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REFINE
This is where we draw the line between Sunday knowledge and we live the word and principles of God practically, in every aspect of our life. Christ didn't save us to make us feel good, instead we are called to freedom, victory & abundance. On this podcast we are discipled, cultivated, challenged, refined and fruitful in every aspect of our lives! Goodbye passive Christianity, Hello to fruitful living! Welcome to a life REFINED
REFINE
Navigating Seasons of Shift: When God Says "It's Time to Move"
Navigating seasons of shift requires understanding the difference between stewarding what God gives versus owning it as our identity. When God leads us through transitions, we must learn to recognize the signals and trust His provision for what comes next.
• The biblical story of Elijah at the brook illustrates how God provides in one season before calling us to move
• Spiritual maturity develops when we learn to yield to God's timing rather than clinging to comfortable seasons
• Intimacy with God through consistent prayer and Bible study helps us recognize divine signals of upcoming transitions
• Success doesn't always indicate alignment with God's will, and hardship doesn't mean we're out of His will
• Discomfort, boredom, or restlessness often signal that a season is ending and God is preparing something new
• Our true identity is found in who God created us to be before any experiences or achievements
• Winter seasons of pruning are necessary for growth and prepare us for summer seasons of abundance
• We should steward what God gives us without making it our identity, knowing seasons will change
God is freeing you for what comes next. When you release your grip on the current season and trust Him with the transition, you'll discover provision you never imagined on the other side.
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We pray, lord, god, that even now, as we speak, we may speak as if we're oracles. This season is so important, not only for us, but all of us as your children, for those who have ears. So I pray, lord God, that, as you take us through this conversation, that we may be able to minister, through our experiences, through your leadership, through your wisdom, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, through your word, lessons that we get from your word, because your word is the ultimate blueprint. I pray, lord, god, it through your word, lessons that we get from your word, because your world is the ultimate blueprint. I pray, lord god, that you may touch lives, even now as we fall, because you are god who is not confined to time, that you are even in our tomorrow. When this goes out, it has people that is waiting for, who will be ready to receive it. It's never in vain. It is never in vain. So for that we thank you. Thank you, holy spirit, for being with us in jesus name. Amen. In the. So for that we thank you. Thank you, holy Spirit, for being with us In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:In the book of 1 Kings 17, we read about Elijah, who the Lord led him to a place that we know as the brook. And when he was in this place he was fed first of all by ravens Ravens don't feed people, but through the mouth of the ravens he was given bread and he was given meat. And then, not only was he fed divinely through the ravens, the Lord said this brook you will drink from. And that was his season where the Lord led him into that space of provision. And then, a little while later, the Lord says the brook is drying up. Go to a place that I will show you. A woman there will feed you. And what we often do sometimes is we take pride in the fact that the Lord is feeding us in season and we don't want to realize that even that season may come to an end. When the brook dries up, it means that a season of shift is upon you, and will you be number one, able to hear, number two, able to yield to what the Lord is doing and trust Him even in that process? It's not an easy one, it's hard, but the Lord has provision for you on the other side, and that is what we're going to be talking about today with our amazing guest.
Speaker 1:It's very interesting how I bumped into her last week, just last week, and she was like Buli, when are we? And I said, dude, it's as if you knew, because I had written down people that came into my heart and spirit that I would like to have had. And this was Jan. Mind you, I was not filming in Jan, and here we are speaking about something that is so crazy, because the Lord doesn't want me to just have people and agree to have people. We can call anybody, but he wanted us to have this conversation. So I know that I usually introduce people. Mind you, I know that she's a voice, she's a great mind, she's a great leader, a great woman, but I love for people on this particular channel to introduce themselves.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, it's always so interesting to introduce myself. I think, firstly and I don't think I have, in any of the interviews that I've done in the past introduced myself as a child of God, you know. Firstly, that is the identity that I'm anchored in, that is, um, where my values are anchored, and, um, I guess I've been commissioned to work in this marketplace. You know, I'm an entrepreneur, um, but also I'm a steward of two beautiful children, I'm a mother and, yeah, how do I define it? I'm just surrendered to the life that I'm purposed to live, and it's been an interesting journey. It's been a very interesting journey, a very blessed journey. Despite the challenges, I've always had the grounding and feeling that everything was happening exactly as it should. Sure.
