Confusion to Clarity: How God Reveals Your Unique Gifting with Heather Day, Author

Have you struggled to find just where your gifts fit in the world? Feeling like God gave you a bad deal and you have nothing important to share? 

Our guest today, Heather Day, knows that feeling.  But over time, she discovered that God had the perfect position and message for her to share. As a communications director, author and financial mentor, she's found her many talents just needed a place where God could use them. 

In this episode you'll discover how to stay patient and follow the Spirit to the spot that your gifting will make room for you, so you can enjoy a unique creator lifestyle that God designed for you! 

ABOUT OUR GUEST 

Heather M. Day is an author and ministry leader with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of marketing, communications, and nonprofit ministry. She is the Director of Marketing for Barnabas Foundation, where she provides marketing consultation and support for more than 200 Christian ministries. She is the author of Money and Spirit: Surrendering Our Finances to the Work of the Holy Spirit.

In addition to writing corporate, marketing, and fundraising content for more than 200 nonprofit organizations, her writing has been featured in Christian Leadership Alliance’s Outcomes magazine, Generosity Today, and Olivet the Magazine. She blogs regularly about life, motherhood, marriage, and faith-led leadership at HeatherDay.net. 

Transcript

[00:00:00] Have you ever wondered if you're even using your gifts in the right way? Maybe you've worked hard. You've followed the
[00:00:07] plan that you thought God had for you, but deep down it feels like you're running twice as fast and working twice
[00:00:13] as hard just to keep up. And while everyone seems to have it figured out there'll be an artist, teacher, pastor,
[00:00:19] whatever. You're stuck asking, "What if my talents don't fit the box? What if the thing I'm good at just isn't good
[00:00:25] enough?" Well, this is the God and Gig Show, and I am your host, Alan C. Paul and this is where we help you to become
[00:00:31] the creator that you were created to be. And in this conversation with author,
[00:00:37] financial coach, and communications expert Heather Day, you'll see how the
[00:00:42] very thing and the skills that you're overlooking could be the doorway to your calling and how trusting God with your
[00:00:49] gifts can open the doors that you never imagined possible.
[00:00:57] I am so glad to have Heather Day joining us today on the God and Geek Show. How are you doing, my friend?
[00:01:03] I'm doing wonderful. Thank you so much for having me on here. It really is a blessing because you were so patient with us. We had so many
[00:01:09] things going on stopping us from getting this connection happening, but thank God in God's timing it happened. And so now
[00:01:16] I get to Well, I kind of know these answers, but let me just for the audience tell us where you're hailing from, where you're where you're
[00:01:22] recording from right now. Yeah. So I'm recording in Cit Illinois. It's right on the Illinois Indiana border just uh
[00:01:28] about a half an hour south of Chicago. Okay. And the reason I wanted to hear that because my wife is from Chicago
[00:01:35] Hoffman Estates Algangquin. So we have that connection where thanks to that area. I have a my wife escaped
[00:01:43] that area. It's it's summer right now. So you don't have to worry about this the the cold and this particular time
[00:01:48] that we're recording. But she escaped from that area because the code was just too much for her. So I
[00:01:54] guess you're you're able to handle it. It's brutal. Well, I regret all my life choices when winter comes.
