Rachel Smith’s Brave Exit: Leaving the School System to Embrace Purpose

In this Hope Unlocked podcast episode, Kristin Kurtz welcomes Rachel Smith, an educator, leader, and woman of faith, to share her powerful journey of breaking free from limiting systems and stepping into her God-given calling. Rachel reflects on her 17-year career in education, her experience helping plant a church in Arizona, and the pivotal moments that led her back to Texas, where she embraced both spiritual and professional transformation. She opens up about overcoming fear, standing up against injustice in the workplace, and discovering her true voice. Rachel’s testimony highlights themes of resilience, healing, and trusting God’s guidance through seasons of transition. If you’ve ever felt stuck in a system that suppresses your gifts, this episode will inspire you to seek freedom and embrace your unique calling. Tune in for an authentic conversation about faith, courage, and the journey toward freedom.

Rachel's contact info:

Website - truthispureandsimple.com

Instagram - @truthispureandsimple and @rksmitty

Facebook - Pure & Simple Blog

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Hope Unlocked
• 1:00 Meet Your Host, Kristen Kurtz
• 9:50 Rachel Smith’s Journey to Rediscover Purpose
• 16:20 The Power of Listening to Your Calling
• 23:45 Finding Hope in the Midst of Burnout
• 34:15 Building Resilience in Education and Life
• 48:30 Unpacking the Role of Community Support
• 56:00 Embracing Creativity and Identity
• 1:02:10 Closing Thoughts and Prayer

Transcript

Speaker 2: 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.

Speaker 1: 0:40

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. Welcome Rachel Smith to the show. I am just absolutely excited to have her here today. We are a new connection actually on Instagram. Excited to have her here today. We are a new connection actually on Instagram and when I heard you know part of her story, what she's walking through, I knew that we had to have her on today to have her share her story and get her voice out there and share what she's doing. So, rachel, would you be open to sharing a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 3: 1:24

So, rachel, would you be open to sharing a little bit about yourself? Sure, thank you so much, kristen, for having me on. I'm very honored. So I have been in education for about 17 years, took a, took a five year break because, truthfully, just the, the system, you know, was um, too too confining, too harsh, and um, I was, I was like Lord, there's more inside of me and, um, I had, at the same time, moved to uh, he moved me to help plant a church in Arizona and so took five years off and then wandered, felt like I was wandering around the desert, and the literal desert, but also spiritual desert, and the Lord had told me that he would make a way in the desert and streams, in the wasteland. He gave me Isaiah 43, 18 and 19. And that's what he did.

Speaker 3: 2:36

And two years before I ended up moving back to Texas, I didn't know I was going to be moving back to Texas. But moving back to Texas, I didn't know I was going to be moving back to Texas. But, um, I saw this. I was at my, you know, uh, corporate nine to five job as a receptionist and I was just doing my work and I completed what I was doing and I saw this vision of one of my former students, um, just come back, you know, to me, like, like it was when I, you know, when I was teaching her and I heard the Holy Spirit say you're going back into the classroom, you're going back to education. And I was like, no, I don't that, that must not be the Lord, you know. But sure enough, that is that's where he landed me. You know, I ended up working at a classical, being trained and working at a classical liberal arts school, a charter school, and it was. It was pretty rocky at first, you know, getting back into it I had layers of fear to wade through and combat. And just because my experience in my first four years in the ISD, in public schools, was so horrific, it was so bad that but I didn't realize at the time the Lord was, he was healing me, he was beginning my, my healing process and, um, and so I taught, I taught in, uh, two different schools but within the same, the same network of schools, and for two years.

Speaker 3: 4:20

And then, and then, um, kind of my, my time came, came up of being being out there, um, I had actually moved on from the, from the church, and moved, moved to a different church and came to this crossroads and the Lord was. The Lord was like well, I trust you, so you can either move back to Texas you know where I'm from, I'm from Texas, um, fort Worth, born and raised and or you could stay here in in, you know, in the Valley, and I'll continue doing what I'm doing in your life. And uh, and he was like so the choice is yours. No-transcript. I felt like at another crossroads and I just I was so burned out on education. I didn't even though the Lord had started healing my heart. I was like I don't. There's more in me. You know, more than um just an educator, and not that you know educators are amazing, um, just an educator, and not that. You know educators are amazing, amazing humans, um, but I had just never had a like truly breakthrough type experience in in teaching.

Speaker 1: 5:56

Can I ask you that there's more feeling, because I remember that feeling myself, like what did? What was that experience like for you, Like viscerally? Can you remember? Like the feeling? I know you're a feeler as well.

Speaker 3: 6:10

Yeah, the feeling of leaving or moving back.

Speaker 1: 6:14

Knowing that there's more, and yet oh knowing there's more. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 6:18

Right, yeah, well, that and that was part of my um, kind of part of my story, with planting the church and leaving, you know, leaving education. The first time I I just have had my life Life story has been like I have felt like a very creative person, shut up inside of myself, if that makes sense, like like locked up inside. Um. I grew up in a, in a very creative family, very, very large creative family, and we're all we all have similar, similar, like giftings, and but then also are very, we're very different in how we um, how we manifest them, I guess, or how they're expressed. And um, I grew up in the middle of four boys, um, yeah, and the only girl of you know my mom and dad's kids, and I have two, two half sisters, wonderful half sisters, but I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't raised with them, and so my formative years I was, I was in the middle of all these, all these boys and um, who are? They are my best friends. I love them. I call them my first, first best friends. Um, but and with, with, with a really strong, uh, strong personality, uh, father, father figure, and I, somewhere along the lines, I believed a lie. The enemy got me to believe a lie that I wasn't creative and that I like, um, also also, too, that I, that I wasn't like feminine or girly or whatever, which is which is wild. I am now, but, um, when I was younger and so I, um, I also like, found, found a way to relate with my dad through sports and and I was just naturally athletic Like I got. I got that from him, but I always wanted to. I always wanted to like dance and sing and, you know, do do these other express my giftings in these other ways. And because I believe that lie, I ended up, um, you know, and I'm glad that I did sports, but I ended up basically becoming the like family resident, jock and um, I, it taught me a lot about, like, self-discipline and you know, um, I got to express my strength in in different ways and I bonded with my dad over it, all that kind of thing.

Speaker 3: 9:10

But once I got into, you know, young adulthood and and um, and then adulthood, I was like I, I know I'm a voice, I know I love to sing, I love to um, worship the Lord and lead others in worship, and I love to dance and um, and I, I love to use my voice. I love to talk to people that kind of thing and I just I came to this crossroads of like education not being what I thought it would be and kind of feeling suppressed, not kind of feeling suppressed because of the system, Although at the time I didn't know that that's what was going on. And and so I saw this, the Lord gave me this release and was like yep, we're moving you, moving you to Arizona and you're going to help pioneer and start this church, you know, with these people from the ground up. And it was.

