Wild Hope & Grace: Trusting God in the Meantime with Rebecca Dawson

In this episode of Hope Unlocked, host Kristin Kurtz welcomes back Rebecca Dawson for a powerful conversation on faith, transformation, and trusting God "in the meantime.” Rebecca shares her journey of shifting from counseling to launching WellHouse Water, a mission-driven business restoring access to clean water. They discuss navigating uncertainty, the significance of repentance and deliverance, and the power of listening to God’s voice. Rebecca also unpacks the concept of wild grace and her personal breakthrough in trusting God’s promises. If you're in a season of transition, waiting on clarity, or seeking spiritual renewal, this episode will encourage you to embrace God's timing and step forward with faith. Tune in for encouragement, wisdom, and a reminder that He sees and leads you every step of the way.

Rebecca's contact info:
Website - wellhousewater.com
Instagram - @wellhousewater

Chapters

• 0:16 Empowering Women in Faith
• 14:54 Wild Grace in the Meantime
• 18:28 Discovering Faith Through Music
• 25:41 Silent Listening for Spiritual Growth
• 30:11 Deepening Spiritual Connection Through Daily Practice
• 42:58 Spiritual Deliverance and Repentance
• 56:21 Journey of Faith and Healing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:16

Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm your host, kristen Kurtz, and I'm also the founder of New Wings Coaching. I help and empower wildhearted and adventurous women of faith feeling caged and stuck, unlock their true purpose and potential, break free from limitations and thrive with confidence, courage and hope. If you're curious to learn more about coaching with me, head to newwingscoachingnet and be sure to explore the show notes for ways to connect with me further. Get ready to dive in as we uncover empowering keys and insights in this episode. So tune in and let's unlock hope together. Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm Kristen Kurtz, your host. I pray this episode is like a holy IV of hope for your soul. Please help me.

Speaker 1: 0:55

Welcome my dear friend, rebecca Dawson, to the show, and I am going to say we were just chatting before we got started and I might need to rename this podcast to wild hope unlocked. I sure has wild on it and Rebecca has a wild or hope on her shirt. She has a lot to share with us today and I cannot wait for you to hear um her journey. I had her back in September of 2023, which is kind of crazy to think. We were both like, wow, it's been a long time since she was last on, and I just would love to have her. Um, you know, if you didn't hear her the first time, just tell us a little bit about yourself and then we'll get into it.

Speaker 2: 1:36

Awesome. Hi, kristen, thank you. Thank you for having me back and, um, I just adore you. So thank you. And, yeah, thanks for letting me come and having me. So I am a wife of 25 years, I'm married to my college sweetheart, I am a woman named Rebecca Dawson and I'm the mom of three boys and I always say I would never change that I love having boys. It's awesome I am called to be a boy mom, but they do make my laundry room kind of stinky and smelly and you know, other than that, it's all good, so I'm kind of used to that by now. So, three young men.

Speaker 2: 2:19

I am a trained counselor, so counseling has been my go-to over the last couple of years and I did that as mentoring, privately working with women and helping them become all they were created to be, and that in the last probably two years God has been changing my direction.

Speaker 2: 2:39

I think that mentoring will always be a part of my life, somehow pouring into people.

Speaker 2: 2:44

I'm an adjunct professor at the local college, working with counselors, counseling students, so I'm doing that on the side, but I do feel like that'll always be a part of who I am, just because I love people and I love pouring into people. But God has my family on a restoration journey of water and it's just. There's a whole lot of things with that and I haven't really shared a lot, um, even up to this point, with water, but I know that he is opening that and, um, that is been a journey in and of itself. And, and Kristen, we talk a lot about how we have like we in the past have always talked about how we're kind of like the Joshua, caleb and just kind of journeying through like great expectations of God and his deliverance and his healing, his promises, and so, anyway, I know that was kind of a big long introduction, but that's that is me and that's kind of a big long introduction but that's the that is me and that's um kind of my story in a nutshell.

Speaker 1: 3:49

Yes, and it's beautiful. I love that you mentioned the Joshua and Kayla, because, even though you know, Rebecca and I we we don't get on the phone all the time. We we really connect through social media most of the time and she might send me a message or I might send her a message, and there's like a word that I might hear or a song, and then we're just. It's like this beautiful journey of encouraging each other in a really special way, Wouldn't you say?

Speaker 2: 4:17

Totally, absolutely. It has been one of those special things, like a gift, and it's somebody who is kind of your cohort, you know. Like it's like someone who I can go look to and go wait. You know what this feels like, like you really get it Like. You know, like I can ask other people to pray, I can talk to other people, but like no, you know right.

Speaker 1: 4:39

Those who are like, literally walking out the journey. It may not look exactly the same, but you know that there's other people out there that are continuing on, and I would say that Rebecca's, you know, walking through this continued testimony of continuing on. So, with that said, what is your continuing on journey look like since we last talked?

Speaker 2: 5:05

Well, I'm so sorry. What did you say?

Speaker 1: 5:08

Since we last had you on the podcast, what does it look like for you to continue on?

Speaker 2: 5:14

Well, every time I thought I was closing the door, I counseled and someone would contact me and be like. You know, someone I'd served for a long time, and come to me and be like.

Speaker 2: 5:22

Hey, can you still help me with that? So, um, I, even though I felt like that door really is officially closed, like I feel like there's still a little paces, um, so I am doing that a little, but not not solely. Um, I, my husband and I have launched a water business it is called well House Water and we have started the process of getting natural spring water to people. And there's two parts to that. There is a for-profit side and a non-for-profit side. The non-profit side feels more like preservation of water and especially for God's people in the long run. But we are in this application process. It's been, I think, four months now waiting I think they said it should be about six months of waiting for our application to be approved federally. It's been approved by the state of Florida but we're waiting for that approval. So still in the waiting process for that. But in the meantime we have the for-profit side of just a natural water bottle company and then looking to expand that into more natural bottling, ways of bottling and just looking into all the different aspects of that. And then my husband and I also help people with water filtration and helping people with getting their wells tested and just even making recommendations for people and we're affiliates with a couple of other filtration systems because we just believe in that. It is like either our bodies are going to be the filter or we can use a filter and just our water has.