[00:02:00] And I suddenly become open to God's calling to southern climate. No, we're here. If if he calls, we're
[00:02:07] here. We're here. Be obedient and go to an island for you, God. Exactly. Isn't that funny? Like, yes,
[00:02:12] Loris, go ahead. Send me to Fiji, please. Yes. I love it. Well, for those who don't know you, this is always the classic
[00:02:19] podcast thing where you give your 30 secondond elevator pitch. I probably already read it as people were being introd introduced to you or they read it
[00:02:27] in the bio right in the show notes. So, what I'd rather ask you is something like this. If they don't read the bio,
[00:02:33] if they did not meet you through your professional work, how would you introduce yourself to someone that's
[00:02:39] meeting you for the first time at a party, at a, you know, in the mall? What are those couple of things that you want
[00:02:45] people to know you for upon first meeting? Yeah, if someone were meeting me uh for
[00:02:51] the first time, they would probably pretty quickly hear about my kids. I have a daughter, Emma, who's a freshman
[00:02:57] at college. Um, and I have a 13-year-old boy who uh is in 8th grade, and he keeps
[00:03:04] me on my toes. They're great kids. Um, they would also hear about my husband, Robert. We've been married for 24 years
[00:03:11] and um they would also probably pretty quickly hear about my church because I'm very involved there. I love working with
[00:03:17] our youth. I love singing on praise team um and just using whether it's at home,
[00:03:22] our church or in my career using uh the creative and communication uh gifts that
[00:03:28] God has given me. Ah, so I love the fact that you started with family because of course that is a heartbeat for anyone
[00:03:34] that is, you know, knows that God has blessed you with 24 years. That's beautiful, right? And two kids. Um, but
[00:03:41] then you mentioned your communication because now that goes into your professional skills that God blessed you
[00:03:46] with. And so you are an author, you are someone that's helped people and organizations
[00:03:52] to communicate more effectively. And so one of the things I'd love to know, and I usually ask all creatives this, so
[00:03:59] just so you know, I'm not trying to put you on the spot. What was the first instance that you
[00:04:04] even had the idea that communication skills, writing, sharing, you know, whether it be the gospel or just sharing
[00:04:11] a message, right? When did that first appear to you? Was it childhood? Was it college? Was it something else that kind of sparked you
[00:04:18] and like, wait, this might be something I'm good at? Yeah. So, it's funny because I did do
[00:04:23] all those things as a kid, but I didn't recognize it as a gift. So, I um from
[00:04:28] the very early age, I was always writing stories like in elementary school, I was part of um young authors every year
[00:04:35] where I would write stories. Um I did um I did plays. I I was I'm a pastor's kid
[00:04:41] and my mom's the music minister. So, I was up on stage singing from the time I
[00:04:47] was little. And um and I just I just that was just part of who I am. But it
[00:04:52] became I think came so naturally for me I didn't think of that as anything
[00:04:57] special. So um so I felt a call to ministry
[00:05:03] actually when I was um around 10 years old and I felt called specifically I
[00:05:09] felt like I was supposed to be a missionary and in my mind I had very clear boxes of what that could look
[00:05:14] like. So, uh, I felt like as a missionary, I was either going to be a preacher, a teacher, or a doctor. Well,
[00:05:21] all the women pastors I knew at the time were kind of nerdy and I didn't want to be like that. I'm just being real.
[00:05:28] Yeah. Hey, like, Lord, you can do this, but not in that category. Not a nerd.
[00:05:35] Um, not that I'm not nerdy. I am, but but I didn't want to confirm it. Um, and then, um, I didn't want to be a teacher.
[00:05:43] I never felt led in that way. So, I truly like landed on I'm going to be a
[00:05:48] doctor and I'm going to be I'm going to uh go into medical missions. I was fascinated by by medicine. Um but I went
[00:05:55] to my freshman year of college and a premed major and I was doing okay in my
[00:06:03] classes, but it came it did not come easy for me. It was really hard and I
[00:06:09] felt like I'm all of a sudden with peers who are specializing in that area and I felt like I was running twice as hard to
[00:06:18] just keep up. Mhm. Meanwhile, I had because I went to a liberal arts school, I had a speech 101
[00:06:26] cla class that was easy for me and fun for me. And I would come into class
[00:06:31] excited to give speeches in front of the class, unlike some of my peers who were like, they say that's one of the number one fears in life.
[00:06:37] Yeah. So, so I had a professor um the professor of that class told me,
[00:06:43] Heather, you have a gift in this. You need to stick with this. And so as a and and I remember thinking at the time
[00:06:48] talking is a gift. That was so foreign. But um but I I
[00:06:55] switched my majors at that time. Went from being biology premed to communication. Um I'm a firstborn
[00:07:02] daughter, a pastor's kid who likes to have a plan, likes to know exactly where I'm going. And for the first time in my
[00:07:09] life, it's like I have no idea where this is going. I don't know how you're gonna use it, God, but I'm just gonna
[00:07:14] trust that if you gave me these skills and these passions that that you're gonna make sense of it somewhere along the way. So,
[00:07:20] oh gosh. Yeah. This is beautiful because I love the fact that even at 10 years old, you felt this calling. That's huge
[00:07:27] that God already kind of gave you this clarity in that direction, but then left something else kind of,
[00:07:32] you know, where you had to discover his will, where you have to discover the path. And so so many creatives I know
[00:07:38] can resonate with that because we do have that initial kind of feeling, oh, I'm moving this direction. This is what
[00:07:44] I'm good at. But it doesn't turn out the way that you thought it would. No. I was always kind of jealous, honestly,
[00:07:51] like in in school especially and in my early 20s, jealous of people who knew exactly what they wanted to be. Like I
[00:07:57] want to be a nurse or I want to be a teacher or I want to be whatever this case might be. And I didn't I didn't
[00:08:03] really ever have that clarity. Um, but what I did is I just continued to lean into my gifts and I and I can see more
[00:08:09] of God's plan looking in the rear view than I ever could looking forward because I see how the things that the
[00:08:16] opportunities he opened up for me in my 20s led the opportunities in my 30s and
[00:08:21] now are leading to the opportunities in my in my 40s. I don't know if I should say my age, but anyway, but it's it's I
[00:08:28] I knew like I continued to grow and evolve in my skills and in my talents. I
[00:08:35] I'm doing things now that I never could have imagined didn't even exist when when I was a little girl. So,
[00:08:41] yeah, just continuing to be open to God, this is all yours and do with do with me what you'd like.