Speaker 1:So, like I said, we're speaking of the season of the shift and you're in a very interesting time right now. You did share that. For example, you're currently stewarding Agenda Woman, many other platforms actually building brands and teaching people also how to steward what a gender woman, many other platforms actually building brands and teaching people also how to steward what the Lord has given them. Well, I think this whole thing is about stewardship. I think it will segue right into the first question, or the first point of conversation as we navigate this very interesting and broad topic. How do you steward? Well, or know that, in fact. So rather, when the Lord gives you something what we usually do when he gives you a gender woman, for example, when he gives you a fine and says this is what I want you to do in this season what we do is we own it.
Speaker 1:Elijah could have said branded the brook and said Elijah's brook, this is mine. The man fed by ravens and made it his identity. Sometimes we make the things God is calling us to steward our identity, not knowing that no, these things are added to you just to simply steward. They don't change who you are, and I think that's the hard part. How do we learn how to not become owners or idolize what God has given us and just steward it well, because I think when we learn first to become good stewards, it will make everything else easy. It's easy to give something that you know that I'm just stewarding this, it was never mine to begin with, then to feel like you own something, and then you live life with the fist closed and it's hard for you to release what God is calling you to release. So how do we steward seasons well and fight the urge to want to own things?
Speaker 2:I think I will anchor my answer on just a little bit of context around my history for anyone who doesn't know the work that I've done. Firstly, you know, at church this past Sunday the pastor said something that stayed with me because as he said it, I understood it so well. He said you know, god will often give you an instruction and if you don't follow the instruction, it gives you an experience and the experience will teach you how to follow that instruction. That's not punishment, it's just that sometimes, in certain seasons and at specific levels of spiritual maturity, we don't trust in God's instruction. And when God gives an instruction, we want to debate it, we want to kind of negotiate, not understanding that the instruction is always meant to lead you to where you're supposed to be. It's like when you're going to Cape Town and the map says 10. Right, it's an instruction that's meant to get you where you need to go and, yes, maybe some of the roads might have potholes and it's not always going to be a smooth ride, but that's just the part that gets you to Cape Town. Yeah, and I think in my life, experience has taught me how to heed instruction.
Speaker 2:Um, in my 20s I was working in the entertainment industry. It's the time or the decade where I really understood, where I was given wisdom, where I had capacity and where I could make things happen. You know, I would often hear people say everything you touch tends to gold. But it was so easy for me. I could think of something, I could implement it quickly and it would bear fruit, you know. But when that season ended, coming into my 30s, it started off as a feeling of just. I'm not excited about this anymore. You know and it's so interesting because I just want to say this, particularly for anyone who's listening to this who surrendered to God or who's Christian you need to be very careful who you seek advice from in those seasons and in those moments, because I remember, as I went through transitions, one of the people who was in my life at the time, who was a great mentor in actual fact, who was in my life at the time, who was a great mentor in actual fact, said to me Nomdeni, you can't always be starting new, you can't always be shifting. You need to stay steady in the thing that you're doing and see it to. You know, fulfillment or whatever that was, because I can assure you he wasn't even certain what he was speaking about. Sometimes people will give you advice from a place of their own insecurities and fears. So it's very, very important to heed who you take advice from and to develop a muscle that allows you to go to God first when you need to understand what you need to do first.
Speaker 2:So in that season, for myself, as I started feeling I just I just not, I'm not excited about the space. I'm making a lot of money. I'm getting, you know, worldly recognition. You know cause. You're around celebrities and you're building celebrity brands. Everyone thinks the world of you, everyone wants a piece of you in actual fact. So when that season ends as as anyone who is listening to this, who's ever had to leave probably a big job I always say you know, that's when you. You get to this who's ever had to leave? Probably a big job I always say you know that's when you. You get to know who were your people. Right, that's the first thing. But that doesn't even matter, because even no one actually belongs to you. They were there to help you in that season. So even if for them it is a matter of it can be seen as using you, but God was using them for that season. It's okay when they're gone, you know, because a new season is emerging and you need new tools for that season.
Speaker 2:So when that season came to an end, for me, coming into my thirties, a lot was left behind and I started to feel the you know, the nudge of discomfort. I'm bored, I don't really want to do this. Everything is challenging. You know, I don't even really know where I am anymore, because there were shifts that were taking place there as well. Lots of discomfort, um.
Speaker 2:But I held on to the identity that I built around, the things that I could do, you know. So letting go of that season felt like I'm letting go of everything that I built. I'm letting go of all the I built. I'm letting go of all the accolades I'm letting go of, you know, the pat on the back around oh, you do this well, or we call on you when this needs to happen.
