Can God turn your difficult story into a meaningful ministry?
Maybe you sense God nudging you toward something meaningful, but it feels heavy and you’re unsure of the practical steps to get there. Perhaps you see a need but feel overwhelmed by the prospect of building something from scratch, learning new technology, or putting yourself out there. If so, you’re in the right place!
IF YOU NEED A ROADMAP FOR BRINGING A VULNERABLE DREAM TO LIFE, THIS IS THE EPISODE FOR YOU!
Kirsten D Samuel understands firsthand what it’s like to build a ministry around a challenging topic. Since recovering from a painful marriage betrayal, she has discovered an approach for using her story to help other women find hope and healing in their marriages.
In this second half of my conversation with Kirsten, she shares practical steps for how she built her dream from the ground up, challenging the societal and church norms that keep women silent about marriage betrayal.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
⏳How to embrace the uncomfortable beginnings of a God-shaped dream
✨The power of sharing your dream with a trusted friend, and
❤️The profound impact of obedience to God’s calling.
This conversation is about the nitty-gritty of bringing a dream to life. It’s about taking that first scary step, learning as you go, and trusting God with the outcome. It’s about moving from “I could never” to “Here’s how it happened.”
Whether you’re ready to take action on your dream or just beginning to explore the possibilities, Kirsten’s journey shows us that with God’s guidance, the path forward becomes clear as we take just one step at a time and let go of our control along the way.
CONNECT WITH MERRITT:
Website || Facebook || Instagram || Submit a Question
CONNECT WITH KIRSTEN:
Website || Facebook || Instagram || YouTube
NEW TO THE DEVOTED DREAMERS PODCAST?
START HERE → with my free guide: 17 Quick-Win Actions to Get Your Dream Moving Forward. It’ll help you build some momentum to keep taking steps toward your dream and help you discern where to go from there.
Enjoy This One?
Here are some additional episodes with more food for thought on this topic:
Part 1 of my conversation with Kirsten D Samuel: Ep 327: Overcoming Betrayal to Embrace a God-Shaped Dream | Apple | Spotify
Ep 110: You Have Great Value and Worth | Apple | Spotify
Ep 107: Because You Are a Daughter of the Most High King | Apple | Spotify
Ep 126: How to Refocus Your Identity on Christ | Apple | Spotify
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Dream Believers is for you! Join the waitlist today!
If you are dealing with marriage betrayal trauma, you don’t have to go through this alone. Schedule a complimentary Find Hope Again session with Kirsten here.
Request an autographed copy of Kirsten’s story, Choosing A Way Out: When the Bottom Isn’t the Bottom, when you pay just $6 shipping. Domestic only.
Scripture:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
~ Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)
Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
~ Proverbs 11:14 (ESV)
Listen to advice and accept instruction,
that you may gain wisdom in the future.
~ Proverbs 19:20 (ESV)
What is man that you take notice of him, or the son of man that you pay attention to him?
~ Psalm 8:4 (ISV)
But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.
~ Isaiah 43:1 (NLT)
PIN IT FOR LATER:
The unedited transcript for this episode of The Devoted Dreamers Podcast follows:
Welcome to episode 328 of the Devoted Dreamers Podcast and today we are talking about: How to Start When Dreams Feel Too Big w/ Kirsten D Samuel. She was my guest last week as well, this is part 2. Last week we talked about her Overcoming Betrayal in order to Embrace her God-Shaped Dream and in this episode, we’re going to look specifically at the tangible steps that brought Kirsten's dream to life, even while she wrestled with wanting to manage her reputation, and fighting imposter syndrome, and feeling challenged beyond her comfort zone.
Listen closely to this one, and you’ll begin to notice Kirsten’s pattern of stepping out in faith without a clue of what God would do.
It all began with listening to a prompting from the Lord to start writing her story in order that she could share it publicly and then learning what a coach does so she could support other women walking in a similar path.
For your purposes, and for your own God-shaped dream, you’ll learn how to embrace the uncomfortable beginnings, and the power of sharing your dream with a trusted friend, as well as the profound impact of obedience to God’s calling.
Throughout my conversation with Kirsten you'll see how overcame her fears and embraced this dream, despite her discomfort and the imperfect steps she took along the way.
Join us as we unpack the path that Kirsten has walked and see how her insights might just illuminate the journey to your own God-shaped dream.
