I'm your host, Amy Dardis, and in today's episode, we are talking about how to know when a shift is getting ready to happen. And this is relevant for anyone really, but I am sharing what it looked like for me through the lens of entrepreneurship. And maybe you'll see your own story in this episode and in what I'm sharing. And if I've learned anything, it's that God is always at work, whether we can see it or sense it or not. And it's not so much about knowing the plan, but it's understanding when God is calling you to something new, understanding when it's time to step out in faith and being obedient to that. It's learning to recognize when God is shifting you from one season to the next, whether it be from going from an employee to being an entrepreneur, or going from being an entrepreneur to being an employee, or whether it's shifting from one role to another. The shift has happened many times throughout my life. And the more times I've gone through this shift, the more I've learned to recognize God's hand in it, the more I've learned to hear his voice through it, the more I've learned to trust the process. Although it's still a struggle every time. But today's episode, I'm going to share with you the most recent one in my life and what that's looked like. So back in summer of 2023, I was an employee. I was on a leadership team. I was working full-time for an organization that I loved. I had been in a season, I'd been there for four years at the time doing work that I loved. I was aligned. I was in roles that I had the capacity for. I was contributing in a meaningful way. And I had just thoroughly enjoyed the last few years of my life. And I had experienced tremendous growth and tremendous challenge and tremendous reward and fruit and huge learning curves, but huge, huge gaps being closed, huge potential being reached. Like I had just really enjoyed that season of my life. And I remember it was summertime, and I was my kids were home during the summer. And I was thankful enough to be working from home during most of it. And at the end of my workday, I would take my kids to the park and they would ride their bikes and I would walk and listen to music and just pray and just get some steps in because I'd been sitting at a desk at a computer all day. And it was just good to kind of let the stress of the day go. And I remember it was August and I was walking and I just all of a sudden became aware that I was very comfortable. I became aware that I wasn't feeling stretched in any which way. I wasn't feeling like I had incredible purpose or passion or the same amount that had been fueling me these last few years. And I realized that I, at that moment in time, I had no vision for what was next. And so I kind of felt a little bit lost, a little bit stagnant, a little bit unsure, and not in a desperate way, not in ways I have certainly been crying out for vision and crying out for revelation. It wasn't like that. It was just like, oh, I like things are good. I'm comfortable. And this feels weird. This feels off. And I'm I'm wondering what's next, God, you know, and it was just, it was just a conversation. It was just the first time I just become aware of that. And that awareness just planted a little bit of a seed. Nothing huge, but it was just, I just remember that day and I remember that moment. And I remember that being the first time that it became a thought in my mind. And it was a thought that didn't really go away. So not very much longer after that, because I'd been praying and I was like, God, what's next? Like, what's coming? What are you, what are you doing? I you're you're I know you're doing something, even if it doesn't feel like it. I I'm I'm sure you're still working. And so it it must not have been even a month later. I don't remember if it was two weeks or four weeks, but it was not long. I was at church and I was with my husband. We were going to get our kids, and some friends of ours who we had known for a few years who were also business owners, came up to us and said, Hey, we want to start a small group for entrepreneurs, for business owners. And immediately in my spirit, I was like, Yes. And normally I would like make like talk to my husband about it first and not commit to anything so big or so, you know, something that required such a time commitment. But I just, as soon as he asked, my spirit was just like, yes, like God said, say yes. And that was the end of that. And I looked at my husband, I'm like, I hope you want to do this because we're doing it. And I feel like we need to do this. And so at that time, I had kind of been out of the entrepreneurship game for a while. I had been so focused on my work within the organization and leading that and and doing like strategic planning and e-commerce and marketing. And I had not really been in my like entrepreneurial mindset or habits. We still had a business. My husband was running the business. I had just really step taken a very, very big step back because I could not handle both. I didn't have the bandwidth, I didn't have the capacity to do stuff in our business as well as do what I was doing in my job. And so we