Stacey
Thanks Denise.  

Denise
So give me a little bit about who Stacy is, your family, your job, just so other women can hear  things that relate to them as well. 

Stacey
Well, I am married and I have two adult children. My sons are ages 25 and 23. I am 53 years young. My job, I am a CPA.

I think that’s just a good summary of who I am for now.  

I think it’s really helpful to know that you are a CPA, because you have a really intense season.  When you are in tax season, how many hours are you working a week? Or a day. 

I am working sometimes 12 to 14 hours a day and we work seven days a week from February through the middle of April. In January, we start gearing up. We sometimes work a 50 to 60 hour week in January. It gets pretty intense. It’s very hard to take breaks, very hard to take care of yourself during that season inevitably, I start out great, but our first major deadline is March 1st, and the two weeks prior to that are just I can’t even describe it. It is very difficult. Basically you meet yourself, coming and going is how you feel, and you’re around people constantly. Clients, coworkers, you really have to make an effort to have any moment to yourself. The phone is ringing, the emails are coming in.

It’s very intense and consuming and difficult. I’m thankful I have adult children because. It’s just difficult to have any sort of family time whatsoever during that time. You just completely neglect yourself and your family. And you feel awful for that reason because we’re moms, we’re wives.

We’re here because we want to help other people and we just feel like we’re helping everybody else and just neglecting ourselves and the people that are the most important to us at that time. So it’s very intense. 

Denise
So what’s cool is I hope everyone stays on for the rest of this podcast because Stacey has not lived a tax season with her new way of life, but she has been making plans and strategies and game plans on how to care for herself as she does go into tax season.

So we will make sure that we include that in this episode. Before we get into what you’ve learned and how you’re going to be applying it to the next tax season,  tell me a little bit about your history with food and weight. 

Stacey
I started gaining weight in my freshman year of high school. Prior to that, I think I just ate normally. I didn’t think much about it and I was probably a healthy weight. But, during my freshman year of high school, an adult member of my church noticed that I was gaining weight and commented and said, I noticed that you’re starting to pick-up some weight.

And that was a turning point for me. I began weighing myself daily and made decisions about what I would eat or do based on the number on the scale. So my goal, I had a goal weight and my goal was to always be two to three pounds less than my goal weight so that I would have something to go on if I overate on any given day. I deprived myself of lots of different foods, including desserts.

I remember vividly my senior year of high school when I attempted to eliminate all fat from my diet. I eventually reached my lowest weight and my current height, five feet, six inches. My hair was rapidly falling out and was very thin. I had very low energy and I would get very dizzy when I made sudden movements to get up from a lying down or a seated position, it was obviously not a healthy weight for me. 

Then I went to college where I gained about 20 pounds my freshman year. That first summer after freshman year, I worked hard to get my weight down again, this started a cycle of gaining and losing 10, 15, or 20 pounds as various life events happened. I always had a certain goal weight,  that I strive to reach, but as I experienced my life events, like getting married, having our first child, having our second child, reaching age 40, taking care of sick parents, losing our parents, reaching age 50 I noticed that that goal weight no longer seemed attainable.

With each attempt to lose weight, my goal weight had to creep upward by two to three pounds as I was no longer able to maintain my weight at that lower goal. So that brings us to where we are now. 

Denise
If you can think of before you came to weight loss with the Holy Spirit, I’ll have you tell the story on what brought you here, but the recent history.

So you came in July, right? 

Stacey
July. 

Denise
Tell us about the earlier part of the year. What was your life like? 

Stacey
I had gone through tax season January through mid-April, and then inevitably after mid-April, we toned down our hours a bit, but we have a huge amount of backlog of work that needs to get done over that next month.

In June I had an appointment with my naturopathic doctor and as I had always done before any doctor appointment, I started watching what I ate about a month prior to that appointment because I knew I would need to weigh in.

