SPEAKER_02 0:00

Here comes the Sun do. Here comes the Sunday. It's all right. Hello, Fortitude audience. Thank you so much for being here. We are in season two. Yes. Season two excited about this. My name is Heather Kittelson, and I am your host sitting here with my husband Amos. Hello. And we have our new awesome employee. It's fun to say employee. Jill. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. I just picked up Jill at the airport in a thunderstorm. That was fun.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

God moves in storms. So as soon as you texted me, it was rolling in. We said, All right, God's ready to move.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

It was all three of the girls were in the car and they're like, Mom, is she gonna make it through the clouds? Is the lightning gonna hit them? So we prayed on the interstate. Oh. And even Stella said, Did you hear when we picked you up? She said, Mom. Or she said to you, she said, Mom, prayed for you as we were arriving through the storm, making sure you made it safe.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

That was so beautiful. That was sweet. I felt those prayers coming in.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

That's a good analogy, too. God he moves through storms, right? He's above storms. But and anytime I see a really powerful storm, I think that's just a small fraction of what he did, and just shows how big and powerful he really is. Just a little like a little fraction of what he can do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Just recently I heard how the Holy Spirit moves in the wind. So here in South Dakota, there's a lot of wind because the plane. So every time it was windy when I was here and I was biking to work, I was like, well, the Holy Spirit's moving.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Oh, Jill, but you were biking in ice. You weren't biking through warm.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

You were biking through winter. How did you do that? I guess a little context for everybody. I moved here in that was October, and no car, no money, but my but a sister, a loving sister, who took me in and I got a job right away at a restaurant. Shout out to Rome Kitchen and Bar. Yeah here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And uh, you know, I a bike is great transportation, you know, it really humbled me.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

For who? Let's talk through the winter of South Dakota. A bike is not the right tour, just not the right sort of transportation.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

From no, no, from like November through March, no.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

But you did it. You were I so Jill, I met you through Kate, and I just I just have to say, Kate, Kate's been such a blessing in my life meeting her and through one of our previous, oh, Steve. Steve also is an employee in of South of um Sybalk Technologies, and um, there's a whole lot there. But I will tell you, the minute that I started the boundaries course and you joined, and Kate was joined, and I got the opportunity to meet you, I thought, whoa, there is something here. And it's not only that you're because you're not from here, so you're you're different in a beautiful way. You're all of like all there's three sisters, so Jill, Kate, and Ellen, and we have three little girls. So I got the opportunity to kind of like sit back as a mom and see Kate and see you and think, man, I'm so pumped to be a mom of three little girls. Because the three of you have this unique dynamic of sisters, you're all different. And so once you and I got to know each other, I thought, I want Jill. I don't know what this is. I have no idea what this is gonna consist of, but here we are. How many months later? You've now moved away. Yes. And you're a part of Fortitude. Why did you want to be a part of Fortitude? Let's start out there.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

It was a divine appointment for sure by the Lord, because the moment I met you when I stepped in that boundaries class, I was also like, whoa, this is a powerful woman of faith. And I knew God was moving through you. And I I what I haven't told you is probably for the past two years, I've been praying for a woman mentor in all areas, uh, you know, career, faith, just everyday living. And I was like, I I looked into, you know, paying for one, but I was always just like, Lord, please bring me an amazing woman. And so when I first met you, I was like, oh wow, she she impacts lives and she'd be a cool person to be a mentor. But then just throughout the 12 weeks, we got to know each other, and then I God spoke to me and you know, had me move down to Tampa, Florida. And it was when I decided to move that we decided to start working together. And I think you said, like you found out I did social media and marketing, and you were like, hold on, I've been praying for someone to do our marketing. And so and I had been praying for a job beyond just waitressing.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

