Your Joyful Order With Leslie Martinez

#85-BooK Club: "My 'Love Does' Adventure: Lessons from Bob Goff and His Writers Workshop"

• Leslie Martinez • Season 5 • Episode 85

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What happens when you start living with bold, active love? Imagine transforming your life and the lives of those around you by simply choosing to love fearlessly. This episode of the Joyful Order podcast kicks off an exciting new series, the Book Club, where we explore Bob Goff's "Love Does" and its profound impact on our lives. Through Bob's whimsical tales, we uncover the essence of love as an actionable force that encourages us to step out of our comfort zones and prioritize what truly matters. Reflect with me on how these stories have shaped my journey and how they can inspire you to bring love into action through both grand gestures and everyday moments.

In a heartfelt discussion, I also share my personal journey toward fulfilling the dream of becoming an author. From podcasting and journaling to attending Bob Goff's life-changing writer's retreat. Experience my transformative moment at the retreat, where the warmth and encouragement of Bob and his team fortified my resolve to pursue writing. By openly declaring my goal, I invite you to join me in this pursuit, offering support and encouragement as we chase our dreams together with intentionality and love.

Get Bob's Book "Love Does" here: https://a.co/d/6yiHBw6

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

Shop my SOAP the Gospels Journal on Shopify:
https://shopjoyfulorder.com/

Listen to this Episode on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXoAYIM2mfclNtYiaOzIUw

Shop my Journal (Gratitude, Goals & Prayer Journal) on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/09Djvaw

Book a FREE 30 Minute Discovery Coaching Call: https://tidycal.com/joyfulordermedia/30-minute-meeting

Speaker 1:

Hey friends, I'm kicking off an exciting new series on the podcast called the Book Club. In this first episode, I'm talking about one of my all-time favorite reads, love Does by Bob Goff. It's a book that's all about living with bold, active love, and this book has had a huge impact on my life. So join me as I dive into how this book has shaped my journey, and let's explore what it means to put love into action. Tune in, because you don't want to miss this episode.

Speaker 2:

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.

Speaker 1:

Hey friend, welcome to today's episode of the podcast. I am so excited to kick off a brand new theme for this month here on the show. For the next few weeks, we're diving into the Book Club, a special series where I'll be highlighting some of my all-time favorite books and sharing conversations with a few authors who might have some new books being released soon. So I'm excited to share this platform with you, not just on books that I have read, that I have fell in love with, but also with some authors and getting insight into their new books that are coming out soon Now. Books have always been a huge part of my life, and I've found so much inspiration, wisdom and even some life changingchanging moments through them. Now, whether you're a book lover or just looking for something to inspire you, this series is for you.

Speaker 1:

Today, we're starting off with one of my absolute most favorite books ever, called love does, by bob goff. This book is such a powerful, joyful reminder of what it means to live a life of love in action, and I can't wait to share it with you. Now. Let me give you a little bit of an overview of what Love Does is all about. Well, in this incredible book, bob Goff takes us on a journey through some of the most whimsical, adventurous and heartfelt stories that you can imagine. It's a collection of real life experiences where Bob shows us that love is more than just a feeling. It's an action. So through these stories, bob illustrates how living a life of love and adventure creates opportunities to impact others in truly meaningful ways. He challenges us to stop talking about love and to go out and start doing it. So, whether it's inviting strangers into his home, pursuing big dreams or showing up in ways that surprise people, bob's life is an example of what it looks like to love fearlessly. Life is an example of what it looks like to love fearlessly. The main takeaway of this book Love Does doesn't just like sit still, it moves, it just does. I don't know how to explain it. It's active, and that's really the heart of this book. It makes you want to get up and go love hard on somebody.

Speaker 1:

Now, love Does is one of those books that just grabbed me from the first page. What struck me the most is the way that Bob's stories are so simple but incredibly profound. One of the stories that really stood out to me was when Bob decided to quit his job as a lawyer to pursue his passion full time. He took a huge leap of faith, and it made me think about how often we hold back from living boldly because we're afraid of failure. For me, this book also reminded me of the power of just showing up, whether that's for the people around me or, you know, my family, or even in my own faith journey. I started asking myself, what does love require of me today, and that question changed how I approach my work, how I approach my relationships and even my ministry.