Welcome to part 2 of my conversation with Kirsten D Samuel!
I’m your host, Merritt Onsa, a Christian life coach. I’m kind of like the Joanna Gaines for women of faith who have big dreams about how God might reorder the second half of your life so you can use your gifts and life experiences to usher in beauty, redemption, healing and service to others. It’s not a redesign of your home that we’re working on. It’s a brand-new way to live in freedom. Free from fear, free from second guessing yourself all the time, and free from the lies that the enemy has used to keep you quiet and playing small in the past. Isn’t it about time more of us who believe in Christ started living that way?
I’m on a mission to engage 10,000 women worldwide to start taking intentional and purposeful steps that will bring their God shaped dreams to life. If you believe in Jesus and you see his work in your life and you’re aware that you’ve been given gifts, talents and a life story that could serve and benefit others, maybe you’re among those 10,000. I hope that you are, because you’re here listening to a podcast about dreams.
Maybe you’re looking for a chance to see if your dream has legs. You want to try it on for size and figure out if it’s possible. You want to be inspired and encouraged that there’s hope for what you’ve been dreaming all these years. Maybe you’ve been too fearful in the past, or someone dashed your dreams with a comment that hit too close to home, or you just haven’t had time to figure out how to proceed.
Well, my friend, this is your time. This is your space. If you have big ideas for how God could use the gifts he’s given you and the years of your life that remain, and you have a dream that would serve others, let’s figure out how to turn that heartfelt hidden dream into real, actionable plans with impact for God’s kingdom work in the world.
Merritt Onsa:
Hey, Devoted Dreamers. We are back for part two of my conversation with Kirsten Samuel. If you didn't hear part one, go back and listen to episode 327 for the backstory of Kirsten's dream of empowering women to rediscover peace in mess, to heal their broken hearts, to regain confidence and create a healthy path forward. We're going to talk more about what she means by that.
But in part two, this one is, well, let's start out by just saying this is an experiment. This is something I've never done before of splitting up episodes like this. So Kirsten's my guinea pig.
Thank you, my friend. But we're going to talk about tangible steps that brought this dream to life so you can glean from the experience she's been through and maybe take some notes, mental or written, however you want to do that.
But I want you to encounter this episode from the perspective of how her journey can teach you something that you can use in yours.
So, Kirsten, welcome back.
Kirsten Samuel:
It's great to be with you again. Thanks, Merritt.
Merritt Onsa:
So just give us a little like brief description of your dream and then we'll get into some of those tangible steps.
Kirsten Samuel:
Well, my God sized dream is that I am going to confront a lot of things that are going on in society and in the church where women are shamed into being silent about things that are going on in their home that are actually damaging their relationship with their husband, but they're also damaging themselves and their husband is being damaged. And specifically, that is related to pornography.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, I was gonna say: You can say the P word here.
Kirsten Samuel:
We just said it.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, we just said it. It's there. It's out.
Kirsten Samuel:
It's out there.
Merritt Onsa:
Okay, so some of the like inner stuff that you had to wrestle with, that's what's in part one. So here in part two, I wanna talk about like once you kind of had this realization that this is what God was gonna use, he's going to use your story, he's going to call you out of shame and hiding so that you could do the same for others.
Once you kind of captured that as this is something he wants me to do, what were some of the first steps, maybe step one, step two that you took to move this forward?
Kirsten Samuel:
Well, the first one was actually writing the story which we talked about in part one. So because I had to get, I had to get over my story, and it sounds crazy, you would think, but by writing the story you would know your own story. But for 18 months I sobbed my way through my story as I wrote it. And I didn't know the blessing that that was going to be, the healing that was going to become from writing the story.
And every time I felt like I was going to walk away from it, God reminded me that he was calling me to tell the story. Now, at the time, Merritt, I didn't know what he was going to do with it. I thought I was going to write the story and that would be the end of it.
Kirsten Samuel:
But then we got an invitation from our local church, from a group in our local church, that the leader wanted to interview us to tell our story. And it was my husband and me, and, and so we said, yes, we would do that. Now, this was going to be the first time we spoke about it publicly, which sounds funny because I was writing a book, but the book had not hit the shelves yet. So we were going to be talking about this for the very first time publicly.
That was a step.