Speaker 2:But I knew in my heart that I just wasn't interested anymore. But I didn't know what else I needed to do. How was I going to make money if I left that season? So I stayed there too long. Sure, I stayed there too long. Sure, I stayed there too long and I got kicked out. And I am telling you, I'm still suffering the consequences of staying in that season too long, even in the season, really, and I'm very clear about what happened then.
Speaker 2:So that experience made me understand. When that time comes and I can feel that the season is ending, I need to honor it and trust that I'm going to be carried into the next season with much more grace. And coming into this season now, when I started to feel the nudges, I was less attached than I was when I was younger, you know, because in my thirties, my thirties were a season of just God pruning me. It was very difficult, it was stripping of identity and but what came with it was a deeper trust in God, because there were many moments when I did not know how I was going to sustain myself, but somehow I made it through, because I had to learn that sustenance does not mean that my life is opulent, it means that I'm provided for every day.
Speaker 1:Every day manna.
Speaker 2:Manna every day.
Speaker 2:And I think that's where people sometimes suffer, when they think that success and sustenance means I'm going to have the big things. There are seasons where it's not about that. There are seasons when it's just about sustenance, the fact that you are feeling like your entire soul is being ripped apart. But every day you go to bed and you've eaten. Every day something came up and every day when you're called on help, help came, even when you felt like you were ashamed to call on that help. But there was something God needed to do with that shame and that's why the provision had to come through that person who you felt ashamed to ask help from. So everything in its time and everything works together for our good, and every single experience is in our lives to teach us something and if we lean into it, we see the other side of the lesson.
Speaker 1:I think it's because I feel like sometimes we have quote unquote made it seem that if you go into the wilderness it's not of God, but sometimes, when you read the word, in fact most of the time there are many times where people were led into the wilderness because that is where God was pruning them. They were there for separation. They were there to grow them. Being in the wilderness was important. It was part of the journey. We see Christ right after fasting. Being led in the wilderness was important. It was part of the journey. We see Christ right after fasting being led into the wilderness.
Speaker 1:And remember the Word of God says whenever Christ spoke, he says I don't do anything that my Father does not tell me to do. That's how we know he was led. So, as he's led into this place, we often think, oh, my goodness, that's not a God moment. When he's tempted by the enemy, we don't think that, okay, god surely wasn't there. He made the wrong decision. But, like you're saying, the moments of you feeling like, yes, I may not be able to go for fine dining, but I can go to bed having eaten rice and meat, one chicken and gravy that in and of itself is a place where God is Absolutely.
Speaker 2:The holy prayer would have not had the part that says even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, if we were not going to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. There's so many things that are provisioned for in scripture that indicate to us that we're going to go through hardships. But what I've found is that you know, when you don't have the spiritual maturity that comes with time and intimacy with God, tough times feel like death. And I've found that the more intimacy I have developed with God and the more spiritually mature I've become, the more I've understood his character, the more I've trusted him that wherever I find myself is exactly where I need to be, and I need to look to him and who he says I am, and not who the world says I am, in order to understand that I am still. I'm still cushioned, I'm still in his bosom.
Speaker 1:Our anchor is number one in who he is, to who he says that we are, who he says we are.
Speaker 1:Because, that is our weapon against certain thoughts that the enemy might bring. You see, your Lord has abandoned you. First you fight from I know him, and then I know who he has called. I know he will never abandon me. I think that is so incredible. Absolutely. How do we, you know, sometimes you find yourself in a comfortable season. You know and sometimes the shift doesn't only come from when you feel uncomfortable, but it needs you to have a hearing ear that even in your season of comfort you don't get too comfortable, that you only wake up when it's too late. Yeah, how do you become aware? And maybe what would that look like? Because someone might feel like I don't feel discomfort, but I do feel, maybe, that there is something out there, but they're just not too sure what to do with the thought, the feeling, the nudging. How do they navigate the season that, yes, I'm comfortable, but I do think that the season of shift is also for me.