Speaker 2: 7:14

You know, I was reading an article last night and water has come under so much scrutiny lately. But the article was talking about how, you know, you know, the U S water is just still so supreme and it's actually not um, when you pull back the layers and you start to actually research and you see all the, the contaminants and the forever chemicals and all the different things in our wells and in our tap water. And you know, I know, um, the new administration is going to tackle a lot of things with um fluoride, which is a good thing to have out of the, the tap water, um, but it's even more than that and trying to get clean, pure water to people. Um, you know, we're just a little fish in a big market, but um it's. It feels like at least we're swimming now. So we're started.

Speaker 1: 8:07

Well, what so? What? Um, you know we all, lord has a son paths and some doors close and then they open, right? So what? What did that look like for you guys to shift into this Cause? It is very different from what you were doing and from what your husband was previously doing, right? So what did that look like?

Speaker 2: 8:29

So a hundred percent. It was so different, um, so I I think when we did the first episode, um, we talked about like really, chad lost his job. He'd been with the same company and orthopedics, um, sales and marketing for 25 years. And so there's that parallel for us, you and I, um of just like the doors closed and you know he, he was let go. He knew that the people were going to be let go, but he didn't know it was him. So you know 500 people, I think, that week and 300 the next week and um, and so the art lives shifted. They changed pretty rapidly and the Lord had kind of given me this plan, if you will, or mindset vision, whatever you want to call it through the spring of that.

Speaker 2: 9:17

This happened in February of 2022 for Chad, and then, in the spring, god just kind of started showing me all this stuff with water and like what we were going to do with water and um, and so I'm like, okay, god, I know nothing about that, you know, or very little um, but just like the amount of information out there that is out there and the access um, water is a resource that we all need and yeah, there's just so many things. So that started just really getting the vision and starting to build a team, like for the nonprofit in the. You know, in the back side of this, like kind of in the quiet, have been doing this and kind of building these two companies in the quiet and when I say in the quiet I mean just really not really releasing it, just trying to maintain and do the things. So my husband does, he has a real gift for craftsmanship and we have built and remodeled homes on the side. So we still kept doing those things, like that kind of picked up a little bit for us and um, we, we did that, um and it's felt like we've done the in the meantime, like air quotes in the meantime, um, you know, kind of things, while we wait on this water, um, uh, fruition, if you will like, while we wait, like we have a meantime thing and we're still in the meantime. I promise you we're not quite there, but it feels like we are um at the verge and ready to run over, like it's it's full and running over, like it's it's time to release it, Um, it's time to let people know about it.

Speaker 2: 10:58

It's time to start to um, you know, I guess like feels funny to say, showcase and highlight some of these things, um, but in the meantime, we have done in the meantime kind of things. So it's like selling furniture, remodeling people's, like different things um coming in and we'd have, uh, what we consider a design team. That's how people get their houses ready to sell, because they're for two reasons. One, we have done that so many times for ourselves and for friends and family that it was like this is just natural. We know how to do this, we know how to get these things ready, and so we worked with a lot of realtors and tried to help them get their clients homes ready, and so we're still doing that in the meantime.

Speaker 2: 11:38

But it does feel like a transition into like okay, like that. That feels like that's uh well as drying up and it's time to move on to the um. I just yeah, I just feel like it's time, and I pray that it's time, you know, uh, but it feels like it's time. So, um, lots and lots of uh, um, I don't know how you feel about this person, but lots of uncertainty, like um. I don't know how you feel about this, kristen, but lots of uncertainty, like, like, um, you know, I don't know what you say about that.

Speaker 1: 12:12

Um, yeah, there's definitely a lot of um. You know, knowing that there's a promise ahead, just not seeing like the road to get there like the road to get there.

Speaker 2: 12:23

Yeah, definitely, yep, and just like um, a lot of trust. Um, you know, and we talked earlier, um, about a couple of things and I just so, this journey has not been easy. So this is like we're going. We're in 2025, right, that happened in 2022 and it's still not fully, um, developed. It's not in full fruition yet, right, um, so I I really would rather be on the other side of this reporting and being like, yes, but not everybody needs those kinds of stories.

Speaker 2: 12:59

We hear those and they're amazing, but sometimes we need somebody in the middle saying, okay, wait, we're, we're nearing the end. I know it, I feel it, but we're still not a hundred percent there. Like, it's just like it's. It's not a hundred percent there. So it's that that's trusting and renewing our minds and fixing our eyes on the Lord and um, just so many different things. Like his grace has been so sufficient and um, one of the things over the last year that he has trained me in is like understanding you, oh, good night, the grace of thankfulness, and it is Eucharistia, good night. I can't even say it, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1: 13:43

I've heard that word. It's been a long time.

Speaker 2: 13:46

Yeah, yes, yes, and it's just the gift, the grace of thankfulness, and um. So I think when I, you know, as we were talking, as you were praying, as we're getting started, like the first grace that he led me to like I was reading a book, um, and it was all about grace and thankfulness and it was a great book, and I was just reading and taking it all in and I just I got to a point where I was just like Lord, this is awesome, but I want my own story. Like this is somebody else's, I want my own. And um, and so, just asking him for that, and so, like the next morning, it was just like no, don't open that devotional, like I'm going to tell you about wild grace and I'm like what's wild grace? Who knew there was such a thing? And um, so I really just dug into the scriptures and anything that was wild with a verse. I just pulled those verses and I was just like, okay, lord, teach me, just teach me about this. And okay, lord, teach me, just teach me about this. And um, and then from that I just pulled out the things that really stuck out to me, like the things that were like yep, this is this is what this means to me.