Merritt Onsa:
Yes.
Kirsten Samuel:
In the right direction. Big step. Because again, I had been reputation managing. And this was… I couldn't take this back. See, these were all very public facing. I couldn't take it back. But it was all for me to overcome my pride and my deep desire to control my reputation.
And then once the book was released and we did the whole book launch party and all of that, and it was fun and it was great, and there was all of that. Then I realized, okay, how do I help other women?
Because like I said, telling the story is one thing, but I sensed that God wanted me to come alongside. I kept hearing the term “come alongside,” come alongside, come alongside. Well, what does that mean, come alongside?
And interestingly enough, through different relationships, I kept bumping into women who would all of a sudden start telling me their story. Some of them had pornography in it. Some of them had infidelity. I would start hearing these stories and I was like, huh? Okay. God, what do you want me to do? And in each one, I felt compelled to encourage them in Jesus.
Kirsten Samuel:
To say, I don't have the answers for you, but I know who does. Because God is the God who does the impossible in our lives. He promises us that. That where we don't see a way, he provides the way. So I started doing that. Well, then I became part of…
Somebody said to me, you should consider being a coach. How many people have you had come up to ask you, talk to you about these things out of the blue? And I went, oh, well, I didn't know anything about coaching. What's a coach? You know, I knew mentoring, I knew being a mom.
And then my daughter says, Mom, I think you should start blogging. And I went, what? What's a blog? You know? And so I started this blog, but the blog was for young moms because those were her friends and they liked to come and talk to me. It was a blog.
So here I was doing this blog for young moms, and I loved it because I loved sharing funny stories and, you know, okay, when your kids do this, you're going to survive, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
But God kept pushing me into the hard stories, the stories that nobody wants to talk about. And so about two and a half years into that blog, I realized I had to switch the theme of the blog. So I had to go publicly start writing again in a different genre about what was going on.
And meanwhile, I'm in this business group, and I joined a mastermind, you know, which was a huge step for me because I'm like, I don't really even have a viable business yet. What in the world am I doing in a mastermind? You know?
But anyway, in that mastermind, God challenged me through the words of a colleague in there, are you willing to be known as the porn addiction recovery lady or not? And I couldn't answer that question because everything in me was screaming, no, I don't want my name associated with pornography.
Now, my book was already out where I'm talking about pornography, and I'm talking about depression and I'm talking about other things, but I still had this thing in my head that we could keep this separate. And no, I want to focus on moms because that was the thing that was, you know, near and dear to my heart, and I could do that.
And God said, yeah, but these moms need to know that pornography can't be part of their marriage.
Oh. So we had to wrestle that one. I had to wrestle that one. I had to lay it down.
And when I laid that down, there was such freedom, because that's when I fully understand what it meant that God was going to take care of me. He said in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Now I'm not a prophet.
What stood out to me was there. I formed you, I knew you. I set you apart, and I appointed you. Those verbs smacked me in the face. And because I was praying about this going Lord, I can't. I can't. And he said, I appointed you. This is the purpose.
I allowed you to go through all of these things. I allowed you to go through this process where you and Dave worked through all of this. And you have a marriage now that you delight in. You and he are serving me. It's not just for you. And he kept calling me to see beyond my comfort zone.
And I love to be comfortable. I love comfortable. I have my clothes. I have my comfy clothes. I have my comfy chair. I have my… You know, I have my comfort food. I love comfort. And he said, no, I'm calling you to go beyond that because you need to come alongside these women and show them there's another way.
Because what they're hearing right now, and what I was hearing was, well, you either, you know, you have to put up with it. Everybody. All men do it. You know, they're all looking at porn. There's nothing you can do about it. It's all over. It's okay. It's not hurting anybody. Now, nothing I have just said is truth. It's all a lie, you know. Or you can walk away from your marriage. Your marriage is never going to recover. And I started, and God said, no. And he took me back to my wedding vow, and he said, you said that in front of me. Your wedding vow wasn't with Dave. It was with me.
And then he asked me the question that has radically changed my life. And that question was, am I who I say I am or not? And I realized, because intellectually, I was going, well, of course, you're God.
And then he said, no. Am I who I said I am or not? Because how you answer that question affects every aspect of your life.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah.
Kirsten Samuel:
So I began doing things really badly. Really badly.