[00:08:48] I love the fact that you already again kind of pointed to something that didn't exist, right? that your skills and your
[00:08:54] gifting might be for something that's way in the future. I love the phrase you just said about rearview mirror versus
[00:09:00] looking forward, right? Um I guess one of the questions I have in terms of that does regard your
[00:09:06] profession now as far as organizations and how you help nonprofits and the the
[00:09:11] messaging that they put out, right? because there's also kind of like a forwardthinking thing there where you
[00:09:17] have to kind of see and understand something that maybe somebody else doesn't understand and then try to put
[00:09:22] it in words that they can like actually use. So, what was the first thing that
[00:09:28] made you feel like, "Wait a minute, not only am I starting to understand communication, but I'm also good at
[00:09:34] clarifying somebody else's message marketing wise or something else that so was that a first position, a first job.
[00:09:40] Where was that where you started to start to help other people?" Yeah, I think that started in my first job, which was an internship at um at a
[00:09:48] a community high school. Um and I even my um my peers would just affirm things
[00:09:54] that I didn't think anything of. You know, they said, "Oh, would you would you write this for me? You have a way
[00:09:59] with words." Or would you make this presentation? I get nervous doing that. Um so I started to figure that out along
[00:10:06] the way. And then I just found out I found over time through my different positions how not only could I use my
[00:10:13] gifts and feel fulfilled, but that I would uh that I would lighten the load for other people. um that I could take
[00:10:20] um I could take something like not knowing how to talk about a whole organiz my organization right now does
[00:10:26] planned gifts which is complex and hard to understand and I came into this job
[00:10:33] really knowing very little about planned giving but because of that I had an advantage because I could take it and
[00:10:38] figure out okay how do I explain this in a way that makes sense to people who don't have an extensive legal or
[00:10:44] financial background. Um, so I've I've learned uh over time that that's
[00:10:49] something that that God has put in me, that ability to take take messages and simplify them. Um, and I never would
[00:10:57] have, again, I never would have thought as a kid, I want to be, I want to grow up and be in marketing, but um, but I found that my ability to put things into
[00:11:04] words or put things um, into writing um, it like helps it it it makes the work of
[00:11:13] other people who are called to ministry easier. And and on the flip side of that, it frees me up to recognize that I don't
[00:11:20] have to be good at everything because God has gifted other people. I if you
[00:11:26] tell me a number, I will not remember that number an hour from now, you know, like I just I'm not wired in that way
[00:11:32] and it's not that I don't want to be, it's just it doesn't come natural for me. Um, but I work with and and I don't
[00:11:37] like know all the nuances of of plan gifts, but I work with a bunch of accountants and I work with a bunch of
[00:11:43] lawyers who they have their gifts and it's a beautiful picture of the kingdom of God because we all I come with my
[00:11:50] stuff, they come with their stuff and somehow God weaves it together to do something beautiful that we never could
[00:11:55] have done on our own. Yeah. Uh, such a beautiful picture. Now I do want to ask you because this is a
[00:12:01] little high a high level question and I but coming from what you just described which is talking with a lot of different
[00:12:07] people in different ministry positions again these are kind of like the the behind thescenes people right right
[00:12:12] um and without their work this kingdom work that you talking about whether
[00:12:17] it be at organizational level missions level university like whatever it is like this is major major ministry going
[00:12:24] out but there's a lot behind the scenes so I'm wondering What are the biggest
[00:12:30] struggles or I don't want to say mistakes, but where do you see the
[00:12:35] church struggling or maybe not having the right messaging for some of these
[00:12:41] major projects, these things that are so important, but you're the one that may look at the way they said it and be
[00:12:47] like, this is why no one quite understands the the importance of this. So I think a
[00:12:53] lot of us, again, I'm more in the individual creator, but it's the same thing trying to explain why this is
[00:12:59] important. Why do people believe? So is there something you've seen across the board that always seems to be the
[00:13:04] problem why people can't explain what's important about a kingdom initiative?
