Your Joyful Order With Leslie Martinez
Ever wish you had your own personal cheerleader or coach in your ear, whispering encouraging words? Telling you how to kick butt in life, plus showing you how to get there? That’s exactly what you’ll get when you tune into Your Joyful Order Podcast. Each week you’ll get a mixture of preaching and teaching from your host Leslie Martinez who is a Certified Life Coach, Business Owner, Wife and Mom. Listen along for some entertaining real talk about life, business and relationships. Leslie wants to help you to reach your goals and motivate you to live out your God given purpose, by bringing you insightful knowledge, resources and sharing some tips and tricks to take action. No topic is off the table here, just know that faith will always be the foundation of our conversations and an occasional kick in the butt might come in the most loving way! Get ready to take your life to the next level and learn how to chase joy!
Your Joyful Order With Leslie Martinez
#77 Shattering Stereotypes and Fostering Community Among Christian Women with Trish Mounce
When Trish Mounce, a beacon of faith and resilience, graced us with her presence on the podcast, she brought with her a story that could only be described as a tapestry woven with threads of tragedy, triumph, and divine purpose. Her journey from a near-fatal car accident to finding her calling in ministry reminds us that life can pivot in the most unexpected ways, and in those moments, we may find our truest selves.
Our conversation took a turn towards the heart of the matter – challenging the hurtful stereotypes that often haunt Christian women, particularly those called to serve. Trish and I shared a deep dive into the 'mean girl' myth and the pressing need for us to embrace Christ's teachings of kindness and support within our communities. We explored how returning to the Gospels can light our way back to a genuine commitment to love and living in step with the Holy Spirit. It's an open invitation to every listener to participate in shaping a more nurturing Christian experience, truly reflective of Christ's love. Join us for a heartwarming episode full of wisdom, laughter, and a celebration of community.
Connect with Trish:
Website: https://trishamounce.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trisha.l.mounce
IG: https://www.instagram.com/trishamounce
Get a copy of her book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/cGYFObq
Connect with Leslie:
Follow on IG: @yourjoyfulorderstyle
Website: https://www.yourjoyfulorder.com/
Email: lmartinez@yourjoyfulorder.com
to schedule- Speaking Events, Interviews or Life Coaching Sessions
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https://shopjoyfulorder.com/
Listen to this Episode on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXoAYIM2mfclNtYiaOzIUw
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https://a.co/d/09Djvaw
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Hey everyone, I'm Leslie Martinez and you're listening to your Joyful Order podcast. Each week I will bring you joyful stories that will motivate and inspire you and, at the same time, bring order to your everyday life. Let's just say the show will be a mixture of preaching and teaching, with a kick of motivation from your girl here. Welcome to your Joyful Order podcast, hey friend. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of your Joyful Order podcast. I have another fabulous guest with me today.
Speaker 1:I want to welcome to the podcast Trish Mounts. Trish is an author, podcaster, speaker and entrepreneur and most recently has become a dear friend of mine. Now, trish, she has a special calling in her life. Trish has been called to encourage women who are struggling with their connection with God and really just helps to cultivate a relationship that is meaningful and insightful, to help them grow in their calling. Trish is also a fellow student of a mentorship that her and I are doing together, which is where we have met, we have connected and we've just grown. This fire and passion to really help women in ministry and that's what we're going to be talking about today are just ways that women can cultivate their relationship and go deeper with God. So, trish, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Leslie. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Now, trish, I want you to just kind of introduce yourself again to the audience, but share a little bit about yourself, about your story and what motivated you to advocate for women in ministry.
Speaker 2:So it originally started off in 2019. I was just your average churchgoer you know the pew sitter, you know the pew warmer and I was in a terrible car accident in 2019. That God really laid out just tons of miracles that had to take place in order for me to live through that experience, and I was still in the hospital when I got the word from God that this is it. This is where we're going to start pivoting your life. This is your moment, this is your story. You need to move in a direction of sharing your story, and it became really apparent to me that I was supposed to write a book and I'm like I don't know how to write a book, I don't know anything about book writing, and I put it off, and I put it off, and I put it off and finally I did start praying. Okay, god, if you want me to finish this book, I'm going to need some kind of direction from you, and I'm going to need time because, as we all know, time is, without a doubt, our most valuable asset and sometimes it's really hard to find time to do things outside of what we have grown accustomed to. So, almost instantly, I started getting the message from God, hey, you need to quit your job. And I had been a real estate appraiser for over 25 years. I loved what I did. I was in the marketplace, I was going into people's homes and getting the opportunity to actually witness within people's homes, which was really fun for me. And at the same time he had said you know, you got to just trust me. And I was not in a place where I felt like I could really take that kind of leap of faith and so I just continued to pray. The more I prayed, the more I ended up getting the call to quit my job. So I took it to my group, my Bible study group, and I said look, I need some clarity, man, this is scary. You know, I am not. I do not want to quit my job, but God is adamant that I need to quit my job.
