Woman Evolve with Sarah Jakes Roberts - Just Start Where You Are w/ Grow with Jo
Episode Date: August 12, 2026What if slowing down doesn't mean you stop moving, sis, but that you learn how to move without running yourself into the ground? As a mother, wife, fitness coach, and business owner, Grow With Jo shar...es what it looks like to find rest without retreating from life, but returning to God. She opens up about the challenges that pushed her to her knees this year, and how they pulled her deeper into the book of Proverbs. At the heart of this conversation is active rest—the practice of prioritizing recovery. So if life has you doing the absolute most this season, press play. Consider this your permission slip to breathe. Check out specials from our partners! Shopify: Your landlord has a small business. Your ex has a small business. What are you waiting for? Start free at shopify.com/evolve Find furniture, decor, and essentials that fit your unique style and budget. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Explore viral bestsellers and products for healthier hair of ALL types at: https://baskandlatherco.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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What's a family? This is Sarah Jakes Robertson. You are back with another episode of the Woman Evolve podcast. It is my hope and my prayer that this week is taking it easy on your edges. I pray that the week is taking it easy on your nerves. I pray that August has been the reset that you didn't even know that you needed. Things are aligning and you feel at peace with the direction of your life. If you haven't quite tapped into that, that, that's.
that's okay. Because sometimes life just be out here life and I feel like I am coming out of one of
those seasons where I just didn't have a clue what was going on. And not that I have a clue now,
let's not get things confused. It's not that I have a clue now. I am just feeling more capable
of handling uncertainty than I did a little while ago. That was deeper than I expected it to be.
You know, when life continues to just throw thing after thing at you, you get to this place where you just don't have the capacity for uncertainty anymore.
And I feel like it just leaves you feeling stuck and frozen.
And I'm at a stage in my life where I am beginning to feel the capacity for uncertainty.
And the reason why you need to have capacity for uncertainty, which I'm so glad that we're resetting this month because we're actually going to have a conversation later on with the capacity expert, not today, but later on this.
month. But, you know, if you're going to plan anything, if you're going to begin moving your life
in the direction of what you since got calling you to do, there are just so many variables that
you can't control. And you have to be willing to accept that if you're going to plan things.
One of the things that I have learned in my journey as a leader and an entrepreneur is that no
matter what you plan, you know, and you still have to plan, that your plans may not go as
planned. And that wasn't as deep as it should have been. But yeah, I pray that you're getting to a
space where just God's increasing your capacity. By time you're listening to this, I would have
preached my first sermon post-accident. I shared a little bit of a message in between, you know,
my neck being broken and me needing spine surgery. But I wouldn't necessarily call that fully a
message because I needed to like share my story and what I was going through.
I guess it was a message.
I don't want to take away from that moment.
But this will be my first time speaking about something that like God has revealed to me about his personality, his character, our response to it and why we need Jesus in the midst of it all.
But I can tell you, by time you hear it, I would have already preached, but I'm recording this beforehand.
So I can spend the weekend studying.
And then I'm just not sure how I'm going to feel after I preach.
So I want to give my body just the ability to recover and my kids start school next week.
So I just wanted to get this out of the way.
What I will say is this, like going into it, God's giving me a beautiful text of scripture that I'm just constantly just marinating on and looking at, praying that God would just reveal to me what this text means first for my.
myself and for the overall arc of the Bible's narrative, but then also how it translates into current
times. I feel nervous. I feel excited. I feel really, really grateful. And so, yeah, that's that
on that. And if you haven't watched it, you know, check it out, I guess. Tell me what you think.
I would love to hear testimonies from how the message touches you or blessed you.
you. We finally got dates for WOMMEEVolve. WOMEVOLVVV-2020
is going to be in Atlanta, Georgia, and it's going to be July 29th through the 31st.
And we have most of the registration, most of the people who registered for 2026, just transferred
their registration over to 2027. But there were a few refunds that we did in the process of this,
and that means that there are a few seats available.
