Nooo, not the Mediterranean cruise that I am leaving for this Thursday (although I wish I could bring you along)...

It’s OFFERS - beta offers!

I have been coaching a group of incredible women through my 30-day client-signing program this month, and several of them are launching their offers as betas right now.

“That’s great, Anita! But what does that mean for me?”

Glad you asked 😀

It means:

• Crazy incredible savings (yes, please 🙋‍♀️)

• Exclusive spots

• Working with someone who is genuinely gifted, trained, and deeply motivated to get you results in exchange for honest testimonials

I’ve been in the room with these women. I’ve seen their work, their heart, and their commitment to the people they serve. I wouldn’t be putting them in front of you if I didn’t believe in what they’re building.

So without further ado, here are three women I’d love for you to meet:

Chisomo Fajardo — Story-to-Offer Coach
CALLED: Nothing Is Wasted

Chisomo is a Certified Life Coach and Creative Mentor with over 20 years in the design field, and she’s run her own personal development business for the last 8 years. She knows how to take something raw and shape it into something powerful — because she’s done it in her own life and business.

She works with Christian women who the Lord is calling to serve in the marketplace but don’t know how to turn their story and experience into a product or service.

Called includes 12 weeks of 1:1 personalized coaching. She’ll help you get clear on your ideal client, overcome mindset blocks, and create and launch your offer (whether it’s a digital product, course, or coaching offer) — using your story and lived experience.

Beta Offer Price: Just $600 for 3 months of support, spots are limited. Book your complimentary discovery call here to see if working together would be a fit. I If you’re ready to finally get support to create the offer that God’s calling you to create — this is it!

🏡 Angela Pischke — Personal Strategy Coach to Working Moms
Chaos to Calm: Build the Home Systems That Make Dinner, Mornings, and Your Sanity Manageable Again

Angie helps working moms who are juggling a job, kids, a never-ending to-do list, and a version of themselves they keep promising to get back to (if you know, you know) 😅

If you’ve bought the planners, tried the meal prep, and told yourself things will slow down next season — Angie gets it, because she’s helped women exactly like you stop surviving and start leading their lives with calm, confident systems.

She’s turning her 1:1 coaching offer into a 6-week group program that will meet weekly on Zoom, plus a private FB community for support along the way.

By the end, you’ll have working systems for the areas of your life that drain you most — mornings, meals, your health, and your home.

I know you already feel like you don’t have the time (and that’s precisely why this program exists...yes, I see you 👋).

Give Angie an hour a week for six weeks, make new friends (hello, support system as an added bonus), and leave with a more calm home life.

Beta Offer Price: $197 | Limited spots available
Learn more about Chaos to Calm and connect with Angie here if you’re ready to finally create systems and experience less stress, more peace, more order, and more JOY!

Your family will thank you.

💻 Maria Beltres — Tech Strategist for Coaches & Practitioners
Setup & Serve

Maria is a former project manager with a Computer Science degree and over a decade of experience working with small business owners. Maria’s offer, Set Up and Serve, is specifically for coaches and practitioners who are skilled, certified, and ready to grow their online business — but the tech is standing in the way.

If you’ve been delaying setting up your full online business system because you don’t have the time, energy, or know-how to set up:

• Your website

• Lead magnet delivery system

• Email auto-responder, and/or

• Course or curriculum site

Maria will build it FOR you.

In 30 days, she creates a complete, customized tech setup so you can confidently share your message and start signing clients online without having to watch endless tutorial videos (cue the sigh of relief).

This is fully done-for-you. You show up with your expertise — she handles everything else.

Beta Offer Price: $400 off regular pricing (customized based on your needs). Limited spots available. Set up a complimentary consultation here.

These spots will not last long — beta pricing disappears once these first rounds close.

If any of these women are offering what you need, reach out to them directly using the links above.

And if you know someone who needs what one of these women is offering — please pass this along. You never know whose life you might change with a simple forward.

Tomorrow I’ll share some more incredible deals!

Much Love,
Anita 💖
P.S. These are women I have personally coached and believe in. Their offers are real, their hearts are right, and they are READY to serve. Don’t sleep on this.

What if it’s about identity?

In the inaugural episode of Rising Women, I sat down with my friend Yolanda King—social worker, coach, ministry leader, and author of She’s Called to Wellness.

While Yolanda’s story includes losing more than 100 pounds, this conversation went far beyond weight loss.

We talked about:

• The connection between our health and our calling

• The impact of trauma on the body

• Why chronic busyness is often celebrated in Christian circles, and what it means to steward the body God has given us.

One of the most powerful moments came when Yolanda shared the question she felt God ask her:

“Is your body ready for where I’m taking you?”

For many women, the answer isn’t simply found in another nutrition plan or exercise program. It begins with identity, healing, and renewing the mind.

In this conversation, you’ll discover:

• The mission trip moment that changed everything
• Why wellness is not vanity—it’s stewardship
• The connection between trauma and health
• How identity work preceded every practical change Yolanda made
• Why many Christian women remain stuck in survival mode
• What it means to partner with God in your healing journey

And perhaps most importantly, you’ll hear Yolanda ask a question every woman should consider:

“Who told you that you were not worthy of wellness?”

If you’ve ever felt called to more but struggled to care for yourself along the way, I believe this conversation will encourage and challenge you.

And if you enjoyed this episode…if the Lord spoke to you…if you have more to add to the conversation, please comment below.

Because together, we rise.

HOW TO CONNECT WITH YOLANDA:

Yolanda’s website
The Book: She’s Called to Wellness
Yolanda’s Program: Rewired for Weight Loss

Also referenced in this episode: ACE Assessment (Adverse Childhood Experiences)

Your content is good!

Genuinely good.

You’re sharing your heart, your expertise, your story. People comment. People say “this is exactly what I needed to hear.” People share it.

But you’re not signing clients consistently.

So you post some more. Try a new format. Study the algorithm. Wonder if your niche is off. Create a different offer. Bang your head against a wall.