Merritt Onsa:
Like what?
Kirsten Samuel:
Like I didn't know how to build a website. I remember being, you know, somebody said to me, you've really got to be on YouTube so people can get to know who you are because of the topic that you're talking about, they gotta know you.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah.
Kirsten Samuel:
Okay.
Merritt Onsa:
It's intimate.
Kirsten Samuel:
Yeah, it's intimate. They've gotta feel like they know you. Okay. I don't like being on camera. Don't. My first videos are so bad.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, the first ones always are.
Kirsten Samuel:
They're just. They're horrible. I mean, I would say the first hundred of them are bad, you know?
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah.
Kirsten Samuel:
But I did them, and they're still out there, and I haven't allowed myself to take them down for the very reason of: I was being obedient.
Merritt Onsa:
Yes.
Kirsten Samuel:
Jill Briscoe said to me, and I've mentioned. I mentioned her in the last episode, but I got to hear her speak at a women's conference. And I was literally sitting at a table toward the back of the room with some other ladies. And, you know, being the introvert that I am, I was very quiet, and I wasn't talking to a lot of people. And she sat down right next to me. The speaker's table was up front. She sat down next to me where I was in the back. And there was an empty chair on the other side of her. And there was an empty chair on the other side of me. So does that give you a picture of how I sat down in this conference?
She sits down next to me, and she's asking me all these questions about myself. And then she looked at me and she said, are you willing to do something for Jesus badly, awfully, and I mean, like, embarrassingly bad in order to be obedient.
Where did that come from?
Merritt Onsa:
Right.
Kirsten Samuel:
And when I started doing this, I heard that in my head, because that's exactly what God was asking me to do, is to obey him, to follow his leading.
So I started, and I did it badly. And I didn't do everything right. I published things that I had to take down and fix because they were so horrible. They were just, you know, I did Facebook lives when Facebook lives were a thing, and they were bad. Oh, my goodness, they were bad. And I stuttered and I tripped over my tongue, and, you know, I said things backwards. All of it. All of it. But I learned. I learned through each one. And I learned that I don't have to be perfect. I just have to obey.
And, yes, I need to learn and I need to grow. And I have. I mean, I've learned a lot. And I look back in the last 10 years, I have. Wow, have I learned a lot. But God takes the story.
Merritt Onsa:
And it makes me think about the woman who is listening to this and relating to your season of life when you said, no, I don't want to be known for this. What encouragement would you give to the woman who's listening right now, struggling with so much fear about being seen, becoming the…whatever face of whatever her dream is. How would you encourage her?
Kirsten Samuel:
First of all, I would have her reach out to someone that is a safe person for her and tell them the dream.
Merritt Onsa:
Say it out loud.
Kirsten Samuel:
Say it out loud. First of all, say it out loud. Because Proverbs tells us that we have wisdom in seeking counsel and godly counsel—now, the key word in that is godly counsel. There's a lot of counsel out there that's not worth anything—and see what happens.
Ask this friend or whoever it might be to pray with you about, is this really from God or is this just a wild hair? Because I get plenty of those. But ask them to pray with you.
When I first mentioned that I was thinking about becoming a coach, all I got was, well, of course, you're already doing it. And I was like, really? Because often the thing that is so much a part of us, we don't even see it.
Merritt Onsa:
Right. It takes somebody outside of us.
Kirsten Samuel:
Right.
Merritt Onsa:
To point it out.
Kirsten Samuel:
Yeah. That's where the godly counsel comes in. So that's where I would start: Tell one person. One. Just one. And see what happens.
Merritt Onsa:
I hope you’re enjoying today’s conversation and considering what you’re hearing that can apply to your own big dream.
We were never meant to do these things alone, so I’ve got something for you that might help…
Imagine a space where everyone understands your journey without explanation.
Where a story shared makes you think, “Finally, someone who gets it!” and you instantly feel at home with this group of women.
Where admitting fear, perfectionism, or procrastination isn’t just venting; it’s the next step toward renewing your mindset, and a reminder of our hope in Christ, not in our performance or results.
It’s a place where imposter syndrome doesn’t get a foothold because we are secure in our identity, value and worth in Jesus (but maybe we just needed a sister to speak a little truth over us that day).
This is the Dream Believers community that I’m talking about – a virtual space bringing together some of the most heartfelt, Jesus-loving women with big dreams that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.
