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Personal Crisis to Courage For Life: Ann White’s Mission and Ministry

Have you ever felt the tension between attending church and truly living out a deep, daily relationship with God? Join us on this episode of *Seek Go Create* as Ann White shares her transformative journey from going through the motions of religion to fully embracing faith, courage, and her calling. Discover how personal struggles, a trip to Israel, and a radical shift in her definition of success led Ann to found Courage For Life. Tune in to hear how this compelling story can inspire you to seek God, go deeper in your faith, and create a meaningful life.

"Courage is taking necessary risks and trusting God with the outcome." - Ann White

Access all show and episode resources HERE

About Our Guest:

Ann White is the CEO and founder of Courage For Life, a ministry dedicated to empowering individuals through spiritual and emotional health. With a profound turning point in her forties, Ann transitioned from a successful career as a jeweler to answer God's calling, creating resources like the first all-female voice audio Bible and comprehensive study guides. Her ministry impacts various communities, including prison inmates, by offering discipleship and support. Ann's transparent journey through personal struggles underscores her commitment to helping others find their God-given courage and live faith-based lives.

Reasons to Listen:

1. **Transformation through Faith:** Discover how Ann White shifted from superficial church attendance to a deeply fulfilling spiritual journey, and how this change brought resilience and joy into her life.

2. **Empowering Resources:** Learn about the unique all-female voice audio Bible and other transformative tools provided by Courage For Life to aid those in crisis, including inmates and individuals dealing with trauma.

3. **Practical Wisdom on Courage:** Unveil the "7 practical steps" from fear-based to faith-based decision-making, illustrated by Ann’s personal stories of overcoming significant life challenges.

Episode Resources & Action Steps:

### Resources Mentioned

1. **Courage For Life Website**: Visit for more information on resources, donations, and the ministry's mission.

2. **Courage For Life Devotional - "Courage for Today"**: A devotional aimed at equipping individuals for everyday life and drawing them closer to the Lord.

3. **Courage For Life**: A book designed to support women in crisis situations, including a fully female-voiced audio Bible and additional study content.

### Action Steps

1. **Start Your Day with God's Word**: Implement the practice of beginning each day with scripture to set a positive tone and strengthen your relationship with God.

2. **Reflect on Your Definition of Success**: Take time to assess whether your definition of success is based on external perceptions or aligned with God's calling and guidance.

3. **Commit to Personal Growth and Discipleship**: Engage in discipleship by seeking resources that deepen your understanding of God and His word, such as joining a bible study group or accessing study guides available through Courage For Life.

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Key Lessons:

1. **Start Your Day with God's Word**: Ann White emphasizes the importance of beginning each day with Scripture, which helps her maintain a deeper relationship with God and handle daily frustrations better.

2. **True Success Tied to Divine Relationship**: Ann’s transformation in understanding success from external perceptions and personal achievements to being in alignment with God's calling and leaning on Him for guidance is an inspiring shift of priorities.

3. **Discipleship is Key for Growth**: Both Ann and Tim discuss the critical need for discipleship in nurturing and maintaining a deep, personal connection with God, highlighting the shortcomings of many church communities in this regard.

4. **Courage Through Faith**: Courage, according to Ann, involves taking necessary risks and trusting God with the outcomes. This principle underlies her establishment of the Courage For Life ministry and her journey away from a successful career as a jeweler.

5. **Emotional and Spiritual Health for Transformation**: The holistic approach to addressing emotional, relational, and spiritual health can significantly impact personal growth and relationships. Ann’s ministry provides valuable resources like the all-female voice audio Bible to aid individuals, including inmates, in finding courage and healing.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 Introduction to Courage and Faith

00:34 Meet Anne White: Founder of Courage for Life

01:53 Defining Discipleship and Its Challenges

05:05 Personal Journey: From Stagnation to Spiritual Growth

05:40 Impact of Childhood Baggage on Adult Life

10:53 The Turning Point: Seeking Deeper Relationship with God

15:32 Redefining Success and Embracing God's Will

26:07 The Birth of Courage for Life Ministry

32:50 Balancing Business and Ministry

34:10 The Birth of a Nonprofit

35:54 Finding Courage and Identity

40:53 Seven Steps to Courage

46:51 Creating Resources for Inmates

52:59 The Mission Field of Prisons

56:54 Call to Action and Support

59:04 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Thank you for listening to Seek Go Create!

Our podcast is dedicated to empowering Christian leaders, entrepreneurs, and individuals looking to redefine success in their personal and professional lives. Through in-depth interviews, personal anecdotes, and expert advice, we offer valuable insights and actionable strategies for achieving your goals and living a life of purpose and fulfillment.

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Transcript
Ann White:

Today.

Ann White:

I define courage is taking a necessary risk and trusting God with the outcome.

Ann White:

So it has to be a necessary risk.

Ann White:

It has to be something that you risk in order to have courage.

Ann White:

You got to have a little bit of fear to have courage, right?

Ann White:

A little bit of, you know, I'm not sure what's going to happen.

Ann White:

You

Tim Winders:

Are you ready to discover how courage can transform your life?

Tim Winders:

Welcome to this episode of Seek, Go Create the Leadership Journey,

Tim Winders:

where we're joined by Anne White, founder and CEO of Courage for Life.

Tim Winders:

Anne is not only an author and speaker, but also a visionary

Tim Winders:

leader who has dedicated her life to empowering individuals through

Tim Winders:

spiritual and emotional health.

Tim Winders:

Anne is going to share her journey of creating courage for life.

Tim Winders:

A ministry aimed at providing resources like the first all female

Tim Winders:

voiced audio Bible and various study guides that help people, including

Tim Winders:

thousands of incarcerated men and women, find their God given courage.

Tim Winders:

With her recent publications with Tyndall House Publishers, Anne

Tim Winders:

continues to equip believers to lead courageous lives through practical.

Tim Winders:

Biblical applications and welcome to seek go create.

Ann White:

Thank you, Tim.

Tim Winders:

I should say welcome again, because we started this and I realized it

Tim Winders:

didn't have the recorder on and I am okay with everyone knowing that I messed up.

Tim Winders:

And, we had mentioned that, she's coming to us from the town I

Tim Winders:

was born in Marietta, Georgia.

Tim Winders:

So, anyway, very exciting to talk to you and.

Tim Winders:

We just bump into each other.

Tim Winders:

We're out and about somewhere on the square there at a nice restaurant

Tim Winders:

there in Marietta, Georgia.

Tim Winders:

And, and I ask you what you do, what's your answer when somebody asks you that?

Ann White:

I think the first one word answer I would give you Tim would be

Ann White:

discipleship because the heartbeat of everything that we do and that I do in

Ann White:

the ministry revolves around discipleship and just have a heartbeat, for people who

Ann White:

have a desire to grow in their knowledge and understanding of God and his word.

Tim Winders:

All right.

Tim Winders:

So that I'm veering off my questions right out of the gate because you brought

Tim Winders:

up a word that it means a lot to me.

Tim Winders:

I at times get excited about it.

Tim Winders:

I at times get a little upset about it because it's thrown around

Tim Winders:

a little bit in church world.

Tim Winders:

But how do you define discipleship?

Ann White:

to me, discipleship is a relationship where one believer and

Ann White:

another believer joined together to help one another, maybe one sided more

Ann White:

so on one side, there's a more mature believer that helps a younger believer.

Ann White:

But even that mature believer needs to continue to be discipled because with the

Ann White:

world in which we live, the distractions we come across every single day, we need.