Rinse and repeat.

The problem is not that you’re inconsistent.

The problem is that you’re treating one part of marketing like it’s the whole thing, and even that one part you’re only doing halfway (truth in love).

You have the gifts, the skills, and the expertise.

What you were never given is a Spirit-led framework for turning that expertise into consistent clients.

Here’s what a complete Spirit-led marketing strategy actually looks like

The Three A’s of Marketing

1. Attraction Marketing

This is what most women think of when they think “marketing.” Content. Social media. Posts, reels, stories, emails. Showing up consistently so the right people find you, follow you, and begin to trust you over time.

Attraction marketing works but only when the content is built to do a specific job.

Here’s where most women go wrong: Either their content is too general (broad inspiration, wide-angle teaching, life updates), and none of it tethered to a specific problem she solves for a specific person.

Or she goes the other direction and teaches everything she knows, post after post, giving away so much that her audience becomes great students and she has zero clients.

Teaching builds credibility, but it does not automatically build a client roster.

Content that converts does 5 things:

• Speaks directly to your buyer’s specific problem

• Makes her feel seen and validated

• Demonstrates that you understand her situation better than she does

• Demonstrates that your expertise can solve her problem

• Creates a natural next step towards partnering with you as a paying client

And here’s the thing: What you do AFTER you post matters just as much as what you post.

Most women skip that system entirely. We post and pray.

And Sis, I love your faith! But prayer without a process is just wishful thinking. The Holy Spirit will highlight the right people in your audience, but you have to be paying attention and ready to move when He does.

Attraction is essential. But doing it without the follow-through is like planting seeds, growing produce, and never harvesting it.

2. Active Marketing

This is relationship marketing. Outreach. Intentional, human connection with people who already know you, already respect you, already follow what you’re doing.

Not cold pitching strangers. Not a copy-paste DM that smells like a script from the first sentence. Real conversation with real people who are already in your world.

Your former colleague whom you know you can help! The woman who comments on your posts and shares them. The client you worked with two years ago. The woman who asks you questions like you’re already her coach.

She is already in your orbit. You just haven’t started the conversation.

Now here’s something that will change the way you think about content entirely:

There are specific types of content you can post that are intentional and strategic, and that will cause your right person to identify herself.

She reads it and thinks, “That’s me!” She comments. She shares it. She slides into your DMs. She raises her hand without you having to go looking for her.

That kind of content doesn’t happen by accident. It’s written for her, about her situation, in language she uses to describe her own problem. It’s not vague enough for everyone. It’s specific enough that the right woman feels like you wrote it for her alone.

And when you’re writing it with the Holy Spirit, and asking Him to speak through your words directly to the woman He’s already sending your way — that content carries a weight that strategy alone can’t produce.

It works SO fast that when I teach it to clients they get results like this:

No contracts, no program…client ready to go!

Here’s another one:

Active marketing that has potential clients raising their hands is the fastest path to a paying client!

It doesn’t require a big audience. It doesn’t require a perfect funnel. It requires intentionality and the willingness to respond to someone who just told you that she needs what you have.

3. Activation

This is experiential marketing. It’s how you let people taste your work before they commit to the full investment.

Discovery calls. Free trainings. A live workshop. A beta offer. Anything that gets a potential client into an actual experience of how you think, how you teach, how you show up.

It’s human nature to want to “taste” what it might be like to work with someone before we pay—especially for higher-ticket offers. We try the sample before we buy the full thing. We test drive before we sign.

And here's the spiritual reality underneath it.

When you create space for a woman to experience your work, you're creating space for the Holy Spirit to confirm what she's already sensing. That discovery call, that free training, that workshop….for believers, these are not sales tactics, these are Spirit-led, holy exchanges!

You are the answer that she’s been praying for!

When all three are working together:

• Attraction marketing building trust at scale with the right content and a real follow-through system

• Active marketing creating genuine conversations with warm connections and content that makes the right woman raise her hand

• Activation marketing letting people experience your work firsthand…

It stops feeling like shouting into the void and starts feeling like a pipeline.

And you begin to have months like my client, Jenny:

Subscribe now

The women who are signing clients right now are not more talented than you.

They’re not more anointed.
They’re not posting better content.
They have a system.

They know what to post, why they’re posting it, what to do the moment it goes live, and how to move a warm lead from interested to invested.

That process is exactly what I teach my clients.

If you’re interested in learning about how we can work together, send me a message!

Here’s to your rising,
Anita 💖

And I knew, immediately, that her statement wasn’t scriptural.

Now I’m not against wealth and I don’t believe that God wants His people broke and struggling (spoiler alert: He doesn’t).

But hear this: there is no scriptural basis for claiming that wealth is your birthright.

Since that day, I’ve heard it from other believers, and I’ve watched it spread through Christian coaching and ministry spaces like it’s settled theology.

It’s not.

But here’s what I want you to hear before I say anything else: the correction I’m about to offer goes both ways:

As wrong as the birthright message is, there’s an equally dangerous overcorrection on the other side.

Because some have been given marketable skills, placed in a society that offers opportunity for wealth creation, or are called to corporate leadership, entrepreneurship, or business, and are absolutely called to create wealth...

As your assignment, not because of entitlement.

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The Birthright Message Is Built on Shaky Ground

The foundation of this teaching is typically tied to the Abrahamic covenant.

Yes, God promised Abraham blessing that was both spiritual and material. Abraham was wealthy.

But that covenant was made with a specific man for a specific redemptive purpose: to build a nation through which the Messiah would come. You cannot universalize a specific covenant into a personal promise for every believer in every century.

So let’s look at what scripture actually says is ours through Abraham. Because the verses are there. The prosperity teachers aren’t making them up. They’re just consistently misreading what the inheritance actually is.

Galatians 3:29 says: “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

We ARE heirs of the Abrahamic promise. That’s true.

