436. What If Every Decision You Made Was Moving You Closer to the Life You Actually Want? The One Question that Changes Everything.

What if you had a simple way to know that you are moving towards the life that you're called to, that every decision big and small could be filtered very simply to help you understand if you are moving away from the vision that you know God's called you to or towards it. That's exactly what we're going to be unpacking today. I'm going to help you just have a very simple framework to begin looking at each one of your daily decisions. Are you ready? Let's go. Something inside you knows there is supposed to be more than this. More than going through the motions, more than the patterns you keep repeating no matter how hard you try. Hey, you're not broken. There's a root beneath it all and there's a path through it. Welcome to the Madehold Podcast where biblical wisdom and psychology meet to finally get you unstuck. Hi, I'm Brittany, a former therapist and someone who has sat in the same place you're sitting right now. You don't have to stay there. This is where you're made whole. The broken place has become beautiful and you finally come alive. Hey, friends. So excited to dive back in with you today and I know I've kind of been talking about this framework that we are going to be sharing today. I've shared about it briefly a couple of times, but I'm really excited to go a little bit deeper with you today to help you understand this simple question, the simple framework so that you can begin growing your life towards what you know you're called to towards what you've always wanted and it's going to be very simple. Now, the framework is simple, just like often things that I teach, however actually using the discipline to do it might be more challenging and so I will also towards the end share with you another simple framework that is also possibly challenging in the beginning. But it's another framework, it's restoration theory to help you understand how to rewire your brain so that you can regulate the emotions that are underneath some of those decisions that you want to make in the wrong direction. And so I believe we can use these two tools in conjunction with each other in order to begin shaping the lives that we were created for. So I hope that you're excited for this. I know I have loved this filter in my own life. So if you haven't yet, make sure you go back and listen to the previous episode. I talked about really taking time, slowing down to craft this vision of who you want to be and where you want to run, what would be different about you and your life and your relationships if if you were really walking in the fullness of what God has for you in this season, not in a different season when you have a different job or your kids are grown up or things are different, but in this season, what would it look like? So make sure you go back and listen to that and really take the time to do it. I know that episode, if you're really going to do it, is going to take some time, but it will be worth it because that's that's one half of what we're talking about today. In order to get us to actually want to do the right thing in these moments, we have to know why we're doing it. We have to understand deeply the why and not just understand it, but feel it that we viscerally can feel and see where we want to be and knowing our choices, our little and big choices are either taking us towards that vision or away from it. Okay. So make sure you go back and listen to that and you know, as we build that vision for where God's calling you and what you want your life to look like, reality is never going to match that. And so I want to make sure that we are making that clear, I know I talked to you about it a little bit in the last episode, but that vision is like this, you know, utopian version of where we want to go. And now you might have a day that looks exactly like that or maybe even like a couple of days or a season. I wouldn't even say a season because there's going to be some ups and downs in the middle of that season. But that's just what we're aiming towards. And so be cautious, those of you that struggle, especially with perfectionism. And I know I'm one of those that we're not trying to have a perfect life. We're just trying to have a vision to motivate us and excite us and remind us there's hope. And that's the purpose of the vision, not to live a perfect life because our lives will never, ever amount to that perfection on this side of heaven, right? Even if you think about, okay, I'm going to build this perfect schedule. And this is going to, you know, really help us to have our systems in place and it's going to help me thrive and do all the right things to care for myself, body, mind, and spirit and care for my family. And I'm going to build this perfect schedule. Great. You should do that. Absolutely. Build the perfect schedule. And know that that schedule will be derailed probably more often than not, right? We have the schedule in place so that we have the intentionality set and we know what we're aiming towards and we have a guiding post. But sickness comes and we get taken down or children get taken down or crisis comes. And we have to drop everything and change what we're doing or, you know, just like in my story, a foster baby comes out of nowhere, we're not out of nowhere, we've been praying for it for a long time. But we didn't know if it was going to be weeks or months or years until we got a baby or even we didn't even know if it was going to be a baby, right? And so there was just so many unknowns and so those things good and bad will come, right? The baby is obviously a blessing. Sickness is not as much a blessing though God can obviously use all things for good. But we have to know that whatever this beautiful vision we have, schedule or vision for our life, whatever it is, it's going to get derailed and that doesn't mean we're failing, that doesn't mean