Speaker 3: 10:13

It was very liberating, um, but also scary at the same time, because I was like I so to describe that feeling was like I know there's more inside and and I and I know and I trust in my relationship with the Lord. I mean, I've been walking with the Lord since I was six years old and, and so that's what, 33 years now. But I was like I know that he's not, he didn't put this in me, these desires and these dreams in me, for no reason, right, and I remember saying that to to my worship pastor and I remember saying like I feel like. I feel like I just need to be unlocked, be unlocked.

Speaker 3: 11:01

So it's funny that that your podcast is called Hope Unlocked, because, um, and I've, truthfully, Kristen, been praying and asking the Lord to to bring the key, or bring the keys if it, if it's going to take, you know, whatever it's going to take, and, um, I mean, obviously he is the key, but it uh, that I don't know if that did that answer your question about how it felt.

Speaker 1: 11:29

I mean for me, it's like I I had that there's more cry in my heart too, and I knew that there was more than what I was doing. Yeah, after I was released, I had this vision of of women in cages, like that their wings were clipped, that they couldn't fly, but they knew they could fly, they just didn't know a way out. Right, so it's this containment, right, and that's not what. That's not his best for us. So I want to go back a little bit, if you're okay with that. One thing I always, I'm always very curious about, um, one thing I always I'm always very curious about. I'm just a curious person, anyways, but I'm always curious about, um, like what got you into teaching in the first place? Like what led you to go to school for education.

Speaker 3: 12:18

Yeah, I love that. I love that question. Um, I have asked myself that question. I have asked myself that question. I have always had. You know, I think some of it is, you know, through through my mom. My mom was a kindergarten teacher. You know, my whole life, for 33 years, 33 years, and she's, she's the quintessential, you know, kindergarten teacher, um, just very patient, very long-suffering, uh, very sweet, and so that's the, that's the kind of female, uh role model you know I grew up with and, but I I have always had this connection and um, yeah, just ease, I guess, is a good word uh, with children and I've always loved them. So I've always had like a mothering, like heart, mothering, nature, um, even since, you know, from being a little girl. But growing up I started realizing like kids really respond to me, you know, and they, they get me and I get them, they get that, I get them. You know, um, and I I've been using this analogy.

Speaker 3: 13:39

It's kind of like um, it's kind of like in the movie the santa claus with tim allen, um, I, I think in movies and music lyrics and songs, but um, or scenes from movies, but when he's becoming santa claus and he's, he's like fighting it. You know he's fighting his identity and um, and he goes to the soccer his son's soccer game and all the kids start lining him up, lining up, you know, at the, at the bench, to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for christmas. That's how I am with kids and it doesn't matter where I go, it doesn't matter, like the age that they are, it's like they're just, they're just drawn, drawn to me and I am, you know, vice versa, but usually it's just so.

Speaker 3: 14:35

I have come to learn that it's I'm anointed you know there's anointing there, and I think that I think that a big part of that is because of my journey and my walk, like God is really, he's really protected, um, my, the, the purity, you know, um, purity and childlike, like innocence, um, and growing, you know, grown into a, uh, a full-blown woman of God, but still carrying that. And so I think that kids see that, you know, ultimately they don't know it's Jesus, some of them do, but it is, it's Jesus. It's Jesus, some of them do, but, but it is, it's Jesus. And um, I like, even when I've tried, you know, um, not not working with kids, I it's just, it just kind of always, naturally, um comes back to that. So, um, yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty undeniable Um, and the Lord has given me favor because I will, you know, just be myself with, with these kids, whether I'm teaching them or, or, you know, babysitting them or naming them, however, whatever the connection is them, however, whatever the connection is, and um, and it's really cool, I've seen the lord minister through my, you know, through me, ministering to the kids and then they tell their parents and their parents are like, oh my gosh, we, you know well, our kids just love you, you know, and they're just kind of baffled and um, and then they end up being ministered back, you know to, and it's kind of this like circle.

Speaker 3: 16:31

So, um, I, I think that's when I, when it was time to go to college, I was like, well, and it was funny because I always said I would never be a teacher. Um, you know, I grew up in school. Obviously, my mom, my mom, was a teacher, so I was, you know, and they used to make. I loved school, but they used to make jokes. They're like Rachel, if we had a cot, you know, you would, you would live up here, you would sleep up here. And I'm like, well, I cause, I just that was my norm, you know, I was there all the time and, um, but, and I did, I, I was like I don't, I don't want to be a teacher, it's hard, um, and I almost didn't, I almost didn't make it through my undergrad, you know, um, yeah, I had.

Speaker 3: 17:20

Just, I had so much, so much warfare and at every turn, and it was like, like with just different professors that didn't like me for whatever reason, and I almost, I almost I think I had to make a certain grade in one of these education classes, or classes we had to take for education and for my degree, and I took it three times, I think. I took that class three times and the professor just like would not, I mean, and I was studying my hiney off and uh, he just would not pass me. And so, um, I went to the dean and I was like there's got to be another way or I'm gonna have to change schools. You know, anyway, the lord, the lord made it, made a way through. But, um, actually, my, my roommate and best, best, best friends found an online class and I got it approved and I took it that summer and I made an A. So the Lord, the Lord, made a way and, yeah, and then just continues to keep me working with, working with kids.

Speaker 1: 18:44

So so you, you made it through that season and then did you get right into like teaching, like what, what age bracket?

Speaker 3: 18:54

yeah, yeah, I um graduated. Um. I graduated in 07 and 2007 and um, and it took about. I was a December grad Um, so it took from December right up until August and I found I finally found my first teaching job, um in 2008 at at the, at a public school here in Texas, and um, it was like, but it was like four days before school started, so I jumped in and um, and that was I was probably I was 23,. I think, yeah, 23 at the time.

Speaker 1: 19:42

So what was that experience? Like I know you said I think you mentioned that um was it years that you were in the public school system.

Speaker 3: 19:51

Yeah, I was in, uh, four years. So I was, yeah, I was 27 when I moved to Arizona. I it was very I used the word oppressive because it's very accurate Just lots of very oppressive, very toxic, lots of there. There wasn't, there wasn't good leadership, there wasn't good leadership. And then that trickled all the way down and there was, like I was wide-eyed and doe-eyed, you know, like, oh, you know, I'm a brand new teacher. It's going to be so great I'm going to get to impact the lives of all these kids and and um, from the very beginning it was, it was very challenging because of the system.

Speaker 3: 20:48

Now, I didn't know that back then because I was brand new um, but the way that teachers are are treated and like just not supported through whether it be through monetary, but also like especially behavior, you know actual, you know social behavior, social and emotional behaviors with the kids. And I had a very strong willed child in my class and you know, and I'm a brand new teacher, but so I'm learning how to like, how to grow and build classroom management and the administration. A lot of times what happens is the administration is not supported and then you have that multiple of these types of students and then um, so it trickles all the way down, you know, to the, to the teacher, and then being on the, on the teacher's shoulders and um, it just it was very that my first year was. They always say your first year of teaching is really hard.