So if you want a seat, you can head over to womanevolve.com.
So stay tuned to the woman evolved social media for information about tour.
But if you want to come to conference, you already know you want to be in conference,
at conference.
You want to make sure you go ahead and lock down your seat.
All right.
So you've minded my business.
My kids start school.
I'm going to just say this real quick and then I'm going to mind your business.
My oldest daughter is starting her senior.
year of high school.
And my baby girl is going to middle school.
And stress.
We got college visits.
It's going to be where my son graduated high school during the pandemic.
And so this is our first time doing like the high school senior year thing.
So pray for me.
Follow me as I follow Christ.
All right.
You mind in my business.
Let me hear yours.
Hi, Sarah. I was calling because I am in a season of my life of unlearning but re-learning.
And in the season of me relearning is me relearning to love to do the things that I used to have a drive and the energy to do that I don't have now.
How do I channel that energy? How do I move forward in my life where things are completely different,
complicated, uncertain, and I'm kind of wanting to learn to love the things that I used to love,
but it's difficult to learn to love now.
Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I'll bless one.
Thank you.
I really love this question because I'm in the same season.
So, you know, take this advice for what you will.
Could be the blind leading the blind, but I'm just going to tell you what the Lord's laid on my heart.
First of all, I want to say this.
Coming out of, okay, thank you, Jesus.
So coming out of this process, as traumatic as it has been to be faced with the possibility of death and paralysis,
of seeing my family go through so many changes, of not being able to show up the way that I've been used to showing up.
There have been things that have happened in this process that has made me,
question so much of what I was doing before the accident. And so, you know, one, no one kick out on
me to do anything. I can't lift anything. I can't drive. I can't bend over. I mean, I, there was a
season where I couldn't even shower without having helped, or because I was such a fall risk.
Having said that, that means no school runs, no meetings. Like, my mind was working. I was
writing, but for the most part, my team is not, like, bothering me with, like,
bothering the stress. But, you know, they're not reaching out to me about work-related
things because they're trying to honor the fact that I am in recovery. Now that I, one,
and as a woman who's used to balancing many things to go three months where no one expects
anything from you, interesting, it showed me that things get done. It showed me that the
things that I be thinking can't get done unless I do them can get done. And now that I'm, like,
re-entering orbit, it's like, okay, there were things that I was doing before the accident
that I love doing, taking the kids to school, making breakfast, you know, traveling, getting to
preach. Like, there are all of these different things that I can do now, but I'm also like,
do I have the same passion for them? Because I became passionate about staying up until 4 o'clock in the
morning, sleeping until 11. I became very passionate about that. You know, I became
passionate about like reading my books, even going back to school. It's like, I'm still in my seminary
courses, but, you know, like, can't, do I want to, I do want to go back to school, but it's like,
can I become the person who, like, I had my life so organized, so structured, like, every morning
getting up, being able to do all of the things. And it's just like, I don't know, I've been
questioning whether or not I could do that. I will tell you that part of what I have been
reminding myself, and I'm not sure how you are in this season of learning and unlearning,
what shift has taken place in your life is, one, I don't have to love things the way that I loved
them before in order to do them. Having a near-death experience has helped me to understand
like what really, really matters, what doesn't matter if I had to choose what really matters.
And so maybe some of the ways that I loved doing things before weren't always healthy.
Maybe the way that I loved to do things before put a lot of pressure on me and a lot of responsibility that I can't withstand right now.
And so I'm giving myself permission to let my affection change about something and to acknowledge that if my affection has changed about something, to see that as something worth examining, something worth interrogating. So has my passion changed for it or do, you know, do I see it as a responsibility in a way that I didn't see it before? Is it something that I'm still supposed to be doing in general? What I have learned in the,
the process of re-entering things is that sometimes I have a resistance towards doing it,
primarily because I don't want people to start counting on me again and then my body's still recovering
or I don't have the energy to show up in the way that I have. And so I'm hesitant to sign up for
things. But then it's like when I do it a little bit, I am reminded that I love it and why I love it.
