0:00Episode 4180, the soil no one talks about. Mom's, it's time to rediscover, rejuvenate, and renew who you are in mind body and spirit. Welcome to create your now your best selfie. The show that help you do just that. Here's your host, certified life coach, personal trainer, and nutritionist, Christian Warr go. Happy every day, are you ready for something extraordinary? Oh yes, because I know that you know that God has a divine plan for you and you might be still trying to figure it out and that's why we're working through this journey of becoming, right? Our well spring Wednesday, the soil no one talks about. For those of you who are brand new to create your now, welcome to this incredible family. I'm so delighted of your presence. If you already had the opportunity, you'll want to head on over to createchurnow.com where you can learn more and sign up for the Kisses Newsletter. They keep it simple strategy, everyday solutions to live, love, and impact with this episode

1:02is brought to you by AIM, Inspiring Connection, and Community. All right, so I just have to be a little extra honest with you, not that I'm not always honest with you, but let's say it's a confession. I've been watching a lot of tennis, and so if I refer to it, I'm so sorry, but I'm not sorry because it's the last grand slam and it is incredible. Even if you do not like tennis, it has been entertaining. And so I would really encourage you to check out the US Open because there's a lot of life lessons actually to be learned on the court. You know, people will tell you about the blooming, right? They'll tell you about the breakthrough and the moment they finally stepped into the calling, God placed on their life where everything clicks because he's been planning it all along. It sounds beautiful. It sounds perfect, but nobody really talks about the soil, no one talks about. The stuff underneath the surface that made the bloom possible in the first place, the seasons that felt more like a burial than planting, the prayers that seemed to bounce off

2:05the ceiling, the plans you laid out in good faith that God in his gentle sovereignty folded up and tucked away. And if you've been in one of those seasons or maybe you're standing there right now, you need to know that the ground is not wasted. You know, in our natural world, meaning here on earth, right, the richest soil is made of broken down things, composted leaves, fallen trees, matter that once had shaped and structure and purpose until it didn't, until it fell, until it decomposed. And in that decomposition, something remarkable happened. The ground became fertile. It became soft. It became the kind of earth that could actually receive a seed and do something with it. My friend, your life works the same way. The grief you carried when a relationship didn't survive.

3:05The disappointment that sat on your chest when a door closed, you were absolutely positively sure that God had opened. The quiet ache of a season that simply didn't turn out the way you asked him for, not because he wasn't listening, but because he was building something you couldn't see from where you were standing. Romans 8, 28, tells us, and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. All things, not the things that are just beautiful, not the things that sparkle, not the breakthrough things, the hard things, the composted things, the seasons that felt like they were falling apart, the ones where you felt like you carried the weight of the world on your shoulders. God was always working. And I think about this sometimes when I look at the women that I'm becoming, who I am and who I'm becoming. And I try to trace the line back.

4:05What's that through line for you? What is it for me? And you know what I find? The steadiest, most rooted parts of who I am today did not come from the easy seasons. They came from the ones I wouldn't wish on anyone. The ones where I had to surrender a dream I'd been holding onto so tightly that my knuckles were white. The ones where I cried out, God, I don't understand. And the only answer I got was trust me. Trust me, Christy Ann, trust me. And here's the thing about trust. It doesn't feel holy in the moment. It feels like loss. It feels like giving up. But surrender and giving up, they're not the same thing. And you need to hold that distinction close to your heart today. You see giving up says there's nothing left. Surrender says I'm placing this in the hands bigger than mine.

5:08One isn't ending. The other isn't offering. Isaiah 61-3 speaks of God giving us a crown of beauty instead of ashes. Miss America was just crowned this past Sunday. Miss Texas one, she's the new Miss America. Congratulations, Reagan. I believe that was her first name. Oh dear, I have to look it up again. But my life is very busy and sometimes I can't keep everything straight. Right, the U.S. open. We've got football and college ball. I mean, NFL, Mama Sports Center. I mean, it's all over. And then wait, I got to raise a family. And I want to talk to you. I know. It's kind of crazy. But you say a crown of beauty instead of ashes. It's the whole thing of instead of. That means the ashes have to exist first. The burnt down thing has to be acknowledged. You can't trade in what you refuse to name. To let it feed the ground. That is your kiss to keep a simple strategy.

6:08Let it feed the ground. All the stuff that you didn't think mattered actually does in the long run. And God is there putting all the puzzle pieces together. I know at times that you may be looking at going, there's no puzzle pieces here. It just looks like, well, I don't know. It's a hot mess and not in a good sense. So I got a question for you today. What are you carrying that you haven't yet released into the soil? And yeah, believe it or not, we need to look at today and going backwards. And this may be something you need to revisit often over the next few weeks to months. Maybe there's a lot of stuff that's been built up and you just don't know what you don't know because you haven't sat with it. You haven't taken it through a process of saying, okay, who am I and who am I becoming? Where am I and where am I going? What does God have in store for me? Not what I control but what God controls. His divine design.

7:11So I want you to go back a little bit. What are you carrying that you haven't yet released into the soil? And you think about that. Then I want you to let it feed the ground. What does that look like in real life? Number one, acknowledge, acknowledge one loss, acknowledge one disappointment or one surrendered expectation that you've been carrying without processing. Don't over dramatize it. So easy to do. Don't minimize it. Very, very easy to do. Just name it. Matter of fact. To yourself and to God. This is what I carried. This is what it cost me. What is that for you? Maybe it's something that happened in childhood that's coming up for you right now and you're like, I'm Christian, I don't know where this is coming from. That's okay. You don't have to know or understand. Work through it. acknowledge. Number two, I want you then to pray over it. Not to get it back, right? You don't want to say, oh, I want to be Miss America or I want to be the Ellen.

8:16Olympian ice skater. Yep, that's me. I want that back, Lord. No, no, no, no. Pray over it. To release it into God's hands as soil for what's coming. You might say something like, Lord, I don't fully understand why the season happened. But I trust that you waste nothing. Take this and make the ground ready. Take this Lord and make the ground ready. When I just say that, even within my own self right now, I'm thinking, yeah, take my ashes, Lord, and make the ground ready. Take my tears. Take my sorrow. Take my hurts and my pain. Take it all, Lord. Take those ashes. I trust you. You're going to waste nothing. I don't know what it's going to look like. I don't know how you're going to mold me, but I know where I am now. I know who I am now, and I'm ready to know who I am becoming.

9:19The season of becoming. Acknowledge, pray, and finally, number three, journal one sentence that begins with, because of that season, I now know. Because of that season, I now know. Let that sentence surprise you. Let it show you what was composting beneath the surface all along. Strength, wisdom, compassion, clarity, gifts that only grow in that kind of soil. My friend, the woman you are becoming is not in spite of those hard seasons. She is in many ways because of them. Not because the pain was good, but because God is good. And He knows exactly how to turn broken down things into the richest ground your life has ever known. You're not buried beneath your burdens. You're planted. You're ready to rise. In the soil beneath you, every surrendered plan, every composted dream, every tear that

10:24watered ground that you couldn't yet see is doing exactly what it was meant to do. Go in peace. Be present. Be incredible. Be you. I love you so very much. I cannot wait to see you on the other side. Blessing tags and lots and lots of love. We'll talk to you real soon. Have a glorious blessed day. Bye-bye. Feeling inspired and ready to train for life and love your journey, visit createyournow.com for more incredible resources to help you along the way. We'll see you next time on Create Your Now, Your Best Selfie. And remember, always be sure you consult your physician before beginning any health and fitness plan.