Ann White:

Somebody, in there with us in the trenches So it's coming together as believers and

Ann White:

growing in our knowledge and understanding and our relationship with the Lord.

Ann White:

yeah, I'll let you continue.

Tim Winders:

I was going to say, I don't like to be, I, it's going to come across

Tim Winders:

critical of, some church structures.

Tim Winders:

I think we talk about this word a lot, but being a leadership guy and all

Tim Winders:

the things that I do, I don't really think in general, we, Talking we,

Tim Winders:

maybe you can, you're going to drill down and give us some tools and some

Tim Winders:

resources that'll help us with this.

Tim Winders:

But I think we don't necessarily do a good job of that.

Tim Winders:

Would you agree with that or disagree in

Ann White:

Yes.

Ann White:

In general, I would agree.

Ann White:

And that was actually, we, you and I are on the same page with that.

Ann White:

Cause that's exactly what I was getting ready to say.

Ann White:

We don't necessarily do a great job with, especially in the churches.

Ann White:

so often we are more focused on leading people to Christ,

Ann White:

which is extremely important.

Ann White:

We want to bring more people into the body of Christ.

Ann White:

But if we don't equip them to stay there and to grow in their relationship,

Ann White:

then we leave them floundering.

Ann White:

That's something that I personally experienced.

Ann White:

I was saved at 19 and really didn't get discipled.

Ann White:

It was kind of like, okay, now what I knew I felt different.

Ann White:

I felt the Holy spirit's presence.

Ann White:

I felt that something was different within me.

Ann White:

But I didn't have the tools.

Ann White:

I wasn't equipped to know how to walk my journey out and, and continue

Ann White:

to grow in that relationship.

Ann White:

I really allowed myself to remain stagnant, for many, many years, really

Ann White:

until my early forties, because I didn't have someone come alongside me

Ann White:

at the time and say, Hey, let's talk.

Ann White:

Let me show you how you can really get to know the Lord and how having a personal

Ann White:

relationship with him can truly empower your life in ways that you may not

Ann White:

even be able to imagine at this point.

Tim Winders:

what did this is, this is good because it kind of gets into

Tim Winders:

a little bit of your journey, which you know, I like to talk about what

Tim Winders:

did that you use the word stagnant.

Tim Winders:

What did that?

Tim Winders:

stagnation from 19 to your early 40s.

Tim Winders:

What were some of the results of that?

Tim Winders:

What spun off or what happened in your life because you didn't have

Tim Winders:

that discipleship role early on?

Tim Winders:

Anything come to mind when I bring that up?

Ann White:

Absolutely.

Ann White:

I would say that I continue to operate.

Ann White:

In my fears instead of in my faith, I don't think there are any of us that

Ann White:

escape our childhood without some scars.

Ann White:

Some are our wounds are deeper than others.

Ann White:

And so a lot of that baggage that I brought through my childhood and through

Ann White:

my teenage years, turned into some.

Ann White:

Insecurities and fears, fear of abandonment, fear of failure, fear of

Ann White:

rejection, you can sit here and name all kind of fears that we can face on

Ann White:

a daily basis, but if we don't have the tools to operate in faith over fear, Then

Ann White:

we let those fear make our decisions.

Ann White:

So if you go into a situation where you're offered an opportunity or God

Ann White:

provides an open door for you to walk through an opportunity and you don't

Ann White:

feel like you're qualified, you're going to let the fear of failure, keep you

Ann White:

from even walking through that door.

Ann White:

So for that 2021 years or more, I really, I think I limited myself and what God

Ann White:

could accomplish in and through me because I wasn't letting go of that baggage.

Ann White:

It also affects our marriages, how we raise our children, our

Ann White:

friendships and relationships.

Ann White:

So not only does it affect our relationship with the Lord,

Ann White:

but this baggage that we carry around affects everything else.

Ann White:

And so that's why I've dedicated, the rest of my life to helping people get rid of

Ann White:

the obstacles, get rid of that baggage.

Ann White:

Help us to figure out how we're going to overcome those insecurities,

Ann White:

those boundary issues, those coping mechanisms that we really need to

Ann White:

drop and instead replace them with a healthy relationship with the Lord and

Ann White:

a healthy self identity and self esteem.

Tim Winders:

Were you, during those 20 something years, were

Tim Winders:

you around a church world?

Tim Winders:

I, I really do dislike the word backslide because it's such an,

Tim Winders:

anyway, I don't think it makes a lot of sense truthfully in many ways, but.

Tim Winders:

Were you around a a community of church people?

Tim Winders:

Were you doing, were you going through some of the motions and things

Tim Winders:

that religion kind of tells us is you're doing okay, or you're, you're

Tim Winders:

successful because you do blank.

Tim Winders:

So what were you doing spiritually during that time might be a better way.

Tim Winders:

I,

Ann White:

answer because we did go to church.

Ann White:

We may not go, you know, every Sunday, but we would go at

Ann White:

least a couple times a month.

Ann White:

And, we had a great relationship with our church.

Ann White:

You know, we would, we knew the pastor, well, knew his wife and, we were always

Ann White:

supportive and, and love the Lord.

Ann White:

But we brought in, I would bring my Bible to church with me and.

Ann White:

When I would bring it in, you know, you're going to your church service, you

Ann White:

go into your Sunday school class, and they're going to teach on something, a

Ann White:

topic, and you're going to go into church.

Ann White:

They're going to generally teach on either a passage or a topic.

Ann White:

And you're going to look at that passage and you're going to listen

Ann White:

to the pastor and take some notes.

Ann White:

And then you're going to close your Bible up, at least for me.

Ann White:

That's what I think the majority of Americans do.

Ann White:

And that's what I did for many years.

Ann White:

And you leave church and you go, God, I feel really good after going to church.

Ann White:

You know, you might be arguing with your kids or your husband on the way,

Ann White:

but it's like, okay, we needed that.

Ann White:

We needed to kind of calm the temperature down, just reset our minds.

Ann White:

That's great.

Ann White:

But then the.

Ann White:

Bible goes back on the shelf and we go on with our lives

Ann White:

until Sunday rolls back around.

Ann White:

And I think that's where we miss out on that relationship.

Ann White:

I know today, if I don't start my day in God's word, my day doesn't go as well.

Ann White:

You know, I'm more apt to get frustrated or angry or, you know, just, down about

Ann White:

something, but when I started in the right frame of mind and I start out in a

Ann White:

spirit of thankfulness and, you know, just speaking to the Lord or reading his word

Ann White:

and being encouraged, other things that may be bad or negative can just bounce

Ann White:

off me a little easier during the day.

Ann White:

Amen.

Tim Winders:

the thing you described, your church experience, the, the

Tim Winders:

words, warm, fuzzy glow came to mind when, when you were saying it.

Tim Winders:

And, and I was similar.

Tim Winders:

I've, I've I've.

Tim Winders:

Sort of been on this odd two steps forward, maybe a half step back

Tim Winders:

through two steps forward, half step back growth through a lot

Tim Winders:

of channels and things like that.

Tim Winders:

it is interesting that you talk about, I mean, the way I worded it,

Tim Winders:

it's religion versus relationship.

Tim Winders:

Religion is the thing that you, you even gave me the numbers.

Tim Winders:

You said you would go to church about two out of four weeks, about half the time.

Tim Winders:

And you were supportive, which what that, what that tells me is

Tim Winders:

you, you probably gave your money.

Tim Winders:

What happened that caused you to develop a deeper relationship at the age of 40?

