maybe will take you probably one to two hours. So if you could get out of your house, go sit at a coffee shop or a restaurant or a park, I don't care, but like, because we are so distracted today, we are so, you know what I mean? And then you can come back on the second half of the day and throw in a little laundry and do the other tasks, but you got to identify, you know, the things that really give you that focus. In fact, one of the things I'm going to teach on this year at our retreat, we were talking about earlier is how to know, kind of give yourself like these red light, like a red zone, a green zone and a yellow zone so that you can identify. Because like you may be a morning person, I may be a night person like, or, and it's not just that it's like kind of knowing when you can be most productive because right. Like, do you have that like downtime? Like I know for me, there's like this afternoon, like I don't drink coffee in the morning. I haven't had any coffee yet today, but I drink coffee in the afternoon because it's just like, I know that zone, but I cannot plan. Like I have a meeting today later at two, but like my creative, my important stuff, I cannot do that during a certain window because it won't, it won't give my best. So yeah, I think that really helps to know that.

I love that because like you have to do creativity time and like technical time, like your list things like that, those like checklist stuff, they don't live in the same part of your brain. They live totally different areas. So like, you can't be doing a checklist and then go create something. It doesn't work. You have to have the space and the negative, the negative space really to create, which I love where you're saying like, get out of your house, get out of that zone, because to me, my desk is the work zone. So like, I'm doing all the checklists. I'm doing all the things, but I can't create like a new website or a new offering. If I'm sitting at my desk, it just doesn't work that way. Right. Right. Very smart. Absolutely. What? Okay. Yours, what is your spiritual gift?

So I would say, can I pick two? All right. So I would say exhortation and leadership.

Okay. So what do those mean and how do they manifest in your life? How do they show up?

Yeah. I mean, exhortation, um, I used to keep on my whiteboard in my old office. I don't have it in my new office because it just didn't look good, but, um, it was called, I just would put my job title was a master encourager and I would just keep at the top of my whiteboard and that's what I was there to do. And so I, I definitely saw when I shifted in my leadership, when I went from just wanting to, you know, tell people not, you know, just kind of like, I wanted them to succeed, but in my way, not, not in my way, but it was like, I knew how to get them to succeed, so I want, I was so hungry to tell them, but really what I learned is that like, there was, there'd be little things practically how it would show up, where I would sit on my hands. Like let's say, cause I'm, I talk with my hands, I'm very energetic, you know, but not everybody, I need to meet people in that energy of where they are. So in order to encourage them, that maybe look that that looks different for each person, you know, I think like parenting leadership, they're very similar, right? You're not going to lead everybody the same way. So I want to encourage everyone, but learning how to speak to women in the, and meeting them where they're at. So I would sit on my hands, you know, to be able to do that sometimes. Um, but yeah, I just, I just wanted to, to love them and pour into them. And that was just something that again, I guess it being spiritual gift that God, you know, wired and then the leadership side, I mean, I don't know, I've been leading since I was leading my neighborhood things and my, my parents would be like, I don't know why they all listen to you, Amy, you're the youngest one, but I would like organize all the things in my neighborhood from pageants, which you would appreciate to just, I don't know, you know, all the things. And then, um, I think really when I discovered my like truly, truly, truly that God was going to use me as a leader was my senior year in high school. I became the president of my high school. And so I would have to, they took it very serious. I don't know what your high school was like, but we have like a whole separate class and I would have to teach everybody and do that. And so it re I realized the responsibility of leadership. It wasn't just this like fun thing, but, um, I just believe you lose the right to be selfish when you're, when God has called you to lead. So that, yeah, I think I learned that at 17 years old. Like, Hey, this is a calling and I get to do this and not every, and not everybody is called to lead. I think we're all called to lead in some extent, but I just, I knew, right. Like we're all leaders at some extent, like we all are leading somebody. But I, when I, when I really knew that he put that inside of me and, and leadership is influence. That's all it is. So I'm like, okay, if you've given me this, I want to use it for good because there's good leaders and there's bad leaders and you can influence for good. It can influence for bad. So I just was like, wow, I can really make a difference if I'm, if I'm

