Building an Authentic Brand When Life Feels Messy

I'm your host, Amy Dardis. And in this episode, we are doing something a little different today. As much as I love to talk about business and process and people and messaging and how to hire the right people, all very important and practical things, honestly, today I feel like I just want to be a little bit more real, be a little bit more personal, vulnerable, authentic, because I honestly just feel like God's asking me to do that.

Part of starting this podcast was not just talking about business. The heart behind it was to talk about what it means to be an entrepreneur and what it means to be someone who's willing to build a clear authentic brand, really honing in on this authenticity piece, really focusing on this people piece and living lives that are authentic and aligned.

And there's so many podcasts out there, so many influencers, so much content. Every time I get on LinkedIn or YouTube or social media, it's like everyone has the formula and the fix. And it's just this super simple top secret hack. And that just gets exhausting. I feel like I'm very overwhelmed by that, very sensitive to that. And I just feel like that's not true. Life is messy and complicated, and I don't think we should be trying to make it seem like we all have it all together, because most of us don't. Most of us are just trying to figure it out as we go along.

That's the whole point of building a clear authentic brand. It is a journey. It's not like, oh yeah, I have this all figured out, because I don't. And I think that we find encouragement in hearing other people's stories and in hearing other people's journeys. The most impactful ones are the ones where people are willing to share their struggle and they're willing to be authentic about the journey.

I've heard a lot of entrepreneurs willing to share their story and talk about how they struggled, but oftentimes we glaze over the hard part. We're like, oh yeah, I was young and I went through this season, but then I figured it out. And then now life has been good ever since. That's the story we hear a lot of the time, which is good. We want people to figure things out. We want them to be successful and to know that there was overcoming in the trials and the struggle and that there was breakthrough.

But oftentimes it's different seasons. Just because we grow and break through some trials doesn't mean that we don't then run into new trials. It doesn't mean that it's good, we've got it all figured out. Sometimes it feels like life just keeps hitting, keeps punching, the waves keep coming. There's different seasons of life, and some of them are harder than others. But no matter what season you're in, I don't think life or business is ever really just easy. I don't think it's ever just hunky dory, like there's no pain or there's no suffering. I think there's always a little bit of pain and a little suffering and a little struggle and a little failure.

And that's the type of conversation I would rather spend my time having, just talking about the real stuff and being willing to dig into it a little bit more. I've always kind of felt called to speak into the struggle, probably because I feel like I've spent a lot of my time in the struggle. And I want to hear conversations where other people can relate, where other people are like, yes, I've felt that way too. You're not alone in this.

And to be perfectly honest, this has been a very, very hard season of my life. This is probably the top hardest season, or if not equal to or second hardest season. I've really tried to be honest and share about that through this podcast. But I've spent the last few episodes hosting a lot of guests, and I love that. I love getting into other people's stories, but I also want to be willing to show up authentically myself.

And honestly, I just felt convicted to do this podcast. I feel like God laid a few things on my heart, and this is uncomfortable. This is not my natural desire. This is not me wanting to say, oh yeah, let me share with you how hard it's been, let me share with you what this wilderness season has felt like, because that is terrifying. It is so uncomfortable. But it's honestly just a place of surrender in my life where I'm like, okay, God, if you've brought me through this, if this is something that you have laid on my heart, who am I to disobey that?

So here we are having an episode on just some lessons that I have been learning through a messy middle, through a valley, through a wilderness, through a tough season. There's six things that I wrote down when I asked myself, if I look back over the last few years of my life, what are some things I've learned along the way.

Number one, and these are not ranked, one is not more important than number six, but one of the things I've been learning is that what you want and who you need to become is on the other side of fear. I have been afraid my whole life, and I feel like I have let fear rule me in so many areas. Fear of suffering, fear of vulnerability, fear of loss, fear of admitting weakness, fear of rejection, fear of just not being enough. And that fear has kept me stuck in a lot of ways.

Fear of vulnerability. I think I've been terrified to just tell people or share with people the real me and the things that I care about and I'm passionate about. I've always kind of tried to make all of my relationships about everybody else, so the spotlight was never on me. Fear of suffering, fear of going through hard things, so you do everything you can to control your situation and control your health and your finances and your business so that you don't have to suffer, so that you can be comfortable and safe.

Fear of looking weak and looking wrong. There was a season of my life where we were struggling so hard in every area, and in that season I was terrified to let anyone know, to tell anyone about it. I didn't know how to share our real story with our friends or our clients or build it into our brand or our messaging, because I was like, well, my story's not good enough. It's not interesting enough. No one's gonna care. People are gonna hear it or see it and think less of us.