And so you are far beyond my reach in my brain, right? So this is how good God is. Because when you're in my classes, like, gosh, if we could, I don't know how to make this work, but if we could, maybe God, like, come on, couldn't we? And I talked to Amos about it, and I thought, no, it's not gonna work. And then everything came together and it was this huge, huge explosion. And every single piece of social media that you're putting out there, I cry. I literally sit and watch it and I watch it over and over again. I'm like, she's got free reign to do what God has called her to do, a part of something bigger than all of us. So this isn't about Amos, not about me, it's not about you. It's about God's plan for every single person that gets to come and be a part of what God is doing through fortitude and through the stories and through the messaging. And so when you say, like, I wanted to pay for a mentor, instead, now we're paying you to be so, dude, you just that's perfect, right? Yes. Love that. Um, I want to know more about you though. Like, let's tell the audience about Jill. Who are you and where do you come from? And obviously, you have sisters, uh-huh. And I want to hear about your dad. Like, you went through a huge, crazy awesome journey. So share a little bit more about Jill.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with the Lord just blessed me with an awesome family, parents who just loved us and nurtured us. And one of the things I'm most grateful for my parents is that we traveled. You know, a lot of people say, well, we'll wait until the kids are older so that they can remember. It's like, I remember going to actually the Badlands when I was, you know, six years old. And so all the traveling is, I think, what's really shaped me and has made me so excited to go out into the world. I see a lot of people scared to just like travel by themselves or go go move somewhere. But I believe because of my upbringing, I'm like, let's go. So you grew very adventurous.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Yes. That's something that I love about you. You just roll with it. And all the stuff that I see with what you're doing right now, even down in Florida, I'm like, man, she is just loving life.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Life's an adventure. God gave us this beautiful earth, and I think we're meant to explore it. People don't though. Right. People are scared too.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

So you started early with your parents like just putting you and immersing you into that.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yeah. And then it was 2015, and my father was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. And so I didn't even really know what that meant at that age because I was in the middle of volleyball and boys and high school and all the things. Um, but we had another year and a half with him. He went a holistic route rather than the chemo. What does that mean? It was the Gerson therapy. So it was just changing his diet, doing coffee enemas, juicing. So just changing lifestyle rather than going in the medical route and you know, doing the traditional um chemo and radiation, which is really hard on people. And um why?

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Can I ask why? Because I think both your parents are doc doctors. Piropractic. Yep. Yep. So is that the reason behind that?

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Is them knowing there is an alternative? For sure. Yeah. My grandma went through the Gerson therapy. So I think it's just been in our family, just holistic health. Like I always think back to the Garden of Eden, or just even the last since humanity started, you know, it's like we didn't have hospitals and we didn't have all the pills and drugs and all the treatments. So what did we have? We had food, fruits, vegetables, the sun, you know, water, and that's how people live. That's how we're still here today. So I think God's given us everything we need to live a healthy, abundant life. And, you know, things in our culture have tried to change that because we're not a culture who's puts God first. So for me and my family, it's comes down to like, what has God given us to live a healthy life? And like, how can we just keep it as simple as possible? Now he didn't recover from that, but it g still gave him an extra year and a half. And it was a beautiful rest of time, you know. He didn't spend it in the hospital getting chemo treatments. And I know that works for some people, and that's fine, but that's just what we chose. And we were still traveling, and you know, he went out in a beautiful way, and now he's up there with our creator, and we're so thrilled about that.

unknown 9:45

Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

It's so good to I'm happy to hear about it, even if the outcome wasn't what really what you were hoping for. But it's good to know great for our audience to know that there are alternatives to research like this Gerson therapy. Yeah. You said it gave him a an extended uh quality of life over time versus what chemo can really do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