And so I think that when we take our hands off of something for a while, we can forget the fulfillment.
We can forget the joy.
We can forget the love.
We can forget the adrenaline that's connected to doing those things.
And when we take our hands off of it, we start to remember the more negative aspects of it before we remember the positive.
So if there's a world in which you can dip your toe in the water, I would say dip your toe in the water.
If you can be honest with people about how your life has adjusted, maybe some of your affections have adjusted and changed so that you're helping them to understand that if you aren't engaging in the way that you want to engage, that it may take some time.
I think it can be as simple as like when I'm going through a season of working out, which I'm so glad we have Grow with Joe on today's podcast.
because when I'm going through a season
where I haven't worked out in a long time,
I haven't been cleared to work out yet.
I can just walk and do the stairmaster.
But I'm not doing nothing.
I could be doing something, but I'm not doing nothing.
Don't worry about that.
Stay focused.
Before this happened, I was literally trying to figure out
how to begin training to run a half marathon.
I was boxing.
I was heavy, heavy lifting.
I mean, like Olympic barbell, sumo squats.
Like, I was doing all other things.
And now I don't want to do nothing.
And so I don't have the passion that I used to have for that thing.
But what I do know is that like it's important for me to move my body.
And even if I don't have passion to do it on the level I was once doing it,
what can I do with this little bit of passion I have?
And with this little bit of passion I have, it may be doing grow with Joe.
It may be doing a walk, something that doesn't feel overwhelming or intimidating
because passion is a muscle.
And the more that I exercise that passion,
and in the direction of something I have a conviction towards the passion for it grows.
And so I am hopeful that that has helped you a little bit, but I'm certainly in the season
that you're in without the details of what it is that you're learning and unlearning and trying
to become passionate about.
I tried to keep that broad.
But I think qualifying, why do I feel the need to be passionate?
Do I have to be passionate on the level that I was passionate before?
Can I try it and see if there's passion buried in the doing?
instead of just the sizing up.
And if it's not, maybe I need to readjust other people's expectations
so that my life can meet me where I am right now
and leave space for passion to grow.
Thank you for sending me your question.
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I really feel like today's guest kind of needs no introduction. So many of you already know and
love Joanna. She's better known as Grow With Joe. And if you don't know her, a quick little search
on YouTube will let you know that you have truly been missing out. I found Grow With Joe during the
pandemic. I think like so many of us, I was trying to, well, I was a
eating, but then I was like, you should probably eat and move your body. But then, so there were so
many restrictions. And so I started doing Grow with Joe. And when I tell you, one, I thought I was just
going to be doing a little bit of working out. And it felt like it wasn't intimidating. But by the time,
the time was up, I was like, wait a minute, I need a breath. I have really been moving. And I have
loved, love, love to see the evolution of so many of you while connecting with Grow with Joe,
but then just the evolution of the many different things that she's been able to offer us as people who are interested in taking care of our bodies.
Joe has inspired millions of women to take the first step toward caring for their bodies through her simple, accessible workouts.
One of the things that I appreciate the most about them, though, is that she doesn't separate faith from fitness.
So there are moments where I'm literally like praising God and moving my body.
she is unashamed about her faith and how it inspires her, whether she's encouraging women to move their bodies, do her what God has given them, or simply just start.
Her message is always rooted in purpose.
She's been part of the Womenebawf community over the year.
She's even been to a Womenebawf conference.
She was scheduled to be with us in 2026.
Lord, I'm begging, maybe we can get her in 2027.
But if not, that's okay because we can take this podcast and just play it over and over and over again and get our growth, Joe Fix.
I'm so grateful. She's taking over the podcast this week. I know you're going to be encouraged by her heart, her wisdom, and the practical ways that she's learned to trust God through every season. Without further ado, our friend in our head, Grow with Joe.