Speaker 3: 22:03

Um, but really hard, but it was very challenging and I realized right away that I was like, okay, this is going to be an uphill battle, but the Lord is good, he is faithful and he always sends us who or what um we need. And I ended up having, for the most part, had a really good team, um, but there was I I tell her all the time, we're still friends to this day but a lady on my team. She was like a big sister and she was a fellow believer, which was helpful. Um, and she had vowed to. She had been at another school, um, in one of, I think, one of her first teaching positions and she had seen the way these, these teachers have been treated and or how she was treated. That's what it was. How she was treated and um, and she was like I made a vow that you know, no injustice was going to happen on my watch like that.

Speaker 3: 23:16

No, teachers around me were gonna, we're gonna go down you know, and um, and so she really like, provided the Lord, through her, provided the support I needed. And um, we were, we, we, we say all the time, even to this day, like we walked through fire together, because we literally walked through fire together, um, but looking back, you know, we live life forward and we understand it backwards.

Speaker 3: 23:44

I, looking back now, I I see what, what the Lord was doing. He was, he was forging me, you know, in the fire and and purifying me and, um, and getting me to and getting me to look only to him, you know, and, uh, every year I would pray, every school year I would. I would pray, lord, is it is my time up? Is it, is it done? Are we done? And um, and I, I also had a very, I had a very challenging boss who she, just she liked to strong arm people and she was a bully. I'll just, I'll just say it out loud Um, and they, she, she tried to like, quote unquote bully me and um, and I, I responded with, I didn't react, I responded with strength and and stood up for myself.

Speaker 3: 24:52

And um, and then, uh, but, but going through that, I, I earned her respect and after that that was my, that happened my second year and then, after that, the Lord made it was really cool the Lord made a way, uh, for me to um, start having an more of an impact on her because, uh, she, she now respected me. You know, she saw, she saw the authority that I worked. I walked in, even at a young age. You know, she saw, she saw the authority that I worked. I walked in, even at a young age. You know, being a young, young teacher, and that I think it was my second no it was my third year.

Speaker 3: 25:36

I ended up leaving kindergarten and I moved up to a to a first to first grade team because enrollment was down or something like that. And so I moved up to a, to a first to first grade team because enrollment was down or something like that, and so I was moving to a new team and I was a little nervous because I was like you know, I had walked through all this stuff with with my team and and, um, and my friend and who had had been such a help, was like she was like her name's melanie. She was like it's gonna be okay, rachel. I don't know why, but I feel like this is probably gonna be your, your best year here. And and it ended up being so, um, because the there are a couple ladies on that team who who were so excited, who I was already friends with, that they were so excited that I was joining because, uh, to offset some of the stronger personalities on that team, and one of them had one of them approached me and she said, she said we're so excited she's like do you know?

Speaker 3: 26:40

You don't, do you know what the word on the street about you is in our school? And I was like no, what, what is you know when you, when you, when people are saying things behind your back but you don't, you don't know, you know, you don't know what you don't know. And, um, I was like, no, what is the word on the street about me? And they, and she said, oh, it's good. She said that you don't let anyone you know mess with you or do like you don't, you don't let anyone take advantage of you. And I was like, well, that's true. Um, so it was cool because I had, I had taken a stand and I had, you know, and it's like that, it's like that Billy Graham quote you know about when you, when you straighten your spine and you stand and you walk tall, it does that for others that are watching.

Speaker 3: 27:37

What.

Speaker 1: 27:38

One of my favorites.

Speaker 3: 27:40

Yes, I love that quote. I'm like, yes, billy Graham, did you have any.

Speaker 1: 27:45

you know, before you took that stand, what was going through your mind? Was there like any fear, or you just oh, yes.

Speaker 3: 27:53

Oh yes, I had had a nervous breakdown actually.

Speaker 1: 27:57

We need to kind of capture this a little bit for somebody who's listening, Like what was that experience like? Capture this a little bit for somebody who's listening Like. What was that experience like? Because in our day and age we need more people who are willing to take a stand. So you know there's a lot of trepidation in doing so, but what was your journey like in taking a stand?

Speaker 3: 28:23

That's actually a word that's coming a lot again this week is literally the word stand. So what was that like for you? Yeah, um, I I remember feeling on the inside like, like Rachel, you're stronger than this, you know, like, you know the Lord, you know who he is, and uh, but at the same time, because of the, because my circumstances were screaming in my face, you know, I mean, she, my boss, wrote me up and she wrote me up on something that I didn't do. It was based off of someone I think it was actually someone on my team's, you know word against me, and so it was a huge injustice. And but I was I'm a new, brand new out of college teacher, like you know, year, year and a half out of college, and she's talking about taking my livelihood. You know, like I got, I got written up and then it was a veil, it was a veiled threat and um, and I do I remember, yeah, I mean, I had a borderline like nervous breakdown and I ended up at my, at my parents house, and I was, um, I was, you know, bawling my eyes out, very upset and um, they ended up, they ended up calling my, my friend, Melanie, on my team.

Speaker 3: 29:49

That was like a big sister and you know, and she she'd been in a little longer and she was like this is what you know in her, some of her experiences she's like just practically gave me, gave me tips on what I could, what I could do, and I was a part of a, um, I was a part of a, uh, teacher union and um, and so I contacted the lawyers with that, with that teacher union, and I was like, you know, is there anything that I can do? Like to defend myself, blah, blah, blah and um, they were like, well, because your boss has and this happens a lot and and people don't don't really talk about it, but um, or if they do, I haven't, you know, I haven't ever heard it but um, the, the principal had so much tenure, you know, she had been teaching or being an administration for 20 something years and was near, near retirement or like on her way to retirement, and so the way that the system looks at that is like, well, you're a, you're a low man, low man woman on the totem pole. You know what? What is your word? It's just going to put a target on your back.

Speaker 3: 31:08

And I was like, well, there's gotta be something that I can do Right, like, and they said well, you, you write a rebuttal to all of the, all of the things in the writeup you know against you and, and at the very least least you, you leave a paper trail and you say, okay, well, if you're gonna put this on my file, then then attach this.

Speaker 3: 31:31

and, and so the lord, the holy spirit, led me through that. I, I, I wrote all that out. This lawyer helped like word it accurately, and um, and sent it to. I put it in her box, just the way she did in mine, and, uh, and I went out. I went out of town for the weekend and just processing it, leaving it at the feet of Jesus, and then I came back and um Monday morning called I got my name called over the intercom, I kid you not and I went down there and I was, I wore your face on right, like I was ready to go, and I sat, sat in front of her and I don't want it to do it in love for sure. That was that's my heart, but that was the standing up and strength that you're. You can try, you know, but I'm not gonna fold. And um, and so she ended up apologizing and like kind of backpedaling and was like said something about I just want you to be a rock star, and I remember being like this is not the way that you do that.

