99 | The Power of a Team Retreat: Key Takeaways from Leadership Incentive + Summit
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[00:00:00] Hey friends. Welcome back to the call to lead podcast. So today's episode is actually one that has been a long time coming. I have a list of episode ideas, and this is one that I've been wanting to tackle for a while, and it is the power of a retreat for your team and for your business. And I knew this was the perfect time for me to finally hit record on this powerful podcast episode, because I actually just got back from an incredible experience at my Seint
mama Sarah Davies. You've met her on this podcast. If you're a longtime listener. But she hosted her very first team-wide leadership incentive retreat up in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and my friends. I'm going to be sharing some of the take homes. From that experience with you today and how the power of a retreat to fuel your fire and put some fuel in your gas tank so that you can keep going, could be exactly what you as a leader might need to implement, or that you might need to [00:01:00] attend if you have the opportunity, because it can be a game changer for your business.
So let's dive into this episode. All about the power of a retreat.
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Before we get into today's episode. I am seriously so excited to bring back something that I did in my business a couple of years ago, back when I was on social media and that is my Christmas gift away. And this is an opportunity that I like to be able to use. One of the beautiful things about being an artist was saying is that we get hundreds of dollars in free makeup just by sharing it through what we call a party link.
And so I want to be able to give back some of the freebies for you. But also for a friend that might be deserving along with some of my other favorite advent or Christmas or holiday related goodies. And so I know it's a little bit early, I'm recording this just here at the end of October, but I feel like I'm already a little bit in the Christmas season. And you might be as well. And plus, because some of the goodies and I'm going to be including our advent [00:03:00] related and that starts early December and this giveaway will run for the next couple of weeks. I wanted to be able to give you plenty of time to. Receive it so that you can actually dive in. So what's the scoop on this giveaway, you can win. $500 in free makeup for yourself. $500 in free makeup for a friend that you can nominate. So essentially you can tell me who you want this to go to. It can be somebody that. You feel as a deserving mama that might not. You know, treat herself, it could be your mama. It could be someone, maybe, maybe you are a Seint artist, cause this is open to customers to whoever. It could be someone that you feel like deserves this. Maybe they work really, really hard in their business and they deserve to be treated with all of the things. Well, as long as it's something that's available using our hostess rewards. This is a thousand dollars in free Seint goodies that I'm going to be giving away to one lucky winner, along with [00:04:00] the brand new Cultivate What Matters Power Sheets, the Well-Watered Women advent collection, which is an amazing way to celebrate the coming of Jesus in this season. And the brand new, I don't even have it in my hands yet. Just announce release of the coveted eye shadow advent calendar from Seint so you guys, this is a stacked giveaway and it's amazing. And all I need you to do in order to enter. It is just a few little simple steps. It's just five things for me. Okay. But the way that you can get a list of those five things that you need to do to be entered, it's just text the word gift away. So G I F T A W A Y to my business cell, which is 9 1 2 4 0 5 8 9 1 2. And you can also find the link to where you can just click the link and it'll pop up that number with the word gift away to where you can text it and you'll get the instructions and those five simple steps that is all you need to do to be entered into over a [00:05:00] thousand dollars in makeup. All kinds of advent Christmas goal planning end of the year, beginning of your new season. Goodness. All for just cheering me on and sharing the love of this podcast and some of the other things that I have at my sleeve. So thank you guys for being such loyal listeners. And I cannot wait to see who wins all of the freebies.
So don't forget text gift away to 9 1 2 4 0 5 8 9 1 2 or click the link. In the description. If you're watching this on YouTube or in the show notes, if you're listening to it on wherever you listen to podcasts. So let's dive in to today's episode. I'm seriously so excited to talk about this because anytime you do. Go to a retreat. And if you haven't yet been to one, I'm telling you find an opportunity to make this happen. I know that there are even some coaches or trainers or leaders out there that, that offer this. And I can tell you it could even be worth the investment, but I was blessed enough to be able to earn the invitation, to [00:06:00] attend a leadership retreat that my St mama Sarah put on last week.
