Jesus Taught Me How To Start A Ministry

We are once again joined by musical artists Alicia and Whitney McDermott, of Keepin’ It Global International Missions, to talk about what it looks like to use your personal life’s journey to fuel your own ministry.

Alicia and Whitney go into detail about how even the toughest challenges they have faced in their life have led them perfectly to where they are today. Especially when we are facing trials, it can be really difficult to understand the growth we experience and the positive impact that it can enable us to have on others.

Join us as we step through how your own unique ministry can be crafted from some of the toughest moments in your life!

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Transcript
Brent:

Alicia and Whitney, it is great to have you guys back on.

Brent:

we had a pod cast episode previous to this, and I really encourage all of

Brent:

our listeners to go and check that out.

Brent:

We're really specifically talking about your testimony and what

Brent:

a cool story that you guys

Brent:

have to tell.

Brent:

You talked about the journey that you guys both went through and losing your Dad, and

Brent:

also how that inspired you guys to really do what you're doing now with your, with

Brent:

your music ministry, with your nonprofit.

Brent:

With your books that you're both writing.

Brent:

And that's what we kind of want to focus on here is just.

Brent:

More of an understanding of the message behind what you're doing now with your

Brent:

songs, with your ministry and with your books that you have coming out.

Brent:

And Alicia I know that you have a book coming out very soon.

Brent:

And so I would love to focus on that first and and just introduce that

Brent:

to the audience and maybe understand more of the specifics of why you

Brent:

were writing that, why you wrote that and how it relates to your journey.

Alicia McDermott:

Yeah.

Alicia McDermott:

So actually it's available now for on our website, Alicia and whitney.com,

Alicia McDermott:

but the title is reset, recalibrate, restore, and really I felt.

Alicia McDermott:

I had been on such a journey with the Lord, from our Dad's passing

Alicia McDermott:

and so much growth had taken place and so much just life lessons.

Alicia McDermott:

And whether it be in healing from, our broken home, when our parents divorced

Alicia McDermott:

or healing from grief or learning about giftings that God placed inside

Alicia McDermott:

me or learning about purpose and.

Alicia McDermott:

Partnering with God for your purpose.

Alicia McDermott:

And there was there, there's all these lessons that I learned.

Alicia McDermott:

And, but how do you tie all that up into one book?

Alicia McDermott:

I think that's one of the things as a writer that can be.

Alicia McDermott:

For people that want to write a book or start or share their

Alicia McDermott:

story is like, where do I start?

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What do I include?

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What do I keep out?

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And how do I organize that?

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And one day I was thinking about I felt this tug on my heart to start writing.

Alicia McDermott:

And I just felt like the Lord gave me those three words and he said,

Alicia McDermott:

I want you to categorize your.

Alicia McDermott:

story into these three parts reset, recalibrate, restore, and the reset was.

Alicia McDermott:

When the reset button had been pressed on my life, where I was felt like I

Alicia McDermott:

was at rock bottom, where I was in grief, where I said, okay, I can't

Alicia McDermott:

continue the way I've been walking or I can't continue in this way.

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Where do I go from here?

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And so I share about that and I share in the, in recalibrate in that section

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of chapters, in the book of how God.

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Like the title of our podcast brought me up higher, how he

Alicia McDermott:

recalibrated me to his standard.

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And that's through learning to be teachable and pliable and mendable

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in his hands and learning to, to lay down attitudes and offenses and

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be put on the Potter's wheel and let him remove the marring from the

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clay and make you into a new vessel.

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To the restored aspect of it and what that looks like.

Alicia McDermott:

And one of the main things I talk about about being restored is

Alicia McDermott:

restored people, restore people.

Alicia McDermott:

And so God will often after he takes you out.

Alicia McDermott:

And brings you into a different level of healing and it helps

Alicia McDermott:

you through these things.

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He'll often call you back into those old environments or into

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similar situations in other people's lives and help them through it.

Alicia McDermott:

And so that's the book in a nutshell, and I'm super excited about it.

Alicia McDermott:

It's been a few years in the making and the fact that it's available

Alicia McDermott:

now and out there and in, in the atmosphere I'm excited about it.