Speaker 2: 14:54

And um and there were two themes that just kept coming up as I was digging, and the first one was for wild grace is that, like the wild olives we are grafted in, and those wild olives actually produce more than the natural olives, like the wild ones that grow, they produce more. And there's just and just seeing, like, you know, like he loves us so much, he loved me so much that he inserted me right in that graft. You know, right, right in that wound and cause a graft is a wound and um and it. And then you know, you're, you get inserted right into that wound, right, and he just loves us so much. There are something so like, if I have to fix my eyes, my mind upon something, this is the one thing that has been so transformative for me.

Speaker 2: 15:49

It's like oh so good, like I just need this Lord, like to be reminded that I'm grafted. And then and then the other thing was like the wildflowers and you know he takes care of the wildflowers and they're more beautiful than all of Solomon's clothes, right, like they're just that's what they are and um, and the wildness of that is like you don't have to worry, I don't have to worry and, and worry is a go-to, it can be something we run to and it's like no, forgive me of my sins and cleanse me of unrighteousness, and I don't want to run to that Like I don't want to worry, I'm grafted in and I don't have to worry, and that is wild grace. That is wild grace, my friend, at least in my corner. And so God has just really had me on a journey of graces and just understanding at a deeper level and I did some Bible studies in my home for a little while, sharing that with women and sharing different graces and having them study their own grace, and so it's been a lot of fun.

Speaker 2: 16:51

That has been a lot of fun in the meantime, like there's been meantime things. I had someone say to me in the meantime while you're doing that, make sure you serve people and you know there were a lot of different little things in serving or, you know, use your time. If you don't have other resources, you have time and I'm like, oh my words, I have a lot of time. So, you know, it's like there's just a lot of different things in the meantime. But yeah, that I don't know. That's part of it.

Speaker 1: 17:21

I love the in the meantime, like just those three words, the grace in the meantime, all like love in the meantime, the mercy in the meantime, like there's so many ways you could go down this in the meantime road. Propensity, like you said, is in this meantime, especially if you've gone through significant transition, like we have on both of our ends, there is more of a propensity to worry that that trail is often just kind of parallel to the in the meantime trail that he's got us on and it's trying to draw you over at times and it can, at least for me I'm just speaking for myself it can be quite a fight to the finish to just really stay on that grace filled in the meantime path. What would you say to that?

Speaker 2: 18:21

Absolutely, absolutely. And that's why, you know, sometimes I can get off course. And it's just going back to that, renewing my mind. I'm like, yeah, because worry does want to set in, right, like you know. You know whether it's finances and financial, and like, well, we have this or we have that, or you know, I mean, what is our natural um mode? Our natural mode is to worry, right, and it's like, no, forgive me of my sins and remind me, cleanse me of unrighteousness, remind me of what's true.

Speaker 2: 18:52

You say in your word that I'm grafted in. Like you care so much about me, like of my family, of my husband, of my children, my sons, that you graft us in. And if you're willing to do that, how much more you know, like, how much more like that seems so significant that if I can fix my mind on that, if I can remember that I don't have to worry. And it's not easy. I'm not saying this is, like you know, trite and this is simple. I mean it's simple but it's not easy. Um, you know, and and just it, it. It takes a lot of work, um, it takes a lot of effort and maturity and grows, and like it takes a lot of strength and stamina to say nope, not no. I will stand and I will stand on the fact that God, you say. You say in your word that I'm grafted in. You say in your word that I don't have to worry. God, you know my heart, you know I am prone to worry, prone to worry, prone to wonder, prone to leave the God I love. You know like. Come thy fount of every blessing. That old hymnal. I have a story with that. Do you want to hear that one quick?

Speaker 2: 20:03

So I got off a counseling session. I did some counseling sessions for some of the women I work with over, like right before Christmas, and I did one of the sessions and I get off with her and that hymnal is in my mind and, kristen, I know you and I share songs and you're such like you have every song, like in the world. Like you, you love music. Yeah, it's awesome. But I assure world, like you, you love music, yeah, it's awesome. But I assure you, like I don't really sing hymnals, so I don't even think about them and half the time I don't know all the words, but I know some, I know some and I you know. But that so clearly was playing and in my mind and I was like, what is this? So I just YouTube, didn't listen to it, and I was like wow, okay, lord, like that's pretty neat, you know. And I sent it to the woman who I just worked with and you know, like I don't know, this just like came to my mind as soon as I got off with you and so I just want to share it with you or whatever. And she talks back and said a couple things about it and it was meaningful, whatever you know. In addition.

Speaker 2: 21:05

So that was like on a Wednesday or Thursday, and then I go to church, at my church on Sunday, and it was. We have a very contemporary service. We do not sing hymnals and we're in service and all of a sudden, that song is what they're playing in service and all of a sudden that song is what they're playing and they gave a little bit of a snippet of, like the author. They they spoke about the author for a minute and then start singing this hymnal. And I look at my husband like did you hear this? You know, like they're playing that hymnal and um, and so that just I, I was like floored because I didn't actually look at the lyrics and all of the words until I was actually singing them in church. So then that sent me on this whole like, oh, my words.

Speaker 2: 21:55

So I go home and I start looking into all of the words and one part in that song. It says and I raised my Ebenezer and I'm like Lord. What in the world is that Like? What is that? And um, it was um. An Ebenezer is our God, is our rock, and Kristen, when God started putting all these pieces together, that that hymnal is actually out of um of the book of Samuel, out of of second I think it's first or second Samuel and I don't have it right in front of me like the second.

Speaker 2: 22:31

I'd have to look through my journal but I'm sorry, I don't know it right off the top of my head but it's the whole story of Samuel. It's the whole story of Samuel and it is one of the most beautiful stories, as I just went through it and it's like he is the rock and it was so cool. I think I literally told everyone I saw in the next like 48 hours, all about God being our Ebenezer, it was our rock, and how that song is connected to this and I'm sorry, I'm trying to go through my journal really quick to find it. But anyway, all that to say, it was just so cool. And I think that the point is really like he is our everything and it's just like we can breathe and relax. We can breathe and relax and trust.

