HOPE Part V: Blessings come when we walk in obedience

When I answered God's call to leave my brick-and-mortar business to serve women on a deeper level, I had no idea what I was doing.  And 5 months later, I still have days where I feel like that. But I knew God had been equipping me and preparing to grow His kingdom and serve His people, I just didn't know how it would look.  But, that's the beautiful thing about saying YES to God.  We don't have to have all the info to say yes. That's what FAITH is all about.

Please read on for part five of my blog series.  HOPE Part V: Blessings come when we walk in obedience

Hebrews 11:1 NIV "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

Yes.  God was telling me to go.  I was asking how.  He was saying do.  

I heard Christine Caine say more than once that God is not looking for ability but availability.  He is looking for people who will say yes.  If you feel like you're not ready, learned or knowing, then YES, God wants you! He is looking for people who will say yes to His voice.

When I publicly announced I was leaving my business, I had one private client.  I was TERRIFIED! I had lots of skills, knowledge and experience, but there was no longer a safety net.  I was all on my own (with God, of course).  But I kept pressing, praying and working.  

One week before my last day in my old business, my ONLY client texted me.  She couldn't renew her fitness training.  She so badly wanted to but just couldn't financially continue.  Now I had no clients.  But God's voice was still there.  "Trust me," He said.  So I did.

One month later I had 10 clients.  Five months later I have 15 personal training/fitness coaching clients and a growing network marketing business.  I am the corporate fitness trainer for a start-up nutrition and wellness company.  I am the captain for the Fitness Group Hub at my local church campus.  I lead a small group weekly where 4-20 women show up to hear the words God has placed on my heart to share through fitness boot camp. I am a fitness influencer, coach, motivator, encourager, listener and leader.  

God has BLOWN MY MIND! At the beginning of the year, my dear friend and team leader at church challenged me to pray boldly; to ask God for things I'm not sure he can do (rhetorically).  She challenged me to write them down.  Then she spoke and prayed truth and favor over my life.  She affirmed God would work all things for good because of my bold faith and obedience.

Do you want to know something?  I wrote four big things down.  Four BIG, SCARY, AUDACIOUS prayers.  Eight months into the year, all four of them are in the process of coming true.  I'm not quite ready to share them yet.  I will when it's time.  

This is my point:  God wants to bless you.  The Bible tells us:

• Jeremiah 29:11 ESV "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
• Psalm 37:4 ESV "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
• Philippians 4:19 ESV "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
• Matthew 6:33 ESV "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

God is for you.  He wants to bless you.  He places hopes and dreams in your heart that He wants to fulfill.  Pray.  Trust. Hope. Work. Do.  Obey.

Please join me next time for the last installment of my hope series.  Thanks for reading.

HOPE Part IV: Trust Me

Have you ever prayed so hard for something and get it, only to realize that it was just a resting point on your journey?  Life is a continuum. Each day flows into the next. Every decision we make, even the smallest ones, make a path for us through life. Sometimes the road is winding, straight, or circles. Sometimes we fall in a hole or valley before reaching the mountain top.

I know this is a fitness blog, and you probably landed here looking for motivation, fitness tips or advice.  I promise I will continue those topics, but my story, my testimony, needs to be told.  I had a mentor once tell me to never spend time with people who don't value you. Don't waste your energy trying to convince someone to 'get you.' They either will or they won't.  The people who get you want to hear what you have to say.  So, my goal is that my story will help you 'get' me and that you might be inspired or motivated to keep going on whatever journey you're on; to have HOPE.

Please read on for the next installment in my blog series HOPE Part IV: Trust Me

Hebrews 13:21 tells us that God will equip us to do his will.  Being equipped comes in a lot of forms. Sometimes it's an academic education, and sometimes it's life.  A close friend recently told me that the most powerful testimonies come from a person who lived through pain and came out on the other side, giving God all the glory and praise.

I thought that when I left my corporate job to go into business co-ownership that I would stay in that business forever.  I could see myself running and growing that business for many years.  I never imagined God would use that business to prepare and equip me for my true calling: to serve women through fitness and help them find freedom in Jesus.  If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, your whole mission in the Kingdom is to share the gospel.  It's really simple when you break it down. The Bible tells us that everything we do is to bring people to a relationship with Jesus.  While I knew that, I didn't know how that applied to my life.  I mean, you have to work to earn a living.

Every day is an opportunity to serve others.  Through kindness, through good works and through words. And sometimes, when you've served first not seeking to be served, opportunities to witness happen.  More and more, day by day, I was getting to pray for people and to hear their stories and struggles.

For three years, I threw myself into fitness.  I learned all I could about the business from an amazing mentor and friend.  She taught me everything she knew, which was a lot! I never imagined that me, someone who had struggled with her weight and self-worth her whole life, could be a fitness professional, but it was happening! I became a certified trainer and quickly started serving clients who wanted what I had to teach them.

I thrived on the busyness, on the grind of the fitness business, until I burned out.  It hit me like a ton of bricks one day.  I had been listening to God, as he pushed me to lead a fitness small group through my church.  I had been resisting leading a group, letting the enemy tell me I wasn't good enough.  I finally gave in and after our first group meeting, I felt God tugging on my heart.  During my personal devotional time with God, he was speaking to me to leave my business.  I asked how and why.  He simply said, "Trust me."

Now, I used to be one of those people who didn't understand when others said the Lord was speaking to them.  But as I grew closer in my walk with God, I learned to be still and listen, and I was craving his voice.  I kept praying over how and when to leave my business and God told me it would be ok and that he needed me to serve women in a much deeper way.  I had no idea what that meant, but I trusted God.