Brent:

yeah.

Brent:

Isn't it an amazing though, when

Brent:

you sort Been working on, you said it's been a few years

Brent:

in the making, Really cool.

Brent:

When you've been working on something for a few years , and you're able to put it

Brent:

out into the world, what, you know, what an amazing feeling that has got to be.

Alicia McDermott:

It's exciting.

Alicia McDermott:

And it's scary all at the same time, because especially a book

Alicia McDermott:

like of this nature I share.

Alicia McDermott:

Like we talked about in the last episode, you have to be vulnerable.

Alicia McDermott:

And that, that's always like a, an aspect too.

Alicia McDermott:

It's oh gosh, here goes, but but yeah, super, super rewarding.

Alicia McDermott:

And just happy to have that, completed.

Brent:

Yeah.

Brent:

and reset, recalibrate and restore as you were, as I was learning about the book.

Brent:

I just thought, those are things that we need to do often.

Brent:

And I feel like oftentimes to your point.

Brent:

for those types of things.

Brent:

We wait to sort of recalibrate, restore.

Brent:

We put types of things off.

Brent:

And man, if we didn't do that, if we made that sort of a, sort of a constant thing

Brent:

in our life, how would we grow from that?

Brent:

Right.

Alicia McDermott:

Yeah, that's so true.

Alicia McDermott:

And that's something too.

Alicia McDermott:

I talk about the books.

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It doesn't have to be.

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A huge rock bottom moment.

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Like it doesn't like it, it doesn't have to be that it's an invitation to like

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anybody that follows Christ and wants to have a relationship with them to just,

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go from glory to glory from grace to grace with him is it's a never ending

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process, but it's a beautiful process because there's always, he never leaves.

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The way they are when you partner with him growth is inevitable.

Alicia McDermott:

And so that's yeah.

Alicia McDermott:

That's I'm glad that you got that from that.

Alicia McDermott:

Cause that's awesome.

Brent:

Yeah.

Brent:

No, absolutely.

Brent:

Well, I can't wait to check that out.

Brent:

Whitney, I know you also have two books, right.

Brent:

Is that correct?

Brent:

Do you have two books out?

Whitney McDermott:

Yeah.

Whitney McDermott:

The first one I wrote it's called beauty from my ashes.

Whitney McDermott:

We touched on it last episode, but it's just I was in the hospital that we

Whitney McDermott:

all were with our dad just surrounding his bed and we took his last breath.

Whitney McDermott:

I just.

Whitney McDermott:

Sitting back and thinking like, okay, what does life look like from here?

Whitney McDermott:

Cause I was going to school for business and marketing and our dad was in ministry.

Whitney McDermott:

So the plan was, I'd get my degree in and help him with his

Whitney McDermott:

ministry and so on and so forth.

Whitney McDermott:

And so much of my future was like built upon those things and

Whitney McDermott:

it, it just came crumbling down.

Whitney McDermott:

When he unexpectedly passed away, that just really marked the journey of me.

Whitney McDermott:

Going back to the core of who God created me to be, but just really, it

Whitney McDermott:

was the beginning of a grief journey that I had never walked before.

Whitney McDermott:

And that's a scary place to be at.

Whitney McDermott:

I lost other loved ones, but each relationship affects you differently.

Whitney McDermott:

And so when losing my dad it was just a huge loss and a huge devastation.

Whitney McDermott:

And so it was like, I just remember telling God that I'm in the hospital room.

Whitney McDermott:

I was like, I don't know of anything good that could come from this, but

Whitney McDermott:

I know that if any, if anyone could bring good from it, it's you like?

Whitney McDermott:

And that's what your word says.

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And so I'm willing to partner with you.

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If you can promise something good will come out of this.

Whitney McDermott:

Like I'm willing to partner with you.

Whitney McDermott:

And that really began that like beauty for my ashes kind of

Whitney McDermott:

journey where God just really.

Whitney McDermott:

Really walked me through what he was talking about.

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And I say, like when he says he can bring beauty from ashes.

Whitney McDermott:

And so I actually gave my book that title, and it's just a small book that just hits

Whitney McDermott:

like the major points of walking through grief with God and what that looks like

Whitney McDermott:

and how you can do that in a healthy way.