People just need to know there's options, you know, eating well, changing your diet, that doesn't cost a lot of money. And so the pharma's not making much money from you just changing your lifestyle habits. So it's not always advertised that way. Like my dad, when he was diagnosed, his doctor told him, like, okay, obviously we recommend the chemo and radiation, but they were friends. So on the side, he was like, I wouldn't do that if I were you. But it had to be hush hush.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Isn't that something? Yeah. Um I'm just recently heard about uh this uh a lot of research into microplastics. Um 99% of the population in the world has microplastics in their in their tissues. Yeah. And it's it's the it's like the bittersweet of industrialization. Industrialization is great. There are some side effects to it, and then we're trying to still learn how to deal with those. And there's our two sides to that coin. Like this this Gersen therapy is a natural way where you take out some of the things that come with industrialization, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:06

And with that Gersin therapy, they're actually located in Tijuana, Mexico, which is right over the border, the California border, because it's illegal to just promote uh you know holistic treatment, which is crazy. It's wild. If anyone likes going down rabbit holes, that's that's a good one to guide.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

I just am I am like I don't even know what to say about that. Because that just seems silly to me. Because we're so quick to plug in our bodies to s a machine or to chemicals or to whatever to try to to kill a cancer. Yeah. Um man I what was it like for you guys and your for your sisters to to watch your dad go through this?

SPEAKER_01 11:50

It was difficult, but at the same time he made it like still fun. You know, he he knew he was going and my mom knew, but there was no fear in the house. There was no like, oh, your dad's, you know, going through a rough time or anything. It was just like life went on as normal and we were still traveling. And so, but he he was also preparing us, you know, for when he did go. And he, I remember he told us, keep living, you know, like I don't want you to be all depressed and you know, just hide away in the house. Like there's so much life to live. And so my mom has really embodied that, and people are always like, Oh, you're poor mom, all alone. She's doing amazing, you know, she has three daughters and she loves pouring into us, but also because dad left her in a great place, you know, financially and just told her, like, keep living life. So that's something I just carry with me all the time. I'm like, yeah, it's sad I lost my dad at 15, but I'm I'm just grateful I had him for 15 years. I could have lost him when I was two, or they could have gotten divorced. Or so I'm just grateful for the time I had.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Yeah, that's a good attitude.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

It is.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

He showed you how to live life to the with abundance, which is a lot of what we talk about on fortitude. And that is no matter what kind of adversity you're going through, and no matter what kind of situation, we we have the opportunity to live life one or two ways. And that is to glorify God in every situation, even through the pain, or we can go hide in a dark place. And a lot of times how we lead as a parent is so important. Like, look at you. You're 10 years now, right? Because 15 and now 25. It's like you have 10 years of showing dad here on earth, like, dad, thank you. Yes, you gave me a life that is so full and beautiful. And you're living it. And so when you get to heaven, you get to like high five nucks, like a huge hug and say, thank you, dad. Right. That's really strange.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

And even during the difficult seasons, like my season here in Sioux Falls was difficult because I was biking every day in the cold. But I always just remember dad had so many stories of just crazy, weird, stupid stuff that happened. So on many of these bike. Well, like when they were in he was in Alaska and he was on a fishing boat with all of these Japanese people and just, you know, he couldn't speak the language, he didn't understand what they were saying. Um, but gosh, like he just made the best of it, even though they were in storms and he's around all these like Japanese people, and they were making him food, and he said it just tasted horrible. But like it made it made a group for great stories. Why was he on a boat? He was doing he was fishing. Just fish he was on a trip. Yeah, I mean he was getting paid for, I forget his exact title, but like he was on there for months.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Wow. Yeah. So just every every time he went on these adventures, he'd come home and he'd tell you.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Well, so that was before you were born. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

But just stories from his past. So now every time I'm going through something difficult, I'm like, well, this is another story. Like I'll be telling this story. And so even now, just a couple months later, I'm already telling people, like, oh my gosh, I was biking through the snow and the ice. And in the moment, it was horrible, it was rough. But now it's like, hey, yeah, it's just another story.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

I remember when you would show up at class and you'd have your, she wore a bike helmet, which is safety percussion. I don't even put a bike helmet on. We don't do bike helmets even on our kids, which but it's like you show up and you whip off and you're sweating, and you'd sit down and you would just be like, okay, I'm ready. I'm ready to learn. I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to learn. And yet, like I could just see this like you're just the most eager, thirsty. Well, you probably were pretty thirsty after going through all what you went through. But it was like you just sit down and you were so excited to just take it all in. Yeah. And that comes through a lot of like what your dad taught you and your mom. Yeah. And your sisters. Yeah. What's your favorite stories about your sisters?