we're backtracking, that doesn't mean we messed up. In fact, we need to go in really deeply knowing that and that comes from, you know, knowing this in myself is that I have many times created a vision whether it be a schedule or vision for how I want things to go in the day or, you know, like a family night, for example. And when things don't go according to plan, I can get really done in the dumps and really discourage and really frustrated. And so I've learned over time and definitely not, I have not achieved perfection here because I've still get discouraged at times. But I have learned over time that this will get derailed and that that's not a bad thing that God actually can use that and that he's working in the midst of it, for example, when, you know, it used to be that when I would get some time to work and I would have my parents watch the kids or whatnot. And this is when childcare was a little bit less regular, so that's part of it. But I would have this plan and I would be so excited to work. And then my kids would get sick. And I was so devastated that this plan that I had was now out the window. Now when that happens, currently it's gotten a little better, still again, can get discouraged at times and it's also a little bit easier because my kids are older. However, I also have started to learn to embrace that and to just say, you know what, maybe my kids need some extra time with me right now and maybe we can spend this day being close together, you know, and resting and slowing down. And so all that being said, that that's always a work in progress, but I just want to make sure that as you are crafting these visions, this is not this measure for how your days go. And if the days match the vision, you've succeeded and if they don't match it, you've failed. Because that's not it at all. Again, inspiration, motivation, helping you make decisions in the right direction. But it doesn't mean that our days are going to go that way. Okay. So like I have to hone that in, especially for those of you that are recovering perfectionists like me. And it doesn't mean you messed up if the vision doesn't go that way either. Okay. It doesn't mean that you failed or you did something wrong. It's just life and humans, like we're humans, we're surrounded by humans. Yeah. So, okay. But I want to talk about this filter that I want to take with you. I've already mentioned it, but we are going to be repeating this question again and again throughout, you know, the coming months and years. And I want you to just really grab hold of this in your own life. Okay. And the question is, is this whole living, okay? Is this whole living? You can say it also like, is this a whole choice? So we're really, remember partnering with God to, he made us whole originally. He redeemed our brokenness by dying for us on the cross and, you know, being raised from the dead. But now we get to partner with him in crafting these whole lives where body, mind and spirit are restored with him. And that doesn't just happen in a moment. It starts in a moment, but it continues in each choice that we make that either moves us towards wholeness or away from wholeness. And so we're going to be talking about how, how this question plays out in our daily lives. Now, the first thing that you need to know, first and foremost, there rarely are, okay, maybe not rarely. Most often, the choices we're making are not, we're not talking about black and white things. Okay. So we're not talking about sin issues here necessarily. It can be. But a lot of the decisions that we're trying to make here are not inherently sinful. They are more kind of neutral, and it's all about the posture of our heart as we go into those choices. Now, of course, God lays out a plan for our lives, for our flourishing, and with that there are rules. And God has guidelines for how we act and how we behave. He says we should not get drunk. He says we should not commit adultery. We should not lie. Right? So there's all of these guidelines. He hasn't his word that we should never go against. And those will always be wrong, regardless of if we think our heart is in the right place. I hear a lot of times people believe that they should leave their husband because they feel like God is, I've more heard this second-hand stories from people. I don't know if that I have encountered this personally, but they believe that God has calling them to leave their marriage, and this other person is perfect for them. But God would never say that, because that goes against God's principles for living. And so we're not talking about those kind of choices, because even if that person thinks, "Oh, my heart is in the right place, and I've heard from God, and I'm trying to be obedient God, no, you're not, because you're going against the principles in his word, right? So those aren't the kind of choices we're talking about. The kind of choices we're talking about are more neutral, okay? Should I scroll or should I not? Should I have the cookie or should I not? Should I put on TV for the kids or should I not? Should I, even the bigger things, like should I take this job or, you know, should I resolve this smaller one, but should I resolve this conflict? Should I have a conversation with this person? You know, those kind of things that are not inherently sinful, but each one of our actions can, depending on our heart, be sinful. So all of those can be sinful. All of those cannot be sinful, depending on the state of our heart. Should I have a glass of wine, okay? It depends on the state of our heart, okay? So that is the first caveat I want you to remember in all of this is, do you have to take it a layer deeper? It's not just about the specifics of the behavior. It's about the heart layer, and so I want to teach you how to do this, okay? So let's go to the scrolling when I use this example in the last episode, but I think it's one that comes up a lot for many of us in this day and age, and so I think we