Speaker 1: 23:24

It is not easy, it is, but man, he is good and um, yeah, I'm sorry if I could find that I wouldn't Um, but anyway how you, um, first of all you listened, you, you heard the song and then you sent to your client, but then, not only that, you went on a treasure hunt. Yeah, like you didn't just let it stop at listening to the lyrics. Then you heard it as a confirmation at your church and then it like kind of unlocked something. Right, oh, yes, he's so fun like I love to say he's so fun but we have to be willing to like go on that little treasure hunt with him. Um, because we could miss out on so many beautiful little treasures if we just let it stop at. Oh, I heard it at church. Cool, right, because you could have done that, but you were led to like go on a little treasure hunt with him I love that, I love that you do that too like quite a bit right totally, totally.

Speaker 2: 24:34

But you know, mean, that's kind of like like I don't know if I could let go of that, I don't know if I could have, but, um, I do love that. Like, I love sharing that with you. Like it's like, yeah, because it is such a discovery, right, like it's like um, it's. That whole verse in the new Testament talks about selling the pearl, or I, I mean selling everything to go get the pearl, because once you find it, you're like, yeah, this is like the stuff I need. Right, like this is the, this is the stuff, that is the, the sustenance, this is what gets me through, right, um, and it's so, um, it's so, so, rich and good. And it doesn't answer my, my need, necessarily, but it's still so good and it does, in the sense that it gives me peace to pass, all understanding that guards my heart and my mind. And yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:29

Well, can I ask and it's just actually making me think of a song. I'm just going to go down this road, but there's a song from Nicole C Mullen called the God who sees. Elroy, and at least for me and maybe you can share on your end like these moments where it is so loud and clear that he is speaking to you and like giving you a direct message. It's like he sees me out of all, like there's so many people in this world and it's overwhelming at times to think that he actually sees, like what we're walking through and we know that he's with us and you know when, when there's been more challenging times, um, the lie would be that you're alone, that you're the only one walking through something like this. How is this like the God who sees? Have you had anything come up with you in those moments of these last few years of in the meantime?

Speaker 2: 26:33

I think in so many ways I love this conversation. I'm like I love even thinking about that, like it makes me think of the sand, like I'm in Florida and one of the things that God had me do was like go to the beach and look at the sand and see if you can count the grains of sand, and, like you know, and I mean I only share that with the women I work with, but I share that with my sons I like I don't want to just gain knowledge and then share it and not receive it, like I need to actually glean from it and I need to teach my kids, you know, the same stuff that I'm learning. I get convicted about that sometimes, like OK, so you know, and they're boys and they're like okay, mom, like okay, um, but they, they, they do their best to listen, but what's that?

Speaker 1: 27:25

like my boys who are like oh wow, mom yeah, you're right, but it's, it's still good they are listening yes, yes, and that's what we're.

Speaker 2: 27:38

You know, that's what we're trying. We're called to do, we're told to train them up and we're called to talk about it in in the, you know streets and when we walk and when we talk, you know when we you know drive places. You know the scripture doesn't say drive but, um, you know we're called to talk about it. So, yeah, so the grains of sand have been one of those things that have, like, reminded me, I think so many times of, like I can't count the sand here in my one beach, right, I can't. And then you think about the whole state of Florida and all the sand and like, seriously, there's sand in my backyard and I do not live by the beach. So, like, because there's no, there's no real dirt here, it's all sand. And then you know, so you think, whoa, like, everybody's yard is based out of sand, and so, like the depths of that. And then you think of, like, arizona or other States, you know the coastal States, or you know the Sahara desert, or you know, like, his thoughts about us are more than the grains of sand, and then you know to be able to think in that terms, like, um, I think that has been super significant.

Speaker 2: 28:45

The other thing that's been really significant for me and it has been really changed, a life change and I I thank God for it is, um, I take several minutes every day and I just listen, I don't speak, I don't you know, even if I get like thankfulness and gratitude, the Lord will stop me and be like right, and that's not, not this time Like who's supposed to talk right now, you or me? And I'm like, okay, you know, and uh, and just reminding myself like that, that actually probably has been the biggest, the largest shift for me and I maybe we I think we might've talked about that, um, separately, but you know, like that, that actually has been really, really important for me, uh, just listening and not speaking, not saying a word, not, you know, controlling my thoughts to let him invade them.

Speaker 1: 29:35

So would you like, if somebody is just kind of wondering, like do you start your day doing that, like right away?

Speaker 2: 29:41

I do not. It's typically in the afternoon, around like around two o'clock, usually, just because that's I have a little bit of downtime right before I go get my son. So I set my timer, I go, I can't go outside, so I absorb a little vitamin D and I go outside and I just sit and I listen Same position, same chair, same time about you know a little bit nearly every day. And when I first started it was like the hardest thing in the world. Even today I hadn't done it in a little like three or four days. I just there are different things going on I hadn't been able to. And I went to sit today and I'm up to 12 minutes a day now.

Speaker 2: 30:29

And when I started I didn't start there. I started like you know three or four or something to you know just whatever I could do. And when I sat down today, I started like you know three or four or something to you know just whatever I could do, um, and when I sat down today, I was like oh, this seems long, um, and and you know, you know having to ask for forgiveness for that because, um, it is the best part of my day. It is the best. I cannot tell you how many times I leave there just refreshed, um, and renewed, and and like there's something that happens physiologically, um, just in sitting there, being present with him, and just listening, and just like, no, I will obey, I will, I will trust, I will just listen.