Speaker 2:So I'll give you practical examples of things that have happened for me and I think for everyone it could be different, but I think, as I share these examples, maybe for everyone who's listening they'll start to see what the signals are for them. Right, there's always signals, there's always signals. And you tune into the signals by creating intimacy. And I'm going to speak a lot about intimacy because sometimes people are going to be like, oh, I don't hear from God, or this doesn't happen for me. These things come from a place of intimacy. When you're married, like yourself, you know your husband, right. You know when his mood has shifted, you know when he's not okay, right, it comes from intimacy. So the ability to hear from God and understand that that's Him is in understanding His character. You learn His character in the intimate spaces and places with Him. So one of the ways that I've created intimacy is in just having systems and rituals where I have to spend time with God or I will not understand what it is that he wants to signal to me. So on a daily basis, I have to read the Word and I dedicate about an hour in the evening to reading the Word and just being in prayer and just spending time with God in that space and I have a particular place also in my home. When I was younger the experience came with so much and it was so difficult and I want to really anchor people who are potentially going through a hardship. That hardship for me is the reason that I hear so clearly today and I see the nudges so visibly in my life, because then I didn't, I did not have intimacy with God. I was living out of my own will. I was living out of my own power, right, and I was successful. Because sometimes people think when you are not in line with God, then you will not be successful. You can be successful and not be in line with God, and you can be in a difficult time and be in line with God. So it's not either or it's seasonal right, line with God, so it's not either or it's seasonal right.
Speaker 2:So I remember in 25 now 2024, I had a client ask me for some work. I used to do influencer work, and even influencer work was provision for a season. It was not my identity, it was something that I did for provision for a particular season, but also it was the thing that allowed me to build around a gender woman. So every I always say God works like a spider web, it's not linear, his ways are not linear. You can look at one thing and say I understand why God did this, but you have no idea what it's doing for the people in your life. You have no idea for the people what it's doing for the people experiencing you. He's never linear, you know. So last year I remember a client asking me for like content or something, and I just I remember it came in Zulu for me. I'm not Zulu, but I grew up in KZN. I'm Zulu by adoption. Kzn people are my people.
Speaker 2:But I remember when I got that instruction, something in me said I'm phony, I just don't want to. And the minute I heard it in my spirit, I remembered I'd felt like this before. Sure, I remembered that I'd felt like this before. And let me tell you, at that time I had no idea if I don't do this, which does offer some provision, you know, or you know some level of overflow in my life, what does that mean? You know? But I knew that I really did not want to do it. It's never been a thing that I entirely enjoy, but it was a thing that I could do. It's a low hanging fruit, you know you can create revenue out of it. And when that happened, I started thinking, oh my gosh, what's happening now? And I didn't pay attention to it. I felt it, I remembered that, I'd felt it before, but I didn't really lean into it, which is another thing that I've learned that when that nudge and that signal comes, you have to stop in that moment, you have to pray, you have to write it down, you have to come back to it because it's the beginning of a conversation and you have to intentionally come back to continue that conversation. It was a passing thing for me.
Speaker 2:And then I'm sitting at the store at Mall of Africa, the pop-up I do every December, and we were going to be recording some promotional work. And I remember saying to Ngobile, who does my makeup friend, I think I want to do a video. Just let me do the masterclass, the personal branding masterclass. I had been doing it for corporate organizations. And then something in that moment of course it's not something something in that moment says to me let me just do it for that gender woman community. You know, I find it so valuable for the brands that I've done it for and they pay me a lot of money, but how can I create a way that I can still do it for the community? So I do the video. I have no venue, I don't even know what it's going to be like.
Speaker 2:I get in front of the camera and I do the video and I say I'm doing the masterclass and I'm thinking January people don't have money. It's December. Now when am I going to post this video? People are thinking about holidaying, people are going out and partying and, you know, having a good time. These tickets are not going to sell, but it's fine If they don't sell, I won't die.
Speaker 2:And I record the video and I sit with it, wooly, and I'm like when can I post it? I'm like, okay, when I look at the calendar, I'm like 27 December. I'm like that's the worst time. Yeah, because that's the period after Christmas. I'm like that's the worst time. I say again, let me just do it because again, because of the intimacy I have with God, of the instruction I get to hear from God, but also of the experience that I had, I know I'm not going to die. I've been through difficult times. If I post something and it doesn't work, I'm not going to die. I do that and in eight days those tickets are sold out.
Speaker 2:I was shocked, not because I doubt myself, not because I have a low self-esteem, but because of all these variables. Right, I just thought maybe they'll pick up later, maybe people won't even care. And then God starts speaking to me about the personal branding masterclass, the very first one. I see what I'm going to wear on the day and God makes it clear that he's going to take over on the day. So for anyone who was in that room, they understand what I'm talking about. So I will always deliver the work that I need to deliver Personal branding.