Speaker 2:The very next day, less than 24 hours later, I got a phone call from the CEO of my department and with us bank and I was part of a 20% layoff and that is just God. Yeah, you know that there is any other way that he prepared me for. And I'm on this phone call with the guy and I I just laughed out and he's like well, you're the first person I've had to call this laugh. And I said I'll probably be the last, because I'm probably the only one who expected it. Wow.
Speaker 2:So that was kind of the beginning, the motivation for me to begin. Okay, this is where I am, this is where God's put me, I've got, I have got to write the book, share this story. And as soon as I got done with the book it's called Afatha, how to be open to God's miracles I was like, okay, good, I'm done, I'm going to go back to what I was comfortable with. And God's like no hon, we're just getting started. So after that and this was all just very recently I lost the job in August of 2023. I completed the book in four months, had it in print by January, and as soon as I was done with the book in four months, had it in print by January, and as soon as I was done with the book, I realized I needed to. I needed okay, if I'm not where I go next, lord just show me.
Speaker 2:And that's how we came to know each other, which was through Propel, and during that, our initial experience, I had a really, really tough time. It was difficult for me because in my heart I want, I wanted to be following God. But my the world was telling me you don't want to do this, you really want to go back to your comfort zone. So I really spent about a good month in prayer over that and without really realizing the direction God was really planning on taking me, I just stayed in prayer. So I come to this place of I wake up this morning and I look over at on the floor and there's a sock. So all of a sudden God says let's do socks and I'm not kidding you, it might've. It was almost audible. And the next thing that came to mind was sisters open to Christ's kindred spirit.
Speaker 2:My, I had seen quite a bit throughout my years because I'm no spring chicken women, ministries, women struggling churches, not really supporting women. So I started to think okay, god, what does that look like? How can I help women? What? Where do you want me to go? How can I focus on supporting women? And, to be quite honest, women are not nice and women are really a challenge. We are kind of mean and trying to figure out. Especially, I've learned over the last couple of months Christian women have a bad rap. So all the more reason to try to help Christian women, and I wanted to support them, to get that deeper connection so they can genuinely go out and do what we're called to do, which is share the word of God and share the love of Jesus. So that's where I'm starting.
Speaker 1:So good trash there. Okay, there's so much to unpack there. I have like a million questions for you already because and we can go so many different ways with this Um, you and I and I think you and I connected in a different level because we kind of are in the same place, Like I'm maybe a little like further along than you are.
Speaker 2:And I love you for that Cause. I'm just snagging all your goods.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and but.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you about that later.
Speaker 1:It hasn't been easy because I have that calling where God. But but here's the thing Like I was in ministry, trish, like I was working full-time ministry and God's like you're done, it's time to walk away, and I'm like what? Nothing lined up, like it was literally a matter of days, you know. And just going back to hearing with you how you were saying you know God was telling you to leave, like God was doing you a solid and you getting laid off, I imagine because you were able to benefit from, you know, some some benefits of that, like unemployment or whatever, by being laid off versus quit. So already you're seeing like God working there.
Speaker 1:You know, for me, like I quit and two days later I got, I got another job and it was the same amount of pay with even, you know, less work, less stress, like all of this stuff.
Speaker 1:Work, less stress, like all of this stuff. And I'm like, wow, god, like the, the, the obedience that we have to have to follow God or follow our calling, it can wreck you, right, it can just absolutely wreck you. And like I've been in this journey, like I quit a long time ago, but even once I quit, like teaching and all of that, like I've kind of been in here where God's been calling me to serve women for the last, like I think it's been five years now, something like that, six years, and just what you were saying. Like women can be mean, you know I, I was a children's director, I was a teacher, I worked with kids for a really long time. But I also do know that I feel that in that time like God was preparing me, because if you think women are mean, children are brutal. Like children, and I and I mean it in a different way, but like children are brutally honest with you.
Speaker 1:You know the honesty of a child the honesty of a child is just like Ooh, like. I've been crushed several times. You know I have kids like three-year-olds. You know like would rub my belly and they're like do you have?