But Paul doesn’t leave it there. He spends the entire chapter of Galatians 3 making one sustained argument: the promise to Abraham was always pointing forward to Christ and the Spirit, not backward to material wealth.

And verse 14 settles what the promise actually is: “so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

The blessing of Abraham that is ours in Christ is the Holy Spirit.

Not wealth. Not real estate. Not a seven-figure business. The Spirit.

Romans 4:13 says we are heirs of the world, and that sounds like a wealth verse until you read Romans 8, where Paul fills it out. The world we are heirs of is the redeemed creation. The restored all-things. It is an eschatological inheritance, not a current account balance.

Romans 8:16-17 confirms it: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.”

Heirs of GOD. Co-heirs with CHRIST.

And then Paul finishes the sentence the prosperity teachers never quote: “if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Co-heirs with Christ. Partakers in His suffering. That is the whole sentence.

The inheritance is resurrection life. Eternal glory. The fullness of God’s presence.

Ephesians 1:3 says He “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Every blessing. But Paul tells us exactly what kind of blessings - spiritual blessings, in the heavenly realms, in Christ. Not material blessings on earth by default.

And Ephesians 1:11 reminds us that whatever inheritance we have is “according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”

According to HIS purpose. HIS will.

Not a blanket entitlement issued at salvation.

Here’s the pattern across every single one of these texts: we are absolutely heirs of the Abrahamic promise.

Paul is clear from Galatians to Romans to Ephesians. The inheritance is Christ. The Spirit. Resurrection life. Restored creation. A future glory that makes everything we could accumulate here look like scraps.

When we reduce it to a financial promise, we haven’t claimed our birthright, at all.

We’ve settled for far less than what we actually have.

But Some of You ARE Called to Create Wealth — So Own It

This is where I need to push back on the overcorrection.

Because in the reaction against prosperity theology, some of us have swung so hard the other way that we’ve made peace with smallness and called it humility.

If you are a woman with marketable skills and you are operating in a society that offers real economic access and opportunity, then the call on your life may very specifically include wealth creation.

The corporate leader building a business that employs people, funds families, and generates resources for Kingdom purposes is not being worldly. She is being faithful.

The entrepreneur who has been given a gift that the marketplace values and is charging what her services are worth is not being greedy. She is being a good steward.

The woman who is uncomfortable with the ceiling she’s been operating under because she can feel the weight of what’s possible is not out of order. She’s feeling the gap between where she is and where God intends her to be.

Deuteronomy 8:18 says: “Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.”

The ability to produce wealth is a gift from God.

If you have been given that ability, along with the intellect, skill, access, opportunity, the right context, then you are accountable for it. The parable of the talents is not a metaphor about spiritual gifts only. It is a story about a master who gave his servants real money and expected them to do something with it.

The servant who buried his talent lost it because he was afraid and he played it safe, and called his actions prudent.

The master called it wicked.

So if you are a wealth creator, if that is genuinely part of your assignment, the most faithful thing you can do is own it. Build with it. Scale it. Steward it with the full weight of what it is.

Not because it’s your birthright but because it’s your responsibility.

Not every believer is called to be wealthy, but every believer is called to steward what they have been given with excellence.

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The Distinction That Changes Everything

Here’s how I want you to think about it:

Birthright is about entitlement, and assignment is about accountability.

A birthright says: this is owed to me because of who I am.

An assignment says: this has been entrusted to me because of what I’ve been given.

Those two postures produce entirely different women.

The woman building on birthright theology is working to receive because she believes it’s hers by right. She’s claiming, declaring, expecting and working…and when the wealth doesn’t materialize, she either doubles down on her faith or her work, and begins to wonder what’s wrong with her.

The woman building on assignment theology moves forward seeking the Lord and His desires for the gifts and skills that He’s given to her, and takes seriously her sacred responsibility to steward it all well.

That is the difference between building on sand and building on rock.

And the beautiful thing about assignment theology is that it applies to every woman, regardless of the size of her resources, the context of her calling, or the season she’s in.

And understand this, the outcome isn’t the goal. We are not working for the outcome. Faithfulness is the goal! We are working to honor the Father, and He brings the increase.

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.’” Matthew 25:23 (NIV)

Well done, faithful servant. Not well done, wealthy servant.

Faithful.

A Word for the Woman in a Season of Limitation

I have to speak to her directly because the birthright message does real damage here.

The woman who has watched medical bills drain everything she saved.

The woman whose country’s economy doesn’t have open doors or opportunity for advancement.

The woman who is gifted and called but whose assignment doesn’t translate to the kind of financial return the marketplace rewards.

When you tell that woman that wealth is her birthright, your theology falls apart quickly.

God measures faithfulness. He does not measure outcome, net worth, or the size of your platform.

The invitation to you is not the promise of wealth. The invitation is to be so rooted in your assignment that your faithfulness doesn’t waver, whether the season is abundant or lean.

The Vision That’s Bigger Than All of Us

Here’s what actually fires me up about this topic because the New Testament vision for the people of God and money is way more compelling than the birthright message!

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.…And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” Acts 4:32-35 (NIV)

No needy persons among them.

THAT IS THE VISION.

Not every individual believer wealthy, but the community of believers collectively resourced so that no one has need.

This is what happens when the people of God steward well and hold loosely. Wealth doesn’t accumulate in private accounts as evidence of personal favor. It flows through the body as evidence of the Spirit’s presence.

The scripture doesn’t say every person in that community was a wealth creator. It says the ones who had resources held them loosely enough that the whole community was covered.

Some of us are called to generate. Some are called to distribute. Some are called to steward in ways that don’t show up on a balance sheet but hold the whole thing together.

All of it is sacred.

All of it is necessary.

None of it is a birthright.

All of it is a calling.

And I truly believe that God intends the CHURCH to be the most richly resourced community on the planet.

So What Is Your Assignment?

If you are a wealth creator, if you have been given skills, access, and opportunity in a context that rewards them, please stop apologizing for it. Stop shrinking from it. Stop treating your income potential like it’s something to be managed down out of false humility.