Speaker 2:The masterclass was absolutely exceptional. It's an area where I have wisdom. I know personal branding, I know branding, I know how to build brands. But there was so many other things that happened around that event, so many things that God wanted to say in that room that he did. And after that he says to me I need to do coaching around personal branding. By the way, people have been asking me to coach for years. I'm like I'm sorry, that's too little money. What do you mean? I'm going to spend an hour and then I'm going to get emotionally involved with these people that don't want to do it. It just doesn't make financial sense for me, but anyway I'm like, let me do it. And I receive an instruction that at the end of the masterclass I need to launch the link for people to book for coaching. I do that and so many people pay for that discovery call and I start doing coaching.
Speaker 2:To this day, I am very clear that the work I do one-on-one with those women is God work. It's identity work. It's the work that nudges the inquiry of where do I have wisdom and where can I excel and how do I do it. And my job is to help women figure that out, because at the core of that is personal branding. Personal branding is about you. It's about the thing that you can do well and how do we package and position it to create sustainability for you but also to impact the people that it needs to impact. So you see the journey and how it happens that there's nudges that are happening in all of this.
Speaker 2:And then I get into the personal branding thing and I'm doing it and it's really great and I really enjoy it and I go around the country and so much is revealed to me even as I go around the country. Then I start planning for the Agenda Women's Summit and I'm really excited. There's so much, really that from I literally keep a book where I write all of these encounters. But one of the things that happened is I'm excited about, you know, doing Agenda Woman this year and I'm thinking next year I'm going to. You know I'm already speaking to an international guest that I want to have Bigger and better. I'm just like next year I'm going big. Let me start the conversation now. And but when I'm doing all of this, I remember speaking to one of my friends and saying I'm bored.
Speaker 1:Another signal, another flag. I just said.
Speaker 2:I'm so bored. I don't think there's a better way that I can do the Agenda Women's Summit for me. I can see so many people have come into the space and been inspired by the Agenda Women's Summit, which I think is awesome, because there's no way one person can reach everyone. But for myself, in how I do things, I just started feeling like what's new that I can bring to this thing that can elevate it, that can inspire more, except bringing an international guest and even meddling in that space. What if it's not someone that God wants me to be in partnership with? Then it just gets messy when it starts to be about that and not about the message and what needs to happen in the room, right? So I'm speaking to a friend and I'm like, I'm just bored, I'm so bored, I'm so bored. I feel like I need to get away. I'm even thinking about relocating. I'm like, okay, I need to figure out where I can live. I'm even thinking about relocating. I'm like, okay, I need to figure out where I can live in. I'm literally I'm actively thinking about what is next. You know, I feel bored. You know I'm not stuck. Yeah, I'm not struggling, I'm just bored. You know, and I didn't realize this until the friend I'd spoken to, when I told them that this is the last gender women summit, said to me you remember you were talking about being bored. That's when I connected that. That in itself was a signal. But there's a way also that I always look at things from the view of the world that even in business, you know there is a time when you have done everything that you needed to do with that asset and that property.
Speaker 2:When I started Agenda Woman Summit specifically, it was to build the brand. I knew how I could build the brand with an event, because the event could be a showcase of where we even positioned the brand. It was never a mass brand, it was always a brand that existed in a space of accessible luxury. It was an aspirational brand and I knew that through the format of eventing I could tell that story and I could build that brand. And in hindsight, even when I received the instruction for the summit to be the last one, I looked back and I said, actually, what I had intended to do with this platform, I have done. We have built a brand.
Speaker 2:Now the question is, with the strength of the brand that we've built, what is next? And when the instruction came to me and this is where intimacy then becomes a little bit more different, because it wasn't a signal, it was an instruction I heard this is the last summit, but what followed that was a peace and an excitement. It literally went like that. It went peace, and then, oh my gosh, it felt freeing, like what can I create next? What is the bigger problem that I can solve? And the more I sat in that inquiry, I started to also understand that the platform of the Agenda Women's Summit had given me data. It had built the brand, but it had also exposed me to so much around what the challenges were for the communities that I was speaking to, and that became the data that gave me access to the next instruction around what I need to do, which God has already told me.
Speaker 1:I like how you said I mean I could speak about my own things, but I'll speak about that some other time. You said that you had peace and excitement. Yes, not everybody who is told to move is met with peace and excitement. Yeah, some people is fear, you know, quote unquote anxiety, insecurity, in a sense that lord if, if this brook dries up, where to from now? Like, how do those people fight through those feelings? And not to say that they should disappear. I mean, sometimes you do it scared.