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

Beyond the because I have three older brothers, so I understand that being the youngest is a bit much.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

But we grew up on two acres and we loved the show Little House on the Prairie. Of course, the three sisters. We still watch it. Yes. We do. So wholesome. But they would always make me be Carrie, the youngest, as I was the youngest, but with that came doing all the things they didn't want to do, like collecting the wood and building the shelter. So just as the youngest, I definitely always got picked on, as many can relate. But did you guys grow you say two acres? So what was your what was your homestead like? Garden. Then it would range between flowers and vegetables, but just so much running around, you know, barefoot. Um the you know the concept of grounding. Like uh when you put your bare feet on the earth, there's you know electricity running through the earth. So we get a lot of benefits from that in our bodies. And so I grew up grounding, not even knowing it. So gosh, if if everyone could just put their bare feet on the earth like for just five minutes a day, I think we'd be a lot more healthy society.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Tough to do in a foot of snow around.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Yeah.

unknown 17:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

But right now we I mean, we were just up on the road up there taking a picture of the the landscape of the storm. It was like the whole horizon and the girls are in the mud. Or my three little girls are in the mud tracking it through the van, which is not that's a whole different thing. But it's like the mud, playing in the mud, the earth, the earthworms, just all of it. We need to get, we need to get back to that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

And for even people in cities, like at least most cities I know of have parks, you know, they may be small, but like I lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a bit, and you know, I was in the concrete jungle, but I still made sure I got to parks and you know got my bare feet on the ground. So there's always ways to get to nature, I think, which is where God intends us to be, at least for some of the time.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

You were an old soul. Does that does that resonate with you? Can I say that you're an old soul? I think so. What does it mean to you? What's your definition of it? You're you're beyond your years. Like when I think of an old soul, it's almost like God has given us Amos and I we'll talk about this often about emotional intelligence. And we have we have so many things that we get to learn and that we get to that it's right at our fingertips, right? Like we we get to take in stuff and we get to pour in, we get to be be poured into and pour out. Um there are certain people who just have this ability of since they were little, little, little, they have taken in and they have so much to give. And so the old soul perspective is like you just have so much some substance beyond your ears that you don't even have to open your mouth, it just comes out of your eyeballs.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

That makes no sense.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

That doesn't resonate with you. Audience, come on, you don't come out of my eyeballs anymore. It is you just have this beautiful, there's depth. There's depth to you beyond your like what what someone would say for you, like looking at you like you're a 25, 25-year-old beautiful woman. But there's there's depth to you that that goes beyond that. So that's what I that's an old soul. Like there's just beauty, beauty beyond the earthly. Thank you, Father. Yeah. Well, that's the whole thing. Even though it didn't make a lot of sense, don't you? That's the Holy Spirit right there. Yeah. Thank you. That's what I was getting at.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

You know, I was just thinking about this over the past couple days, um, just reflecting over my life and how the Holy Spirit's been covering me. And I'm like, that's from I don't know who's been praying for me. Like, definitely my mom and who knows who else in my life has been covering me. And I've just recently started praying for my future kids and you know, their spouses and their parents. And I'm like, whoa, and that's all been the Lord just downloading that into me. Like, start praying for your kids, even if I don't have them for another six years. I'm like, I want like God has big plans for my kids. I know it. And you know, whether they step into that or not, but I think he has plans for everyone, but it's whether we take that step.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

What do you think God asks you to pray for things from him? What do you think that is? You see the conundrum? He's like, He's God, he knows your future.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

And he goes, I want you to pray for this.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Like he can make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

He doesn't need you to pray for it, he could.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

So why does he ask it?