And first of all, I just have to say she absolutely crushed it. And she did such a great job of making us feel so welcome and relaxed and loved and served. Served, but it's not like it's this like fancy, intimidating bougie, you know, experience when a retreat is done white, it's something that is there to make you. I allow you the place to connect deeper with the people around you, the people that are there and connect even deeper to your purpose and your passion within your business. And of course you get equipped with not just the inspiration for why you're maybe doing what you're doing, but definitely for the, how we had great experts, industry experts and leaders that I cannot wait to introduce you on this podcast.
There'll be some upcoming interviews showcasing some of the people that shared some goodness with us, but they were able to share some really, really tangible. Insights and take homes for how to grow our businesses from this retreat. So, are [00:07:00] you wanting that deeper connection? Are you feeling like you're kind of out of gas in your business? I definitely encourage you to look into an opportunity to maybe even host wine. If you are a leader, if you've got more than 10 or so people on your team. This is something that I've been doing since probably the first year in my business. I hosted it about a year and a half. I would say, I think I announced the qualifications about a year into ~my, ~my first year in business with Seint and I made it really simple. I did a little bingo board where I think I had nine boxes where they could just check off,~ um, you know, ~simple actions that I wanted them to take in their business. And if they did the action, they got the invitation. I think there were 10 or 12 of us, or so at that very first retreat.
And it's been something that I've done just about every year for my team until this year, when I decided to leverage Sarah's in this way. So the thing about a retreat and actually happened to stumble upon and, ~um,~ my journey getting ready for Sarah's one of my good friends, Chandler Larson. She [00:08:00] is also a Seint artist, but she actually just. ~Uh, ~launched an incredible guide that I purchased and ~it's, ~it's super affordable. You guys, and it walks you through all the principles ~of, ~of doing an amazing retreat. So if you're wondering, like how do, how would I set that up? I'm just going to default to what Chandler says, cause it's an easily affordable justifiable investment for you.
I think was it like $17 or $27? I wasn't even planning to mention this until now, but whatever it is, it's worth it. Chandler's amazing. So I'll make sure to link to that in the show notes and the description of this video, if you're wanting to know how to do a retreat, but in today's video, I wanted to just share, ~you know, ~the overarching principle that it is. It can be the answer. And ~here's, ~here's the first story I'm going to share for why this can be the catalyst for crazy momentum and growth in your business. So this will take us back to kind of the COVID times because our company was set to have our reunion as we call it our annual conference. ~Uh, ~in person, but due to COVID, they wound up moving it virtually. [00:09:00] And one of my top leaders and I'm going to share my take homes and stories and more in depth, but her name is Colleen Matthews and she is one of the top artists here at Seint. She's an amazing leader. She was actually a top leader at another company prior to coming here. So she's got a ton of. ~Um, you know, ~just wisdom to share. She's also a great coach as well, but Colleen had the brilliant idea when they announced that our conference was going virtual. She had the idea to combine it into a retreat concept where she invited, ~you know, ~I think her team at that time was maybe like 20 something.
We'll say people. ~Um, ~which again, ~it was, ~it was not a tiny team, but not the team size that it is now, as I'll tell you in a minute. So she just invited a handful of her ladies and I think she had ~like ~six. Six or eight that said yes, that they wanted to get together. But since it was such a small group and the place that she had found, she invited me and a few of my direct leaders to come along as well. And this took place in Myrtle beach, which was all, it was probably about a four to five hour drive from most of where we were. [00:10:00]
So there were, I think, 10 or 12 of us. At that retreat that got together, she again kept it really simple. We just split the cost of this Airbnb. We had dinner together, we went and got some groceries and some coffee. And we just basically sat in our PJ's and watched the virtual conference and got to know each other. And just share the love. I can remember taking another one of my leaders, Ariel, who was didn't even have a team at the time. And now she, well, I'll get to that point, but she didn't even have a team at that time. She was so nervous to travel. I don't even know if she had ~like ~met me in person at that point yet. Actually, I think there were a couple people that hadn't met me in person, but I was like, come on, girl, you're coming. And so she and my dear friend, sweet Emily that I've been chatting about on the last few episodes that still needs your prayers in her battle against breast cancer. The three of us jumped in the car. We rode the five hours or so to Myrtle beach and just open to what we knew would be a great experience.