Hey, my name is Joanna. A lot of people call me Joe or Grow with Joe. I am a fitness expert. I share with women all over the world how to get fit in your living room.
how to feel great in your own skin, how to feel confident, how to get consistent in how to steward your
body, how to really use it as a tool for God to put you in your purpose and to live in your
purpose. And that can only be done if we are healthy, if we are thriving, if we are taking the
steps to feel our best and to be the most usable by God. So I'm excited.
to be here today. I'm excited to share a little bit of what my life looks like, what my perspective
looks like as a mom of three, as a fitness expert, and as a business entrepreneur.
Hi, Joe. I just want to say that it is such an honor and such a pleasure to be able to personally
ask you a question after following you so closely for so many years now. I've seen you go through
motherhood from one child to two children to three children now being married and i just want to ask you
girl how you doing you know a lot of times we keep going and no one ever takes the time to ask us how
we're really doing and so i want to ask you how are you doing joe and then i want to know
what exactly are you praying for in this next season of your life i've seen you accomplish
so many things and i know that there's dreams that you have that may be
be untouched at this moment.
So if you could tell us, what are you praying for in the next season of your life?
We love you.
Thank you for growing with us as we grow with you.
I'm really doing good.
I'm feeling well physically, mentally, spiritually.
I have been in a season, this season right now is a season of shift.
It's a season of adjustment adapting.
And especially as I became a mother of three, I have a mother of three.
have my third baby just over a year ago now. That's come with its own challenges, both balancing
motherhood, being a spouse, and then also my business. It's been challenging, but overall,
I've been feeling really good. Thank you for asking. In this next season, I've been praying
for wisdom. I've been studying the book of Proverbs, just going through it multiple times,
all 31 chapters, and just highlighting all the things that God says.
about wisdom and about discipline and about knowledge and understanding. So I've been asking God
for wisdom to stay true to his plan for my life, wisdom to go about my daily activities,
interacting with my family, with my community, and with my team, and just wisdom in
stewarding the gift that God has given me. Hi, Joe. I'm Conlon from Orlando, Florida,
and I want to know, what does your relationship with God look like when you're in need of encouragement?
When I am the one in need of encouragement, my relationship with God looks like full reliance, full reliance on him.
And sometimes that comes in the form of being diligent in his word, but most of the time it comes through a form of continual prayer and praise throughout my day.
In January, I went through a very hard time. My kids were very sick, all three of them for six weeks,
and I was struggling mentally. I was struggling with sleep deprivation. I was struggling with being sick
myself, and I felt as though I really truly needed encouragement from God, from the Holy Spirit.
And so I really leaned into my worship. I always remember my mom when I was younger saying,
When you're going through a hard time, pray for somebody else.
When you're going through a hard time, do something positive for somebody else.
And that will lift your spirits and take your mindset off of me, me, me, and focusing on how can I serve God?
How can I serve others?
And that always turns around and helps lift you up.
And I feel like every season where my kids are sick or sick repeatedly, I feel like I need to be carried.
I feel like my emotions and my anger.
of like, why, why do they have to feel this pain? Why do they have to feel this struggle?
My emotions just take over and I have to really lay it down at the feet of Jesus.
I really have to come to a place of pure surrender.
And at the beginning of January, when I was going through this season of challenge emotionally, mentally,
I laid it at the feet of Jesus.
I said, God, teach me what you want to teach me through this.
Let me fully rely on you and just surrender and be.
in full communion with the Holy Spirit so that I can be encouraged on a day-to-day basis.
That's what it looks like for me.
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Hi, Joe.
I've been going through a really tough season lately,
and I'm trying my best to stay grounded in my faith through all of it.
I wanted to ask if you have any foundational scriptures
that you personally hold close or speak over yourself
when life feels heavy or uncertain.
I'm really trying to lean into God more in this season
and not let everything going around me shake me.