should talk about it again. So when you have this desire to scroll or whatever your kind of go-to is on your device, maybe it's looking at the news. For me, sometimes it's just checking my email, and it's not like a long period of time. It's just like a, oh, I feel bored or I feel frustrated or I feel whatever, and I just kind of want to check my email, right? So when we have that desire to do those things, the first thing is, right? We ask, okay, I'm noticing this desire in me. We ask ourselves, is this whole living is as a whole choice? Okay? So pause. You're about to pick it up. Or maybe you don't catch yourself before you pick up your phone, you catch yourself mid-scroll or mid-video or whatever it is, and then you say, whoa, wait a minute, I need to pause this, I need to put this down for a second, I need to do a heart check. Is this whole living as as a whole choice? Okay, how do we determine if it's whole living or a whole choice? Because remember, these actions are neutral, they aren't inherently better, better good. So this is when we get to the heart level, so this is where you ask yourself these questions, we talked a little bit out in the last episode, okay, why do I want to do this? So you need to check in, what is driving me towards this action? What is driving me to want to be on my phone right now? Often that goes to the next question on which is what am I feeling right now? Am I feeling bored, am I feeling anxious, am I feeling, you know, I can go to your pain cycle, which we are going to talk about towards the end, am I feeling inadequate, am I feeling out of control, am I feeling alone, am I feeling in love, right? What is driving this behavior now? I just talked about all the negative ones, right? Maybe the negative reasons we would pick up our phone, but it also could be positive reasons, right? I'm feeling excited to check on my friend, or I'm feeling excited to spend my time intentionally scrolling because it's something I enjoy and I have a limit set and this is my free time and I'm really excited to do this, right? That's fine. I feel hopeful because I want to learn something new about this topic and I have intentionally selected an account or a YouTube video or something in order to learn something about something that I care about, right? So when it's on the positive side, it's not going to come from a negative emotion and it's going to have some kind of purpose or intentionality behind it. And yes, even neutral things like silly things like picking up our phone should be intentional. I believe that every bit of our life should be intentional, not that doesn't mean that we have to be robots and be paranoid that we're going to mess things up. We can go through life and have free will and enjoy ourselves, but let's do it with intention. If we're going to rest in a specific way, do it with intention, what actually brings you rest, right? Does scrolling bring you rest? If it doesn't, you probably shouldn't have that be your rest, right? That would not be whole living, that would not be a whole choice. And so we've got to use intentionality and the more that we use intentionality in our micro decisions, the more purpose we're going to feel in our life, the more we're going to feel like we're going to use our time for something that actually builds us up, builds our life, heads us in the direction of wholeness instead of towards fragmentation that so many of us are caught up in, so many of us get swept away in and we want to move away from that fragmentation and move towards wholeness. Other questions you can ask yourself, what might I be avoiding? So if you're like, well, I feel fine, it's my rest time and I think I'm okay. Maybe you have to make sure you dig deep enough, right? Is there anything I'm avoiding right now? Oh, actually, I really need to call my husband because we had a fight and we haven't talked about it and I'm ignoring his sex messages and I really don't want to think about it. Or maybe there's a big project at work or in your home that you know is important you've committed to doing and you need to spend some time doing it and you're avoiding those tasks by scrolling, right? And you know that you're in avoidance and that all falls into the pain cycle. We'll talk about that. But for those of you that don't know the pain cycle, that you can map it out this way too. I'm wanting to try and feel better about myself, okay? So is there something that I'm trying to get from this scrolling that will make my life feel better, that'll feel better about myself, that I'm going to make my day better, right? Are we, am I trying to fill myself up by this thing? And anytime we're trying to fill ourselves up, but with something apart from God, that is now whole living, that is fragmented living, that is really creates an idol in our life where we're using that thing to fulfill us. Of course God put us on this earth with amazing things to enjoy and He wants us to enjoy those things. So I'm not saying don't enjoy them, but if you're looking to create fulfillment inside of you, right? If you're looking for that thing to comfort you, to give you identity, that is the problem, okay? We enjoy those things already filled up with God, God's spoken of our identity, of our calling, filled us up with everything that we need, and now we get as whole persons, we get to go then out and enjoy things, okay? If we go and, well, I'm getting into a different example here, well, let's go into this because I don't have this one written down. Let's go to like a glass of wine, okay? Now everyone is different here. This one can be a little bit more nuanced because if you know that you're someone that struggles with addiction, then this is an automatic no for you, right? So kind of like before I was saying these actions are more neutral, well for some of us, having a glass of wine isn't neutral. It is automatically in the no category because you know your propensities, you know what it looks like to live