[00:13:10] Yeah, I think um there's a lot of ways I could places I could go with that, but I
[00:13:16] think one of the things that people is just have a hard time. They know what they mean by something when they say it
[00:13:21] and they write it, but they don't think about how the audience is perceiving it and where they're coming from. They
[00:13:27] don't have all the context that you do. Um, and so I think one of that's one of the places where we miss the mark. We
[00:13:33] just or we've said I put it out there in my newsletter. Why didn't they know about it? Well, so and so had a a full
[00:13:40] inbox the day that you sent their newsletter out. You know, so like they you've got to be repetitive with your
[00:13:45] message. you've also got to be clear to answer the questions that that they're going to ask uh that they're going to
[00:13:51] ask when you're not there. Um so I think there's just this whole putting yourself in in the um in the shoes of the of your
[00:13:58] audience. What what what what are their points of uh their pain points? What are
[00:14:04] the barriers to them hearing your message? What are the questions that they're going to have when they get your
[00:14:09] message? And thinking in those terms when you form that so you can you can operate with crystal clarity. That's so
[00:14:16] important because I immediately thought of Jesus saying that you must walk a mile, right? If someone tells you to go,
[00:14:22] go two miles with them, right? Some people call it the second mile or, you know, walk a mile in their moccasins type thing, right?
[00:14:27] But just having that empathy of knowing and of course Jesus being the ultimate communicator always brought things down
[00:14:33] to the people's level. Every parable, right, was brought down to things that people actually dealt with with salt and with
[00:14:40] sheep and with, you know, sons. like he always brought it down to the people's level instead of trying to say something
[00:14:47] about s so deep as the kingdom of god and then literally stay on his plane and
[00:14:54] not bring it down to where they love this advice for anyone communicating a message and that's why I wanted to lean
[00:14:59] on you for a second I I think of a very specific example when back at the the my my very first
[00:15:06] job working at this there's high school where it had it was on every state watch list that you could be on it was like
[00:15:12] acade ademic academic um probation. It was economic disparity, had a history of
[00:15:18] racial tensions. There was just every problem that you could have imagine there. And I remember I was trying to be
[00:15:24] clever and trying to do these things and I put out an article in the newsletter about now um now want now hiring parents
[00:15:31] to be involved in their kids' life and I don't know what I said but something like or be involved in the school and
[00:15:38] and be part of meetings and all this kind of stuff. And I just was trying to put clever like it was a job
[00:15:43] advertisement for parents to to get involved in our programs. And I had people show up for a job. And I thought,
[00:15:50] well, I've completely missed the mark here because I didn't explain. First of
[00:15:55] all, I it was um I was not true in my messaging that I needed to I I recognized that this is a big problem.
[00:16:02] people are looking for work and also in my cleverness I missed the clarity and
[00:16:08] and so it created it created some problems that I had awkward conversations of with parents of no in
[00:16:14] fact I can't pay you to be here. Oh gosh, I would have signed up right away as
[00:16:20] soon as you said it's like wait you can pay me to be involved in my kids' life like sign me up please. And and of
[00:16:27] course now as a parent myself, I have all kinds of regrets of the things I should have messaged differently to
[00:16:32] people who were struggling just to put food on the table, let alone show up to a parent council meeting. So yeah. Yeah.
[00:16:39] So you're understanding changes. That brings me right to Yes. I we'll kind of commiserate just for a moment as
[00:16:45] teachers and and uh people in involved in these systems. I had a very similar
[00:16:50] situation with uh being a music teacher in the inner city here in South Florida. And my first couple of years, I was in
[00:16:57] one of again very distressed, economically deprived area. And I'm trying to get kids to buy recorders
[00:17:03] because we all know that the most important thing for a child to play within third and fifth grade is the recorder.