But I don't think any of us knew quite what would be possible because just three years [00:11:00] later. So that was in the fall of 2020. Here we are in the fall of 2023. I went back and looked at the total team size of those leaders that were at the retreat. And this isn't including my team that was outside of them. So not including me, the total team size of those that were present at that retreat was 41. teamies. So flash forward three years later, any guesses or any idea on how much their team has grown? Pretty crazy. You guys to know that it's more than 10 times more than 10 X in three years because their teams now collectively. Are over 400 and actually, I think they're even over 500 people. So 10 X growth in three years through the power of a retreat. And you guys again, if you're kind of stuck in there, like, well, what did they do? What kind of magic was there? You guys, the getting together ~the, ~the overcoming the fear of the courage to hop in the car and [00:12:00] drive the five hours or book that plane ticket to fly in to meet the people that you've never met in person to go deeper.
I can remember us crying together and sharing our wives and sharing our take homes from the training that was provided by our company, in that virtual environment, and just really glowing growing closer together. And it was also an opportunity for. For me as a leader to pour that belief on every single person there, including sweet Ariel that I was telling you about who wound up growing her team to hundreds of people since that retreat, when she didn't even have the first leader that was there. In fact, what's crazy is Ariel even had, I think, four girls from her team qualify for this past retreat, which is the top 2% of the company.
And so it's a big deal. You guys, when you take the time to overcome those fears yourself, you take the time to get in the car or on that plane. And you go and I, I can't tell you what happens. I think that that's just where the community and the connection that is required to build your business. I think it just gets [00:13:00] exponentially. ~Um, you know, ~magnified when you come together like that. So that my friends is the power of a retreat. So I also want ~this, ~this episode to kind of be the opportunity to share a really powerful story. That happened to me while I was at that retreat that I think really summarizes how I'm feeling and how my fire was fueled after attending this retreat. And it all starts on the very last day, which was going to the Dollywood theme park. So I'd love to know if you're a theme park girl, if you like Disney universal, or if you've ever been to Dollywood. It's so funny. I was, I was laughing at. ~Um, ~Lauren, who's another one of my leaders that is also my travel planner. And I told her, I was like, for someone who doesn't really love theme parks, I sure do like to call her up and tell her to book me a trip to universal or Disney a couple of times a year. So we, you know, even though we're not huge theme park fans, I've had my fair share of experience in going to both Disney and universal and Disney land, which actually like Disneyland in [00:14:00] California, even better than Disney world from another retreat that my St grandma did. And a few years back, but anyways, I digress, I have to say Dollywood, which is where Sarah chose to have her kind of end of the retreat fun. ~Uh, ~you know, opportunity. It was at Dollywood up in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and I have to say it blows them all out of the water, partly from not just my personal experience there. That from me ~kind of ~stepping into overcoming some fears along the way of what that looks like. So I want to kind of walk you through the whole picture because some people were there. Some people might've even seen me crying at one point. Some people might have seen me elated and also terrified. Laughing, all of the things, I don't think I've ever experienced so many emotions in one place. So I'm just going to walk you through the entire story, because I feel like there's ~some, ~some different lessons to learn. And quite frankly, I ~kind of ~want to document it even for myself, because I feel like what I experienced was the Lord showing me a picture ~of, ~of really what this business looks like overall. [00:15:00]