If you are in a season of limitation, if your lane looks different from the women being celebrated in the marketplace, stop measuring your faithfulness against their outcomes.

Your assignment is yours. Your standard is faithfulness. Your judge is God.

And if you have been building on the birthright message, if that has been the foundation under your financial vision, I’m not asking you to abandon ambition. I’m asking you to build on what’s actually true.

Not entitlement, but accountability.

Not claiming a promise, but carrying an assignment.

That’s the woman the Kingdom needs.

Your practical application this week:

Get honest about which woman you’ve been.

• Are you moving forward towards creating wealth because you believe it’s owed or promised to you through Jesus’ death and resurrection, and your subsequent adoption into the family?

• Are you a woman called to wealth creation who’s been playing small out of guilt or false humility because you haven’t embraced what scripture truly says about money and enterprise?

• Are you in a season of limitation or are you measuring your finances against someone else’s outcomes and coming up short in your own eyes?

Name it. Don’t rush past this part.

And if you’re brave…put it in the comments (I’ll go first).

Then sit with God and do three things:

1. Take inventory of what He has actually given you: your skills, your access, your context, your opportunity.

2. Then ask Him honestly: where have I been building on entitlement instead of assignment, or where have I been downplaying what You’ve truly called me to?

3. And finally, ask Him what faithfulness looks like for you, in your specific lane, in this specific season.

That’s your assignment.

And of course steward the measure He’s given to you with excellence!

Here’s to your rising,
Anita 💖

P.S. If you’re a coach, consultant, or service-based business owner growing your business online, I want to let you know that I am hosting a 30-day client signing implementation program called SIGNED. We start June 1st and it’s risk free with “sign a client or get your money back” guarantee. I would love to help you sign your next (or first) paying clients. DM me for more info!

In this video I share:

• What’s really preventing you from signing clients

• The 3 types of marketing you need in your business

• The SIMPLE sales offer that will bring clients in EASILY

• How to work with me for 30 days (risk-free) to sign your next paying clients

If you’re READY to sign clients, come work with me over 30-days, risk-free....because it shouldn’t cost you thousands of dollars or 3-months to get moving.

Send me a message or comment SIGNED for deets!

Different backgrounds. Different industries. Different callings. Some were brand new coaches. Some had been building businesses for years and just hit a wall.

But here’s what almost every single one of them had in common when they came to me.

They were READY.

They had the expertise. The transformation they could provide was real. They genuinely had the ability to create results for the people they were called to serve.

And yet, they weren’t signing clients.

Not because they needed another certification or a rebrand or twelve more months of “building.”

But because they didn’t know how to sell what they already had.

Within 30 days of working together, over 85% of my clients sign clients.

And the ones that don’t? Well, it’s mostly because they delay using the process, or they opt to wait until they have more time in their schedule to sign and serve clients.

As for the 85%, they sign clients because they finally learn how to have the right conversation with the right person, and understand how to articulate what they do in a way that gets a “Yes!” to working with them.

It’s an art and a science - and I love teaching it!

You already have what you need to sign your next client. What you might be missing is understanding why you haven’t yet.

Here’s the truth. After working with hundreds of women, I’ve found that not signing clients almost always comes down to one of three things.

1. A Clarity Problem

If you cannot clearly explain what you do, who it’s for, and what result it produces, then your potential client can’t say yes.

That’s not a harsh assessment. That’s just how humans work. Confusion kills decisions.

Clarity is actually an act of service. When you can tell someone exactly what you do and what it will do for them, you make it easy for the right person to recognize herself and step forward.

If your offer description still sounds like a category and not a solution, then that’s the work. Not another course. Not a new niche. Just get clear on the one thing, for the one person, that produces one real result, and then articulate it in a way that leads to the sale.

2. A Confidence Problem

Girlfriend. You know things. You’ve been through things. You’ve come out on the other side of things. That is worth something.

But imposter syndrome doesn’t check your resume. It doesn’t care how qualified you actually are. It will whisper “who are you?” right up until the moment you decide to stop listening.

Here’s what I want you to hear: confidence doesn’t come before the action. It comes because of it.

You don’t wait until you feel ready. You take the step, and readiness follows.

3. An Action Problem

This is the one I really want to sit with for a second.

You know you can help people. Deep down you know that. But you are either:

1. Not taking action towards actively signing clients, or

2. You’re not taking the right actions

Here’s the shift I want you to make right now:

The client you’ve been praying for?

She is probably already in your sphere of influence.

She’s watching your posts quietly. She might have asked you a question or commented already. Or she knows someone who knows you.

She is not waiting on your rebrand. She is not on the other side of your perfect website.

She is in the conversation you haven’t started yet.

Your next client is already in your orbit.

The only thing between you and a “yes!” is inviting her in correctly.

Now — I know what some of you are thinking. “Anita, I post consistently. I show up. I create content. Why isn’t it working?”

Sis, I hear you.

And next week I’m going to answer that question directly.

We’re talking about the Three A’s of Marketing — the framework that explains exactly why posting and hoping is not a strategy. It’s part of the mix, but it is not all of it.

And the women who are signing clients right now?

They know the difference.

You do not want to miss this one.

If you’re not subscribed yet, do that right now so it lands in your inbox next week.

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This Is Exactly Why I Created SIGNED

SIGNED is a 30-day live coaching and implementation experience designed to do one thing: help you sign your next paying clients or your very first ones.

SIGNED is not just information, and it’s not another course to add to your digital graveyard.

It’s an implementation program.

We cover clarity, confidence, and the specific actions that produce clients — including the exact strategy I’ve taught hundreds of women to use. The one that works even when you’re still building your audience. Even when you’re “starting over.” Even when you’re scared.

Four weeks. Four coaching calls. A full implementation guide with simple weekly and daily activities (including tools and templates so that you’re never staring at a blank screen). Accountability. And a money-back guarantee.