[00:17:09] And I'll never forget the parent that sat across from me as I tried to give them the message that buying this
[00:17:15] recorder was so important. And her looking at me and saying, "Sir, if I need to choose between a recorder and
[00:17:20] paying my light bill, I'm paying my light bill." M and it was like Allan you've you know
[00:17:26] again not understanding where I was with the message that needed to be sent and how to understand this person's
[00:17:32] needs more that were more important than my own and so this is such an important
[00:17:38] message. Yeah. We get so caught up in pushing our agenda and talking about us and the message I need to get out instead of
[00:17:45] thinking of what are the needs of the person I'm reaching. What how can I help them? How can I bless them? how can I
[00:17:51] meet a need in their life? That's where like and where they have the need and we have the solution, that's where that's
[00:17:57] where the magic happens. But if we're just so busy talking about me, me me and trying to work through my list of agenda
[00:18:04] items, they're not going to hear us because they're focused on something else. Yes. Very, very, very important. I'm so
[00:18:10] glad we touched this. And by the way, speaking of a message that you also helped craft for other organizations,
[00:18:16] you also at some point felt like you had a message to share, right? There was something where you said, "Oh, wait. I'm
[00:18:22] not just communicating for others. I also have something that God put within me." And so, I'd like you to tell me a little
[00:18:29] bit about what what was that where you started to say, "Wait a minute. I need to share my own message, my own things
[00:18:36] that matter to me, but also could help other people." Yeah. I started putting out um a blog in
[00:18:43] my personal life and at first I didn't even tell people about it. My sister stumbled across it. She's like, "What is
[00:18:49] this?" And I'm like, "Well, it was just a weight place for me to process." Um but what I found was it was an
[00:18:55] opportunity for me to be authentic and talk about my struggles and where God had met me in the midst of those
[00:19:02] struggles. that was that enabled um them to first of all see they were not alone
[00:19:08] and that there was hope and um and that that that we all yes we have unique
[00:19:13] experiences but they're not so unique that other people haven't been through them and can identify with us. Um, so
[00:19:20] this sort of happened in my personal life and then and then at Barnabas Foundation a couple years ago, we got a
[00:19:26] a grant to be able to produce a resource for for churches. And long story short,
[00:19:32] um, I ended up writing a book called Money and Spirit um, surrendering our finances to the work of the Holy Spirit.
[00:19:39] And it really is framed from my personal experience uh with my husband of of
[00:19:46] where we struggled um financially and the hole we had dug ourselves into and
[00:19:51] how as we began to surrender our our finances to the Holy Spirit, how he
[00:19:57] began to to to work. And it wasn't like there was this magic fix. It wasn't like we got a big check in the mail that that
[00:20:03] that solved everything, but it was a uh it was a journey of learning to trust
[00:20:09] and abide in him and that he would he would provide what we needed when we
[00:20:14] needed it. So um so this book money and spirit is yes it's about finances and
[00:20:19] yes it's about that story but more so it's just a um money is a symptom of of
[00:20:26] of it's just a tangible example of something that we hold back from God's control. Uh we want to do things in our
[00:20:33] own way. We want to meet our own needs and and uh a lot of times that when or
[00:20:40] most of the time when we do that we make a royal mess of things. It might look like debt. It might look like abuse of
[00:20:47] power. It might look like uh fear. It might look like all kinds of things. But on the other hand, when we submit it to
[00:20:53] the work of the Holy Spirit, we can see the fruit of the spirit in our finances. So, we can see how how it changes how we
[00:21:01] view and manage money when when we're viewing it through love and when we find
[00:21:06] peace in the Holy Spirit and when we find joy and when we find security. And all of that is found in Christ alone. It
[00:21:13] changes everything including um including how we view and manage money. Wow. And so I saw this throughine as you
[00:21:21] were speaking of what you just talked about which is the message not just that you share with others but the message we
[00:21:27] tell ourselves, right? Um the Bible is very clear about how you can only serve one master, right? You
[00:21:32] can serve God or a mammon. So the story we're telling ourselves about what we need, we are basically either agreeing
[00:21:40] with God or we're disagreeing with God, right? Either we are saying he is our provider or money or our desire for money or