So here we go. So we arrived to the park. There's a group of us in the car and we hop on the little trolley that's taking us to, into the park. And I decided to FaceTime my sweet friend, Emily, that I've been telling you guys about who actually qualified for the trip and could not be there. And I thought, you know, what, if she can't. Be here with us. We will bring the Dollywood trip to her. And so the day started with a FaceTime with Emily. And several of like her. You know, her closest mentors and friends that she has met through this journey on that trolley. And I'll try not to get emotional, but we FaceTimed with her and it was just so good and so beautiful to see her face and to be able to invite her into that journey. But it was also really hard because. You know, realizing that the reason that she couldn't be there is a, her struggle with something so evil and so awful as metastatic breast cancer. And that she's still facing that battle and still desperately needs all of our prayers for miraculous [00:16:00] healing. And just really being overcome. By the realization that she wouldn't be in that picture, that we were taking the group picture that. Th that really, you know, This could be one of the last times that she's able to come to a retreat. I'm actually hosting my own retreat in February and I'm praying so hard that she can be there and be at many, many for years to come. But all of those emotions, all of the grief that I've been able to process and work through, they all kind of came rushing back to me in that moment of. Stepping into Dollywood with this team. This amazing team, but without her, without someone that had had been such a rock in my experience, And so I burst into tears right before we take this picture. ~Um, ~and I did decide, I think it was about the time that I decided to hold up her picture, a beautiful picture of her. ~Um, ~she actually spoke at ~our, ~our company conference this past year. And so I pulled up this beautiful picture of her and I held her up at the picture because she was there. She might not have physically been there, but she was there with us. [00:17:00] And that's kind of how the moment started. And so after we took that picture, I kinda, you know, there were some people were taking some group shots of their teams. And it's a blessing that of about the 80. ~Um, ~I think there were about, well over a hundred that qualified and there were about 80 leaders all in the top two ish percent of the company or higher, ~um, ~that were present. And. ~Uh, ~45 of those 80 or so were, were my leaders. They were from my team, which was just the most amazing feeling and the amazing experience. And obviously there were some, like my sweet Emily who weren't able to attend, or even my sweet Ariel that I was telling you guys about who. She and Emily had something even more in common than riding together in that car to that retreat three years ago. Ariel also has been facing her battle with thankfully stage one breast cancer. She is now cancer free. She's done with all of her treatments, but because her treatments and her move. ~Uh, ~back to Georgia and did literally right before this. Retreat. ~Uh, ~came. She was not able to be there either. So there were so many amazing leaders [00:18:00] that weren't able to make the trip, but about 45 of the 80. That were there were on my team. And so when we were trying to, you know, it's like wrangling cats, right? When you're. When you're at a place like this with people who are, some of them are excited to get to the rides. Some of them are like, you know, just wanting to go hang out and ~get some, ~get some,~ uh, ~cinnamon bread or whatever it is. That's so famous there. You know, and then there's me going, like, do I take a big team picture? We'd gotten so many pictures that I was like, you know, I think I just need to take a minute to gather myself. And I lock eyes with Colleen. That does tell you guys about that hosted that retreat. And I could see that she was ready to like hit the park running. And so I was like, you know what? This girl knows this park she's she had literally just been there like two weeks before. And I was like, I'm going to go with her. Plus she's one of my top leaders too. So I was like, I didn't know who to hang out with or where to start, but I was like, I'll start there. And so it's really funny cause ~we're, ~we're entering the park. We're going and I'm like, oh, look at this pretty backdrop. We should take a picture. She's like, Heather, we got to go to this ride. Bear mountain. It's the best one here. It's brand new. Come on, you got [00:19:00] to go. And I was like, Oh, okay. Well, ~I'll, ~I'll keep going with you, but I'm not riding a rollercoaster. If it's a rollercoaster. I don't like rollercoasters. I've talked about this on my podcast before, you know, I've been down them and if they have steep drops, it's just not something that I'm interested in, but I'll still keep walking with you and we'll, you know, we'll, we'll just see what happens.
Cause I want you to be able to go on this ride, right. So we're~ kind of ~walking through the park kind of hustling cause we want to get there early. Right? The park had just opened. And we start to see what is bear mountain. And I'm looking at this thing and I'm not seeing any of those like crazy steep drops and you know what I'm talking about and you probably either like, love those crazy drops or you're like, ah, no, just getting, not going to happen. If it's that or like upside down or a big loop.