using this leadership gift well. I side note my 20th anniversary from high school graduation is coming up. And like, I'm like, I was just thinking like, man, like all of our class presidents are like planning that right now. Oh yeah. Yeah. Wow. And like, yeah, I feel like everybody is a leader in some way, right? Everybody's leading somebody, something even self-leadership is a big deal. Like you still have to lead yourself and yeah, you're definitely a leader. I can tell. Like, are you, are you the oldest child? No, I'm the youngest. Really? So normally they say like the oldest child are like the ones that are leading.

Like, Hey, get it girl. Well, and you know, it's funny. Um, my son, who is the youngest, he has a lot, like every, he has leadership too. He is, I see it like in him and, um, I know tomorrow I have his, his awards for his end of the year. And I'm like secretly hoping he gets the leadership award, but I mean, his it's so cool and you would appreciate this to that, but his teacher, like several times and even got like a little, um, note, just thinking for like a teacher appreciation gift. And I read it yesterday, but she's like, he's just a natural born leader. And she goes, Amy, he's like a little evangelist at school. Like you should see him just like talking about Jesus and all these things. You know, it's just been like, Oh my gosh, that's so awesome. So I'm like, so I'm just like praying that God can use him again, like his leadership for good, cause he has this like cute little swagger, he's a little athlete, you know what I mean? But, but, but I, so I love like, so people listen to him, like everybody loves him. Everybody listens to him. And I just think, you know, Morris Cotman has taught when it comes to parenting, like that's the biggest lesson. Like it doesn't matter what we're saying, what we're teaching to our kids. They're going to watch you. They're going to watch what you say, what you do, and they're, they're going to repeat you like those little birds. And at a young age, it doesn't matter how young your kids are. And as you get older, you start to see it more and more. So just being able to, to really see that. But yeah, I think when, I think it's easier when you have gifts, it's easier to see those in other people, right? Like you and I both have futuristic. And so, you know, because my son has leadership, I'm able to like see that in him. I think it's harder to lead people and parent children who are very different from you, you know, that's where you really have to ask God for help.

Yeah, yeah. I like that's one thing that I pray over my children every day is like, Lord, help me figure out how to parent them for your glory, whatever they have, like whatever gifts you've given them, whatever job they're supposed to do for your kingdom. Lord, help me figure out how to lead them well, because that's all I want. That's all I want at the end of the day. Right. It might, it might go against what I want for them. Like my, my mom heart, right? Like my daughter is in competitive dance right now. And I'm like, be a ballerina because I'm like such a dancer, but like, if that's not her thing, then that's not her thing. But you know, I just want God to use her, whatever it is, if it's dance, if it's singing, if it's reading, I don't care what it is, I just want God to use her for his glory. Yeah. Last question. What is your favorite Bible verse and why?

So can I share two? Yes.

Okay. All right. I was going to see if I. Because you're like, I'm going to not follow the rules. I'm going to do that.

No, I, oh wait, I was going to share that by now. Um, well, the reason I asked to share too was because one is, one is my life. Do you have a life first? I don't know if everybody has a life first.

No, you don't have. Okay. I haven't even heard of somebody saying they have a life verse.