And through this last season, these last few years, and even through the birth of this podcast, the journey has been in forcing myself to share basically all the ugly things. Because my resistance was, if I'm afraid to look weak or look messy, then I feel like I'm always hiding. I feel like I'm constantly afraid that if I don't come across as fully professional or having it all together or having all the answers, no one's gonna hire me or work with me. And there are plenty of people out there who could hear this and be like, yep, nope, not interested. However, I have learned that that is nothing to be afraid of.

I've been allowing this fear to have a hold over my life. And I want to walk in freedom, I want to be set free, I want to live in the light. So God was like, share the story, share all of it, share the ups and downs, share the confusion, share the chaos, share the fear and the failure and the brokenness. Just share it, because if you share it, if you just lay it all out there, then you have nothing to lose. You're not afraid of people finding out because you're not hiding anything. And so I wanted to get to that place where I just don't want to hide anything. This podcast has honestly been a journey of learning how to do that.

I actually remember last summer being fully convicted of this, that I had all these notes to myself about how I wanted to share my story, and then I never actually did. So I did this 30 day authenticity challenge on social media, which was share something authentic about my life every day for 30 days. And I was terrified, just terrified. Authentic as in what coffee do I drink, and what do I do on a daily basis, and what am I thinking about, or what am I struggling with, or what is God teaching me in this season. It was all over the place, but forcing myself through that process of sharing something authentically on social media was actually one of the hardest things that I did.

I didn't even realize what was happening at the time, but that laid the foundation for me starting this podcast, for saying, okay, I want to talk about all the things that I care about. It's people, it's Jesus, it's faith, it's business, it's being an entrepreneur and the weight that you carry with that, and all the things that we don't tell other people because we think no one understands, because we think we have to have it all together, because we think we need to lead well, and we feel like if we just open up and be vulnerable and say that we don't have it all figured out, that everything is going to come crumbling down around us. And I just didn't want to carry that anymore. I didn't want to carry that fear.

Even doing this episode, I've been wrestling with this for a few weeks now. And even coming in here and sitting down, I was like, okay, Amy, you don't have to publish it. You can just record it. You don't have to do this. Is God really asking you to do this? And that's exactly what you go through: really, how is anyone gonna get anything out of this? How is this gonna be good? But then I'm like, you know what? I don't want to live my life like that. I don't want to just stay safe and stay in the box and what's appropriate, because I feel called to step out. So here we go. And sorry if this is a terrible episode.

But in forcing myself to do the things I'm afraid of, I've thought about all of the other things I'm afraid of. Inviting people to be a guest on the podcast. Who am I afraid to ask? Okay, force myself to ask that person. And then if they say no, that's fine. You're okay. Am I afraid to publish this podcast? Okay, do it, just do it. And you realize through the process that the fear is so much greater than what you're actually afraid of happening.

The other reality is that I spent so many years being afraid of rejection. And in my effort to people please, I still ended up getting rejected. And so I was like, the thing you're afraid of, it's happening already. You're gonna do things and say things, and you're going to mess up, and you're going to fall short, and you're not going to have it all together. So there's a part of it where you're already messing up, you're already failing. So just fail at the things that you actually want to try, instead of failing at the things where you think you're just trying to be someone that you're not.

So if people are gonna reject me, I'd rather them reject me for being who I am and saying what I want to say and working on the things that I want to work on, instead of pretending to be someone that I'm not and then still just getting rejected anyway. I actually learned that lesson the hard way. And in doing so, it set the stage for, all right, this time let's just spend time doing the things that I want to do and spend time having the conversations that I want to have, because there's still gonna be rejection in it.

In the Bible it talks about stripping off the weight that trips us up and holds us back, and we do this by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. So I think about the weight. What is the weight that trips me up and holds me back from living the life that God has called me to live? Fear is a big part of that. And being in a season where I feel like I have nothing really left to lose, when you hit rock bottom there is a little bit of a blessing in that. There's blessing in hitting rock bottom and realizing that nothing has gone according to plan. Every single thing that I have tried, I feel like I have failed at. I feel like it has fallen apart. So now, blank slate, only can go up from here. We can just go for it. We can strip it off and just say, you know what? No more. I'm not gonna let that hold me back anymore.