Whitney McDermott:

And I just even talk about like how grief is a process and it's something that

Whitney McDermott:

we don't need to try and rush through.

Whitney McDermott:

A lot of times we'll find that we try and set dates on stuff, right?

Whitney McDermott:

After six months, like I'll be over this or after, after we get all the

Whitney McDermott:

whole first year done all the first over with I'll I'll get through this

Whitney McDermott:

grief, but you can't do it with grief.

Whitney McDermott:

I got to learn that really fast.

Whitney McDermott:

I just got putting these timelines on myself and God's Nope, that's

Whitney McDermott:

not how this works with me.

Whitney McDermott:

And I actually had a mentor of mine.

Whitney McDermott:

Tell me you've got to quit.

Whitney McDermott:

Gotta, quit doing the timeline.

Whitney McDermott:

So I just talk about things like that.

Whitney McDermott:

Like just letting yourself just giving yourself time and just doing

Whitney McDermott:

the next thing you know, to do, because it's so easy to get lost.

Whitney McDermott:

Time doesn't really exist when you're in like deep grief.

Whitney McDermott:

It's just this weird.

Whitney McDermott:

It's like everybody.

Whitney McDermott:

As his living and things are going on around you, but you just feel like

Whitney McDermott:

you're in this, I dunno this space like is the best I can describe it.

Whitney McDermott:

And so sometimes it's just I don't know where to go from here.

Whitney McDermott:

And so I just talk about just doing what's in front of you to do even

Whitney McDermott:

if it's as simple as I'm going to work and just showing up and doing

Whitney McDermott:

that or taking your kids to school.

Whitney McDermott:

Sports practice or if it's going to school for me, like I had to

Whitney McDermott:

step away from school for a season.

Whitney McDermott:

And so I just talk about just those practical things that that I know

Whitney McDermott:

when I was facing grief for the first time I had no clue what I

Whitney McDermott:

was going to be walking through.

Whitney McDermott:

And so I just hope it's an encouragement to everyone that.

Whitney McDermott:

reads it.

Whitney McDermott:

And I've gotten a lot of good feedback from it that it has been just a blessing

Whitney McDermott:

for people who've gone through us.

Whitney McDermott:

So that's my first book is about, and my second book is entitled occupy while

Whitney McDermott:

waiting the singles guide to pursuing God purpose and healthy relationships.

Whitney McDermott:

So a totally different genre of a book.

Whitney McDermott:

They're both faith-based of course, but Yeah, I just felt honestly, God's

Whitney McDermott:

history with me has just been like, when he's brought me out of something,

Whitney McDermott:

he's always had me like turn around and help others with that same situation.

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It's literally what she just said.

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People, Restore people.

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God, doesn't bring you through situations just to just to bring you through them,

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but it's also to help bring others through like when God was working

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through Moses, like it wasn't just for Moses, it was so that he could bring.

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The entire nation, Israel and eventually into the promised land.

Whitney McDermott:

That's how that's God's history track record with those people.

Whitney McDermott:

With Occupy While Waiting, as a Christian single it's just, it's a

Whitney McDermott:

weird space to be in once you pass like college age, late, mid to late

Whitney McDermott:

twenties into your thirties and you're unmarried, there's not necessarily.

Whitney McDermott:

A place for you always in the church, there's a lot of stuff for college age

Whitney McDermott:

and youth group and stuff like that.

Whitney McDermott:

And then marrieds and families.

Whitney McDermott:

But I just, I really noticed that gap and I was just like, all right,

Whitney McDermott:

God, like how can we fill it?

Whitney McDermott:

You're bringing it to my attention.

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And so what can we do about this?

Whitney McDermott:

And so I wanted to write a book, just Just for that demographic of people.

Whitney McDermott:

And honestly, it's not limited to that age group, but just anyone who's single

Whitney McDermott:

on the church that what life can look like in Christ and pursuing God and

Whitney McDermott:

your purpose and healthy relationships.

Whitney McDermott:

So that's what that book's all about.