And I wanted to make sure that I would be close to my goal weight and that my numbers for my tests would maybe be okay. Although I know cholesterol, I mean, it’s longer than that, but  this is the pattern that I’ve fallen into, but this time it didn’t work.  I had a handful of other stressful things happening in my personal life and I was not able to lose the weight. 

I shared with my doctor that my weight was creeping upwards and she confirmed that I was up 13 from last year. At the same time, it turned out to be a huge blessing that I was unable to lose the weight prior to that appointment because then my Naturopathic doctor recommended that I  try the weight loss with the Holy Spirit program. 

And I pressed her about what foods I was eating that were causing my weight issues because I have a very healthy diet, minimally processed food, basically all home prepared nutrient rich.  I’m very diligent about what I put in my mouth.

I’m like, well, what do I do? These are the things I’m eating. Should I reduce the amount of carbohydrates that I’m consuming? Then she said carbs might help. But she reiterated that I look up the weight loss with the Holy Spirit program and said that I needed support 

Then on July 1st, I joined weight loss with the Holy Spirit. After participating in the weight loss over 40, “what’s what’s holding you back session”. Just prior to joining weight loss with the Holy Spirit. Right after this naturopathic doctor appointment, I pulled out another diet and exercise program that I had used somewhat successfully in 2021.

That program was designed to jumpstart and renew your metabolism because I was convinced that I was having metabolism issues being in my early fifties. I was thinking that if one program works, layering on another would be extra insurance that I would lose the weight. So ultimately, though, I did ditch the other diet, and exercise program after a couple of weeks.

By mid July, I was done with that one because the exercises were really intense and I was experiencing significant low back and hip pain. Plus, I soon discovered that I wanted to focus on the weight loss with the Holy Spirit program because it included God in the process.

It was intriguing, and it seemed more peaceful than any of the other methods I had tried. 

Denise
I think what I want everyone to hear is several things from your stories thus far. The first one is that from a very young age, one of your gods was the scale and stepping on that scale would tell you, am I okay? Am I not okay? I love this concept of being able to wake up in the morning, lay in our bed and not be able to answer the question. How are you feeling today? 

This is how you know if you’re tied to the scale, because you cannot answer that question. How am I feeling? Until you step on the scale. We know  that we are using the scale as a mini god, or  for emotional support  as approval accolades as a way to say, you’re okay, you’re accepted, you’re fine the way you are.

Stacey
I think the other mini God for me was probably healthy food. I felt like, if I was preparing my own food and making good choices and avoiding the bad things that everything was okay. I was okay because I was not, indulging in things that I wasn’t supposed to.

So in some ways, the scale I felt affirmed that I was eating the right food and taking care of myself. 

Denise
And then the next question is for so many women who are eating, quote, healthy food, they are really perplexed at why they have a weight problem or why they’re gaining weight. And I know that you have learned this, but I want everyone to hear this as well, is you guys, it’s not the food that you’re eating.

It’s not the food that you’re eating that is making you overweight. Eating normal food, healthy food, whatever you want to call it, is not the problem. The problem is eating the food for stress, procrastination, boredom, all the reasons that have nothing to do with nourishing your body or being hungry. We just overeat healthy food. And if you overeat healthy food because we’re just trying to suppress the stress, step away from the feelings. It’ll make you overweight too. I remember one time binging on a two pound bag of baby carrots and I felt just as bad as I would have, had it been potato chips. 

Stacey
I remember early in the program. One of the check ins that I went to, we have a huge garden. That’s all part of this healthy food thing. And I’ve always allowed myself to go out in the garden and pick peas and eat as many raw peas as I wanted while I was picking. And in my mind, there was nothing wrong with that because this is the only time of the year that you can do that.

But that was just part of a whole host of things but volume eating. That was very emotional for me. Ultimately part of my safe eating plan is food that is plated and prepared to you. Not while picking, preparing, cleaning up. I had to add picking to that because it seemed like that should be okay.

Like that didn’t seem wrong. And it’s not wrong. As long as I would have written it on my plan or  did it mindfully. I was. Doing it without being mindful. That was the issue.

