Heavy week. It's been a heavy week. There's a lot going on around the world. There already was. There always will be. There's always going to be something heavy. Whether it's around the world, whether it's in your personal life, whether it's in your spirit. Now, what I'm specifically referring to in this podcast episode is the wildfire crisis that's currently happening in LA. And I want to talk about why I'm bringing this up. The first reason why is because I live in LA. So I'm getting up close and personal perspective on what is actually happening in this city, how it's affecting people, and how it's affecting me because of what it is that I'm seeing to a city I love and a city that I currently live in. Now I want to be clear, I know that there are crises that are happening all over the world. There even might be crises happening in your own personal life. So I don't want to downplay any of that and therefore highlight the LA wildfires as more important than any of that. That is not what I'm saying at all. But the reason why I'm bringing this up as an example is because this is something that's happening right now. And because I'm personally seeing it up close, I wanted to tie it into this episode because I'm just noticing something, something spiritually within the hearts of people since the start of this crisis. There are so many people in the online space coming on social media and basically proclaiming that this is God's judgment. This is the end times, you need to repent. This is a clear sign of God's anger towards LA, God's anger towards Hollywood. That's why he's burning homes and burning areas. It is time to repent. And seeing people talk about this made me reflect on how important it is in the way you lead others. Because these posts that I'm seeing about God's judgment, God's anger, This is the end times, repent now before it's too late. These are posts from people believing that they are leading well. When in actuality, my spirit questions it. And I want to talk about why and how this can pertain to you. Here's the thing. I don't know what God is doing specifically with LA. I don't know what future plans he holds for LA and the people within it, but what I do know is that whether God's hands are on something or whether his hands are off of something, he will use everything. What do I mean by that? I mean that there are situations in the world or in your own personal life and challenges you face where God's hands are on that. He is causing that challenge to happen for reasons that have to do with shaping you into who he needs you to be, or pivoting you, or growing your heart to be closer to him. What I mean by this is, yes, there are situations, there are seasons, there are challenges in the world or even within your own personal life that God's hands are on, meaning he is causing for them to happen for reasons that truly only God knows. However, there are also situations and seasons and challenges that God's hands are off, meaning He didn't make that happen. What do I mean by that? Well, people have free will. People can decide to be a part of problems that ultimately cause problems within your own life. People have free will to inflict evil on this world. To inflict deeds that just aren't good. And these things can cause things like war to happen. Things like arson crimes with the current L. A. fires. The police are currently investigating if it's a wildfire or if it was started by arson itself. Even in your own personal life, let's say your boss fires you for reasons that weren't good. It wasn't fair. These things aren't something to point finger at God and blame him for because yes, it is easy to do that. When in actuality, there are certain situations like those examples where those people are simply just practicing their free will. And unfortunately, they're choosing to do so in evil or harmful or just not good ways. Now with that being said, whether God's hands are on something or off of something, God will use everything. for your good. He will use every good situation, every bad situation, everything caused by him, everything caused by humans. He will use it all for your good. And when I say for your good, that ultimately is something that only God knows in relation to your future, the outcome, the results, the purification of your life, the turning of your heart to him, all because God's will was done. Now, if that is God's job, right, to produce outcome and results through whatever his will was in the world or within your own personal life, then what is your job within that? Well, I believe that God calls all of us to lead in some way, in some capacity, whether it be to one person or to many. He doesn't just call you to lead. He calls you to be an incredible steward over how you lead. And when I say leadership, I'm talking about leadership in your work, in your home, in your community, with your words, things like that. And ultimately, at the end of the day, your leadership has a lot to do with leading people's hearts to Jesus. Why am I saying that? Because it's your purpose. A lot of us confuse the terms purpose with calling. We're out here trying to figure out and how to find our purpose. Like, Oh, what is my purpose in life? I just don't know. I'm so confused. At the end of the day, my friend, let me just go ahead and clarify your purpose in this world as a human being created by God is to glorify Him. That is your purpose. He created you to glorify him in everything you do. In your work, in your family, in your day to day habits, in your business, in your creative projects, in your relationships. in your overall life, Glorifying God isn't just about going to church and worshiping and prayer. Of course, that is a beautiful part of it, but it is also how you show up daily within your human life. Your calling. is how God wants you to glorify him based off of what he is calling you to do within this world. Whether it's a business, a specific job, a specific conversation, a specific project, your calling is your mission to glorify God in what He's asking you to do. The work He has you doing. The gifts, the skills that you currently have. What does it look like for you to glorify God with that? And a big part of glorifying God is planting the seeds that can lead other people to