started this, this group, this, this business group with for other business owners and entrepreneurs. And we hosted it at our house. And we were just every week talking about business topics and and faith and just kind of God's leading and direction and what that looked like. And we were getting to know some new people. And honestly, it was not long. I mean, again, it might have been a month, maybe not even. Like, I just remember we started having these groups. We met once a week. And very, very quickly, I was feeling a stirring. I was feeling like all of these ideas and this passion and these thoughts coming to the surface. And I was getting emotional and I was getting excited. And I was like, oh my gosh, this, it's like this thing has been dormant inside of me for a while. And now it's bubbling back up to the surface because I knew this feeling, I knew these, these dreams, and I, I knew these desires because I I had had them for years, but I had kind of thought they'd I'd they'd kind of been like dead and buried for a while. And I thought I'd kind of gotten over it. And I thought I was happy doing what I was doing. And here, here these things come, here these feelings come. And I start wrestling, and group becomes like this emotional, raw experience that every time I get done, I'm just feeling like, oh, like, what is this? I'm I don't have peace about this, but I feel like I am trying to, I'm trying to wrestle with this. And that would have been like the next thing. So the first thing was just this awareness. And then the next thing was like this stirring, like just this, like, ooh, like I'm what are these feelings and why won't they go away? Why can't I just like squelch them? And here, and then we have like moving into like these internal signs of this wrestling and this resistance, because that's what I was doing. I was wrestling with this, these dreams, wrestling with with this timing and resisting it. I wanted to put it back to bed. I wanted to rebury it because I knew that these things coming to the surface were going to threaten the comfort and the security and the stability of what I had going on. And I didn't want that. I I wanted to keep, I wanted to stay happy doing what I was doing. I wanted to stay content. I wanted to just focus on that. It was going well, it was going good for our family, good at work, and I didn't want to rock the boat. So I tried to fight it. And that went on for a few more weeks. And I was sharing this at group. And one of the one of the group members was like, what if you just, what if you just do something about this? Like, what if instead of trying to fight it, you like what would doing something about this look like? And I was like, okay, I I have all these ideas, I have these thoughts. I have no, it's not like I was thinking, oh, I want to start a new business, or I have, I have no plan. I had no plan. I just had energy welling up inside of me. I had thoughts, I had emotions, and I couldn't get them out. I had no outlet. So I kind of surrendered to this idea that God was asking me to do something. He was asking me to take action and address all of these things that were coming to the surface. And so that is when I ended up realizing that, okay, God is God's doing this. He that he is behind this. This isn't my own selfish ambition. This isn't my own plan. Because this isn't, this isn't my plan. This plan doesn't make sense. But I'm going to, I'm gonna accept that this is God. And if it's God, then I know I need to obey. I know I need to take some sort of action with this. And so in the fall of 2023, I just started a YouTube channel. So no plan, no outlet, or sorry, no plan. It was just an outlet. It was just like, okay, all of these things I'm learning, or all of these things I'm feeling, or all these ideas and concepts. I'm just going to turn a camera on and share. And I'm just going to talk through whatever these ideas and topics are. And so I did that and I felt relief. I felt like, okay, I'm doing this, I'm taking action, I'm sharing what's on my heart. I'm doing it in an authentic way. And it's a minimal thing. Like I was just trying to be obedient to it. And so there was no like editing or involved. There was, it was very basic. So I would sit down, I wasn't even like scripting or anything. I would literally turn my camera on, which was a webcam at the time, sit down, have an idea of what I wanted to say, record it in one shot, no editing. I would trim the beginning, trim the end, and then upload it and post it. And that was that was my YouTube channel. But it was just like it was an outlet to get these ideas out. And so that kind of carried me into 2024. And then I started seeing these other external signs that were happening in my life. And at the time I I really saw no connection to any of it. Things like my my doctor, who my primary care provider, who I'd had for the last few years, who I loved. I just I I was very attached to my primary care provider because she was just the best doctor I'd ever had. And she fired me. She fired me because I missed an appointment, or I didn't do a follow-up thing that she had wanted because I was I was