Speaker 2: 31:06

And you speak, lord, and you know it reminds me of Samuel when he was a child, like you know, just saying, yeah, keep hearing the Lord, and he'd be like, yes, lord speak, your servant is listening. And uh, um, that's just what I feel like when, when it's that time, um, it's so it's not the first day of my day, it's it's later in my day. Because, you know, in the first thing my day, I, you know I have a different set of routine, but that's like my later in the day kind of thing, and it is that like, okay, I don't need that second cup of coffee because I just had you know it sounds corny, but a Jesus encounter. And I know it sounds corny, but it really is like there is something that I can't explain physiologically that happens, it just is healing.

Speaker 1: 31:51

I think I might need to add that to my day.

Speaker 2: 31:54

I think it's, I think it's valuable.

Speaker 1: 31:58

Not only for me, but I'm imagining that somebody else is like, oh my gosh, I've never even considered to do that, just curious, and I could be like somebody else out there that might be having this question as well. My brain is always kind of like in thinking mode, so did you find yourself like sitting there and he'd be maybe saying something over you? And then your brain starts like creating a grocery list.

Speaker 2: 32:26

Sure, absolutely, absolutely, or being like. You know, I I've done it long enough now, I've done it for a couple of years where it's like closing my eyes and like so I'm not. You know, I'm not, that sometimes he doesn't say okay, like, and he's just different with each of us and he just does it differently with each of us. But you know, like I said, there's times where the Lord talks to me and was like, okay, rebecca, who's talking? You or me? And it's like oh, yeah, sorry, lord, you know like, and just drawing me back. You know, cause, um, he knows, like, like I this sounds funny, but to say, but like, I give him permission, and not that he needs my permission, he doesn't, but I, I need to be um, willing, vulnerable, open, like, just like, surrendered so I guess surrendered is the word like like, I surrender my thoughts and my time and I go, yeah, lord, I want to hear you and um, like, I think that's why it reminds me of Samuel just like your servant is listening and I will listen. I will listen, lord, to what you have to say. And, um, you know, and forgive me when I don't. And and yes, like I said, I started short, lord, to what you have to say and you know and forgive me when I don't. And yes, like I said, I started short, like I would. For anybody who wants to try it, I would say start small because it is like it's different. It is different.

Speaker 2: 33:49

But after I started, I've been doing it for several months, maybe close to a year. I heard somebody else speak about it and I was listening to a different podcast and I heard somebody speak about it. I was like, hey, I do that, you know, like, and she just said, you know, it's the greatest thing that she'd ever done. I was like, yeah, I would second that, I would say that, like it, it has been so therapeutic because it it changes, I think it changes our cellular functioning.

Speaker 2: 34:15

I think it just goes deep, right, like, I think in so many ways, spiritually, emotionally, physically, um, but you know I, I'm not perfect at it and so I I get it wrong. And um, and there's been times where the Lord's like okay, get up and walk around the garden. I'm like get up and walk around the garden, I just want to sit here. It's like, no, you're going to learn to listen to me on the go, right and okay, but you know, I just like to sit here and absorb the sun, and you know so. I mean, it's there's different times and different seasons, but yeah, it's just some. It's a practice that I try to do daily and um, yeah, it's food for people.

Speaker 1: 34:58

I'm I'm definitely going to be doing this. Yay, I know I'm actually going to set a timer, like starting tomorrow, at a certain time of day, because I I can imagine like I've I actually set I don't know if you did this too when you're um working with more clients, but I I have a lot of buffer between appointments typically so that I can maybe go for a walk when it, when it's warmer, um, you know, sit down, maybe read. But a lot of the things I do in between are not necessarily like full on, like stop soaking, lay there. In essence, it's doing some kind of activity to rest which is a good thing, but I

Speaker 2: 35:40

can see how, like you said, it's like you're getting filled back up and I don't drink coffee, but I can imagine, like the the kick that you'd get from that yeah, and, and I think anytime we hear him speak, right, like it's, anytime we hear from him, it is, and, and I've had people try this, cause I, you know, I I told just about everyone I know, like people I work with, especially like um, and, and you know, sometimes they'd be like, ah, I just don't hear anything. I don't hear anything, just keep pressing and just keep doing it. You don't give up, um, and just keep, you know, saying Lord, I, you know, I'm your servant, I'm willing to listen and just keep showing up and eventually you will hear Um. I just believe that. I just believe that just take a deep breath and keep trucking and keep trying and keep just being present.

Speaker 2: 36:32

Uh, cause he's present, he says, like if we draw near, he will. So, um, yeah, yeah, so yeah, grocery lists, all the things can happen Right, but um, you know, yeah, but it's, it's, it's definitely that, um, I think it's transform, transformative, so Well, in in those times like, are you often walking away with, since you're in this position of having a nonprofit, having a for-profit?

Speaker 1: 37:02

has he given you any blueprints during those times too? No, or any steps.

Speaker 2: 37:08

um, like business-wise, is it more of on a personal level um, so it's either it, you know it can be either like today when I was sitting, it was, it was business, you know, but um, I would say most of the time it's been more personal and um, and you know in the meantime, like um, do you have a minute? If I talk about kind of that citadel, it's like absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:33

Okay. So, um, this wasn't in that same time. This was. This was just like I feel like I, um, I wake up a lot through the night, um and um, just to pray. I feel like it's kind of my call, I'm okay with it, like I love when I sleep, I do and I really am thankful for sleep. But if the Lord has something on his heart and he wants me to pray about it, I'm like, okay, lord, I will, and we, you know, I've fought with him about it for years. So it's just like you know, it's okay, I really am okay with it. But, um, I was telling you, kristin, earlier about, um, the beginning of this year, my husband and I run a fast together.

Speaker 2: 38:19

Um, you know, we have been, uh, fasting regularly together at the start of the year for a long time and just kind of asking god, like god, it just doesn't feel like there's movement, even though we've been doing this for a long time, or feel like we've established you know a whole, you know a heart posture, and yet, just like man, it doesn't feel like things are moving and going. And one night he woke me up during it this year, and it was this year and I saw a citadel and it was cracked. But I saw it and I was just like Lord, what is that? And I felt like my husband and I were in this citadel. I could see my husband and I kind of had the sense that I was there, but I didn't really know. Later I felt like he revealed that. But I just kind of wrote that down and was asking him and and I I didn't really, wasn't really able to go back to sleep. So then I just got up and started looking, um, and just asking, talking to the Lord, and asking him more about it. So I literally just started looking at what Ed Citadel was. I mean, I knew it had was like military terms, but I didn't really know anything more than that.

