Leadership, Faith, and Purpose When Life Doesn't Go As Planned | Twila Brown #128

What happens when God shifts your career path from high-level retail leadership to a spiritual journey rooted in faith and purpose? Join us as we sit down with Twila Brown to uncover this compelling narrative. Brown shares the transformational moments that led her from a childhood dream of becoming a journalist to discovering her true calling in content creation. Her story is a testament to the profound impact of trusting God’s plan, especially through the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, where Isaiah 43:19 served as her guiding light.

Ever been humbled by life’s challenges and found solace in unexpected blessings? Brown takes us through her experiences of financial faith and divine provision, like receiving random grocery discounts just when needed most. Emphasizing the importance of gratitude, she reveals how keeping a gratitude journal can profoundly shift your focus and help recognize God's hand in the smallest of moments. This episode is a heartfelt exploration of how faith and discipleship shape our understanding of true success and security.

Inspired by spiritual promptings and acts of generosity, Twila's journey highlights the incredible outcomes of aligning personal passions with God’s purpose. Hear about her bold steps in funding missions and the ripple effects of her faith-driven actions.

Whether you’re looking to embrace your spiritual gifts or seeking encouragement in your faith walk, this episode promises insights and motivation to help you step into the overflow that God has for you. Join us and be inspired to trust in God's plan, one faithful step at a time.

Connect with Twila:
Instagram: @totallytwila, @arm.confetti
Company Instagram: @novi_edge

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I am so excited for this episode because my friend Twyla is going to talk about discovering God's purpose even when things don't look the way you intended for them to look. And then what happens when God, like, really breaks you and takes you to a low point and you have to trust him for your daily bread. Literally. Twyla is going to break it all down in today's episode and I hope you love it as much as I did. Hey friend episode, and I hope you love it as much as I did. Flowing with Milk and Honey.

Speaker 1: 0:47

On this podcast we 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: 1:22

Welcome back to the Milk and Honey podcast. I'm your host, lemon Price, and I'm so excited because I have my friend, milo Brown here. She's a writer, she's a content developer and she's a speaker for Novi Edge. She has been in this business for a super long time, honestly, and we're going to get into that. She has been in so many different levels of leadership. She's worked with Fortune 500, celebrity startups, like she's done it all, but her real mission is to leave a legacy of mentoring and discipling to the next generation. And she's definitely a girl of her own heart. She loves to walk, she bakes and she loves her podcast. So I'm really excited because you sound like me, just you don't live in Georgia. So, anyway, thank you for being here, friend. I'm really excited because you are. You sound like me, just you don't live in Georgia. So, anyway, thank you for being here, friend.

Speaker 2: 2:07

I'm so happy to be with you. I know like the first time that you and I spoke. I'm like you are my one last friend. We need to be friends in real life.

Speaker 1: 2:14

Yes, I know I'm gonna have to come visit you or something. We're meeting in Tennessee. Maybe, I don't know, we'll do something. Nashville, we're there. Okay, we're not that far from Nashville. So I listen, sounds like we just planned a girl's trip on the podcast. I love this. Welcome to the podcast. This is what we do. I make it a point to never bring a guest on or something if I actually wouldn't want to hang out with them in like real life.

Speaker 2: 2:37

I'm so flattered.

Speaker 1: 2:38

So do you want to give us like a little insight to your story, because I think you have a really interesting God story and I fell in love with it when we talked last.

Speaker 2: 2:48

Yeah, I don't even know, like, where to start, but we'll start somewhere in the middle because I'm definitely with you. So, yeah, like you said, I had a leadership career in retail, which wasn't really what I had initially thought that I would do with my life, but it fell into place. I was at the start of the story I think that I'm going to share with you today was working for, like you said, a celebrity startup brand. So I was their director of retail and I got to oversee multiple stores. It was super exciting because I like pretty things, I like to shop, so being in retail was really great. But also, I love young women to that discipleship piece. I love helping people figure out what it is, where they're going, what they want and how to get there. Being able to pour into young women who are just starting their careers and help them achieve whatever it is that they want to do professionally was greatly satisfying to me. I will also say I thought I was a big deal. I thought it was cool. Here I was in the celebrity star brand and I was at the high level of leadership. So I'm like wow, like I'm super cool, I've made it.