Really? Okay. Yeah. Well, I, yeah. So I don't know when it was like probably just a couple of years ago, I just declared like this was going to be my life verse. I don't know really why or how I decided that, but Jeremiah 29 and 11, for I know the plans I have for you, plans for prospering hope in a future. And I think because, you know, we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. My weakness, Jeanette is really to worry about the future. And that, that's where I struggle. That's where the enemy can kind of sneak in and, and get me and, um, or trying to figure it all out, you know, wanting to know, and maybe that's the futuristic and wanting to know that future stuff. And, and, and I really have to work hard on just being present and trusting God. Like really like trusting him. So it's he's taken me to a deeper level. And so that's my life verse. Cause I want, I don't care what season I'm in, you know, whether I'm my age now or when I'm in my sixties, seventies, whatever, like I just want to believe. And so, um, I don't know, it's probably, I would say seven, eight years ago when I just declare this as my life verse, but it was probably more like three or four years ago when I was journaling and, and this is what I love about the word is you can read the same verses, but God will show you something new. And so he really convicted me and said, okay, this is your favorite verse, right? But are you living like you believe it? Ooh. Yeah. Am I living like I believe it? And to be honest, I wasn't. And that's why he needed to convict me for it because I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe that, but at the time being honest with myself, I was believing that God had, I was looking around and I was, I had a comparison actually at my retreat last year, we always burn something in the fire. And last year, that's what I burn my spirit of comparison. And so I was just comparing so much and I was looking and I wanted to be happy for people. And I feel like I was in a way, but deep down I was kind of like, okay, God, you know, why aren't you using me in that way? Or I I'm here. Wait, did you forget? Remember I raised my hand before. You called on me. Why, you know, are you not my hand raised in this season? And then that leads me to my other verse. So it'd be two and a half years ago. Now every year I pick a verse for the year. So, and then I pick a word for the year. Well, my word, not this year. So I guess again, two and a half years ago was rest. And so my verse was Matthew 11 verse 28 through 30. So a couple of verses, but that's where it's like, you know, take my yoke upon you. It's light and not heavy. And, um, and so God really had to show me in that season, like what it looked like. And so when he first said rest, um, I didn't do it so well. And then the next year I'm praying and I think I was even fasting like, okay, God, what's my word for this next year? Cause it really is kind of a compass and direction for me. And I just remember like normally, and I thought he'd given it to me months before, but again, there was that restlessness that I just couldn't settle in on it. And then all of a sudden he made it very clear. I mean, it was like, the pastor talked about it, my devotion, my Bible stuff. I mean, it was like all over the place and it was rest again. So there, it's like, if we don't do it right, let's do it again. So I've never picked to, you know, have the same word twice in a year, but he really had to show me. And I remember I drew out like this visual of the oxen and like me and Jesus. And like, if I'm walking with him, if I'm really yoked with him, what does that look like? And it's not Amy trying to make it happen. And I remember during the fast that he gave me just this beautiful vision of like a, like I was in this round room and you know, God does speak to us in our dreams and our visions. And, and so in this vision it was so crazy cause he'd given me this vision before. And I thought, and it was like this round room with all these doors, like eight doors in there. And I thought, okay, but God, which door am I going to open? And I remember the first time he gave me that vision thinking, but then he gave it to me again during the season and he goes, no, you're not going to open the door. I will open the right door. So stop trying to choose out of these eight doors, like wait, wait on me. So that was a big thing. I didn't, I did not wait. Well, I had to learn how to wait. Well, I'm still learning how to wait. Well, but then he showed me, I will open the door and then behind that door will be another door and another door. So some of my leaders gave me this beautiful like plaque and I keep it in my living room with that Matthew 11, 28 30 verse because I always, if God spoke to me that clearly in two years in a row, you know, but I learned that. And so I think a lot of people, when they hear rest, they think like, Oh, I need a nap. I need a vacation. I need a spa day with Che. I love, I love a good spa day. Don't get me wrong, but it's like, how do you have spiritual rest? How do you have spiritual rest? And, and what's so crazy is, you know, my retreat that I do, I mean, that's really what we're doing is finding, you know what, I think so many people settle for just like a little drop, like a spiritual drop when it's like, no, God has a spiritual bucket, a spiritual waterfall. And that's what we do at the retreat. It's like, no, you're going to have a spiritual renewal. And so I think in that season, like he had to show me, what does that really look like for your soul to rest for your spirit to rest and know what it looks like to kind of be yoked in me and not trying to just do

it in your own time. You know, his time is always perfect. That's the hardest part, I think is resting in him, especially like, I feel like we have similar personalities and I am always like running, doing all these things, doing all these things. And like we, we were coming up on a PCS maybe. And he was like, I was like, all right, well then I need to sell the house. I need to do this. I need to do this. And God was like, no, just wait. And I was like, okay, I will wait. I won't contact any more realtors because I want to sell my house now, but I will wait. That's like so hard to be like, okay, okay. But tell me more about this retreat. Tell me where we can find you. Tell me how we can sign up. Tell me the dates. Tell me all the details because it sounds amazing.