Speaker 1:a baby in there and I'm like, no, I just ate too many tacos Like. But see, the thing with with sometimes like with women, is that rather than telling you to a face, like a kid would, they'll go and say it behind your back, right? So I want to kind of delve into this a little bit, about, like, just those negative stereotypes of Christian women, kind of being the mean girls, so to say, and how we can actively build each other up instead of tearing each other down, and I know that that's what you are building with the SOX ministry, and can you just touch upon that a little bit, the importance of that?
Speaker 2:Well, the importance is a no-brainer for most of us. It should just be like an obvious to us all that we are supposed to have a heart like Christ. We're supposed to love people. That is like the biggest calling on my heart and I think it should be on everyone's heart. To be quite honest and you might wanna just cut out that I think, part, because we don't need to think it, we genuinely believe it. So I want women to have a better understanding of how easy it is to open up yourself to God and how easy it is to have that deeper connection with him if we only open up our hearts to it, because it really does boil down to having a heart for God.
Speaker 2:And if you start there, if your focus starts on being more Christ like, it's going to be easier to treat women in the way that we should be treating each other and instead of going down the direction of hurtful words, gossip, all of the things that you know are not fruitful and not of Jesus and certainly not the Holy Spirit's desire for you. You know, I like to think that one of the things that I've learned recently especially, is that it helps to not forget that the Holy Spirit is living inside of me and in order to really show people the love of Christ, I have to keep reminding myself and I recommend everybody do this is the Holy Spirit is in me. If I am doing things that don't align biblically with the way God intends for me to be, then how is the Holy Spirit really growing and really being inside of me? I, I. There's a clash If we don't stay focused on the Holy spirit in our hearts and in our lives and in our words, especially that's so good.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the things like in in this topic of, like, christian women kind of being judged or stereotyped, is like, oh, the mean girl, so to say.
Speaker 1:I really was kind of thinking about this and contemplating because I'm like, I'm a, a Christian woman and I don't feel like I'm a mean girl, you know. And this stereotype that has come up, like I had to sit with it for a little bit, you know, and I even contemplated asking this question because it could be taken out of context of like what do you mean? There's a stereotype of Christian women being, you know, known as the mean girls, and this, this is how I kind of viewed it and I just want to share this with the audience and where this kind of topic is coming from and whatnot, because there is and we can, we can dive into this like all day long, but you have there is like a stereotype of Christian women being known as the mean girls strictly because of the judgment that they placed on either non-believers or even other Christian women who are not doing it their way, who aren't you know, walking the way that they should be, that maybe might be sinning in some way or something.
Speaker 1:So it's like there's these women that think that they are better than everyone else, right? Like, oh well, I read my Bible every day, I go to church every Sunday and I don't sin like that. Like I don't abuse alcohol, I've never cheated on my husband, I wear appropriate clothes, I cover my shoulders when I go to church. Like there's just all these judgments that other women will do on other women and they will see women up at the pulpit speaking and be saying like, oh, what is she wearing? What kind of makeup does she? Why is she wearing that color lipstick on stage? Like, why is she not covering her shoulders on stage? They get ridiculed, absolutely ridiculed.
Speaker 1:And in this era of social media, where a lot of women speakers that are in ministry and stuff are, you know, putting themselves out there, not just on stage but on social media. And then you see these comments. You know people are commenting on YouTube, on Instagram, on TikTok, and judging and saying you know, women aren't supposed to speak on stages, women aren't supposed to be preachers. And this is from other Christian women and that is what we are talking about right there. There are women out there that cast judgment on other women that are within ministry and they feel that they're superior. It's easy for them to judge, and one of the things that I've learned recently and this is just in diving into actual scripture of the Bible, like I look at, I've really been diving deep in, uh, the new Testament, right, so, matthew, mark, luke, john I'm in acts right now and there is so much to learn from there.
Speaker 1:And I feel like I have read the gospels a significant amount of time, right, and God just had me coming back to it in this, this year of 2024. Like, when I was laying out my goals, I, I was, I was going to go and start in the old Testament. I'm like, you know, let me go and read like Leviticus and judges the ones that I always go over, you know. But then God and I was kind of like relieved where God's like, no, you need to go back and visit the gospels, you know. And I'm like, oh, thank you, lord, okay, I don't have to read Leviticus, yeah, but then I'm like God, I've read the gospels like so many times and, trish, I kid you, not so much has come to life for me where I'm like.