so busy at work and I I couldn't, I was barely being able to put myself first or go to this follow-up appointment. Anyway, I got I got fired from my doctor, and I thought that was weird, but I was like, okay, well, I get it. I didn't do what she asked me to do, so that's my fault. And I didn't, I didn't ever find a doctor again that I felt the same strong connection with. It was like manager meetings, or it was traveling for a conference, or it was traveling around two different branches, like things that I couldn't, I couldn't control because that schedule was affecting other people's schedules. And it was just like, I'm sorry, I I can't make it to this meeting. I have to, I have to do this work thing. And so it was like month after month after month I kept missing all these meetings. And I was like, man, you know, obviously I felt like really bad about that, but I was like, why is that happening? Like this is totally beyond my control. And then at work, things were starting to happen where I was starting to have these ideas come come into play. I was like listening to more books, and I was really meditating on these things and ruminating on these things, and I was getting a little bit more active in my business again because I had these ideas, and it was these ideas of this like clarity alignment authenticity or clarity alignment accountability framework that was starting to kind of come to life. And it was starting with this clarity piece. And we had a web design and marketing agency, and so I was testing out my theory by going back and working with all my clients that I knew really well and saying, hey, I have this new thing I'm testing out, this new way of telling a brand story. And I know that we've done this at some point, but I would you be willing to like sit down and chat with me and see what else can come to the surface. And they're like, Yeah, sure, you know, because I was like doing it for free. I was just like testing the theory and the concept. And I was going through this and I was figuring out this process and finding success with it and being exhilarated by it and being like, wow, like this is this is this spark is getting bigger. This this flame is getting bigger. And I was getting more and more passionate about meaningful work and people really being in their unique giftings. And so I was implementing some of these new ideas at work as well. And we were doing personality tests on everybody, and we were doing some intentional team building, and we were looking at roles, and I was realizing, I'm like, I am, I believe that this is my unique gifting, and I'm wanting to do more of this because I want to contribute in a more impactful and valuable way. And my boss supported it. He he helped me do this, he helped open these doors. And as I was doing it, I was facing more and more opposition and tension at work, like not from my boss, but from other coworkers, because here I was trying to step into this different role, this more honed in and focused role. And it was like not there, there was tension from that. There was like, what? But you're the marketing person, but you're in this box. And now you have these ideas about the like this, these other things, and what's going on here. And I still pushed through it, and we still gained a lot of traction with it. And it was, it was working. Like it was, we were doing these intentional team building sessions, and every single time we presented this idea to every branch or department, there was tons of hesitation, there was tons of resistance, there was tons of like just what's going on and what does this mean? And then this is new. And then we would go and do it, and and they would just have a blast. Like they would they would get to know each other better, they would learn things about each other that they didn't know. They would have fun, there would be tons of laughter, and it was like six, it was a it was a success, like it was, it was an incredible success. But I was still just dealing with this this opposition and this resistance, and it was it was making work more and more stressful because here I was like convicted by this vision, convicted and just like God, like affirming this, like, hey, like this is this is what I have created you for. I gave you these gifts, like you are developing these, and it's okay that you're facing this opposition. Don't give up, like, don't stop, keep pushing through. And so here I had these, like this opposition, this tension, this pulling away of things happening, even though I was doing exactly what I felt like God was telling me to do. I felt like I was being obedient to that. And in spite of that, I was still facing tension and opposition and friction. And there were some relationships in my life that I had had that were slowly just kind of getting more and more distant because life was getting busier, and there was just more of a uh disconnect. And then we it was summer of 2024, and we had this like big company picnic at work, and all the people and all their families went, and I, you know, helped and helped put together a lot of the like employee recognition stuff, and and it was