Introduction and Weekly Commitment
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Speaker
Hi guys, welcome to the Alion Anita podcast. I'm your host Alion and I'm so excited to have you join me for today's podcast. As you can hear, I am currently under the weather. I am battling off a cold and so I am sounding a little bit stuffy and congested, but I wanted to be a woman of my word and bring you a podcast every Wednesday, once a week. And so here I am recording today's podcast.
00:00:49
Speaker
So bear with me if you hear me pause for a second is only because I'm trying to sip some tea, or I am trying to clear my throat and refresh myself to continue on throughout this podcast.
Leadership and Embracing Uncertainty
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Speaker
Today I am going to talk to you about a subject that I think is really important.
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as a leader and just as a person individual to know that it is okay not to always have the answer. I was journaling a few days ago about always feeling like I had to have the answer.
Personal Story of Responsibility
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When I was in college, I was probably about 20 years old when my mother took sick.
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And so several course of events took place and I ended up having to become responsible for my mom's health and responsible for finances and things like that in the house. And so I had to grow up really fast and for a great period of my time, my life demanded, it seemed as if my life demanded that I always had the answer. Like I had to know what bills needed to be paid or what doctor
00:01:59
Speaker
appointment my mom had to have and I was in college during that time so I needed to know what class I needed to study for and you know what test was coming up so I always had to have the answer so that I can make it through life and what it did was it gave me this mindset that I was weak if I did not have the
Surrendering to Faith for Answers
00:02:19
Speaker
And because I felt weak not knowing the answer, I will always insert and try to find a way. And recently I found myself in a season that I did not have the answer. I did not have the power to find the answer. I did not have the resources to be the answer. And I felt completely weak. I felt like, what good am I for if I don't have the answer?
00:02:46
Speaker
And what I realized is that God wanted me to reach a place of surrender to Him to receive the answer and the resources from Him and not me try to do it on my own. And that's always hard, particularly as a leader when you're leading an organization or if you're leading a group, everybody looks to you for the answer and they want you to have the answer immediately. And sometimes
00:03:08
Speaker
It's okay not to have the answer. Sometimes it's okay to just say, you know what, let me get back to you. Let me pray about it. Let me do some fasting, whatever the case may be, because it's best to give the right answer than just to give an answer, just any answer. And so I'm learning that it is important to allow yourself to be submitted and totally surrendered to God so that he can give you the answer when you don't immediately have
Trust and Guidance in Psalms 91
00:03:38
Speaker
And so I journaled quite a bit and I was meditating on a scripture, one of my favorite scriptures or my chapters in Psalms in Psalms 91. And at the end of Psalms 91, towards the end of the Psalm, he says, because he set his love on me,
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Therefore, I will save him. I will set him securely on high because he knows my name. He confidently trusts and relies on me, knowing that I will never abandon him. No, never." And then in the next verse, he began to make promises of what he would do because he trusts him.
00:04:16
Speaker
And I learned that as a leader, you have to be in a place where you surrender yourself and you surrender all of your mindsets to God so that he can give you answers so that you won't get burnt out or you won't become overwhelmed.
Consequences of Overextending
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I realized, and I had to have a hard reality to this, that I over asserted myself in several areas in my life.
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and in others' lives as well. And because I did that, I ended up accumulating debt. I ended up carrying stress that was not mine and feeling like I had to come up with all of the answers. And it even shortchanged people from having faith of their own because they knew that they can turn to me and I would have the answer or try to figure it out. And so to prevent your burnout, I'm bringing you this very short podcast to tell you that it's simply okay just not to know.
00:05:11
Speaker
And you know, God is going to probably require that you go through a season of alignment with him. Now I go to the chiropractor and every time I leave my chiropractor, even though she adjusts me perfectly fine, I always leave with a little bit of soreness and a little bit of tension.
Realignment with Faith
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And that's the reason why is because I had lived my life out of balance and out of alignment for so long.
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that putting myself back in its proper place hurt because my body got used to living out of alignment. And so now it has to rewire and rework itself back into its proper place. And the same thing is true for you.
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And true for me as a leader is to know that it's okay to get back in alignment and it's going to cause a little pain because you got to make some shifts. But it's better for your overall body because your body will function better and you will function better as a leader when you learn to get yourself in alignment with God.
00:06:10
Speaker
So I say all this to say that it's absolutely okay to relax yourself and to calm yourself and give yourself a break when you don't have the answer. It's okay to be wrong. It's okay not to have it all figured out. Sometimes you may have a weak moment. It does not mean that you have a weakness. There is a difference between a weak moment and a weakness.
00:06:36
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and know that it is okay to have a weak moment and it's okay to have a weakness, but you should constantly be aligning yourself with the word of God concerning your life so that you will not remain weak and this won't always trip you up.
00:06:52
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So leaders, take a load off, take a deep breath. It is okay not to know every single thing.
Leaders Seeking Guidance
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It's okay to lean on a teammate. It's okay to call a mentor and ask for help. It's okay to say, hey, I don't have the money.
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I don't have the resources. It is okay. You're not a failure because you don't have the answer right away. But if you continue to prostrate yourself towards the Lord and continue to posture your heart in the rhythm that he wants you to be in, he will satisfy you. He will give you long life. And more importantly, he'll give you solutions to whatever the problem is. And if it's not your problem to carry, he'll make sure that that person seeks him to get the answer.
00:07:37
Speaker
So as a leader, you must learn what is yours and what isn't yours and be able to put that down in a moment notice. So guys, I want to thank you for tuning in this week. I am so sorry that this podcast is jambled up and stuffy and all of that stuff, but I wanted to make a commitment. I am persevering through my sickness to ensure that I keep my word to you guys that you would get a podcast.
00:08:04
Speaker
Next week, I'm going to have another dynamic podcast for you guys, and I'm going to be healed in Jesus name.
Social Media and Book Challenge
00:08:11
Speaker
So anywho, I love you guys so much. If you want to follow me on social media, I am a Leonina on all of the things. And if you are interested in sending me a question or email of any sort, you can email me at a Leonina need a show at gmail.com.
00:08:28
Speaker
You also can find out what I'm reading in Goodreads. I started a book challenge so you guys can see what I'm reading in my book challenge and so hopefully you'll be inspired by that and you can comment on the pictures on my IG page or Facebook page or whatever, Twitter or whatever.
00:08:46
Speaker
And tell me what you think about the books, if you read it, give me your opinion, whatever. So I look forward to hearing from you guys on all of the platforms.
Flu Season Advice and Farewell
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Speaker
And as always, you guys be blessed and stay relevant and also stay well. If you live in a cold place, make sure you dress up well because the flu is a beast in this season. So I love you guys so very much. Talk to you soon. Bye.