WEBVTT 00:00.031 --> 00:04.880 [SPEAKER_01]: You are listening to Blessed and Boston, presented by Anchor DeMedia. 00:05.521 --> 00:11.552 [SPEAKER_01]: In entrepreneurship podcasts for Christians, all about how to make God the CEO of your business. 00:12.173 --> 00:19.626 [SPEAKER_01]: Get ready to be inspired, challenged, but well equipped to live and build your destiny, his way. 00:26.356 --> 00:30.743 [SPEAKER_01]: Hey guys welcome back to another episode of the blessed and foster podcast. 00:30.763 --> 00:33.027 [SPEAKER_01]: I am excited about today's episode. 00:33.067 --> 00:37.694 [SPEAKER_01]: I say that every week, but this podcast really is exciting to me. 00:37.795 --> 00:52.178 [SPEAKER_01]: Every time I get an opportunity to get on a microphone, doing this for eight years now, the fact that I'm still so excited to get on a microphone feels good and I feel honored and grateful for what the Lord has called us to do in this space. 00:52.158 --> 01:14.352 [SPEAKER_01]: and i am excited about today's episode because y'all know i don't do interviews often i don't think that we've had one this year at all yet and did we have one last year i don't even remember so it's been a minute since we've had a guest on the show so i am very excited to have one of our faves back when the show passed a Tiffany hey girl hey 01:15.293 --> 01:18.196 [SPEAKER_01]: Hey girl, hey, I'm so happy to be back. 01:18.236 --> 01:19.717 [SPEAKER_01]: It's been too long. 01:20.258 --> 01:21.619 [SPEAKER_01]: It's been a long time. 01:21.739 --> 01:23.221 [SPEAKER_01]: I had checked before we got over here. 01:23.401 --> 01:26.424 [SPEAKER_01]: And the last time Tiffany was on the show was in 2020. 01:27.745 --> 01:30.087 [SPEAKER_01]: So we got a lot to catch up with. 01:31.028 --> 01:40.398 [SPEAKER_01]: The reason why I wanted to have you back on the show is because we, over the last year or so, have been doing a series called The Bible on Business Series. 01:40.958 --> 01:44.001 [SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord had gave me a revelation about how, 01:43.981 --> 01:49.869 [SPEAKER_01]: so many of his people, especially now in this wave of Christian entrepreneurship. 01:50.530 --> 01:52.853 [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody has a solution for everything. 01:52.913 --> 01:56.839 [SPEAKER_01]: There are so many world leak things with Christ sprinkled on top of it. 01:57.540 --> 02:05.010 [SPEAKER_01]: And he really wanted his people to understand that everything that we need is in his word, including business. 02:04.990 --> 02:15.106 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we've explored things from marketing strategies to financial strategies to operations, everything directly from the text. 02:15.126 --> 02:26.965 [SPEAKER_01]: And a common thing, based off of hearing back from the audience and things that even the Lord has brought up to me is that something that his people really struggle with is dependency. 02:27.535 --> 02:48.116 [SPEAKER_01]: being able to be comfortable, I don't even say comfortable because I don't think you ever get comfortable, but being able to be content with just depending on the Lord, his direction even when you don't understand and being willing to just wait and see how it works out is something that is not discussed enough. 02:48.136 --> 02:56.985 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's a skill that not many believers I believe have really exercised as a 02:56.965 --> 03:06.992 [SPEAKER_01]: And so of course I thought about you because in thinking about your journey since 2020 which is so crazy that it's been that long because I didn't realize that until today. 03:07.327 --> 03:11.372 [SPEAKER_01]: Your journey to me is exactly what we've been discussing on the show. 03:11.412 --> 03:18.460 [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to have a candid conversation with you and kind of catch up and I'm going to be, you said you had your tissues. 03:18.700 --> 03:30.133 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to be asking some questions in really poking at your story to pull out of you some new ones things that I believe our audience can really benefit from. 03:30.674 --> 03:34.178 [SPEAKER_01]: So let's start with for those who don't know you. 03:34.158 --> 03:38.153 [SPEAKER_01]: Tell us who you are, what you do, and we'll go from there. 03:38.173 --> 03:41.265 [SPEAKER_01]: And also, tell us what you've been up to since 2020 as well. 03:42.477 --> 03:45.562 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, okay, so let's start with what I do. 03:45.622 --> 03:52.953 [SPEAKER_00]: What I've been up to since 2020 has been a lot, a lot has happened. 03:52.973 --> 04:02.307 [SPEAKER_00]: I think for everyone in the past five years, but again, to just kind of started the beginning, my name is Pastor Tiffany Soa. 04:02.568 --> 04:10.560 [SPEAKER_00]: And the last time I was here, my name was just Tiffany, I don't even think that I was yet licensed in ministry. 04:10.540 --> 04:16.611 [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't get licensed until December of 2020 and I'm pretty sure that we like met before December. 04:16.672 --> 04:30.237 [SPEAKER_00]: So I was literally a totally different person in terms of just living out my Christ identity and professionally. 04:30.217 --> 04:35.932 [SPEAKER_00]: in ministry like everything was different, but now you can call me Pastor Tiffany Soah. 04:36.513 --> 04:41.606 [SPEAKER_00]: And I am the founder of Mornings with God Ministry. 04:42.248 --> 04:45.576 [SPEAKER_00]: I founded that ministry in 25th 04:45.556 --> 04:59.978 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's been just about or just a little over 10 years since the ministry was found it I now have the privilege of co-leading that ministry with my husband But again, the last time I was on here I did not have a husband. 04:59.998 --> 05:05.286 [SPEAKER_00]: I was very very single in 2020 05:05.266 --> 05:09.991 [SPEAKER_00]: I think I was in a committee relationship, but yeah, I was very single. 05:10.651 --> 05:25.165 [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I also lead a business, now I'll be multiple businesses, because my primary business is T3 diversity solutions, which is a management consulting firm. 05:25.546 --> 05:32.893 [SPEAKER_00]: So we help businesses to start growing 05:32.873 --> 05:40.101 [SPEAKER_00]: We were at the height of what would be our most profitable years, right? 05:40.221 --> 05:45.407 [SPEAKER_00]: So that was a whole chapter of my life. 05:45.488 --> 05:49.052 [SPEAKER_00]: And again, not too long after I was less with you all. 05:49.332 --> 05:54.578 [SPEAKER_00]: Everything begins to change rapidly for the better. 05:54.558 --> 06:16.652 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, but rapid acceleration and having, you know, supernatural this and suddenly that and speed on this, um, it sounds good and theory, uh, until you are literally living out, uh, Amis where your head is like spinning in your trying to keep up with everything that is going on. 06:16.752 --> 06:18.635 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's who I am. 06:18.695 --> 06:22.641 [SPEAKER_00]: I am five vocational a business owner helping other, um, 06:22.621 --> 06:33.933 [SPEAKER_00]: businesses to be successful and then leading ministry as the main thing now again when I was last with you all ministry was not the main thing. 06:33.953 --> 06:38.065 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know if I was 06:38.045 --> 06:39.627 [SPEAKER_00]: super active. 06:39.747 --> 06:46.797 [SPEAKER_00]: I think we were still doing like our weekly broadcast, but outside of that like nothing compared to what we have today. 06:46.837 --> 06:53.586 [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, that's where I was over the past five years since 2020. 06:55.208 --> 06:57.191 [SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, I got licensed in ministry. 