SPEAKER_01 20:59

I think he wants us to acknowledge it because he knows what we need, but sometimes we don't even know what we need. Like this past year of my life was very difficult just from previous financial choices I made. And then I had a lot of pride the last couple years, and I needed a season of humbling. Like he humbled me this past year. And when I moved here or moved out of here, Dimitri asked, What's one word to describe your time in South Dakota? And I said, humbling. Really? And uh he helped me realize it in that moment too, because I could have taken the attitude of like, This sucks. I don't have a car, I don't have money, I'm biking to this job. But he was like, No, I'm working through this. And I think also it wasn't it was also listening to podcasts and sermons and hearing it from other people. Like, I think we need to be fed from other Holy Spirit. led people because a lot of these thoughts and ideas of like, hey, God is actually working through this season of difficulty and he's priming you for something bigger, I wouldn't have noticed, you know, been aware of that if I hadn't been listening and taking in what other people were sharing with me.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Dimitri is the guy that you're dating right now. Yes. That's what it what an interesting way to describe your time in in South Dakota's humbling. It's how would you describe yourself before and after the humbling period? Like your relationship with Christ and your relationship with other people.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

I feel I I've only started my relationship with the Lord personally just about a year ago. I grew up in the church, grew up around Christians, Christian school, Christian college. But uh you know, like I said, I had a lot of pride because I was I was trying to do my own business, like a network marketing thing. And I was like, I can do it all and you know I never need to work for anyone and you know and while that was good for some aspects I wasn't ready for it. And the Lord definitely showed me that really quickly, which I'm grateful that I didn't continue on for years. Like he was like time to move on. What was the question again?

SPEAKER_02 23:16

In that same mindset You answered it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Yeah like what would just how did you what did it what did that humbling period do to you with relationship with friends and in Christ.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

So it was during that period I was like gosh I'm I'm just doing my own thing and I was like God I need you like over the past couple years I'd I'd wanted a relationship with him but I wasn't putting in the time like for a relationship to work with your spouse with a friend there needs to be communication on both sides and it takes intentional time. And so I it was last year during Lent and actually my cousin suggested it. She's like instead of giving up something why don't you commit to doing something every day so I said all right I'm gonna commit at least 10 minutes to spent with the Lord every single morning. And so I had a devotion and I was like all right Lord let's start doing this and starting the morning out with him is just it's changed my life it's I actually have a relationship with him now which I didn't best thing ever.

unknown 24:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

There's no other way I want to start my morning. Yeah. Five, five, five thirty sometimes sleeping is great, but the when you like oh just spending that time with God and how he speaks yeah go there because he spoke to you and he said you need to leave South Dakota and you need to go to Florida. And that wasn't something that you had expected to hear from him. Right. So talk about when you heard that because when you when you told me about that I was like I know you're going where I just met you. Hold on. But it was beautiful how it happened.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Yeah well I was planning to stay in South Dakota for at least a year. I couldn't wait for the summer here and you know go to the Badlands. But I got really sick out of out of nowhere and I usually don't get sick. So when that happened and I couldn't go to work and so I was like okay I know that God's trying to talk to me through this. So instead of just putting on Netflix or just bumming around it's like let me just sit here and I feel horrible but what is he trying to say?

SPEAKER_00 25:18

You interpreted a physical feeling as God trying to tell you something.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Yeah. And not only just a physical feeling you were full on your body was purging talk like toxic I didn't come to class that you did not yeah no he was like you're gonna sit there and you know if you're willing to I will speak to you.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

And um so Dimitri, my boyfriend of three years, he had moved to Florida two months earlier and I helped him move but I felt no desire to go there. I was like okay have fun, you know, I'll come visit. But then when I was back here and I was down and out it just I was on the phone with Dimitri and I was crying. I was like I feel horrible and it just came to me like I never hear God's audible voice. I don't know how many people do but for me it's just like a thought comes into my head and no it's not yours.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