Speaker 1: 32:52

And then she said that Say that again. Same meeting that you had, like when you got called in to the principal.

Speaker 3: 33:00

Yeah, yeah, and, and I, I just told her, I said that's, that's not how you approach it, you know, like you didn't, you didn't ever come tell me I was doing anything wrong, I was not given leadership, you know, feedback. And uh, that was me responding in strength and standing and and uh, she, she backed down and then, from that moment on, that was when she, uh, I had earned her respect and um, and then flash forward to when I moved, you know, moved, to Arizona. My last day at this is really cool, because God redeemed it Um, my last day at the school, I was packing up, you know, my, my classroom and taking stuff to the, to my car and saying my goodbyes, you know, going around saying my goodbyes to all my friends, and um, it was a big school, I mean very like, I think like 800, 800 students for an elementary school, that's pretty big. And um, and she came, my boss found out somehow, I guess, from someone, that I was, that I was about to leave. And um, and I had already, you know, I had told her I didn't, didn't sign my contract and I had told her, you know, I'm moving, moving on faith to to Arizona, and uh, which she was actually from Arizona, which was funny, um, but she comes running down the hall like Rachel, like, like, shouting my name it was like a scene in a movie shouting my name, like don't leave yet. And she ran up to me and, I kid you not, gave me the biggest hug and she was like you're, you're such a great teacher, we're gonna miss you so much. I'm just believing the best for you.

Speaker 3: 35:04

It was like what? And I had asked in my resigning, I had asked for a. You know, because I'm a new, I'm new in my career, you know, four years is not very long and I had asked her for a letter of recommendation and the. When the Lord told me to do that, I was like what God, like we don't have, we're not warm and fuzzy right, like it has not, it has been not been, uh, the greatest of journeys. And he was like, just trust me, you need to ask her for a letter of recommendation.

Speaker 3: 35:44

And so I did. And she was she, yes, she was like yes, of course I will. And it was a glowing report of me and how wonderful I was to work for, work with and all this and I to work for, work with and all this, and I I'm not kidding kristin I put my. I put the write-up letter that I had gotten you know two and a half or three years before, and the and the letter of recommendation side by side, and I was like this is god, like only jesus could do this.

Speaker 1: 36:22

That is the epitome of flipping the script. Yes, so, yeah, so fast forward to the 2020s. What are you up to? What has been going on these last five years?

Speaker 3: 36:40

Wow A lot. Um, the last five years have been very trying, but in different ways. Um, I so I just I always thought, when I moved back from from Arizona, I thought, from from Arizona, I thought, okay, like this is the season God's gonna launch, you know, he's gonna launch me, he's gonna launch, I'm gonna take flight, you know, with, with the gifts and callings that are, that are in me, and I was like, surely, after that seven year, you know, or 10 year stretch, right, and he led me to stay in teaching, which, at the time, I was not happy about, because up until that point, I hadn't had, you know, very many positive experiences and it's never been, you know, about the kids, like I love, I love kids. It's, it's everything surrounding the kids. And and the Lord had I, two years before I moved back from Arizona in 2017, I had started.

Speaker 3: 38:07

One of my brothers here had been a part of the we call them the OG, one of the originals of when Upper Room Church in Dallas started, and so he and his family were going, they were attending Upper Room, and so when I would come back and visit on holidays, I would go to Upper Room with them and I just fell in love. I was like, just on my journey of faith, the Lord had been leading me, personally, deeper and I was like this is an amazing place. And I started watching the prayer sets back in Arizona, just in my time with the Lord, and I was like, if I ever do move back to Texas which I didn't think that I would, and there's a story to that too, and there's a story to that too, but there's a story to everything. But I, I was like, if I ever do move back to Texas, I'm, I know this is where God's God's going to put me. I'm going to, I'm going to go to upper room. And that's what I did.

Speaker 3: 39:16

I ended up going to upper room and my sister-in-law, the wife of that same brother, um, was like Rachel, they have a school. And I was like, no, I don't want to teach, I want to, I want to blog, I want to write, I want to speak. You know, I want to do all these things. I don't want to teach. And um, she's like, well, just check it out, you know. And so I did. And, um, I ended up, I ended up working there. They had been.

Speaker 3: 39:51

It was a it's not very well known, but, um, a mother's day started out as a mother's day out program, so like just for little littles, and um, the director ended up. It was her she started it for with her kids in mind and, um, as they grew, you know, she wanted to grow the school so that they could keep going there, and so it was growing into an elementary school when I arrived on the scene and I got hired, and so I actually got hired to teach first and second grade, because it was so small, I think I only had two first graders, and then like six or seven, no, seven second graders, um, anyway, ended up pioneering, helping pioneer, that uh to sixth grade. And then, um, in 2023, the lord, but all the time, you know, still still having that feeling, like we're talking about, of like there's more right, there's more, there's more inside Um, and then, you know, more hope deferred because things, things that I thought would happen. I thought, you know, I would get involved in the worship ministry. I thought just different things would happen, didn't, didn't happen and those doors, doors didn't ever open.

Speaker 3: 41:21

But 2023 came and I heard, clearly, I was driving to school one morning and I heard the Holy spirit say it's time to get a bigger pot and I, I had realized I had outgrown you know, I had outgrown that that space at least, you know, I had more capacity in me. Um, that was that was not being tapped into. And so, um, I stepped out in faith, and that was hard too, because, um, that had been. Now, you know, looking back and I kind of saw this as I was wading through it that the Lord, in 2016, when I was still in Arizona, had told me you're going to sit at my feet. He told me to basically unplug from all of the ways I was sitting, serving and pioneering, you know, at at the church in in Arizona, and he's like you're going to sit at my feet and, um, and be like Mary, learn to be like Mary and and let me heal you. And so, um, my season at at Upper Room was just that like I was. I arrived pretty broken, pretty battered, uh, pretty weary, and it's a, it's a house of prayer, right? So, um, all I, all I did was, I mean, you know, I worked there, but I just would go and weep and I'm a I'm a weeper, um, but I would would go and weep and I'm a weeper, but I would just sit in his presence and sit at his feet and weep. And I remember talking to.

Speaker 3: 43:15

I was a part of a Bible study with one of the worship leaders and it was a 6 am Bible study and I was describing you know, kind of like where I had been and what was happening. And she said, rachel, I saw a picture of you, like you were basically like you're going through heart surgery, but you just keep, you continue to say something, like you continue to throw yourself up onto the operating table. And you know so, the, the great surgeon, you know, can heal, you, can work on your heart and heal you. And I said, I mean, she was spot on and you know, didn't know, didn't know any of this, you know about my story. And I said, well, and I was bawling and I just said, well, I don't, I, I desperately don't want to bleed on anyone.

