111. Embracing Radical Obedience: My Journey of Faith and Growth

Join me as I share my personal journey of reluctant obedience to God's call, which led me from resisting the Proverbs 31 ideal and network marketing to experiencing unexpected blessings in leadership development, financial freedom, and personal growth.

I talk about how saying 'yes' to uncomfortable opportunities, like starting a podcast and joining a network marketing venture, resulted in profound spiritual and professional growth, including an opportunity to be featured in Forbes.

I emphasize the importance of obedience to God's nudging, even when it leads down an unexpected path.

Lysa Terkeurst book I mentioned can be found here.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:18

Hey, I'm Lemon. I am just like you, sister friend. Talk about stepping into that overflow that God has for us by becoming those ultimate Proverbs 31 women. Hey, I'm Lemon. I am just like you, sister friend. I knew God had something more in store for me, but I couldn't see a way out of the laundry piles and, frankly, I resented that. Proverbs 31 woman. How was I going to live up to the hype? That is until I found out how to really step into becoming this Proverbs 31 woman through leadership development. In this podcast you're going to find financial freedom, leadership, growth and motivation so you'll be able to do all the things God has called you to do with ease and really step into that land of milk and honey.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Welcome back to the Milk and Honey podcast. I'm your host, lemon Price, and I'm excited this week because I want to talk about something that I've just been thinking about a lot lately. Isn't that so fun? I think having a podcast is so fun because I get to share whatever it is the Lord has been like speaking to me about whatever he's put on my heart, and it's really fun that I get to share that with you and then you guys come back and tell me how it's impacted your life, which I think is really cool. So, with that being said, I want to talk about obedience this week and doing things even when you don't want to do them, because it's really painfully obvious that this is what the lawyers called you to do. I'm going to tell you, like, a couple of examples that have happened in my life where I'm like I don't think this is for me, and God, you're going to do it anyway. And then I have a choice to make, and that's really what this sort of comes down to is. We have a choice to make. Are we going to be obedient, are we not? And so I'm just going to, like start at the very beginning of some choices that I've made and how they have worked out for me by being obedient to things that I didn't necessarily want to do in any way, shape or form when I was leaving my own agency that I had built. I mean, we were very successful, things were great, and I left for a whole lot of reasons that I won't get into. Maybe one day I will, but we're not going to get into those reasons now. One day I will, but we're not going to get into those reasons now. And so I left my own agency and was like, what am I going to do? And so I was in school getting my master's in apologetics and theology.

Speaker 1: 2:33

At the time I learned a lot about the apologetics community, which that's a whole other episode that I could do on that community as a whole, and so that's. I went back to blogging. I went back to doing the things they knew how to do and didn't know what this looked like for me, had no clue what I was going to do. And so that is when Molly Trotter Gomez approached me and she said hey, do you want to be a part of our community? It was Girl Power Alliance and we're now more Kingdom Alliance because we have men coming into, which is really fun. But she asked me do you want to be a part of this? And I said no, absolutely not. I do not want to be a part of what you're doing. And of course, molly was so good and she continued to be my friend and important to me and I really I didn't want to do it because I have a master's degree in marketing.

Speaker 1: 3:27

I have been in, I was in the C-suite at 26 with a tech company. I ran my own business and legitimately ran my own business. I designed the logo. I assumed the risk. That is really the definition of being an entrepreneur is you're assuming the risk for the business, and I didn't see that with network marketers. When they would tell me they have their own business, I'm like you don't, though you don't have, and I still feel this way Now. Do I treat network marketing like a business, 1000%, but it's not technically your own business? I don't decide the pricing at GPA, I don't. I didn't pick the logo. I didn't pick the color scheme. I don't decide who the speakers are going to be like. I don't decide any of that. I don't have to do customer service. I don't have to do any of those things With that.

Speaker 1: 4:11

Because of my background, I really hated the network marketing industry. I hated the whole thing and I talked about this on the Girl Power Alliance podcast back in September of 2022. I hated the industry and I don't know that there was somebody out there who actually hated network marketing more than I did. To be perfectly honest, I thought it was scammy. I thought it was gross. I definitely had people and I'm sure you've gotten this the hey girl, hey message, hey hun especially from people you went to high school with, in elementary school, people you don't speak to at all. I get cold DMs all the time from people and so I remember one time I actually got and I've said this on the podcast before, but one time I actually got a copy and paste message from somebody and you could I mean you knew, but it was her whole script. Like she accidentally copied the whole thing and it was like if your person responds this way, respond with this, and if they respond this way, you respond with this. Like I got her whole script.