Whitney McDermott:

And it's not that's talk about dating and marriage and stuff in it, but honestly,

Whitney McDermott:

a lot of it's just about Learning to hear God's voice and how crucial and

Whitney McDermott:

important that is for each and every one of us, because there are going to

Whitney McDermott:

be situations that you're gonna, you're gonna have to make some choices and

Whitney McDermott:

decisions, like as much as I love my sister and she has my best interest at

Whitney McDermott:

heart, like she can't make decisions for me, she can't hear God's voice for me.

Whitney McDermott:

A hundred percent of the time she may have word for me or something, but I have

Whitney McDermott:

to learn to be able to do that on my own and to feel God's leading and direction.

Whitney McDermott:

So I talk about that.

Whitney McDermott:

I talk about the type of friends that are important to have around you.

Whitney McDermott:

And I talked about going back to the core of who God created you

Whitney McDermott:

to be and how to really find your purpose and your calling in life and

Whitney McDermott:

what that looks like walking into.

Whitney McDermott:

So it's just really a book that, that I wanted to be able to sit down and read.

Whitney McDermott:

And so that's what I wanted to offer people who are in a similar situation

Whitney McDermott:

that singleness is a, it's a gift.

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And a lot of times it's not appreciated.

Whitney McDermott:

People are always trying to get you married off and things of

Whitney McDermott:

which marriage is a good thing.

Whitney McDermott:

And obviously like I want that one day in a family and things, but God that

Whitney McDermott:

doesn't I mean that God doesn't have purpose for me right here, where I'm at.

Whitney McDermott:

And actually like everything I've done so far has been as a single, starting

Whitney McDermott:

our music ministry, recording albums, like doing missions, work, writing books.

Whitney McDermott:

And so I want that to be an encouragement for singles out there

Whitney McDermott:

who are desiring to get married, that like life doesn't start at marriage.

Whitney McDermott:

It starts right where you're at.

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God has a purpose for you right here.

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And you don't have to wait.

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Marriage isn't necessarily like the best part of life.

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Like every part of life, it's the best part of life when you're doing

Whitney McDermott:

it with God it all matters and he has a purpose for all of it.

Whitney McDermott:

So that is the long version of what that book is about.

Brent:

Yeah, no, that's amazing.

Brent:

And you brought up a couple of times just finding your purpose.

Brent:

And I think that is.

Brent:

Perhaps something that struggle with a lot may be more so in sort of the generations,

Brent:

like the millennials and gen Z, like the younger generations may be a bit more

Brent:

there, but I think probably it's always something that people have struggled with.

Brent:

You know, we tie our purpose to our job.

Brent:

We tie our purpose to the relationships that we're in or the

Brent:

lack of relationships that we're

Brent:

in.

Brent:

We tie our purpose to so many different things.

Brent:

and in, regardless of what that is, that will fall at some point in time.

Brent:

Everything that we can place our purpose in is, really.

Brent:

It is really open to failure, with the exception of placing your trust and

Brent:

the placing your foundation and Christ.

Brent:

But I do think that really hits hard, for people and just

Brent:

identifying what their purpose is.

Brent:

So thank you guys, both for putting that out.

Brent:

And my guess is.

Brent:

The songs that you sing, and I know you write all of your, most of songs,

Brent:

I believe that, is that sort of the same message that people would hear in

Brent:

a lot of your music content as well?

Alicia McDermott:

It's really interesting.

Alicia McDermott:

Like a lot of our songs we will co-write or we'll write on our own or whatever,

Alicia McDermott:

but a lot of our songs are birthed out of our personal worship time with the

Alicia McDermott:

Lord, like sitting at home at the piano.

Alicia McDermott:

Yeah.

Alicia McDermott:

I had my morning cup of coffee, my devotion time, just free flow, singing,

Alicia McDermott:

whatever, or out of scriptures that we've read the, and or life experiences.

Alicia McDermott:

But like the majority of our songs are written from those heart

Alicia McDermott:

to heart times with the Lord.

Alicia McDermott:

And so we really with those, it's just like getting a glimpse into

Alicia McDermott:

our heart cry to the father or our heart cry in those situations.

Alicia McDermott:

We've actually a lot of our songs are that kind of in that realm

Alicia McDermott:

or I guess where they start from.