Speaker 2: 39:34

And as I kind of got looking, a citadel actually in just the Webster dictionary means stronghold, and I was like, oh no, okay, lord, like what is this? And um, so I I go to got questionscom frequently, um, for I use Bible hub a lot, that's my main source, but I also go to got questions when I don't know and I want a good, solid, um theological answer. So I went there and just Googled like what in the world's a stronghold? And um, cause, I know that there are places where, um, you know the stronghold of God, I read a book on the stronghold of God years ago and I know that there can be good things. So is this a good thing or is this not such a good thing, just asking the Lord?

Speaker 2: 40:27

And um, that question said a few things and I'll just share what they said. It said um, the enemy has erected strongly fortified garrisons, which are permanent military posts that resist truth and thwart God's plans of redemption. And um, they had three areas in which they felt like these strongholds came in through human reasoning, which is reinforced with subtle arguments and pretenses of logic, passion, which is blaming battlements defended by lust, pleasures and greed or pride, and that is the human heart since enthroned, and rebels. And thoughts of um our own excellence and sufficiency. And it just said the enemy is firmly established in these worlds. And I was like, oh, my word, so you know my, you know it's okay. Because I was just like, okay, lord, show me the weapons to attack these strongholds. Like, show me what I need to do.

Speaker 2: 41:34

I guess I would say the largest things with this were repentance. But as we're talking about the meantime, I think the meantime sometimes is about our hearts and our minds and getting those in line, because God wants to do the things in us right, the great things that he's called us for. He's created us for his workmanship. He's created us to do good things, right. He's created those works ahead of time. But if I'm an extension of that, I need to have my heart posture correct right, like I need to be surrendered in some things, and some of it for me was some trust things, and some of it was like crazy things, like it was like Lord, like I don't know if I believe that your goodness, your promises are for me, and there was just some things he was showing me that were so sad and so hard, um, but, and there were some things for my husband that I just felt like I needed to pray through and I shared with you earlier. But, like I ended up with like 12 pages of scripture, 12 pages of notes and, just like this whole, what I felt like was the synodal deliverance and but I won't go through all of that with all of you I sat by bless my husband's heart. I sat him down and I was like, look at what God showed me. So, 12 pages later, he's like, oh my words, he's a good man. But he was so willing to listen and he thanked me for it.

Speaker 2: 42:58

But the place that I started and this is where I will share this and then there was one scripture that kind of wrapped it all up was it was Judges 6.2. And Judges 6-2 says the hand of the Midians were overpowered, or the hand of the Midians overpowered Israel. And because the Midians, because of that, the Midians overtook Israel and made for themselves the Israelites made for themselves dens that are in mountains and caves and in the strongholds. So what I started doing was I started Googling strongholds and scriptures that have strongholds in it and that led me to this Um and um, when I started really kind of peeling this back, when I started pulling this back and really looking into it, like the dens that they made in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds were huge, like it, actually like the commentaries, when you look at the, the Greek and Hebrew, like a lot of it was bringing them back to repentance for any place that they had disobeyed disobeyed the Lord, and repentance was just key and that was the one thing over all of this.

Speaker 2: 44:10

But in a couple of the places, oppression was the consequence for this, for their spiritual decline. Oppression was the consequence and in the oppression, if we ever, you know like, put ourselves before God or put you know, worry before God or put you know, it's all a form of idolatry and so you know, really just a lot, a lot of repenting. But some of the commentaries I read said that the raids were relentless. Like the raids on the Israelites from the Midianites were relentless. They led to widespread fear and insecurity came from that and they attacked the family and attacked the families of god and there was something so much about that.

Speaker 2: 44:55

I was just like, oh lord, this is hurting my heart and it's breaking my heart and yet, at the same time, I need this, like I need to know this, I need to pray through this, and so hence, that's how I got 12 pages of scripture and notes and that would take a whole nother journey if we were to go into all that um, but I I would say then, um, the one scripture where I ended on and my husband and I are reading hosea together right now and um, I would say it is not a common book by any stretch of imagination. I just knew the lord was like you need to read it and it's been so good, but one of the verses in it actually uses the word citadel and I was like I never looked that up in the Bible to see if it was there. So, you know, I'm like all over with it. You know, and it's Hosea 8, 14 actually says you will consume their citadels. And I knew that God was going to crumble this thing. From beginning it was already cracked. I think this was just what I needed to repent from, for deliverance for myself, for healing for my husband and just the healing that we need, that we have needed as a family just not trusting in ourselves, but trusting in god and asking forgiveness for what we have done, those things or, or, you know, gone to any of those places like, like that question said, like human reasoning or passion or pride or any of those things like, lord, forgive us, like we want to have our hearts in line with you.

Speaker 2: 46:30

And some of the commentaries for this Hosea verse talked about how the Israelites just had spiritual amnesia. They would forget their maker. Like they get started and they just forget. You know, like it was just like they'd see the hand of God work and then they'd forget. I was like God, I want to forget.

Speaker 2: 46:47

You know, like I just don't want to forget, but there was just so many things in that, like the symbols of that citadel were like human strength and security and like finding our strength in ourselves and not in our God, even though we've been believers for years and we feel like we trust him. And yeah, it's like there's a whole new level of trust, you know, and it's just like if I really want to ebb and flow with you and just like walk in in true humility, walk in true forgiveness and righteousness, like Lord, forgive me and cleanse me, and you know so. So, like I said, there's a lot here. I don't know if it's helpful for people, but I do think that there is a place for deliverance and it looks different, right, everybody has different ways to be delivered from things. This was just my way of having that and it, you know, it's just what God wanted for us and for our family.