Lesson number two. You can suffer longer and harder than you ever thought that you could. Through this process, through the suffering, through the ongoing wave after wave, blow after blow, feeling like you get kicked when you're down, you realize that you keep going and you keep getting back up and you keep fighting. And through the process, you realize that you get stronger and you start to feel stronger.

I remember when we first moved to Alaska. I was like, okay, God's calling us to Alaska, therefore everything is gonna work out. He's gonna open doors, there's gonna be blessing, it's gonna be awesome because he's asking us to do this. And that's not what happened. Yes, there has been blessing, and there have been open doors, but not at all in the way that I thought it was gonna happen.

So we launched into building a business and trying to make things work, thinking, okay, in six months my life isn't gonna look like this. In six months I'm gonna have this figured out and things are gonna be good. And then six months goes by and I'm burnt out and I'm tired, and I'm like, man, I can't keep going. How can I keep going? This isn't working. And then kind of hit rock bottom again, and then you're like, all right, what am I doing this for? Do I really believe in what I'm doing, or am I gonna give up and quit?

And six months in with zero to show for it, I was like, no, I feel convicted. I feel like this is worth fighting for. If anything in my life is worth fighting for, this conviction, because it has a grip on me, because it has a hold on me, I have to fight for this. And fighting for my marriage, and fighting for my kids, and just this calling, this calling where God was like, this is what I'm calling you to do, and there's a purpose in it, and you need to trust me.

So you keep going. I just remember thinking, I've tried everything that I can do to make this work, and I haven't seen any fruit from it yet. But I can't give up because I know in my soul that this is what I'm supposed to do. I know I have to keep fighting, and I can't give up. So six more months go by, and you still have nothing to show for it, still in the same spot, and then six months more go by, and you're still in the same spot. And you thought earlier that there's no way I'm gonna be able to keep going.

I remember thinking in the middle of 2025 that if I didn't have this all figured out by the end of the year, I was gonna call it. And then I got to the end of the year and nothing had really changed, but I was just like, I can't give up. I can't.

And there's a point where you start wrestling internally, seriously, on this level of how crazy am I? Am I crazy? Or is this conviction? Is this faith, knowing I am holding out? And you think about Abraham being told that God's gonna give him a child, and all these years of waiting, and even when he had no reason to hope, Abraham kept hoping, and God counted him righteous because of his faith. But when it's you and you're in it, you're thinking, oh my gosh, am I right? Is this real?

Is this faith or is this just stubbornness? Is this just pride? Am I so wrong? Am I so far off track? These are the types of conversations that you start having in your mind of what am I doing? Why can't I let go? Am I doing this the right way? And I don't honestly have the answer for that. All I'm saying is that those are the conversations, those are the battles that you start wrestling with when you feel called to something, when you feel like this is what I'm supposed to be doing, but right now there's no fruit, there's no sign that affirms that or confirms that, other than a peace that passes all understanding, something that you cannot shake.

And it's isolating, because if you were to talk to anyone in your life, most people are gonna look at your life and be like, what are you doing? Are you thinking clearly? I remember when we up and moved our whole life to Alaska, people thought we were crazy. Frick, we thought we were crazy. But it was just like, I can't explain it, but I know that this is something that I have to do.

And through the process, through the months and the months and the months of not seeing the fruit that you thought you were looking for, I start to see different types of fruit. I start to see different things happening. I start to feel stronger, I start to feel more resilient, I start to see that my character is changing, I start to experience and know God in a completely new way, in a deeper, more intimate way.

And coupled with that, there's moments of sheer terror and fear. You get stronger and you get better at facing the battles, but the battles don't go away. They're still there, and you get tired, you get so worn out from fighting every day, and you wonder how much longer can I keep doing this. I feel so tired now. I'm not sure I can keep fighting. And then you get through the day, and then you do it again the next day. And you just realize that you can keep going. It doesn't make it fun and it doesn't make it easy, but you realize that you are getting stronger through the process.

And that leads me to lesson number three, which is our circumstances don't change until we change, and we change through our circumstances not changing. So here I am over the last few years waiting for my circumstances to change, and as time has gone by, I realize that I'm changing. When I first moved to Alaska, I had all of the same mindsets and habits that had built the life that I had in Montana. And while that was a really wonderful life, and I'm really grateful for it, I was not the person that I needed to be. There were new mindsets and new habits that needed to be built, and there were old mindsets and old habits that needed to be broken. And just by moving from one state to another, that doesn't change that in us.