Denise
I just want to say me too. I remember years ago, my husband, we had this beautiful garden that he took care of. My job was to harvest it. And the grape tomatoes. I would go out there and leave feeling uncomfortable and stuffed after picking vegetables. 

So we know that your naprapathy brought you here and with some resistance you eventually were obedient. Since you’ve been in this program, take us from there. 

Stacey
Okay, I guess I would just say this program has been so refreshing. While the work has not been difficult, it has certainly been very emotional at times. This program has allowed me to focus on my feelings and on my needs, and not in a self absorbed way.

By sitting down with the Lord every morning and every evening, asking him what he wants to reveal to me, my time with the Lord focused largely on my food and on my eating. As I progressed through the weight loss with the Holy Spirit program, my time with the Lord has focused even more on my life’s work, my to do list.

My family life and other stressors in my life. I have learned that I can reward myself with things other than food. Food is for my nourishment and my enjoyment, but I do not need to use it to deal with life or with uncomfortable emotions. My prayer life was regular prior to Weight Loss with the Holy Spirit, but it has been enhanced with the structure of this program. 

I’ve learned how to journal, and that is mind dump, whatever I am feeling. Sometimes I’m not even able to describe what is going on, or what I am feeling, and it is those times that I simply journal and ask God to reveal to me what he would like me to know. My journaling is almost always a letter to God telling him about my struggles and wins asking him to help me and thanking him for all of his blessings.

So through Weight Loss with the Holy Spirit, I have learned about unintentional models and how to create intentional models. Nearly every day I jot out a short intentional model for how I want to show up for the event that I’m facing that day. The positive effects have been far reaching. This program has made not just my diet and eating habits better, but it has made everything better and much more manageable. 

Denise
Stacey. I hope what people hear from what you said was I don’t know. I’ll try this thing. Okay, fine. I’ll talk to the Lord about my food. And then he’s like, all right, I’ll take that. And then he starts to lead you in how to eat and why you’re eating, and you just start to create this new. 

I found, for me personally, a new, deeper relationship where we’re just talking about all things, Lord. He just becomes part of every area of your life, fully integrated. 

Stacey
My mom has passed away, but I remember one conversation that I had with her long before she passed away. I remember my mom saying, Stacy, do you talk to God every day? Do you talk to him throughout the day? And I was like, yeah, I think so, but my mom talked to God every day and then it wasn’t when she sat down to pray in the morning or in the evening  and I feel like I know now what she was talking about.

Not that I didn’t do that in my thirties, but I think this program has brought me full circle mean, every hour I’m asking God now what would you have me do? What’s my next step? How do you want me to show up for this? What do you want me to do now? Even though my mom didn’t participate in your program somewhere along the way, she learned that and was encouraging me to do that.

But I feel like that’s where I’m at. It’s a part of who I am. I guess I’m ready to receive it. He was always there talking to me. I think I was maybe too busy to hear it or too wrapped up in  what was going on with my kids at the moment to stop and realize it. 

Denise
I feel like so many people, that’s what I hope this program does for women, gives you the roadmap, the pathway, the how to, that sounds beautiful, but how do you figure it out?

How do you cultivate that relationship? It’s just a step by step process. Slowly by slowly, the Lord pulls you closer, and we just keep working on the things that are blocking you. Like you said, the intentional and unintentional models.

Your eyes are wide open in your life. You see what’s blocking the Lord. And part of that were the things that you probably didn’t even know you should be looking at or could be looking at with regard to your emotions. He’s like, no, it’s safe. Let’s talk about it. I’m here for you. 

Stacey
It’s definitely him drawing me in. I feel like he’s used this program to allow that to happen for me to be open to it. 

Denise
I think this is a great time to tell people that. You are not Catholic. 

Stacey
No, I’m not. I have a confession. I’m not Catholic. I am a Christian though.