06:57.231 --> 06:58.753 [SPEAKER_00]: I 06:59.341 --> 07:12.562 [SPEAKER_00]: relocated to North Carolina, so I was living in just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so basically in Philly literally I could walk across the blinds on the very, very close to Philly. 07:13.363 --> 07:16.788 [SPEAKER_00]: So I was living just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 07:17.089 --> 07:24.420 [SPEAKER_00]: I was a homeowner, 07:24.400 --> 07:40.660 [SPEAKER_00]: I was at a space where I knew that there was more that God had for me and for as hard as I was working, I knew that there had to be more that was like available to me, more reward on this side of heaven for all of the work and things that I was doing. 07:40.780 --> 07:49.670 [SPEAKER_00]: So that was 2020, like I said, I got licensed, 2021, the Lord called me to move kind of suddenly. 07:49.710 --> 07:51.893 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the Lord 07:51.873 --> 07:58.781 [SPEAKER_00]: of 2020 that I was going to relocate, but he didn't really give me much more than that. 07:58.841 --> 08:17.121 [SPEAKER_00]: He guided some of my research and I landed at a toss-up between Texas and North Carolina and ultimately kind of landed on North Carolina because it was still in the East Coast and closer to my family and things of that nature. 08:17.101 --> 08:20.335 [SPEAKER_00]: So I landed, you know, I made that decision. 08:20.355 --> 08:22.404 [SPEAKER_00]: I went in October 2020. 08:23.006 --> 08:24.754 [SPEAKER_00]: All of this was happening in the background. 08:24.814 --> 08:26.200 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm pretty sure. 08:26.787 --> 08:32.456 [SPEAKER_00]: excuse me, I'm pretty sure that I didn't mention any of this when we last met. 08:33.057 --> 08:52.086 [SPEAKER_00]: And the reason why was because I had to guard that sacred space with the Lord and I think that's probably a lesson in terms of being fully dependent on God is having the wisdom to know 08:52.066 --> 08:54.710 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, so all of this was going on in the background. 08:54.870 --> 09:01.942 [SPEAKER_00]: I went for two visits to North Carolina between the time that the Lord told me that I was moving and I actually moved. 09:02.382 --> 09:06.048 [SPEAKER_00]: And after that second visit, I moved within 30 days. 09:06.429 --> 09:13.220 [SPEAKER_00]: So this was the first of many uprooting that the Lord had done in my life. 09:14.121 --> 09:14.682 [SPEAKER_00]: We. 09:15.472 --> 09:45.478 [SPEAKER_00]: you know, we being the landlord had journey through quite a few transitions in terms of like living, but I had been in Philadelphia for almost 15 years, every, admittedly every minute of my adult that had been spent in Philly, I, you know, matured there, I grew there spiritually, I built all of my businesses there in 2020, I owned and was operating multiple businesses. 09:45.458 --> 09:50.705 [SPEAKER_00]: really living, you know, my life and even into, you know, 2021 and all of that. 09:50.785 --> 09:55.212 [SPEAKER_00]: So when the Lord called me to move, it was truly an elevation. 09:55.252 --> 10:03.543 [SPEAKER_00]: I had been asking the Lord for a better quality of life and a better lifestyle because I was working really hard. 10:03.563 --> 10:05.546 [SPEAKER_00]: I was making pretty good money. 10:05.606 --> 10:12.175 [SPEAKER_00]: But I wasn't really seeing the fruit of it because, quite frankly, the cost of living. 10:12.155 --> 10:15.120 [SPEAKER_00]: is much higher in Pennsylvania than it is in North Carolina. 10:15.201 --> 10:18.807 [SPEAKER_00]: So moved to North Carolina in May of 2021. 10:19.027 --> 10:32.873 [SPEAKER_00]: And being in North Carolina was actually a bit more isolating than I think I had expected it to be in comparison to my life in Pennsylvania. 10:32.913 --> 10:35.918 [SPEAKER_00]: And Pennsylvania I was 10:35.898 --> 10:47.088 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, I, I had built a career in a life with the Lord in, in Pennsylvania, but I was kind of like relearning everything, trying to understand like the business landscape. 10:47.528 --> 11:05.905 [SPEAKER_00]: And now looking back, I know that the Lord really had me to ease into slowing down in business and ramping up 11:05.885 --> 11:10.332 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, it was kind of um, it was a little bit isolating. 11:10.553 --> 11:16.823 [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't have like as many friends and things as I had in, uh, in Pennsylvania. 11:17.544 --> 11:22.272 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I was also still running back and forth to Pennsylvania and to Maryland. 11:22.312 --> 11:24.335 [SPEAKER_00]: The Lord can victim me about that. 11:24.916 --> 11:28.382 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, and just told me like, you know, I asked you. 11:28.362 --> 11:48.598 [SPEAKER_00]: if this was what you wanted and he did the Lord asked me like I heard the Lord asked me like are you sure this is what you want and I say yes and the Lord is like you know if this new life is what you want you have to be fully present in it so did that and I was there for about a year 11:49.102 --> 12:12.857 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a little less than a year before I met someone that person ended up asking for my hand in marriage, asked my mom, never quite got to my dad, but asked my mom, and then 2022, February March of 2022, that engagement, if you will, ended very, very traumatic. 12:12.977 --> 12:14.299 [SPEAKER_00]: We're like very 12:14.279 --> 12:19.126 [SPEAKER_00]: top two worst relational experiences that I've experienced in my life. 12:19.707 --> 12:21.870 [SPEAKER_00]: And it left me in a really broken place. 12:21.911 --> 12:33.428 [SPEAKER_00]: And again, while I did have some work, I could count on one hand at that time, how many true friends I had in North Carolina, like, who knew what was going going. 12:33.448 --> 12:36.152 [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, 12:36.132 --> 12:43.805 [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, so I journey through that, you know, went through that healing process, all of the things. 12:44.466 --> 12:54.563 [SPEAKER_00]: And in May of 2022 took a spontaneous trip with one of our mutual friends to Ghana, to a cry Ghana for vacation. 12:54.543 --> 12:59.048 [SPEAKER_00]: ended up meeting this guy through a mutual friend of like the group. 12:59.109 --> 13:00.010 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a co-act group. 13:00.030 --> 13:05.016 [SPEAKER_00]: So through a mutual friend of the group, in that guy, it's now my husband. 13:05.817 --> 13:14.888 [SPEAKER_00]: So now, you know, all of these years later, I am living in Ghana full time doing life with my husband. 13:14.908 --> 13:22.677 [SPEAKER_00]: I gave up everything in the 13:22.657 --> 13:25.822 [SPEAKER_00]: gave up everything to follow the Lord. 13:25.842 --> 13:31.070 [SPEAKER_00]: I gave up a multi-six figure business that was doing very, very well. 13:31.150 --> 13:34.996 [SPEAKER_00]: I lived, I was living a really, really good light and a blessed life. 13:35.057 --> 13:45.433 [SPEAKER_00]: I was just telling someone the other day, like I was literally making more money than what I needed and the Lord was using me to be a blessing to people. 13:45.453 --> 13:48.057 [SPEAKER_00]: That's an important note because 13:48.037 --> 14:10.281 [SPEAKER_00]: When things started going in the opposite direction, one of the hardest things for me to cope with was that I was not able to give in the capacity that I had worked so hard with the Lord to be able to give. 14:10.261 --> 14:19.941 [SPEAKER_00]: And about nine months after that, I moved to Ghana for our first try, had to go back to the states and kind of reset a bit. 14:20.523 --> 14:25.553 [SPEAKER_00]: And then I'm now back and like, you know, we're locked in, we're rocking and rolling. 14:25.533 --> 14:30.100 [SPEAKER_00]: I can see the hand of the Lord, the favor of God, all of those things. 