[00:21:47] desire to be able to make it ourselves is the message that we're telling ourselves and we're all going to follow
[00:21:53] one or the other. So I'm curious, what's been the biggest struggle for the people
[00:21:58] that you have seen reading your book who've asked for your book? Where are they struggling? Are they struggling
[00:22:04] with the desire to keep control? Are they struggling with the simple idea of
[00:22:10] wait I have to have money to survive? Like where is that major pain point that
[00:22:15] you've seen people within your and this is definitely for people who are Christians, right? So these are people who should know these types of things,
[00:22:21] but where do you think they struggle the most? Yeah. Um it's been fascinating since the
[00:22:26] book has come out because I wrote chapters geared around the different fruits of the spirit and what um the
[00:22:32] rotten fruit that can come out of trying to do things our own way. And one of the things that's been most interesting to
[00:22:37] me is that the thing the chapters that meant the most to to me sometimes it was
[00:22:43] other chapters that people are like that's my struggle. So it's been kind of all over the place. I've had some people
[00:22:49] that said, um, I I I have a tendency to to hoard because I'm afraid that I'll
[00:22:56] never have enough. Maybe they came from a household where they didn't know where uh where the how if the bills were going
[00:23:02] to be paid. And so they felt very like, I'm hoarding it. I'm building it up. I can't give the church. I can't do any of
[00:23:08] these things because I need to make sure that I'm never caught off guard in an emergency. And
[00:23:14] yes, we should be smart and have savings and all these sorts of things, but there's never there's never going to be
[00:23:19] this magic number that you have in your account that will protect you from everything that could possibly happen. At some point, you have to trust that
[00:23:26] the provider of all things is good and will take care of you. Um, so I've had some people with that. I've also had
[00:23:32] some people talk to me about um their the that you know I did a chapter of
[00:23:37] love and feeling like they were trying to earn the affection that they needed to feel in their life through through
[00:23:45] buying things for other people or through trying to impress or trying to build up collections that gave them that
[00:23:53] um that that feeling of oo I'm you know joy when in reality like that love and
[00:24:00] that that sense of identity. It can only be filled in Christ alone. Um I, you
[00:24:06] know, and it's it's one thing to say my identity is in Christ alone, but then I'm like, okay, but I don't want to
[00:24:11] dress my kids in less than the right the current fashions because I don't want them to feel like outcasts or I don't
[00:24:18] want to people to judge me as a parent. So, it just it really starts to mess with and shift your perspective when you
[00:24:24] look at, okay, what are my hang-ups with money and what is the underlying cause? Is it is it is it greed? Is it fear? Is
[00:24:32] it control? Is it you know what are what are the things that are at play beneath the surface?
[00:24:38] Wow, that's such a deep conversation, right? We could take a whole obviously detour into the motivations and what's
[00:24:46] really at the heart level. And we know that God looks at the heart, right? So God is the one that actually is
[00:24:51] concerned much less with the money that's in our bank account. Right. And I think um this is one of the things
[00:24:58] that I know can be a very taboo subject is how the church views money, how the
[00:25:06] church uses money. So right that's a personal obviously there's a personal level but there's also like we
[00:25:11] talked about the level of the kingdom and how people assume either if God blesses me that
[00:25:18] means there's you know we're rich and the church has all these things or whatever or
[00:25:24] God hates money and rich people so therefore I should be poor and anyone that ever sees a pastor driving more
[00:25:30] than a jalapy must be sinful right so where where have you again I know I'm
[00:25:35] talking another big question But where do you where do you help people understand like the mindset between like
[00:25:41] these two extremes? I think that the message I keep coming
[00:25:46] back into the book and I would come back to here is just surrender. Like we can't assume that that God's plan or God's
[00:25:54] desire for you is the same as what he desires for me. And and just and whether I have a lot or a little has nothing to
[00:26:01] do with my level of faith and God's love for me. Um and just like there are pe
[00:26:07] just like there are people who maybe accumulate wealth and we see this as as
[00:26:12] evil because they have um just hoarded and kept money and not been open-handed.