It's not mine. That's the difference. People will say how do you how do you hear God? How do you know? I say I don't hear audible I just know that when I hear specific things it's not my own thought. Right. I know it's coming from the Lord. So same. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

But that takes sitting and listening to and just felt so clearly and I just spoke it out loud said Dimitri, I think I need to move to Florida. And he he was like okay let's make it happen. I was like I don't have money I don't have a place to stay but I think I need to move and he's like yeah okay let's do it. Yeah so a week later I I moved I packed one suit it literally was one week.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

Yeah it's just like a week out of nowhere yeah she didn't even she just told the whole group she's like I'm out I'm God I I gotta go I'm moving.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

It's funny because I'm I'm sitting here thinking I remember when I was on the beach in Florida and God said you need to move back to South Dakota and it was November and I went oh really but I did 30 days later I was here and I met Heather four months later. So it's like it pays to obey he's got a plan for you. Right like that was probably a scary thing for you. Yeah I mean you're you're adventurous you're like an adventure you probably like new things.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

But so that's a I mean that's a massive change leaving a behind a big chunk of your life that you try where you try to make something I had just started an amazing community with Heather and the boundaries class and you're with Kate your sister you're living here. It's like I I finally started like building some income and had money coming in and then it was like okay are we really going to start over?

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Change the plan.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Yeah we are just basically he's got really he's really got something great yeah for you and bravo to you for just obeying and saying okay Lord I know fine fine I'll move to Florida it's just hot and there's all these old people that's literally what I thought and I I'm very wrong. I was very wrong.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

It's yeah because Florida's wonderful you stumbled into a beautiful group of women when you called me that day I just I went thank you Jesus thank you thank you thank you because moving there it was that whole hesit hesitation of oh I don't know it's a whole it's a whole new world yes I have Dimitri but Dimitri is on the the it can we talk about where what Dmitri does because he's not around much.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

He travels a lot he's on Donald Trump's advanced team so anywhere before there's a rally or a financing event he's there the week before getting it all ready for him.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Yeah like prepping it getting secret service I mean he's doing all the details which there's a lot when you have a president or coming in I mean he was the president a lot of logistics. A lot of logistics so he's not around much. So literally you were throwing yourself into a world that is completely unknown and you stumbled into a group of women so to that that story I love. So go ahead share that because that's a fun, fun thing.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Something else I'd been praying for years besides the mentor was a group of solid women. I have some solid friends I was like God I just need I need some women of faith around me. And so leaving the boundaries women I was like gosh I just made all these friends but then it was a week after I got to Tampa and I've been praying like all right Lord please bring me some awesome women and I was walking around Dimitri's apartment complex and I just I was in the clubhouse just exploring and I stumbled upon some groups meeting and they were talking about God and they were talking about the Bible and they were talking about something that I had just been praying about actually. And so I just stood there like in the shadows and I was just listening to them. I was like whoa God like what is this? And then they finished I said hey guys uh like who are you? And they're like oh we're the local you know church and and it was a bunch of 20 20 to 30 year olds and they're like yeah we meet here once a week I'm like oh my gosh I'm gonna 20 to 30 year olds yeah which you're 25 smack in the middle every ethnicity I saw a picture uh that you had sent me and it was like the world was represented in that photo.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Yeah very diverse group of women just full on women who love the Lord and who were fellowshipping with one another and there was not a single thing in that beyond like the smiles and the joy and everything that was pouring out as like thank you Jesus for delivering these women like you just showed up and you're just outside this conference room and you're listening to them right speak about the Lord. You know that that doesn't this is I guess a lot of times I will say it doesn't just happen. There are certain it just doesn't happen by chance. When you pray and you obey like you have said so many times when you listen and you pray and you obey God just you don't you do stumble like up into things that you're like whoa I prayed for this like thank you Lord because that happened to you. Yeah and it happened again when you were serving you're in a serving job and now you ended like there's just there's so many things and I'm just so proud of you because at age 25 I wasn't listening. I wasn't obeying and you're doing that and so it's really fun to just watch what the Lord is doing through you and and through fortitude through you. Because selfishly it's fabulous so thank you Kate Kate shout out to Kate Kate's sister who has introduced me to you because I just we are completely reaping the benefits of your social media stuff that you're that you're pushing out. It's really cool. It's fun to fun to be a part of your world and you to be a part of our world what's your favorite thing that's gonna happen for Fortitude like what are your plans? I keep thinking like I just we give you full reign. And we're like Jill what do you got?