14:30.200 --> 14:36.289 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll stop there because I'm sure there's probably some things that we could dig into more. 14:36.390 --> 14:42.339 [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, this is where I am and this is what's happening in my life after five years. 14:43.180 --> 14:50.671 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad that you started there and brought us into today because I'm not an audience is listening to like, oh, wait a minute. 14:50.691 --> 14:50.992 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 14:51.192 --> 14:51.472 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 14:51.653 --> 14:52.915 [SPEAKER_01]: It was crazy. 14:53.015 --> 14:54.477 [SPEAKER_00]: It's been a wild ride. 14:54.457 --> 15:01.951 [SPEAKER_01]: But that's why I wanted to have you on a show because there's so much that I wanted to discuss Like I wanted to discuss the business side. 15:02.252 --> 15:10.748 [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to discuss ministry and I wanted to discuss marriage because a lot of people When they write into the show they ask about looking for their spouse. 15:10.768 --> 15:15.216 [SPEAKER_01]: So wanting to be married and waiting and all of these different things and not usually 15:15.196 --> 15:17.099 [SPEAKER_01]: don't talk about those type of things. 15:17.179 --> 15:18.681 [SPEAKER_01]: I try to, you know, keep that. 15:18.821 --> 15:29.397 [SPEAKER_01]: This is one of my things that I like to keep guarded, but I love to have other people on the show so that we can have those conversations and women can be able to really glean from that. 15:29.777 --> 15:36.647 [SPEAKER_01]: But before we get there, I want to go back to you and Philly because you talked about how 15:36.627 --> 15:38.810 [SPEAKER_01]: You had this successful business. 15:39.271 --> 15:40.933 [SPEAKER_01]: You had your properties. 15:41.253 --> 15:42.635 [SPEAKER_01]: You were doing all of these things. 15:42.716 --> 15:47.322 [SPEAKER_01]: You were in a place where you were really at the peak of business. 15:47.983 --> 15:49.645 [SPEAKER_01]: And you said, I want something else. 15:49.685 --> 15:50.807 [SPEAKER_01]: I want something more. 15:51.568 --> 15:53.691 [SPEAKER_01]: What they're being bought more. 15:53.731 --> 16:02.483 [SPEAKER_01]: I know you mentioned, you know, just wanted to slow down some, wanted to increase, just decrease the cost of living in all of that. 16:03.144 --> 16:03.765 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 16:03.745 --> 16:09.514 [SPEAKER_01]: What else was the more that you were experiencing that you were seeking God for when on the outside? 16:09.574 --> 16:11.977 [SPEAKER_01]: Everything looked like it was what it was supposed to be? 16:13.520 --> 16:20.590 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, um, I think one of the biggest pieces was that I wanted to be able to be more of a blessing to people. 16:21.110 --> 16:32.825 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, like I said, I was doing well, uh, and interestingly, we were, we were in a really good space in 2020 because I had just entered into government corporate and university contracting. 16:33.446 --> 16:37.471 [SPEAKER_00]: And, um, you know, we, we were doing good, uh, with that. 16:37.772 --> 16:44.100 [SPEAKER_00]: We were in our early years, uh, COVID year was actually again one of the most profitable years of business. 16:44.540 --> 16:48.045 [SPEAKER_00]: But because I had spent so many years. 16:48.025 --> 16:51.831 [SPEAKER_00]: really kind of living like paycheck to paycheck, almost. 16:52.733 --> 17:06.555 [SPEAKER_00]: There was a lot that I wanted to do financially and financial freedom that I was seeking from the Lord that it hit really guy into the point where I was like, God, there has to be more to life than just working to survive. 17:06.615 --> 17:08.578 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to know what it is to thrive. 17:08.738 --> 17:10.962 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to know what it is to 17:10.942 --> 17:15.472 [SPEAKER_00]: really be a blessing, you know, to your people financially. 17:15.532 --> 17:20.343 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the things I'm very clear about is the Lord has called me to be a kingdom finance year. 17:20.403 --> 17:25.314 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want it to, you know, experience that and be a blessing to people. 17:25.334 --> 17:28.782 [SPEAKER_00]: I also want it to 17:28.762 --> 17:34.327 [SPEAKER_00]: be in a different environment because, you know, I was born in Kentucky. 17:34.468 --> 17:43.576 [SPEAKER_00]: I moved to Baltimore, Maryland when I was nine, right before my 10th birthday, I moved to Baltimore, Maryland. 17:44.057 --> 17:52.225 [SPEAKER_00]: So I grew up literally like do my adolescence and also maturing as an adult in the Northeast. 17:52.245 --> 17:58.431 [SPEAKER_00]: Anybody that's familiar with the Northeast, I'm part of the United States, Lord Jesus, and I live 17:58.411 --> 18:09.196 [SPEAKER_00]: you have to be a certain type of person, you know, and have a certain type of way about you to really survive, because this is a doggy dog world. 18:09.718 --> 18:13.787 [SPEAKER_00]: And like I said, I grew up in the inner cities, I lived in the inner cities, I 18:13.767 --> 18:21.241 [SPEAKER_00]: When I lived in Philly, I won't say that I lived in the worst parts of Philly, but, I mean, Philadelphia is an experience in itself. 18:21.321 --> 18:29.737 [SPEAKER_00]: So, I once had a softer version of myself, I wanted to relax, I wanted to let my guard down a bit. 18:29.917 --> 18:36.349 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to... excuse me, just be more of... 18:36.751 --> 18:40.418 [SPEAKER_00]: who I knew the Lord created and called me to be. 18:41.060 --> 18:46.210 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to step more into my feminineity just all of those things, right? 18:46.250 --> 18:47.994 [SPEAKER_00]: All of those things play a factor. 18:48.755 --> 18:52.583 [SPEAKER_00]: So, there was a different version of myself that I was seeking. 18:52.563 --> 18:58.754 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, and a different way that I wanted to utilize the resources that God had blessed me with. 18:59.375 --> 19:03.262 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I wanted more peace, like I said, a different quality of life. 19:03.282 --> 19:04.945 [SPEAKER_00]: So I was looking for quiet. 19:04.965 --> 19:07.529 [SPEAKER_00]: I was looking for something that was a little bit slower. 19:07.590 --> 19:10.875 [SPEAKER_00]: I was looking for a place where my money could go further. 19:10.895 --> 19:14.622 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to live in a certain type of home. 19:14.602 --> 19:16.644 [SPEAKER_00]: just experience different things. 19:16.704 --> 19:27.677 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to have a certain type of car like all of those things and I'm mentioning these things and I know that for some people they may say, well sounds like a bunch of material things. 19:27.697 --> 19:36.947 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that we do ourselves a disservice by lying to ourselves because we're not lying to the 19:36.927 --> 19:42.736 [SPEAKER_00]: those material things that make up our quality of life, right? 19:43.157 --> 19:45.441 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to be able to afford health care. 19:45.821 --> 19:49.427 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to be able to afford to eat well. 19:49.767 --> 20:00.184 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to be able to afford to have a gym membership and actually be able to keep it to get, you know, just these different things when you understand 20:00.164 --> 20:02.530 [SPEAKER_00]: you know, like social economic things and all of that. 20:02.550 --> 20:04.354 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot that goes into it. 20:04.975 --> 20:18.207 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want it to be able to experience that for the amount of work that I was putting in to, you know, to build with the Lord had told me to build so it was spiritual and natural. 