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Charlena Ortiz teaches us how she’s learned to trust Jesus as her sustainer, sought the unforced rhythms of grace in the pursuit of her dream, and discovered patience with herself and with Him in the process.

In this episode, Charlena offers a helpful question to ask yourself if you’re still trying to figure out your dream. And she explains how we might gain clarity on the lies we believe and, instead, turn up the volume on what is true—based on Scripture.

You’ll also discover how your dream can become a tool for personal transformation and why that’s so important. That rings true to my experience as well. I like to say that it’s not so much about what the dream is but about what God’s going to do with you in the process!

An introverted extrovert, Charlena has developed a conviction of helping women break through barriers. After studying Business and Marketing in college and becoming a certified coach with a focus on Positive Psychology, she moved to Silicon Valley with her husband and started her coaching practice. After years of coaching, she founded Grit & Virtue, a personal development company for modern-day women, a place where women can thrive from a holistic perspective.

While today her main focus is on taking the company to new heights, she also makes time to coach clients, speak, and write about all things personal and professional growth. Charlena lives in beautiful Colorado with her husband, boxer dog and soon to be rainbow baby girl.

You’ll find the show notes and all the ways to connect with Charlena, here: http://www.merrittonsa.com/podcast/130

 

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NEXT STEPS:

If you’re new to the Devoted Dreamers Podcast or just trying to figure out what’s next after you’ve heard this one, check out my 30 Days of Prayer series or one of these recent interviews:

Episode

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If you’ve been putting off starting or kept your dreaming all to yourself or known you need to take a step, but you just haven’t figured out how to do that, this conversation is for you!

In this year of testing out monthly solo episodes, we’ve covered a lot about the emotional and spiritual journey of pursuing our God-shaped dreams. Today, we’re talking about finally getting busy and just taking steps toward the dream.

I’ve got a handy worksheet that will help clarify what your next steps might be. I’m also bringing some real talk about how your step might flop but also why that’s okay.

You’ll get a glimpse of what my baby steps were that led to me starting this podcast and an example of a step I took early on -- in the form of a goal I set for the show -- that didn’t have the impact I hoped it would and what I learned from that experience.

If you’re new to the Devoted Dreamers Podcast and you want to hear where we’ve been in this series of solo episodes, you can find links to all of them in the show notes here: http://www.merrittonsa.com/podcast/129.

 

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Download the new 7-day devotional: 7 Truths to Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt and get started today. It’s a short and powerful guide to help you get unstuck and remember what’s true.

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Produced by Jonathan R. Clauson.
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Lesley Pyle’s dream was born out of her own desire to be at home with her baby instead of reporting to a job. In 2007, she founded HireMyMom.com with a strong desire to help professional women find flexible, legitimate, home-based work.

Lesley’s story teaches us the value of not waiting until you have it all figured out before taking a step in the direction of your dream. She talks about learning along the way and how her passion made up for the expertise she didn’t have when she began.

You’ll discover how the solution to a pain point in your own life can reveal a God-shaped dream you might have to serve and support others.

She shares why it’s important to let go of the mom guilt, get out of your comfort zone and trust God with the path He has you on. And finally, to cover it all in prayer because He knows you, He’s for you and He is with you as you take the next steps.

 

MORE ABOUT LESLEY:

Lesley Pyle is the founder of HireMyMom.com, a boutique service connecting Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses with top-notch Virtual Professionals across the country founded in 2007. She began her work-at-home career in 1996 with the launch of her first website: Home-Based Working Moms. She has a master’s degree in Public Relations from the University of Stirling, Scotland while on a full academic scholarship and as an Ambassador of Goodwill for Rotary International. She also has a BA in Journalism / Public Relations from Texas State University. Pyle has been featured in numerous publications including Forbes, Entrepreneur, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. She and her husband live in Texas and have four children.