Speaker 3: 44:15

You know, um, I didn't want my wounds from from the past, like, and they were, they were church wounds, um, cause, you know, building a, building a church from the ground up is is not for the faint of heart. Um, and I just I had learned through that whole season that, you know, God had really taught me uh, forgiveness is key, you know, and, as we know, it sets us free. It doesn't, you know, doesn't have anything to do with the other person, and so I was literally doing that and, um, uh, that's what happened. God, god used that time. It was really cool because I think one time I I realized in my journaling with the lord, I realized, oh, my gosh, only you, lord, like only you, can send me to one place and heal me from all these wounds from different, different things in my life. Right, like, so he sent me to one, one place, teaching at a, at a school and in my church, and it healed my heart in education, and then it healed my heart in church, like ministry at the same time. So that was, that was a pretty cool revelation.

Speaker 3: 45:49

Um, but, yeah, 2023, he was like it's time to time to get a bigger pot, and so I'm thinking, oh, yes, okay, here it is. This is OK, here it is. This is two years ago. Here it is, we're going to, we're going to launch now, ok, awesome, no, and I applied at all these different jobs and like, outside of teaching, some, some in teaching, but outside of outside of teaching, of teaching, some, some in teaching, but outside of outside of teaching. And uh, and I was like, okay, this, you know, god gave me this word, this, this, what's gonna happen, you know? And um, and he, all of those doors shut except, yeah, all of them, except for one, and it was at this, at this other classical school in the metroplex. And I was like and I, um, so, and I took the job and I mean from from the moment I stepped on to that, that space, I, you know, I'm a, I'm a discerner, I'm a feeler, um, prophetic, Like I, I could just sense, I was hopeful, right, I'm always, I'm always hanging on to hope. Who is a man whose name is Jesus? But I was just like Lord, I don't know about this, you know, and, but I was obedient and I was faithful and that that leads to present day. It was, that was the last 18 months and 2024, like end of 2023, 2024. Uh, it was like Shadrach, meshach and Abednego in the furnace, um, and when the King said to turn it up seven times hotter, that's that's what it has felt like.

Speaker 3: 48:02

And um, just through, um, yeah, just all the demands, um, all the pressure that is placed on the classroom teacher, um, and then lack of lack of resources, lack of people to support, and it's never the people. I love people and God has made me very versatile. He's made me very, you know, and I've chosen to partner with him to allow the fruit of the Holy Spirit to grow in me and through me. And this actually was just such a wonderful class, but I knew at the beginning of so the first last year was great. We had a really good team. He placed me with that's probably the best team that I've that I've worked on in my years in education and um, we bonded, the three of us and um, and it was, it was good. I mean it was. It was good and hard and um, but it's, it's always helpful when you have, you have camaraderie, right, like you have um, unity and peace, um, and so we made it to the end of the end of last school year and I and one of my other teammates.

Speaker 3: 49:38

I remember thinking we were both thinking the same thing and we're talking about it, and she was a believer too. And she, she was like, well, let's keep in tabs over the summer, cause we, we both didn't want to return is what I'm trying to get at. And, um, I was like I'm gonna, I'm gonna do my best, you know, this summer to to be praying and fasting and and contending, you know, for direction. Because all the while, like I, the, oh, the, I forgot to say this the Lord had said um, in the, at the very beginning of that job in September of 2023, because I just was very candid, I'm very candid with the Lord I said.

Speaker 3: 50:24

I said, holy Spirit, I don't want to do this. I'm going to do this because I'm an obedient daughter, but I need something. I need you to give me a word. And he gave me. I was reading in Isaiah, I think, or no. I was looking at a painting my mom had painted for me when I lived in the desert and it had this part of Isaiah 35 on it, and I think I went and read Isaiah 35, 11. I can't remember the address but, it says the highway of holiness.

Speaker 3: 51:13

You know the scripture that talks about you. The few travel the highway of holiness and he says you're going through to the other side. And I heard that in my spirit. I heard, rachel, I'm taking you through to the other side. And so I that that helped comfort me and that helped me continue to like, persevere and show up, even on the days when I didn't want to show up you know, not even for myself. And and so I just kept saying that, I just kept saying, okay, god, you said, you said we're going through to the other side.

Speaker 3: 51:55

And it got pretty gnarly and I just, just, I just continued to contend, well, leading all. I ended up obviously going back to another year, and so did so did my teammate, and we both were like you know, and the the fire gotten cranked up and, uh, we were just kind of like keeping tabs on each other and holding each other's arms up, if you will. And and about October, she came to me and she was like I'm not going to make it past past Thanksgiving, I'm just going to let you. And I was like, oh, okay, and I said, well, uh, truthfully, um, I'm, I'm probably, I'm right behind you, yeah, because I and I had already seen, I had already seen writing on the wall in in so many different ways and just the Holy spirit was making it tighter and tighter and tighter. You know, um, I, I liken that feeling to like you kind of feel pinned to the pin, to the wall. You know, and you're like, what are you going to do? Um and I? You know, um and I. You know the phrase of like who you are in the fire is who you really are, um, I, and that's everyone, right, like I.

Speaker 3: 53:34

Just my prayer then became okay, god, like I am not going to overstay, right. So you said we're going through to the other side. I'm not going to overstay because I don't care how crazy or how hard it is, how hard relationships are or whatever. I will always leave better than I came, better than I began. I was raised that way it's, it's biblical, like it's kingdom, you know. And I said um, so, Lord, I want to leave. I want to leave even this, this place. It's really hard and challenging. I want to leave it better than I came, when I came, and I want to go out blessing um and not cursing, right. And so a month later, very long month. October, november were long, long months. This, this past November, november, I think it's voting day. It's like November 4th. It was like November 4th I was.

Speaker 1: 55:03

I was at my wit's end and I had already, I had already declared that or expressed that uh to my, to my older brother and a couple of other people that I'm close to, and and um, but I just like I had this like guttural.

Speaker 3: 55:07

I'm sure I don't know. You probably experienced this experience, this as a feeler. Uh, I can actually feel what you're feeling. Yeah, I uh, I had this guttural like roar, if you will like, just cry to the lord and I was like god, you said we're going through to the other side. I feel I feel trapped and I don't feel any movement. And I know you're here because I feel you, I know you're, you know, um, because we're tight. But I just I was like I, I need a sign and I don't ever I don't ever pray like that, kristen, like I don't ever say, say stuff like that. But I was. It was almost like I was desperate. I was like I can't, I can't see a way through this. But so I need you to, I need you to speak, I need you to show me something and I'm not kidding. I heard you know the faint whisper right, the still small voice, um say, I know, I know you, I know you need, uh, you need to see me break through, or something like that. And he said look to your left.