~You're ~you're outright. Well, I'm looking at this thing and I'm kind of thinking I'm like, okay, I'm not seeing any big drops. This could be, this could be fun. Like what if it is fun? And so, um, um, I'm looking at it and we're kind of watching it and I can kind of see there's this one little drop. [00:20:00] And someone else, my sweet friend, Whitney, another one of my top leaders from Canada was there. Oh, no, she had not been on it. Somebody else was there that had been on it. And she, they were like, you know, I don't think it's that bad. They were like, just do it. Just come, come on and just do it. And so Whitney was my like faithful and some of the other Canadians, they were, she was my girl. Right. And we decided we were going to, we were going to tackle our fears and I'm like, the worst thing that could happen is I hate it. Right. ~Like, ~and just never do it again. That's the worst thing that could happen. And the best thing that could happen is the ride is really fun. And it turns out maybe I do like some roller coasters, ~right. ~So we get on the, ~uh, ~we get on the, the. The inline, it's like a 45 minute wait, which is way better than Disney, but also still a little bit of a long way, which was kind of one of the first lessons of, you know, of this as you still have to kind of wait ~in, ~in life and in business, right? Like for the fun things or the hard things, there's often a little season of waiting. Where you're standing there, you're not able to walk, jog, or run or do anything. You're just able to kind of just wait and you're slowly creeping [00:21:00] along to get to the unknown, right? Because you don't know if it's going to be fun or hard or whatever season that you're in. But sure enough, we get there. We get on the ride and you guys. It was, uh, may Zang. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I cannot even say it was so fun because not only was like the big drop, not even that scary, to be honest, but instead of that, like slow anticipation, like. which I think I've decided is actually the part I like the least is like the anticipation before the bottom falls out and you drop. There was none of that. It actually sped up into the Ascension, I guess, which is interesting. And then by the time you got there, we were in so much momentum that it didn't feel like the bottom was falling out. It felt like I was flying and it was so fun and it lasted forever. Like it was a really long ride.
Sometimes good rides are just way too short and it felt like just so much fun. So of course, what was the emotion that I felt right after experiencing [00:22:00] that exhilaration after the way. I was feeling like I wanted to do it again. And so I was like, okay. Note to self. Maybe I should try another, another rollercoaster, but I definitely, if I have the opportunity, want to go do this one again? So because I kind of overcame that one fear and I'm thinking in my mind, like maybe, maybe actually do like roller coasters now, or maybe, maybe like some roller coasters. They convinced me to go on one. I think it's called the dragon fly. I think. I kept getting the name of it wrong, but it was right next to bear mountain. If you've been to Dollywood. And I can see that there's like a slightly scarier drop right at the beginning, but I was like, you know what? Okay. Again, worst case I hate the drop. I think this'll be fun. It'll be worth trying. So we go on that ride and it was fun. It did have scary drop didn't like the feeling, but I was like, you know what? It's okay. So we get off the ride and I see across the park, this like monstrosity of this, like giant blue, like loopy, crazy thing, you know, the one, [00:23:00] right? Like if you've ever been to anything park, there's always this like one giant rollercoaster that you're just like, ah, no, or you're excited about, and it's the one that you run towards.
Right. But I'm looking at this thing and I'm like, okay, like, I wonder what that one's like, if, if is it better than this one? Like, is it worth trying. Trying or is it scary? So I started asking some questions, you know, about like, does it have drops, you know, whatever. And they're like, oh, the wild Eagle. And I'm like, I'm sorry, wait, come again. What did you just say? It's called. It's called the wild Eagle. Which if you have listened to this podcast before, you know, my love and my purpose, and a lot of the things that, ~uh, you know, ~this podcast and my coaching and teaching and courses and everything is centered around. Is Isaiah 40 31. Where it talks about soaring on wings like Eagles, and ultimately that's my goal in business. And I think that should be all of our goals and businesses to not just walk or jog or run towards, ~you know, ~the things that Lord calls you to, towards your purpose and your passion, but instead soar on wings like [00:24:00] Eagles by allowing him to carry you.