Jesus so that they can receive the same kind of peace and comfort and the providing that God gives. Because you planted seeds to help them get there. Now, I know I'm talking about a lot of things and I'm jumping around, so let me connect the dots here as to why I'm saying these various different things. You planting the seeds to bring other people to Jesus based off of your current calling, based off of the creative works that God has called you to do, based off of what he's asking you to do in this world or put out into that world, how you plant the seeds in other people's lives that you are impacting and whatever it is that you're doing matters. Because how you plant the seeds has a lot to do with how you lead. And as a result of that, if people are impacted enough to receive those seeds that you are planting over time, their heart is led to Jesus. So, let me circle back around to what I said at the very beginning of this episode about all the online videos and posts that I'm seeing from people saying, God's judgment, he's angry, it's time to repent before it's too late. The people that are posting that, whether they know it or not, they are planting seeds. And I know that they have the intention of planting good seeds to lead people to Christ. But deep down in my spirit, These seeds could very well lead people away from Christ because of how these content creators and people posting these videos, because of how they're choosing to lead. When you proclaim coming to Jesus by boldly proclaiming God's judgment, God's anger, it's time to repent. You are planting seeds of fear. You are planting seeds of not being compassionate towards other human beings based off of where they are at in that current life or in that current challenge. You are planting seeds of not resonating, of not loving, and not leading with that love. You are planting seeds for people to be scared. of God. When in actuality, God wants people to simply love him enough to glorify him, to give their hearts to him. Again, for the people that are creating video content like that, the repentance, the end time, the judgment, I understand you have good intentions, but you know who else had good intentions? The Pharisees. Pharisees did that. They pointed fingers in people's faces saying, you're a sinner, you need to repent. And they unintentionally had this authoritative position that they were better than everybody else. It kind of reminds me of people that stand on the sidewalk holding up a sign that say repent or you're going to hell. Again, good intentions. You believe in Christ. That's great. I know at the end of the day, you're just wanting to lead people to Christ. But again, it's not about just leading people to Christ. It's how you lead people to Christ. Because if you're not careful, the way you lead people to Christ can end up pushing them away from Christ. And in this current LA situation, since I'm up close and I'm seeing it, I am seeing families cry. I am seeing people lose everything that they've ever known. I am seeing people confused and hurt and upset at this loss. When people are feeling those emotions, They are not in a space for you to point a finger at them, telling them to repent. They're not going to receive that. Because at the end of the day, what people need, when they are burdened by all of these emotions that are coming with loss, and rightfully so, What they need is the light of Jesus to shine through you with love, with comfort, with guidance, with hands on help and assistance. This is what Jesus would do himself. In the New Testament, when Jesus asked his disciples and people to follow him, he did not point a finger in their face telling them that they need to repent. Now, let me be clear. Did he talk about repentance and the fact that people do need to repent? Absolutely. But the beautiful thing about Jesus was that he knew the importance of leading with love. Not just with boldness and facts, but genuine love to people that did not know him. People that felt unworthy. Jesus met people where they were at with love and comfort in order to bring their hearts closer to God so that they can be more open minded and ready to spiritually receive the necessity of repentance and turning your life over to God. This is what had people coming to him that were told that they were unworthy by the Pharisees. Unworthy, not good enough, not fit for the kingdom of heaven. These people came to Jesus trustingly enough and they felt love from him. They felt acceptance from Him. They felt this ultimate comfort from Him. So much to the point where that is what turned their heart to completely change their life for the better and live for God in everything that they do. I believe that this is how Jesus would want us to lead too. When you lead people in your creative works, in your current industry, in your job, in your project, in your family, lead with the intentionality of lovingly planting the seed. You don't need to be responsible for fully converting someone to Christianity. You just need to plant the seed and let God handle the outcome and the results of that. Now, how you plant the seed is based off of the calling that God is leading you to. I am just over here being a huge advocate and an encouraging voice to you to lead well. Don't lead in a way that drives people to fear, that makes them feel scared, that drives them to not be able to receive it at all based off of where they're at in life. And of course, you can't please everybody. You can't try to fit within the comfort zone of everybody. That's not what I'm saying. I'm simply saying there is a better way, a way that has everything to do with how Jesus did it. Be loving, have compassion, reflect that peaceful light, because when you do, Jesus's light naturally shines through you. People are able to see a glimpse of Jesus within you by how you lead within your current calling, within the online space, within your business, your job, your family, whatever it is. And them seeing that glimpse of Jesus, that is a part of that seed being planted. Leadership is no simple task. It's a heavy responsibility. And it's not just because of the fact of you leading, it's how you lead and how intentional and how important it is to be intentional in how you lead. I share this story. I bring