Trusting God with the Process: Goodbye 2024, Hello 2025!

[00:00:07] Well, hello again and welcome to the Trim the Wick podcast. I'm Dan.

[00:00:11] And I'm Becky.

[00:00:12] And we are back with you on the last day of 2024.

[00:00:18] We made it.

[00:00:19] We did. Yeah, if you are downloading this and listening to this, the day we upload it, you are hours away from 2025.

[00:00:30] You know, are we going to party like it's night or like it's 2024?

[00:00:34] 2024? Oh, wow. We've had a crazy year. And, you know, I think it's in the podcast contract.

[00:00:43] You got to do a year in review.

[00:00:45] Yeah, absolutely. We got to fulfill that part of the contract.

[00:00:47] I mean, I don't know what else you would do on the day before New Year's except for the year in review podcast and the year in review of Trim the Wick.

[00:00:58] And this has been one crazy, crazy year.

[00:01:02] Yeah, we started this whole thing. Well, honestly, we started it more than a year ago because God had dropped Trim the Wick in our hearts mid-2023.

[00:01:13] Yes.

[00:01:13] So most of that year we were in the praying and listening phase, but it was right at the end of 2023 that he gave us the green light.

[00:01:24] And then January of 2024, we legally became Trim the Wick.

[00:01:30] Yeah.

[00:01:31] So it's been one year.

[00:01:33] That was sweet. Our daughter got us a nice little thing of remembrance.

[00:01:37] Yeah, she did.

[00:01:38] To remind us of the actual birth date of Trim the Wick.

[00:01:44] And, you know, it's crazy to think that you can, that God can give you an idea and a concept and a plan and then kind of start setting things in motion.

[00:01:56] Then you take that leap, you step out, and then while you're doing it, you're seeing how God is refining all those plans.

[00:02:07] Right.

[00:02:07] And, you know, there are things that I know that he told us two years ago when we were, you know, just having the concept of this whole thing that are coming together now that we did not know in January of last year.

[00:02:23] Well, and there are things that Scripture says that we know in part and we see in part.

[00:02:28] And there was a lot of that at the beginning of, well, we know we're being drawn to this.

[00:02:34] We know we're being called to this type of mission, this type of teaching, this type of involvement with the broader body of Christ globally.

[00:02:43] But our concept of that and our understanding of what that was going to look like was very different than how it's actually been walked out.

[00:02:53] We thought it was going to be walked out in certain ways and in certain places and in some cases with certain people.

[00:03:01] Yep.

[00:03:02] A lot of that has shifted over the course of the last year.

[00:03:05] Yeah.

[00:03:06] And it's been fun to watch God, the word you used is a fitting word, he's refined.

[00:03:12] Refined.

[00:03:12] Yes.

[00:03:13] The vision.

[00:03:14] Yeah.

[00:03:14] And I think that's exactly what he does for a lot of us is that he'll put something in front of us, but we don't see the fullness of it.

[00:03:23] We only see a part of it or we see maybe the end product, you know, of what's going to be.

[00:03:29] And we don't see the full journey.

[00:03:32] Right.

[00:03:32] And, you know, the full journey, you know, like Frodo, you know, takes you into some, you know, all kinds of different places.

[00:03:38] But in the process, he is refining you and refining the vision so that you do see it the way he sees it at the end.

[00:03:48] Yeah.

[00:03:49] You know, because there is a thing of you catch something from God sometimes and you just go, oh, this is the way it's going to be.

[00:03:56] And you can run with it and then totally miss what God has for you in it and what God is actually showing you.

[00:04:04] You know, you just kind of run with what you think it's supposed to look like, what you think it's supposed to be.

[00:04:09] And that's kind of a little bit what happened with us, you know, when we started off back in March.

[00:04:15] So we started the podcast in March and we started putting together some of the things and really laying some stuff out from our website design to even some of the initial promotion of what we were doing and telling people what we're doing.

[00:04:31] And how we're going about it.

[00:04:33] Yeah. And some of that we've, you know, over time now, we have seen that that was not the right approach or that was not exactly what God was actually showing us.

[00:04:44] Because one of the things that we saw early in this was God was telling us that we were going to build a business.