And so I look at it and it's also blue, which is my favorite color. And I know that sounds really silly, but here's this like big, beautiful, terrifying coaster that. Everyone says is the best ride in the park. So that's what people start timing and left or mind they're like, oh no, it's amazing. It's so much fun, so much fun. And then we're running into other girls who had gone there first, and they're all saying it's the best one in the park. And so I look at Colleen. And I tell her, I'm like, okay, Colleen, I'm not saying I am, I'm going to pray about this. I'm not saying I am writing it, but I'm feeling like I might need to write it. And if I do, it has to be with you. I'm like, you're the one that convinced me to overcome my fear and go on the bear mountain one.
You're the one that's kind of our Dollywood guide. Right? I'm like, it has to be with you. And so she said, okay, she said, but I'm just going to say, if you didn't like that little drop in the dragon fly, you're not going to lock like the first big drop in wild Eagle. Cause it's, it's a huge drop is what she says. ~Um, ~and I was like, okay, well, let me just think about it. Let me just pray about it. We'll see. So [00:25:00] long story short, right after that, I actually got to run into Sarah. My Seint mama's kids. She has five kids, another one, a six, a little girl on the way. And I love her kids. You guys, her family is so much fun and they used to have season tickets to Dollywood. So they're like pros, right? And they're all under nine years old, you guys like their little kids. And all of them, including like the little three, I think he's three, three or four. He hit things for Michael's for like, they were all like, Heather, you have to go on this one, you have to go on the Eagle, you have to do this. And they were like, but we're headed to bear mountain next. And I was like, wait a minute.
Can I go with you guys? Cause I want to ride it again. And so I had the joy of waiting in that line again, which it was a little longer this time. And riding that rollercoaster holding hands with Sarah's four year old, Michael. And with the rest of her family in the background and you guys, I had a moment, let me just say, like I've said this on the podcast before that worship comes in all [00:26:00] forms and there was some little kind of country background music playing in there, but flying through the air and what felt like I was soaring, you know, I just, I mean, I literally got chills and I just felt like the holy spirit was with me and just blessing me through that, that experience and that journey and empowering me. To trust Him if I can trust them on a rollercoaster of. You know, an actual rollercoaster. I can trust them on the roller coaster of life and the rollercoaster of business. And so I got off that bear mountain ride for the second time fired up. And I was like, all right, Lord, I got this, I'm all yours. I'm gonna take this obedience and availability thing to the next level. Well, at this point, I had lost my teamies because I, you know, chosen to, to hang out with Sarah's family. And so I was all by myself and they were fine with me going and finding my team. But of course I'm like, okay, I have 45 options for who to come. Hang out with right now. Not to mention. It doesn't even have to just be my team. Right. I had met some amazing close sideline sisters. And so I [00:27:00] literally said a prayer. I was, I was just kind of walking me, wandering through the park by myself. I was like, Lord. Just show me who you want. B to hang out with, show me who is the next person that I'm going to ride a ride with and which ride and all the things. And if it's, if it's Eagle it's Eagle, like just, just tell me what to do. I'm I'm all yours. So all of a sudden I see two of my sideline sisters and I was like, oh, okay. Well, great. You know, they're, they're fun. I haven't gotten to know them as well. Let me, let me pop over there. Well come to find out they were with my, one of my suite teams, Liz, who's an amazing leader, ~um, ~who qualified for this trip? Who happens to be diabetic? And she's not just like a little bit diabetic, like she's got the, I can't remember what it's called the. I don't even know what it is anyway. She's, it's like a serious thing that she's had since she was eight or 10, somewhere in there. And so she being a diabetic and this is actually a really cool thing that Dollywood does. She not only herself gets to go to the front of the lines, but she can invite five [00:28:00] of her friends that are with her family, along with her. Well, so I meet up with them and they're like, Heather, ~we,~ we have two more spots in our group. If you want to just hop with us, we're going to go ride this mine. I don't know what it was called. Magic mountain, mine, something I don't even know we're going to go ride this ride. And I was like, okay, I'd love to I'm all in. I don't know what that ride looks like, but, or what it is, but I'm in. So we walk over to this ride, the magic mountain, whatever it's called and I can take one, look at it. And I'm like, no, this ride is going to be terrifying. It's like the whole thing is those like scary drops. It's this like rickety thing I call Colleen. And I'm like, where are you? Do you want to come ride this thing with us?