Okay. Awesome. So the website is www.refreshwomensretreat.com. Refreshwomensretreat.com. It is September 28th through October 1. So you basically come in on a Thursday and then Friday, the first couple hours you have, I call it the silent retreat, part of the retreat. And so we, when you register, we give you kind of just some God questions, I guess you could, you could call them. And so you just go off with the Lord and the setting, by the way, is just gorgeous. We say it's a boutique hotel. You're right on the water. So most of the rooms, you can hear the waves crashing at night and in the morning. I mean, it is just, when you think of refresh, like I feel like they created this like hotel, like the year we started it, they made it was like a brand new boutique hotel was crazy. Like, of course that's God. But really what it is, it's kind of a combination where you're getting time, you're hearing, there are speakers, so you'll have speakers. But what I found when I was creating this is so many times I would go and I'd hear great information from great people, but we all leave with good intentions to go kind of digest the information. And then we all have good intentions to apply it. But a lot of times we just come home to the crazy busy life and we don't have the space to do that. So the best way to describe this retreat is you get to press pause from your life. And I encourage people to just trust whoever is taking care of your kids and you can be fully, fully there present. And so after you hear someone speak, you have time, we give you kind of thought provoking questions, how to apply it to your life. So right there on the spot, you're getting to figure out how you're going to take this and apply it to your life. And then we always have a lot of small group time. So you're at a table. So once you get there, you're with the same group of women as far as like throughout the weekend. And so then we also have discussion time with those other women. So it's kind, that's kind of how it looks throughout it. So it's, you know, we designed it like that because our intent, especially this year, the theme is you're creative for a time such as this, Esther 414. So our prayer, we're praying, every woman leaves knowing that God has an assignment for them right now. And what is that? And so when God speaks to us through his whisper, through other people and through his word, so that's why we are, we have time that you're going to hear from him. And so we have that time built in that you can go sit on the beach, sit by the pool. We have time for fellowship with other women. And then you have time to really digest yourself in journal. And we give everybody a journal and some other goodies when they get there and all that good stuff. But I just have to tell you, it's hard to explain but the Holy Spirit shows up in incredible ways. And God, there's God inspired ideas that come out of this weekend for every woman. And it is just, again, I can't take credit. It's the Holy Spirit shows up. And, but you know, we are spiritually exhausted women more than ever. And so it really is that you get to go and you're going to leave feeling revived and renewed and just filled up spiritually. It's like, don't just, yes, we need our quiet time. We need those daily things. But when you get that spiritual waterfall over you, you're going to come home and you're just going to be more effective in your

family and in your business. I love that. I am going to try and make it because I need that space to integrate all those things. And like you said, I don't have that. If I go to a conference, I come back and then it's back to the grind and I just have a notebook full of good ideas that I'm not going to take any action on.

e's been all three years, but: 2019

that's really what it's about. I love that. I'm so glad that we got to do this interview because like I said, Amy, you're a powerhouse. You have got it together, girl. Amy, you got to watch her stories because she does like incredible things and she's like a travel connoisseur. Like she's always going someplace. So I love watching those too, because she's just so fun. Find you on the internet.

So Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, I'm, I'm trying to break into TikTok. I just haven't quite, quite gotten there yet, but yeah, Amy, all good one or just Amy all good. I mean, my last name's easy to remember. It's all good. All good. I got my own song, apparently. NC Hammer. Thank you.

It's fun. It's fun. It's fun. All right. Well, thank you and have a great day. Thank you, Jeanette. Wow. That was so good. So I know that you know somebody that also needs to hear that. So share this episode, leave a review. And I would love if you could watch my free workshop at jeanettepeterson.com slash missing piece. I'll see you guys over on the grams at jeanette.peterson. Bye.