Speaker 1: 47:46

So and I can I mean, I can only imagine, like you were led to share about this, that I know that something on the other end needed to hear what you shared Absolutely. And again you heard Citadel. And you didn't just stop at that. You went on a journey with the Lord to dig in and find out. What does this mean? What does this mean for me, what does it mean for my family? But not only that you're sharing the overflow from what you've experienced in it.

Speaker 2: 48:17

Well, I mean, I, I get so excited about some of the things when God shares something, I get so excited, like I got to tell like a million people, right, I got to tell everyone, um, but I would say the keys, at least for anybody who is longing to have deliverance, is longing to see the hand of God and just surrendered.

Speaker 2: 48:35

Surrendered is like the repentance right, it's the repentance and like I'm not my way but your way, and fasting I believe that fasting was huge and yeah, so, anyway, I think it's heart posture and fasting and just come in boldly to the throne of grace, um, but, yeah, I, I, I, I, yeah, I am that person, kristen, I will dig in, just like you.

Speaker 2: 49:01

And at the same time, I, I, I, I get super excited about a message if I feel like God has got a message and I'm like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah to everyone I know I leave some voice texts, messages to people and I'm like, um, so God was saying and, um, you know, just cause I get delighted and excited about things, but, um, but I've had to learn to sit in some of them too. Like wait, absorb this, take this in, like don't let this go so quickly before you actually learn from this. Like, um, um, so yeah, I feel like the citadel was destroyed a few days actually could actually say that it sounds crazy, but a few days ago actually, and, um, it feels so refreshing and healing and coming out on the other side of it and so the blood of Jesus over us, because I'm proclaiming that but, um, you know but's, it's been really uh, good and sweet and I would say that so good.

Speaker 1: 49:57

Ah well, when you were talking earlier, I just wanted to kind of highlight, you know, just with the water, right, you guys are in the water uh, restoration, restoration, business tree. I guess you could say we're going to say ministry and business. And I love, as you know I've probably shared this with you before but I love hearing stories of the NOAA builders, right, the ones who are out there doing the thing, and I love just even the parallel in some ways with what you're doing and Noah, where you know there wasn't rain and rain is water. There was a flood coming but you couldn't see the flood. There was no sign of a flood and I'm not sure what it's like for you. But I love, honestly, I love that you've kept what you were doing under wraps for a while until you felt a release to share, because sometimes you know, sometimes they'll have us share things right away, but other times we do need to kind of protect that. The new baby, right, the what you're birthing, would you say the new baby right, the what you're birthing, would you say.

Speaker 2: 51:14

Totally, I totally agree, and I had to learn that the hard way, like I didn't always do that, and so you know the. I think once I saw that lived out, where you know the enemy would run rampant on some of those things early on, like it reminds me of Joseph when he told his brothers about the dreams. Right, it's like Whoa, why'd you do that? Right, like, like just hold on to it, yeah, the whole nine to it, but obviously his God is sovereign and the whole thing worked out just the way it was supposed to. Right, but um, but yeah, just that whole, that whole piece, and um, yeah, and I know this has been long, but really quickly, can I share one quick little nugget left and I'll be done.

Speaker 1: 51:55

And we'll probably have to have you back on again.

Speaker 2: 51:59

Well, I love you, my friend. I would come back as many times as you asked. But, um, but I would say this if you are looking for someone to be a friend, to be someone who partners with you, to listen to you, to be your life coach, I would highly recommend and I do recommend Kristen. And let me tell you just my quick version of this. Like one day I was listening it was actually during my listening time and God said meet with Kristen this week. She has a word for you. And I literally wrote that down because I was like, okay, that's like going to be a lot of pressure if I tell her that. God, but you know, it's just like. So I, I reached out to Kristen and we are friends and so I said, hey, kristen, no pressure, but I feel like God has said a word for me. So, um, you know, um, I, I think I just need that word. And um, anyway, long story short, it was we.

Speaker 2: 52:57

We went through some things, you asked me some really good questions. It got me thinking and you gave me a song and I went back to listen to that song and really it came down to a verse. Like there was just that verse and it was like, oh, this is what I need. This is part of probably part of my deliverance, but part of my healing, part of my restoration, and you know it was part of that whole thing. It's like not fearing the future and be able to laugh at the future. You know the Proverbs 31, woman, and that was kind of the ending and I remember going Kristen, that's what I needed right there, right there, that was it. Like I needed to explore that with the Lord and ask him great questions about like what does this mean, lord? And like where am I, you know, lacking and not being able to laugh at the future. So, anyway, I left that and I told my husband because, yeah, so when you work on your counseling degree, you're working on it, you're, you're being counseled at the same time, and it was okay like it was. It was okay, like you know. I'm like, yes, it was okay, but, um, I've been in a lot of supervision and a lot of those kinds of things that can be very parallel, very similar, and some of them are super life-giving and others are not, but they're, you know, because just in the different counseling realms that I've worked in.

Speaker 2: 54:13

But I left that and I was like that was so sweet, like I don't know, like I could see why people would come to me and actually ask me to do this for them, and because it was like I could talk about me the whole time. It was so good and it was just so sweet and I I say all that I'm not making fun of the fact that Katja talked about me, but it was like, oh, someone actually cared enough to listen to me and to pour into me and to pour back onto me their wisdom and their guidance and what God was sharing with them. And I did feel like I was setting you up, like, hey, god said, but it was like, well, even if, still, if it didn't come out, I knew it was going to be okay. But, um, you did, and it was just the, it was just that scripture, because I do believe, like, the scripture is what we need and it was just that, that whole song, that that whole thing, the great questions you asked me, and it was that, that scripture, and that led me on a whole nother treasure hunt and I think that led to some of my freedom.