SPEAKER_01 31:56

I am really excited to highlight all these different stories because at first I was thinking gosh these people they're all talking about something very different. Like I personally can't relate to alcoholism or you know um drug abuse but just because I can't doesn't mean someone else you know so at first that was a challenge for me like well how do I get all these stories and what audience do I pick but then I realized what a blessing it is to be able to share all these different stories. And so finding creative ways to get the message out to the people that need to hear it. And now every time I make a piece of content I'm just like Lord whoever this content is for just bless the work and let it get on their screen.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

What for for someone I mean we're 44 and 45 and so social media 45 and a half. Yeah he rounds up because he's so proud he's proud to be old it's awesome we we just like I look at ministry as such a powerful way um to love on others and to to to be the hands and the feet right and you look at social media in all the different ways so from the younger generation to the older social media is looked at as a as a negative it really is and I I will hear all the time it is how we use it right and it is a matter of the overconsumption or the what you're allowing to enter into your eyeballs into your brain and all the things right social media can be a beautiful thing. Oh man like I'm I'm watching the the content that you're pushing out and it really is beautiful. So from a 25 year old to a 45 year old to a 65 year old to whoever is out there listening and watching what would you suggest is the best way to utilize social media because you're because you're younger and it can be I look at 16 year old Jacob it can be you it can be used, abused and done the wrong way, but what is the best way to use social media?

SPEAKER_01 34:10

First of all purge you're following we're all following people that we don't need to follow or we met them one time and it's like just purge it. They won't take it personally it's okay. And even I unfollowed so many influencers who are saying great things but I'm like I only have so much mental space that I can allow stuff to come in. So I many times go through who I'm following and I'm very intentionally like do I want to see this content every day or is this helping me? Is it impacting me? Does it make me feel worse about myself? Does it make me feel worse about the world? And if it does I just unfollow and then you never think about it again.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

Like pay attention to the in like the way that you are physically feeling when you see it, correct? Yeah like that's what you're saying. When you see a message or you see someone does it make you feel ick, right?

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Or good and you're you're talking about specifically the the insta Instagram is that what you're talking about different than a friend's feed and the feed you have when you unfollow someone you just you stop seeing their I think content on Instagram right? Is that what you're referring to?

SPEAKER_01 35:15

More well I mean with all the social platforms though I mean I think if you're talking about like Facebook and feeds I think you don't have to unfriend them but you don't have to see their content.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

Because even on the X It's so hard for me to call X, but Twitter X, like you can un just I don't want to follow just I don't want to see that. I don't want to hear about this I don't want to like anything that it doesn't set right in your heart. Right. And it isn't even about controversy. It's more about if there's let's I mean let's just be real sexual content or someone you're following that wears too much and you're someone who's struggling with pornography issues or whatever. It's like you just nope done. Unfollow un unwatch because we we get inundated with so many there's so many different people and you keep following following following because you're like oh that one was good.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

So that's a I like that just purge purge and there can be anxiety as your thumb holds over that follow to unfollow button but I would say just pray for self-awareness like God help me be self-aware enough to know that this isn't for me and just to unfill it is there a little FOMO there like fear of missing out on the one post that that person might have an impact on you.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

But truth is the chance the odds are pretty pretty low.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Yeah so just purge say so just approach it yeah it's good advice what else is there more or is that the big one do that and everything will be better.