healthy and you realize this is not for you. And so that would be a different conversation, okay? But for those of you that don't struggle with addiction and you know how to use alcohol in health, right? Which also means, you know, just like I mentioned earlier, God never okays us to be drunk. Drunkenness is not allowed. We are allowed to enjoy alcohol responsibly, but not to the point of drunkenness. The way that I've heard it say is the pastors have talked about, you know, if you need to be alert enough that if someone called you and had a crisis that you would be able to help them, that you would be able to speak to them and still wisdom and be present for them. And so that's what we're called to. So what about this glass of wine, okay? So why am I wanting this glass of wine? Am I wanting it because I'm sad, right, am I wanting it because I feel down about my day? Am I wanting it because I'm stressed? Any of those reasons would not be whole living. It would be really again out of your pain cycle. I know I keep mentioning we're going to talk about that, but it would not be whole living. It would be trying to fill ourselves up, comfort ourselves, fix ourselves based on something apart from God, which might feel good for a moment. But over time, we'll only lead to more fragmentation. And really when we're talking about alcohol specifically and really anything that's going to be food, this could be sex, this could be anything. When we do something out of that need, out of the stress, out of the sadness, out of grief, that actually is really what sets us up to have an addiction. And so anytime I use alcohol, I enjoy a glass of wine, I try and make sure that I'm in a good place mentally. If I'm not in a good place mentally, I'm going to fix that before I have any alcohol. And usually in times of grief, I'm extra cautious of using alcohol at all because I don't want to create an addiction. In fact, after I had my miscarriage, I made sure to not have alcohol for a time because I did not want to set myself up for an addiction. And one of my other friends that I had talked to during that time had struggled with that exact same thing after her miscarriage. She had just used alcohol to kind of cope and that just kind of the need for that increase and increase, and not that she's an alcoholic today. But it was for a season where she was using it in an unhealthy way and she had to kind of take some depths back and set some boundaries in order to make sure that she didn't continue on that path. And so that's how we can look at it. Now, okay, here's the other side of it, right? If we're saying, "Oh, I love a glass of wine," and you know, "I'm in a good place, I had a good day, I'm regulated right now, I'm not in any pain, I'm not believing in any lies, I'm not, you know, trying to cope with my stress, maybe you're like a little tired from the day, but you're not trying to deal with your stress by having the glass of wine, but I would love to enjoy this glass of wine with my husband or with my friend or whatever it might be." Then, okay, that might very well be a whole choice for you. But it all comes down to the heart. It all boils down to the why. What is the intention behind the action? Okay? I'm going to give you some more examples because I really want you to see how this flushes out with every decision that we make, okay? So what about this one might feel more obvious, but when you want to not follow up with someone after a conflict, okay? So some conflict happens, and you're like, "I'm good, we're just going to leave it there, we're going to pretend like it never happened," okay? Let's boil it down. Is this a whole choice? I think this one's a little bit more black and white. But, you know, that's, although there may be our times, maybe, okay, so let's go to it. So let's say your reasoning is, well, I don't really wanna, you know, bring this up again. We'll be fine. We can move past this. And I just think that if we brought it up, it's gonna create more conflict. And I really don't wanna do with that. That sounds really overwhelming. I don't like conflict. So we're just gonna move past it. So, your heart there is kind of, there's some avoidance there, right? You're avoiding the bigger conflict. You're avoiding working through some things. And so that would not be a whole choice. Now, if it really was something minor, and it's something that is not, you're not gonna hold onto. You know, for a fact, you're not gonna hold onto it. So I'm gonna create bitterness or resentment. You are completely in an okay place. And you're like, you know what? I'm just gonna let that go. You know, I think this happens a lot in our marriages, if you're married. There can be a lot of things that we do need to work through, right? There's things that we need to have discussions about. But then, sometimes, it comes down to like, they just made, they forgot to take out the trash. And you've had the conversation a few times about how much it means to you and how important it is and would that work for them to be responsible for that. But then a day comes and you know that they rush out the door in the morning and you're like, you know what? I just don't, I'm gonna, I think that they really just didn't even realize that it was full. They weren't even thinking about it. I know, I'm gonna give them grace 'cause I know they had a really busy day that they were heading towards, right? And so that would be a whole choice to not bring it up as long as you can do that without holding onto bitterness and resentment, okay? But a not whole choice would be like, well, I've already told him so many times and I'm just sick of having to tell him. And you know what? I don't even care. I'm just gonna take it out and you do it in spite of him, right? That would not be a whole choice. That would lead to more fragmentation in yourself and your relationship and your relationship with God. All of those things, so you can see how that plays out. So