Speaker 1: 5:09

The name was wrong, like it was bad, and I was so turned off from the whole industry. So when Molly approached me, I'm like absolutely not, I want nothing to do with this. And all of my friends told me it was going to be the worst decision of my whole entire life and I was like, yeah, you're probably right. Actually, like I would rather do this on my own. I think this is a really bad decision for me. So I was truly dead set against getting involved in network marketing at all. I was like I'm never going to do this and, like I said, when Molly approached me, I was like, absolutely not, I'm not going to do this. My friends told me not to do it.

Speaker 1: 5:41

My husband, who also didn't like network marketing because of his own experiences, he was like yeah, I fully expected him honestly to tell me not. I was looking for validation, because I always talk to my husband about anything before I do it, even if it's something small. I talked to my husband about spending $33 the other day. Did we have the money 100%? Was it going to break our bank? No, but did I talk to him anyway out of respect and I want his opinion For sure. I don't invest in anything without talking to him. And so I bring this to him and I'm like you'll never believe this.

Speaker 1: 6:14

This crazy girl, molly. She asked me to join her network marketing company. She's a founder of the company or whatever. And so I was telling him everything that Molly was telling me and my thoughts and opinions from my friends, and I expected him to agree, fully expected him to agree. And my husband said to me he said do you want to do this by yourself? Are you looking to have kingdom impact? What are you trying to do? And I was like dang. I hate when husbands say something so profound like that, like, of course, I want to have impact, of course, that course. That's the goal, that's why I teach courses, that's why I write a blog, that's why I podcast now, like all those things are meant for impact.

Speaker 1: 6:52

And I came to GPA I mean fully kicking and screaming, and I took it to God and I'm like is this what you want me to do in this season? Is this something you want me to explore? What is this? And it was a very solid confirmation like, yes, take the leap. Take the leap. And we didn't have the money when I joined at all. I had given up my agency and so our income dropped substantially when I stopped bringing in regular paychecks and we I mean I had to shift some bills from paying them on the first to maybe paying them on the 15th. Like things got adjusted. But it was clear confirmation this is where I'm supposed to be. So I came here kicking and screaming. I wanted nothing to do with it. I wasn't sure this was the place for me, but I said, fine, I'm going to do it. Lord, if this is where you want me, this is what I'm going to do.

Speaker 1: 7:43

And I cannot begin to tell you what a blessing that has been in my life, and not just like financially, because it has been a blessing, for sure. It has been a blessing. It paid for my husband and I take a spontaneous trip to Orlando a few two weeks ago and things like. It's paid for a lot of things, which I'm again eternally grateful for. But it has also provided more growth and opportunity in my life than I could even imagine. My relationship with the Lord is so different. The trust I have in the Lord is so different. I feel like I actually understand him a whole lot better than I used to.

Speaker 1: 8:18

I have grown in so many incredible ways. I've done things that terrify me. I have traveled. I went to California twice last year. I went to Texas. I am planning to go on a cruise with GPA, which, if you ever want to know how to earn a free cruise, then shoot me a message on Instagram and I'll tell you how easy it is to earn a free cruise.

Speaker 1: 8:39

But like I'm doing things, my growth, my growth is so much so that people who've known me for years have come to me and said what are you doing? And I tell them and they're like great, I want in because of the growth I've seen in you. I'm so different. I've learned so much about myself. I've tested my leadership. Everything about me is different than it used to be, and so, even if there weren't the trips, even if there wasn't the financial incentive, I would still be here, because I have grown in ways that I will never be able to truly articulate. And we're not even a full two years in, and so I can only imagine what five years from now looks like, 10 years from now looks like, and to think that I almost missed out on this because of my own bias, because of my own hangups about the industry and what they were doing.

Speaker 1: 9:35

Take the network marketing piece outside of it, the resources and the growth and the speakers and the training are beyond worth it, and I did. I came here kicking and screaming. I'm like I don't think this is for me, lord, and he was like it's for you, and so then that takes me to some other things that have happened this year. So last November of 2022, I woke up at three o'clock in the morning. God always wakes me up at 3am Always, and we have the most intense conversations at 3am, and this particular time I argued with the Lord so much. We had a full argument where he woke me up and said it was time to start podcasting. And I said absolutely not. And it was like a deep absolutely not. I'm not doing this. I had done it in 2018. And I've said this before do not look it up. You cannot find it. It's scrubbed from the internet everywhere.

Speaker 1: 10:39

It was the worst podcast to probably ever exist on planet Earth. It was so bad. It was so bad. And so I, when the Lord told me I was going to podcast again, I was like no, I immediately went back to this girl in 2018 who started a podcast. I was going through a divorce. My business was brand new. I mean, I had been freelancing and doing things for a long time, but like fully living off of my own business was new. I mean three weeks old, type of new and I'm like I am and I thought I knew everything and I was like I am so talented, I was 27. And so I started this podcast and it was just bad. It was so bad. I had no clear direction. It was just it was a bad time. It was a bad experience and I apologize to anybody who was ever on that podcast because it was so awful.