this beautiful event. And I remember being there and being with all these people that I had spent the last four and a half years of my life with and feeling like I didn't belong, like feeling like I'm like, oh wow, like this isn't this isn't where I'm supposed to be. And that was the first time I recognized that for sure. I was like, okay, God is preparing me to leave at some point. Like I'm not staying here for a long time. And it wasn't like I was like, oh, I'm gonna go and quit. If anything, it was the opposite. If anything, I was like, okay, I'm recognizing I don't belong. I'm recognizing there's all this tension and opposition, but if God has called me to this, that I am going to, I'm gonna surrender this, I'm gonna just let him be in control. I will be here as long as he wants me here. I I understand that my time is coming to an end. I understand that God is doing something new. I understand that after this time ends, that I want to go back to being an entrepreneur. I understand that there's this, these ideas and this framework and the this calling and this purpose that I'm understanding needs to happen within the world of being an entrepreneur. But until then, I will give this everything I've got. I will, no matter how difficult, no matter how stressful, no matter how much anxiety I have, I will dig my heels in and commit to this. And I was having severe anxiety. Like I was literally dealing with like physical anxiety attacks happening on a weekly basis at that point. But I was just like, nope, like I'm in this, like uh, God has me here. I am not leaving until he tells me otherwise. I am not leaving until he releases me. And so the stress and the pressure and the anxiety and the friction continued to build, but so did my resolve. Like, so did my commitment to staying. And I'd had tons of conversations with my husband. I had had conversations with my boss as well about letting him know, like, I am I'm in this, I know it's hard, I know it's an uphill battle, but I I understand what I'm dealing with and I'm willing to work through it. I'm willing to break through this ceiling because what I I recognized that I'd hit a ceiling, and I thought that I could break through this ceiling while staying in the same organization. Like I was really trying to just evolve through it and and stay where I was at, you know, because I was that there was a lot of good things going on. There was a lot of stability, there was a lot of security, there was a lot of comfort, there was a lot of reliability, and and there, and it had been a huge blessing, you know. It had been a blessing in so many ways, and I'd been so thankful for it. And I didn't want to throw it away. I didn't want to not be grateful for it. But in September, October of 2024, here I am, like strengthening my resolve to stay. But also then fully accepting, fully realizing that I was waiting for God to move. And I knew something was happening. And in the summer of 2024, I'd actually been visiting my family, and I had said, I was like, to be honest, I said, I don't have a vision for my role or for my life past the end of the year. I was like, for some reason, I get this sense, I get this feeling, this prompting that I won't be there past the end of the year. And I was, and they're like, Well, do you think you're gonna leave? And I was like, No, I'm not gonna leave. Like, no. I was like, I don't know why I have this feeling, but that's ludicrous. That is crazy. That is, that is just a weird thought, and I don't know where that came from, but I just I knew it was there. I was like, but I would never do that to my husband, I would never do that to my family, I wouldn't do that to my boss. Like, that is that is just not that's just crazy talk right there. So anyway, so I get into the fall, I recognize that my time there is coming to an end, but I am honestly thinking that the end is coming within one to three years. Like I'm thinking I have a minimum of at least another year there. And no matter how hard it's gonna be, I'm gonna stick it out and I'm gonna push through and I'm gonna, you know, like I was, but and then that was me surrendering, right? Like I was surrendering to God's plan. I was surrendering to God, if you have me here, I will be here for as long as you want me, no matter how hard it is. Like that is this is your plan. You are in control. I have made too many mistakes. I have done this too many times before, where I have set the direction, where I have tried to take things under my control. And I'm not going to do that. So I'm going to I'm it's full surrender, right? Just full surrender for whatever it is in the midst of opposition, in the midst of adversity, in the midst of stress and tension. But I remember just praying and praying, and I was again leading a different small group at the time. And I remember telling them, and I was saying, like, this season is so stressful. I was like, I'm literally hanging on by a thread, and I am holding on to God through it all. I was like, I'm waiting and I feel like I'm waiting for something. I was like, I don't know what it is, but I feel like it's coming. It's coming soon. I just have no