The best thing about listening to the Holy Spirit is that IT'S NEVER WRONG! God's voice is always true.  So, here I was, about to leave the business that I had invested everything in, money and time, with no clear direction about what the future would hold, except the words, "trust me."  And I did, and have never looked back.

Please join me next time for the next part of my HOPE series.

HOPE Part II: When your life doesn't go as planned

I'm sure you've heard the saying, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans." Does that mean we shouldn't plan? I don't think so. But our desire to live life according to a plan not willed by God can lead to heartbreak, brokenness and defeat. When things don't go as planned, we sometimes ask ourselves, "why is this happening to me," or "what did I do to deserve this?" The truth is, God's word tell us that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purposes.” (Romans 8:28)

 We all have a unique calling on our life; a purpose that no one else can fulfill in the Kingdom. Most of us spend our whole lives searching for our purpose. Mark Twain once said, “the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” But what if you're so driven to fulfilling your own plans that you leave no room for God to show you his will for your life? If you don't take time to sit, listen and seek, how will you ever be able to hear his voice and see his signs? 

That's what happened to me. Please read on for the second part of my current blog series. HOPE Part II: When your life doesn't go as planned.

My whole life I was raised to have goals. I was a first generation college student; my dad finally completed his degree when I was 16, but I was the first person in my family to graduate high school and immediately go onto a four-year university. Frankly, I felt a lot of pressure; I'd go on to be the only member of my family to take a traditional path to education. It was very important to my parents and became very important to me. I was so driven to get the next 'A,' plan for the next class and set myself up for success. Before long, I didn't need anyone else to hold me accountable. I knew what needed to be done.

That drive has taken me very far in life; so far that I believe it became an obstacle to seeing God's plan for my life. Thanks to all my hard work, I graduated college in 3.5 years. Because of an internship my senior year, I landed a full-time salaried position three months after graduation. I was on my way! Education, check. Job, check. In the middle of college I met my now husband. He proposed a month after I started my job. Fiancé , check! We got married 1.5 years later.

Life was grand! Now, I had a husband who liked plans, too. We decided before we got married we wanted to wait 5 years before trying to start a family. Seems reasonable, right? But what I didn't allow for in my life and marriage was for Jesus to truly take the wheel (thanks to Carrie Underwood I'm now singing that catchy song in my head). I always kept God at an arm's length. I only ever put enough trust in Him so I wouldn't be too disappointed when things didn't happen. I didn't fully understand God's grace and desire to bless us until much later.

Five short months into our marriage, I found myself suffering a miscarriage; it was the most traumatic thing I've ever experienced. I was in the middle of a stressful season at work and didn't even realize I was pregnant until I lost the baby. I was on the pill (plan) and had been taking antibiotics for a UTI. I just wasn't expecting it. But God was trying so desperately to reach me. I just didn't listen.

Flash forward over the next 4 years and two more miscarriage. I had begun to pray fervently. I was unhappy at work. I was stressed, exhausted and at the end of my rope. My husband was self-employed, working long hours. I had this nagging feeling to go see another doctor. It wasn't just intuition, God was pulling at me. See, he'd been trying to get my attention for years, ever since I gave my heart to him when I was 16 and confessed Jesus as my Lord and Savior. But I wasn't ready to SURRENDER my plans to God.

But guess what? I was on the verge of breakthrough.

It was nearly my five-year wedding anniversary. BABY TIME!!! I found a new gynecologist since I had this feeling (the Holy Spirit) to change doctors. I made an appointment and was ready to have a baby. At that visit in July 2012, my new doctor diagnosed me with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, an endocrine disorder that can cause ovarian cysts, making conception and pregnancy difficult (my miscarriages). Left untreated, it can lead to serious health problems including heart disease and diabetes. But, all I heard was an answer (thank you Jesus) to my miscarriages and for the first time had HOPE that motherhood may not be impossible.

Please join me next time for the continuation of this series. Thanks for reading!

HOPE Part I

Did you ever want something so badly that you would stop at nothing to get it?  Whether it is a material thing, a relationship or something intangible (i.e. peace, freedom), we all have goals, dreams and visions of our future.

I was baptized as a baby, but I have been seeking God all my life.  I really started to pursue a relationship with Jesus in my early 20s, when a lot of young women and men are searching to find who they are. One scripture that I have always clung to, whether I was walking closely with the Lord or bumbling my way through life, hanging on by a thread, was Jeremiah 29:11.

It has become my family's scripture, the one my husband and I pray out loud, in the quiet, together and alone.  It really sums up what we all need to make it in this crazy world: HOPE. Placing my trust in God to guide me and help me navigate life was the best decision I ever made.  It doesn't make things perfect, but it makes life enjoyable. 

This scripture has a particular place in my heart as it relates to my hopes and dreams to become a mother.  In the 'About Me' section of my blog, I talk a little about my road to motherhood because it was the catalyst for a lot of big changes in my life.  The news of my health troubles and infertility led to me making big changes in my life spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. The greatest joy to come out of my journey to motherhood has been my relationship with Jesus.  

I'm going to unfold a story to you over the next few months.  It is a story of grief, brokenness, heartache, trust, redemption, love, friendship and of course, HOPE.  I pray you will follow my blog as I share a very personal but important story, one that changed the course of my entire life and led me to a place I hope each and every one of you finds.  

My greatest wish for you is that you find your purpose and embrace the man or woman God created you to be, for you to have hope and a future.

Yours in health,

Coach Steph