Denise
Sometimes people are like, well, what does it mean that, you know, you’re a Catholic program? It means that all we want is to be fully united with the Lord. You don’t have to be Catholic to have a relationship with the Lord and have significant weight loss. Let us talk about what you’ve experienced physically and your weight loss.  

Stacey
Physically, I just feel really good, very healthy, and strong. My clothes fit better. I just feel really, really good at peace, if you will. I just have so much peace right now with the program and if it’s okay, I’d like to tell my numbers later when we talk about wins.

Denise
You can talk about them right now. 

Stacey
I would, I guess for, I’d like to focus on the piece if that works for you. Yes. Yeah. So I just have so much peace in using the weight loss with the Holy Spirit program. I would attribute that to hanging in there and doing the work. I have not needed to do everything perfectly. The check-ins have been extremely valuable.

Not only for reporting my own struggles and wins, but mostly just by listening to other women as they report their experiences. We all have so much in common and somehow it helps to know that we are not alone in our efforts to surge forward. Iin my downtime, while commuting to and from work, while taking my daily walks, on the weekends while I’m cleaning my house, I’ve listened to your podcasts and the coaching call replays.

And when I run out of new podcasts, I re-listen to videos one through eight in the Weight Loss with the Holy Spirit program. God reveals something different to me each time I listen. I’ve learned to lean much more on my faith for all things. Journaling daily has made my prayer life so much richer and more personal.

Instead of turning to food when encountering stressful situations and trying to avoid my emotions, I turned to the Lord and asked for his guidance. The message is simple and it is fine to keep saying the same thing because people hear it differently. 

Well, the model has been so helpful in molding my thoughts to create the feelings that I’m trying to cultivate. It’s been so uplifting to repeat a thought such as I’m willing to see what is possible when I ask God to direct my day. As I complete one task, I then ask what would you have me do next Lord?

It is amazing what can be accomplished with God directing me and the peace I feel knowing that God is guiding my actions. I’ve always set goals for myself. Most professional goals, which are also personal goals. But this program has provided so much guidance in reaching personal goals that are related to taking care of me.

And as I said before, I’m a tax accountant and my job is very consuming from January through April. We work seven days per week. And the 10 to 14 days prior to deadline days are extremely long and tiring and so demanding that it is seemingly inevitable that I neglect myself in an effort to get all of my work done.

And typically after tax season, I commit to the healthy eating plan to lose the 10 to 20 pounds gained during that time. Using the videos and the information in the content library, which is part of weight loss with the Holy Spirit and with God’s help. I developed a strategic six month plan for my personal life and my career life.

I’m not willing to sacrifice my personal well being during this upcoming tax season. I’ve developed protocols or game plans for how to handle difficult situations so that I take care of myself and stop this yo yo of weight gain and weight loss. I’m confident that the skills learned through this program will help me maintain a healthy weight even during tax season. 

I look forward to implementing the plans I’ve made and connecting with the Lord every morning and every evening to tweak my protocols as needed so that I can stay connected to what God would have me complete each day. 

Denise
I’m not willing to sacrifice. Can you say that sentence one more time? That was really powerful. And I want you to highlight that and say that to yourself often during this protocol.

Stacey
I am not willing to sacrifice my personal wellbeing during this upcoming tax season.  

Denise
You guys, say that to yourself, wherever you are. I am not willing to sacrifice my personal wellbeing for and fill in the blank. I’m not willing to sacrifice myself. I’m not willing to neglect me for fill in the blank. 

And whatever that fills in the blank is, you’re going to get to the end of your life and the Lord’s not going to be like, Hey, how’d you do during tax season? He’s going to say, how well did you take care of Stacey? My precious chosen daughter. I gave you this life. Did you neglect her? Did you sacrifice her?

For what? To do some earthly things? And I know our jobs and our missions on this earth are really important. But I want you to have a bird’s eye view and a higher understanding of what, at the end of your life, really is important.

I’m not willing to sacrifice myself for that. I’ve come so far. Just love that. All right.