maybe that one's on as black and white, as I originally said, right? So that's another example, okay, here's another one. This one's a little different. When you want to say yes to something, you know, I'm one of those people that love to say yes to things and sometimes it's hard to know if I'm doing it for the right reasons 'cause there's so many things to have my hands to that excite me. And so we've got to be careful here. So when you wanna say yes to something, pause, obviously pray about it, but then ask yourself, is this a whole choice? Is this whole living, if I said yes to this? And again, you go to the heart check, okay? What is the reason behind the thing that might be awesome, but unless your heart is in the right place, it's not awesome, okay? So what is the reason that you want to say yes to this, okay? And this one really can, if you have your four steps, you're gonna wanna probably use this because a lot of us that love or that tend to fall into people pleasing can easily deceive ourselves and think that we actually do wanna do something when really we're just wanting to please someone else. And so this one might take a little bit more work for some of you, but really boil it down. Why do you wanna say yes, okay? And so think about that, maybe you need to journal about this. Okay, what are those reasons I wanna say yes? Is it because I really like this person and it want them to like me and I really love how they look at me when I do such good work and I can accomplish all of this, right? Now that sounds a little bit like people pleasing. So that one might be not a whole choice, okay? Now the thing that gets complicated too is you also might truly wanna do it, but there also might be some people pleasing mixed in there and that's when you can use the four steps to regulate that emotion that's underneath the people pleasing in order to have clarity that you actually do wanna say yes and you don't have to say no just because you have a tendency towards people pleasing if that makes sense. The other side though, so one side would be like, you know, I want them to look at me and I want the accomplishment and people to praise me for this. The other side would be, wow, I have a lot on my plate but wow, I'm really passionate about this. I believe this is really an alignment with the gifts that God's given me and I really love doing this. And so even though I have a lot right now, I, you know, I want to say yes to this. I just faced this decision yesterday. I was set to preach again in the coming and the beginning of August. It just moved to the end of July. But, you know, it's, it's the we're a newborn season and so they were asking, my pastor is asking me, do you feel capable of this right now? And I had to really pause and even ask some mentors and my husband after this to say, am I crazy to say yes? Like, I am, you know, there's a lot that we're doing right now and it's a lot. But, you know, I also love getting the opportunity to do this and I love getting to use this gift that God has given me and getting to, you know, pour into people this way and getting to help people go deeper with him. And so I had to really pause and figure out, why do I want to say yes to this? What is that inside of me? And it could have gone either direction, right? And so we've got to make sure that we're making these choices that are based in wholeness. And another question you can ask yourself with this one is, is this what God is calling me to in this season? Okay, so in this season, is it what God's calling me to? Maybe you love it and you do want to do it, but you know that in this season, God is not calling you to it. Another example for my own life on my trip to Italy. We went to Sicily for an anniversary if you didn't hear me talk about it. And on the plane ride there, I had some time and, you know, usually plane rides long ones, especially as like whatever you want to do. You could watch movies all the time, you could read the whole time. And so I was like, oh, I could actually use this for something I've been waiting to do for a long time. And so I started working on my book proposal. I was so excited to do this and I was thinking, oh my gosh, this might be the time for this. Wow, and just getting excited about this. And then I come home, oh, actually then I land and find out that there's a foster baby waiting for us. And immediately in that moment, I knew it was not the season for my book proposal to be finished. That this is something I was gonna have to set aside. There's a lot of other projects I have my hands in right now that are, you know, launching in the fall and a lot of other things I'm doing. And so I realized I knew this was not the season. As excited as I was on the plane ride there that I was working on it and I made good progress and it felt like this could be it. I then knew this is not the season. So all that being said, that doesn't mean that I'm never gonna do the book proposal. It doesn't mean that that's not, that's a never thing. It's just not for this season. And I don't know how long this season is gonna last. Maybe it's three months, you know, newborn season. Maybe it's a year, maybe it's a couple of years. I don't know, but God will show me that in the time. And so you've got to ask yourself in this season what is God calling me to. All right, we're running out of time here. So a few more things I just want to leave you with. This can again, this can apply to so many things. Should I buy this thing, right? Well, okay, why am I wanting to purchase this dig deeper? Should I take this job? Obviously we pray about it, but you can also use this filter. Would this be whole living? Would this be moving me towards the whole life God's calling me to? Or would this be moving me towards fragmentation, okay? Should I eat this cookie, okay? It can be applied to every decision that we make. Or it could be like, should I stop the direction that I am headed and turn around in the middle, you