Speaker 1:I see this in a different way and my focus hasn't been on Jesus and the gospel. My focus has been how the people treat the people like around him. You know, like the Pharisees, the majesties, like all of these haters that Jesus had, and you have the Pharisees who basically thought that they were like kings and they were perfect and they were able to judge everybody else, and they hated Jesus because he was something different. He came to shake things up and when we look at women's ministry in a whole, there are women that are coming to shake things up, you know, and, and even in some churches, the woman being on the pulpit shakes things up you know, a woman showing shoulder on the pulpit, and then you have these, these other women that just can be very petty and cumbersome and, you know, judgmental.
Speaker 1:And that's where this whole mean girls thing is coming, and I just want to clarify that.
Speaker 2:I have two thoughts that came to mind as you were sharing One and this. You could edit this if you need to, but I think it needs to stay in and it's shut your mouth. Just shut your mouth. Just keep your personal opinions to yourself. You don't need to pass judgment. You are not perfect. You, we, none of us are perfect, and how are. Who are we to pass judgment on anybody, when the most the only person on this earth that's ever been perfect is Jesus, and he never passed one stone over anybody. You know, know. So just shut your mouth. Number two we are all part of the same body, all of us, and I might be more important than a finger, but I don't want to be without it.
Speaker 2:So making sure that you don't forget each and every body that you don't forget each and every buddy, every one of us, is part of the body of Christ. It doesn't matter how they look, what they wear, you know, just have compassion for whoever they are and love them where they are, cause that's what Jesus yeah, you know and you know we yes, you know, and you know what we.
Speaker 1:we were talking about this like. So today, trish and I had a meeting of our, uh, our Propel cohorts and we had a speaker sharing and we there are lots of takeaways from that. I mean, that's a entirely different um podcast episode what we talked about for that, but one of the big takeaways that I took from our our group time in talking about being like a people pleaser, right, and and uh, one of the girls in our group had said Jesus couldn't even please anybody. What makes us think that we could please everybody? And I was just like yes, yes, and that goes to what like us women, even when people are speaking out, when mean girls may come and say stuff, it's like so what? So what? I'm not, I'm not everybody's cup of tea.
Speaker 1:You're not everybody's cup of tea and I'm not going to take offense to somebody that is just like you. You shouldn't have a platform like me, right? And just like you said like, just shut your mouth. If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all, right? I?
Speaker 2:mean, I learned that in grade school. I don't know about you, but if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Keep it off social media, people, cause that is just a mess. I mean when? When are you representing Jesus? When you do that? It is your selfish.
Speaker 1:No-transcript are you representing God? It baffles me. It absolutely baffles me Now in this conversation of just, you know, women and cultivating um a certain type of environment around yourself. You know, I, I know I have been so blessed by our group of women that we have been able to to be a part of. You know, um, I think there's a different level of um, different mindsets that you work with of women when we have the same shared, you know, um kind of ideology, so to say. You know, I mean, we put the Holy spirit in the forefront.
Speaker 1:We just love people, love people like Jesus, know that nobody's perfect, we're not perfect, and don't cast judgment on others, you know. But one of the things that I have absolutely loved seeing is the vulnerability of the women that we in our group and I just want to share. If you can touch a little bit about this, um, trish, because I know you work with women outside of, you know our Propel group that we're in together, but there's a common fear of vulnerability, especially within, like the pressure to appear like we're perfect. You know, like, oh, I'm a Christian leader, I'm a leader in the church and within those Christian circles, so how can embracing true vulnerability with Jesus lead to just greater peace and joy.
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, you get a closer relationship to Jesus when you have the opportunity to really be vulnerable. I think most introverted people probably have a difficult time with that. I don't think you and I really experienced introversy. I don't even know if that's a word, but it should be. I think, honestly, I am an extrovert, so it's very easy for me to be vulnerable. I am more so than maybe someone who is introverted. So I think it helps other people to see that vulnerability in us. It gives us that opportunity to really witness to people, to share God's love with people and to say look, I am not perfect.
Speaker 2:These are my areas that I fall short in and a lot of times that it breaks down barriers and walls for people. So they have they understand that this is not what Christianity is about. We're not about being perfect. We have no expectations of perfection. Our heart is to love you, no matter where you are, no matter what you're experiencing, no matter how difficult your life is right now. You know, no matter where you're falling short, god still loves you. He still wants you in the fold, if you will, part of the body. You know it's important to for me as an extrovert, and I think anybody who's extroverted and a Christian should be sharing their deep, dark secrets as much as possible to really help people see. This is where I was, this is where I am and this is where you could be in Jesus.