[00:04:52] Not a nonprofit.

[00:04:54] Not a nonprofit, not a missions organization.

[00:04:56] And we were confused on that.

[00:04:58] We were actually, we debated for months on this.

[00:05:02] Like, God, why would you want us to start a business?

[00:05:06] Right.

[00:05:07] We want to do ministry.

[00:05:08] We want to do, we want to impact people's lives.

[00:05:12] Well, exactly.

[00:05:13] That's not how, you know, the big air quotes, that's not how it's done.

[00:05:17] Right.

[00:05:18] Right.

[00:05:18] And again, going back to seminary and Bible school and all this stuff that, you know, if you're going to do ministry, it's supposed to look a certain way.

[00:05:28] It's supposed to be under a certain umbrella.

[00:05:31] You're supposed to have certain protections.

[00:05:33] You're supposed to, you know.

[00:05:34] Well, and because people won't come on board and come alongside you if there's not the tax benefit to them.

[00:05:43] And, you know, you're not going to get support.

[00:05:45] And why would you do it as a business?

[00:05:48] Exactly.

[00:05:49] Well, and you're going to end up paying taxes and all those things, you know.

[00:05:54] It's just, it's crazy to go, okay, I want to serve the Lord.

[00:06:00] I want to serve people.

[00:06:02] I want to minister to people.

[00:06:04] But I'm going to not do it as a ministry.

[00:06:08] I'm going to do it as an outgrowth of a for-profit business.

[00:06:11] Yeah.

[00:06:12] And so that was something that we—

[00:06:13] We had a lot of people question us on that early on.

[00:06:15] Well, and a lot of times we caved.

[00:06:18] I'm going to say it.

[00:06:19] You know, we kind of started going, oh, okay, well, God wanted us to do X, Y, Z.

[00:06:24] But this is really how you're supposed to do it.

[00:06:35] Mm-hmm.

[00:06:36] Right.

[00:06:37] And we started reaching out and doing things.

[00:06:45] Even some of the early podcasts were designed more as building a ministry type thing to minister in the churches, to minister in the communities, but to actually have that slant and that tilt and that statement of we are a ministry.

[00:07:03] And I even struggled with that for the longest time where I would tell people, oh, well, we're a ministry, but we operate as a business.

[00:07:11] Or we're a business, but we operate as a ministry.

[00:07:14] Right.

[00:07:14] I said that over and over again.

[00:07:16] And I look back now and going, oh, my gosh, that was so ridiculous.

[00:07:20] Because, no, we're a business who loves on people, supports people that provides services.

[00:07:27] Oh, guess what?

[00:07:28] And we do it in the love of Christ.

[00:07:30] Well, and we're learning to walk out.

[00:07:33] You know, something that we have taught and believed for years, but only this year have realized that we weren't walking in a full understanding of it, is that the entirety of the life of a believer is ministry.

[00:07:47] Right.

[00:07:47] That there is no division between the secular and the sacred, between your vocation and your mission.

[00:07:53] Right.

[00:07:54] Those things, because if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, everything you do should just flow with His purposes in your life.

[00:08:06] Yeah.

[00:08:07] And so, whether you're a business entrepreneur or whether you're a doctor or a lawyer or whatever your vocation is.

[00:08:16] Yep.

[00:08:17] College student?

[00:08:18] It should, yeah.

[00:08:19] Your vocation, your training, whatever your pursuits in life are, should flow out of who God created you to be and should be full of His purposes for you using your gifts to bring His light and life to others.

[00:08:40] Right.

[00:08:40] That are around you no matter where you are.

[00:08:42] You know, our daughter uses her gifts to bring life and light to the horse training arena.

[00:08:49] Yeah.

[00:08:49] One of our sons brings his life and light to an industrial manufacturing site.

[00:08:57] Actually, two of our sons do that.

[00:08:59] Yeah.

[00:08:59] Our eldest brings the life and light of Christ to where he serves in the military.

[00:09:04] But because we have been in vocational ministry positions for so many years of our adult life, even though we very much believe that there's no line.