Speaker 1:I like how you said you know, there's certain things that you just did and I'm that person. I hold the same sentiments. If I die, I die. You know, lord, I've honored you and I'm doing what you told me to do, and that's that we don't have to debate on much, but mine is to say at least I was obedient to the best of my ability and the outcome of that, lord is totally on you, whether it's one, whether it's a thousand, I've honored you.
Speaker 1:So sometimes we enter into space and we're like, oh, I don't know. I don't know how to navigate through this fear. I don't know what's going to come. I don't know if money is going to see me tomorrow. Yeah, I mean for me to move from architecture into content creation, which again wasn't. It's not the end goal, because even then the Lord was like sorry, my sister, it is time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why are you telling me this with two kids? Yeah, I just needed to please, please me. Why are you telling me this? I just get two kids with the husband, it's fine. I mean, I'll just be a girl, we'll figure it out. We'll eat bread and noodles, it's okay. Two kids, how you know? Um, but even here I am, you know, gleaning and receiving even myself from your experiences, and I know that even as we edit and we go back and listen, I will begin to pick up certain things and again through intimacy with the Lord, as to what that next is. So for me it is that bit of okay, I'm keen, I'm keen, I don't have a choice. I always say, lord, you don't give me a choice, I'm keen. But for those who are scared, how do they navigate that space?
Speaker 2:Again, I've found that my spiritual muscle has strengthened in spending time with God. There are so many people who are going to church every day or every Sunday, so many people who are Christian but who don't spend time with God. And I'm not saying this for judgment. I'm saying this so that, if the person who's listening is that person, they understand the necessity of the time and the intimacy and how that intimacy shows up as peace when you receive instruction. Intimacy and how that intimacy shows up as peace when you receive instruction. The fear comes from lack of knowledge, deep knowledge of who God is.
Speaker 2:I was listening to a sermon this morning and it's a pastor I just came across on YouTube who's absolutely amazing. But he was saying and these examples we hear all the time, but they feel far-fetched because the idea of God is far from us. If you met a billionaire this morning who you knew had integrity, who you knew was someone who keeps their word, who you knew was someone who's actually a billionaire and they said to you come to my office tomorrow, I want to write a check for you for a hundred thousand US dollars you would not celebrate after receiving that check. You'd celebrate today because you have trust in that person.
Speaker 1:In the integrity and ability In the integrity and the ability yes.
Speaker 2:The issue is because God is not tangible, in the sense that he's not a human being in front of us. We can only develop that trust through intimacy, through spending time with him, where, when you hear that example, it feels real to you because it's part of your real life experience. The only way you go over those hurdles and those experiences of fear is by going back to the source and saying who are you and how do you work? There's so much that is a dichotomy in spiritual life that often does not have answers in certain moments, but you find those answers through the Holy Spirit being your help and interpreting the way that God works and his just wisdom. The reason I felt peace that day and excitement was because I'm fully surrendered to God's direction.
Speaker 2:When my journey started to take this shape, it was not me as a young person. It was in 2023 when I lost my brother, and it was not the loss that led me back to God. But there is something about the timing and I can tell you for sure I've lost many people, but there was something that happened and I always say to people, something happened in the spirit with that loss, Not just for me but for the entire family. But the gain for me was where I find myself in my relationship with God today. Um, I'm fully surrendered to God, fully and um, in a way that has conviction and clarity, Absolutely when nothing anyone says about how God is playing out. My journey is going to change the fact that I speak to God on a daily basis and I remember my friends, you know, seeing me speak in certain spaces, saying, friend, what if God wants you to preach? And I said hell, no, no he could never do that to me, please.
Speaker 2:No relationship with him matured and strengthened. I just had a Woman's Day event where I was speaking and even before that event I said you know, I'm at a point where Buli, if God said I must go and preach, I probably would. I don't think there's an instruction that I can receive from him that I would not honor, because I know who he is. I've seen him move in my life. I've seen him sustain me, I've seen him answer prayers, I've seen him protect me, I've seen him move with speed, I've seen him move with grace, and these are not just the things that make him who he is to me, but it is just the experience, the things that don't have words, that you get to feel when you spend time with God and when he directs you and when he reveals who he is to you.
Speaker 1:This entire thing for me, off script, for me, which I think we can maximize and end on this point, kind of is, as you speak I just heard in my spirit it's about identity, really A hundred percent. This whole thing is about identity. The battle is there and how we view first of all ourselves, and I think this is where we fall short. For a long time, the Lord has not allowed me to label myself. When I was an architect, I was not allowed to put architect on my bio. I did. If I did I in fact I did I did it out of disobedience because the role is not my identity.