Speaker 1: 11:32

And so when the Lord told me I was going to podcast again, I immediately reverted back to 27 year old me, who was completely broken, who was newer in her faith. I was saved at 24. And so I'm like a baby Christian and I'm like it was a bad time. And so I immediately went back to this version of me, instead of 32 year old me, who had grown exponentially and had done a tremendous amount of work on myself and who I've become, and my relationship with the Lord is different and I'm obviously married to the love of my life. And that's not to say we don't have our challenges. But I was like, finally I said, all right, lord, I'll do it. But again we really wrestled. All right, lord, I'll do it, but again we really wrestled on doing this podcast.

Speaker 1: 12:27

And he reminded me that I had everything I needed, that I had been equipped all like he had been equipping me this whole time to do this podcast. And so my office was full of equipment to podcast, because my husband went to school for audio engineering and production and it was just a part of his tuition and so I had a full office of high quality microphones and I had a very expensive what do you call it? An interface. I had all of these things in my office. My husband had already bought me a ring light and all these. I have everything that I could ever want and need in my office to start a good podcast. And the Lord reminded me that I was not the same person, that I'd been transformed, that I've learned new things, that I am in a radically different place. And so finally, I was like, okay, lord, I'm going to do it, I'm going to start this podcast.

Speaker 1: 13:16

And again, we went back and forth and I didn't know what it looked like. It was not on my radar to start podcasting at all, and so I'm like what do you want me to podcast on? What do you want me to talk about? And so we ended up here on biblical leadership and really the way that looks as being Proverbs 31 women, which I'm excited. My friend, jenna, is getting ready to launch a podcast called Beyond Proverbs 31 that you're going to want to check out. So good. But really, looking at the whole person, how am I showing up in my household? How am I showing up in friendships? How am I showing up online? How am I showing up in the podcast on my team when I'm training corporately? How am I showing up in all of these places and what is stewarding each of these areas of excellence look like. And that's where we landed with this podcast, which I've been so grateful for. I've learned so much even doing the podcast, and so, again, I start this podcast that I didn't necessarily want to do, and so I started it in January of 2023.

Speaker 1: 14:17

I launched the second week in January, second or third week, whatever the 15th, 16th, somewhere in that timeframe, and so I start the podcast. That is when we found out that we were going to be doing a Kingdom Speaker Academy. So I ended up in two rounds of the Kingdom Speaker Academy, became a certified speaker, which I'm so excited for. We just started our third round last Tuesday. If you message me today, you could get into the Kingdom Speaker Academy because our Kingdom Speaker Academy graduates are guaranteed paid speaking gigs. So that's like a whole other thing that has happened. I went from and again, it's a part of GPA that I didn't want to join. I didn't want to join GPA. I came kicking and screaming From being in GPA. I became a certified biblical life and leadership coach and then became a certified speaker. From all of the training and things that I've developed, I started this podcast. Then right Kingdom Speaker Academy comes out. I do that twice, become a certified speaker. Now we have the option to become paid speakers, which is amazing. I'm like that's a blessing that came from this.

Speaker 1: 15:29

But I was sitting there in March in San Diego with my friend Thais she's also been on the podcast and we were talking about the podcast and what I was doing with it and my vision and my hope and all those kind of fun things. And Thais owns a PR agency in LA and she was like, oh my gosh, I actually have some really incredible guests for you, and so she started booking guests. She has my calendar link so you'll hear from some of her amazing people. You've already heard from some of them May Vera, some just incredible women who have been on the podcast, from them being on the podcast again the podcast that I did not want to create. I had one of my guests she writes for Forbes and Maymay had. We had a great time. We had a great time on the podcast and she's like, hey, could you actually come train my community? Great, I would love to From going and training her community again. She was like I loved everything you had to say. I'd love to feature you in Forbes.

Speaker 1: 16:24

Okay, so I have wanted to be in Forbes since 2011, when I started blogging my very first blog Drunken Disasters Culinary Masters. It still exists somewhere on the internet I might have a login for that somewhere but I did bar and restaurant reviews. I was freshly 21, living in a tourist town. It was great. I loved it. So from there, I was like man, I want to do this full time. This is where my passion is. This is exactly what I want to do, and so I go. I wanted to be in. I worked so hard, I was making killer strides in business and I was like I want to be in Forbes, but it is only when I did the thing that God told me to do that I did not want to do that. I landed in Forbes. And I landed in Forbes talking about him and talking about this podcast.

