THIS IS AN EDITED VERSION OF THE PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED INTERVIEW.

In this week’s episode, April Matt, co-founder and director of the Pennsylvania-based nonprofit Along the Way, reveals the value of asking good questions as you prepare to pursue your dream. And she reminds us to listen to the answers; in doing so you might uncover something you never considered. You’ll hear why your dream is worth pursuing, even when it gets hard, you have bad days or feel like quitting. Finally, April teaches us the importance of partnering with people who have what you lack. And, as you surround yourself with those people, they can help you see when you’re attempting to do it all on your own strength instead of resting in the Lord and His.

IF YOU HAVE EVER LET YOUR DESIRE FOR CONTROL KEEP YOU FROM YOUR DREAM, THIS WAS THE EPISODE FOR YOU.

April is a wife and mother of one spunky daughter, and she has lived in the Souderton, PA, area for most of her life. She has worked for two non-profits for over 13 years. April was a single mother at one time and is wired with plenty of energy which she uses to engage in acts of mercy and justice in order to make her community a better place for all. You can find April being creative through sewing or graphic arts, surfing the Jersey waves, working out, and being playful and spontaneous daily!

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CONNECT WITH APRIL & ALONG THE WAY:

Website || April’s Instagram || ATW’s Instagram

MENTIONED ON THE SHOW:

The 12 Steps
The Culture Index
Gungor song “Beautiful Things”

Check out the giveaway from April and Along the Way on Instagram:

Here’s a fun family giveaway for anyone who lives in Bucks or Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania.

One lucky person will win 5 tickets to the upcoming Along the Way Family Game Fundraiser to be held on February 23, 2019 from 12 to 4pm in Harleysville, PA.

To Enter:

1️⃣ Like the giveaway image @merrittjo

2️⃣ Follow BOTH: @merrittjo + @coopycoop8

3️⃣ Tag a friend in the comments below who would love some family game-time!
Bonus: tag extra friends for extra entries.

That’s it!

Giveaway ends Saturday, February 9th at midnight EST and is not sponsored, endorsed or affiliated with Instagram.

And if you don’t win, grab a family pack of tickets and go anyway! Your participation supports single moms in their careers, education and training.

SCRIPTURE:

Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

~ Psalm 146:3-4 (NIV)

“If you get rid of unfair practices,
    quit blaming victims,
    quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
    and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
    your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
    I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
    firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
    a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
    rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
    restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
    make the community livable again.

~ Isaiah 58:9-12 (MSG)

And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”

9 Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

~ Joshua 3:7-17 (NIV)

MAIN TAKEAWAYS:
2:48 - About Along the Way
3:55 – April’s God-shaped dream to create safe spaces for all people
6:14 – the Culture Index used to find April for the director position
6:34 – how their idea for the organization changed when they asked the right questions
7:44 – reliable childcare is one way to a mother’s heart
8:30 – a bit more about April’s personal story
9:31 – about moving home into her high school bedroom
10:30 – He makes beautiful things out of the dust
11:45 – the grief and loss that surrounded her as she was starting this role
13:40 – we are trained in CPR but not in grief
15:50 – grief is any loss of something you hoped for; we all experience it
17:20 – starting something without being sure what God might do with it
20:15 – how Psalm 146 informs their work
21:21 – the value of 12-step community
24:05 – her biggest struggle: self-esteem, fear of man and worry
25:24 – the story about her gymnastics coach who caused her trauma at age 11
30:14 – event details for the fundraiser on Feb 23rd
33:40 – Isaiah 58 verses about rebuilding what’s been shattered
36:22 – advice for those trying to take their next step – just do it because it’s life-changing
38:31 – what happened at the beginning when they didn’t have all their funds to start
40:00 – how God provided in an unlikely conversation
42:26 – how else will you know unless you’ve gone through the fire?
43:56 – when bad things happen in your life, God will use them
46:01 – about success and failure
47:26 – how God has changed April by her pursuing this dream