in headline news like the L. A. fires. And I talk about online videos that I'm seeing in this space. And I'm using this to connect the dots to you, my friend. to encourage you to be intentional in how you lead in times of crisis, in times of challenges, whether it's in the world or in your personal life, in your family, in your business, how you lead when those challenges come. It's important to think about that, to reflect on that. Now, before we end the episode, you might have the question of how do I lead better? How do I lead better in my business? How do I lead better in my creativity? How do I lead better online? How do I lead better in my family? So let me just give you some quick pointers so that you have more clarity in the direction to go in. First pointer. To lead better, you need to be led by God first. And this is a tough one, because as a leader, one of the easy traps is becoming the leader of your own life. You start to glorify yourself rather than glorifying God. You unintentionally begin to pursue selfish ambition. that has nothing to do with God's impact that he wants to make through you to other people. You have to be led by God, not by your own self. Let God lead. You follow God so that you can be a leader in the calling that God has you in. Being led by God means a lot of what I had mentioned earlier, reflecting Jesus's light, living the way that Jesus did, and how you think, how you act, how you show up, what you say, what you do, it has a lot to do with that, and it also has a lot to do with letting go of control. Remember, and I say this a lot in my podcast episodes, God's job is the outcome and the results of things. Your job is faith, trust, obedience, effort. That's all you. Let God handle the outcome. Let God handle the results. Let Him handle everything else. That is a beautiful way in allowing Him to lead by trusting that His will be done, not your own will in your own life. The Bible says seek first the kingdom of heaven and everything else will be given to you. And one of the best ways that you can seek the kingdom first is learning and understanding and implementing letting God lead your life. Second pointer that I'll say in regards to how you can lead better. Think before you speak or act. A lot of times we tend to jump into things because we lead with emotions first when If you go back to the first pointer that I said of learning to lead with God, leading with God naturally will come with thinking before you do anything else. Why? Because you want to bring things to God first before you speak or before you take action on that thing to ensure that it's in alignment with what God would want you to say or to do. So for example, if you are in a really tough conversation with a business partner or your marriage partner or whatever it is, think first before you speak. Bring it to God first before you speak. If something awful is happening in the world and you want to get online and you want to share a video about it, think first before you do. Think about it. Pray about it. Ask God what he would want you to say and how he would want you to show up as a leader at this time. And when you think before you speak or you act on something, This will help you plant the kinds of seeds that God wants you to plant because you took the time to think about it first, to pray about it first, to let God lead in it first. Remember, it's not just about planting seeds, it's the way that you plant them. The kinds of seeds that will actually bring people closer to Jesus rather than them wanting to turn away. The third and final pointer that I'll make in how you can lead better in what God has you doing right now or what he will have you do in your calling in the near future. You need to meet people where they are at with love. Every single person has their own story, has their own experiences that have shaped them into the kind of person that they are today, meaning they're not going to be receptive to some things. Their heart isn't going to be ready to receive that fully based off of their story or what they've experienced in life. And a really good way to plant those good seeds that we've been talking about is to meet them where they're at. Rather than you trying so hard to get them to understand you and what you want to say to them, first take time to understand them. Understand their situation, understand what they're dealing with right now, understand the mentality that they have right now, or the spirit they have right now, and why that is. When you understand them, when you meet them where they're at, then you're better positioned to plant those good seeds, those good loving seeds, in a way where Jesus's light is reflected through you and to that person or to the multitude of people. And that light, that beautiful, loving, comforting light that was shown through you because of the effort that you put in to be a better leader in the way that God would want you to be, that light leads people to turn their heart to God. To change their life. For the better. Alright my friend, I know we talked about a lot in this episode, I know I was jumping around to different things, but I hope that I was able to connect the dots enough for you in this episode to feel inspired in how you can better lead. And by the way, this topic is not just relevant because of the news headlines that we're seeing. This topic is relevant every single day. Because we're always gonna see awful things happening in the headlines. There's always going to be challenges that you come face to face with in your own personal life. And whenever these things happen, my friend, within your lifetime, think about this episode in how you can lead well in the calling that God has you in right now. Thanks so much for listening. Feel free to share this episode with other people that you think could benefit from it. If you like encouragement like this and you would like to receive more of it outside of these weekly podcast episodes, go ahead and connect with me on Instagram at AngelMarieOfficial. This is where you're going to be able to see daily story posts and weekly posts happening multiple times throughout the week to help you stay educated and encouraged when it comes to your creative God given calling. We'll see you soon, friend!