Speaker 1:

Now there is one quote in particular that really resonated with me, and it's this quote right here from the book. It says I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I'm more afraid of succeeding at the things that don't matter. I mean, wow, you guys, there's so many takeaways from this book, but this quote right here, this is the quote that made me really really look at my life and ask myself where do I want to be successful? Do I want to be successful in the things that matter to me or the things that don't matter to me? Am I chasing titles, am I chasing money, or am I chasing things that really matter? That quote so powerful right, and it's such a call to reevaluate what we're investing our time and energy into. This book also reminded me that love often looks like stepping out of our comfort zones and just doing the unexpected of our comfort zones and just doing the unexpected. It's really something I've tried to live out in my own unique way, that is, and you know, not just in big ways, but in just the small, everyday, little moments. Love does really challenge me to live a life of intentionality, me to live a life of intentionality, to do my best to be present, to chase things that matter, and it just reminded me how I can actively show love to the people around me also, rather than waiting for the right time.

Speaker 1:

Now I want to give a little backstory to this book and how it came across to me. I just gave you a little bit of insight of the book, its premise. One of the things that I absolutely love the most about this book is that it is basically a collection of short stories, and these short stories are crazy, wild experiences and things that Bob did to just love others the way Jesus loves, and it really. Some of these stories are going to make you laugh, they're going to shock you. Stories are going to make you laugh, they're going to shock you, they're going to make you cry and they're just going to make you want to go out and just impact someone's life.

Speaker 1:

I was on staff at a church in many years ago, but back he wrote this book back in 2012. And I would say, right when this book came out, we had gotten a hold of this book as a staff and we read this book collectively as a staff, and one of my leaders at the time he really was impacted by this book and what he did is he sought out after Bob to come and speak at our church and to speak with the staff. Bob to come and speak at our church and to speak with the staff. So what we had the opportunity to do is we sat in a small room as a staff with Bob just talking about this book and he was telling us some crazy stories and he really just poured into us as a staff and then he spoke to our congregation and gave just a great sermon, all based on his book, about how he loves, the way Jesus does, and it impacted me immensely during that time. Going back again, this was about 2012, 2013.

Speaker 1:

This book is what sparked me to start Joyful Order, and this book created a movement in my life. It really did. It created a love movement of chasing things that are greater than me and just loving hard on people and I was in ministry during this time. However, I knew that I needed a shift in what I was doing and where my area of focus was. At this time I was I've shared this many times. I was burnt out, I was overwhelmed and I was sucked right of, like everything that I had inside of me, because I was giving so much to others but I wasn't getting poured into, and this book made me realize that, in order for me to love hard on others, I also need to be loved and I need to be poured into. I need to have my cup filled up. Every day as I pour out, my cup needs to be filled up.

Speaker 1:

This book triggered a movement in my life. It triggered a movement of me opening my eyes and realizing what do I want to chase after. Do I want to chase after a title, or do I want to chase after creating a legacy of loving on my family and loving on others? And it was a time when I needed to restore joy back in my life, because the joy was basically sucked out of my life and I needed to restore order back into my life, which is what came about Joyful Order. And this book created like I said, it created a love movement in my life and during that time I said I want to create something that's going to create a movement not just in my life, but in other people's life, and that was what brought about Joyful Order, chase Joy and just in my life, but in other people's life, and that was what brought about Joyful Order, chase Joy and just spreading joy to others.

Speaker 1:

Now, his book not only led me to launch Joyful Order and everything that came after, because I pivoted, I quit my job and it wasn't just this book, I mean, it really was God and it was just the timing of this book coming into my life when it did, because it was just motivation for me to do what God was already pressing on my heart to do, and that was to shift the direction of where I was going, because if I kept going down the road that I was going to, I would have spiraled and I wouldn't be in this place where I am right now. Just put it that way, this book helped me to open my eyes and realize that I needed to learn to love like Jesus, and in order for me to do that, I needed to step away from my role as a leader in the church because, even though you would think that you would learn all of that there at the church, it wasn't happening. It just wasn't. I needed to step away and I needed to learn how to love in my own way, with growing a different type of relationship with God. This book not only created a movement in my life, but it also made me want to become an author. It made me believe in myself as a storyteller and a writer also.

Speaker 1:

I have always had a passion for storytelling and I've done that through my journals, through blogs, through scrapbooks, sharing on social media long-winded posts all of that to share my heart to others. I've never seen myself as someone to actually write a book. I just didn't think that I had it in me. I'm like I like to tell stories and I'll do that through my scrapbooks and my journals and so forth and so forth, and I never saw myself as becoming a real author of books until this book came along. And this book, what it did, is it? It showed me how writing a bunch of short stories and one theme can make for a great book. I mean, heck, this book led to a New York Times bestselling number one, with over a million copies sold. I mean, hello, his first book, and all it is is a collection of short stories of ways that he loved people in a big way, so it inspired me to want to become an author.