So we go through this process of praying, God, please let me see fruit from this. Please let me see just relief or changes. And you're praying and praying and praying for your circumstances to change. And through that season, I'm seeing that I started learning how to be more authentic and be more real. I started learning how to face my fear and work through it, do things in spite of it, in the face of it. I started seeing the way that God provides and the way that I still get to be a blessing to people, even when I feel like my life is falling apart.

I started seeing the way that relationships can come out of the woodwork and God can pour in and through us, and seeing the way prayer changes things, and letting go of a lot of anger, letting go of a lot of bitterness and working through a healing process internally, but then learning to trust God on a much deeper level through it. And realizing, okay, what do I believe? What do I believe about God? What do I believe about my life? What do I believe about people and about business? And realizing that what I believe really does determine my actions. It's through the trial and it's through the fire where push comes to shove.

And I've just seen how I am not the same person that I was two years ago. I'm not even the same person that I was a year ago. And I'm really, really grateful for that.

One of the things I learned through one of the first hard seasons that I had gone through was that when I went through it the first time, it was one of the hardest seasons I've ever been through. This was probably about 10 years ago now. I was really young in my faith, and life was falling apart on all sides. Marriage broken, finances broken. And I just had this, why God, why am I going through this? Why are you punishing me? What am I doing wrong? It was constantly questioning and a lot of whining and complaining, honestly. It's hard to read through some of those old journal entries of that season of my life.

But I have seen over the last 10 years how God has used that season in my life to fundamentally redefine me and redefine my relationship with him. And because of that, through this season, I know, okay, I know you are working this for my good. Even if it doesn't feel good, even if it's really, really hard, even if it is stretching me in ways that I never thought I could be stretched. I know it is for my good. I know that you love me, and I want to be thankful for this while I'm in the season.

That's been a really helpful shift, not to say that every day I'm just like, oh yeah, thank you. But the Bible says, consider it great joy when trials come your way, because then your faith, your endurance, your character has a chance to grow. So it has been trying to consider it great joy, trying to realize that during this season I can still have peace and have joy, and it is not dependent on my circumstances. Like Paul said, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances, whether I have much or whether I have nothing. Learning, okay, what does that mean to have peace, to have faith, to have joy, regardless of what my circumstances look like.

And it changes the way we even feel about it. It changes the way you look at business, the way you look at your time, the way you look at money. You start to see it and almost emotionally disconnect from it more because you realize, wow, it's not mine. I don't control it. I really am just a steward. God can give and he can take away. And you just see yourself learning to let go. I've learned to be more generous in a season of scarcity. And only God could do that.

Lesson number four is it's a daily battle, and it is a roller coaster of emotions. And I'm getting really good at riding the roller coaster, just recognizing how up and down it can be throughout the day. I can have moments of pure joy and pure peace and radical faith. And then I can have moments of sheer terror and panic and anxiety, and that can all be in a few hours of time. And that is normal. That is so normal, to just ride it, to know that okay, I'm feeling this way now, and that could change drastically in another few hours, and I could feel very differently in a little bit.

And getting through the day can be exhausting. Not every day is all up and down, but a lot of them are. And when you do it day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, it's exhausting. It's brutal. But you get better at it and you learn to ride it and you learn to recognize it when you're in it. When I'm freaking out, when I'm emotional, I can just be like, all right, God, I know this isn't true, but I'm gonna throw a fit right now. It's not real, but right now I know that I'm throwing a fit, and I know that it's gonna get better.

And when you're having faith and joy, just being, wow, I'm so thankful for this moment. I'm so thankful for this conversation. I'm so thankful for this joy and this peace and feeling your presence in my life, and knowing that this is gonna get me through a few more hours. That battle is daily. Sometimes it's even moment by moment, hour by hour, and God straight giving you the strength through it.

And really, that leads into lesson number five, which is feelings are real, but they're not truth. So how I've learned to ride that roller coaster is one, to not get so attached or wrapped up into my feelings. Just recognize it. I am feeling anxious right now, I am feeling scared right now, I am feeling like the world is crashing down around me right now. I feel this right now. But then I have to take captive those thoughts and make them obedient to Christ.

So feeling okay, I'm angry, I'm scared, I'm sad, feeling those feelings and not denying it, not trying to downplay it. Just be like, no, I'm terrified right now. So I'm gonna recognize that and just be terrified. But then also I'm going to know that my fear, my panic, my anxiety, my worry, that's not the truth. And so, what scripture do I know? What does God's word say about this?