Speaker 2: 3:55

But despite all of that, I would say in the fall winter of 2019, I started feeling this little feeling inside and it was God saying there's something else. And I just started praying into that. I'm like, okay, like I'm obedient, god, I'll do whatever you want. Tell me what you want. It was frustrating because I'm like I was just waiting for him to give me the grand reveal. But I was like, okay, I'm just going to keep praying this prayer. So I kept praying the prayer of like, what is it that you have for me, god? What do you want me to do? Just tell me and I'll do it. And I usually will pick a couple of words for the year and I will a lot of times pick like a Bible verse. That is my Bible verse for the year and it's just what I live into. And it's funny because it's not really like a throw pillow kind of Bible verse. But, for whatever reason, I decided that my Bible verse for 2020 was going to be Isaiah 43, 19. And I'll just I'll read it to you just to give context to our people. So Isaiah 43, 19 says see, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I'm making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland Cue dumpster fire of 2020, right, I was like wow, if we've not ever been in the wilderness and the wasteland. So I kept praying that prayer.

Speaker 2: 5:20

We were going through like COVID life. There was literally so the world had shut down, all of our stores were shut down, but I was still going into the store in Lexington just to try to do fulfillment orders and anything we could to stay afloat and remain relevant as brick and mortar stores. Stores were obviously a struggle bus and so literally driving to work that morning, and I remember crying out loud and I'm like God, whatever it is that you want me to do, just tell me. Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it. And so I got to the store that morning and I got on my weekly conference call and I was told that my position was being eliminated. Every company was doing what they had to do to stay afloat, and so my position was the obvious one to eliminate. And I ugly cried for about five minutes and then I walked outside the parking lot behind the store and I was like you know what, it's going to be okay, it's going to be fine. God has us and I don't know what it is, but I know what it's not. And it's not the shop anymore. And I think I'd also shared with you before in that season we were working.

Speaker 2: 6:24

My kids at that time were probably like two and seven-ish, I think, and I'd been teaching them the Lord's Prayer. So every night at the dinner table we would say the Lord's Prayer and that night, going home, having just lost my job, saying the Lord's Prayer with my little tiny children had a whole new level of meaning, saying like we're going to rely on you for our daily bread. And so I started this kind of wilderness season of what is the thing, and God still wasn't telling me what the thing was. He was just showing me along the way what it wasn't. And I really believe in that season he was asking me to rely on him and to trust him. And so every day, daily bread, he was providing it. But it was frustrating and it was humbling.

Speaker 2: 7:09

I'd started meeting with a mentor or kind of association person in my life that had been woven into my story 10 years prior now 14 years prior and I never really knew what the meaning of the connection was. It was just somebody that I met when I had first moved to Lexington, kentucky, people said you should connect with her. She knows everybody. She's a great person to like network with and just in and out of my life every couple of years not like strongly in touch, but I had mentioned to her back in 2019, hey, keep your eyes and ears open. I don't know what's coming, but I feel like God's telling me something. So, hey, keep your eyes and ears open. I don't know what's coming, but I feel like God's telling me something. So I reconnected with her. I'm like, hey, guess what? I don't have a job. And she said I think you should start using your experience and your leadership and your sales and customer service and customer experience and employee engagement all of that you have in your tool bag and start creating content. So I did start doing some content creation and I did a few different things for, like, chamber groups and things like that, and I also started a fun little business called Arm Confetti on the side during that time. That helps sustain our little family.

Speaker 2: 8:14

But finally, fast forward to the summer of 2023. She had this HR consulting business. We had somebody who was a successful business owner that repeatedly built, scaled, sold businesses and was super savvy. A third person who was in Dallas who had an accounting background and was super savvy as a CFO. Three Christian women that love Jesus decided, hey, we want to come help small business owners figure out, like, how to be successful in business and overcome all the challenges of like funding and scaling and employee retention and culture and all the things that business owners face. So they put together this business and they asked me to do some content creation for them. And I was like I don't know. And my husband's like why wouldn't you keep praying for God to open a door for you? But here's a door just walked up to you. So I was like, okay, I'll talk to them. So I did the projects for them, loved it. It was a great experience.