20:19.148 --> 20:41.629 [SPEAKER_01]: I love that because usually I hear women get to that spot of wanting to live a more quiet softer life is usually parallel to relationships and I love that you came to that point as an individual without the catalyst of a relationship to say, 20:41.609 --> 20:44.933 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to be a different type of person. 20:44.993 --> 20:48.918 [SPEAKER_01]: This is what I've been conditioned to be, who I've been conditioned to be. 20:48.958 --> 20:58.790 [SPEAKER_01]: However, I'm choosing as an adult to do things differently, to be more how the Lord intended me to be before life influenced. 20:59.631 --> 20:59.992 [SPEAKER_01]: What? 21:00.612 --> 21:04.197 [SPEAKER_01]: So how did you take that to the Lord? 21:04.617 --> 21:11.025 [SPEAKER_01]: And then what was the process after that to start to become 21:12.389 --> 21:35.258 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I was very honest and transparent and I think, you know, one of the things that I always say is that I appreciate the fact that I grew up in Maryland and 21:35.238 --> 21:42.633 [SPEAKER_00]: That is my identity and Christ, like he's made, he made me a fiery passionate individual. 21:43.054 --> 21:46.020 [SPEAKER_00]: And like you said, life comes into sports. 21:46.562 --> 21:54.478 [SPEAKER_00]: All of that it perverts that misuse mishandles unleashes that in ways that are oftentimes not. 21:54.458 --> 21:55.039 [SPEAKER_00]: healthy. 21:55.079 --> 21:58.344 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the world will do to our identity. 21:58.464 --> 22:03.011 [SPEAKER_00]: So the Lord made me fiery and passionate. 22:03.032 --> 22:09.141 [SPEAKER_00]: So I had like this fire and this passion and this boldness and the natural, but it's also who I was in the spirit. 22:09.502 --> 22:18.576 [SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things that I have just learned through journeying with the Lord and something that I had actually told the Lord like on my 29th birthday. 22:18.556 --> 22:36.649 [SPEAKER_00]: I told the Lord that I wanted that next year of my life, that 29th year of my life, that my goal for that year was to be more honest with myself and with to be more honest with God and with others so that I could be more honest with myself. 22:36.629 --> 22:47.796 [SPEAKER_00]: that there were a lot of things that I hadn't learned or had become accustomed to settling foreign, accepting, tolerating all of those things. 22:48.176 --> 22:53.068 [SPEAKER_00]: So this like bold conversation and like this boldness with the Lord, 22:53.048 --> 22:55.514 [SPEAKER_00]: was something that he started cultivating. 22:55.955 --> 23:00.567 [SPEAKER_00]: I would say like in my late one is, as I began to heal, right? 23:01.248 --> 23:09.268 [SPEAKER_00]: As I began to go to therapy as I grew spiritually, as I was under leadership, spiritual leadership, 23:09.248 --> 23:29.134 [SPEAKER_00]: that spoke this kind of language that talked about, you know, healing Jesus plus therapy, accountability, personal responsibility, you know, for your life and things that that nature, so the conversation with God really stemmed from what he had been cultivating in me. 23:29.175 --> 23:32.539 [SPEAKER_00]: And I literally, 23:33.278 --> 23:40.424 [SPEAKER_00]: What I had a conversation with the Lord about is like, I know that your calling needs to be a kingdom finance year. 23:40.444 --> 23:47.291 [SPEAKER_00]: It is nearly impossible for me to finance the kingdom and the way that I know your calling need to do it. 23:47.391 --> 23:48.892 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm struggling financially. 23:49.312 --> 23:51.074 [SPEAKER_00]: So also what happened, right? 23:51.414 --> 23:54.697 [SPEAKER_00]: Was that the Lord began to work on me concerning stewardship, right? 23:54.917 --> 24:03.285 [SPEAKER_00]: So that was another one of those things that was happening in the background. 24:03.265 --> 24:12.567 [SPEAKER_00]: If you know that I'll call you to this, everything in your life has to line up and everything in your discipline and in the way you live has to line up with that. 24:12.627 --> 24:19.283 [SPEAKER_00]: So I went to the Lord boldly like we have this saying in the mornings with God ministry. 24:19.263 --> 24:32.198 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a scripture that tells us that we should approach the throne of grace, you know, humbly, but boldly, and always say like, we should be hot, skipping and jumping to the throne of grace, right? 24:32.238 --> 24:33.900 [SPEAKER_00]: So receive help in the time of need. 24:33.980 --> 24:48.257 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, we should be hot, skipping and jumping to spend time at the feet of the Lord with our petitions and our request because the invitation is open to do so, right? 24:48.237 --> 24:56.585 [SPEAKER_00]: but in the God that you serve and in His power and ability and to make your request known to the only one who can really, really help you. 24:57.026 --> 25:04.994 [SPEAKER_00]: So when I was going to God and again, I'm looking around there was a shooting like where I was living next door. 25:05.014 --> 25:14.363 [SPEAKER_00]: The property owners didn't really care 25:14.343 --> 25:19.233 [SPEAKER_00]: one day I'm sitting on the couch and the people next door have been fighting our day arguing all day. 25:19.614 --> 25:24.524 [SPEAKER_00]: I had just sat down to eat and I was watching thinking an election or something. 25:24.564 --> 25:29.955 [SPEAKER_00]: Like it was like I think it was like election night or something of 2020 that would make sense. 25:29.935 --> 25:39.128 [SPEAKER_00]: So I was sitting down watching, like election results and I'm praying and I've literally heard the Holy Spirit say moves, right? 25:39.469 --> 25:44.777 [SPEAKER_00]: So I get up and move from where I'm sitting in the next thing I know, shots ring out. 25:45.277 --> 25:49.764 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, uh, like in granted, I mean, I grew up in Baltimore in Italy. 25:49.784 --> 25:55.352 [SPEAKER_00]: So hearing gun shots was like not a foreign thing but I had moved out of the city of Philly, doesn't number one. 25:55.332 --> 26:06.923 [SPEAKER_00]: And then also like I was a homeowner like it's not like I can just get up and leave and like all of these things, my neighbors had like damage my car by sliding like their grocery bags across it. 26:06.943 --> 26:21.357 [SPEAKER_00]: This was a car I like my first brand new car straight off the lot like a car prayed for work for waited for the Lord you know what I'm saying so when I'm going to the Lord, I'm like there has to be more to 26:21.337 --> 26:31.286 [SPEAKER_00]: this light that you are building for me, then to be having a call to police on my neighbors, wearing a summer I want shoot through my, like all that type of stuff. 26:31.306 --> 26:33.913 [SPEAKER_00]: So there was a a boldness and a fire. 26:33.994 --> 26:36.561 [SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't afraid to ask the Lord, 26:36.541 --> 26:43.656 [SPEAKER_00]: for a better quality of life and a better lifestyle because I know that the Lord has abundance. 26:43.676 --> 26:45.098 [SPEAKER_00]: I know who my father is. 26:45.179 --> 26:55.700 [SPEAKER_00]: I know that you know that he is king of all kings and that anything that we could possibly want and need or ask that we can ask him for it and he has plenty of it available. 26:55.760 --> 26:57.604 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's 26:58.934 --> 27:05.406 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if we covered this on the previous episode, but even if we did, I'm going to cover it again. 