You can find the show notes, learn how to enter the giveaway for a free 3 month job seeker package on hiremymom.com and connect with Lesley, here: http://www.merrittonsa.com/podcast/128

 

NEXT STEPS:

If you’re new to the Devoted Dreamers Podcast or just trying to figure out what’s next after you’ve heard this one, check out my 30 Days of Prayer series or one of these recent interviews:

Episode 127 – Because It Will Never Be the Perfect Time to Start with Haley Williams – released 9/4/2019

Episode 125 –

Download the new 7-day devotional: 7 Truths to Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt and get started today. It’s a short and powerful guide to help you get unstuck and remember what’s true.

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To all the doers and dreamers, Haley offers the important reminder God gave her that “I am not my work.” This episode is a real and honest look at how we go about building our God-shaped dream and what to do when you aren’t sure how to begin. Haley talks about starting before you feel ready (and why it’s a good idea to just take the leap).

You’ll discover the value of trusting God with the outcomes, understanding your need for grace, finding your approval in Him alone, and allowing Jesus to change you from the inside out as you pursue your dream.

Hear why your dream has less to do with your skills, abilities, and desires and more to do with your willingness to be transformed in the process of pursuing it.  

Haley also shares about investing time, money and energy into building a course only to get a “not yet” response from God about moving forward. Her vulnerability will draw you in and – I hope – help you remember that you’re not alone when things don’t go exactly as you planned.

Despite the difficulty she’s faced, Haley offers and holds fast to the advice to “start before you’re ready” because you never know what God will do with your obedience.

You’ll find the show notes and all the ways to connect with Haley, here: http://www.merrittonsa.com/podcast/127

 

NEXT STEPS:

If you’re new to the Devoted Dreamers Podcast or just trying to figure out what’s next after you’ve heard this one, check out my 30 Days of Prayer series or one of these recent interviews:

Episode 125 – How to Step Confidently into God’s Calling for Your Life with Brittany Rust – released 8/14/2019

Episode 124 – Learning to Listen to God Through His Word with Tabitha Bigbee – released 8/7/2019

 

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Listener support makes this show possible! Click here to learn more about how you can get involved! 

Download the new 7-day devotional: 7 Truths to Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt and get started today. It’s a short and powerful guide to help you get unstuck and remember what’s true.

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday

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We’ve been talking about fear and what it says about our identity or, rather, how we’re placing our identity on something besides Jesus when we allow fear to stand in the way of what God created us to do with our lives.

This solo episode falls in line behind #122 and provides some next steps about what to do once you realize that you have, in fact, trusted in something beside the Lord to give you hope, wholeness, satisfaction or purpose.

There are three simple (I didn’t say easy) steps you can take to move past your fears and on to the dream God has placed on your heart. Listen to this quick solo episode to learn what they are and then join us in the Facebook Group to share what how you’re moving forward despite the fear.

This solo episode is tied directly to my last six solo episodes, which you can find listed in the show notes here: http://www.merrittonsa.com/podcast/126.

 

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Support the show and connect with me and other listeners!

 

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Find your tribe in the Devoted Dreamers Insiders Facebook Group where you can connect with other like-minded women in pursuit of their God-shaped dreams.

Leave your review of the show on Apple Podcasts/iTunes or Stitcher

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts * Subscribe on Android

Download the new 7-day devotional: 7 Truths to Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt and get started today. It’s a short and powerful guide to help you get unstuck and remember what’s true.

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday

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This week’s conversation with Brittany Rust builds upon last week's episode. In this one, Brittany teaches us how she built a foundation of intimacy with Jesus by being in God’s word and through prayer, and she shares how those two actions plus the practice of listening and responding in obedience have grown her understanding of what God is calling her to do next. In addition, you’ll learn about the value of waiting on His timing – even when it’s difficult to wait – as well as what it looks like to let go of control and trust Him in the pauses, resets and redirection.

You’ll find the show notes and all the ways to connect with Brittany, here: http://www.merrittonsa.com/podcast/125

 

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Download the new 7-day devotional: 7 Truths to Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt and get started today. It’s a short and powerful guide to help you get unstuck and remember what’s true.

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday

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Have you ever wondered how to hear God’s voice? Or how to know if you’re on the right path? Or what He’d want you to do next?