Speaker 1:

Now, fast forward to today, 2024. Today, y'all, can I tell you something as you are listening to this episode? Today? This episode is released on October 3rd and it's my birthday too. Can you just show your girl some love on her birthday by making sure that you subscribe to this episode and share it with someone you love? Yes, that could be my birthday gift. Okay, now let's get back here. It's October 3rd, 2024. Today is my birthday. Now, I'm not recording this on my birthday. However, for my birthday this year, I got to go to a retreat by Bob Goff himself.

Speaker 1:

Now, I got this nudge on my heart to become an author when I first read the book, right About 2012, 2013, let's call it so over like 11, 12 years ago, and this nausea grew bigger and bigger, and it also grew more realistic. As I began to record podcasts, write more, you know, journal more, read more books. That helped me to become, you know, a better author and all that. They all started to become realistic and I knew that it's something that God put in my heart to one day write a book. I just didn't know when I felt like God was still writing my story.

Speaker 1:

Well, about a year ago this time I had the wonderful Grace a friend of mine. Her name is Grace Wabuki Klein. She's an author, she's a speaker and she's an amazing friend that I worked with at the church and she released a book called Flourish and I would recommend you guys go and get that book because it's absolutely amazing. Now I also have an episode here. You guys can look it up. It was called Flourish with Grace Wolbecki Klein, and when I interviewed her off record, her and I were chatting afterwards because I was just commending her and how proud I was that she wrote this book and she had shared with me. She was like, hey, do you know that Bob helped me write this book? And I was like what? She knew that I was a big Bob Goff fan and I we had shared that and, being that, we had read this book as a staff and he was at our church like all that stuff.

Speaker 1:

Anyhow, she had shared with me that she had attended one of his writers retreat and I had no idea at all that he offered a writer's retreat and I was like what my all-time favorite author of my all-time favorite book is showing people how to become an author, like how to write, signed me up, right, signed me up so a year ago I had immediately went and looked at the information and I saw it and I was like, ooh, this is kind of pricey. This is a big investment. I know it'll be worth it, but I just have to wait. And every time I would get the email from him saying like, oh, new York Writers Retreat coming up. I see the dates, I see the price and I'm like, okay, lord, it's in your timing, it's in your timing. Kept telling my husband about it and he's like I think you should go. Finally he's like, stop dreaming about it, just go.

Speaker 1:

So if it wasn't for my husband, really truly I wouldn't have had the opportunity that I had of going to his writing retreat, which I just went to in the month of September. Don't get me wrong. There was like a doubt in the back of my head of like, can I do this? Can I really become a writer, can I do this? Can I really become a writer? And this I will say thank you to my wonderful husband that made this happen. It is the best birthday gift to me ever, ever, ever, ever. And it was the best three days that I could have spent just learning how to become a writer.

Speaker 1:

I mean, talk about loving on people also. That's what we got from Bob for the entire three days his crew, his staff, the other speakers that were there. They were just so amazing, from the accommodations at his beautiful ranch out in Ramona, california. The food oh my goodness, the food was absolutely delicious, amazing. Um, the hospitality. I mean his staff was just so loving and, um just really went out of their way to serve us and there was just so many special touches that Bob did that just made this retreat that much more special. Like y'all, I gotta tell you, bob came and served us meals. He was serving us breakfast, he was serving us lunch. He came in. He sat at our tables every meal to talk to us. I had the opportunity to sit at a breakfast with him. He was at a table of six with us and I spent a whole hour as he just talked to us, shared stories with us, gave us encouragement, asked questions, got to know us a little bit, and I mean seeing him not only talk the talk but walk. The walk was just what my heart and spirit needed to just remind me that loving people is the best way to serve others. I mean, I saw him doing it in action and it just caused this again a movement in me to say I want to keep doing what I'm doing and if I can create a movement like he did in a book, that's what I want to do. That's going to create movement in somebody's life. That's going to want them to just go and chase after the dreams that God has in their life.

Speaker 1:

I'm not one to often come on and share big goals with people. I am very, very sacred with my goals. Y'all I, I, you know there are small goals that I share, but this has been a big goal of mine that I have been writing down in my Joyful Order journal for years. I have been writing down I am a author for probably the last five years. I don't share those goals with people. I truly don't this goal. I have decided to be open about it with people Because, one, I want to be accountable.

Speaker 1:

I want this goal to happen and putting it out there into the world kind of makes me accountable, right. And then, two, I need prayer and support y'all. This is a big, crazy, scary goal that I have, and putting it out into the world is a really scary thing. But I also know that God will bring about the right people to encourage me, to give me wisdom, to grow me as an author and to help me write the story. So I'm sharing this goal with the world, basically, and I shared it on my social media and I shared the experience of the retreat and just I I don't want to get into details of what I experienced at the retreat, because one that is something that you just have to experience for yourself, honestly, truly, I mean, um, I I did share on my social some of the things we got to do.