Speaker 2: 9:09

And as we were starting to wrap up that first content project I did for them, I was like, oh, you guys never told me. Like you said there was a funny story about the name of the business Novy Edge but you never told me what it was. And they said, oh, when we were planning this, we kept meeting on Zoom every week and we were planning this business and the gal in Dallas and one of the gals here both had the same Bible verse pinned to a wall and on their desk that they kept moving, like to the top of their stack of verses that they were meditating on in that season, and wouldn't? That Bible verse was Isaiah 43, 19. And so the new thing they wanted to show business owners a way to do things in a new way, a new approach and no, being new.

Speaker 2: 9:54

And so here we are, and I, just in that moment, I was like, okay, god, I get it. This is the place you've been leading me to, you've been preparing me for, you brought me into, I get it. This is the place you've been leading me to, you've been preparing me for, you've brought me into. And it just was such an amazing like feeling of gratitude for God's provision and the way that he guided me gently and he brought me to the place. And the funny backstory, if I took you back to being five years old, is that my original intention in life was to be a journalist. And so here I am, doing all of this writing and content creation and getting to tell other people's stories. Just really, it's super cool how the things that were desires in my heart he's repurposed and he's using them in the way that he had planned, and so that's my story, but it's just been amazing to see how God has been woven through every single detail of it my whole life.

Speaker 1: 10:46

I love this is why I want to do it, because I think it's such a powerful story, because it's like right, so you had this desire at five to be a journalist and then you end up in a career that you didn't necessarily plan. That's, I think, how a lot of us end up, like this was never my goal actually to do this either, and to end up in content creation like it was all very unintentional. And so you end up in this career unintentionally, gain the skill set that you want, and then God goes and he uses you for his good and for his purpose. But it's hard to see, I think, when you're in the middle of it, when you're in like the messy middle, where God's basically like taken like this vessel that you are and taken a hammer to it and smashed everything around you yeah, it was humbling.

Speaker 2: 11:32

it was super humbling because I am okay.

Speaker 2: 11:36

So I know Enneagram can be controversial for some people and I'm not super like into it, but I am a classic Enneagram three.

Speaker 2: 11:42

Like I like to have the stage, I like to have it all together, I want to good and also I've got some control freak tendencies. Like I like to be like God. I know you're providing for me, but I still like driving my ship and so it was really humbling to have to just get all the things that made me feel like I looked good and looked important stripped away and then really lean into. I am trusting you to provide week by week, day by day. It was the kindest, coolest gift he could have ever given me because he just showed yes, I would have always been like yes, like God is faithful, God is good, but like God is I can't even tell you how faithful and how good. And to get to spend that time with my family and to walk the walk these aren't just words we're saying, but hey, kids, we're living it. It was really special and it's a gift and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Speaker 1: 12:38

I think that is so beautiful and I really like what you said. As you said, God stripped everything from you that you thought made you important. Can you like talk about this thing where you're like this is what the world says makes me important and things, and then God takes it all away.

Speaker 2: 12:55

I feel like a lot of times, many of us, no matter what profession we're in okay, what's the next and what's the next? And like how can I get there and how can I be that? And I want to be like the boss or the most important or look the best or whatever. And I definitely have very strong tendency to want to look like the best and be the best and climb and grow, and that's good. It means that I'm a motivated hustler, because that is what most of my friends I have one friend that she's like that. I'm a motivated hustler because that is what most of my friends I have one friend that she's like. That's why I was a hustler. I will go work hard and when I get my mind put to something, I'm going to run for it. But it just showed me that even if you're at the top of the ladder or whatever, that's not what's sustaining you. God is, and you don't have to be at the top of your career ladder to be provided for. God can still do it. He does amazing things.