[00:26:19] Yes, that can be a sin. But also a sin can be burying our resources and living
[00:26:25] in fear and burying our talents where we don't pursue what God wants to do or um
[00:26:31] we're giving up um giving up opportunities to to give in extravagant
[00:26:37] ways. Um so there it can be like a it could just be all over the map. We so we
[00:26:42] have to just keep coming back to God. What do you want me to do with what you have given me? And keep coming back to
[00:26:49] that surrender. Um, and then trusting that he's the owner of it all. Um, one
[00:26:55] of the things that's kind of interesting behind the scenes at my organization is
[00:27:01] that we work with a lot of very generous and Christians who just so happen to be
[00:27:07] quite wealthy and they all of these people not I mean most of these people are sitting in congregations week after
[00:27:14] week where the pastor is afraid to ch to ask for um that that people would give
[00:27:20] to such and such vision or that they would give to help the youth. department, they would help to give this
[00:27:26] because they think I'm asking too much. When in reality, there's people sitting in those pews that that have a love
[00:27:32] language of giving and are giving to all kinds of nonprofit organizations but don't give to their church because their
[00:27:37] church didn't ask. Um, so it's really kind of f and that's one of the things that we so one of the
[00:27:43] most surprising things I've heard over the past few years is just how our staff has met with some of these wealthy
[00:27:49] things and they said, "Why don't you give more to your church?" And um one one person was a business owner and
[00:27:54] said, "I carry the weight of hundreds of employees. I carry the weight of
[00:28:00] managing this this huge organization. I carry the weight of managing all these these um these burdens." And my pastor
[00:28:07] has never once talked to me about that because they don't want to meddle in my business and meddle in the the category
[00:28:13] of money. And they're missing an opportunity to shepherd that this person that has these needs and wants to talk
[00:28:18] about those burdens. and also has the capacity to give in ways far beyond what
[00:28:24] his pastor can even envision. Oh my gosh. So now I feel like we should send this and make sure this gets into
[00:28:30] the inbox of so many pastors and leaders of organizations and ministries, right?
[00:28:35] Because immediately what I thought of Heather was the scripture where um Jesus
[00:28:41] says it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. But I think sometimes, and I'm not trying to preach
[00:28:47] or do any um ex, you know, trying to not not trying to exist text or anything like that. Yeah.
[00:28:52] But I do sense that something in that word means if a rich man is willing to
[00:28:59] enter the kingdom of God, they've done some work. They have done some surrender. If
[00:29:05] someone like that is saying, I would give if I only knew the need, right? They've already laid it down. leave
[00:29:10] already. But a pastor or let's say in this case a organization has to come to grips with laying their ego down and
[00:29:18] saying I have a need. I'm willing to sacrifice feeling like I'm in the, you
[00:29:25] know, position of need in order to let this other person bless because it's better to give than to receive. So people have to be willing to
[00:29:32] receive for others to give. Yeah. You're in the middle of that obviously in both your, you know, in both your
[00:29:37] book and your profession. You're in the middle of teaching people that dynamic of the kingdom of giving is better than
[00:29:44] receiving. But we need people to understand both both parts of that. Right. Right. Right. Oh yeah. It is so much
[00:29:51] more comfortable to me personally. Um, I don't have a lot to give financially, but I like to I easily give my time or I
[00:29:58] easily give like a gift or easily give this, but it is super hard for me to
[00:30:03] receive that because I feel like it's humbling and I feel like I don't want to appear to need anybody else. I don't
[00:30:10] want to appear that like, yeah, I'm I'm short on on I can't buy this thing
[00:30:17] that's in front of me because I don't have it. So, like when somebody wants to give to me, that's hard. And part of
[00:30:23] part of the lesson we need as Christians is to not only give with open hands but also graciously receive when God has put
[00:30:30] it on somebody's heart to help us. Um that's hard because we nobody wants to be the charity case, you know, like we
[00:30:36] like put up a put up a hand like nope, not me. I don't need anything. Rather than recognizing that God put it on
[00:30:42] their heart to to to give in that way and ju to just say thank you and just to be a grac gracious recipient. Oh gosh,
[00:30:50] this is such a great conversation because um we'll talk later after recording all because I'm not trying to
[00:30:55] put my whole business out there, right? It's the same thing where it's like I want to be transparent and know letting you know and the listeners know
[00:31:02] that as a business person, as someone that's a creative in the entrepreneurial space, this is all the time. This
[00:31:09] feeling of I don't want to appear needy. So I will put on the face of everything's fine. I am doing great.
[00:31:16] Meanwhile, your bank account just hit zero for the 16th time and the return check has come and you're trying not to
[00:31:23] show it. And it's the same thing when the business side of I don't want to sell because I don't want to bother
[00:31:30] people. I don't want people to see me as needy or bugging them when every business needs money to survive. Right?