Speaker 1:

Like I, it wasn't just workshops that we went to, learning how to become a writer and how to be a great storyteller and all of like the business side of becoming an author and all of that, but we also I got to do a cold plunge. I got to go to the equestrian center and pet and feed horses and we did like a hayride, we did nighttime yoga, we made s'mores by the bonfire and sing worship songs and I met some of the most amazing people from across the United States that we now are this cohort of the September Writers Retreat Group and we are holding each other accountable for, you know, the next year or so until we each get our books out, and we have committed that we are going to support each other, hold each other accountable and read each other's books, and that's a big thing, one of my big takeaways. The very last day, they showed us this great video that just really encouraged us. It was a YouTube video where they talked about how important it is to just love on others and other like people that you don't know right, and our send off was a train.

Speaker 1:

We walked out of the room and this was. It was just like a line and as we walked out, bob had reminded us of the verse from Romans. It goes something along the lines of there is a cloud of witnesses that are behind you and encouraging you, and that is like a summarized version of the verse. I don't have it in front of me. However, as we walked out, you see, not just all the speakers that were there with us and the staff of the Oak Center, but you saw the landscapers, you saw the cooks, you saw the housekeeping people. I mean, he brought everybody out. I was high-fiving the landscapers. He was holding a sign up, he literally had his work gloves on and everything, and I thought it was the best thing ever.

Speaker 1:

We all walked out feeling encouraged, feeling supported, like we have a community of people to support us to do this. And there was not a dry eye, I kid you not. You look around like everybody is crying and bawling, and that's what encouraged me to share my dream and this goal with other people, because I think when you have a community supporting you, it just takes you to the next level. It gives you the encouragement that you need to chase after your goals. And that is the type of community that I want to create here, not just with this podcast community, but my social media community and the entire community that comes behind your joyful order. I want a community of support and I want a community of people that are going to chase after what God put on their heart, and I want the community to come together to be able to support every single person that is putting their goals and their dreams out there. I want to come behind you and I want to say I want to support you in this dream. I want to support you by prayer, by giving you wisdom and encouragement for whatever it is that you need. I want to help you to chase joy. I want to help you to cultivate joy in your life. I want to support you in learning to love, like Jesus and to serve others.

Speaker 1:

One of the things my book here. I've read it. Let me see, I'm trying to think. I believe I've read it four times now. I've read the entire book, from front to cover. I read the Kindle version of it. I have it on my Kindle and I've read the Audible version. And I read the Kindle version twice. Put it that way Hard copy, once, audible once. I've read it.

Speaker 1:

Four times I have had this book on my shelf and actually, let me let me rephrase that I can't keep this book on my shelf because I have had hard copies of it and then I wind up giving it away to someone because I talk about the book and I'm like you need to read this book here and I give it away. I think some people. I said you can borrow it, but if you know how that goes, you know that you never get a borrowed book back, right? So you just kind of write it off. Well, I didn't have a hard copy on my shelf and when I learned that I was going to the retreat I was like, oh good Lord, I've given all my copies away. I've given several of these copies away. So I had to go on good old Amazon, order a copy of it and take it with me and I had Bob sign it and on the front page he wrote Dear Leslie, keep loving people the way Jesus did. Bob Goff and he has it signed here.

Speaker 1:

And that is my reminder to you is this book made me want to go and serve others and cultivate joy into their life, and that's how I feel, like I am loving others like Jesus did. Jesus came to bring joy into our life. He truly did. He was crucified so that we can have joy in our life, and that is what this book did. It created a movement in my life. So as we wrap up, I'd love to actually turn this around to you, the listeners what are some ways that you can start putting love into action in your life? Maybe it's something as simple as reaching out to someone who needs encouragement or taking a step of faith in an area where you've been holding back. How can you, like Bob, embrace love as an action and not just as a feeling? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to share them with me on social media or email me. You can even text me. There is a link at the top of the show notes where it says text me, and I'd love to just keep the conversation going and hear how this book has inspired you. I just want to say thank you so much for joining me for this first episode of the book club. I hope that Love Does has inspired you to think about how you can bring more love and intentionality into your life.

Speaker 1:

I cannot recommend this book more like y'all number one best book that I have ever read. I've read a lot of books. I've read a lot of books, but this is the number one book that just rocked me hard. So if you haven't read it yet, I definitely recommend that you go and check it out. If you want to get it, you can get it on Amazon. You also can download it on your Kindle or Audible. Now I just got to say having Bob read this book to you like it's just probably the best thing, because hearing the stories from his perspective and his voice, I absolutely love it. So I would say the Audible version is probably my best version of this book. Until next time, friends, keep reading, keep loving and keep chasing joy.