Speaker 2: 13:47

I remember keeping a little gratitude journal when I lost my job of oh my gosh, this happened, this happened. Crazy stuff. I'm like, I'm like, why like why would that even happen? At the grocery store? There was some kind of weird thing on my booker plus card where I had all these five or ten dollar credits or something and my grocery came out to 90 some cents. I'm like what? This is dumb like. I think this happened. This is not real life, but it just did.

Speaker 2: 14:11

And little things like that happened all along the way, just in most simple places. It wasn't like some ginormous check showed up in the mail and I had an inheritance, but it was like the little things. It was like at the grocery store. You know, a lot of people did this during COVID because we were all like crunching, call the home security company and be like, hey, I've lost my job, I don't think that we can afford home security anymore. And they're like actually we have a special program and it's only $14.99 a month or something like that, just random little provision. He just did every step of the way and so I think, understanding that ultimately, it's never about what you're doing, it's what he's doing through you and enabling you to do and to be there is such a gift that comes in letting him hold you or needing to be held instead of just doing your own thing.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Oh, I love this so much and I love the gratitude journal.

Speaker 1: 15:06

It's something that I keep actually keep one for my husband and my kids too, so that way, like when they do something, I can write it down and give it to them when I feel this. But it really shifts your whole perspective on how you see things, how you feel like you're being cared for and provided for, because you're like all right God, like I can see you in this moment where just something very random happens, and I feel like God always shows up that way. And I also think it's so important too, because we talked about when I was reading your bio, like discipleship is important for you, and so then, writing these things down also is going to be a beautiful like your kids are going to be able to read this one day and be like look at how God held mom and look at the way he showed up for my mom and the way he showed up for our family, and it's part of the legacy that you get to leave behind because you wrote those things down. That is really good, oh, good, okay, I'm like obsessed with your show.

Speaker 1: 15:57

So God like works, and so how is he using you now? Like, how has this come full circle? Like, how are you discipling? What do you get to do now?

Speaker 2: 16:06

So, first of all, like professionally at Novi Edge, it has been really cool. Most of the clients that we are working with right now are also Christians, which is just cool. It wasn't that we intentionally set out to be a service and consulting group for Christian companies, but it has just worked that way, and so getting to walk alongside them and create like resources and training materials, like online digital learning kind of platform stuff to be able to create things that are empowering them and helping them move their businesses forward, is super cool. But also to see how God is blessing their businesses Again, it's just like this whole thing. Like we're working with this one client right now who is a young guy in his 20s, loves God so deeply, with all his heart. His whole mission in life is to have a successful business so that he can use all the money to further the kingdom. He wants to advance the gospel to the ends of the earth, literally. Yesterday he called our CEO and he's like you're never going to believe this. We just got I don't know, we just got a $200,000 contract and it was like praise God, and I'm not like I don't mean that in a prosperity gospel kind of way at all, because I don't. I'm not about that, but look, when you put your mind to making God like the boss of whatever it is that you're doing, how he blesses your obedience and he uses it to move forward, because he knows that this guy's money ain't going to be for this guy and his family. This guy is for his kingdom and the money is for the kingdom. So getting to work with people like that and help be their cheerleader and provide them with the resources to grow and be successful along the way is super awesome. And then also like personally the discipleship piece.

Speaker 2: 17:47

I love middle school girls. They get a bad rap. People think that they're like sassy troubles, whatever. People are so worried about this next generation. But I'm telling you, I love middle schoolers and I believe that this next up and coming generation is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Like hell is shaking in its boot with this next generation, because the enemy is going after the very core of their identity and who they are as people, just trying to confuse them about. Am I a mistake? Am I messed up? Am I not quite right? He's trying to distract them from the fact that they're made in the image of a perfect and loving and kind God, and I feel the enemy has always been attacking us for sure, but he's going at these kids in a way that I feel like is different than ever we've seen before, and it just tells me he's really scared of them. They must be really powerful, and so I'm going to do everything that I can to empower them, to equip them, to speak truth into them and over them and make sure that they are like shaking like the gates of hell, like the whole way to heaven, right, like just like I. Just I love them so much and so I do some.