Stacey
I guess it brings me back to my favorite wins. So here we are. It’s mid November. I’ve been a part of weight loss with the Holy Spirit community for about 20 weeks, almost 21.

Interestingly, when I started weight loss with the Holy Spirit, I set no weight goal, which is so counter to how I normally do things. I had the attitude that I wanted to figure this out, and that I just wanted to be a healthy weight. 

I was tired of gaining and losing weight and wanting to see whether I could maintain a healthy weight. Ultimately I discovered that I was not figuring this out, but rather God was revealing this to me through Denise and this program. After 20 weeks, I received a pleasant surprise.

Not only have I lost 20 pounds, but I’ve also lost 16 inches from my body.  Four inches from my hips. Two and a half inches from my waist, two inches from my lower abdomen, two inches from each thigh to name just a few.

That other exercise program I had started and dropped by mid July had a tracking spreadsheet. That was the beautiful part I had measured myself prior to starting weight loss with the Holy Spirit. I’ve continued to use the spreadsheet, not because I’ve been focused on it, but just because it was interesting to see my progress along the way. 

The last time I remember being at this weight was in 2011. Although weight loss was my initial motivation for joining Weight Loss with the Holy Spirit, I have so many other bigger wins than this. Along the way, 20 pounds is great, but what I’ve gained has been even greater. Some of those wins were food related. 

One day I wanted some dark chocolate for dessert after lunch. I had not put chocolate on my meal plan for that day. So I surrendered the change and added one square of dark chocolate to my plan. I ate it and I enjoyed it. I mindlessly broke off another square and put it in my mouth.

Immediately my brain said, You surrendered one square. Is this what you really want to do? So I spit the chocolate out into the Kleenex. That chocolate was too good to waste. So that evening as I planned my meal plan for the next day, I put one square of chocolate on my lunch menu so that chocolate would not go to waste.

But I was so thankful no one walked in my office. I spit out this chocolate because I’m sure it would have been a sight for everyone to say, what is she doing?  I had to laugh at myself. 

Denise
For the people listening, just like that sounds so insignificant to some people, but why was that so important to you? Somebody could be like, Oh, well, just, write it down that you had to, but yeah, tell us what’s going on in your brain. 

Stacey
Because in the past I would have just tried to hide that, pretended that it didn’t happen. Maybe not even written down or committed that to memory. This time it’s a change. I’m intentionally planning what I eat and I follow through the things that I planned, I feel good about. it’s okay when I’ve given myself permission to do it. It’s just a huge win.

Denise
Until you get into this program you don’t understand. We created an easy to stick to meal plan. If you make a change, it’s not a problem. You just surrender it. And what this becomes is your relationship with the Lord, your relationship with you, you say, Hey, I’m going to surrender one piece of dark chocolate.

You pick another piece up and you’re like, No, I just don’t feel good about this. We’re not doing this.  You don’t love your reasons for enjoying it. 

Stacey
Exactly. Yes. 

Denis
And that’s the relationship that we just get to have where it’s not about the chocolate, friends. It’s not about the chocolate. It’s about me loving what I’m doing, what I’ve committed to,  and just not wanting to go down that path again. 

Yeah, Stacey, so you’ve lost 20 pounds in the last four and a half months, but I think what’s really intriguing to your story is you came into the weight loss of the Holy spirit program. You did our self paced program, the Holy spirit paced program. And then we started a challenge called 63 surrendered. 

And when you started 63 surrendered, you’d already lost what? 15 pounds. And you thought you were already healthy way.  

Stacey
Yeah, I had probably lost like 14 pounds prior to that I lost six, the 16th of September I believe is when. Weight loss with the Holy Spirit started. I did take measurements on that date. I had lost 14 pounds by that time. So I lost an additional six pounds on 63 surrendered. 

Denise
But you thought I’ve lost 14 pounds. I’m at my healthy weight. I’m going to do this challenge. I don’t expect any physical change from this challenge.