Speaker 1:I struggled recently, up until now, compartmentalizing my lives, because on Sunday I teach at youth, I'm a teacher, I just I just teach at youth. You know, and nobody would know that because I again I would compartmentalize my life and say, lord, it needs to just make sense. I can't be a teacher, I can't be this, I can't be that. It's like, yeah, because you are not, that you are mine, that's your identity. Your identity is just that you are mine and all the other things that you get to do come out of you knowing that you are mine. So it's not really about these things that we want to chase and say that, okay, from today on it's Woolies, a podcast, yes, it is an outlet. It's an outlet, right, it's something that I get to steward. It's an assignment that I'm stewarding for this season.
Speaker 2:But I don't have to wrestle with it for the rest of my life, my identity up until the Lord says do it.
Speaker 1:And if he says, stop now and stop now and do it later, whatever the case may be, but the entirety, our entirety of all that we do and all that we are hinders on our identity. And I think maybe that's where our struggle is as human beings, that we, because these things give us some sort of pride, they give us worth, they make it seem like, okay, now at least something is the answer, something that I'm doing which brings significance. We find it very hard to release those things Absolutely, and it's time to release Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I am not shocked that you felt the identity narrative emerge in your spirit as we were speaking, because that's exactly what God has said to me that my work will be identity work. The personal branding work is identity work. I fast every month for three days. Then at church they did a half a year, like mid-year fast, okay, and I decided to just jump on it. I don't ever feel inclined to join any fast because I don't have, you know, a way that I do it, but I jumped on it and I remember on the first day we were at church for the first break and I said to God why am I here, like? Why do you like? Okay, tell me why I'm fasting. And I think it's important also to anchor that. Even when we go into fasting, it's important that we are not always asking God for the material, because it goes back to that identity right For the past year and a half probably, every time I fast. Yes, there's a couple of names of people that maybe God has brought to my spirit, but at the core of my fast is continued intimacy with God and spiritual maturity. Those are the two things I always ask Him, because we will always wrestle with the fact that we're not home, this is not home and there will be things that will come up and fears that will emerge because we're just in a space where our word is not final. So I always pray for that in my fast. So when the church did the media fast and I prayed to God, literally as it was breaking the first day, and I said, god, what should I fight? Like, why am I here? And God says to me and it's so funny, even the way you know, we speak as Christians, like in some of the systems, like what do you mean? God said to you Listen, it's just one of those things that you also have to accept. And also it's just the stripping of your identity and the changing of your language when you spend time with God. It's something that I had to just wrestle with, also in my own way, but I'm just like I don't know how else to explain the things that are happening.
Speaker 2:But in a way, god says to me I want you to pray for restoration, but not restoration of things. I want you to pray for restoration of the vision I had of you before I placed you in your mother's womb. He says that's where I want our conversation to go. I want to expose to you what I planned for you before you were attached to a mother, before you were attached to a father, before you were attached to a surname, before you were attached to experiences, before anything happened to you that you're using to define you today. I want to expose the vision that I had of you and that's been a continued conversation in the season between myself and God that everything goes back to that Before you did Agenda Woman, before I showed you what skills you have, before you made that money, before you made that brand.
Speaker 2:Who were you before you came into all this, before you were raised to the manner that you were raised, before the things that happened to you happened before the betrayal, before the people that came and left. Before all these things, I want you to pray for a revelation of who you were, the purity of your heart, the intention I placed in you, the tools that you were going to meet along the way, the people that were going to help you, and how you have now attached yourself to all these things, but they were never truly you. That has been a message that he has placed in my heart, that I am walking in, that I'm praying over consistently. But I understand that the core of it is identity, that whatever is in front of you, don't let it attach to you in a manner that when I come and I want to move on to the next thing, you no longer want to move because this is who you are. The thing that was done to you, the abuse, the horrible, horrific things that happened all of it is not you. Who you are is who you were when God formed you in your mother's womb and did not give you an identity of the things that you're going to meet in the journey. So when we meditate on that, often we don't know what the answer is because we didn't have wisdom at that time and we can only get that wisdom and that revelation by going back to the maker, the person that placed you here. So it's really at the core of everything Bully that the pain and the fear that we have comes because we're detaching consistently. But if we understand that whatever I'm attached to now is not me and I'm already waiting in anticipation for where God is going to lead me, then you don't remain too anchored on what is happening in your life now, because you're always excited about what is going to be next.