Speaker 2: 55:16

You know, as far as, like, there were a couple of things that I'm, like you know, obviously trust was a big thing and um, so that's, there's trust, and we will laugh at the future, right, and and I am not going to say that I am a hundred percent holy and I'm there, like in no way, but I am on my way and um, and that feels healing and good and I just thank you. I want to say thank you publicly and, um, if anybody is on the fence and literally on the fence I know Kristen, your picture is on the fence, but on the fence wondering if they should work together with Kristen, I would a hundred percent say yes and amen, go do it, because, um, she was just what I needed right in that moment and and I just so value um that, and I just say thank you, my friend.

Speaker 1: 55:59

You're so sweet, thank you. I mean, it was such an honor to hear from you and the beauty is that you know, in this journey of you know being, I like to say, life coach, like helping bring life to people Right, um, it's almost like one of those heart what do you call those things that help you put those claps on your heart? Boom. You know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1: 56:23

Help the heart kind of revitalize, right. So, um, the beauty is that it is a three-way call with Holy Spirit. It's, um, it's a dance, right, and I am very different than I mean I've evolved even since going through coaching school, because it is very outside the box. So, um, it's just beautiful to be able to come alongside women and help unlock. It's no greater joy. It's like what you do as well, right?

Speaker 2: 56:55

Yeah, yes, I think, like I said, I yes a hundred percent. I do feel like there's different seasons and there's like I feel like I'm training people. I think more that do that you know, and like I'm working with, like I said, counselors and stuff that, like you know and like I'm working with, like I said, counselors and stuff. But yes, I don't know, somehow it will always be a part of my life and scripture really is an important piece for me. It's like counseling and teaching the scriptures, like just like somehow God uses that to set me free and I feel like he's going to use that in the lives of other. I hope he uses it in lives of other people. I feel like that's what part of my calling is. I have no idea how that has to do with water, but, you know, wait and see, I guess.

Speaker 1: 57:38

Yeah, you know, like I said earlier, it's it's it's seeing those who are willing to do something different and continue on, even though, like it might look crazy to others. You know, a lot of the things I'm doing might look crazy to others, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love the wild journey. Yes, yes, there's so much freedom in it and there's no going back, Like there's no turnarounds here, there's no plan B, there's just like he's got us and we're going to keep going because he's got us and we have. I could keep going, but yeah, I'll stop there for now. But I would love for you to just take a minute at the end of every podcast. I, you know, I do this for the one right, and I'm sure there's more than one maybe that you're going to listen to, you know, today, but would you just think of you know one woman who's listening in today and do you have anything that you'd want to share? Speak over her, and then would you pray us out today.

Speaker 2: 58:38

Absolutely, um, I would say that, um, I think repentance and deliverance are key to moving forward, um, and and just kind of, as far as like, um, yeah to that surrendered lifestyle, Um, like, I just feel like there's health in it, there's just a lot of health in it and healing, um, and restoration. So, like, for the one that is like, um, challenged with it, I think, at the first place, is to begin by asking the lord, okay, lord, now, what, like, what do I do? Um, is this your heart for me? Um, and I, I believe people share and he will know, like, this is the way we walk in it. You know, like now, or if anything rang true today, that they would just, um, take those little bits and start there, um, and go, go from that. Um, I do feel like, um, yeah, I just feel like deliverance is key and yeah, yeah, anyway, I will pray and um, yeah, I just I pray that it was useful and I feel like, well, house, which is what my husband and I are building and championing, is living water underneath all of it, right, like, the heart of it is living water. So, if you don't care, I'm going to pray and I'll pray living water to flow and work out from there.

Speaker 2: 1:00:10

Father, I just love you and I just say thank you. I thank you for my sweet friend, kristen and her beautiful ministry. God, lord, I just ask for your heart for her and for the one and all the ones. I thank you that you go before us and you block out anything that's against us. Holy Spirit, you live out in us in power and truth and in love. God, I pray that you would forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of unrighteousness. When we take our eyes off you and we become to focus and we don't even mean to God, I think sometimes it becomes about worry or or fear, or anxiety, or frustration, or anger or bitterness or whatever entrapment God, the enemy, wants to snatch us up in and get us off course.

Speaker 2: 1:00:56

So I just ask that you would highlight those things for women and men, for anyone who's listening, god, you would highlight those. So they are like red flags and they can see them, like almost see like the battlefield before them and see those pits and those places like whoa, there's a trap there. It's like a bear claw or you know I think of, like all the ones listed in scriptures, fetters and all the things. It just feels like a battlefield and, god, you win the battle. You actually fight our battles and we can trust you and we can actually lean into you.

Speaker 2: 1:01:35

And so I don't know all the things that need to be prayed, I don't know all the things that people need or all the positions that need healed, but I know that I trust you and I just ask for these people that you would bring healing and you would help align them with truth and align them with your heart, align them with righteousness, align them with leaning into you and forgive us when we got caught up in any entrapments of the enemy. Just forgive us, god, and then heal us and heal those we love and the broken and the shattered. I pray would come into healing. Lord, I pray for living waters to flow and I thank you for my sweet friend Kristen.

Speaker 2: 1:02:18

I bless her and I bless her ministry and I say thank you that you allow her voice to be heard and you allow me to be an extension of that today and just thank you, father, we love you and, um, god, as I just close, I just feel like man, forgive us of our sins, like just forgive us. Forgive us for looking anywhere else, but you and we trust you and know more of you, and here this is the way. Walk in it, god. Confirm the things that you confirmed and bring deliverance and healing. To Christ Jesus' name, I pray Amen.

Speaker 1: 1:02:54

Thank you, rebecca. You're amazing. Thank you for being a brave voice, setting others free. I'm going to close with our anchoring verse. It is made the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound, I'm going to add wild hope in wild hope, amen. So I will be sure to have Rebecca's contact information in the show notes information about Well, house, water and any other resources that she would like me to share with you guys. So I will be back with another episode next week. Thanks, rebecca, hope to have you back another time. Have a good day everyone.