Stacey
So then I took my pictures thinking I’m content with where I’m at. Maybe I was protecting my brain a little bit too, but I just thought if I don’t lose anything else, I’m good. I feel good. I’m content. I’m not going to have any drama over this. If nothing happens, I’m just going to keep sticking with the program.

I lost an additional seven inches after that too. Six pounds and seven inches on 63 surrendered, when I look at my picture, I can, I can see a change, but I look at the before and I’m still okay with that before.

I think that’s great. I think my body, maybe the image about my body has changed a little bit by taking the daily pictures in 63 surrendered. First, I hated it. Because I felt like my pictures, I looked worse than when I looked in the mirror. And as time went on, it’s just like, well, yeah, that’s what you look like.

That’s okay. Like that’s how God made you. That part of the challenge I think was helpful or good taking the daily photo, but now that we’re beyond that, we’ve started a new challenge and taking the picture is not part of celebrate, not sabotage. I don’t miss taking the picture, but I think it helps if now when we get to holiday pictures, I’m not going to look at my picture and hate how I look. I know what I look like. 

Denise
I also want you to hear how the Lord changes your relationship with your image. You start to become desensitized to it, where you can see your body. There I am, that’s me.

You don’t make it mean a lot. Stacy, you just said, yeah, I see some change, but I was so happy with the way that I was before. And I don’t know if you coming in to this program would have believed that you could just see your image. And not make it mean anything and this is for everyone listening, you think it’s your body that’s creating this like, Oh, I need to change my body so I feel good about it.

No, because you’ve had several different bodies  and all of the bodies you didn’t like. So it’s not a body problem. It’s a thought problem. And it’s a relationship with your body problem. And that’s been healed. 

Well, Stacey, as we wrap up, I would love for you to share not the whole thing, but some tidbits around what you have decided about how you’re going to navigate tax season with that schedule, what are the non-negotiables and how are you going to fit those in, just so you can give some people some tidbits on things that they can start to do for their lives when they’re like,  I don’t have time for that. 

Stacey
Non negotiables. I am eating three meals a day. And I will have snacks, ideally morning and afternoon, like I have been doing during non tax season. I will, take breaks.  

Denise
When are you going to prepare those snacks? Like, how are you going to do that if you’re working so many hours?

Stacey
Preparing the snacks had never really been a problem for me. I always pack my lunch so I would get home at 9: 30 at night. And just start packing my lunch for the next day. I will continue to do that. My husband and my boys have been just a blessing because during tax season, they take over meal prep.

They make supper and prepare a plate for me. I either come home and eat that for my supper, or I take that the next day for my lunch. That has been a blessing. I also have been making meals ahead of time now. I make a big batch of chili and then freeze individual portions so for lunch I grab one of those bags for chili.

I did set up a protocol, there are occasions where in the office we order out for meals. I work in a small town and there are only three options for eating. There’s a convenience store that has some things that you can grab. There’s a sit down restaurant, like a homestyle cafe type restaurant.

And then there’s another sandwich and soup shop, a coffee shop. So I know what the three things are that we sometimes order in. I have written down ahead of time, what options, like two options at the restaurant, one at the soup and sandwich shop and then at the convenience store, what I feel good about eating.

Part of my restaurant protocol is one of the sandwiches is huge that I’m going to cut it in half and put part of it in the fridge, for my lunch the next day. I’ll essentially get two meals out of that. I have protocols for getting up in the morning and what things I want to accomplish at home before I go to work.

So it’s not a shock to the system to suddenly start getting up at 5 AM instead of 6:30.  I’ve already trying to do that so that my body has already acclimated to the sleep schedule. 

Denise
It is so good. You know, Stacy, what people get to hear from this, and I’m going to full circle this.  Your doctor’s like, hey, try this. You’re like, that’s, you didn’t say that stupid. You’re just like, really? A little skeptical, but really what should I be eating? Right? That’s what so many women come into this with.  Really? But isn’t it really just about the food? 