So I'd love to know what scriptures have helped keep you grounded and encouraged during hard seasons.
When motivation gets tough, I lean on this one scripture that is actually my parents,
is their wedding passage.
And they write it in every single card that they give to me.
It's a beautiful passage, Proverbs 3, verse 4, sorry, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways.
acknowledge him and he'll direct your paths. And I take that as acknowledging him both physically
by stewarding my body and mentally by always putting him first, thinking of him first,
thinking of the gratitude that I have for being alive, having breath in my lungs. And then also as an
outreach, I think when we think of acknowledge him, we often think of just when we're talking about
our lives when we're talking with other people, we should always be acknowledging him.
But it's also an inward thing, acknowledging him mentally and physically stewarding our bodies.
Hey, Joe, I've been watching for some time, and I know one of the things that you say often is
just start. But spiritually speaking, I want to know, what has God been teaching you about just
showing up even when you don't really feel strong? That one phrase, just start.
it always comes from a place of a lot of the women that I am touching and that I'm helping with their fitness schools.
They don't know where to start.
They don't know what to do.
They think that they have to be all in before they even take the first step.
And so when I say just start to these women that are like, I feel like I have to do it all at once,
that translates spiritually to you don't have to be doing your devotion at the same time 5 a.m. every morning.
It doesn't mean that you have to be serving all the time in the church.
Just start can look like small little actions where you are instead of sitting there,
rocking your baby to sleep in the middle of the night, being upset that you're not getting the sleep that you want,
just start can be as simple as turning on a worship playlist, listening to that worship
playlist, acknowledging him, really growing deeper in your relationship in the small things,
in the daily cadences, in the habits of your day. It doesn't have to look like a grand gesture.
It doesn't have to look like praying. I made this real one time on Instagram, whereas, you know,
this is what we think praying looks like, but it can actually look like throughout your life
doing the dishes, going for a while.
spending time with your family, you can be praying and in communion with the Holy Spirit by just
starting, starting small with those small things. And so when I think about our relationship with Jesus,
our relationship with Christ and how oftentimes it comes with ebbs and flows, it comes with times
where we are so zealous, we are so in tune with the Holy Spirit. And then there's times where we have
that dip where life takes over and we feel like we're pressed hard on every side and that we're
challenged and that we're sleep deprived. We're emotionally going through it. We're frustrated. We have
things that are just clouding our judgment, clouding our shine. Just start means doing something
small. Waking up in the morning with gratitude. Thank you, Jesus, for waking me up today. Thank you,
Lord for giving me breath in my lungs, that is what it looks like to just start scourge.
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Julie?
Hi, grow with Joe.
I just want to say that you have in.
inspired me so much. And I've learned a lot just by watching you on YouTube, but I kind of want to
mind your business and just know, like, what is a normal day in the life of Growadjo looks like
outside of like just the Instagram life that we see? Not an Instagram version. I like that.
A healthy day for me looks like waking up before my kids, first of all. Lately, I haven't been
doing that because I've been a little bit in the trenches, not in the trenches. I don't like to say that,
but I feel like I'm a newborn mom again, even though my youngest is 14 months old now. They are waking
up throughout the night. They're coming into my bed. Sometimes we have all three of our babies
in bed with us and I'm woken multiple times a night. So waking up before my babies, I feel like,
is something that starts my day off on a healthy note. Otherwise, I feel like I wake up and I have
all these obligations, got to make them breakfast, got to get them dressed, got to brush their teeth,
got to do all these things. But when I wake up before them and I'm able to have some time
with the Lord, I'm able to do something that will get my body moving, stewarding my body.
I'm able to maybe even get breakfast started before they wake up. That is helpful.
healthy for me. That is a healthy start. And then moving on throughout my day, definitely getting a walk-in.