Speaker 2: 18:57

I call it my covert mission field in our public schools here, where I get to go in and do programming that I've written and created for them. I'm going to write a girl's Bible study around this that I want to put out at some point in the next let's say, 12 to 18 months, around helping kids figure out the passions inside of them, like what is that thing that they're passionate about and why? Like from their passion to their purpose. And so I get to do that in public schools, which is really cool. And then I have a group of girls that I meet with in my home on Sunday nights and we just we're going right now through the women of the Bible, the women of the word, and it's just sweet Like one of them text me. It was about a month ago and was like I just wanted to let you know that last night at youth group I gave my life to Christ and I just want to thank you.

Speaker 1: 19:44

And.

Speaker 2: 19:44

I was like I do it. What better thing could we do with our lives? And to just pour into the next? And so I wish that I had this desire at an earlier age, because I'm in my 40s and I'm like man, I wasted a lot of time, but I'm going to run hard and I always joke and say to people like why do you do a million things, aren't you tired? Like just chill, and I'm like I just want to get to heaven out of breath. So that's my mission.

Speaker 1: 20:14

I love that. I want to get to heaven out of breath. There's a couple of things that you said and I want to talk about them because I think they were really important. I love that you said talking about this client of yours who has this heart for the Lord, who is putting God first in his business and doing these things, and then God blesses him because he's going to go out and use the money for the kingdom for the kingdom. I talk about this on the podcast all the time because, especially as women, especially as Christian women, they get very uncomfortable with other Christian making money. And I came from the apologetics world too and I love them all. I think they're all very sweet. Their intentions are good, but anytime any Christian mentions wealth, it is instantly prosperity gospel and I'm like wait a minute. John also told us that heaven's lined with streets of gold, so God's not like sparse in heaven here, Like he is abundant, and I think when your heart's in the right place and you're going to do things with it, it makes a huge difference. My husband and I we talk about this all the time because this is what really drives me when I live. The average income is like $35,000 a year and my husband does great. We make more than that, so I feel very fortunate. There's a ministry at our church that we fund fully and it's for food insecure children. Every weekend, teachers are lining backpacks for food insecure children, sending food home, so they're good for the weekend and then managing that in the summertime. It's not expensive. I just told you how cheap it is to live where I live. To fund this ministry in full, it's only about $20,000 a year. We were sitting in church this year and I got a very clear prompting and my husband got the same prompting for me. That's how we definitely know it's from the Lord. He was like babe, this is what I think God's telling me you're supposed to do. But it was very clear. I was sitting in church and we raised all of this money for this ministry in full in one Sunday, because the church donates like $10 for every person who walks through the door or watches online, so you'll always see me sharing it on that day, because they will donate $10 to Feed a Child if you click on the live stream. But then they take a special offering for this and people are giving so generously and we were sitting there this year and I got a really clear prompting from the Lord that I had to match my church's donation. Wow, Like today. But he was like next year, like you're going to have to match this donation. And my husband got the same thing at the exact same time. He's like, babe, I think with your business, you're going to have to match the donation next year. He's like God says this program is going to have to expand. And I was like, yeah, I got the same prompt that this program has to expand because the way the economy is going and all these things like there's going to be more food and secure children. And so I'm like that is that's like. To me, what wealth is? It's being able to fund ministries in full and to go out and support missionaries Like.

Speaker 1: 23:03

I have a friend. Her whole thing is mission. She loves foreign missions, that's her whole big thing, but it's so cool to see what, like, a heart for the Lord can do. So she had a prompting to go on a foreign mission. Somebody actually called her and said, hey, we actually are looking for a nurse to go on this medical mission trip, but it's in six weeks, Can you go?

Speaker 1: 23:22

And she was rattling off all the reasons she couldn't go. I have young children at home, we don't have the extra $2,000. All these things Her husband was like just say yes, because you literally just told me you want to go on a foreign mission and then you just got a call to go on a mission. So god's going to work it out somehow. And a friend of a friend at our church heard about it, paid for her mission trip in full and then they were so inspired by what she did on the mission trip that they went on a mission trip. Their friends decided to go because they went on a mission trip and then those friends sold all their stuff, moved to me, Mexico and are now full-time missionaries.