Tim Winders:

Was it just you decided or was there an event in your life that

Tim Winders:

you said, I got to get my act together and connect with my creator.

Ann White:

Yes.

Ann White:

And that's usually what it takes.

Ann White:

It usually takes the Lord letting us get to the end of ourselves before we

Ann White:

go, okay, God, I do need you because if things are rolling along good and

Ann White:

our careers or families or marriages or whatever, everything's good.

Ann White:

We don't really need the Lord.

Ann White:

And that's a sad thing to say, but, we don't think much about him,

Ann White:

you know, cause everything's okay.

Ann White:

But when things get a little rough, and we start to hurt and we start to, you

Ann White:

know, Really deal with those insecurities.

Ann White:

So you ask what happened?

Ann White:

So I would say, in my twenties and thirties, I was raising a family,

Ann White:

you know, things were up and down.

Ann White:

Things were good and bad, but I was so focused and so busy.

Ann White:

I'm a jeweler by trade, so I'm, a gold and silver Smith.

Ann White:

So I'm an artist in that respect.

Ann White:

And so I had my own studio that I was, you know, would work in.

Ann White:

And put things in art galleries and so forth.

Ann White:

And so then raising, two boys, that are just.

Ann White:

Full of energy, nonstop.

Ann White:

you know, so it was all about just keeping things going in that realm, but as they

Ann White:

got older and, you know, relationships always go through their bumps in the road.

Ann White:

And we were going through one, my husband and I, and I probably ran our 26

Ann White:

year of marriage, something like that.

Ann White:

And we're celebrating 38 this year, but it was just that time period, you know,

Ann White:

that you've been married for a long time.

Ann White:

You're going to hit some rough spots, especially if you're not really kind

Ann White:

of together in close walking with the Lord, because, you know, you're

Ann White:

both going different directions.

Ann White:

So long story short, I kind of hit.

Ann White:

The end of myself, what I didn't realize that what was causing a lot of my

Ann White:

insecurities, a lot of my fears, a lot of my, hurt and self condemnation, those

Ann White:

kinds of things that were going on.

Ann White:

Was the baggage I was carrying around from childhood.

Ann White:

And so I talk about this in my book, courage for life.

Ann White:

I describe really kind of that boiling point.

Ann White:

And when it happened, I was actually in Israel with my oldest son.

Ann White:

And I talk about being there on our church trip and just breaking down and telling

Ann White:

the Lord I was ready to end my marriage.

Ann White:

I was ready to give up on everything, but I just said, God,

Ann White:

I don't know what to do anymore.

Ann White:

I finally just came to the end of myself and said, I've tried everything

Ann White:

I know to do to fix this person and fix this person and fix this situation.

Ann White:

And God finally just said, you know what?

Ann White:

I just want you to get honest.

Ann White:

I would walk through church at that point in time.

Ann White:

By that time I was in my early forties.

Ann White:

I was actually teaching, God's word in church.

Ann White:

So I was actually teaching an in depth sermon.

Ann White:

I had began to study the Bible and that happens a lot of times.

Ann White:

God began to reveal a lot of things that needed to be dealt with.

Ann White:

So I hit rock bottom and I reached out.

Ann White:

I just cried out to the Lord and God said, I just want you to come

Ann White:

clean and be transparent about the struggles that you have.

Ann White:

You know, don't walk through the church doors like you've been doing for 25 years

Ann White:

pretending that everything is perfect.

Ann White:

That we've got the perfect family.

Ann White:

We've got the perfect life.

Ann White:

You know, I'm a great little Bible teacher when in reality I was falling

Ann White:

apart at the seams and a lot of it had to do with things that I'd brought

Ann White:

in from my childhood and insecurities and shame based issues that I'd

Ann White:

brought in from my teenage years that happened prior to me being saved.

Tim Winders:

So one of the things, this is a common thing that we

Tim Winders:

kind of get to a place where we.

Tim Winders:

Either can't or won't, or two by four to the head, or

Tim Winders:

financial collapse, or health, I mean, you know, and the stories are, they're,

Tim Winders:

they're not great stories, but fortunately here we, we get the rest of the stories,

Tim Winders:

sort of, to quote Paul Harvey there.

Tim Winders:

What I'm curious about is let's go pre to the time I wrote down you were in

Tim Winders:

your 40s, 40, 41, something like that.

Tim Winders:

Let's go pre, tell me how you were defining and looking at success.

Tim Winders:

Sounds like you had a successful business and that is really cool

Tim Winders:

that you're a jeweler working with gold and silver and stuff like that.

Ann White:

all about reclaiming.

Tim Winders:

but, Yeah.

Tim Winders:

and then to contrast that, I'm going to ask you to talk more about how you

Tim Winders:

define and look at success now and today.

Tim Winders:

So back up a little bit and tell me what success you skirted it a little bit there.

Tim Winders:

You know, you talked about, you know, we're perfect family.

Tim Winders:

This is the way we do and all that, but give me a little bit more on what you

Tim Winders:

were doing to measure success before that transition occurred before that,

Ann White:

perception.

Ann White:

It was probably more outer perception.

Ann White:

How did we look as a family?

Ann White:

cause you go back behind closed doors and you just deal with whatever you're dealing

Ann White:

with as human beings, you know, and you think I'm probably the only one dealing

Ann White:

with this when in reality, we're not.

Ann White:

We're all dealing with our own, humanness and our own junk,

Ann White:

that we collect throughout life.

Ann White:

How did I define success?

Ann White:

success in that realm was having children that, would.

Ann White:

graduate from high school and that would, go on to have some careers

Ann White:

and have a family of their own.

Ann White:

But, you know, I felt like I needed to be the ones to prepare them for that.

Ann White:

Not God, you know, it was all about what I could do.

Ann White:

Success was what I was capable of accomplishing.

Ann White:

I'm a type A personality.

Ann White:

I'm a perfectionist.

Ann White:

And so I will go after it, whatever I feel needs to be done, I'm gonna get it

Ann White:

done and I'm gonna do it with excellence.

Ann White:

But it was all in my power and my might not with asking the Lord.

Ann White:

So today what I define success and, and we'll talk about courage too in a minute

Ann White:

because I define courage differently now, what I define success as now is.

Ann White:

What God has called me to do and how he's called me to lead my family

Ann White:

and incorporate him into my life.

Ann White:

My life is much more peaceful, joyful, less ups and downs, less rollercoasters.

Ann White:

When I follow the Lord's calling on my life, when I go to him

Ann White:

and ask, you know, God, is this really what you want me to do?

Ann White:

When I pray and I'm in communion with him, then.

Ann White:

I can go and walk out the other pieces of my life with more peace and more

Ann White:

confidence, knowing that God's got this no matter what happens on the other

Ann White:

end or the outcome that God knows.

Ann White:

And it somehow will all work.

Ann White:

You know, Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good for

Ann White:

those who love the Lord and are called according to his purposes.

Ann White:

We follow his purposes.

Ann White:

It's going to go better.

Ann White:

Doesn't mean it's going to go perfect, but.

Ann White:

It's going to go the way the Lord wants it to go.

Tim Winders:

And, and I've read, my wife and I actually had a long

Tim Winders:

discussion about Romans 828 just this morning, by the way, out back in our

Tim Winders:

little sitting area behind the RV here.

Tim Winders:

And we read a lot of the scriptures that lead up to Romans 828.

Tim Winders:

there.

Tim Winders:

And one of the things that I've done often is I plucked that

Tim Winders:

scripture out and I, this is, Hopefully years ago, not as much now.