Once you opened up your mind, the Lord revealed, I want all of you. Let me help you with all of this. He’s brought you so much peace. Because of your willingness and dedication to just. Keep showing up. You mentioned the check-ins several times.

Check-ins  are where we spend 30 minutes on Wednesdays coming together and each woman gets two minutes to say what’s working, what needs work, and that’s literally all it is. But it shows you that you aren’t alone. You hear other people’s wins. You see what’s possible. I know Stacey’s been a big inspiration for the women there.

She probably wouldn’t say that, but just for her to continue to show her face,  share her story is a way that she’s supporting other women that she wouldn’t even consider.  And now you see that this way of life, the Lord would not make you a CPA if it required you to neglect yourself and sacrifice your wellbeing.

And so now you have. determined to align the Lord’s view of how you should take care of you and how he wants you to take care of you. And you said, well, I guess I’ll do my part. I’m going to have to make some plans. I’m going to have to restructure this because I’m not giving up my job. So how do I not sacrifice Stacey’s wellbeing and show up for my profession? 

Do you see that? And everyone, I want you to hear this concept: you can take care of yourself and have the job you have. You can take care of yourself and have a difficult marriage. I’m not saying that Stacey has a difficult marriage. You can take care of yourself. And have whatever family life, children, whatever situation you have, you can take care of yourself and care for aging parents.

You can take care of yourself and run an entire parish or be an associate pastor. We even have  some religious sisters who use this program. Because you can take care of you and do whatever else the Lord has called you to do in an earthly way. And you are a perfect example of that, Stacy, because I think he has called you to have this earthly life that feels pretty extreme.

That sounds horrible. And you’re like, yeah, it’s me. It’s my life. And I don’t have to sacrifice me, Stacy, to also fulfill that. And there’s going to be bumps on the road, but you know where to come for support. Any closing words for someone who may be on the fence, who may not be Catholic, but does love the Lord. You have to love the Lord or at least want to be close to him. Anybody on the fence who says, boy, I don’t know. What would you say to her? 

Stacey
I would say just start, have an open mind. Listen to the videos. I haven’t done all of the things. I haven’t been to a live coaching call. There are videos and resources that you can do on your own time. Show up for the check-ins. You literally report in for two minutes or less and it maybe doesn’t feel like you’re doing a whole lot. I remember the very first check in, I think I sent a message and said, well, I just want to listen and I don’t want to talk. 

The response was, well, you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. And you don’t. I’m a very private person, so that part was hard, to get over the hump of just being open to talk about things. Do it. It’s worth it. That’s what my advice would be. Just, follow the steps. Do your best to practice the skills. And God will take care of the rest. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to check every box. You just have to, try, be open, pray to God for help, and it just takes care of itself. 

Denise
I think that’s a beautiful way to end this. You said you try? And God is the rest.

How about that friends? Let’s just try that method. We show up, we try something new. We just try, we’ll see what the Lord does. Can you share as you close your favorite thoughts that you like practicing? Because I think those, if people take nothing from this, those two intentional thoughts that you practice daily are just.

Stacey
Oh, I have way more than two. 

Denise
The one you said when you were like, I’m seeing what’s possible. And then when you get done with the task, you ask the Lord something else. 

Stacey
Oh yeah. I don’t even have that on my, I am becoming a woman-list. It’s, I am willing to see what is possible when I ask God to direct my day. And what would you have me do next Lord? Those are the two. I repeat a lot. They’re not even on my sheet that I read aloud. Isn’t that crazy? And my tax season ones where I am committed to starting tax season as prepared as I can be. I’m committed to creating my calmest tax season yet.

I’m not willing to sacrifice my personal wellbeing during this tax season. I am willing to see what is possible when I let God work through me.  

Denise
I’m willing to see what’s possible when God works through me. Stacey, you will continue to be an example  in your life and in everyone, but thank you for saying yes to him because you have shown everyone else what is possible when you allow the Lord to work through you, thank you so much for sharing your story today. 

Stacey
Thank you.