[00:09:15] When we were transitioning from earning our money in a church setting to earning our money in a business setting but still allowing the giftings to flow through that.

[00:09:26] There you go.

[00:09:26] It was a tough transition for us.

[00:09:30] Yeah.

[00:09:30] Coming up and basically being on staff in ministry and being on staff in church, we were told that this is where you are a minister.

[00:09:42] Right.

[00:09:42] You minister within a church setting, period.

[00:09:44] Right.

[00:09:44] And this is where you use your giftings is not just to in the church, but it's got to support the church.

[00:09:53] Right.

[00:09:54] And that if you're using your giftings outside that.

[00:09:59] I'm going to interrupt you.

[00:10:00] The church in this case being defined as a religious organization, nonprofit thing.

[00:10:08] Not the biblical broader church being the body of Jesus Christ.

[00:10:13] Right.

[00:10:13] And there is.

[00:10:15] You hear it all the time where you just can't go out and do something.

[00:10:19] You've got to have some backing or some support or something umbilical cord connected to you from the institution.

[00:10:29] Or you're going to start bringing some strange fire and stuff like that.

[00:11:04] If you're a manager in a business, you know, you should really be a manager at the church or you should be doing this in the church.

[00:11:12] You should use those administrative skills in the church.

[00:11:14] Right.

[00:11:14] And in a way, yes, you can use both.

[00:11:18] You can do both.

[00:11:18] But there's nothing wrong with being in business.

[00:11:22] There's nothing wrong with.

[00:11:23] Well, and business, the business world needs pastors and teachers.

[00:11:29] Yeah.

[00:11:29] And prayer warriors.

[00:11:32] And, you know, how do you bring the life and light of Christ to the world if you're not living in the world?

[00:11:39] Yeah.

[00:11:39] And showing them that you can be in it and not of it.

[00:11:42] And I think that's one of the key things.

[00:11:44] You know, we said that this whole journey for us started almost exactly a year ago when we got a real firm confirmation from God that it was go time.

[00:11:53] And that was December of 2023.

[00:11:56] One of the men who was instrumental in that, one of the words that he gave to us was that you're going to go trim wicks, but you're going to start with your own.

[00:12:09] Right.

[00:12:10] And we have seen the truth of that play out this year.

[00:12:14] Yes.

[00:12:15] That in order to help others walk in fullness of understanding, in order to help others cut away the old beliefs, the old hang-ups, the old things that were in their lives so that they can really take up that oil of the Spirit and burn brightly.

[00:12:37] In order for us to help anybody else do that, we needed to have that done in our lives.

[00:12:44] Yeah.

[00:12:44] You know, just because God tells you to start walking in a way doesn't mean you're entirely 100% there yet.

[00:12:51] And this year has been a great year of trimming our own wick, even as we're learning to walk in trimming others.

[00:13:01] And that coalescing of understanding that, wow, truly everything we do is an outflow of the Spirit in our lives.

[00:13:13] And so, it's okay for our business to be a business.

[00:13:18] Right.

[00:13:19] That is founded on godly principles that operates to bring His life and His light to the business world.

[00:13:26] And through doing that, through earning profit, we are then able to take that profit.

[00:13:34] And much like you saw in the New Testament church, that profit then becomes shared with the brethren so that none are left without.

[00:13:43] Right.

[00:13:45] Yeah.

[00:13:45] And, you know, what I'm seeing and where we're at now as we're going through this process is that we're going to be freely moving in and out.

[00:13:56] And we can go into the church and we can minister in a church setting.

[00:14:01] We can go and speak to couples and speak to pastors, speak to people, but we also can sit down with CEOs and executives.

[00:14:09] And there is no difference.

[00:14:11] Right.

[00:14:12] There is no barriers or things that we're going to have to mentally gymnastics over.

[00:14:20] Right.

[00:14:21] Because that's what's being trimmed away, you know.

[00:14:24] And…

[00:14:25] Because the body of Christ exists everywhere.

[00:14:29] Yes.

[00:14:30] And we need to meet them.

[00:14:31] Because I don't know how you feel on, you know, out there in podcast land as you're listening to this.

[00:14:39] You know, I do think it's going to be increasingly difficult for churches in the years to come.