Speaker 2: 23:59

Okay, here's my question for you, though. Yes, when you heard that, when you got that prompt, did it freak you out and did everything in your mind be like surely God didn't say that that's just like a funny thing in my head. What Pop into my head? Did it freak you out? Because it would have freaked me out and I would have been like surely you don't mean that, god? Really, are you sure? Am I making it up, or is that really God and that's just exposing? I feel like I've grown so much in my faith and yet I still and it is, it's funny, it's for me, it is about money, and I'm sure that's why I do my job. You've done a great job and like that's it all. I get really close-fisted. Now. I have grown tremendously and I continually challenge myself to have open hands and I'm getting so much better about it and I give so much more joyfully than I ever have in my life.

Speaker 1: 24:46

I was 100% panicked. I'm like, god, you're expecting me to not only be able to care for my family, so we do this in September. I'm like, so you're telling me in September there's going to be enough money in the bank to care for my family and let's not have a panic attack, but also to cut a check to my church for $20,000. I'm like, okay, I really had to wrestle with that. And then it's so funny because I feel like the Lord's really good about confirming things right away. I had a really crazy experience at church with my kids. They wanted to come to the big church with us and my friend Kate was there talking about foreign missions again, like we just so happened to be. That's when I heard this whole story about somebody donating and all those things. And I'm sitting here praising Jesus the whole time and my youngest is next to me and my husband's next to me, so they're on either side of me and both of them start elbowing me in the ribs. Mom, I really think this message is for you today. I think you're supposed to be doing something else. I think you're supposed to be doing something bigger. Like I think this is for you. I'm like, would you guys shut up please, so I can listen to what Kate is saying. Please shut up. And they're Really like you really need. This is for you. God is telling me, this is for you. I'm like okay, great, thank you. Guys, please stop talking.

Speaker 1: 25:57

And then I'm sitting here jamming out to worship my husband's in the worship band. I'm all about worship. I'm in it with it. I'm full praising Jesus. We're front row people too. I'm good, I'm talking to people in the lobby, everything is fine.

Speaker 1: 26:14

And I was like hold on. But what's just? I had that high-pitched squeaky like mouse voice and I was like every other syllable like wasn't coming out. And I'm like what is like? Literally two minutes ago, I was fine, there was no like, I didn't cough, there was no inkling of anything. And my youngest, from the backseat, he pipes up, he goes mom, he's. God told me it's because you've not been using your voice the way you're supposed to. And I was like wow, he's 10. And I'm like okay, thank you so much from the peanut gallery.

Speaker 1: 26:46

And I had to sit with it for two days before my voice came out. I'm like, all right, like I haven't been doing. I haven't been as bold or talking about things the way that you want me to. And it was at the same time that I get this thing about church and donating to this capacity. I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to be able to donate at that capacity if I'm not completely bold in what it is you've called me to do and the person you've asked me to be. And it's funny now because now I can see a way to where that actually could happen in September, which is crazy to think about. But I'm like man there's's, I feel like God's really good about confirming the things that, at least for me, he tells me like immediately. It's almost like you don't have the option to doubt. I need this is from me, right here and now dang, I love that so much.

Speaker 2: 27:32

It's a wild it is. That is so good. Man, you've got me wanting to go into church, and yeah, that's exactly what it is, though it is God just providing abundantly when we are obedient to using it to fulfill his will, when we're living in step with his will instead of ours, and so I love that, and also I love the story about the missionaries. That is so cool. When you see that ripple effect, you're like whoa, like who knew this one thing would become?