Tim Winders:

And i've tried to force it into my desire to control my

Tim Winders:

situations and define it in my way.

Tim Winders:

You mentioned your type a and all that I get it both my wife

Tim Winders:

and I are in that category also.

Tim Winders:

And so controlling our world and our situation is kind of baked into us.

Tim Winders:

So relinquishing that control, you know, we're going to talk about courage here

Tim Winders:

shortly, but for a personality like mine and yours, that is a lot of Courage.

Tim Winders:

I mean, I don't like giving up control.

Tim Winders:

What was that like for you when you started having to realize, you know, if

Tim Winders:

it is to be, it's up to me is not working

Tim Winders:

anymore.

Ann White:

You know, it was freeing.

Ann White:

It was very freeing.

Tim Winders:

Okay.

Tim Winders:

Because someone will hear that and go, Oh, I could just decide when I'm 41 years

Tim Winders:

old and I'm free and freedom is there.

Tim Winders:

I want to make sure we're being honest here.

Ann White:

absolutely.

Ann White:

and I would just encourage anyone to, read my book and you'll get the whole

Ann White:

story because there's just not enough time today to cover the whole thing.

Ann White:

But I would say this, I'll just give you a snippet.

Ann White:

Being in Israel, I said, okay, God, I can't do this anymore.

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I don't even know what to do, but I'm going to give it to you, Lord.

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And God said, I want you to write down the reality of your situation

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on a piece of paper, and I want you to take it to your pastor.

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And so here I am, I'm a Bible teacher.

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I'm teaching two classes.

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discipling at that point, other Sunday school teachers and

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pretending that everything is great.

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and then I've got to go in and I've got to say, but no, I'm honestly,

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my world is falling apart and I'm ready to divorce my husband if, you

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know, just because of all the issues that are compiled through the years.

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So, it was more about me and I didn't realize it.

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I really was putting everything else.

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off on everybody else.

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It's, it's his problem, her problem, their problem.

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And I don't know how to fix them when in reality I needed to fix myself.

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So after I did what the Lord called me to do the next day, I think I

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hid from my pastor and his wife for, the first six hours of our touring.

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Because You feel exposed, you feel, but you know, God didn't

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call us to walk this journey alone.

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He doesn't want us.

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Matter of fact, if he wanted us to just be, you know, a lot of times

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we'll say, God's all I need just me and God, that's all I need.

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In reality, that's not how God designed us.

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He gave, he had Adam, Adam was in the garden.

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Adam wouldn't have been deceived.

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Maybe he was deceived by Eve, but he took it.

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And so he and God had this beautiful communication relationship and they're

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in, you know, God's right there.

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And God said, you need a help mate, you need a companion.

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And so he made Eve and so we are made for relationships doesn't

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have to be husband and wife.

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It can be best friends.

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It can be mentors.

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It can be all of the above.

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God says, seek wise counsel.

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I had that feel of freedom, but I also had that feel of fear of other people knowing

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my struggles and my insecurities and the difficult things going on in my life.

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I thought they were supposed to remain hidden because that's what

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a good Christian does, right?

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So everything really changed for me after coming back from that trip.

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Not only did I start going into counseling, I found a godly mentor,

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counselor, pastor, He's, he's more of a, he's got a theology degree, but

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great friend of my husband and I now.

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but you know, I spent in depth intense counseling to try and deal and

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unpack some of the childhood issues, but I began teaching differently.

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I would go into my classes and instead of just teaching from the Bible and

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preaching, what God's word has to say and not actually You know, letting

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it soak into my being, even though I knew what it said, I couldn't

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receive everything, because of some of the junk that I was holding on

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to, I began to be more transparent.

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I began to open up about my struggles.

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I began to say, you know, Hey, we all are broken.

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We're broken people in one way or another, and we're struggling.

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And I began to have people that had been in my classes for years, began to come up

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to me and share their hurt and their pain, things that they were hiding themselves.

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and they would thank me for giving them that privilege

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and that open door for being.

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Just honest about my own struggles.

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And so I really have made it my life's journey to say, we just need

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to be real with one another and help one another in this journey of life.

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We weren't meant to walk it alone and we weren't meant to walk it without God, but

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we need each other and we need the Lord.

Ann White:

And, there's ways for us to be able to heal and move forward.

Tim Winders:

I want to.

Tim Winders:

I love words like transparency, vulnerability, even though I'm not

Tim Winders:

necessarily wired nor good at those.

Tim Winders:

It's something that, I don't know if it's the tail end of the generation

Tim Winders:

I'm from or whatever, but it's like, I don't like for people to see me bleed.

Tim Winders:

You know, I don't like that thing.

Tim Winders:

But, but before we go into more of that, cause I think that's

Tim Winders:

a good courage conversation.

Tim Winders:

It's fascinating to me that you were in Israel when this occurred.

Tim Winders:

And my wife and I have been on quite a journey geographically that's somewhat

Tim Winders:

been part of our spiritual and, Emotional and, and all of that journey.

Tim Winders:

In fact, one of the most significant times of our life, we were absolutely

Tim Winders:

as far away from Atlanta, Georgia and Georgia, where we grew up as possible.

Tim Winders:

We were down on the South Island of New Zealand in a little town called

Tim Winders:

Pleasant Point for three months.

Tim Winders:

And And we felt as if even the Lord told us, I've got you as far away from

Tim Winders:

where you were brought up and raised.

Tim Winders:

And there's some things that I need to purge from the way you were brought up.

Tim Winders:

And then even spoke some things about some spiritual things that hang over that.

Tim Winders:

religious Bible belt with racial issues and all that goes on there.

Tim Winders:

We don't want to go down that path, but

Ann White:

But

Tim Winders:

how significant was it that you were in Israel?

Tim Winders:

Does that mean anything?

Tim Winders:

The geography of it?

Tim Winders:

You weren't, weren't in your home, but you were in Israel.

Ann White:

was about as close to the Lord.

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want to say physically, but yeah, kind of fit

Tim Winders:

Yeah.

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as I could be in my mind.

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I was walking on Holy ground.

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And so I could not have been more filled, in my spirit and more excited

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to be there with my oldest son, who was in his early twenties at the time.

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and yet.

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God wouldn't let me go.

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Without making a change.

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you know, I love the title of your podcast, Seek Go Create,

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because that's where I was.

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I was seeking the Lord and he was telling me to go and he was getting ready to

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create something in me that I had no clue.

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I mean, no clue where he was going to take it.

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And we just celebrated a few weeks ago.

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It was our 10th anniversary of Courage for Life.

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So this year we're celebrating 10 years of Courage for Life.

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And it has been amazing what God has accomplished just in these 10 years.

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and you'll see, as we talk a little bit more about, everything he's done

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through Courage for Life, it is so not anything that I could have ever dreamed

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of or done, had I not had been willing to just open my hands and say, God,

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Just send me where you're going to send me, tell me what to do and create in

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me the life that you want me to lead.

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And I think the reason he's been on such a bullet train is what I

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like to call it with my life and my ministry and this ministry.

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Is because I waited so long , he was like, okay, is it time yet?

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You know, are you ever gonna surrender and let's just do this.

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so I've been very blessed.

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it's been an adventure.

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I remember Kay Arthur saying one time, I was sitting under her teaching and

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she said, when you get into God's will, life becomes an adventure.

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I can attest to that.

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It's not always easy.

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It's sometimes very frightening, but it's definitely an adventure when

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you go with it and, pursue his will.