Although our particular dreams are as different as we are unique image bearers of God, we are walking the same road, fighting back lies of the enemy, ditching procrastination, and beginning to believe we are capable of the next right steps.
Some of the best connections happen in the smallest moments in the community. A struggle shared on a Tuesday afternoon, by evening there’s a collection of ideas and a few “me-too” replies.
If you’re ready for a community to surround you in pursuing your God-shaped dream, or figuring out how to begin, then Dream Believers is for you.
I only open the doors a few times each year, so this is your moment to get your name on the list for exclusive early-bird access when that time comes. Go to merrittonsa.com/dreamco. That’s merrittonsa.com/dreamco.
These are the women you’ll be thanking by name when you’re looking back a year from now, amazed at what God has done with the dream He’s given you.
Again, the link to get on the list is merrittonsa.com/dreamco
And now, back to the conversation…
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah. And I love your example of, like, when you start out, you're not going to know what you're doing. It's not going to be anywhere near perfect. You're going to make mistakes. It's going to be ugly. A lot of us are like, forget that. Yeah, but. But how else do you get to that place of becoming comfortable being uncomfortable, but by doing it.
Kirsten Samuel:
Yeah. You don't know what you don't know.
Merritt Onsa:
Exactly.
Kirsten Samuel:
And we have this lie in our brains that says, “I have to know it all before I can start.” Well, you can't know it all before you start because you don't even know the questions to ask.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah.
Kirsten Samuel:
So you have to start so you know the questions. And, and that's what I had to realize was, well, duh, I don't even know what questions to ask.
So how do you do a website? I asked somebody that question and they said, well, go here. Here's what you can do. And you can start really simply using this.
So I did what they said.
It was simple. It was bad, but it was.
Merritt Onsa:
It doesn't have to stay that way.
Kirsten Samuel:
No. And that's the other thing to understand is nothing has to stay the way that you started it. In fact, it won't.
Even publishing my book.
Merritt Onsa:
Oh, yeah.
Kirsten Samuel:
In today's publishing world, it is so simple to correct an error in a book. It really is. You know, I, I tell others that are talking about writing. Yeah. But I'm not a… You know, what if I find a mistake? I said, then you can go in and fix it. Because it's called Print on Demand.
Merritt Onsa:
Is that like Amazon KDP?
Kirsten Samuel:
Well, Amazon does it, but you do it through other, other things. Very few places warehouse books anymore.
Merritt Onsa:
Oh, interesting.
See, I didn't know this.
Kirsten Samuel:
Yeah. So I mean, why didn't either until I, until I printed it. In fact, my second book, which is called Five Lies Moms Believe, I literally put it up. It was a challenge. This was my business coach getting me over my fear of publishing. And so he had me do this very short little book as an ebook. Put it up there, see what happens. And he gave me 30 days to do it from start to finish.
Merritt Onsa:
Nice.
Kirsten Samuel:
So I did. I put it up there. It did very well, surprisingly. And about six months later he goes, okay, now you're gonna pull it down and you're actually going to print it. You're gonna do the layout, you're gonna, you know, all this other stuff. So that became Five Lies Moms Believe, but it was originally just an ebook that I threw up on Amazon.
Merritt Onsa:
So like when you open it up, it looks more like a PDF than a traditional published book. Oh, interesting.
Kirsten Samuel:
And now it's a traditionally it's a hybrid published book. I went with a hybrid publisher, but it's a book. I mean I, you know, I have it right behind me.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah.
Kirsten Samuel:
So both of my books. Well, I didn't know you could do that.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, me neither.
Kirsten Samuel:
But this is how you start. You start and then you begin, you get. Well, I would like to… I've seen other people do this. How do you do that? But you don't even know it until you start.
So if you've got a big dream and you're like, yeah, there's no way I can do it. Well, first of all, congratulations. That's a God-sized dream.
Merritt Onsa:
Yep.
Kirsten Samuel:
Okay, so if he's given you the dream, he is going to equip you to do it because he tells us he's going to do that. He said, I appointed you to do this.
He said, I've given you and I will give you everything that you need to accomplish the task.
He doesn't give us a dream and then sit back and say, haha, now how are you going to do it? Yeah, have fun, have fun. He says, oh no, no, I'm with you every step of the way.