You show up, you do the work, and if you don’t sign a client, you get every dollar back. No questions asked.

We start June 1. Right now, for this first run, it’s just $397.

That’s the offer.

Because I want to prove that this framework STILL works in this current market so I can run it for women who need it every single month.

If you’re ready to stop circling and start signing?

I’d love for you to come do this with me!

My goal is to streamline this process and to create fresh, new, amazing testimonials so that I can help more and more women step into their Kingdom assignment 🙌🏽

Just hit the button below and tell me you’re interested, and I will send you the details!

And I’ll let you in on something else…I am asking you to message me instead of sharing a sales page on purpose.

It’s to model how EASY this process is!

You don’t need all the bells and whistles!

What you DO need is to be able to have person-to-person conversations!

So, no hiding behind your computer screen, m’kay 😉

Let’s chat to see if this is the right thing and the right time for you!

Here’s to your rising,
Anita 💖

If you were being honest, you would admit that you have some pretty lofty dreams and desires, and goals regarding your work, your finances, your impact.

So much so that you can see it clearly in your mind’s eye and in your heart, aaaand you’d confess that actually achieving it all and becoming that woman you envision…is a little bit scary.

You’d also admit that you’ve often felt guilt for wanting to pursue more.

Because “Shouldn’t you just be grateful for what you have?”

I have heard some version of that question more times than I can count. And not just from the women I’ve mentored and coached, but from inside my own head. Every single time God has called me to the next level, that voice has shown up right behind the calling.

Here’s the thing: the enemy doesn’t fight fair, and one of his favorite weapons against a woman called to impact and influence is GUILT.

Not guilt over sin or conviction that leads to repentance and restoration.

Guilt over wanting.

Guilt over calling.

Guilt over ambition.

Guilt over the very desires God placed inside you.

He knows that, above everything else, you want to honor God, and so he uses that against you. He takes your most sincere motive and turns it into invisible guardrails you become afraid to cross because you don’t want to be selfish, or too ambitious, or ungrateful, when the Lord has already given you so much.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV)

That word “full” matters. In the original Greek, Jesus used the word perissos, which doesn’t just mean full. It means superabundant, excessive, more than expected, extraordinary! It’s the same word Paul used in Ephesians 3:20 when he said God is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.”

And the enemy’s entire assignment is to make sure that doesn’t happen.

One of his most effective strategies is to condemn you into just being content.

Lie #1: “You should be content with what you have.”

It sounds so spiritual.

Contentment IS a godly virtue. Paul writes in Philippians 4:11 that he learned to be content in every situation. Paul was also the man who pressed toward the mark, ran the race with endurance, and refused to count himself as having already arrived.

Contentment was not passivity for Paul. He was not settling for his current circumstances, and at the same time contentment wasn’t contingent on where he wanted to be. He pressed on.

This is completely different than settling and being satisfied with operating below your God-given capacity.

Sis, you can be deeply grateful for where God has you AND fully expectant of where He is taking you. These two things do not cancel each other out. Gratitude and faith are not opposites. Contentment and contending can go together.

Just because you’re grateful for what you have doesn’t mean you ought to bury what you’ve been entrusted to multiply.

Listen, I know some of ya’ll are being set free right now.

Glory be!

Lie #2: “You’re pushing your own agenda.”

This one is more personal because it goes after your motives.

And here’s the thing about motive-questioning: it works best on the women who actually care. The woman who doesn’t care about honoring God doesn’t worry much about whether she’s pushing her own agenda. She’s just doing what she wants.

But you?

You examine yourself seriously, and the enemy knows how this accusation will unnerve you, and so he effectively hands you a shovel and watches you bury your own calling with it.

Don’t let him do this!

Here is what I have learned: When God puts a desire in you, it is going to feel like your desire because it IS your desire! He literally put it in you! He doesn’t typically download calling in a way that feels foreign to your personality and wiring (duh, right?). The desire and the assignment are typically the same thing.

Here is your response the next time the enemy tries this:

Read that again. Slowly.

This declaration is not arrogance talking, it’s stewardship. It’s obedience. It’s the posture of a woman who understands that her gifts, her capacity, and her calling are not hers to withhold from the world because God has blessed her to be a blessing.

God did not place that calling in you so you could feel guilty about it; He placed it in you so He could release what He desires to release through you.

Guilt that shrinks you back from obedience is not from God.

The conviction of the Holy Spirit always draws you toward God and toward your calling.

The condemnation of the enemy always drives you away from both.

Learn the difference because your impact depends on it, and the lives you are meant to touch depend on it!

Contend for your calling!

Your practical application this week:

Identify ONE area where the enemy has been using guilt to make you hesitate, second-guess the vision, or dismiss the desire as “too much.”

Then declare this in response:

“I am content with what I have AND I will contend for “the more” that God has for me.”

Say it out loud. Mean it. Then take one concrete step toward it this week.

Here’s to your rising,
Anita 💖

P.S. If you found this helpful, please let me know in the comments! And if you have something to add or share in relation to this post, please do! It’s an encouragement to me to know that these words are finding who they are meant for.

The first time you see Moraine Lake, it will take your breath away. Okay, let me be honest, every time you see Moraine Lake, it will take your breath away.

The water is an impossible shade of turquoise due to it’s glacial nature, and the mountains in the backdrop — absolutely stunning.

It really is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

We visited the Canadian Rockies in August 2018 — and this trip holds a special place for me beyond the scenery.

It was my first birthday trip funded entirely by my business.

A few days at Moraine Lake Lodge, time exploring Lake Louise and the surrounding area, then a few nights in Banff at the Fairmont. Bob and I were there for the scenery — and the scenery delivered in ways neither of us had words for.

Disclaimer: We visited when wildfires were burning in British Columbia, so the air carried a soft haze while we were there. It muted the peaks and gave everything an almost dreamlike quality….while also giving me a reason to go back! I definitely want to experience it again in its full glory!