know, so say you're in the middle of anger or anxiety? This can help motivate you towards that right thing. Because we have to know the right thing. But the part that I haven't connected this with as much is every time you ask yourself this question, make sure you're remembering that big picture vision. So when you ask yourself, is this whole living? What I want you to imagine is that picture you have in your mind of what whole living looks like for you. I want you to feel it and, you know, viscerally experience it in your body and imagine it and put yourself in that and imagine, okay, is this choice in alignment with this whole living that I am called to? And that's when the vision is gonna help motivate you, right? Because you're like, you know what? I do want this cookie and it would be fine for me to get this cookie. But actually, I want this big picture vision more. I want to feel good in my clothes. And while one cookie is probably not a big deal, if every time I want a cookie, you know, at breakfast and lunch and dinner and my third cookie and fourth cookie, if every time I want a cookie, I say yes to it, then I'm never gonna get to this big picture vision that I know I'm called to feel confident and good in my body, right? And then also if we want to cookie that often, there's probably something else behind it. Could be simply a sugar addiction. We need to fast sugar for a time and maybe even get some support around that. But it also could be because we're using eating to satisfy something inside of us, something deeper, some pain point. And I'm sorry, we're not gonna get to talk about Restoration Theory. Well, let me just mention it real quickly, actually. So this is how we use Restoration Theory with this, okay? So if you have your four steps ready, then as you're asking yourself, okay, do I want this cookie, you're gonna start with the four steps, okay? So that's always a good place to start. So we're saying, okay, what am I feeling right now? Oh, I'm feeling out of control. And, you know, that's your first step and then you go to what you would normally do. So the beauty of the Restoration Theory is that the feelings will give you a map to help you understand what your motivations are for that decision. So the pain cycle, and by the way, if this doesn't make sense to you, make sure you go to madeholdpath.com. There's the unstuck workshop there. It helps you get started on Restoration Theory in just a day if you want or you can break it up over multiple days. But it's gonna give you it's a low cost workshop so that you can get started and mapping out this pain cycle for yourself as well as a piece cycle so you can get started on this. But those core wounds that you have on your pain cycle help give you a map to understand some of your motivations at their worst level. And so make sure that you are using that. And then the coping, right? When you're like, I wanna eat this cookie, does that go into one of your normal copings? That might be a sign that you are not regulated that this isn't a whole choice, right? If one of your go-to's is numbing for your coping, then ooh, this cookie could be doing just that. You're numbing your feelings by eating something. And so that can really help call you out. And then of course, using the rest of the four steps we're going to help you walk this out. so you're going to speak truth over that feeling. I'm not out of control. I have choices. And so instead, right, fourth step is your new actions. Instead of eating this cookie and numbing my feelings, I'm actually going to go and deal with the deeper feelings that are going on. And I'm going to figure out a better way to feel more in control in this moment by cleaning my house or by praying or whatever that might look like. Okay. So you can see how the four steps kind of go hand in hand with this. And then if you're still not sure if this is a whole choice, you can then start the process of, is this a whole choice? Is this a whole decision that I want to make here? I'm okay. So we're going to keep, we're going to keep using this, but this is just a framework to get you started on using this. And I want you to start thinking that every decision you're making is this a whole choice. And this is going to begin to move you towards that whole life that God has for you. Let me pray for you. God, I just thank you, Lord, for the freedom that we have. God, I think you God, that so many choices we make throughout our day. God, we just have the freedom to choose, Lord. And I pray God that you would just help us God to be excited for this vision. You're calling us into Lord and that it would help us to make decisions God that are going to, to change our life. God, that they're going to move us towards this vision. God, instead of away from it, God, into that fragmented life we don't want. God, would you just empower us with your Holy Spirit with self control. God, would you get us filled with hope and excitement about the future? God, we love you. And we thank you and Jesus and we pray. Amen. Love you. Hey, friend. I hope that God used today's episode to speak to you or encourage you in some way. And if you did, don't leave it just with you. There is someone else in your life that needs to hear the encouragement that you heard today. So be sure to share it. And maybe you're still feeling stuck and you're realizing that you're in the same place day after day and nothing is changing and you need to take it a step deeper. If that to you, then the unstuck workshop is your next step. You can finish the whole thing in a day and begin getting unstuck. You can find out all the details at madeholdpath.com. Lastly, if the show has meant something to you, I can't tell you how helpful it is for me if you believe a review. I am deeply encouraged and it also helps other women find the hope and tools that you found. I'm so very grateful for you, friend. I can't say it enough and I can't wait to see all that God has in store for you.