27:05.446 --> 27:11.057 [SPEAKER_01]: How did you go about building that relationship with the Lord? 27:11.117 --> 27:16.868 [SPEAKER_01]: Would you where you could transfer that boldness into your relationship with him? 27:17.189 --> 27:18.251 [SPEAKER_01]: Did you grow up in church? 27:18.311 --> 27:20.014 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if we talk about this. 27:19.994 --> 27:20.755 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 27:21.216 --> 27:22.197 [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I did. 27:22.598 --> 27:25.141 [SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in church. 27:25.181 --> 27:33.213 [SPEAKER_00]: I come from a long line of ministers of the gospel, all different types of titles, one both sides of my family. 27:33.293 --> 27:40.163 [SPEAKER_00]: I've recently did a post on social media talking about my mom side of the family and just are long. 27:40.143 --> 27:47.050 [SPEAKER_00]: heritage in there's a particular town in Kentucky that become from a great grandfather. 27:47.070 --> 27:51.195 [SPEAKER_00]: Was the singer pastor there for nearly two decades. 27:51.856 --> 28:03.568 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's so interesting because one of the things I always think about is that during his time as pastor, he helped the ministry to be restored financially, right? 28:03.548 --> 28:11.221 [SPEAKER_00]: So when we think about like generational blessings and like hauling on our lives and all of those types of things, it's it's in me. 28:11.281 --> 28:12.763 [SPEAKER_00]: It's it's in my DNA. 28:13.504 --> 28:15.267 [SPEAKER_00]: So yes, I grew up in church. 28:15.748 --> 28:30.552 [SPEAKER_00]: I still attend the same church is when I go home to Kentucky, I go to the same church when I go to Maryland, I go to the same church. 28:30.532 --> 28:33.576 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, so like I'm a church grom, a Jesus girl. 28:33.596 --> 28:34.497 [SPEAKER_00]: I love the church. 28:35.097 --> 28:41.325 [SPEAKER_00]: So yes, I grew up in church grew up, you know, seeing ministry alongside of a lot of other things. 28:41.905 --> 28:58.665 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, and in 2011 is when I first started building personal relationship with the Lord, I was attending Catalyst Church in Philadelphia at the time it was called Catalyst for Change, but a Catalyst Church under Pastor Kiyan Geron. 28:58.645 --> 29:04.274 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's where I came into relationship with Jesus. 29:04.975 --> 29:08.762 [SPEAKER_00]: That's where I learned how to be an intercessor. 29:08.782 --> 29:10.104 [SPEAKER_00]: It was my training ground. 29:10.164 --> 29:15.072 [SPEAKER_00]: The pastor and the preacher that I am today, it was cultivated. 29:15.112 --> 29:16.715 [SPEAKER_00]: They are like, yes, it's in my DNA. 29:16.775 --> 29:17.616 [SPEAKER_00]: If you meet, 29:17.596 --> 29:40.009 [SPEAKER_00]: my paternal grandmother, my dad's mom, she's still journey very closely with me in ministry is a trusted advisor, she's a former pastor herself and just all of those things so like yes, it's in me but it was also cultivated and nurtured in my church and Philly, 29:39.989 --> 29:41.831 [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, so I did grow up in church. 29:41.911 --> 29:47.036 [SPEAKER_00]: I grew up around ministry, but I learned how to have relationship with the Lord. 29:47.056 --> 29:48.277 [SPEAKER_00]: I went through a lot, right? 29:48.758 --> 30:01.711 [SPEAKER_00]: When you go through a lot of ups and downs, and you know, when you deal with the consequences of your own disobedience, plus the things that life is just going to throw your way, you start to have an understanding of the Lord. 30:01.751 --> 30:05.335 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, I was taking Bible classes, like I was being trained. 30:05.395 --> 30:07.617 [SPEAKER_00]: I've paddling this with my training 30:07.597 --> 30:20.741 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, so I'm learning all of these things and understanding what relationship with the Lord looks like like what it really looks like, um, and all of this was happening in West Philadelphia. 30:20.761 --> 30:26.892 [SPEAKER_00]: So again, like, this boldness like, I mean, I was I was raised up in urban ministry. 30:26.912 --> 30:27.293 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. 30:27.273 --> 30:38.134 [SPEAKER_00]: So like this bonus in this fire it was all throughout the DNA of the ministry and just also the neighborhood that we were in the people that we encountered on a daily basis. 30:38.175 --> 30:42.463 [SPEAKER_00]: So I had no fear about 30:42.443 --> 30:57.972 [SPEAKER_00]: Cushing the limits with the Lord and what I mean about that is I have seen over the years I have realized how small played with the Lord and how little we actually asked of the Lord or even expect of the Lord. 30:57.952 --> 31:10.187 [SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm just at a space and again, maybe it's because of all of the things that I've been through in my life's journey, I'm just at a space where I fully believe and expect the Lord to do certain things. 31:10.547 --> 31:20.279 [SPEAKER_00]: And when it is anything beneath, what the Lord has promised, shown me before, spoken to me that I've read in His Word, all of those things. 31:20.400 --> 31:26.507 [SPEAKER_00]: It is anything beneath any of that, it's not enough, it's just not. 31:26.487 --> 31:30.373 [SPEAKER_00]: my able abundant capable guide intimately. 31:30.393 --> 31:44.835 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to go back briefly about relationship and you talked about how in 2011 at Catalyst Church where you really, that relationship was built, what did that look like practically? 31:45.036 --> 31:51.145 [SPEAKER_01]: Because I know we have people who are listening, who are in that space where they're trying to take what they had. 31:51.125 --> 32:01.131 [SPEAKER_01]: Witnessed by growing up in church or they're trying to take something foreign that they don't even understand It translate that into a personal relationship with the Lord. 32:01.412 --> 32:02.856 [SPEAKER_01]: What did that look like for you? 32:03.646 --> 32:15.097 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I love that you said that it's foreign because actually catalysts, I forget what the model was like verbatim, but like we were a church for the unchurched, right? 32:15.377 --> 32:22.424 [SPEAKER_00]: So the people get no all of the formalities, the protocol who to call all of those things, that's who that ministry is foreign. 32:22.444 --> 32:23.725 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what we encountered, right? 32:23.765 --> 32:28.249 [SPEAKER_00]: That's who the word, you know, told the past at the time, so really, you know, cater to. 32:29.130 --> 32:29.991 [SPEAKER_00]: So, 32:29.971 --> 32:32.014 [SPEAKER_00]: some of the practical things that I did. 32:32.314 --> 32:37.781 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'd love to tell in this story because for me, ministry has been a perfecting journey. 32:38.562 --> 32:39.703 [SPEAKER_00]: I will never be perfect. 32:39.843 --> 32:41.325 [SPEAKER_00]: None of us will ever be perfect. 32:41.425 --> 32:53.380 [SPEAKER_00]: But it has been a perfecting journey in that day by day, week by week, month over month, year, over 32:53.360 --> 32:55.882 [SPEAKER_00]: this lifestyle of obedience, right? 32:56.243 --> 32:59.906 [SPEAKER_00]: That I didn't even know the language lifestyle of obedience until like 2019. 33:01.267 --> 33:04.090 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's funny when people are like, girl, do you really trust the Lord? 33:04.110 --> 33:05.371 [SPEAKER_00]: And you're so dependent on the Lord. 33:05.431 --> 33:07.553 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, yeah, check back. 33:07.613 --> 33:15.520 [SPEAKER_00]: Go back to like, pre 2019 when the Lord broke me down and was like, listen, we're going through just one way or my way, right? 