[00:14:47] I think we're going to get a little reprise here for a couple years, what's going on in the country.

[00:14:52] But I do think that it's going to be incredibly difficult in the years to come.

[00:14:57] And I think that people are starting to look at how do I live my faith outside of the church?

[00:15:07] How do I live my faith just in my everyday life?

[00:15:11] I think we're definitely seeing that more and more.

[00:15:14] I know I see a lot of videos and, you know, things on TikTok and Instagram and stuff where people are just going, we want more.

[00:15:25] Right.

[00:15:25] You know, we want more than just the Sunday morning.

[00:15:29] And it's not that we want more classes or more discipleship classes and this, but we want to live our life the way Christ would want us to live our life.

[00:15:40] Right.

[00:15:40] Where is that abundant life that we were promised?

[00:15:43] Yeah.

[00:15:43] Because going to church meetings a couple times a week and then, you know, just struggling the rest of the week, that ain't it.

[00:15:52] Right.

[00:15:53] Well, and it's like we want to make an impact in our little league.

[00:15:59] We want to make an impact in our school board.

[00:16:02] And you saw how a lot of the, you know, I believe a lot of the problems that we've dealt with in the last few years was because the church got so insular.

[00:16:11] Yeah.

[00:16:11] And I do think that this is what we're being called to is trim the wick is what many, many ministries, many businesses, many people are being called to is that the, you know, get outside the walls.

[00:16:25] Right.

[00:16:26] Well, because if you look at the Great Commission was not build a place and they will come.

[00:16:31] The Great Commission was go ye therefore into all the world.

[00:16:35] Right.

[00:16:37] And somewhere along the line, we really missed that mark.

[00:16:42] Yeah.

[00:16:42] And have gone, well, if they won't come to us, then they don't really want what we have.

[00:16:47] Yeah.

[00:16:48] We got more of the idea on the Mount Transfiguration or the, from the Mount of Transfiguration, you know, of let's build something.

[00:16:56] Let's build a, you know, for you, Jesus and.

[00:17:00] And for Elijah.

[00:17:01] And for Elijah.

[00:17:02] And Jesus is like, no, no, no, no.

[00:17:04] The real ministry is when we go off the mountain tomorrow and we're going to be face to face with the demoniac.

[00:17:10] Right.

[00:17:11] And it's not that we have to go into our places of business and form a church in the place of business.

[00:17:17] It's that we go be godly business people.

[00:17:21] It's that we go be godly teachers.

[00:17:24] We go be, you know, godly doctors who will pray with our patients.

[00:17:29] We go live our faith where we are as we are going.

[00:17:33] You know, if you're going to be a fisherman, go fish and bring the light of Christ to the fleet that you're out there with.

[00:17:43] So, how are we doing this?

[00:17:44] And how have we seen where this has broken, you know, kind of been trimmed off of us?

[00:17:49] We've just kind of been talking about that.

[00:17:50] But how are we moving forward with this?

[00:17:52] And some of that is, you know, a few months ago, we joined with the John Maxwell group.

[00:17:58] Right.

[00:17:59] And I've become a certified trainer and consultant in the Maxwell DISC method, which is the behavior analysis method.

[00:18:09] I'm working towards the certification for being a Maxwell speaker and trainer and coach.

[00:18:17] And we are applying some of those teachings and some of those learnings and some of those curricula, I guess, that John has and the John Maxwell team has to make an impact in businesses.

[00:18:32] Right.

[00:18:33] Make an impact in people's lives so that we can kind of blur those lines.

[00:18:38] Right.

[00:18:39] But we're out there doing a business.

[00:18:41] One of the things that we're also…

[00:18:42] And the way that that relates, those behavior analysis things, and they sound like, oh, well, isn't that just a psychology tool?

[00:18:50] No.

[00:18:50] That is out there helping people to discover who God created them to be.

[00:18:56] You know, it's hard to walk in your giftings and to flow in the spirit where you are if you don't even know who you are.

[00:19:03] Right.

[00:19:03] And a lot of us, for a lot of years, have just kind of plugged ourselves into where people told us we fit.

[00:19:10] Right.