Alicia McDermott:

But we also have songs that we've written that are storytelling songs.

Alicia McDermott:

Like I, before I got married, we lost our dad the year that I was engaged.

Alicia McDermott:

So like I went through the whole wedding planning process, and just in the

Alicia McDermott:

middle of grief and things like that.

Alicia McDermott:

Thinking about not having that daddy daughter dance moment

Alicia McDermott:

or walking down the aisle.

Alicia McDermott:

And one of the nights, I just remember, I was like, just grieving

Alicia McDermott:

that and looking at old photos of him and stuff, and just just felt

Alicia McDermott:

this resolve come into my spirit.

Alicia McDermott:

That just was like, You wouldn't wish him back.

Alicia McDermott:

You know where he is, he's in paradise.

Alicia McDermott:

He's not sick.

Alicia McDermott:

He's not hurting.

Alicia McDermott:

He's not experiencing the things that we experienced in this world.

Alicia McDermott:

Like you wouldn't wish them back.

Alicia McDermott:

And I was like, I wouldn't because I know where he's at, but I will

Alicia McDermott:

say, daddy, save a dance for me.

Alicia McDermott:

Say one for me up there.

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And I wrote a song entitled that daddy save a dance for me.

Alicia McDermott:

To be played at like my wedding and it just talks about I wouldn't wish you

Alicia McDermott:

back, but here I am, like, I'm in the white dress and I miss you, but will

Alicia McDermott:

you save a dance for me kind of thing.

Alicia McDermott:

And heaven one day when we're dancing before Jesus together.

Alicia McDermott:

And it's been really cool to watch that song that was written like in

Alicia McDermott:

one of those midnight, Hard moments like to see it blossom into something.

Alicia McDermott:

And like it's our most viewed video on YouTube.

Alicia McDermott:

We have it's our most so listen to song on Spotify and like we have we actually

Alicia McDermott:

ended up having to put the instrumental.

Alicia McDermott:

Available on our website because brides were wanting people to perform

Alicia McDermott:

it at their weddings and stuff.

Alicia McDermott:

And so that's other than the worship songs, like that's another aspect is

Alicia McDermott:

as we just have our heart to heart moments where we write out like those

Alicia McDermott:

story telling songs in the process.

Alicia McDermott:

Core is our first album that we wrote during that time of grief.

Alicia McDermott:

And we have a second album called a portrait of worship and that's just our

Alicia McDermott:

heart is that our worship would paint a beautiful picture for the father, what he

Alicia McDermott:

sees when he sees our lives, that it would just be pleasing to him and a current.

Alicia McDermott:

Crowdfunding.

Alicia McDermott:

And we have all the songs written but to work on our third album.

Alicia McDermott:

So we're excited about that as well.

Brent:

I believe that music specifically can speak to people in an emotional way

Brent:

that a lot of other things can't, or maybe nothing else can, especially grief.

Brent:

You know, we've talked a lot about grief in our previous episode

Brent:

together and here as well, but I think grief specifically as something.

Brent:

And if you find the right song that just hits you in the right

Brent:

way, it can be so helpful.

Brent:

So very helpful to you potentially in a way that just, nothing else can.

Brent:

And I don't know the dynamics, I don't know, the chemistry of all

Brent:

that, but it just seems to me that music as a special place uh, of impact

Brent:

when it comes to things like grief,

Whitney McDermott:

Yeah what's neat is we've even we've mentioned

Whitney McDermott:

that we do missions work and so we've been to Honduras.

Whitney McDermott:

Tanzania.

Whitney McDermott:

And then we were in Israel, but more for the sights and tourists thing.

Whitney McDermott:

But in all those places, we were able to sing and sometimes we're leading worship

Whitney McDermott:

at church, or like in Israel, it was like a hotel lobby where like a bunch of us

Whitney McDermott:

just crowded around a piano, but this does see like despite language barriers

Whitney McDermott:

and everything like and even despite the.

Whitney McDermott:

Cultural differences and religious differences especially with

Whitney McDermott:

Israel it was so cool to see how it just United all of us.

Whitney McDermott:

And it didn't matter.