Speaker 1:That's so good, yeah, and I think so for me early on, like I, I was working full-time in ministry as a the children's director when I was in my late twenties, early thirties, and I had this persona of like I need to show up as if I have everything put together, as if I'm perfect. You know, I have the perfect family, you know, oh, me and my husband, we never fight, you know, and my, my kids are perfect. I don't ever have to discipline them, they're good kids, like, why do we do that to ourselves? I don't know, I do not know it is so bad, but I literally had that mindset for several years working in the ministry and I think that was part of the stress and kind of the demise of me in that role and position. That just caused me to kind of, you know, go loopy and lose it, because I was trying to show this persona of like I have it all together and be somebody, weren't?
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think I think during that time and that's where you know I, I've been in ministry for a long time, been in ministry for over 22 years and a part of a church and just um, and not just a part of a church, a part of the church, and when I say the church, I mean the church in a, in a whole.
Speaker 1:You know all of just the body of Christ. And I think over the past, like decade or so, I think the church has evolved to be more open to vulnerability, upfront, like I feel, when I was during my time in like my thirties and stuff, when I said like I was trying to look like everything was perfect, I think, in a sense, like a lot of the churches also and I'm not just, I'm not just speaking about my church, like I'm speaking of all churches I think they all were trying to have this persona of we look perfect, we look good, this is what real Christians should look like, you know. So we were kind of replicating what we saw in Christian leaders, like Christian leaders weren't sharing what was going on in the bedroom, so to say.
Speaker 2:And I and I I mean I I say that yeah, you don't want to hear him talking about sex on the pulpit, but yeah, but.
Speaker 1:but but also like what is what's going on in behind closed doors, you know? And there is a fine line, like one of the things my pastor said that was so good. She said there's a fine line between secrecy and privacy.
Speaker 2:Secrecy is where sin resides.
Speaker 1:Privacy is where you, you know you get to be transparent and yeah, that's beautiful. I think a lot of churches were kind of like a lot of church leaders were kind of living in secrecy, so to say, and then you later started to see a lot of things come out from church leaders of the secrets that they were hiding, right, and then now you see people, like a lot of church leaders, be very vulnerable up front where they're sharing more openly, and I think it is just so freeing Trish so freeing?
Speaker 2:Do you think and I have to sorry if I stopped you, but I do you think that that is because it seems to also coincide with social media? I mean the era that we're in, so the vulnerability? So my point of this was to say that, you know, we were talking about how social media bad don't talk bad on social media, but the fact that social media has been a very big thing in our world, just honestly, over the last 15 years. Do you think that that has been the cause of the vulnerability? Therefore, we can see social media as a God-driven thing, because there are times, girl, when I think of social media and I just want to, you know, just want to. I hate it, yes, but no, I would hope to have that kind of thinking.
Speaker 1:I feel I feel you on that and and again, like, social media is one of those tools that could be used for good and bad, you know, just just like a gun or a knife. You know, it's a tool and it's like it's user, how it's handled by the user is how it will be used. You know, I don't, I don't use, I use social media to spread the gospel. I use social media to spread joy. That's truly what it is, you know. Spread the gospel. I use social media to spread joy. That's truly what it is, you know.
Speaker 1:But then there's other people that use it to spread hate, and I think social media and this is just my opinion on it, but but I do think that there is some definite truth to that in that social media has allowed us to connect differently to church leaders, to where we are able to see them be vulnerable, their everyday lives, you know. But then again, people can also just create certain stuff on social media. Yeah, you know, we can make ourselves look a certain way on social media. So I mean, you can't always believe what you see on social media, what you see on social media. However, I do feel that it has allowed, yes, a lot of vulnerability for us to connect differently with people. But I also feel like the conversations in churches are very different now, where vulnerability is actually like encouraged, you know, when you go into like community groups are encouraged, and you have churches that are having community groups on. You know, recovering from abortion, um, porn addiction, um, gambling addiction, like get set, yeah, like I mean you have to be vulnerable, I mean for for someone to sign up for like a set free of porn. I mean come on, you know, but Jesus is wanting to break those boundaries and those barriers that people have and be able to be in community.