Getting a walk-in changes the substance of my day. When I don't do some physical activity or get out
of the house, I feel like I start to slump lower and lower. But if I'm getting out of my house,
no matter what temperature it is, because lately in Florida, I don't know where you're at,
but in Florida, it's been super hot, even first thing in the morning. And just getting out and
getting some of that sunshine, no matter what temperature it is, changes my mental state. Sometimes I
listen to a podcast while I do that. Sometimes I listen to audio Bible. Sometimes I listen to some
worship music. It's my reset. So getting a walk-in in in the morning, ideally sets me up for a
healthy rest of my day, spending time with the Lord, of course. And I think just spending quality time
with my husband and my kids, that to me is healthy. And then also pursuing my passions. I love what I do.
I love my work. And oftentimes I feel like work really pulls me in the direction of I feel like I'm being led
with purpose and that I'm stepping into my purpose and allowing God to use me. And so I feel like healthy
for me is not just laying around, enjoying my day, just being lazy or, you know, even if I were to say
like an ideal day, the typical answer that comes into my head would be like, oh, spa day. I love going to
the spa. Healthy for me is having that cadence, having that routine, having those things that I actually
love doing that are being productive, not only in my life, but in the lives of the community members
that follow me and in my spiritual walk and living in my purpose. That is healthy to me.
Hi, girl with Joe. I'm Fernie. I'm calling from Los Angeles. I love your videos. My question for you
is, I've been working out consistently since last year and I've lost about 20 pounds.
but I'm still so far away from my goal weight.
Every time I look up, someone else has already reached their goal.
So sometimes I feel like I'm just not doing enough or something.
How do I not fall into that comparison?
It can be so challenging to not fall into comparison,
to not look at other people and be like,
why can't I be like that?
Why can't I look like that?
I think what's most important for women to measure themselves up against is the effort that they're putting in daily, what they're doing to steward what God has given them.
Are you showing up for yourself? How often are you showing up for yourself? Are you doing it on a consistent basis or is it something that just happens sporadically?
Change doesn't happen. Oftentimes when we look at those before and after pictures, we see the full picture.
picture, we don't see anything that happened in between those two pictures. We don't see the hard work, the days where that woman showed up when she didn't want to. If women are able to instead look at what they're doing on a daily basis and how that is elevating, how that is elevating them, how that is bringing them closer to God, how that is allowing them to steward their bodies and feel their very best so that they can walk in their purpose. That's what I'm
I would love to see women measuring themselves up against. How often am I putting in the effort
and letting God do the rest? Because we can all just sit around and be lazy and be like, you know what,
God's going to take care of me. God's going to show me exactly what I need to do in order to flourish,
in order to thrive, in order to be fruitful. But it really takes action. God requires us to take action
on our own part and be consistent with it, to be diligent, practice diligence, and to always be seeking
out counsel, always be seeking out knowledge, always be seeking out wisdom.
Hi, Joe. So as a mom, I have some up and down moments, some good days and some days where I am
stressed out. How have you learned to take care of yourself, especially when you have so much
to handle for everyone else? I feel like every postpartum I've had the opportunity, and I really
truly do think of it as that an opportunity, not something that I've been thrown into or something
that I have to deal with. Every postpartum, I have this opportunity to really realize who I am. And I feel like
I don't feel like I know that when every baby is born, it becomes an opportunity for you to really
truly dig into who you truly are because you're brought down to that very, how should I say it,
that instinctual level. You're brought down to that sleep deprivation. You brought down to that
place of you're trying to survive. You're trying to recover. You're trying to feel better. You're
trying to survive those nights where you're not getting much sleep. You're trying to get through the day.
and you realize who you truly are.
And I feel like each postpartum I've been given that opportunity to almost reinvent myself.
In my first postpartum, I noticed that my style shifted and that I started to like wearing
different things.
In my second postpartum, I realized that I wanted to speak more.
I wanted to pour more into the lives of the women that I'm just showing to work out.