Tabitha Bigbee, a faith-based life coach and founder of Every Day Faith, offers up grace-filled thinking on how to get in God’s Word every day so you can be transformed by it. She has established her own everyday faith practices and freely shares them with us, providing opportunities to strengthen your faith muscles and find clarity from the Father on what the next step toward your dream – or anything else in your life – might be.

You’ll hear how social media can get in the way of your success as well as the perspective shift that helps Tabitha reject the temptation to over-value numbers of followers or engagement. Finally, her story demonstrates how the solutions God provides for challenges in your own life can put you in the position to love and serve others with the same.

Through Every Day Faith, Tabitha supports women in establishing and growing their daily Word habit in order to recognize and obey the voice of their Creator and live their God-Inspired Adventure moment by moment!

Tabitha and her husband, Brandon, live in the mountains outside LA with their crazy but wonderful dog, Thora. Tabitha dances and teaches ballet, Brandon develops ventures and loves to snowboard, and they are both involved in leadership at their church. Together they have a vision to bring wholeness to God’s people through the healing of our identity and purpose in Christ. Also, they drink a lot of coffee.

You’ll find the show notes and all the ways to connect with Tabitha, here: http://www.merrittonsa.com/podcast/124

Download the new 7-day devotional: 7 Truths to Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt and get started today. It’s a short and powerful guide to help you get unstuck and remember what’s true.

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday

NEXT STEPS:
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Produced by Jonathan R. Clauson.
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Alia Joy is an author who believes the darkness is illuminated when we grasp each other’s hand and walk into the night together. She writes poignantly about her life with bipolar disorder as well as grief, faith, marriage, poverty, race, embodiment, and keeping fluent in the language of hope.

God’s power is made perfect in your weakness. We know the Bible verse, but most of us would rather run from weakness than embrace it. Years ago, Alia might have told you the same. She never expected to write a book about weakness, nor did she expect to wrestle with mental illness, but this journey has put her on a path to be a voice for the hurting, the broken, and the lonely. Her new book Glorious Weakness: Discovering God in All We Lack is meeting people in their place of need and giving them hope that they are not alone.

There were so many incredible (and challenging) takeaways from this conversation with Alia. First, she offers a gentle reminder that sometimes our dreams don’t include a checklist of things to do. In fact, we should probably question whether results are really the point of any dream. Is God asking you for results or is He asking you for obedience?

Alia provides an excellent biblical reminder not to fret, worry about, or covet what someone else has. This is especially true when you encounter others who are pursuing a dream that feels very similar to yours. Guess what? That’s not about you. If you feel you can celebrate someone who has a similar dream, then do so. But if you can’t without fretting, then unfollow, scroll past, and ask God to help you let go of those feelings.

In this episode, you’ll also discover the value of finding a quiet place to release the noise of the world. Alia talks about how there can be too much of a good thing (like reading all the books or, for me, attending every last webinar so I can make up for what I think I lack in knowledge).

If you’re currently feeling alone in your struggles or the pursuit of your God-shaped dream, I promise you, you’re not! I hope you’ll join us over in the Devoted Dreamers Insiders Facebook Group and get to know some fellow dreamers. We’d love to meet and encourage you toward Christ.

You’ll find the show notes and all the ways to connect with Alia, here:

Download the new 7-day devotional: 7 Truths to Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt and get started today. It’s a short and powerful guide to help you get unstuck and remember what’s true.

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday

NEXT STEPS:
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Leave a Review: Apple Podcasts/iTunes
Subscribe: on Apple Podcasts * on Android
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MORE ABOUT THE DEVOTED DREAMERS PODCAST:
Produced by Jonathan R. Clauson.
Theme music by Reaktor Productions.
Ad music by Komiku.

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Who am I? is an age-old question. It is easy to respond with a summary of your roles, achievements, degrees, career, or job title. But I think we could all agree that those simple answers do not begin to explain who God made you, what passions ultimately motivate your decisions, or what you value most in this world.   