And that's the grace of our God.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah.
Kirsten Samuel:
But if you have that God-sized dream, congratulations. Now is what are you going to do with it? Because if God gave it to you, there's a purpose for it, and it's going to bring God glory. And we need you to do it because we need to learn, but we also want to see how God gets glorified in the process.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, yeah. And there's somebody waiting.
Kirsten Samuel:
There's somebody waiting.
Merritt Onsa:
The thing that God gave you to do.
Kirsten Samuel:
Right. And then, you know, they're like, the other… I'll rat on myself. My fear was, well, who's going to listen to me?
Merritt Onsa:
Sure. Yeah.
Kirsten Samuel:
Who's gonna listen to me?
Merritt Onsa:
Who am I?
Kirsten Samuel:
Who am I? Who am I? I don't have a degree. I don't have a bunch of credentials after my name. You know, you know, I've been a wife and a mother and, you know, yeah, I've done all these other different jobs, but, you know, so what? You know, I don't. Who's going to listen to me?
Well, there's 8 billion people in the world. And one of my business coaches said to me, Kirsten, there's 8 billion people in the world. If you had 1%, that's 80 million.
He said, can you handle 80 million clients? I said, no, no. And he said, okay, break that down again, will you get down to 800,000. I still can't handle 800,000.
And you break it down again and you get down to about 8,000 and you're like, oh, well, maybe that's a doable number.
So even if you have 1/4 of 1% of the world's population that you're reaching with your message and they connect with you, those are people who needed you. They needed that message.
And here's the bottom line, Merritt. Even if only one person heard my story and it changed their lives and pointed them to Jesus, it's all worth it. Didn't even matter. It doesn't have to be anything.
And even if no one ever let me know that it touched their lives, I was obedient to God and I did what he told me to do. And that really was the bottom line for me: Am I going to be obedient or not?
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah.
Kirsten Samuel:
And if it's God's dream, he's the one who's responsible for it.
Merritt Onsa:
Yep. And like you talked about in the last episode, he did a mighty work in you by you being obedient and saying, okay, I'm terrified, but let's go. I'll trust you enough to walk with you in this.
Kirsten Samuel:
And I am nobody special. I'm not. I mean, there have been so many times I've been a puddle on the floor saying, Lord, really? Really? who am I? You know, David wrote that in Psalm 8, who am I? That the God of the universe would pay attention to me. This is not a new question that we're asking. This is a question that we've been asking for as long as humanity has been alive. Who am I? And God says, but I created you. You are mine. I have called you by name. I have given you a purpose. I've appointed you to go to my children with this message and point them back to me. That's it. That's it.
Merritt Onsa:
It's a beautiful privilege.
Kirsten Samuel:
It is.
Merritt Onsa:
That he would even consider to do that.
Kirsten Samuel:
Yes. That he takes a messed up person like me and says, I'm going to still use you.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, totally.
Well, I know you had a couple of things that you wanted to share with my audience that are specifically relevant to the work that you're doing. You want to talk about those a little bit?
Kirsten Samuel:
Yeah. Like I said, my heart is for the woman who's suffering in silence. She's very afraid to say, like I was, to admit that there's a problem, to even put words to the pain that she feels because she's discovered her husband's looking at porn, and there's probably a break in their relationship and something's not right and she knows it and she's really afraid. She doesn’t know who to talk to.
Well, you can talk to me. That's what I do. I'm here because I've walked that path. And it's a free complimentary session.
Merritt, you have the link for that. But you can also just go to my website, which is KirstenDSamuel.com. And that's K I R S T E N D, as in Diane, Samuel. Just like the first name, Samuel. Right on the homepage there's a big button that says complimentary session. Click it. Get on a call with me. Together, first of all, I'll hear you.
I'll listen to your heart. I'll help you start to breathe again, and we'll figure out what your next best step is. There's no obligation to that at all. I just want to hear you. I want you to be heard. I want you to take that first step so that you overcome the fear of rejection and the fear of the shame. There is no shame in telling your story.
And then the second thing I have is if someone wants to have a copy of my book, if they want it autographed, if they just want to get a copy of it, it's available on Amazon. But if you—Or any bookstore that you can go to, they can get it for you—But if you want me to autograph it for you again, Merritt will have the link, the direct link to that. And the only thing I ask is that you pay $6 to help me cover the shipping. That's it. And then I will send you a paperback copy of the book and I will autograph it for you.