Speaker 1: 28:13

like a whole thing. I love how God will use you and I think that's really beautiful. Like about your client, he has this heart posture to go and serve and preach the gospel everywhere and get it out everywhere, and so, of course, god's going to bless his business so he can fulfill the thing that God has called him to do outside of his business, like his actual kingdom purpose and I think it's beautiful, that's what you do, right, this is your kingdom purpose is to go and pour out to these girls and support them in this way. He gave you this vision at five that you were going to journal, you'd be a journalist and all those things and then set you up to content, create, and now you're like I'm talking about writing a bible study. Like he's just been here every step of the way, using things for his purpose but also aligning it with the things that you're passionate about.

Speaker 2: 29:00

Yeah, and that's what I always tell girls, like when I'm working with them, whether it's in the schools or just the idea of the study. That I want to do is pay attention to the little fiery thing inside of you, what it is that fires you up, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, because sometimes we see things in the world and we're like that's not right. Some of us we're going to be those justice trailblazers fighting for women's rights to education and other parts of the world where women don't have access to things or whatever the thing is like. God has put a fire inside of us, for the good or for the bad, whatever, but it's like the thing that gets us fired up. Pay attention to the thing that gets you fired up inside when you see it or you hear about it, or the thing that is so fun that you completely lose track of time when you're doing it and it doesn't feel like work at all.

Speaker 2: 29:42

Pay attention to those things, because God has uniquely wired each one of us with gifts and abilities and skills and talents and passions that are for his purpose. We each have something to put into the world, to better the world and life for others around us. We all have a contribution to make, and I always tell them too what you're passionate about isn't what necessarily the person next to you is passionate about, and it doesn't mean that you're a bad person because you don't care about, say, clean drinking water. It's just not your thing. If we all cared about the same thing, one thing would get done. We each have different things and, yes, there are things that break my heart, but they don't necessarily move me to action where something else does. It takes all of us tuning into the thing that moves our heart to fulfill and live out our purpose and to fulfill God's plan for us in his story. And yeah, I love that. I could talk about that forever.

Speaker 1: 30:33

My gosh. No, that's such a beautiful way to wrap this up, because that's really what it is. God gave you a passion and gave you the skill set too, and that's something I always tell people when they're trying to figure out what their purpose is. I'm like what are you passionate about, what is your skill set? And then what is your spiritual gift? Because you and I may be passionate about the exact same thing, but our skill set is different, or our spiritual gift is different. Our spiritual gift is different, and so we could serve the exact same community, but do it completely differently, which I also think is really beautiful too. Like God has wired us so uniquely and so differently and we have to be, or else nothing is going to get done. Yeah, no, that's so good. Oh, I just had this like epiphany, right. Like we're all made in his image, right. And so then, all of these spiritual gifts, all these passions, all of these skill sets, they all live in him, and he just gives us like little pieces of himself my kids.

Speaker 2: 31:27

I'm like one of them is really funny and like outgoing and the life of the party, and the other one is like this little doer and very meticulous and I would tell him like he's five and he'll say, I take, take initiative. Because I can tell him God is a person who is systematic and orderly and takes initiative and like all of these things are God, and so it's just. Which characteristics did you get and which did I get? And that's the coolest thing about it all is that we all look like God, just the different pieces of him.

Speaker 1: 31:54

If you had to leave listeners with any like final piece of advice or words of wisdom. What would it be, my friend?

Speaker 2: 32:01

Man just know that even when it feels like everything falling apart or it feels like things are bad, he is good. And if you trust him and you submit to him like he will make a way in the wilderness, he will make streams in the wasteland. Right, he is, he's good and he makes a way where it doesn't even feel like there is a way. And so just trust that and lean into that, and that would be my word of wisdom when can everybody go to connect with you and hang out with you?

Speaker 2: 32:34

Yes, professionally, they can catch me at novieedgecom. Personally, it is at Totally Twyla on Instagram, and there you'll see a hodgepodge of my kids and all the things that they do Me and my husband, who I refer to as hashtag sexiest husband alive. Trips that I go on, things that I'm passionate about, whatever I might have baked this week or last, but all the things.

Speaker 1: 33:01

I love it so much. Guys, please go connect with her. She is wonderful. So please go connect with her and just thank you for being here today.

Speaker 2: 33:09

Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: 33:11

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.