33:15.640 --> 33:23.367 [SPEAKER_00]: So, we, but at Catalyst and during that time, 33:23.347 --> 33:39.178 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of the things that were happening was one that I had accountability that there was a support system to an extent that was in place meaning that I was humble enough. 33:39.158 --> 33:50.546 [SPEAKER_00]: not super humble, I always say that my, that my, that my past at the time has to, uh, Jaro, that he got, uh, probably some of the worst parts of me, right? 33:51.047 --> 33:56.661 [SPEAKER_00]: And what I mean by that is that, you know, he got, again, young, 33:56.641 --> 33:59.964 [SPEAKER_00]: rough around the edges straight out of Baltimore. 33:59.984 --> 34:00.905 [SPEAKER_00]: He's from Baltimore too. 34:01.005 --> 34:05.910 [SPEAKER_00]: So straight out of Baltimore, grew up in Philly, you know, patrotic, Philly, whatever. 34:05.970 --> 34:22.547 [SPEAKER_00]: That was the version of Tiffany that he got in that, you know, the leaders at the time got, but there was a group of more seasoned individuals, more seasoned men and women who took me under their wing. 34:22.527 --> 34:39.051 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, there was a lot of meetings in the past this office, but we all made it and we're all good at it by loves each other now, but I had that accountability and that support and I was humble enough in the beginning to accept that love that support that accountability that pointing in all of that. 34:39.031 --> 34:48.600 [SPEAKER_00]: The other thing that it looked like was starting with a daily prayer life, like just something small every single day. 34:48.660 --> 34:55.546 [SPEAKER_00]: And from that it's actually where the ministry mornings with God was birthed from being at catalyst, right? 34:55.907 --> 35:07.317 [SPEAKER_00]: And seeing what could happen if you just spent a couple of, you know, minutes a day, a few minutes a day with the Lord, right? 35:07.297 --> 35:23.635 [SPEAKER_00]: other things practical things that were happening is that whenever Bible classes and different courses about various things were being offered, I still remember minister Erica, I can't think of her last name, I think it's Harrison Clark, but minister Erica. 35:23.615 --> 35:28.863 [SPEAKER_00]: I still remember her battlefield of the mine class and this was over a decade ago, right? 35:29.183 --> 35:35.153 [SPEAKER_00]: So these very practical classes that the church was offering that I took advantage of. 35:35.433 --> 35:38.037 [SPEAKER_00]: I was a hungry student. 35:38.398 --> 35:40.040 [SPEAKER_00]: I was hungry for the Lord. 35:40.080 --> 35:44.627 [SPEAKER_00]: I was desperate for the Lord that there was 35:44.607 --> 35:47.150 [SPEAKER_00]: way in which my life had been going. 35:47.311 --> 35:58.887 [SPEAKER_00]: I had just had my first abortion right before I went to Catalyst and I was when I came to Catalyst, I was very broken. 35:58.907 --> 36:06.457 [SPEAKER_00]: I did not recognize the depth of which because I didn't understand all the covenants and bloodils and all of the things around abortion that I understand now. 36:07.178 --> 36:08.900 [SPEAKER_00]: But I was really a mess. 36:08.980 --> 36:13.787 [SPEAKER_00]: I was in a very desperate and hungry place 36:13.767 --> 36:15.490 [SPEAKER_00]: I did the work, right? 36:15.570 --> 36:21.800 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that with a lot of things, especially in today's time, people don't want accountability. 36:22.180 --> 36:24.804 [SPEAKER_00]: There are so many people that don't want to be pasted. 36:25.145 --> 36:26.707 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't want to be told when they're wrong. 36:26.727 --> 36:29.572 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't want to be pulled into the pastor's office. 36:29.592 --> 36:31.595 [SPEAKER_00]: I stayed in my pastor's office. 36:31.775 --> 36:33.658 [SPEAKER_00]: I stayed being corrected. 36:34.019 --> 36:37.665 [SPEAKER_00]: I stayed being guided and reduced and loved, right? 36:38.306 --> 36:41.631 [SPEAKER_00]: I stayed being mentored, but I accepted it. 36:41.611 --> 36:49.302 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, again, very practically going to therapy, right, getting the healing that I needed on that side as well. 36:49.382 --> 37:05.965 [SPEAKER_00]: So I could keep going, but what the church offered, and there was where I was supposed to be at that time, and I was there for a decade, what the church made available to me, I took advantage of everything that was available to me, and I did the work. 37:06.991 --> 37:11.583 [SPEAKER_01]: what would you say to that hungry student today? 37:11.603 --> 37:20.907 [SPEAKER_01]: That is especially, you know, what my heart for, like the Gen Z specifically generation. 37:20.927 --> 37:23.093 [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like millennials, we 37:23.073 --> 37:31.145 [SPEAKER_01]: We grew up in long enough without a lot of the digital stuff to where we handle it with the level of sobriety. 37:31.245 --> 37:33.728 [SPEAKER_01]: Like we understand that this is new. 37:33.748 --> 37:34.629 [SPEAKER_01]: This is exciting. 37:34.670 --> 37:36.833 [SPEAKER_01]: There's all these cool tech things going on. 37:36.893 --> 37:41.960 [SPEAKER_01]: But we're not like knife for lack of a better worry. 37:42.340 --> 37:49.030 [SPEAKER_01]: So for those who are growing up in this age where they let's say they are hungry for the Lord. 37:49.162 --> 38:00.492 [SPEAKER_01]: But the way in which they choose to feed themselves happens in this internet space versus a more controlled and concentrated safe space. 38:00.512 --> 38:17.667 [SPEAKER_01]: Because what I'm hearing at all of the things that you did, I hear that it happened within this safe environment of a church with accountability with sound leadership and all of those things, which is how it should be, because we should be able to make those mistakes and get corrected in all of that. 38:17.647 --> 38:21.872 [SPEAKER_01]: because so many things happen in the digital space and so many churches even. 38:21.892 --> 38:33.246 [SPEAKER_01]: I know I live in the DC area where there are so many mega churches, there are so many franchise churches to where this church has 50 million locations. 38:33.487 --> 38:35.669 [SPEAKER_01]: The past is only actually at one of them. 38:36.030 --> 38:46.843 [SPEAKER_01]: And so there's this same, this environment is not really able to be cultivated because everything is trying to cater to this new aspect. 38:46.823 --> 38:52.110 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's a place for that, but also, you know, we have to acknowledge the shortcomings as well. 38:52.230 --> 39:01.303 [SPEAKER_01]: So what advice would you give someone who is trying to be fed, but operating primarily in the digital capacity? 39:02.544 --> 39:02.865 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 39:03.105 --> 39:03.385 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 39:04.006 --> 39:06.790 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, I think that, you know, I have such, um, 39:07.445 --> 39:13.273 [SPEAKER_00]: interesting perspective on this because I am leading a ministry that is completely online. 39:14.995 --> 39:19.061 [SPEAKER_00]: We just did our first in-person event earlier this year for our tenure in a cursory. 39:19.882 --> 39:27.192 [SPEAKER_00]: So with all of that said, as you were talking, I literally just wrote down be careful, right? 39:27.172 --> 39:41.821 [SPEAKER_00]: that the Lord instructs us to be sober-minded, to be vigilant, to be alert, to be aware, right, to pray, but to watch those instructions and warnings are literally in the Bible from beginning to end from Genesis to Revelation. 