God says, do not worry. In everything, come to him, pray without ceasing. What does God say about his word? His word does not return void. He sends it out and it accomplishes all that he wants it to. It's contending in faith, it's contending in prayer. It is knock and the door will be open. Keep asking, keep praying, shameless audacity. Abraham kept hoping when there was no reason to hope. Faith is the assurance of things that we cannot see. It is the certainty about what we hope for. You have been healed, you have been saved by your faith. His grace is sufficient, his power is made perfect in weakness.

And you just start to go over every verse in your mind. Lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will show you which path to take. God will give you wisdom. But when you ask for wisdom, believe that he is going to give it and don't be double minded. Don't also be looking to the world. Know that God talks to you and believe, okay, God, if I ask you for wisdom, you're going to give it to me. You're going to. And so I have to believe that.

And this is when you come face to face and you are in a rock and a hard place. The Israelites leave Egypt, and here's an army on one side and a sea on another. And they're like, how am I ever going to get out of this? Well, that's how your life feels sometimes when you're in a valley season, when you're in a wilderness season, where you're just like, how am I going to get through this? How am I going to make it? Because everything around me says I'm not going to.

And I was reading this the other day in Luke. It's Luke chapter 8, 22 to 25, and it's when Jesus calms the storm. And so verse 22 says, One day Jesus said to his disciples, Let us go over to the other side of the lake. So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, Master, master, we're going to drown. He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters. The storm subsided and all was calm. Where is your faith? He asked his disciples.

So I read this and I was like, okay, they were in the boat. Jesus said, let's go over to the other side of the lake. So he was leading them. They got into a boat with Jesus and they set out. So God calls us to something and he's like, I'm gonna lead you and I'm gonna be with you. And as they sailed, he fell asleep. And then a squall comes down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. So they're not being dramatic. They were in great danger. The boat was being swamped.

These are fishermen, these are people who know this sea and this lake and the boats, and I'm sure they've been in their fair share of rough seas. But the Bible says they were in great danger. So they had a real reason to freak out and to fear. And the disciples went and woke him. So first of all, here's this storm and this danger, and Jesus is sleeping through it because he's at peace, because he's not worried. And so this whole commotion and the boat's being swamped, and he's at rest. He's at rest, and there are real dangers and circumstances happening in this boat. It's not like they're being silly, they're not being irrational, there's some serious stuff going on. And Jesus rebukes the wind and the waters, and the storm subsides, and everything goes calm. And he says, Where is your faith?

And so I think about this and being in a hard season, being in a season where you're just like, this is dangerous. This doesn't make sense, the numbers don't add up, the clients aren't there, invoices aren't getting paid, we're losing clients. You don't see it. There's real danger, there's real anxiety, there's real terror, there's real fear. And Jesus says, Where is your faith? And this gets me every time because I'm like, where is my faith? Because I want to believe that he is in charge. Is God in control? Did he call me to this? Is he leading me through? Is he going to work all things for my good? What do I really believe about God? What do I really believe about his word? And if I really believe it, how is that going to change how I go through this season, regardless of what I think I see, regardless of the danger that I think is happening?

So it's standing in the valley, it is standing in the storm, and it is circling that prayer in faith. It is screaming those promises over and over and over again. It is striking the arrow on the ground over and over and over again. It is believing when you don't see, it is wrestling with God until you receive a blessing, it is persistently knocking over and over and over again. It is contending in faith, contending in prayer with every fiber of your being through faith. Not because I've earned it, not because I deserve it, not because I manifested it, but because I have believed for it.

And that is the life I want. That is what I want to be able to turn around and share and say, this is what it looked like. This is how ugly it was. This is what it looked like while I was going through it. Not the sugar coated story afterwards, but the real hard true stuff, to say this is what gripped me at night. This is waking up in the middle of the night, having a panic attack, terrified, and just praying for an hour and just being like, no, you fight for me, you go before me, you work things for my good. It's just trusting in that so fiercely, and knowing that one day I'm going to share this.

Because the Great Commission, go out and make disciples. We're supposed to bear fruit and multiply. We're supposed to bear fruit. The seed that falls along the path. There's four different types of soil. And the first two, one doesn't even receive it. The second one receives it right away, but then immediately it gets choked out because it doesn't have deep roots. The third, it falls, it has roots, it believes, it receives the message, but then it gets choked out by the thorns. It gets choked out by the worries and the lures of this world. And then it doesn't bear fruit. The fourth grows deep roots. And because it grows deep roots, it bears fruit and it multiplies.