Speaker 1:And I think that's one of the things that and I kind of want to transition a little bit into that, because I know you're big on creating community and just the importance of it, because I know you and me we're in a community together right now. I mean we can speak so much on how it has impacted us in a positive way. Nothing but positivity in there. I know you have a community of women that you're working with I've been in community groups. I know you have a community of women that you're working with I've been in community groups and the vulnerability that you share within those groups and the connection that you make. So can you just share a little bit about just how important it is to be in community?
Speaker 2:I got to be honest with you, I don't know how I would do life without one. To be honest, there is so much value in having those connections. You can go and sit in a church pew and you can get your hour a Sunday and go home and try to, you know, be sort of God-like on Monday, but by Tuesday or Wednesday it's just not there. If you don't have, if you don't have a community, I think having people that you can genuinely connect with outside of the church and do life with is an enormous asset to just living and feeling like you are part of a family, a, you know, a body of Christian people that you're so close to that they feed you in a way that is just beyond explanation. It is, I mean, the people that I connect with. They are they aren't just friends, they're not just hangout buddies, they're not. They are people that I call when it is bad. You know when I need prayer right here, right now.
Speaker 2:I have seen miracles on top of miracles within my small little group of people praying. I actually had a friend not too long ago a couple years ago had a stroke and he was in our group and we I mean at the time it was happening. His wife knew right then and there I'm going to reach out to the group we all like literally everyone was. We got on our knees and we were all praying, like wherever we were. One of my friends was actually in a shoe store and she's on her knees praying in the shoe store, which was a little embarrassing, but we he was an hour from the hospital. I mean so, you know, in order to get the medication that he needed to be able to stop that stroke from continuing, man walked out of the hospital 24 hours later and is perfect. I mean so, you know, things like that still happen. God is still at work. You have to seek it out, and the best place to find it is in community. That's so good.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think one of the things, that where women like struggle and then kind of thrive within the communities is one the struggle is that all women, we all think we don't need anybody, right? Oh, we don't need help, we. And it. It's not, and it's not so much the like independence, but it's also I don't want to burden other people, you know, I, I don't want to ask for help because I don't want to be a burden to someone, I don't want to inconvenience them, or you know, stuff like that. And then there's the oh no, I'm super mom, I'm super woman, you know, I can, I can do it all. I just throw it on my back and I, my back is not sustainable, right, and that is one of the things I think in community, where you can take the cape off and say, hey, I need you to carry this for me because I can't, I can't carry it on my own, I need help with this, can you help?
Speaker 2:And it goes back to that vulnerability, the necessity for vulnerability, you know, because if you're not vulnerable within your community and you just go and show up, it's the same thing as sitting in the pew. You know you're not. You have to actually share your, your life with people and really get that in order to really get that feeling of release that God's wanting you to have. So, yeah, I mean that is is. I mean, honestly, something I have not I have been a part of or been involved in for as long as I can remember is just having those connections like that. I mean it just helps you. Those connections like that I mean it just helps you feel more connected to God and you get to see more of his workings. I mean just not, if not in your life, in other people's lives. It's so awesome to be a part of.
Speaker 1:I think I think that right there, I was going to say the same thing. I'm like I think the coolest thing is that when you get to see other people's lives transformed and yes, for me, like I might be struggling in a certain area or with a certain thing and I've shared it with the group or something, and then someone else has a breakthrough, a praise report, something happened and it allows me to say you know what, if God did it for her, he can do it for me. I'm going to keep going, you know, and it's not about like, well, god, why did you answer her prayer? Or that you know how come she got the blessing before I did. No, it's like if God did it for them, he will do it for me.
Speaker 1:So it's like a reassurance when you're in that community and you see what God is doing in other people, but then not just like prayers being answered, people being healed, lives being transformed, but when you see the transformation of people in front of you that you've been doing community with for a long time and I think that's something that I have seen, you know, I can go back and look at women that I were I was in community groups with years ago that they were young, you know, young, young college student girls, and then now they're married and moms and seeing how they have transformed into these amazing humans, now raising other humans, you know it's like wow, god is so good that we get to see each other evolve and transform and get better.
Speaker 1:You know, and I think that's just one of the best things about um that. Now, trish, as we just kind of get to wrap up a little bit talking about like young women, I've I've worked with young people for so many years and I'm sure that in your community group you've had many different age ranges and stuff. Now, what advice would you give to a young Christian woman who just feels maybe isolated or unsupported within her community?
Speaker 2:just feels maybe isolated or unsupported within her community? That's a great question, leslie, and honestly, the best place to get support when you are young is to latch on to someone older. I cannot. I was in a group at one point in time that I helped lead and it was apples to. It was like apples to apples.