39:42.161 --> 39:43.965 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that 39:44.840 --> 39:50.268 [SPEAKER_00]: And today's age where we are more consumer driven than we ever were. 39:50.308 --> 40:08.957 [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, not just consumer of material things, but consumers of knowledge and information, consumers of the latest hottest thing up the hottest, most prominent voices, the the biggest influence and audience and all of those sorts of things that where we are extremely 40:08.937 --> 40:35.350 [SPEAKER_00]: I excuse me, consumer driven that we have got to be careful about what we are consuming, that we have to be willing to slow down to silence all of the noise to go back to a physical tangible Bible like there's nothing wrong with having a physical Bible with tabs and 40:35.330 --> 40:37.113 [SPEAKER_00]: building that relationship with the Lord. 40:37.293 --> 40:58.924 [SPEAKER_00]: I still have that Bible that where I was building that relationship, those beginning stages that doesn't have a front cover or a back cover, but it has tabs and notes and all of those things right, like really getting in the word or word that you can hold that you can stand on and a word that you know is not influenced by the latest trend. 40:58.904 --> 41:03.232 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, that this word that is written, this is an influence by the latest trend. 41:03.252 --> 41:04.134 [SPEAKER_00]: It is what it is. 41:04.234 --> 41:04.495 [SPEAKER_00]: Right. 41:05.116 --> 41:18.060 [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that we have to be careful and for that individual, I would say that I would recommend getting in a space like stop checking. 41:18.040 --> 41:19.521 [SPEAKER_00]: just their social media. 41:20.242 --> 41:22.144 [SPEAKER_00]: Go and attend a couple of services. 41:22.704 --> 41:25.427 [SPEAKER_00]: See what's happening off of social media, right? 41:25.687 --> 41:31.352 [SPEAKER_00]: Because this is how we found churches before this social media error really blew up. 41:31.372 --> 41:37.357 [SPEAKER_00]: This is how we found ministers and voices from other, you know, human to human connection, right? 41:37.738 --> 41:48.047 [SPEAKER_00]: So even in the digital space, even in the digital space, with giving a nod to 41:48.027 --> 41:53.853 [SPEAKER_00]: Go and check and see if it aligns with the invaluable word of the Lord. 41:53.953 --> 41:59.980 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the things I tell the people that are connected to mornings with God, go back and I want you to go back and check. 42:00.000 --> 42:17.258 [SPEAKER_00]: I want you to go open an actual Bible and go read this same scripture for yourself and see if it actually says what I'm telling you is says, that's number one and if it means what I'm saying that it means, right? 42:17.238 --> 42:19.782 [SPEAKER_00]: to flow it down a little bit. 42:20.062 --> 42:27.192 [SPEAKER_00]: This spiritual thing, this relationship and journey with the Lord, this is worth the diligence that it takes. 42:27.533 --> 42:28.875 [SPEAKER_00]: It's worth the time. 42:28.955 --> 42:31.098 [SPEAKER_00]: It's worth the effort, the intention. 42:31.218 --> 42:32.881 [SPEAKER_00]: It's worth the focus. 42:33.001 --> 42:39.330 [SPEAKER_00]: It's worth you taking your time to discern, give the Lord a chance to respond to you. 42:39.310 --> 42:44.177 [SPEAKER_00]: clear the noise so that you can hear the Lord whenever he's speaking in the first place, right? 42:44.538 --> 42:58.939 [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that, you know, in this digital age, what I would tell people, again, even leading a ministry that is completely virtual, stop taking sound bites and clips and actually go on, but go visit their website. 42:58.919 --> 43:00.161 [SPEAKER_00]: What does their website say? 43:00.482 --> 43:02.045 [SPEAKER_00]: What does their statement of faith say? 43:02.405 --> 43:06.132 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they believe that we are a free tribulation post tribulation? 43:06.152 --> 43:09.078 [SPEAKER_00]: If you all know what those two things are, you need to go look that up, right? 43:09.418 --> 43:12.845 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they believe in God's Son Holy Spirit? 43:13.085 --> 43:17.654 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they believe in women ministers or preachers or whatever, right? 43:18.054 --> 43:22.142 [SPEAKER_00]: Do they believe is there theological 43:22.527 --> 43:25.451 [SPEAKER_00]: underpinning their theological stance, right? 43:25.752 --> 43:30.318 [SPEAKER_00]: Does it align with the infallible word of the Lord? 43:30.358 --> 43:35.846 [SPEAKER_00]: Does it align with this word in today's context, right? 43:36.167 --> 43:40.413 [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that, you know, we have to, we gotta slow it down and we have to be careful. 43:40.473 --> 43:48.585 [SPEAKER_00]: It's worth the time that it takes to discern if a spiritual leader's voice is one that you should be listening to or not. 43:48.565 --> 43:49.507 [SPEAKER_01]: That is so good. 43:49.527 --> 43:54.879 [SPEAKER_01]: I hope y'all are taking notes because listen, we could be on here all day, but we ain't got all day. 43:55.099 --> 43:59.428 [SPEAKER_01]: So take, make sure you're taking some notes because that was good. 43:59.489 --> 44:00.270 [SPEAKER_01]: That was so good. 44:01.092 --> 44:05.301 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to go to your transition to North Carolina. 44:06.504 --> 44:08.548 [SPEAKER_01]: So the Lord answered you. 44:09.406 --> 44:12.158 [SPEAKER_01]: You got the confirmation in North Carolina was the place. 44:12.941 --> 44:13.965 [SPEAKER_01]: Now it's time to move. 44:14.568 --> 44:16.476 [SPEAKER_01]: You've mentioned that it was isolating. 44:16.496 --> 44:17.962 [SPEAKER_01]: You didn't have as many friends there. 44:17.982 --> 44:19.348 [SPEAKER_01]: You got what you asked for. 44:20.155 --> 44:25.642 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, what was that like, North Carolina was really good for me. 44:26.083 --> 44:27.084 [SPEAKER_00]: It was very, very good. 44:27.605 --> 44:33.753 [SPEAKER_00]: I would say honestly, since leaving North Carolina, I have grieved. 44:34.413 --> 44:37.718 [SPEAKER_00]: No, that time a lot, a lot. 44:38.178 --> 44:43.345 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the things that is not talked about a lot in. 44:43.325 --> 45:06.058 [SPEAKER_00]: I would say life, but particularly in transitioning from singleness to marriage because at the time that I transitioned out of North Carolina, I was also transitioning out of singlehood there there was a lot of grief there was a lot of grief because North Carolina was so good it was so good it was everything. 45:06.038 --> 45:07.781 [SPEAKER_00]: that I needed it to be. 45:07.821 --> 45:10.726 [SPEAKER_00]: It was everything that I wanted it to be. 45:10.746 --> 45:14.872 [SPEAKER_00]: I had community right I had a strong church community. 45:14.953 --> 45:22.645 [SPEAKER_00]: I was serving in leadership growing as a shepherd, you know, being corrected and still being guided and all of those things. 45:23.887 --> 45:25.650 [SPEAKER_00]: But, um, 45:25.630 --> 45:30.978 [SPEAKER_00]: It was, you know, I didn't have like a lot of close intimate friends. 45:31.058 --> 45:34.784 [SPEAKER_00]: I spent a lot of time by myself, but I was okay with that, right? 45:35.225 --> 45:46.582 [SPEAKER_00]: I did things that were purposeful, that were meaningful, that were purpose-filled, and the time in North Carolina was everything that I needed. 45:46.682 --> 45:53.072 [SPEAKER_00]: And though I didn't have the super huge friend group there, the friend group that I had, 45:53.052 --> 45:54.113 [SPEAKER_00]: was powerful. 45:54.153 --> 45:55.635 [SPEAKER_00]: It was solid, right? 45:56.396 --> 45:59.419 [SPEAKER_00]: It was weighty if you will. 46:00.260 --> 46:19.600 [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I didn't feel like even though that was probably one piece that, you know, maybe didn't go the way that I thought that it would or that I had kind of, you know, was a custom to, I would say that everything else was really, really, 46:19.580 --> 46:21.393 [SPEAKER_00]: It was really really good. 46:21.494 --> 46:24.898 [SPEAKER_00]: So the transition to North Carolina was very easy. 46:25.418 --> 46:30.124 [SPEAKER_00]: everything that I needed was provided in abundance. 