Speaker 3: 56:16

And I was in my car, I was driving home, and I looked to my left and in the sky was this huge rainbow, like, like, probably the biggest one I've seen in the last five years, and I just lost it. I was like, okay, like all right, okay, I can keep, I can keep going. All right, okay, I can keep, I can keep going, but but I need I need you to like, practically, you know, tell me I need more. I need you to tell me what to do, and so, um, that was very encouraging though, um and I, uh, rainbows speak to me. I mean, I'm sure they speak to everyone of the promise of God, but, like the Lord, 13 years ago, had told me that I was like Noah and that, um, I was righteous in this generation and I was being called to to just I live that way, but I was being called to to walk that out. You know that things were, that things were going to get darker. And there, you know, even at that time I think that was in 2011, you know, the lady was like there, there are things all around you that are dismaying to you and you, you know, and compromise and different things and and god's having you walk through them, you know, set apart and um, and consecrated unto the lord, like noah was, and and uh, she was like you will, you will see um, you will see um, you will see his promises, you know, you will see them come, come to pass. So so when I saw that rainbow, I was like, okay, I can keep going, you know, and um, and then a couple of days later it it just the fire still still cranked up, and um, I, the fire still still cranked up, and I, I called my, my big brother, jonathan, and I said it's so crazy, like this just happened. I mean, it didn't just happen, but it feels like it feels that way. I don't know, it's hard to explain, but I called him and I said I'm at my wit's end, I can't, I can't do this anymore. I called him and I said I'm at my wit's end, I can't, I can't do this anymore.

Speaker 3: 58:43

And things had just like started to go downhill um, in the, in the school, and you know, different people quitting and just all the stuff was going on. It was chaos and um, and I was having to keep showing up. You know, keep showing up, be faithful, and and I, I, of course, what got me through. It is focusing on the kids, cause that's, you know, that's my assignment and, um, and they, they got me through, got me through some, some of that, those challenging, challenging things.

Speaker 3: 59:22

But I, uh, I called my brother and I said I'm at my wit's end and he goes well, there's, he's got a pastor pastoral gifting and, uh, he's very calm. And he said he said okay, well, rach, there's two things that that are happening here, one of two things that are happening here Either the grace has lifted completely and that's why you're feeling that way or God's going to give you. We're going to pray and God's going to give you grace to endure. And I said it's not the second one. I was like I just knew you know how you know, you just know in your gut, know, you just know in your, in your gut, in your spirit, in your, nowhere, you know, um, I, I was like it's the grace has lifted and I, and I know it, and I, he goes, yeah, you've, you've been saying some of these things a lot. I mean like it started to affect my mental health and I just was like this is and I don't throw that around casually Right, like I, I just I know when I'm doing well and when I'm not, you know, um.

Speaker 3: 1:00:34

And so he was like, well, we're going to pray and God's going to give you a timeframe, just like full faith, like you know. And um, and I was like, yes, okay, that's good Action plan, you know. And so we prayed and um, he prayed all there. I mean the Holy spirit through him just said all the things that I needed to hear and, and I was agreeing, praying, in agreement, and then we got done. He said amen.

Speaker 3: 1:01:04

And as soon as he said we said amen, I heard in my spirit six weeks, you have six more weeks there. And before I said anything to him, I, um, I looked at my phone, the calendar on my phone, and, uh, six weeks of working, cause this was near the holidays, was including, it was like after the holidays and, um, which was perfect timing, because my friend who had quit before me told me you know, you won't get paid over the holiday breaks If you, if you quit before, or whatever, whatever. And so it just was the timing of the lord, you know. And so I, so I told, by faith, I told my brother, I was like I just heard six weeks and he's like, like the six weeks from today and I was like no, like I have six more weeks working there, and um, and so he's like okay, well then, god, okay, well then God's gonna, he's gonna lead you out, he's gonna lead you through, you know.

Speaker 3: 1:02:07

And um, that was on the 6th and then of November, and then on Friday, november 8th, I was, I was going to turn in my resignation and they, I think they, required 30 days, but I gave, I gave 60 days and just to like, be above reproach, you know, and do things excellently and leave well, and so I, I was going to turn it in that day and it just didn't feel right. I got, I got, I got to work and my leadership was like nowhere to be found. I didn't it, just it didn't feel right. And then the Lord was like no, um, you can do it on Monday. Um, which monday was 11, 11 and 11, 11 is very significant for me. Um, I, the lord talks to me in numbers a lot, and I had been, I've been declaring hebrews 11, 11 when it's it talks about sarah, um, no longer being barren, you know, know, and God delivering that promise. And so I, um, I had been invited to go to a gala for, uh, you know who Nick Voyacek is.

Speaker 1: 1:03:34

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:03:35

Yeah, the evangelist with no arms and legs. Yeah, I, um, I am on an intercessory prayer team, uh, for for him, for his ministry, and I'm friends with his uh, his interpreter, his Spanish interpreters wife and, um, she had invited me to attend his their like year end or gala, and I was like, why am I going to this? You know, I don't know. Um, I felt like a fish out of water, but I, I had, I had talked to like my spiritual, uh, spiritual mom and and some other people, and and she was like, yeah, if you, you know, you got invited, like it's connections God's, you're a connector and God's connected you and he's positioned you.

Speaker 3: 1:04:26

That's a word that has come up a lot. And, um, I think I get, I get nervous or I shouldn't say I'm not going to confess that, uh, in the past I have, because of, because of like ministry circle things and you know that I have been wounded and I've been received the wrong way or taken, taken the wrong way um, invited to things. Um, you know, I'm always, I'm always like, I tend to be hesitant at first because I'm like this is, is this you, god, you know, or is this me, like whatever? And so I was kind of like that and and um, she was like, no, you should, you should just go, it's a blessing You're, you know, you're being invited, you're blessed, blah, blah, blah. And so so I said yes, and I was like, on my way, you know, and I was praying and at the same time I'm going through all of this, you know, quitting my job, stuff and um, and stepping out on a huge step of faith, you know, not knowing what's in blank walls in front of me. You know white, white, white, blank slate in front of me and um, and so I'm driving and it was actually like pouring down rain.

Speaker 3: 1:05:55

I love when it rains, cause I'm like I just think of the Holy spirit, like pouring out when it rains and I was like, lord, why am I going to this? What are we doing? Do you have something for me to give out, or do you have something for me to receive, or both? Or you know what's going on. And I was actually like on the phone with another brother whenever he answered me and I heard the Holy Spirit say Rachel, you're going to meet Nick Wojcik and he has a word for you. And I was like, well, okay, that's the Lord, because I don't think like that, and you know what I mean. You're like that seems kind of random and out of nowhere, and why would I make that up, you know? And sure enough, I walked in and I saw my friend Carla and she showed me around and she introduced me to these two ladies. And so I'm standing at this high table and talking to these new friends and he's coming around and Nick's rolling around saying hi to everybody and he comes to our table because we're kind of in the middle.