Speaker 2:I can't for the life of me remember the name of it. That was the traumatic brain injury. Definitely want to delete that. But the group of women that it was had established a bunch of elder women started a group and then they spread out and reached out to younger women and brought younger women in under them and then they mentored them.
Speaker 2:And I can't encourage young women enough to find an elder to mentor them, because I have had more blessings from my mentor, a woman that had she not been in my life, I wouldn't be where I am today. They can give you so much support and encouragement and lead you out of the bondage of feeling like you need to be perfect, out of the bondage of feeling like you can't be vulnerable, you know, out of the bondage of feeling like you are going to not ever be able to meet expectations, finding someone that can be a support person for you specifically, not someone the same age as you. I genuinely mean, if you're in your twenties or thirties, you need to find somebody in your fifties or sixties to to help life with you, because it is a huge way to not only get closer to God but really dive in and have a whole ton of self-discovery.
Speaker 1:That's so good. I can't agree with you more. I like attribute so much to the mentors that I had. And let me tell for whoever's listening right now if you're like I don't even know if who, I would ask to be a mentor. Like, if you don't feel that you have someone that you can ask or you know, feel yeah, I know me and Trish were like hello, right here. But I will also say this I, at a certain point in my life, I was mentored by people that didn't even know my name, and that was just by listening to podcasts, reading books, watching YouTube. Right, who? Who there?
Speaker 1:There is someone out there that you look up to and I can list so many of those people that you know were mentors to me and I just I dove in with the content that they have out there. You know their books, their podcasts. Where are they speaking? You know Christine Kane. She, she's leading our, our um propel mentorship that we are doing with her right now. Basically, and I mean for years I just where is she speaking?
Speaker 1:I want to be in the same room as this woman, even though she doesn't know my name. I'm going to be present wherever she is. I'm going to read her books, I'm going to listen to her podcast, I'm going to watch her on YouTube and I'm, if she is speaking in Southern California, where I reside, I'm going to drive to go see her. So you don't have to like, have a actual, like mentor that knows your name. You know you can be mentored by by in so many different ways. I think now one of the things that you are doing, trish through your podcast and opportunities that you have, and I want you to just kind of share about some opportunities that you have for women to connect, be mentored, listen to your podcast, Tell us a little bit about that as we wrap up.
Speaker 2:The podcast is exceptionally new, so I am. It is still in its growing stage. I had done a podcast in the past and I really enjoyed doing it, and when God said, you know, gave me socks, it was like, okay, I guess that's we're going to start with a podcast. The first thing that I ended up doing was actual socks. I don't know if you know that or not, but I actually have real socks. The sock coincide with the episodes. So the whole idea was that you'd be walking on the word of God or standing on the word of God, and that is the first thing that God really gave to me. After that, it's been more of me trying to connect with people that have a passion for women and helping them move their ministry. So right now I am really just encouraging other women and trying to support their ministries more than really developing mine as much other than sticking with my socks, cause that's where God's got me.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:It's super goofy I mean very goofy but it's been a really huge experience for me just moving in this direction and that is really, you know, right now just trying to help smaller churches develop their ministries with women, because it seems like ever since COVID, women's ministries have been backburners in my area, which is not California, unfortunately, or middle Midwest, so so that is kind of where I have been for the last couple of months.
Speaker 1:That's good. I I will agree in that I think women's ministry has been back burner also over here in certain areas. It's been hard to kind of get a just to get events and things moving back. Since COVID too, I think it's it's been a struggle overall in a lot of churches. It's getting better. It's definitely getting better, oh for sure. Yeah, you know, in women's events, retreats, like all of that, it's been hard to get, get a lot of things back up and going. I think partly with that is because, because of COVID, churches went online a lot. So they've stayed online and they're building communities online, which I absolutely love and I'm all for, but at the same time we're missing real connection with people being in person, you know. So it's kind of become like a crutch, like oh, I'll just watch service online, not getting people in person the way, like Definitely lack that you like.
Speaker 2:you're definitely lacking the community when you For sure for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:But now, Trish, I have a few more last questions, but these are fun questions that I ask all of my guests, and I wanna know what is something that brings you joy.
Speaker 2:Well, to be honest, when I saw that question, I was like that could be. That's like a loaded question. There's so many things that I choose to consider that bring me joy. So, to be honest, the list could be very, very long, but I'm going to stick with just a small one for time purposes. And that is the thing that brings me the most joy right now is my family. I have three children that are all over the age of 21, which is just mind blowing. It makes I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm old.