So the difference between soil number three and soil number four is that soil number three, they believe in God. They believe that he exists, they have accepted him into their heart, but then they allow the worries of this life and the lures, the fun and the success and the wealth and the distractions, to choke them from being able to bear fruit. And I'm looking at my life and I'm like, man, I want to bear fruit, I want to multiply. I want to grow. And you grow through a valley. You grow through discomfort, you grow through the pain and the trials. Consider it great joy when any trials come your way, because you have a chance to grow, you have a chance to build endurance, character, you have a chance to strengthen.

And so you're going through this season and you're growing, and through that, even in a wilderness season, even in the messy middle, the season where you're like, man, I hope no one finds out about this, I hope no one knows how bad I'm struggling, I hope no one knows how much of a failure I feel like. Guess what? You can still bear fruit through that season. In that season, you can see fruit in your marriage, you can see fruit in your family, your relationships, because I've seen it.

This season has taught me about loving and holding on to Jesus, loving and holding on to my husband, loving and holding on to my kids. I have been able to share my faith with my children in ways that I have never been able to before. I have been able to talk to them and show them what it looks like to trust in his goodness and his faithfulness, what it means to come together and to pray together in unity, what it means to experience provision and to experience blessing and to have peace through a hard season, to not give up, to keep hoping.

It's getting to live that out, not just say that you believe in God, but actually live that out and see that bear fruit in my marriage, see that bear fruit in my kids, see that bear fruit in my own walk with God and my own faith that is deeper and more real than it ever has been in my entire life. And to believe that yes, absolutely, it will bear fruit in my business. And it already is, it already has. Just because I don't necessarily see it in the financial ways or in the surface level ways, it doesn't mean that I haven't already gotten to experience it in the ability to do this podcast, the ability to be here and sharing this and knowing that this is what matters.

And through this process, it's changed the way that I view people, it's changed what I'm willing to share. It's changed my own testimony, it's changed my ability to comfort people, to encourage people, to mourn with people, to celebrate with people, because it's softened my heart. It has given me perspective. There was a time when I was calloused and judgmental and cold towards people. And God has used different seasons of my life to completely soften that and to give me a heart for people, to have the kind of conversations, to ask the kind of questions where we can have real conversations and we can talk about things that matter, that hopefully bring out their own story in a way that will bear fruit and will encourage and will inspire others.

Knowing that as entrepreneurs, if God has called you to lead a business, if he's called you to find that balance between being completely surrendered, putting him first, valuing your family, knowing that it takes a lot of work and it takes systems and it takes processes and it takes clarity, it takes some very practical and functional things to build a life that bears fruit, to build a business that bears fruit. Because first, God has to change you and he has to know your roots are down deep and you're abiding in him, and that is showing up in what you believe. It is showing up in what you think, and it is showing up in how you act and how you lead and how you make decisions and the processes that you implement and the people that you hire and the conversations that you have and the way that you serve your customers. It is all connected. It is all 100% connected.

And I know that because I've been living that out in my own story and seeing how everything I believe about myself, everything I believe about God, everything I believe about his calling on my life, it is changing the way I show up in my life and in my business. And I want to see it bear fruit, knowing that it's a journey. This is just a season right now, but I know I'm in it.

And one, I don't want to be afraid to share about it. There's one thing to say, okay, I was in a season, but now I'm not, so now I'm gonna share it. It's another to say, no, I'm in a season, like now, and I'm gonna share it. I'm gonna be open. I'm gonna be honest, and I'm gonna trust that God is gonna use it. I'm gonna trust that God is going to work in and through it, that he's going to bear fruit through it. I'm gonna trust that he's gonna work all things for my good. He's gonna work all things for your good.

And that I get to look back one day and be really happy that I chose to have faith through this season and I chose to do it openly and publicly, even when it didn't make sense, even when I was in the storm and I was in great danger. And if Jesus wakes up from the boat and he says, Where is your faith? I want to know that I had faith. I want to know that I had faith through the process, even though it's a bunch of ups and downs. It is not perfect, it is not pretty, it's a freaking roller coaster. But I also want you to know, that's just what it looks like. That's just what it looks like, because we're imperfect and we're human and we wrestle. We wrestle through it.

But I also want you to know, I don't know what season you're in right now, I don't know where you're at in your business right now. But whatever it is, wherever you're at, let God use it to grow you and help you bear fruit so that you can multiply, so that you can look back and you can know that this had all the impact that God intended for it to have. That's all for this episode. I'll see you next time.