Speaker 3: 1:07:21

He comes to our table and he's so funny, he's like give me a hug, give me a hug, you know, and they give him a hug. And I've never, you know, I've never met him before, and so, but I see him, he's looking across at me while they're hugging him at, like you're next, you know, and he comes around, like you're next, you know, and he comes around, or he's, as he's coming around, he's looking at me and I was like I'm just gonna be myself because I don't know who else to be. And, um, I like I have a high value I know I seem really serious, but I have a very high value for comedy and like I love to laugh, like I'm very joyful, and so was I like to like mess with people, not in, not in a mean way, but just like, you know, a witty, like banter type way. And so he's coming around and I said, and I said you're going to make me hug you, I haven't even met you yet. And he, and he laughed, he thought it was funny, thank God, and he thought it was funny, and I went up to him and it was so it was like totally covered in the Holy Spirit, you know, because I was like that's how I knew I was at total peace, you know I wasn't like, oh my gosh, did I hear God?

Speaker 3: 1:08:39

You know, I know I hear the Lord? But I was like I guess I guess this is you know it's. Did I hear god? You know I know I hear the lord? But I was like I guess I guess this is, you know it's happening anyway. Um, I don't know if that makes sense, but I gave him a hug and and, uh, I said it's an honor to meet you, sir you know, very thankful for your life and and you're an inspiration.

Speaker 3: 1:09:01

I said, said something along those lines, and and then his photographer took a picture of all of us together.

Speaker 3: 1:09:06

And then he started to, started to go wheel off, you know, and I was like, well, maybe you know, I did have a brief thought of like, well, maybe I didn't, I didn't hear the Lord. And then he did that thing which I'm sure you have had done to you, you might do to people when you're prophetic, like he starts, like prophetically, scanning me and uh, and then he came right up to me and looked me in the eyes and he said, and I'll never forget this as long as I live, that's why I'm sharing it, because it just like was like a huge injection of hope. But he said and Rachel, you've been through a really lengthy time of purifying, of purification and refinement, and there's been a lot of long suffering, there's been a lot of suffering and it's humbled you. And he said but you've passed the test. God wants you to know. You've passed the test and you've come out on the other side pure, and you're ready to go.

Speaker 3: 1:10:21

And I was like, just immediately, tears streaming down my face and he's just smiling, you know, he's just, he's Nick, he's super happy, you know happy and just confident in Jesus, and he goes. And then you also need to know that you radiate Jesus more than you even know or think, and I was still bawling, I'm like he didn't know what I was about to do, you know, on Monday, and so that was just like huge, huge confirmation, um, that I'm, that I'm on track, you know, and, uh, that I'm hearing the Lord, and so, yeah, I went in very confident on Monday and it, I know I'm an Esther, and it felt like Esther going before the King you know because I didn't have a relationship with this, with this new interim headmaster and so.

Speaker 3: 1:11:31

But I was met with. I was nervous, I was a little nervous, but I was met with. I was nervous, I was a little nervous, but I was met with favor and grace and peace and she was like well, we're going to miss you, you know, but she's a believer too. She's like you got to do what the Lord is calling you to do. So yeah, pretty wild too. She's like you got to do what the Lord is calling you to do.

Speaker 1: 1:11:57

So yeah, so you leave. What was your last day?

Speaker 3: 1:12:04

My last day, well, so it was supposed to be one one one. It was supposed to be January 11th, but I ended up. They needed me to stay. That's a whole other story. They needed me to stay for one more week to prepare who was taking over my class.

Speaker 1: 1:12:25

So 1-18 was your last day.

Speaker 3: 1:12:28

Yeah, the 17th, 1-17. Yeah, 1-17.

Speaker 1: 1:12:34

Wow, and I think we met within that first week after right.

Speaker 3: 1:12:38

Yes, yes, I met you, I think, my first week unemployed, or no, I'll say it my first week as an entrepreneur.

Speaker 1: 1:12:48

Yes, you're a soul. I like to say that S O U L solopreneur.

Speaker 3: 1:12:55

Solopreneur. I love that. I need to write that down. Oh my gosh, that's so good.

Speaker 1: 1:13:00

What are you doing? What does he called you to do on the other side of what I like to call leaving Egypt?

Speaker 3: 1:13:07

Oh, that's, that's so good on so many levels. Yeah, so I had, about a year and a half ago, I had decided, uh, you know, I had seen, seen the writing on the wall and just like, um, the Lord had started stirring, stirring in me Okay, there's, there's more, I gotta, I gotta do more, um, or do something, do it different. I have to do it different. That's what I kept hearing, and I had started my own tutoring business and it's called Simple Solutions, and I had already gotten through a discipleship program that I did online. I had made this connection with a family that lives in Michigan, in Florida, part time, but now I think they're based in Florida and I have never met them. It was a homeschool mom. Well, she has four daughters, but she two of are school-aged and she just is overwhelmed and not not really, you know, knowing where to start and what to what, all how she's not a teacher herself and so, um, just needing support, needing, needing someone to come alongside her and and, uh, help teach her kids, but also, like, provide uh consultation, you know, feedback and stuff, and um, and so she reached out to me and she was like, I'm definitely interested, you know, in what you're, what you're doing or setting out to do, and so I, from there, I've worked with them the last year and a half.

Speaker 3: 1:14:57

While I've you know, while I was teaching and, um, and I was doing other things, when I was at at Upper Room because of income, yeah, I started to realize, like this is this is needed, this is a, this is an online platform where I can, I can do a lot of service, like I can help a lot of people, and so I officially launched, on January 22nd, a new online consulting private teaching business for families, especially the. The niches, uh, especially for homeschool families, just because of their, their schedules, right, are more, uh, free and adaptive. Um, but basically I, I come alongside the parents and fill in the gaps is how I like to say it. I basically consult, have an entry, consultation with them to see where they're at, what they've been doing, what they need help with, what they've been doing, what they need help with, whether that be. Do they have a curriculum that they're already using? Do they like it? Does it work for them, but do they need someone to implement it? Or do they? Are they starting from scratch? Do they not have any any idea about, you know, curriculum. They're going off of all these and there's all these different opinions.

Speaker 3: 1:16:37

Now, you know, like homeschool is, it's come a long way and I think I looked into the statistics it's like it's gone up since COVID. It's gone up like 6% or something and, um, it's scaled in 2025 to to go up to 10%. So it's no longer this like small thing. You know, um, and I just started realizing, like what an asset I could be to to families.

Speaker 3: 1:17:14

Um, you know, with my, my tenure experience in education, and I've, I've, uh, I have a very broad uh, I have a very broad and wide uh experience. I've, I've worked in public schools. I've worked in, you know, charter charter schools. I've worked in, you know, charter charter schools, classical charter schools, and now you know a church school like private, private Christian school, and so I feel like I've seen the gamut, you know, and I've also, I've also tutored, you know, for, like Sylvan Learning Center, different, different small private tutoring companies, and then I've done my own, my own tutoring, um, just through, just through relationships with, with families along the way, and so I, um, I'm really passionate about it.