Whitney McDermott:

Like even like with the church services that we led worship in we

Whitney McDermott:

just all went to that same place.

Whitney McDermott:

And what I love is that each place like has a unique sound.

Whitney McDermott:

And so God like when we were worshiping in Tanzania, man, I was just like,

Whitney McDermott:

this is what heaven has to sound like.

Whitney McDermott:

Cause they like everyone was, everyone can

Alicia McDermott:

sing

Whitney McDermott:

beautiful voices.

Whitney McDermott:

Like in the crowd, here, like in the states, I feel like everyone

Whitney McDermott:

tries to like, not be heard in the crowd cause they don't think they

Whitney McDermott:

can sing, but in Tanzania, like everyone's just like belting it

Whitney McDermott:

cause they have beautiful voices.

Whitney McDermott:

And yeah, it's just like a really neat kind of all the walls are down.

Whitney McDermott:

When it comes to music and regardless of where you're from or what language

Whitney McDermott:

you speak, like God, whatever he did to music, like whatever special ingredient

Whitney McDermott:

he put in it, like it just unites us.

Whitney McDermott:

And I love that so much about music.

Brent:

Absolutely.

Brent:

I can agree.

Brent:

Yeah.

Brent:

I think what's the universal language, I guess.

Brent:

What would you say to the, what would you say to the person that is, maybe where

Brent:

you guys were when you were starting on your journey, trying to identify what

Brent:

their passion is trying to identify, what their purpose is, trying to follow Christ?

Alicia McDermott:

Something that comes to mind is seek first, the

Alicia McDermott:

kingdom of God and his righteous.

Alicia McDermott:

And all these things will be added unto you.

Alicia McDermott:

And I'm not allowing labels that other people have put on you or maybe labels

Alicia McDermott:

that you've even put on yourself to be the hallmark by which you live your life by,

Alicia McDermott:

or think that this is all I'm going to.

Alicia McDermott:

Whether, like you mentioned before, whether it's your giftings, whether

Alicia McDermott:

it's your job whether it's your shortcomings, whether it's your sins.

Alicia McDermott:

So often we can allow people to label us that, he's the slacker,

Alicia McDermott:

she's this, or what she's the overachiever or whatever it is.

Alicia McDermott:

And we can find our identity in those things and be so wrapped up.

Alicia McDermott:

When we can't play that sport anymore because of an injury.

Alicia McDermott:

What, who am I then?

Alicia McDermott:

Or, whatever but when we wrap our identity in Christ and who he says, we

Alicia McDermott:

are, that the circumstances may change.

Alicia McDermott:

The environments may change and the people around us may change

Alicia McDermott:

and they may affirm us, or they may be against us, whatever it is.

Alicia McDermott:

But when we build our life upon that foundation you always

Alicia McDermott:

know where to run back to.

Alicia McDermott:

Sometimes I know, even in my own life, you can get off base or you can try to

Alicia McDermott:

people please, or you can try to fit those images of what maybe the world deems as

Alicia McDermott:

successful, but you're never going to be happy unless you're doing what God

Alicia McDermott:

called you to do and designed you to do.

Alicia McDermott:

You can do a lot of things that look great on paper that looks.

Alicia McDermott:

On social media or whatever, but if they're not what God asks you to do,

Alicia McDermott:

you're going to, you're going to be empty.

Alicia McDermott:

And one of, one of the things that like, as far as a step-by-step thing, or what do

Alicia McDermott:

I do, what, how do I make this decision?

Alicia McDermott:

One of the things that we've gone by is follow the peace.

Alicia McDermott:

And even if.

Alicia McDermott:

And opportunities come and it's really scared us because we're like,

Alicia McDermott:

we're not qualified or we're , but there's still been like a piece

Alicia McDermott:

that's deep inside that says, no, you should take the step and do it.

Alicia McDermott:

But there's been times where there's been big opportunities opened up to

Alicia McDermott:

us, but there's, it didn't feel right inside, even though it could on paper,

Alicia McDermott:

be exposed us to a lot of people and do this and do this and could open a lot of.

Alicia McDermott:

But it didn't have the piece that accompanied with it.