46:30.424 --> 46:32.326 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I moved there. 46:32.346 --> 46:34.749 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a little uncomfortable in the beginning. 46:34.769 --> 46:35.530 [SPEAKER_00]: I forgot about this. 46:35.570 --> 46:38.613 [SPEAKER_00]: I forget about it all the time because now such a blip on the radar. 46:39.314 --> 46:45.221 [SPEAKER_00]: When I first moved, I actually moved without seeing, did I see that apartment in person? 46:45.321 --> 46:46.102 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember. 46:46.803 --> 46:55.273 [SPEAKER_00]: But I moved and like I said, I had to move fairly quickly to 46:55.253 --> 46:56.435 [SPEAKER_00]: move fairly quickly. 46:56.495 --> 47:02.628 [SPEAKER_00]: The first department that I moved into that I thought was like the dream apartment ended up not working out. 47:02.648 --> 47:05.133 [SPEAKER_00]: It was like a bunch of issues with the neighbors and stuff like that. 47:05.213 --> 47:07.618 [SPEAKER_00]: So they moved me even better. 47:07.658 --> 47:12.908 [SPEAKER_00]: The Lord greeted me to a top floor corner unit over the 47:12.888 --> 47:28.821 [SPEAKER_00]: guy line with like everything was beautiful man North Carolina was a time it was a five it was it was everything like I I truly truly loved living there and it was 47:29.206 --> 47:48.598 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, with the exception of things that happened, yes, I experienced tremendous heartbreak, it wasn't, you know, as easy of a transition or a soft of a landing as I had initially hoped I had to relocate, you know, to another place navigated a lot of like weird friend things like I said, just. 47:48.578 --> 47:55.170 [SPEAKER_00]: realizing that a lot of friendships were based on proximity and not on anything that was like bigger than proximity. 47:55.530 --> 48:11.759 [SPEAKER_00]: So there were some some lessons, some hard times, uh, toward the end of my time there, it became very, very challenging financially, um, because my business lost this largest contract and, uh, I was traveling back and forth to Ghana by that point. 48:12.220 --> 48:13.202 [SPEAKER_00]: So, 48:13.520 --> 48:17.804 [SPEAKER_00]: It, you know, it became a challenge, but it was blessed. 48:17.824 --> 48:21.268 [SPEAKER_00]: That became a foster parent in North Carolina. 48:21.348 --> 48:23.010 [SPEAKER_00]: I was able to foster there. 48:23.030 --> 48:29.016 [SPEAKER_00]: I saw many things, like North Carolina 10 out of 10 highly recommended. 48:29.076 --> 48:41.569 [SPEAKER_00]: Like it was, it was what I asked the Lord for and everything that I had hoped that it would be, even with the bumps and bruises along the way. 48:42.612 --> 48:44.875 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, so business was really good at first. 48:44.895 --> 48:45.816 [SPEAKER_00]: So I moved in 2021. 48:46.597 --> 48:48.680 [SPEAKER_00]: We were still in COVID time. 48:48.720 --> 48:51.324 [SPEAKER_00]: So there were still like a lot of COVID. 48:51.344 --> 48:56.130 [SPEAKER_00]: So I entered into government-corporating University contracting in 2019. 48:57.552 --> 49:01.597 [SPEAKER_00]: So by the time I moved, I was pretty settled in that arena. 49:01.637 --> 49:05.763 [SPEAKER_00]: Still had some private clients, but I was primarily focused on my government clients. 49:06.123 --> 49:08.046 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we were consulting, 49:08.026 --> 49:34.759 [SPEAKER_00]: And 2021, we were probably consulting maybe around 75 businesses a month that we were working with, so I was, you know, booked and busy and again, you know, things were going really well, 2022 was a good year as well, a little bit less than 21 and and 20, but it was still, you know, a pretty good year and then I would say the only thing. 49:35.009 --> 49:39.798 [SPEAKER_00]: is that I did not do as much like client acquisition. 49:39.838 --> 49:45.349 [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't feel the Lord impressing upon me to do like a bunch of networking. 49:45.389 --> 49:50.900 [SPEAKER_00]: So that was another piece of it that was like isolating a little bit because then Philly up was outside, right? 49:50.920 --> 49:53.745 [SPEAKER_00]: Like I mean, I was at all the events getting all the awards. 49:54.126 --> 49:55.228 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know. 49:55.208 --> 49:58.194 [SPEAKER_00]: whoever wherever I needed to be this where I was. 49:58.955 --> 50:08.232 [SPEAKER_00]: So it was a it was a it was a totally different business scene there more hustle mentality and culture North Carolina is a little bit slower and more late back. 50:08.613 --> 50:18.972 [SPEAKER_00]: It was hard to figure out the who's who but I was able to figure out some things and make some headway some good connections and relationships that I still maintain to this day. 50:18.952 --> 50:35.310 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, but nothing compared to like Philadelphia, but again, it was cool right because I was I still had retainer clients and contracts and things that that nature, but I would say like year over year, it did diminish, um, you know, a little bit by a little bit. 50:35.410 --> 50:40.996 [SPEAKER_00]: And then in 2023, it was like the Lord just pulled a thread and everything unraveled. 50:41.156 --> 50:42.057 [SPEAKER_00]: It was, 50:43.100 --> 50:44.162 [SPEAKER_00]: It was horrendous. 50:44.182 --> 50:45.746 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have another word for it. 50:46.588 --> 50:48.813 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no other way from me to describe it. 50:49.374 --> 50:58.133 [SPEAKER_00]: It felt like the minute that me and my husband felt like comfortable in things that the Lord was like, yeah, let me get that back. 50:58.153 --> 50:58.915 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me, let me, let me. 50:58.895 --> 51:04.224 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me check this up a little bit and I have some things that I want to do in and through you all. 51:04.444 --> 51:05.466 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not going to feel good. 51:05.506 --> 51:10.694 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not going to be comfortable, but you know, we were coming out on the other side of it. 51:10.714 --> 51:17.505 [SPEAKER_00]: But it was 2023 when we lost that largest contract and into 2024 was terrible. 51:18.086 --> 51:19.468 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have another word to describe it. 51:20.275 --> 51:24.562 [SPEAKER_01]: All right, y'all, we're going to put a pen in this conversation right here for part one. 51:25.083 --> 51:35.579 [SPEAKER_01]: I pray to this episode has challenged you to look at your own walk with God, your obedience, your dependency, and even the spaces where he may be inviting you into more than what you've been suddenly for. 51:35.639 --> 51:37.783 [SPEAKER_01]: And part two, we're going to go even deeper. 51:37.803 --> 51:41.929 [SPEAKER_01]: Tiffany's going to share what happened when everything in her business started to unravel. 51:41.909 --> 51:50.904 [SPEAKER_01]: what a true man of season looks like for her and how God used all of that to expand her ministry and birth what we're going to talk about in part two. 51:51.324 --> 51:52.286 [SPEAKER_01]: You don't want to miss it. 51:52.446 --> 52:03.023 [SPEAKER_01]: So make sure that you're subscribed to the podcast so that you get your next episode as soon as it drops and check out the show notes to register for the end of the year prayer thorn and of course to connect with Tiffany. 52:03.464 --> 52:08.592 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the blessed and