I'm showing them how to work out, which in and of itself has made such a great impact,
but I felt the Lord is telling me that now it's time for you to start speaking into those lives,
for you to help those women that are going through what you went through.
And now in my third postpartum, I'm seeing even more of a shift.
And I think that is such a beautiful thing.
I think it's easy to fall into that mindset of, oh, you know, postpartum, I am starting over.
I don't even know who I am anymore.
It's such a struggle.
But if you take it, that mindset, throw it out and adopt that mindset of this is my opportunity to really realize who I am, who I am in Christ, who what my purpose is and how I can push that further and further the kingdom of God.
That is such a win.
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Hi, Joe.
I am Ashley and I live in Cincinnati, Ohio.
And I had a question just about, like, balance, and the pressure of trying to balance it all.
I am a new mom and I am also an entrepreneur.
And lately it's just been kind of a lot of pressure trying to do everything for everyone.
And so I'm just wondering, like, how are you balancing it all and like figuring out not to give into the pressure?
Thank you.
Looking forward to hearing your answer.
Handling the pressure is not something.
that is like a black and white thing. There are days where I feel more pressure or I wouldn't even
say mom guilt. I would say I feel that tug and pull between helping the women in my community
and helping my children. And I don't think that they have to be mutually exclusive. I think
that they are something that it works together. And what I have done is I've asked for help,
which I feel like a lot of us as women, we struggle looking for help or asking for help because
we feel that maternal instinct. We feel those emotions of, oh, I want to be close to my children.
And I do keep them very close. My son this past year was homeschooled. And so he was home with me
all the time. But I asked for help. And that is,
how I handle the pressure. I don't take it all on myself. I ask people for help. I ask my
family for help. I ask, I put people in place to help me throughout my day. And then I also
ask God for help. I ask him for guidance. I ask him for his peace that surpasses all understanding,
the peace that comes with living in my purpose, living in what God has given to me, the assignment
that he's given to me to help this global community, to shine his light to this global community,
and then also help me in the purpose, my purpose of being a mother. And oftentimes, I think that
we separate those things. We're like, you know, motherhood is one thing. Building a business or
helping other people doing community outreach or building a global business is a totally
separate thing. But they can coincide as long as you allow God to lead.
with Joe. My name is Erica calling in from Houston, Texas. I'm a mom to a little girl and I've just
been doing some reflecting on the influence that I have in her life. And I'd like to know as a mother
and entrepreneur yourself, what's the main thing you hope your own kids take away from watching you
evolve as a woman and a business owner? One thing that always comes back to my mind is something my
dad said as a child, when I was a child, he would say, you can do anything you set your mind to.
You can do anything you set your mind to. And he would always remind me of that. Even to this day,
he reminds me, Joe, well, he often says, who would have thought? Who would have thought?
Because he is so proud of me. He tells me often that he's so proud of me. But he always says,
you can do anything you set your mind to. So leading this global community, having my husband,
and work alongside me to help me.
I hope that they see an example of a healthy marriage,
an example of a marriage that puts God first
and allows our business to thrive
and to be fruitful.
And I want them to see that there are no limitations,
that they can do all, Philippians 413,
they can do all things through Christ who strengthens them.
that they can pursue their passions and not let the doubts and the fears and the things that other
people have to say hinder them from what God has placed in their hearts.
Now, they're too young, maybe not too young.
They are young to understand that fully.
But I know that in even just conducting our business here in our home, that they are seeing
little pieces.
And as they grow, they're going to put the pieces together.
feel that as an adult now, I look back on my childhood and I'm able to piece certain things together
and understand them on a different level and put words to the feelings that I had. And so I'm praying
that I am fostering that feeling, that emotion, that understanding that God is in control
and that if you put in the work, God will bless the rest of it as long as you acknowledge him and
allow him to show you the path.
Hi Joe. So my question is, how does your husband help you throughout your journey?
Does he ever have to reel you back in or help you know to when to pause and take a break or like, how does that process work for you?