Tim Winders:

I was brought back to the word peace and living at peace and

Tim Winders:

adventure, but I want to pause that because I think this is a good time

Tim Winders:

for me to ask about, about courage.

Tim Winders:

And I'm sitting here looking at a list of some of the things you've created.

Tim Winders:

I'm sure it's not all, but we've got the courage for life, which is the ministry.

Tim Winders:

Courage for Life Study Guide, obviously the book that you've got,

Tim Winders:

Courage for Life, Courage for My Life Workbooks, Courage for Life Study

Tim Winders:

Bible for Women, Courage for Life Study Bible for Men, Courage for

Tim Winders:

Life Female Voiced Audio Bible App.

Tim Winders:

Obviously, that word, Courage.

Tim Winders:

Courage means quite a bit to you.

Tim Winders:

Talk to me about the word courage and then maybe lead into how

Tim Winders:

that became what I look at.

Tim Winders:

It seems sort of foundational for the ministry and the organization.

Tim Winders:

So courage.

Ann White:

So I thought as a, I always thought I was courageous.

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Because I felt like I was this big, strong person and could do

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anything that I needed to do.

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Right?

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As a kid, I loved roller coasters.

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I wasn't afraid of anything.

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we had six flags over Georgia, right?

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And we had the Scream Machine when we were growing up.

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That was our big wooden roller coaster.

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Well, I'll never forget the time that they turned the entire car around.

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So you were riding backwards because I'd always ride in the first car.

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And so I was one of the first ones to get on the Scream Machine when they

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had turned it around and you're in the back car, but you're the first car

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going down the hill backwards, right?

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No fear at all.

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Now it's different today, but that's how I used to define courage today.

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I define courage is taking a necessary risk and trusting God with the outcome.

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So it has to be a necessary risk.

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It has to be something that you risk in order to have courage.

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You got to have a little bit of fear to have courage, right?

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A little bit of, you know, I'm not sure what's going to happen.

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And so today I define that.

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And so that was what happened that night in Israel.

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God's telling me to write down the reality of my life.

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You know, I'm going into church pretending that I'm, and wasn't

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pretending my heart was right, but I was hiding the hurt and the brokenness

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and the real person that was inside.

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And so now I had to uncover that real person to someone who was.

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A mentor, you know, someone I obviously looked up to, a pastor of a large

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church of 17, 000 members at the time.

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It was like, yeah, that was, that was hard.

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That took courage.

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And so as I began walking through those steps and then went into counseling

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and began walking through additional steps of unpacking the things that

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I'd been toting around the baggage and hurt and, self condemnation and stuff.

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It took a lot of courage to do that.

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And then it took courage to birth that ministry because I had

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never spoken in front of a group.

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I had never written anything in my life.

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I didn't even really like to read anything other than the Bible at that point.

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And so I really had no clue what God was going to do.

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But I remember saying to the Lord, my God, my hands are open.

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I feel you calling me.

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My heart's always been for hurting people.

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You're calling me to reach hurting people.

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God, just tell me how and I'll do it.

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And as he began to say.

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write this book and talk about how you worked through your issues,

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how you overcame your issues.

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And that became the seven steps to courage.

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as he began to do that, I just began to say, yes, as he began to offer me

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opportunities within a year or so, after I went into ministry, To go on television,

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a Christian television program called the Christian view and also work with a

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local TV network, with their program being a host on their Christian TV program.

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And I'm going, I'm not qualified.

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I'm a little jeweler that sits behind a desk and creates things that way.

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I'm not out in the public, but God said, this is where I want you.

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And I would pray about it.

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And he'd say, go.

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And I'd say, okay, what's the worst thing that could happen?

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But courage at that point became.

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Taking that necessary risk because I knew God had opened that door.

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I knew he was calling me to do something, but I needed to trust him with the outcome

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because even if I fell flat on my face, he was going to do something with it.

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He was going to either help me to grow in the process.

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He was going to use it to minister to somebody else.

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And so that's been my life these last, gosh, started in 2012,

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the ministry birthed in 2014.

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And so here we are 10 years, 12 years later.

Ann White:

And, it's amazing, what he's done for me.

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I wouldn't be here talking with you today had I have not said yes

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and had the courage to simply trust him with whatever he had in store.

Tim Winders:

I want to keep going down that path because I want to talk

Tim Winders:

about some prison ministry and the digital ministry and things you have.

Tim Winders:

But question just popped in my head when you brought up your business

Tim Winders:

and we've got a lot of people that are in the marketplace ministry.

Tim Winders:

And so I guess the question I'd like to ask is what's.

Tim Winders:

Gone on in your, we'll call it your profession.

Tim Winders:

See, I don't separate out.

Tim Winders:

I was saved at a business conference, so I don't separate out that stuff.

Tim Winders:

But what what can you tell me about your business life in the last 10 or 12

Tim Winders:

years while this ministry Project has been growing, building and expanding.

Tim Winders:

and because someone would say, wow, doesn't seem like she's probably

Tim Winders:

got enough time to do well at both.

Ann White:

Not at all.

Ann White:

No, I can tell you that I have not, I've stepped into my studio.

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I've done a few little repairs on some things throughout the years, these years.

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But in the last 10 years, I have not created any jewelry whatsoever.

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I gave it, I've set it to the side and I'm very blessed.

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my husband, He has an amazing story, but I've known him since high school

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and he has always been a hard worker.

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He birthed a business in his early twenties and has

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been extremely successful.

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And so just so God would have it, he sold a piece of his business, back when

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God was calling me to birth a ministry.

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And so we were in a position to invest in that ministry because it

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takes a good bit to get a website up, to get your logo, to get everything

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incorporated, so forth and so on.

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Cause I knew God, I'd been in ministry.

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I was ministering to people, but God was calling me to birth a nonprofit.

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I knew it.

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I couldn't get it off my heart and my mind.

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I knew what he was calling me to do.

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I was very blessed that my husband was in a position and we were in a

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position at that point to invest in this and to really put the money up

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front to get the ministry off the ground the first two or three years.

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And we also had dear friends that believed in, you know, what we were doing.

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I still didn't know exactly what it was all going to entail.

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But they believed enough in me and what God was calling us to do,

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that they would come alongside us and partner with us in this 501c3.

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So to answer your question, no, I had to give it all up.

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And I knew I had no problem giving it up because that's what

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the Lord was calling me to do.

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And I was blessed to be in a situation where my husband is

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the breadwinner of the family.

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He can take care of us very well and also, help me pour into not only emotionally

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and time wise into this ministry, but also pour financial resources into the

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ministry to help get it where it is today, which we are, you know, we may have been

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a 75 percent donor in the beginning.

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Today, we're able to be about a 20, you know, 15 to 20 percent donor.

Ann White:

We have foundations and Great partners that come alongside us,

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and believe in what we're doing.

Tim Winders:

typically when someone has success in a career like you did,

Tim Winders:

their identity is somewhat tied to it.

Tim Winders:

And you said you put that aside.

Tim Winders:

Were there any, I.

Tim Winders:

Identity issues, I don't want to say issues with that, none at all.

Tim Winders:

I mean, what, you know, I mean, because, because you even said it earlier on,

Tim Winders:

I'm, I'm a jeweler, you know, you said what did, but it sounds as if

Tim Winders:

it's been a little while since you've actually hands on done that, correct?

Ann White:

Yeah, I can pick it back up today, but God has called

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me to other things and I have found such joy, so much joy in the

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things that he's called me to do.

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And there's such a great reward.

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I really feel like I'm leaving a legacy.