Speaker 3: 1:18:11

I think that I think to do it in a way that is spirit led, you know, I think that that's obviously what made me a successful teacher was the Holy Spirit, because he's the best teacher and I. The part about moving forward that was hard or challenging is the relationships, and it always will be. But I, the Lord, like the last 18 months, you know, I was back in like a charter school still is still kind of like considered public Right, like they get government funding and not everyone necessarily there there is, is a, is a christian or is a believer is my point in saying that and so I knew, like, okay, this is, this is still an assignment, it's a mission field, you know, and um, one of my biggest things that God has anointed me to do is is to call out children's identity and um, and, and children also adults also. I feel like I'm called to that too, but but especially children because, um, you know they're, they're clean slates, if you will. You know they're little, they're little sponges and they're looking to the adults in their life to tell them who they are and um, and so I I started this thing and I want to, I want to actually start finding a way to make like shorts or videos or whatever. I don't know.

Speaker 3: 1:19:51

That's down the road, but where I started this thing called build up, like build up time, and where I, every day I would choose a student, you know, kind of popcorn style, I would choose a student and they would come to the front of the classroom and I trained these kids how to essentially prophesy. They didn't know they were prophesying but speak over that student, who they are, and I trained them to look them in the eyes. I was like we look people in the eyes when we speak to them, you know, and we don't say she is or he is. We look at them and we say you are're speaking identity and kristen. The amount of encounters that these kids would have and they didn't even right, they didn't even know that they were encounters, but they were encountering the holy spirit and and growing in who they are, in in Jesus.

Speaker 3: 1:20:58

You know, without even knowing it, and I I did it in a way that was like I was like our words, our words matter, right. Our words, uh, can't have the power. Our words are powerful. They have the power to bring life or they have the power to to bring death, to to tear down. They can build up.

Speaker 3: 1:21:25

That's why I called it build up time. They can build us up. They can make our heart, you know, big and come alive, or they can make our heart crushed. And um, and they got it. They were like Whoa, I mean, and every day, without fail, they would not let me forget to do. Build up time and, um it, it became one of my favorite things, you know, and I, and I feel like it got me through, you know, it got me through to the other side, and so I know that that is, that is something that I carry, that's, that's, uh, that's in me, right Like it. Just, you know it is, it's something that God's anointed you with. When it cause, it just comes out, it just flows without you even trying.

Speaker 3: 1:22:13

And so, um, because this, this alpha generation man like they are under so much attack in their identity and, as we all know, hello like um doesn't doesn't take a rocket scientist right to see the war, the war over these kids and um, and I just know that I'm called to, uh, to set him free. And so you said something earlier was when we were talking about what was it you were like about women's hearts being in cages or something yeah, that's that.

Speaker 3: 1:22:57

So I'm imagining that you probably see the children in cages yeah, well, and I, like the lord gave me a um, gave me a vision on my drive out to arizona when I, when he moved, he plucked me out, you know, moved me, moved me in 2012. I saw it was like I know, it was like an open vision. I haven't had one since. It was very cool. It felt very like real time, like it was happening, but, like my, my uh windshield became this picture, like this vision, and I saw I was driving, was driving, I was moving, I think I was going out there to find a place to live.

Speaker 3: 1:23:39

But I was driving out there and, um, I saw all of these men and women and children standing side by side and there was like really dark scene and their heads were down and they're just looked really like death, like right, like depressed and heavy and um, like almost like there's, you know, evil and there and the Lord showed me into there Um, I haven't talked about this in a long time showed me into their chest and I saw their hearts and all of their hearts were were in cages, like kind of like a birdcage, and they and they weren't beating, they were dull and and kind of like dark, dark looking, and then, all of a sudden, this on my windshield, this bright light came in to the picture and consumed it and all of the men and women and children lifted their heads and they were smiling and joyfully, like dancing and singing in there and I saw their hearts again and the cages broke open and the chains fell off and their hearts were like bright, red and beating and vibrant, and I heard the Holy Spirit say that's what I'm going to do in the hearts of of the people in Scottsdale and I'm going to do it through you know, through the church, and then also through you, through you, and I like, whenever you know, present day, having this opportunity to every day, have these 22 faces looking back at me, I was like the most important thing is this is is setting them free, you know so.

Speaker 1: 1:25:32

Oh my gosh, rachel, I'm going gonna have to have you back um like after you've like, because you literally just launched um like what seven days ago.

Speaker 3: 1:25:46

15 yes, like 20 days ago or something. Yeah, we're gonna have to come back for part two.

Speaker 1: 1:25:51

Um, how can people get ahold of you to hear more about what you're doing?

Speaker 3: 1:25:58

Yeah, Um, thank you for asking. My um website is called truth is pure and simple dot com. Um, my Instagram is also called truth is pure and simple, and I have a. I have a personal Instagram as well. That one is RK Smitty Cause my last name is Smith, and then I have a Facebook blog page that is also called pure and simple, and then my my name, Rachel Catherine Smith, is my Facebook, but those are the ways to reach me Mostly. The directly is the is the website truth is pure and simplecom.

Speaker 1: 1:26:46

So that's the best place for people to look into what we're doing and contact you for more information. I know that people are definitely contacting you, so I am so excited for what he's in your life At the end of every podcast episode. You know, as I mentioned before, I do this for the one, so if you could just get into mind the one who's listening today do you have a word for her typically, and then would you pray us out, and then would you pray us out?

Speaker 3: 1:27:13

Yes, I would love to do that. So the word that I have for her is in hope we are saved. Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? If we hope for what we do not have yet, we wait for it patiently. Those who hope and wait on me will be rewarded. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. It is coming soon, so keep holding on to hope. And it is coming soon. He knows the cries and the desires of your heart because he put them there. He formed and fashioned you in your mother's womb and he is faithful to his word and he will come through in the perfect timing. In the perfect timing.

Speaker 3: 1:28:18

Well, lord, I thank you so much for this opportunity and this time that I've had with Kristen and New Wings Coaching.

Speaker 3: 1:28:21

I just thank you, lord, that you work all things together for our good and even when we cannot see it, when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, lord, that you are close beside us, you're with us, you never leave us or forsake us, and I thank you, god, that you are kind and you're patient and you're gentle in the fierce and dark and lonely places of our hearts and in this life, and I thank you, god, that you never leave us broken. You're always there to heal us and to redeem and restore what has been lost or stolen, and so we just praise you, king Jesus. We thank you for who you are and therefore, who we are in you, and we just look forward to all that you are doing in 2025, that it is coming alive in the name of Jesus, that dead things are coming to life and you are restoring what the locusts have stolen, what they've eaten. You're redeeming and replenishing, and I just I'm so excited and so expectant and we just thank you and praise you in Jesus name. Amen.

Speaker 1: 1:29:46

Amen. Well, thank you, rachel, for being a brave voice who's setting others free. Thank you, thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 1:29:57

I am going to close with the hope unlocked anchoring verse, which is may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing, so that by the power of the Holy spirit, you may abound in hope, and that's Romans 15, 13. So, like I said, get ahold of Rachel. I will have all of her contact information in the show notes and we'll probably have her back another time. Thanks for listening in today. Thank you.