idea what it is. And and you know, and there it was. And so it was November 2024. Almost almost a year ago now. And I remember it was a Friday morning, and my husband came into the room and he said, I don't think I want to live in Great Falls anymore. And I was like, Oh, okay, well, that's alright. Like, we we don't have to stay here forever. Like, I only have one to three years left with my with my current position. Like, we can definitely plan on on moving somewhere else after that. Where do you think you want to go? And he didn't know at the time, and so he like left left left the room or went outside and was doing stuff. And we I got on, I got on the computer and I was like googling like different places in Montana to to live because there was no way we would ever leave the state. And so I'm like looking at the different cities and looking at the different towns and just like nothing's feeling right, nothing's feeling like ah, I don't I don't want to go to an anywhere, I don't know where I want to go. Like, you know, just not being opposed to uh moving from Great Falls, but not knowing where else in Montana made sense. And so he comes back in 45 minutes later and he looks at me and he's like, I think I want to move to Alaska. And I'm like, Oh okay. And there are some ties to Alaska, so this wasn't just like completely far-fetched. He's been visiting for the last like eight years, and we've been up, we've we had visited, I have family up there, up here, I guess. It was there at the time, but anyway, so this this wasn't just out of out of the ordinary, like the most remote place we could possibly think of. It was there was a reason. And I was like, okay, well, let me think about that. And so I get online and I start looking at houses and and and there's There's peace there. There's like, I'm looking at these houses, and God's like, this is where I want you to move. This I want you to move to Alaska. And it was just right then and there, this most clear prompting, this most clear direction, full peace, full clarity, full like God is calling us to Alaska. We're gonna move to Alaska. And it was just like boom, there, there it is. Now, at the time, in that moment, we still were thinking summer 2025 or a year later, or like at that point, it was just a very clear, like, okay, we're going. That is where we will be going. And two weeks later, 15 days later, we landed in Alaska with our family and our dogs and our six suitcases. And in in two weeks from the moment the thought was planted, we were we were gone. And that is the whole story in and of itself, obviously, because who just uproots their life like that in two weeks. But when I said I was waiting for God to release me, it he released me. Like again, there's a whole story there too. But I I went in to my boss and I said, I have loved working for you for the last five years. You're the best boss I have ever had. I have nothing but the utmost respect for you. I was like, but beyond like that, I was like, the most important thing in my life is honoring God and being obedient because He is Lord and Savior over my life. Like He is who directs my steps. And He's calling us to go to Alaska, like, and I'm giving you my resignation. And and then that was it ended a little bit, and that was good. And then we ended up moving faster than we thought. And again, I think there's still all kinds of questions and processing there. However, it was, I just remember, I'm like, I know I prayed. I will be there until God releases me. And he and he did, like he moved like through through my husband, through other factors, like there were doors that had to be opened in order for us to make this move in two weeks. But all of these things had been happening, all of these, these moments, all of these experiences, all of this pulling away, these promptings, these affirmations, these this surrender of choosing to obey him, like choosing to accept that that if God is calling us to something new, if he's asking us to step out, if he's asking me to step into entrepreneurship. And I will tell you, like in what I would have said was the worst timing, we moved to Alaska in December. I mean, come on, it was four hours of daylight. Like it was like who moves who moves to Alaska then? We went without a plan. Like my plan had been to, you know, phase out and slowly build a new brand on the side and and just transition smoothly. And I just I had all of these ways that I would have done it. And staying comfortable, staying secure, staying where I was at, and trying to basically have the best of both worlds. And God was saying, leave what you know and follow me. Like leave what you know and obey. And this is not the first time that this has happened. Like there, like I said, there have been other seasons of transition in my life. And whether it was moving from being an employee to being an entrepreneur, or even going from being an entrepreneur to being an employee, it was followed by these different signs, this, this awareness, this stirring, these internal signs of wrestling and resistance, this surrender and obedience and being willing to take action. External signs, like, you