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when we.

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First we're birthing the ministry.

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It was okay.

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What's the name going to be?

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And you asked me about courage.

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I'll go ahead and roll there.

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If you're good with that, where did that come in?

Ann White:

Okay, so we're going to birth a ministry.

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What's the name going to be?

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And I'm praying about it and thinking about it and so forth and so on.

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And I was able to acquire and white.

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com.

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And so I had, who, someone who had become a good friend who I'd met.

Ann White:

It's, Phil and Kathleen Cook, Cook Media Group out of California.

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And I'd met them at a conference, the National Religious

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Broadcasting Conference.

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as I was beginning To brand this ministry, he wrote a book called one big thing and

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he talks about how, if we were living in this noisy world, there's so much social

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media, so much coming at us at all times.

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we need to figure out specifically what unique message he has given

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us to share with the world.

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And so the first thing that I had a lot of people say was it needs to be and white

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ministries because, you've got in white.

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com and you know, everybody wants to follow a person.

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And I understand that, but I never felt the Lord calling me.

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To make it and white ministries, no matter what I had.

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And I said, that doesn't feel right to me.

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I know that's not what God's calling.

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And here's why I want, I wanted to leave something that could be left

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behind that could go on indefinitely.

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It doesn't end with me.

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It's not about me.

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This is about what the Lord has called all of us to do.

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And so bringing others into the fold and.

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Becoming courage for life.

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When Phil asked me, it was a fifth, my first phone call

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was a 15 minute phone call.

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and my husband was in the car.

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we're getting ready to go ride bikes.

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And so I'm taking this phone call.

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he says to me, he said, I want you to, we're going to talk again.

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He said, but I want you to pray about and think about if you had to define your

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message in one word, what would it be?

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I knew right away what it was courage.

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I had the courage to be transparent.

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I had the courage to say yes and not know what the outcome is.

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I had the courage to do things like go on television or speak in front

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of groups that I'd never done before.

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And it was only because I felt like the Lord was giving me the

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courage to accomplish his will.

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My relationship with him is what gave me the courage.

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And then shortly after that, as I was writing the book that God told

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me to write, that I said, no, I don't want to write a book, I don't

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have any desire to write a book.

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Then I said, okay, Lord, if I'm going to write a book, I want to

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write the book that I needed to read.

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A book that speaks to not only my life journey, but helps people have

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practical steps that they can take.

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And as I was coming up with the steps that I took.

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To go from fear based decision making to faith based decision making.

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God gave me those seven practical steps and they go along with the word courage.

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So it's evident that was what he had in store for me.

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That is my word.

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I'm okay with being the courage lady.

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So call me what you will.

Ann White:

it's all good.

Tim Winders:

It's fascinating because a lot of people go through

Tim Winders:

that wrestling match, branding and, you know, using your name.

Tim Winders:

And I, I.

Tim Winders:

Do I do think there are times that it makes sense.

Tim Winders:

I have people all the time sending me messages on LinkedIn.

Tim Winders:

Let me, what's going on with your personal brand.

Tim Winders:

Can I help you with your personal brand?

Tim Winders:

and I finally answered a few of them back.

Tim Winders:

I said, listen, I hate to say, I don't really give a rip about my personal brand.

Tim Winders:

It's not, it's not about that.

Tim Winders:

I do want to say though, how cool that you interacted with Phil.

Tim Winders:

He was a guest here at seek, go create back in spring of 2020.

Tim Winders:

So very cool that you had someone of his caliber to help you with that could mentor

Tim Winders:

disciple a little bit along the way there.

Tim Winders:

That was, that was very cool.

Tim Winders:

Give me, there's a few things I want to do here.

Tim Winders:

I'm watching our time.

Tim Winders:

You see, you mentioned there are seven steps.

Tim Winders:

I don't know that we have time to go through all seven unless you can rattle

Tim Winders:

them off real quickly, but I'd love for you to, with one of them that you just,

Tim Winders:

either the Holy Spirit tells you, you need to spend a little bit of time on,

Tim Winders:

or you feel as if it's on your heart.

Tim Winders:

Just, give us a little bit of that.

Tim Winders:

And then I want to finish up with a little bit more of the other ministry

Tim Winders:

projects that y'all have going on.

Tim Winders:

So give us the seven or one of the seven or both.

Tim Winders:

Uh, in the

Ann White:

I'll do it I think that I can.

Ann White:

So the C step commit to change.

Ann White:

Unless we make a commitment, God's calling us to change something every day.

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It may just be our attitude, but unless we commit and say, okay, Lord, I give in,

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I'm going to do this good, bad, or ugly.

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that's where it starts.

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It begins with a commitment.

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That you're going to make that change.

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O is overcome obstacles.

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Satan's going to throw all sorts of obstacles in our way.

Ann White:

They might be fear of our own fears.

Ann White:

They might be other people don't want us to make those changes.

Ann White:

There's a lot of things that, that can come in and those obstacles.

Ann White:

So that's overcome obstacles.

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We have to identify them and figure out how we're going to overcome them.

Ann White:

You is uncover your true self.

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We need to uncover who God says about who he says we are.

Ann White:

Quit worrying about what the world says we are and quit

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believing even what we say we are.

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Sometimes we have our own worst negative view of ourselves.

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So that you step uncover your true self is extremely important, no

Ann White:

matter who we're working with.

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the R step.

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This is an important one.

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Replace worldly lies with scriptural truth.

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the world's going to throw at us all sorts of lies, even ones that

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we might believe are biblical.

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But if we don't know the scriptures, if we don't know God's word.

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We can't deny those lies.

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So we've got to know God's word, replace the lies and move forward from there.

Ann White:

We get to the a step.

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Now this was the most difficult for me except the things you cannot change.

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I couldn't change other people.

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I thought I could, but I spent 20 some odd years trying.

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I can't change them.

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There's one person I can change and that's me.

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But when I change myself, things around me automatically change.

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People take notice and things begin to change.

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So accept the things you cannot change.

Ann White:

You can't change your past, but you can change your future.

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Change the things you can.

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And then the G step, grasp God's love for you.

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We have got to truly understand.

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God loves us unconditionally, unfathomably.

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His love is so beautiful.

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We've got to embrace that and it gives us great peace and joy.

Ann White:

And then here's our good final step, which is embrace a life of grace.

Ann White:

This is our forgiveness.

Ann White:

And this is one that I felt was really important because for many

Ann White:

years I blamed my dad but, I blamed him for a lot of the issues that I

Ann White:

had, a lot of the baggage that I had.

Ann White:

though I loved him, he was a very broken man.

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And so, but it wasn't until.

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After he passed away, after I wrote the book and after I was talking with

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some family members that I realized what a tragic childhood I never knew.

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I knew he was the baby of nine, grew up in inner city Charlotte, had an alcoholic

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father, but I didn't know anything else.

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And so it was embracing grace.

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And this is where we work, whether it's with an inmate in prison or whether

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it's with someone across the world where we're discipling digitally.

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Or right here in our own neighborhoods, you know, with people that are hurting.

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We talk about embracing that grace piece, because if we don't identify

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and forgive those who have wounded us, we're just going to continue to

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carry that hurt, that bitterness, that unforgiveness around with us.

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And it's going to continue to hinder us from all that God's called us to do.

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So setting healthy boundaries is something I talk about a lot in the book.

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It's woven all throughout.

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I talk about a real holistic approach to our health, you

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know, to our physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual health.

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They all work together.

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And we talk about that in the book.

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but that forgiveness piece, that releasing.