Alicia McDermott:

I think that's a real telltale sign is that when you spend time with

Alicia McDermott:

the father and you recognize his presence and you recognize what his

Alicia McDermott:

piece is in and what it's not in, that's like such a great tool to have.

Alicia McDermott:

Just have those day by day decisions that come up.

Alicia McDermott:

Yeah.

Whitney McDermott:

So good.

Whitney McDermott:

She said a lot of good things.

Whitney McDermott:

I don't know What more I could add, but I guess one thing that comes

Whitney McDermott:

to my mind is just like following after Christ is countercultural and

Whitney McDermott:

God's gonna, God requires things of us and ask things of us that are.

Whitney McDermott:

Seem really maybe like backwards or different to people who are just living

Whitney McDermott:

the American dream or who are just living for themselves or their flesh.

Whitney McDermott:

And just a heads up, not, everybody's going to have the vision that you have.

Whitney McDermott:

And part of that is because that's the vision God's given you.

Whitney McDermott:

That's your baby to, to carry and to take care of.

Whitney McDermott:

So not everybody's going to have.

Whitney McDermott:

Have that vision or support you in that, but just knowing that if God's

Whitney McDermott:

called me to do this, like I'm going to stand firm and I'm going to do it

Whitney McDermott:

because there's a reason for that.

Whitney McDermott:

And Alicia said when you submit your life to Christ, like you're

Whitney McDermott:

never fully satisfied unless you're living the life that he has for.

Whitney McDermott:

There are temporary pleasures.

Whitney McDermott:

There are things that maybe offer some security or things like that.

Whitney McDermott:

But it's never trust me when I say it pales in comparison to what a

Whitney McDermott:

life living sold out for Christ is.

Whitney McDermott:

He's taken us on a lot of events, adventures that we

Whitney McDermott:

never would have gone on.

Whitney McDermott:

I never could have dreamed or imagined.

Whitney McDermott:

Because we said yes to him.

Whitney McDermott:

And so just continue even when it doesn't make sense, continue to say

Whitney McDermott:

yes to him, even when it's hard.

Whitney McDermott:

Yeah.

Whitney McDermott:

Even when life hasn't turned out, like you expect it to you just keep saying

Whitney McDermott:

yes to him because there is a reward and there is a plan and a purpose for you.

Whitney McDermott:

And so just don't give up on that.

Brent:

Yeah, What would you say to that person, relationally,

Brent:

specifically Whitney?

Brent:

I mean, either of you, but Whitney, you wrote a book on this, So what would

Brent:

you say to that person , relationally that is trying to figure graduating

Brent:

college or, coming into adulthood, trying to balance finding your purpose,

Brent:

your career, and also sort of thought process of, singleness of marriage

Brent:

and just the complexity of that.

Brent:

What would you say to that aspect of it?

Whitney McDermott:

Yeah I wish I had a clean cut answer.

Whitney McDermott:

If anybody has a nice formula, hit me up, email me.

Whitney McDermott:

I'd love to hear it, but I guess yeah, just for me, it's

Whitney McDermott:

been there's a verse, man.

Whitney McDermott:

Paul says it.

Whitney McDermott:

I can't think of where it's at right now.

Whitney McDermott:

But in the message version, basically, Paul.

Whitney McDermott:

Don't be wishing you are some somewhere else or with someone else where you

Whitney McDermott:

are right now is where God has you.

Whitney McDermott:

So live, obey, believe love right here.

Whitney McDermott:

This is something like that.

Whitney McDermott:

I'm paraphrasing, of course, but I know it just says live in love and obey,

Whitney McDermott:

like right here, right where you're at.

Whitney McDermott:

And my, my encouragement from then listen out and I'm living in it, just what gets

Whitney McDermott:

me through is just saying like, All right, God what do you have for me right here?

Whitney McDermott:

And just trying to really be present with if you're graduating college, of

Whitney McDermott:

course I'm celebrating and job hunting and doing all that stuff, but just

Whitney McDermott:

realizing that life is so much more about the journey than it is the destination.

Whitney McDermott:

Because that's what I spent my whole life growing up thinking like, man, lots,

Whitney McDermott:

I get to this point, once I graduate college, once I move out on my own,

Whitney McDermott:

once I get married and have kids, but what I've realized is those are really

Whitney McDermott:

cool milestones, but I didn't really learn stuff in those destinations.