[00:19:11] Or where we thought we were needed the most.

[00:19:13] And really discovering who God created you to be helps you identify in your business life, in your family life, in your interaction with the rest of the body of Christ where you fit.

[00:19:28] Yep.

[00:19:29] And so you can really begin to walk in success and in power and in authority because it's who you were always created to be.

[00:19:39] Right.

[00:19:39] If we've seen anything over the last four years plus is that the enemy is trying so hard to confuse people with who they are.

[00:19:51] Yes.

[00:19:52] You know, and there has just been this war on who you've been created to be.

[00:19:58] And I think that the disc and this whole method that we're promoting and doing, it really cuts through that and really kind of shines a light on how wonderfully and beautifully we have been created.

[00:20:18] Yeah.

[00:20:19] And how God can then use us because we now understand better who we are.

[00:20:25] And so that's one of the things that we're real excited about as we are really launching this in 2025.

[00:20:33] Right.

[00:20:34] And getting out there.

[00:20:35] And that's one of the things we really want to do is help people understand who they are and help people understand who they are in Christ.

[00:20:42] Right.

[00:20:42] So that they can become what God wants them to be and have that impact in their life.

[00:20:48] And as you begin to understand more about who you are, you begin where you fit with how God has created others to be.

[00:20:56] And we're going to give a pretty tangible example of that in our next podcast.

[00:21:02] Yeah.

[00:21:02] Start the year off with a bang.

[00:21:04] And you've seen on our website, on our social media, you've seen this disc method addressed.

[00:21:11] What we're going to do, I'm actually going to take the disc assessment myself.

[00:21:18] And you guys are going to be privy to hearing Dan do the debrief with me and go through that and help me discover things about myself that the disc method reveals.

[00:21:30] So that'll be fun.

[00:21:31] Oh, yeah.

[00:21:31] You get to be a guinea pig.

[00:21:33] I get to be a guinea pig.

[00:21:35] But honestly, we believe very strongly in this.

[00:21:37] Yes.

[00:21:38] And we believe that it can have a huge impact on your life and also on your life with your relationships and your community.

[00:21:47] There's so much.

[00:21:48] And that's one of the things we're excited about.

[00:21:52] The other thing is that in your business, we're developing.

[00:21:55] You are developing, I should say, because this is a lot of just the things that you do of kind of putting what you do in practice for others to be able to use.

[00:22:08] Right.

[00:22:09] I've had several over the years go, wow, I don't know how you do this.

[00:22:13] I can't.

[00:22:14] I don't understand how you do what you do and the patience with which you do it.

[00:22:20] For those of you that haven't listened to the past and don't know much of my background, I own my own swim instruction business.

[00:22:27] So I teach swimming skills, but over 80% of my clientele have some special needs or others.

[00:22:35] And there are physical disabilities that I work with.

[00:22:37] There are intellectual sensory delays that I work with.

[00:22:43] All kinds of the diagnoses that are very common out there now, the ADHD, the autism spectrum disorder, the sensory processing disorders, behavioral issues and things like that.

[00:22:55] So I've got a broad range of clients that really need individualized instruction tailored to them.

[00:23:02] And it does require close attention to who each of my students is.

[00:23:08] Because how I instruct one is not the same as how I instruct the next two or three that are coming to me.

[00:23:14] They're all very, very individual.

[00:23:16] And the question has been posed over years, how do you do that?

[00:23:20] Right.

[00:23:21] One of the things that has become clear is that there is a great need in our community.

[00:23:27] These kinds of diagnoses are increasing.

[00:23:30] Autism spectrum disorder alone is now up to like one in 35 are dealing with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.

[00:23:40] And that requires some specialized instruction.

[00:23:44] And there's just not that many who deal with that.

[00:23:48] And when you live in a place like Florida, where drowning is the number one killer of children under four, swimming instruction is important.

[00:23:57] Yes, it is.

[00:23:58] And so recognizing the need there and realizing that just because I can do the thing and do it really well, I can't meet the need of everybody that has those needs.

[00:24:11] And so one of the things that the Lord has placed on my heart is that within this year, I need to begin replicating that skill set.