Yes, yes, he has had to remind me, Joe, you don't have to do this. Like you don't have to. And I'm like, no, no, no. Because I have it in my head when I say something or when I do something or when I create that expectation for my community. Like, oh, there's a Saturday.
upload on YouTube coming up. I want to fulfill that. I want to push myself to do that no matter what
life throws at me, no matter what circumstances I come up against, whether I have three days in a row
of crazy allergies from pollens or I have, you know, one of my children are sick or I'm sick.
I always have that urge. Like, I got to keep going. I got to keep going. But my husband always,
it's funny that this is a question you asked me because he's always reminding me like, Joe, it's
okay, you can do less, you can calm down, you don't have to be doing it all. And I love that. I love that.
It's important for me to have that balance of, yes, I have that ambition. I have that drive.
I have that yearning to please my community and please God. But I also have that reminder,
that reminder from my husband that, you know, I am just one person and it's okay to pull back.
It's okay to do less. It's okay to trust the process and understand that my community on the other side of the screen on where they are in their homes, they understand too that I'm just human and that I'm doing my best.
Hi, Joe. I am in one of the busiest seasons of my life and sometimes I feel like I'm on the brink of burnout.
How do you maintain peace in the midst of chaos?
My centering of myself and keeping my peace, it all comes from God.
I know it sounds like a cliche answer or like an answer that is expected, but I always ask God for his peace.
And not just in my daily life, when I make decisions.
When I make decisions, especially big decisions, I ask God for guidance.
I ask him, Lord, if it's of you, give you.
Give me complete peace about it.
Give open the doors wide open.
Make it undeniable that it is for me and that this is the door that you want me to walk through.
And if it is not of you, slam those doors shut.
Make it so ridiculously not making sense why it's not supposed to be for me or why it didn't work out.
And give me peace through that because I know that it's a door either open by you or closed by you.
that all of it is in God's control. And so I ask him for peace. I ask him for when things aren't for me,
please take them away from me. If there's something in me that is not of you, God, take it out of me,
take it completely out of me, give me no desire for it. And when I ask God for that,
I operate automatically in that mode of peace, in that mode of, you know what, I'm going to do my best,
and God will take care of the rest.
Thank you so much for having me today.
I'm so thankful for this opportunity to share what I'm going through to be able to share
this perspective of being a woman of God and also being able to lead a global community
and be a mom and how multifaceted that is, but how much-faceted that is,
but how God so beautifully and creatively mends it all together.
Thank you, and I pray the Lord blesses you all.
What I love so much about this conversation is how Joe reminded us that growth doesn't happen all at once.
It happens one faithful step at a time, whether you are navigating motherhood, pursuing purpose, rebuilding your health, or simply just trying to stay consistent.
I hope that this conversation encourage you to trust.
God with the season you're in and start where you are. If this episode blessed you, be sure to
share it with someone who needs the encouragement and don't forget to subscribe so you never,
ever, ever miss a Womeneball podcast. Now, before we go, I want to pray with those of you
who are starting where you are. God, thank you so much for the opportunity to be reminded that
where we are is not where we have to stay. Holy Spirit, I'm asking right now, that,
that you would meet each and every one of our listeners right where they are.
The way that you asked Adam in the Bible, where are you?
I pray, Lord, that you would give them the courage to answer that question with truth,
that they would not feel the need to perform like everything is okay,
but that they could be honest, that maybe they've fallen off track,
maybe they're going through a season of depression,
maybe they're nervous, maybe they are excited about what comes.
God, I pray that you would give them permission to be honest about where they are so that they can have an intimate encounter with the truth of where they are.
And by your spirit, God, I pray that you would continue to order their steps.
Give them strength, give them wisdom, give them courage, and attract to them people, Lord, who are designed to bring out the best in them.
Thank you, God, for allowing us to be a part of what you're doing in their lives.
May we never ever miss the honor in doing that. In Jesus' name, amen.