If you know Jesus, the churchy, Sunday school answer about our identity is that we are children of God. But what does that really mean? And how do we begin to accept, much less understand and live out, our identity in Christ?

The best path I have found toward greater understanding about my identity in Christ has been to look at times in my life when I sought my identity elsewhere, whether it was a job, a relationship (or lack thereof), or even in the group of friends I hung out with. I only discovered that I had misplaced my identity in hindsight, looking back at seasons of my life where I felt emotionally crushed after losing something or someone in which I tried to find my value or worth.

Fear provides another clue about our misplaced identity. If we are afraid of taking a baby step toward our dream, that could be driven by a fear of what someone might think of us, or of failing, or of figuring out we aren’t up to the task. That’s why this solo episode is all about how our fears can provide clues to uncovering our misplaced identity.

In this episode, you’ll discover the value of acknowledging what drives your fears. But you will need to tune in next month to hear what to do about it. In the meantime, though, I’m challenging you to really look what you’re holding tight to and what, if you lost it, would crush you.

Please know that this is a shame-free, judgment-free zone. We all struggle to figure out who we are and where to find our value and worth. So many things in this world—not to mention our enemy—tempt us to believe we can find hope in something beyond Jesus. Even when we intellectually know that’s not true, it can be difficult to figure out how to live that way.

This episode might feel a bit like I’m leaving you hanging, but that’s only because the answer to this question is not one I can give you. Instead, I’m asking you to do a little digging into your heart and see where you might have fears that are driven by misplaced identity. That is, you’re putting your hope in something besides Jesus and it’s keeping you stuck in the same pl

Download the new 7-day devotional: 7 Truths to Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt and get started today. It’s a short and powerful guide to help you get unstuck and remember what’s true.

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday

NEXT STEPS:
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Writer, mama, and former silent-struggler Laura Harris shares her vulnerable story about the night on the bathroom floor when she realized that she was on the verge of depression and had to speak up about it.

Laura is a writer, mother of three, and Christ follower. Her words from the heart and parenting advice have been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Huffington Post, Motherly, Scary Mommy, and Babble. She uses her faith, her passion for writing, and honest life experiences to encourage, educate, and inspire mothers to grow in their walk with Christ and in their joy.

This episode provides some real-world tools for dealing with discouragement, whether in life or as it relates to your dream. Laura talks us through her darkest moment—when she was on the verge of depression—and how God brought her through it with truths to help tackle the lies she was believing and actual steps she could take any time she finds herself in that place again. Laura’s honesty will remind you of the good that can come out of your own vulnerability about your deepest struggles.

You’ll learn strategies to add to your toolbox, including the reminder that “feelings aren’t facts.” Laura also teaches us, through her example, how to find the people who are struggling with some of the same things and why that’s so valuable, mostly so that you can stop believing the lie that you’re the only one who’s ever felt this way.  

If you’re currently feeling alone in your struggles or the pursuit of your God-shaped dream, I promise you, you’re not! I hope you’ll join us over in the Devoted Dreamers Insiders Facebook Group and get to know some fellow strugglers. We’d love to meet and encourage you toward Christ.

You’ll find the show notes and all the ways to connect with Laura, here: http://www.merrittonsa.com/podcast/121

 

CONNECT WITH LAURA:

Website || Instagram || Facebook

 

NEXT STEPS:

If you’re new to the Devoted Dreamers Podcast or just trying to figure out what’s next after you’ve heard this one, check out my

Download the new 7-day devotional: 7 Truths to Silence the Voice of Self-Doubt and get started today. It’s a short and powerful guide to help you get unstuck and remember what’s true.

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday

NEXT STEPS:
Connect with Merritt: Website || Instagram || Book a Call
Leave a Review: Apple Podcasts/iTunes
Subscribe: on Apple Podcasts * on Android
Join the Dream Believers community

MORE ABOUT THE DEVOTED DREAMERS PODCAST:
Produced by Jonathan R. Clauson.
Theme music by Reaktor Productions.
Ad music by Komiku.