Speaker 1:I have grandchildren.
Speaker 2:I have an awesome husband, so they are really the core of my joy, for sure. And I mean, if I, if I didn't have them in my life, I would probably be a lot less joyful If I didn't have them in my life, I would probably be a lot less joyful.
Speaker 1:Oh, family is, I think, definitely my top ones right there, Just being with my family too. Same here. Now. What is a song? Either a song or an artist. If you are in a funk kind of, and you're just like I need to listen to the song to get me in a good space, what is that? One song or one artist that you can play and it just turns your frown upside down.
Speaker 2:Again long list. I'm going to give you one. At a really huge, pivotal point in my life and I received some news that was just car accident related. It was part of my miracle story and I'm sitting at this lake by myself in my car and God's Not Done With you by Torn Wells comes on and I had like these huge crocodile tears. I mean they were like pouring down my shirt and I mean I was just. I mean it was so pivotal for me. So I mean just even talking about I have the. I literally have the lyrics over here in case I wanted to read them and, to be honest, I don't want to cry on your podcast, so I'm not going to do that.
Speaker 1:It's okay, we'll have to listen to that one and I bet you I don't by you saying the name and the title, like I can't hear it right now, but I bet you, once I hear it, I'll I'll probably know.
Speaker 2:And then it's off. The it's off, the. It's not something you hear all the time, you know it's not like. You know, I praise you in this. You know any of the. I mean, those are all great and I could dance all day long. I can sing to every song that somebody throws. You know, throws at me, but that one was the one that really was pivotal for me and so, like it's the, it's the real showstopper for me. Every time I hear it I'm just like oh, I love it. You can't talk, just listen.
Speaker 1:Okay, and love it. You can't talk, just listen, okay. And then the last question is now besides the bible and your book, what is the book that you would recommend for the listeners that has been transformative for you?
Speaker 2:I am reading lots more lately thanks to our propeller. Yes, yeah, and I have been so unbelievably transformed by the deeply formed life by Rich Bilodas.
Speaker 1:Say it for me.
Speaker 2:Bilodas Bilodas. Thank you, I knew I was gonna mess that one up. Bilodas, rich Bilodas, rich Bilodas. I literally have it right here.
Speaker 1:I have it right here too. Look at that.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean I have. That has been just. It has given me this deep dive into my inside and my past and my future and who I want to be as as a follower of Jesus Christ, and how can I represent him better. And it has just been literally transforming me and I mean I am reading it like at a snail's pace and I got highlighters and I got pens and I'm like circling and I'm like starring and it is great. He is really transforming the way I see my walk with Jesus and I can't recommend it enough.
Speaker 1:I love. I I'm going to totally second agree or piggyback off of Trish with that book y'all. And I've been reading it at a snail's pace too, because I'm just taking so much in. And then, as I read and like take it in, I'm just like I have to sit with this for a little bit, Like it's. It's some deep stuff, it definitely is character building, if anything, and that's been one thing that I'm like yeah, it'll mess you up in a good way. Let's just say that.
Speaker 2:Right, yes.
Speaker 1:All right, no, trish, if you can just let the audience know where they can connect with you, where they can listen to your podcast, all the good stuff to stay connected, well, I have a website trishamountscom.
Speaker 2:I also am on all social medias. Check me out. Socks podcast S-O-C-K-S Sisters Open to Christ, kindred Spirit is available on any podcast places you listen to. And I mean I'm anxious to continue to grow, not only my ministry, but grow in Christ by helping others, so I look forward to hearing from anybody.
Speaker 1:I love it and all of Trish's infos, all of her links, will be in the show notes so you guys can check out ways to connect with Trish and Trish. Thank you so much, my dear. I mean, we can talk for hours about so much and today was just really like a loose, like fun conversation. I really did like a big agenda. I'm like let's just like get together and just chat about women and some of the things that we're learning about. You know, as we're going through this, her pop court together and stuff, and I'm just so thankful that God brought us together. I really am.
Speaker 1:You you and I. Yeah, I think I mean there. There's so many commonalities between us, but I definitely know that we were connected for a reason and I'm so thankful for that.
Speaker 2:So, Trish, thank you for your time.
Speaker 1:I love you dearly and for the listeners. Y'all make sure that you go follow Trish. Go grab her book on Amazon the link will be in the show notes. Go listen to her podcast and until next time, go chase joy.