Speaker 1: 17:11

I had an opportunity to be in Forbes and to talk about this podcast in particular, which is we're always talking about Jesus on here and I'm like I like laugh. I laughed a little bit the day the article came out. It was right around my wedding anniversary and I'm laughing. I'm like, oh my gosh, the Lord is so funny. It is his timing, it is 100% his timing. If I had been in Forbes many years ago, it wouldn't have been for this, I wouldn't have been talking about him. But now here I am in Forbes, not once, but twice now, twice giving the glory back to Jesus, giving the glory back to God for doing the thing that I didn't want to do, this thing that I did not want to do but I did anyway, got to bring him glory in one of the biggest business publications in the world. That's what I want to talk, that's what I want to encourage you with today.

Speaker 1: 18:07

I know I just told you these two stories and we could be here for a very long time, but when the Lord has called you to do something, even if you don't want to do it, you have no idea what he's going to do with that obedience. And I have a couple of verses here that talk about obedience and I don't want to leave those with you. So Deuteronomy 28 says and all these blessings shall come on you and overtake you. If you shall listen to the voice of the Lord, your God, it says right. All these blessings will come to you, they are going to overtake you. You're going to be overwhelmed with blessings if you listen to the voice of the Lord. I love that. I'm like, oh so good, it is so good. I love that verse so much. I literally have a bunch here and I won't read them all. If I did, we'd be here forever.

Speaker 1: 19:02

James 4, 7, submit yourselves, therefore, to god. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Hebrews 12 9. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? I love that, okay, do? I'm like scrolling? I literally have. So I have so much.

Speaker 1: 19:29

And then again Philippians 2, 12 through 18. This one's really long. I'm going to read it really quick. It says why, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which works in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputing that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the middle of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Yes, and if I be offered on the sacrifice and service of your faith, no-transcript.

Speaker 1: 20:25

Friends, the Lord is asking you to be obedient to the thing he has called you to do. And when you do it, when you take radical obedience and I'm reading, I'm reading this book right now. Where is it? Oh, my gosh, it's Lisa Turkhurst what happens when women say yes to God and walk in faith?

Speaker 1: 20:45

And there's a whole section in here on radical obedience. Like it really has just been so heavy on my heart to be radically obedient and somebody told me I want to say a year and a half ago they said delayed obedience is still disobedient, and so I really learned over the last year and a half we can even say the last six years, ever since I moved to Georgia to really like when the Lord tells me to jump, when he pushes me in a direction, I don't have to wait for 342 confirmations. That's what he's telling me to do. The Lord always and I feel like he's really generous because I always want to check myself am I doing this out of my flesh or am I doing it because you've called me to it? I want to make sure this is really from you and again, I don't need 342 confirmations, just give me one. And it never, ever fails when I ask the Lord. Okay, just confirm this from you, and not me operating out of my flesh. He will send somebody. There will be a sermon, there will be the verse of the day on my phone, whatever it is, the newest Bible study in verse five, like whatever it is, it will always confirm what the Lord has told me to do.

Speaker 1: 21:53

And then I don't have to hesitate, I can just take a step and I don't have to know A through Z. I don't need to know how the Lord is going to use my obedience. It could be for absolutely no other reason other than to test my obedience. That could be it. That could be it and that's fine with me. But I've learned to just step, just take a step forward with whatever it is he's going to do, whatever it is, I'm just going to do it Because I know, as Deuteronomy said, blessings will come and I think and I don't do it for the blessing, but I know, even if God can look at me and be like well done, good and faithful servant, like that's good, that's blessing enough for me, and so I want to encourage you. If the Lord has called you to do something, if he has nudged you in a direction, if he has already confirmed it for you even just once, take the step. Take the step because you never know what is going to come from that obedience and how the Lord is going to use you in this season. So I hope you have an incredible Monday.

Speaker 1: 22:57

I will see you all on Wednesday. I'm excited. We have a really fun guest coming on. I'm going to get my husband to come on and we're going to have a chat about getting your husband to buy into your vision. I talked about that a little bit today, but we're going to talk about getting your husband to buy into your vision. So I'm very excited because it's difficult, I think, especially when the Lord has called us to do something and we're supposed to act on it, but maybe our husband's not fully there yet. And so how do you submit to your husband but also still submit to the Lord and what he's called you to do? Him and I are gonna have that conversation on the podcast and I am excited to share that with you. So I will see you all Wednesday with my hubby. Bye friends.

Speaker 1: 23:44

Hey friend, what a joy it has been to share today's journey with you. If you found a spark of inspiration or a nugget of wisdom that resonated, would you bless someone else by sharing this episode with them? It could be the encouragement they need to step into their purpose and calling. Also, if you could spare a moment to leave a review, it would mean the world to me. I really appreciate your feedback and it really helps our community grow. Remember, the road to discovering God's call for you isn't one you have to walk alone. So join me again next Monday for another episode where we'll continue to explore the depths of leadership and the heights of our heavenly calling. Until then, keep seeking, keep growing and keep trusting in His plan. God bless you and I'll catch you on the flip side. Bye friend.