[00:31:37] So, I see so many dynamics in this that I love that. Yeah. That we can continue to talk about and that's why obviously I want them to
[00:31:43] stay connected with you. But I don't want to leave without this conversation or this this topic because you mentioned
[00:31:49] starting when you were 10 years old seeing ministry in some way in your future
[00:31:54] and then seeing now. So I'm envisioning other people who may not have a gifting a creative gift. This is a creative
[00:32:00] gift. Your ability to use words, right? Your ability to market, your ability to message, your ability to share messages
[00:32:06] about money and finance. That's all a gift in creative space. But maybe you didn't, as you said, see it at
[00:32:12] the beginning. Yeah. So, what would you say to yourself right around that college age where you were
[00:32:18] writing premed and you were like, "Okay, what am I doing here? Am I going to go this other direction?" Someone else is
[00:32:23] where you were, right? Someone else is got some type of creative gift with words and with messages and sharing, but
[00:32:30] they don't know how it goes, how it's going to navigate, how God's going to use it. So, what would you say to the person who is where you were? Yeah, I
[00:32:37] would I would say to them um I would say first of all, lean into the things that
[00:32:43] you're good at and get better at them. Continue to to hone them, continue to learn, continue to grow. If you're
[00:32:49] passionate about something, um continue to learn more about it. Continue to explore how that uh how you can use that
[00:32:57] passion for the world because that's not by accident that that's that that's in you. If you have a passion for numbers
[00:33:03] and spreadsheets, go keep making your spreadsheets. That's not my fault. Please, please. Yes, please. My wife, my
[00:33:10] wife is over there doing that right now. This is why we are we are equally yolked because I want nothing to do with those
[00:33:16] spreadsheets. Exactly. Go spreadsheet for Jesus. But um but don't I mean just keep leaning
[00:33:21] into it and keep getting better at it because um we we often the things that we're gifted in we don't recognize
[00:33:28] because they come easier easy to us. I'd also say looking back um uh look at the
[00:33:34] things that people affirm you in that other people are amazed by or so you'll say like you know like what are the
[00:33:40] things that your classmates would be like how are you understanding this answer I didn't get that you know or what is uh or they just say can you can
[00:33:48] you take care of this can you take pictures for me you're always so good with getting the right angles whatever it is you know other people I believe
[00:33:55] when you're when you're called to something and when you're gifted in something other people will continue to affirm confirm that gift in you. So, so
[00:34:02] keep your eyes open, keep your ears open for recognizing what uh what you're good at. And don't get so worried about I
[00:34:08] know we have to we ultimately have to make careers that pay, but don't get so caught up in trying to figure out how
[00:34:15] you're going to monetize your gifts that you that you focus on things that are not your gifting. Lean into the things
[00:34:21] that you're good at and and the the money usually follows.
[00:34:26] Absolutely. Such great advice. I honestly feel again that when we
[00:34:31] connected from the very beginning, there was this understanding that maybe it's not easy to define like you just
[00:34:38] mentioned what the gifting is, what the particular angle is going to be. We leave it up to God and the Holy Spirit
[00:34:44] as you mentioned in money and spirit and surrender that to him and he leads the way and all of a sudden you you end up
[00:34:50] someplace and you're like, "Oh, he was there all the time. He knew exactly where I was going to end up, right?" you
[00:34:56] know, um, the plans of the L, the plans of men, men are many, but the Lord orders the steps. Right.
[00:35:01] Right. So, I love this so much. Let people know. They might be old school. Most
[00:35:06] people are already clicking on the link or they're already finding you online through search, but just in case they
[00:35:11] haven't done so yet, tell them how they can connect with your resources and continue to learn more about you.
[00:35:17] So, the best way to find me is to go to heatherday.net. I keep a a blog there and I keep I have
[00:35:24] resources um my links to my book there looked links to all my socials and then
[00:35:29] I also have information that I'm I'm interested in doing um retreat women's retreats or other speaking engagements.
[00:35:36] I' I'd love to be uh help your church out in those in those ways. Uh I cannot think of anyone more
[00:35:41] qualified in so many ways. Your gifting has made room for you. I am so glad we made this connection with God and gigs
[00:35:48] and I hope that we'll connect more in the future. But until that next time, thank you so much for being a part of our show.
[00:35:54] Thank you, my friend. Thank you for watching this episode. If that blessed you, you got to
[00:36:00] make sure that you stay connected with this community and this channel so that you can get more where that came from.
[00:36:06] We're sharing great interviews, tactics, strategies, mindsets, lifestyle choices,
[00:36:12] everything that's going to help you become a totally confident creative. And don't miss an episode of the God and Gig
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[00:36:31] sure you check out one of the suggestions right now cuz it's probably perfect for you to continue to develop
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