THE STAY: MORAINE LAKE LODGE

There is one place to stay at Moraine Lake, and it is Moraine Lake Lodge. One. And it is worth every cent.

We stayed in one of their lakeshore cabins — a private cabin perched right at the water’s edge with a full view of the lake from the moment you opened the door. I’m not exaggerating when I say you could see that turquoise water from bed. Bob and I both woke up early just to sit with our coffee on the balcony and stare.

While serene, the shuttle buses start arriving early — as early as sunrise — and once the day visitors come, the lake belongs to everyone. Our quiet coffee on the balcony did come with company below, but early in the morning people were quiet. Reverent even.

But here’s the thing no one tells you: after about 7 PM, the last of the busses leave — and the lake is yours again.

The evenings at Moraine Lake Lodge are incomparable. The day-trippers are gone, the light goes golden, and it’s just the lodge guests and that impossible water. That alone is worth every dollar of the rate.

Moraine Lake is adults-only, and it shows. The vibe is unhurried and intimate. Guests move slowly. Conversations happen. People actually put their phones down to watch the sunset.

Canoeing on Moraine Lake was one of the highlights of the entire trip. We paddled into that turqouise blue water and the Ten Peaks surrounded us on all sides. I kept stopping to trail my hand in the lake — it’s cold and so clear.

And yes — the water really is that blue.

Every photo you have ever seen is real. In fact, photos don’t fully capture it because they can’t capture the way light moves across the surface, or the way the color shifts deeper as you paddle farther in.

Lake Louise

Lake Louise is about twenty minutes away and has a different energy — it’s busier, larger, and more visited. The iconic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise sits right at the water’s edge and the whole scene is spectacularly composed, like God arranged it for a postcard.

Johnston Canyon

Do not skip Johnston Canyon. Just don’t.

The hike takes you along a narrow canyon carved through limestone over millennia, past waterfalls that come crashing out of the rock face. It’s accessible, well-maintained, and stunning without being strenuous.

Banff

We ended the trip with a few nights at the Fairmont Banff Springs, which is exactly as grand and castle-like as it sounds.

Banff itself is a charming mountain town — walkable, full of good food and shops, with trails accessible right from the hotel.

There’s a kind of magic in Banff where the wildness is right there at the edge of the civilized. You can have a lovely dinner and walk outside to find the Rockies looming above you. That tension between cultivated beauty and raw wilderness is something I find deeply centering.

Also: elk are enormous.I did not know this until one wandered casually across the path in front of us near the Fairmont Banff Springs. I took a photo but there is nothing in the photograph to show scale so it’s not worth sharing…so just go visit and see for yourself. You won’t regret it.

ANITA’S PICKS

Stay

Moraine Lake Lodge (Moraine Lake)

Non-negotiable if you are willing and able to invest in the experience. Book as far in advance as you can. It gets booked quickly. The rates are now $1,000+ USD/night, but staying here means private vehicle access to the lake, which is otherwise restricted. You wake up to that view. That alone. Seriously.

Fairmont Banff Springs (Banff)

The property is stunning, the spa is excellent, and the location puts you right in the town of Banff with trails starting from the hotel grounds.

Do

Canoe on Moraine Lake

Rentals are available on-site. Do it. Don’t talk yourself out of it because you’ve never canoed or because the water looks cold. It is cold. It is also one of the most beautiful things you will ever do. Bob and I still talk about this. It was EPIC.

Johnston Canyon

Easy enough for most fitness levels, dramatic enough to take your breath away. Go for the upper falls. Wear layers — the canyon stays cool even in August.

Lake Louise Sightseeing Gondola

The ride up Whitehorn Mountain gives you an entirely different perspective on the landscape. Even with haze, the views were remarkable. There’s a restaurant at the top if you want to make an afternoon of it. Bob and I did, and it was an amazing experience.

Hacks

I want to be straight with you: the Canadian Rockies are not a budget destination. Moraine Lake Lodge is expensive. The Fairmont properties are also expensive. Flights from the US to Calgary add up. There are not a whole lot of hacks.

I booked this trip because my business had funded it and that felt like something worth honoring.

There’s something significant about the first time your business pays for something beautiful. Not just bills. Not just reinvestment. But a real experience — a birthday trip with your husband to one of the most stunning places on earth.

A trip like this is absolutely achievable. It just takes preparation.

One actionable step right now: if the Canadian Rockies are on your list, open a travel rewards card with a strong sign-up bonus and start accumulating. Let your business, or your intentional financial decisions, fund the experience.

My go-to card for a trip like this is the American Express Platinum. Yes, the annual fee is hefty. And yes, it is entirely and totally worth it — especially if you travel with intention.

Right now the welcome bonus can be as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards points with my referral link (only available by request and I have 5 left - if interested direct message me). That’s roughly $3,500 in travel value just from the sign-up bonus alone. Transfer strategically to airline partners and that number goes up. You make your annual fee back and waaaay more (more on that coming up in another post)!

The Fairmont Banff Springs is also part of Amex’s Fine Hotels + Resorts (FHR) program, which is where the Platinum card gives you even more!

Book through Amex Travel and you get complimentary breakfast for two, a room upgrade when available, a $100 on-property experience credit, guaranteed 4 PM late checkout, and — this is the one people miss — $300 back semi-annually on prepaid FHR bookings. That’s up to $600 back per year just for booking hotels you were already going to book.

Direct message me if you want to learn more or to get the link.

Not Quite Ready for the Full Splurge?

No worries! The Rockies are worth seeing at every budget level. Here’s how to do it:

Base yourself in Canmore. It’s 20 minutes from Banff, noticeably cheaper than staying inside the park, and genuinely charming in its own right. You get the mountains, the access, and a meaningful reduction in nightly rate. It’s the single smartest accommodation move for this trip if you’re watching the bottom line.