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Of that pain and that hurt helps so many inmates and helps so many people

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across the world be able to move forward.

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Now that doesn't mean I don't need to set a healthy boundary with someone

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who's toxic or someone who continues to hurt me, but I can move forward.

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let go of that pain and recognize that person as a broken person and forgive

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that person and move forward myself.

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So that's the seven steps to courage.

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Probably my least favorite is accept the things that cannot change.

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My most favorite, really all of them, but the R step replace

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worldly lies with scriptural truth because it keeps my mind right.

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God tells us, and I know I'm speaking to the choir, but renew your minds.

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We have to do that because the world wants to interject so much junk

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so often we've got to be able to renew our minds with God's truth.

Tim Winders:

well, the choir needs to be preached to often also, just 'cause

Tim Winders:

they're sitting in the choir loft does not mean they have perfected their lives.

Ann White:

me either.

Tim Winders:

thanks for preach, thanks for preaching to, and sometimes

Tim Winders:

the choir needs more preaching than actually the, the congregation

Tim Winders:

as we won't go down that path.

Tim Winders:

Alright, so, so the book, you developed the

Tim Winders:

book and then other things started to spin off all the things I read off.

Tim Winders:

Gimme a little bit of kind of the.

Tim Winders:

of what was created when, because some things started spinning off after, was

Tim Winders:

it after, was the book the first thing or what was one of the first things y'all

Ann White:

So the book was the first thing I have a study guide.

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That's a, an in depth kind of study that goes along with the book.

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And that can, you know, it's kind of a companion set.

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And then, it was the audio Bible.

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I knew I wanted to, reach.

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Hurting women at the time was my thought process, women in crisis

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pregnancy centers, battered women's shelters, homeless shelters, so forth,

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with an audible version of the word.

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Many of them read on a lower reading level.

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Many of them don't have access to the word.

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Many of them have children and so They needed something where they

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could hear God's word, but not in a voice that reminded them of

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someone that possibly wounded them.

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So we have many women that have dealt with abuse and so forth that we work with.

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So, we wanted to create a female voiced audio Bible.

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Couldn't find one out there that wasn't dramatized or wasn't just new testaments.

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So we got with Phil Cook, who you mentioned earlier, he and his team and

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his wife's on our board of directors.

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And so we got with their team out in Burbank, California, and we recorded

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at the time, it was about 2017.

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We started it and we released it in 2019, the first fully female voiced

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audio Bible from Genesis to revelation.

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It's on, the courage for life Bible app.

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You can get on an, Apple or Android device for free.

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And it is.

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I know I'm a little bit prejudiced, but I truly believe it's one of

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the best readings of God's word.

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And we use 15 different women from different walks of life, different

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age groups, ethnic backgrounds, but clear English speaking voices.

Ann White:

it's soothing.

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It just draws you in.

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I've had people say they listen to it when they're going to sleep at night.

Ann White:

We have it on inmates tablets throughout the United States in 37 states.

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And so inmates can download it for free.

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We have, Thousands and thousands that have done so.

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And we've found that the men are enjoying it as much as the women are.

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which was surprising to me at first, because these men, many of

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them come from fatherless homes.

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hearing it in a woman's voice is actually very soothing to them as well.

Ann White:

So men love this audio Bible apt.

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Tyndale picked it up.

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They've got it on their, audio Bible streaming and on new version and so

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forth, but if you want to download just that from our website, you can

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just go to your Apple or Android and look for the courage for life Bible

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app and download it there from there.

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We wanted a Bible that.

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Would be helpful for new believers or for people who were new to God's word.

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Maybe they're seasoned believers, but they're new to God's word.

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That would be easy to understand and encouraging, especially even

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for our inmates as well, that would give them introduction.

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So we created the Courage for Life Study Bible for men and the Courage

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for Life Study Bible for women.

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Women, they're not only beautiful, They're gorgeous, but they are

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packed full of great information.

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You've got introductions to the Bible, to the testaments, to each book of the

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Bible, answering all of your who, what, when, where, why, and how about each book.

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Like, how do I study this book?

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Who wrote this book?

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Why did they write this book?

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What's going on?

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Helping you put God's word into context.

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And then when you go to read that book on the bottom of every single

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scripture page is a Bible study.

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That's 1, 464 practical application Bible studies that are all surrounded around

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courage and building courage in our lives.

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And what is God calling us to do in these seven steps?

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What change is he calling us to make?

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What obstacle do we need to overcome?

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And so forth.

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So we go through all of that in each one of the study Bibles and Tyndale,

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they've been flying off the shelves.

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They released last October of 2023.

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And it's over 50, 000 in sales.

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In addition to that, we've put more than 10, 000 into the prison systems

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just in these last nine months.

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And so we're raising funds all the time as someone would help

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to support Courage for Life.

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We are a donor funded ministry that gives free resources to The prison

Ann White:

systems in jails and also to addiction clinics anywhere where someone's being

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treated for an emotional or, issue for, you know, just dealing with abuse,

Ann White:

neglect or, or trauma in their life.

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So, that's kind of who we are.

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We have the audio Bibles and my last devotional is courage for today.

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That's just come out with broad street publishing.

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So the goal is really help provide.

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Discipleship materials that can help equip you for everyday life.

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They can draw you closer to the Lord, closer to his word, helping you

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understand and break down anything that feels like it's a barrier in your life

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between you and living the life God intended you to live with great courage.

Tim Winders:

Are people, one of the things we talked about earlier was

Tim Winders:

just being in a surrender position.

Tim Winders:

You went through that in your life.

Tim Winders:

I've been through it in my life.

Tim Winders:

I think most people, when they go to a deeper place in their

Tim Winders:

relationship with the Lord, there usually is something like that.

Tim Winders:

We've interviewed, we've had a few people that have spent some time in

Tim Winders:

prison that have gone through that process and, and, and we've talked

Tim Winders:

to them here, but what do you see?

Tim Winders:

What's the posture in general of that group?

Tim Winders:

I know it's hard to generalize versus what we were talking about at the

Tim Winders:

beginning of this podcast, which is the people that show up in church for

Tim Winders:

a few minutes, do their church thing.

Tim Winders:

Give a contrast for us.

Tim Winders:

This could be close to our last question, but, um, seems like some

Tim Winders:

people are ready and I think more people need to be ready and I don't

Tim Winders:

think we need them all to go to

Ann White:

Oh, I agree 100%.

Ann White:

We can be in our own emotional prison sitting in a church pew.

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So I think many, many of us are there and I was there, so I

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can relate to that side of it.

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When God began to open the door into the prison system, I was blown away

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at how much I learned, about our prison system here in the United

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States and what I've discovered, it is one of the greatest harvest fields.

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for discipleship and for salvation.

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And so I really feel it's the mission field God has called us to, even though

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I've been to India, I've been to Africa, I've been a lot of places and I continue

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to minister to a lot of the people there.

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But God's called us specifically here in the United States to the prisons.

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And we put a ton of content, free content in.

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We also run classes.

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And those are those courage from my life workbooks, which are taking our content

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and putting it into a workbook format, helping inmates walk through those

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seven steps to courage, breaking down.

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the trauma that they've experienced and begin to express and let it come

Ann White:

out the things that they've, that they're going through, that's holding

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them back, but making those necessary changes and beginning to put all of those

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steps into place so that they can now.

Ann White:

Have the courage to set out on a new path, a new life journey with the Lord.

Ann White:

So that has been very successful.