Cause we have one more open spot and she's like, no, um, you. I'm with, with some of my other teammates right now. ~Um, ~she's like, but by the way, that ride is terrible. I don't read that anyway. She's like, if you do ride it, make sure to like put your head back so it doesn't get knocked around. And so I was like, okay. I'm like, well, Lord. If these girls want to go on this ride and this is where you've put me, I'm going to do it, even if it's [00:29:00] not been. So we get up there, we get. Well, we didn't really have to wait in line on that one. So we get out there and I can see that the very first thing is a drop. So we get in there there's four people to, ~um,~ to a row. And there are a few of us we're on our row and a few of us were in the next row. And I haven't had an empty seat next to me and y'all, I'm not kidding. I tried to hold my one team's hand, like to the right, but she's like, I got to hold on. I got to hold on. I was like, okay, fair enough. So I'm like clutching on and I'm like, okay, Jesus, I'm just going to pretend that you are sitting in the seat next to me, because I know I don't want to do this, but I know that you were with me and I know that I'm not going to die. And it's all going to be okay. And off we go and we go down this like horrific. I don't even know how long it lasted, but that ride was not fun. But I realized, and this is another lesson. And I feel like this is a, is a big take home and life and business that there are some times in this leadership journey or in life where you're going to have to do things that you don't want to do. And you're just going to have to trust that the Lord is with you right there next to you.
And that he's not going [00:30:00] to let you fall, even if it feels like you're falling. And even if it's not fun. But not every part of our life or of our business is going to be fun. And I think that that ride and, and me sort of trusting the Lord to get me through ~all the, ~all the hard things, all the, all the fun things, all of the things, basically, I think that was him in that moment telling me, like, I just need you to trust me.
Okay. So we can off the ride. And guess where the group with all the tickets wants to go. The Eagle, the wild Eagle. And I was like, Okay, Lord. I think this means I have to do it. I think, I think this is it. I think I've got to just, I've just got to do it. I said, but I told Colleen that I wanted her to go with me. And so I call her again and she's like, oh, I don't, you know, I really don't want to be rude and leave this group. And I text her back and I'm like, you tell him out. But she said, sh they were headed there. That's what she said. She was like, we're also headed to ride there, but we'll wait in the line.
It's fine. And we still had that one extra spot to kind of skip to the front. And so I texted her back and I said, Colleen, [00:31:00] I want you to trust me. I really want you to come with me. I know that you're meant to ride this ride with me. And so she gets there. I grabbed her hand. I of course talked to, you know, cause they were my TV's too. And so I talked to him and I was like, guys, I know this sounds really weird. And I'm so sorry that I'm stealing her from you and also singling her out.