And here’s something worth knowing: Canmore has a solid inventory of legitimate Airbnbs and VRBOs — condos with full kitchens, fireplaces, hot tubs, and mountain views, often for less than a standard hotel room. Look for properties listed as Tourist Homes or Hotel Condominiums, which are the two legally zoned short-term rental categories in Canmore. Do not try this in Banff, Lake Louise, or Jasper. Those areas fall under national park regulations, short-term rentals are either prohibited or heavily restricted, and enforcement is real. Canmore is your play.

Do Moraine Lake as a day trip. Book the Parks Canada shuttle well in advance (reservations open in April and sell out fast), arrive as early as you can, and give yourself a full morning. Canoe rentals are available on-site for non-lodge guests too, though at around $160/hour you’ll want to factor that in (it’s free for guests). The lake is the lake whether you slept there or not.

Consider early June instead of August. The lodge itself runs a complimentary dinner-for-two promotion on two-night cabin stays in the first two weeks of June — worth knowing if you’re ready to splurge but want to soften the blow. Rates across the rest of the area are lower before peak summer hits. The water is every bit as blue.

Canoe Emerald Lake instead. Same glacier-fed color, fewer crowds, and about $60 less per hour. It’s in Yoho National Park, just 45 minutes from Lake Louise, and genuinely spectacular. Nobody who’s been there has been disappointed.

There is something about taking in the view of that incredible landscape — with the impossibly blue water, mountains crowding the sky, the air carrying the faint cold of glaciers — that makes the noise of ordinary life go very quiet.

I believe God uses beauty to speak. And in the Canadian Rockies, He is not being subtle.

There is so much more to come in The Rising Room that will help you to make, manage, and multiply your money so you can experience life to its fullest.

You can build something that funds a life that is full. It starts with deciding that fullness — in every form — is actually what you’re going for and understanding that’s what the Lord desires for you. He wants you FULL. He desires for you to have more than enough to meet your needs, to give generously, and to enjoy life.

Stewardship is key!

So go…and live fully,
Anita 💖

P.S. If you’ve enjoyed this content and also love to travel, please let me know in the comments below! I have so many more travel adventures to share and want to make sure I’m covering what interests you most in this particular section of The Rising Room.

P.P.S. I acknowledge that we have brothers and sisters around the world for whom a trip like this isn’t a budget question, but an impossibility. I hold that reality with gratitude, not with guilt. Because I believe that those of us who have been given higher levels of opportunity and freedom have a sacred responsibility to steward it well — not to shrink from it or to be ashamed of it, but to use it fully — and I am writing to that woman. Opportunity in your hands is not sinful, wasting the opportunity given to you is.

I was a defiant child, a rebellious teenager, and a young adult who decided that she was self-sufficient.

She could handle it. She could push through. She was strong enough and smart enough.

She had to be.

That’s defiance. Not always with a fist in the air — but with a jaw set tight and a heart that’s learned the hard way not to lean too much on anything or anyone.

Because you’d better believe it, I was not going to be a woman who got stepped on or the kind of woman who looks for approval and who spends her time people-pleasing.

I’ve learned since then that these patterns have a name. Coaches and therapists have observed for years that women who carry unhealed pain tend to move in one of two directions: defiance or compliance. Deciding to need nothing from anyone or shrinking into whatever the room needs.

But what secular coaches and therapists don’t always know is where the pattern started.

It started in a garden.

Genesis 3 is the original case study. Eve, in the moment of temptation, decided she could determine good and evil for herself — that she didn’t need to depend on what God said. That’s defiance. And when God came looking, Adam and Eve both hid. Compliance — covering up, going small, hoping not to be seen.

The curse that followed named it plainly: women would wrestle with desire and control. We’ve been oscillating between those two responses ever since. Grasping or hiding. Striving or shrinking. Defiant or compliant.

Both are wounds. Both are survival strategies. Neither is freedom.

And then culture handed us a phrase and called it healing.

You. Are. Enough.

It showed up on mugs and Instagram graphics and the opening monologues of TED talks. Women’s conferences started leading with it. Therapists used it. Coaches built entire brands around it.

And I want to say something that might land hard:

This phrase is not liberating women. It is keeping women from experiencing fullness in Christ.

Because “you are enough” does not point you to Jesus. It points you to yourself. And a woman oriented toward herself — even in the name of self-love — is a woman cut off from her actual source.

This is not empowerment. It’s self-striving hidden behind a motivational sticker.

Let’s talk about what this looks like in the culture, because it has gotten absurd.

We are watching a full-scale redefinition of womanhood — and it has nothing to do with the Kingdom.

I’m watching movies where a 130-pound woman is physically overpowering six-foot-two men in hand-to-hand combat. Like, whaaat?! Sending them through walls. Taking punches that would hospitalize a linebacker. And we’re told this is empowerment.

It’s not. It’s a fantasy. And not even a good one.

It’s a fantasy built on the premise that for women to be powerful, they have to be men. That strength means domination. That authority means independence. That the goal is to need nothing and conquer everything alone.

And that’s what defiance looks like when it gets a budget and a marketing team.

And the softer-adjacent version of it is “you are enough” — because both are telling the same lie in different fonts:

You don’t need God. You just need to believe in yourself harder.

Kingdom women, we cannot drink from this well. It will not satisfy us nor will it sanctify us.

It will poison us.

The Truth About Enough

Here is what Scripture actually says about your sufficiency:

“Apart from me, you can do nothing.” — John 15:5

Not “less than you could with me.” Not “less effectively.”

Nothing.

Jesus did not negotiate this. He did not soften it for the women in the room. The vine does not negotiate with the branch about how much it can produce on its own.

You were not designed to be enough.

You were designed to abide.

And this idea doesn’t diminish you!

A branch is not weak because it can’t bear fruit without the vine. It’s doing exactly what it was made to do — staying connected to the source of its life.

The moment we start telling women “you are enough,” we are cutting the branch from the vine. She’s going to try harder. She’s going to perform longer. And she’s going to wonder why she feels so depleted when she’s doing everything “right.”