So the link that Merritt will have in the show notes will just drop you on there. And that gives me all the information to know where to send it. So I would be. I would be honored to do that. Again, there's no ties to that. There's no, like, you know, you're going to become a client or anything like that. It's. So I just want you to hear the story. I want you to hear God's redemptive story that was lived, that's been lived out in me.
Merritt Onsa:
Thank you. Those are beautiful gifts. And, yeah, I mean, take her up on the call for sure. If that's a conversation that you haven't felt like you could have with anybody else in your life. You've got a friend here.
So this episode is kind of wrapping up our conversation this month on your value and worth in Christ. And that includes recognizing the lies that you have believed. We all have believed lies because lies, okay, they've been here since the beginning, so, you know, there's no shame. But we want to call you out of that and into the truth of seeing yourself as God sees you.
And so, Kirsten, if you'll indulge me, what would you say to the woman who is still wrestling with her value and worth about the trustworthiness of our God?
Kirsten Samuel:
That's a great question.
One of the things I challenge the women that I work with that God brings to me and I get the privilege to walk alongside again—again, that whole coming alongside—is I challenge them to ask God every day to make himself known to them in a way that is unique to them.
I'll tell you a friend's example and mine. I had a friend who, for some reason, every time she felt like God was whispering something to her, she found a feather. If God was trying to make himself make his message to her, in a way, she would grab it. She found a feather. Including one day when she was really needing to know that God was near and comforting her because of a terrific loss she had just experienced. She was walking in her house and she looked down, in the middle of her home, and there was a feather laying on the ground. A bird feather.
Merritt Onsa:
Odd, right?
Kirsten Samuel:
Odd, right? And she said, I knew in that moment that God saw me. He knew the pain.
For me, God speaks to me in nature. There are mornings that I would get up and I would burst into tears at the beauty of the sunrise because I would hear him whisper to me, I've painted this for you because I knew your soul needed comfort. Or I had been driving, and in a horrific, I remember driving in a horrific thunderstorm where I had to actually pull off the side of the road because the rain was coming down.
And I was scared, and I was. And I look up and the clouds parted and there was a double rainbow. And I went… And it was like God said, I'm here. I haven't left you.
There have been things that I have been praying very specifically for and God has given me one piece of the answer that day. And it always is unexpected. It doesn't come where I think it's going to come from.
So if you need to know, Does God care? You begin to ask him, Lord, help me to see and do something that's just for me. I don't know what it is, but you will know.
God gives us these things to hold on to, to say, remember me. I see you, and I know exactly what you need. It could just be, Lord, I need an encouraging word today. And you get a call from your dear friend who's now moved to another state, and she picks up the phone, calls and says, I just wanted to tell you how much I love you. She didn't know you needed that, but God did.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, he is very near. And I think that's what we miss, or at least an opportunity. We miss the opportunity to see how near he is if we neglect the opportunity to trust him in these crazy-haired dreams that he gives us.
Kirsten Samuel:
And if he's given you that dream, go for it. It’s his dream. Yes, his dream.
Merritt Onsa:
Go for it!
Kirsten, this has been super fun. Thanks for being my guinea pig for part one, part two debut of the Devoted Dreamers podcast. I'm grateful to have connected with you.
Kirsten Samuel:
Thank you so much, Merritt. This is this has been a delight.
Merritt Onsa:
Praise be to God.
Kirsten Samuel:
Amen.
Merritt Onsa:
My friends, tune in every week. Like I said, this is going to be a weekly show this year. Invite your friends. Share this episode and mostly trust God’s guidance for the dream that he has given you.
Finally….
Daughter of the King,
You were made for a beautiful purpose, your identity and security rest in Him, as does your dream because the Lord is good and His ways are always good! No weapon formed against you will prosper because you belong to Him.
Until next week, stay faithful, keep dreaming and remember: trusting God with your next step doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be scary. It means taking the step anyway. That’s what faith is.
You are welcome here among women braving those scary steps in faith, knowing our dreams matter because they are His.
Until next time,
I’m Merritt Onsa, your dream coach and sister in Christ, walking by faith, with you, in the dream.
Have a great week!
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