Whitney McDermott:

I learned it like on my way there.

Whitney McDermott:

And so just finding significance in, in the waiting or in the process it would

Whitney McDermott:

be my best encouragement to you because.

Whitney McDermott:

Life, doesn't start at those big milestone moments.

Whitney McDermott:

It's going on right now.

Whitney McDermott:

And you'll miss it?

Whitney McDermott:

If you just keep keep your eyes looking at the destination the purpose and the

Whitney McDermott:

roots grow and the journey the mountain tops are cool, but it's the valleys

Whitney McDermott:

and things where the roots grow deep and retrieves grow and there's life.

Whitney McDermott:

So I guess that would be my best encouragement.

Brent:

Yeah, those are wise words.

Brent:

Thank you for that.

Brent:

I appreciate that.

Brent:

And I agree, you know, I think even if we look through, the heroes of

Brent:

the Bible, so to speak, we see, we often see, the major parts of their

Brent:

life, either the low valleys or the high mountains that they're on.

Brent:

But the rest of the time, they're living life, they're going through

Brent:

the same sort of struggles and the same sort of things that that we do.

Brent:

And I think sometimes we miss that specifically with Jesus.

Brent:

He's an amazing example of this.

Brent:

If you just look at his life and, look at how he handled

Brent:

relationships and look at how he.

Brent:

How he dealt with with people.

Brent:

Um, He did it in a very deep way.

Brent:

He did it in a very intentional way and he lived life with people.

Brent:

And so I think it rings true to that.

Brent:

I think you're just putting out some really cool stuff.

Brent:

And so I encourage our audience to go check it out.

Brent:

I know you said Alicia and whitney.com.

Brent:

go ahead and tell us your, you mentioned last episode, your social media and,

Brent:

and kind of where some could follow you.

Brent:

if you would mention that again, as we close down, so people

Brent:

can continue to follow you.

Whitney McDermott:

Yeah, So of course our website's a great place to start Alicia.

Whitney McDermott:

And Whitney dot com and then you can find us on social media platforms, Facebook,

Whitney McDermott:

Instagram, Twitter, at Alicia and Whitney.

Whitney McDermott:

And you can find our music anywhere where music has streamed.

Whitney McDermott:

Apple music, Google, Spotify, Pandora, et cetera.

Whitney McDermott:

And then our podcast is coming up higher and you can find that anywhere.

Whitney McDermott:

Where podcasts are streamed.

Whitney McDermott:

So we would love to have you subscribe.

Whitney McDermott:

We have YouTube channels as well.

Whitney McDermott:

So you can find us at a lot of different places but definitely

Whitney McDermott:

like subscribe to our content.

Whitney McDermott:

So you can see whenever we release new stuff, because we're

Whitney McDermott:

always releasing something.

Brent:

Yeah.

Brent:

No, absolutely.

Brent:lbum coming out, I believe in:Brent:

Is that correct?

Brent:

Coming up?

Alicia McDermott:

We're going to start.

Alicia McDermott:

Yeah, We're we're going to start recording or hopefully get working

Alicia McDermott:

on the music aspect of it at the beginning of 20, 22 January.

Alicia McDermott:

Yeah, we're be on the lookout for that.

Alicia McDermott:

And we're super excited about it.

Alicia McDermott:

It's going to be our best one yet.

Alicia McDermott:

I think so we're working with a great producer and and that makes,

Alicia McDermott:

we're excited to work with him.

Alicia McDermott:

And so we're yeah, it's going to be good.

Alicia McDermott:

So stay tuned.

Brent:

Yeah, that's awesome.

Brent:

Well, I've heard several of your songs on your first year album, so

Brent:

if it's the better of those three and I'm sure it will be amazing.

Brent:

Thank you guys so much.

Brent:

It's been a pleasure chatting with you, looking forward to staying

Brent:

in touch with, with your content and what you guys are up to.

Brent:

I encourage our audience to go check out your website and and

Brent:

check out some music by your books.

Brent:

Thank you so much.

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