But. I need her right now. Trust me. The Lord's telling me I need her and they know me and my heart well enough to know that I don't think that they were upset. I hope that I'm really sorry, girls, if you are, but I knew that this is what needed to happen. So I grabbed Coleen's hand. We go and we go to the front of the line and we're standing there and you guys, we had the most amazing conversation and I cannot wait to interview her and share her story on this podcast coming up very soon. Cause you will love hearing all this from ~her, ~her words. But I walked her through why it was so important to me to ride this particular ride and why I felt called to soar in my business. And she asked me right then and there she said, what does that mean? Like what, ~what,~ what do you feel like. The Lord is calling you to soar. Like, what is his purpose [00:32:00] for you? And she asked me that deep question, and I'm actually going to be answering that question on next week's hundredth episode. Where I'm so excited to be sharing. You know, just the deeper side of what this podcast means to me and the deeper side to my faith journey, coupled along with that. So stay tuned for the answer to her question, but I just, I told her just, ~you know, that, ~that I knew that this was an example of me trusting the Lord to guide me and carry me through this business and that I was grateful to be doing it alongside her. So here we got, we get on that. We get on the rollercoaster we're front row, front row of this Eagle ride. And we're holding hands and right away, just like on that little baby dragon fly one. What she had told me, she was like, that's kind of the junior version of this ride. So if you didn't like that, she's like, just get ready to drop is pretty crazy. So all of a sudden we start off in it, it starts with what? The anticipation, the like quick, quick, [00:33:00] quick, the slow thing, it feels like we're going straight up, straight up, like, I mean, high into the sky. And then we get right on like the top. I mean, we're so far above the entire park and we get all the way at the top. And we're looking down and I tried to close my eyes and she looks at me and she's like, Heather, open your eyes. You need to see what the Lord has for you in this. And I was like, okay. And so I opened my eyes just as, about the time that we start, like diving down, like restoring on an Eagle and yeah, it was, it was. Terry, I'm not going to lie. That was definitely the kind of drop that I don't love. It's definitely. Actually she said afterwards, we saw a little t-shirt and it said it was the steepest drop in that park. And probably one of the steepest drops of ~any, ~any coasters. I'll have to look that up. But after we got through that steep decline, it took off into just the most fun, like flying experience. And again, I just felt filled with the holy spirit and filled with the Lord's grace and mercy and joy and [00:34:00] all of the things. By just trusting him in that experience and the feeling that I felt when I got done with it wasn't necessarily that I was ready to ride it again, though. I cannot wait to go back there. Maybe with my daughter who now is starting to like roller coasters or maybe bring some more teams back there in the future, because it was such a great success. But it just showed me that if we just stay walking in obedience with the Lord and we stay available to the direction that he gives to us, he could have something for us that might seem really, really scary and really crazy at the time or impossible because multiple people, after they found out I went on ~that, um, that,~ that rollercoaster, they were like, wait, what?
I thought you didn't like roller coasters and you went on the Telus one in the park. Like, are you crazy? And I was like, that's how God works. That's. All I'm saying, cause he, he completely transformed my heart from sadness. To fear, to joy, to terror. To just the utter elation that happens when [00:35:00] we just like trust him on surrender to him. And I wrote down as I was preparing for this, that I th you know, the freedom is my word of the year. And I think that what I experience was. Instead of the fear of the fall. I think I experienced the freedom of the fall. And that was just such a beautiful example of just what it looks like to let the Lord carry us through our life and our business. And so I know that that was a really long story to share my experience at Dollywood and share my experience of the retreat. But if you've made it this far and you're listening. To my story. Just know that the Lord is calling you into the exact same experience and it might not be easy. It might not always be fun. There probably will be some hard things in your business and in your life. But if you just trust him, if you just lock your eyes on him, if you. Accept him as your savior and are given that gift of the holy spirit that we'll talk [00:36:00] about more in the next week's episode. And you just watch how he shows up and guides you and your business. My friend, you two can soar on wings like Eagles, and there is absolutely nothing better in this world or on this earth until we get to eternity and be able to spend the rest of our time with him. So thank you guys for listening to my story and listening to this podcast. Thank you so much for your support of the podcast and reaching a hundred episodes next week. I'm so excited and don't forget that you can enter my giveaway to get $500 in free makeup for you. 500 for a friend, along with all kinds of advent. Goal-setting all the things it's like over. I think almost like $1,500 worth of stuff by texting the word gift away.
G I F T a w a Y to myself, 9 1 2 4 0 5 8 9 1 2. And it'll walk you through the next. Steps in order to be entered. And it's totally free. And open to any of you guys who are [00:37:00] listening and I'll announce the ~Um, ~in a few weeks, on a later podcast as well. So thank you guys so much for everything. And I can't wait for episode a hundred next week. Bye.