SPEAKER_02 36:41

Yeah well I hear that all the time actually so it's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Yeah thank you for saying that about how about turn off notifications yeah for your social media for sure you do not need that thing trying to grab your c your attention all the time um just make them silent or make or just turn them off.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Right. And this is a big one I think everyone knows, but maybe we don't always do it is you don't go on social media as soon as you wake up and right before you go to sleep. You just the that's why starting the day off with the Lord like my alarm is uh Psalm 23 from I think it's Elevation Worship like my alarms are worship songs so that I wake up praising God and I don't go on that phone until you know later in the day. I usually don't go on social media till the afternoon but starting the day off right is huge.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

So Jill for someone who doesn't know the Lord who has no idea where to begin you're you're in a whole different world of being in this younger beautiful generation that is a perfect example of how to start your day. Started out with what you just said there's a lot of people who are not who are starving for something. Can you give just an example of something else you do besides spending time with the Lord because a lot of people don't even know how to spend time with the Lord. They don't own a Bible they have a lot of social media right can you just give one one or two things that for someone who is just starving for something what what is it?

SPEAKER_01 38:20

I would say get out in the sun like get outside I just put posted something yesterday I was just out on the water paddleboarding and just the sunset on the waves and I was just like that's the Holy Spirit and I think he really moves through his creation. So if you don't know God if you're uncomfortable with starting a relationship with him just but you're curious just get outside and just talk to him like a person because that that's how he wants us to communicate you know I just like God here's where I'm at I'm struggling with this and this I am nowhere close to being a good Christian but it's like he he doesn't want us to be perfect or have everything fixed. In fact he loves when we're broken that's who that's his favorite people you know because he wants to come and help us and love on us. And you know not everything's gonna change right away but that's the beauty in the journey you know just just surrendering like God here's my mess and I know something probably needs to change so where can we start?

SPEAKER_02 39:25

Meet me. Yeah meet me here like just in let him come because he's already there with you like we're just here I am and I surrender all the minute you surrender is the minute that he's like yes yeah thank you now I get to do my work yeah the work that he is called to do within every single one of us as his children. Yeah yeah that's good thank you for that what else do you got Amos anything any other questions for Miss Jill? No thank you. This has been so good is there any last things that you like just want to say to the world to our audience who is over I mean there's so many things going on all over the world. Yeah and um you just have a you have a beautiful platform that you're gonna continue to speak into but yeah is there anything else that you'd like to I invite everyone to reach out to us.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

A lot of the stories we have on Fortitude they're people going through some crazy things but you don't have to have you know lost all of your family or be struggling with a crazy disease to have a story. So just reach out to us and start a conversation and see what fruit God brings from that.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Yeah Jill's available which is fun. So send send messages reach out through Instagram or through Facebook like us follow us.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

Yeah and if there's any specific topic you want to hear let us know. We we're we want to put out content that our our followers and even if they're not following following us how it can help them. This isn't that's something I love about working with you two is you're just led by the Holy Spirit and where he's prompting you and you don't have an agenda of something you're trying to push out. You guys don't even you've turned away advertisers. So yeah you know there's no any this is all possible because of you know the generosity of people and so I would say the best way our followers can help us is just by sharing it with someone else. If you know someone who has Parkinson's even if you didn't listen to the whole episode because it didn't relate to you share it to someone who has Parkinson's or who is a family member with Parkinson's or yeah whatever episode resonates with you just or to someone you know share it.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

And if you do have a story and you're really really feeling prompted to share it, reach out to us because we'd love to hear it. Yes we'd love to share it. So thank you. Thank you Jill it's so fun to have you here.

SPEAKER_00 41:57

Thanks for being here appreciate it we want to change lives through this podcast. And if you want to support this podcast or our guests please see the links below for our Patreon and giving links and like and subscribe and also share our podcast as much as possible.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

Thank you