[00:24:21] You know, it's not enough to have a flame, right?

[00:24:24] You got to share it.

[00:24:25] That's right.

[00:24:25] And so he has really put it on my heart to develop a curricula and then begin training other instructors to do what I do.

[00:24:36] Yeah.

[00:24:36] And to see people the way that I see people and to be able to individualize and work with a broad range of people.

[00:24:45] Right.

[00:24:46] On this very, very important life-saving skill.

[00:24:49] That's one of the places where the Lord has really gone, okay, this is part of you being filled with the oil of the Spirit, using what I've put in you, using how I've uniquely created you.

[00:25:02] And now you need to go share what you have.

[00:25:05] Yeah.

[00:25:05] And if everybody in the body of Christ begins to learn to do that, I mean, that's a powerful thing.

[00:25:11] Yes, it is.

[00:25:12] And that is how you make an impact in your society.

[00:25:17] Mm-hmm.

[00:25:17] Yeah.

[00:25:17] And it's those individual things and those reaching out and the building up of individuals to do what you're doing.

[00:25:27] It's the, you know, follow me as I follow Christ.

[00:25:30] Yeah.

[00:25:30] And I'm going to help you to achieve that.

[00:25:35] And in what I do, one of the things that we have seen, you know, we're talking about that blending of business and ministry because everywhere we go and everything we do becomes an outflow.

[00:25:46] So I can't tell you the number of families that I have prayed with, that I have cried with, that I have checked up on as they're going through the hard stuff, that I have rejoiced with when their kiddos accomplish something that their doctors and physical therapists were like, I don't know if they'll ever be able to.

[00:26:09] And it's like, nope, here we go.

[00:26:11] Yep.

[00:26:12] It's been a joy to go, to discover more of who I am in that way and to go, wait a minute, my skill set as a swim instructor is not somehow divorced and separate from my walking in faith.

[00:26:27] Yep.

[00:26:27] That walking in faith impacts every single family that I touch.

[00:26:31] And that should be true of all of us in our business lives and in our vocational lives.

[00:26:36] So that's coming in the new year for us.

[00:26:38] Yeah.

[00:26:38] So there's a lot and there's more, but we don't have all, you know, we don't have hours and hours to tell you everything we do, but we're going to be continuing the podcast.

[00:26:49] Yeah.

[00:26:50] I'm going to be continuing posting videos and doing things here and there on different social media as well as on our YouTube channel.

[00:26:59] And we are going to be, we're going to be impacting our community for Christ and doing it a way to trim those things.

[00:27:08] Yep.

[00:27:09] That we believe what we've been called to point out and to trim in people's lives and to help them move forward.

[00:27:18] So I look forward to 2025 being an amazing year.

[00:27:22] Yeah.

[00:27:23] And 2024 was incredible and it was difficult.

[00:27:28] We learned a lot.

[00:27:30] We got to trim a lot of our wick.

[00:27:34] And we are looking forward to what God is doing in 2025.

[00:27:40] We are.

[00:27:41] We're in business, in families, just small little teaser.

[00:27:46] There will be more details to come, but moving into February, we're really looking to put something out there and make something available for couples.

[00:28:02] And we're looking forward to beginning to offer something for couples.

[00:28:08] You should be hearing more about that here in the next few weeks.

[00:28:12] So a lot to come and a lot that has passed.

[00:28:16] And we are excited.

[00:28:19] And we hope you're excited with us.

[00:28:21] We want to just encourage you to keep hanging on and keep listening.

[00:28:27] Avail yourself of those DISC assessments.

[00:28:31] We have them available on the website.

[00:28:32] If you want to see where you stand and where your unique giftings are and check it out.

[00:28:39] Yep.

[00:28:40] I'd love to help you.

[00:28:41] All right.

[00:28:42] Well, guys, that's all we have for you this week.

[00:28:45] And all we have for you this year.

[00:28:48] Happy New Year.

[00:28:50] Yeah.

[00:28:50] Happy New Year.

[00:28:51] All right, guys.

[00:28:52] So I guess that's it.

[00:28:54] And we'll see you next year.

[00:28:57] Love you.

[00:28:57] Bye.