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and we're in nine states now and continuing to add more states

Ann White:

on all the time with our classes and their small group classes.

Ann White:

And we give Bibles to those as well.

Ann White:

But it is, it has been an amazing journey to work with them.

Ann White:

I see that there's so much potential.

Ann White:

We don't deal with a lot of the mental health issues.

Ann White:

We deal with the more emotional health issues, which a majority of inmates have.

Ann White:

Many of them come from broken homes where there were a lot of, Issues that they

Ann White:

dealt with in childhood that the baggage that they took on was a lot deeper and

Ann White:

the wounds were a lot deeper than what I experienced but It led them on a path

Ann White:

to try and self medicate or to help to support that habit by either stealing,

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prostitution, or all of the above.

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And in the United States, we have, at any given time, approximately 2

Ann White:

million people in our prison systems.

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600, 000 of those rotate in and out of the doors every year.

Ann White:

So you get a new group in all the time.

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And if we can.

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help break down a little bit of that pain and hurt and suffering so that

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when they do come back home, they're better grounded with God and his word.

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And they're kind of healed somewhat from some of their scars.

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They have a better chance of reuniting with their family in healthy ways.

Ann White:

You reuniting with their communities, churches in healthy ways.

Ann White:

And that is our greatest desire.

Ann White:

So we've only been doing this now.

Ann White:

We've been in the prison system since about 2019.

Ann White:

So about five years.

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our chaplains, our wardens, the testimonies we received back, you can

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go on our website at courageforlife.

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org and see videos.

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from some of the inmates, talking about their experience with the classes.

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And, we just, we're thankful that God gives us that open door

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because it is a mission field.

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And you said, what's the difference?

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The difference is they've got the time.

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God has set them there for a period of time or allowed them to be there.

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They have the time to make these changes and prepare for those

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that are coming back out, to see a difference in a change in their lives.

Ann White:

It's a blessing.

Tim Winders:

They don't have as many of the distractions that we have outside.

Tim Winders:

We have, we have a different prison

Ann White:

Amen.

Tim Winders:

and you mentioned the website, I've actually got it

Tim Winders:

pulled up here, courageforlife.

Tim Winders:

org.

Tim Winders:

I think one of the things is almost my final question.

Tim Winders:

I would like for you to verbalize for us right now is what's the biggest need?

Tim Winders:

What is the biggest need that you have with what you're seeing with the

Tim Winders:

ministries and tell us what it is and give the ask, tell people what it is and ask.

Ann White:

Thank you, Tim.

Ann White:

I really appreciate that because, that is our, our challenge is

Ann White:

keeping up with the growth.

Ann White:

God opens doors every single day into different prison systems, into

Ann White:

different communities, addiction clinics, and so forth, and our

Ann White:

resources are making a difference.

Ann White:

But we have got to keep up, keep printing those.

Ann White:

we, every dime that comes into Courage for Life, we only have two salaried employees

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and those are just keeping the doors open.

Ann White:

I create all the content.

Ann White:

I work on video teaching through Books of the Bible that you can see on our

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YouTube channel or on our website.

Ann White:

And those all go into the prison system too.

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So, but the main thing is we have donor funded resources.

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We give those resources free into those clinics to help them walk it.

Ann White:

That journey with that inmate or that client and, we need partners.

Ann White:

We desperately need partners.

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We need monthly partners.

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So if anyone would consider becoming a monthly partner, even if it's

Ann White:

5, 10 or 15, 20 a month, that is.

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Tremendously wonderful for us.

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We want you to, get our resources.

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We want you to engage in our Bible app and our, all of the other resources,

Ann White:

our video teaching, it's all free, but we can't do it without supporters.

Ann White:

and so we have several foundations.

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So We need more supporters because God is opening doors like crazy for us, but

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we need help walking through those doors.

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So thank you for asking that.

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And you can reach us at courageforlife.

Ann White:

org, spelled just like it sounds, courage for life, O R G Check out our page,

Ann White:

check out all of our content, buy our resources, share our message, and help us

Ann White:

to grow and expand throughout the United States and really throughout the world.

Tim Winders:

I've got it pulled up right here in front of me.

Tim Winders:

And, what I think we should do is let's.

Tim Winders:

Let that be the place where people go We'll include the links down in the notes

Tim Winders:

and in all the places that we include The that we're sharing all of this,

Tim Winders:

all the podcasts and everything and we are Seek, go create those three words.

Tim Winders:

You mentioned it earlier, and I know, you know, where those words come from.

Tim Winders:

I know, you know, they are very personal to me.

Tim Winders:

The Lord spoke them to me in a very unique and different way about

Tim Winders:

probably around 2012, somewhere in that range, down the road at Lake Oconee

Tim Winders:

Reynolds plantation Seek, go, create.

Tim Winders:

Let's see your personality.

Tim Winders:

I'm trying to think if I would be forcing you to give me one

Tim Winders:

word or I would be allowing you.

Tim Winders:

I don't know which one it would be, but give me one word out of those

Tim Winders:

three that just jumps out at you and why and that'll be my last question.

Ann White:

I'm going to say go that to me is if God is telling you to

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do something, go take steps today.

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if God is telling you to, to go to our website, go check us out, go with us.

Ann White:

Everybody can do something to help get the message out.

Ann White:

Our world is in desperate need of hope and encouragement and healing.

Ann White:

And, if you can go into a prison system, call us, we'll equip you with resources.

Ann White:

and encouragement and we'll get you there and on the way.

Ann White:

So just go do what God's calling you to do because, the time is short and,

Ann White:

you don't want to waste another minute.

Tim Winders:

Thank you for that.

Tim Winders:

And thank you for this conversation.

Tim Winders:

I appreciate your energy.

Tim Winders:

I appreciate the passion you have.

Tim Winders:

I appreciate your story and you sharing it, all the resources.

Tim Winders:

I appreciate your courage.

Tim Winders:

I appreciate your courage.

Tim Winders:

So make sure if you've listened in, go to courageforlife.

Tim Winders:

org and just check things out.

Tim Winders:

Give money, give a boatload of money.

Tim Winders:

give as much money as you feel comfortable giving, because I know

Tim Winders:

that that could go a long way.

Tim Winders:

but go there and support and share and do what you can there here at SeekGoCreate.

Tim Winders:

We have new episodes every Monday.

Tim Winders:

We're on YouTube.

Tim Winders:

We're on all the platforms until next time continue being

Tim Winders:

all that you were created to

Tim Winders:

be.

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Seek Go Create - The Leadership Journey for Christian Entrepreneurs, Faith-Based Leaders, Purpose-Driven Success, Kingdom Business, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Leadership Development
Seek Go Create - The Leadership Journey for Christian Entrepreneurs, Faith-Based Leaders, Purpose-Driven Success, Kingdom Business, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Leadership Development

About your host

Profile picture for Tim Winders

Tim Winders

Tim Winders is a faith driven executive coach and author with over 40 years of experience in leadership, business, and ministry. Through his personal journey of redefining success, he has gained valuable insights on how to align beliefs with work and lead with purpose. He is committed to helping others do the same, running a coaching business that helps leaders, leadership teams, business owners, and entrepreneurs to align their beliefs with their work and redefine success.

In addition to his coaching business, Tim is also the host of the SeekGoCreate podcast and author of the book Coach: A Story of Success Redefined, which provides guidance for those looking to redefine success and align their beliefs with their work. With his extensive background, unique perspective and strengths in strategic thinking, relationship building, and problem-solving, Tim is well-suited to help clients navigate through difficult times and achieve their goals.