know, affirming it and making a way for doors to some doors to open and some doors to close. And then eventually just like waiting in faith, in full surrender, not controlling the situation, like waiting, waiting for God to move and to act in continuing to serve and continuing to show up to the best of my ability until he made it clear that it was time to act, until he made it clear it was time to go. And then it's followed by the actual shift happening. It's followed by the change taking place. Now, what happens post-change is its own story as well. I think there's there's a whole journey that happens after that. It's not like we make a change and then everything is good because we've just left one thing and walked into something new. It's like when when the Israelites leave Egypt, well, there's all of these signs and there's all of these wonders, and there's, you know, God's hand moving and closing doors and opening doors and making a way, and it happens over a period of time. And then they leave Egypt. Well, that's not the end of the story. There's there's so much more that happens after that. So it's just important to recognize the events that can happen and the signs that can happen to prepare us and let us know this is God. This is God prompting me. This is God leading me. This is God acting and moving on my behalf, not my plan, not my will, not me trying to control it. It is surrender, it is obedience, and it is faith. It is trusting that God is in control and we're stepping into something new, even though we don't know what we're stepping into, even though it very often doesn't make sense, the timing doesn't make sense. I wish that it was prettier and less risk and less less uncertainty. But but God's like, who who do you trust? Like, who is your provider? Who is who is in control? Like, is it me? And do you really believe that? And if you do, you're gonna wait for me to act. And then when I do start to act, you're gonna trust and you're gonna know that it's me in the process. And it's going to, it's gonna strengthen our relationship. It's going to stress, like it's absolutely, it's like this whole process was me learning to surrender my will, surrender my control, surrender my plan, surrender my expectation of what should happen. And just trust God in the process. And it was not just trusting him. I mean, it was needing him. It was seeking him. It was like he was in every thought and in every day and in every action. Cause I'm like, I realize I'm like, I cannot do this on my own. I do not have what it takes to, I don't have what it takes to stay here on my own. I don't have what it takes to move on my own. I need you. I and I I need you and I want you. I want you in control. I want you to lead this and to be the one who's calling the shots, to be the one who's in charge, because I know that your plan is so much better than my plan. And I've learned enough to start to trust that and to start to believe. And and this is what faith looks like. It's, you know, God calling Abraham away from what he knew. And come to a land that I will show you. Like he didn't even give it to it. Like he didn't know where he was going when he left. God's like, just come and I'll show you later. Like, and oftentimes that's what it looks like when we step out in faith is come and I will show you, I'll reveal it to you a little bit at a time. But before he moves us, he prepares our heart for it. I think long before that change ever happens. Like for me, this stirring, this very first seed that was planted, was planted almost like a year and a half before anything ever really happened. And it was slow and it had time to grow. And I had time to process and adjust and pray through it and be encouraged and be affirmed and start to accept it and start to trust it. Like it was a slow process, but I know that through that time I wasn't trying to manipulate the situation. I wasn't trying to call the shots. I was just trying to be obedient to wherever it was. But when God is ready for you to move, He will move. Like He will open doors, not you. And that's one of the biggest lessons I've learned along the way, and mainly from just doing it wrong so many times. But anyway, if that I hope that was encouraging. I think sometimes it's it's not that we all know what we're doing all the time. It's just that it's like we have these lives that we lead, we have these experiences that we have. And all we can do is look back and reflect on and grow from what God taught us along the way, and then be willing to share that story, be willing to be upfront about it and transparent about it, and hope that it can encourage some other people along the way, you know. And I don't, I don't know your story. I don't know where you're at right now. But if you're listening to this and you're in a season that you're not sure about, just know this could be an external sign that, you know, if if if you've had questions about is this really God, well, yeah, it it very well might be. I don't know your story, but anyway. So as always, you can learn more at Clearauthenticbrands.com. That's all for this episode. See you in the next one.