Speaker 2:In my talk, just in closing maybe on my part this Women's Day, one of the things I said was, even as I am in my summer, because I am I truly am in the best years of my life, from provision to emotional abundance, from provision to emotional abundance, from anchoring spiritually, I'm grounded, I feel strong. That's good, you know, in all areas of my life. I still know that winter is coming Because life is seasonal, absolutely so, even as I find myself in summer, I'm doing this summer differently from the first summer. That's good, because in the first summer I thought it was going to be like this forever. I've got this and when winter came I was not ready. But in the season of my summer I am clear that winter is coming and I'm making the plans for that winter Sure, so that when that winter comes I actually rest, my goodness, because winter is there for rest.
Speaker 2:Yeah rest, because winter is there for rest. So for anyone who finds themselves in winter, learn what it means to teach you, be equipped by the knowledge that hardships provides for you. It will be the gateway and the passage and pathway to your summer. So it is identity. If you had to ask anyone who's going through a difficult time what is causing the pain, it is something that is connected to how they see themselves.
Speaker 2:So that has been the biggest blessing for me that I am on this journey with God and I'm convicted and I'm comfortable. I'm not only comfortable to speak about Him. I'm not only comfortable to speak about him. I'm not only comfortable to speak about the journey, but it's the conviction and clarity that, no matter what the outcome is from speaking, god has already dealt with that and is moving me into a place. There's something he said to me that I can't reveal yet about what's next for me and when he exposed it. Even in the manner that he exposed it. It's a long story in itself, but what he said at the end is I'm freeing you. That's why I'm leading you here. That's good. He said I'm freeing you Because when you are here, you will no longer need this and you'll be able to tell people where everything is coming from.
Speaker 1:Sure, my goodness, stewardship, intimacy, identity, nothing more to say, honestly, on my part. I'm just like I'm so glad I have this video and I'm so glad that we have hard drives because, yeah, if anything, get this. This is bread, this is bread. Thank you so much, thank you for having me. Yeah, I think there's a beauty in us, you know, a divine orchestration for us to meet so effortlessly. I have no doubt, regardless of what happened, even the planning, even as soon as I sat last night, and I'm just like there's no, I'm not. You know like the place changed from this time to this time. Yes, yes, there was no agitation. Yes, no, no, don't worry, whatever.
Speaker 2:Oh, don't worry, no, whatever, yeah, for, for this moment, but I have to you I also don't do events much anymore because there's no reason. And the event where we met, I was like I got the invitation and I said, okay, I'm going to go to this event, and then it was just like planning what am I going to wear? What is it going to look like? I had ease, though, throughout the whole thing. It was one of those events where I had a definite yes, and, in the same manner that I was sharing with you that God's plans are like a spider web, there was definitely outcome that I was expecting from that event, but then there was this right, and then I had another conversation with the lady at that event. That was just such an affirmation for something else.
Speaker 2:So, when you walk into every experience, expect it that God is going to use people, because you hear his voice, because you have to know what he sounds like and not just hear from anyone.
Speaker 2:You have to know what he sounds like and what he says and how he works. This is the outcome. You know, when I saw you and I remember I literally, I think I just I saw something and I saw your podcast and everything was so pretty, and then I read, you know, I think somewhere I read what it was about and I was like this is more of what I want to talk about. You know, this is an area of my life that I haven't exposed to a lot of people, and I think the timing wasn't right, because I needed to get to this point where I have the understanding that I have now, in order to be able to share, of how God has led my path, how he's guided me and how he continues to walk with me, so that everything people see of my life they must understand that it's him, absolutely, it really is him, and it's just the beginning.
Speaker 1:My goodness, it's just the beginning. I am, I'm so excited, I'm so grateful. I thank God for allowing you to be here, because nothing is by. You know, you've got nothing to gain actually, um, but this is assignment. I'm so grateful that he said yes for you to partner and to minister and to speak to people. Don't forget to comment if you are on or if you are listening on apple podcasts, please, please, please, leave a review and comment down below. Um, if you're on youtube, comment all the nuggets that you that you learned. I want, when people enter this, not to say, oh, what a great. No, they need to see what we were actually talking about and thank you, I can't wait for the next one. Till next time, bye, thank you, thank you, thank you, oh, flowers, oh, thank you. So pretty, just to say thank you for your time.