What We Got Wrong About Philippians 4:13

Now let me take the phrase you’ve had embroidered on a pillow and tell you what it actually means because I’ve long been driven crazy by individuals misusing this verse.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

We’ve been reading that like a war cry. Like a declaration of unlimited capability.

Paul wrote that from prison.

He wasn’t talking about launching a new initiative. He was talking about being content in chains. He had learned — past tense, through the process of suffering — that Christ’s strength was sufficient for him to bear whatever came.

That is not the same as “God will make sure everything works out if you believe hard enough and work hard enough.”

It is far more powerful than that.

It means: you will not be destroyed by what you cannot control. It means: the weight that should have broken you didn’t, because you weren’t carrying it alone. It means that even though you are insufficient, God is all-sufficient.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9

Perfect in weakness. Not despite it. In it.

Your limitations are not a liability. They are the exact conditions under which God’s power is most visible.

A woman who has convinced herself she is enough has no room to experience this because she’s too busy performing her sufficiency to receive His.

The Difference Between Defiance and Dominion

Here’s what I had to learn — slowly, through sanctification that was not painless:

Defiance and dominion look similar from the outside.

Both women are bold. Both take up space. Both move with authority. Both refuse to be small.

But the source and the outcomes are completely different.

Defiance is rooted in the wound. It says: I will not need you. I will not be hurt again. I will be enough for myself.

Dominion is rooted in the assignment. It says: I was given authority over this territory, and I will steward it — not because I’m capable on my own, but because the One who sent me is faithful, and He’s called and commissioned me to this.

Defiant women are exhausted. They’re carrying what was never theirs to carry. They’re holding on so tightly to an identity built on performance, and any threat to the performance feels like a threat to their survival.

But women walking in dominion? They can rest. They can be wrong. They can be corrected — because their identity isn’t built on their performance. It’s built on whose they are.

That is the fullness I am after. Not a woman who has convinced herself she’s enough, but instead, a woman who has learned to abide so deeply that the fruit comes without striving.

You are not enough.

And that is the most freeing sentence you will ever let yourself receive.

Because it means you were never supposed to be.

You were supposed to be connected.

Abiding. Carried. Filled.

The world is selling women a counterfeit — a strength that has to be maintained through sheer will, that crumbles the moment the pressure becomes too great.

We’re watching it play out on screens and in leaders and in women who built entire empires on their own enoughness and only to watch it all implode.

Kingdom women, there is a better way.

Not defiance. Not con.

Your commissioning this week:

Audit the voice you’ve been agreeing with. When you feel that drive to push harder, prove more, need less — pause and ask: is this dominion, or is this defiance? Am I reaching like Eve reached, trying to be enough on my own? Or am I hiding — compliant, small, editing my voice and downplaying my God-given dreams? Honest examination is where sanctification does its deepest work.

Here’s to your rising,
Anita 💖

We just moved to Florida — new city, new season, new everything. And in the middle of hauling boxes and figuring out where the spatulas go, I stumbled across an old journal from 2014. The year I launched my coaching business.

I sat down right then in an office full of boxes to unpack and read it.

I was writing about overwhelm. About how hard it all felt. Sentence after sentence of lament. And then I found this line about my upcoming coaching program:

“I only need 8 women, but asking 8 women to drop $150 on a 6-week class is not easy.”

I laughed out loud!

Having sold $10K packages with ease since then, I marveled at how far God has brought me.

But here’s what really stopped me. After all the lament, after all the confusion and overwhelm, I concluded:

“I know that I just launched my ministry and it’s not unusual to have no clients in sixteen days.”

Sixteen days, friend.

I was putting so much pressure on myself to have already signed clients after sixteen days.

That woman — stressed, uncertain, pressing through — eventually figured it out.

I’m sharing this because I’m back at a beginning.

I thought starting this new brand would be easier because I’d already built one. I thought experience would mean a smoother road. What I didn’t account for was this: it’s still a beginning. We’re not yet settled into our new life. There is a lot more that needs to be done with our house. The rhythms aren’t built yet. I’m learning how to live in a whole new season — and I have to be disciplined to not allow self-imposed pressure to sit on top of all of it.

I have to be careful not to carry timelines, expectations, or mandates that are not from the Lord regarding where I should be by now and what I should be doing.

Everyone Is Talking About the Nervous System Right Now

And I think that’s actually a good thing.

There is real, valid science behind the idea that our bodies carry our stress — that when we are in a prolonged state of tension, our nervous systems shift into survival mode. Fight, flight, freeze. We become less creative, less intuitive, less capable of hearing clearly. We make decisions from scarcity instead of faith.

But here’s what I want to add to that conversation, because it’s important to understand this from a spiritual perspective:

A dysregulated nervous system is often the result of a soul that has subconsciously stopped finding its safety and security in God.

We are holding it all so tightly.

Our timelines, our plans, our reputation, our results.

We have wrapped both hands around our calling and we are squeezing….hard. And the tension in our shoulders, the shallow breathing, the 3am thoughts are the physical expression of a woman who is putting too much pressure on herself.

Nervous system regulation is good, but the deepest regulation available to you is not a breathing exercise.

It is surrender.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28

Jesus didn’t say come to me and I’ll give you a strategy. He didn’t say come to me and I’ll give you clarity on your next step (although He certainly does give those things).

First and foremost, He said come to me and I will give you rest.

That word rest in the original Greek — anapauō — means to cause to cease. To put to rest. To give intermission from labor.

He is not asking you to figure it out and then report back. He is inviting you to stop. To put it down. To crawl up onto the lap of Papa God and just... exhale.

The Weariness Is Often Self-Inflicted

I want to be direct with you, because I’m saying it to myself too.

Much of what is exhausting you right now is not your assignment. It is your anxiety about your assignment.

It is the timeline you invented.

The milestone you decided you should have hit by now.

The comparison to someone else’s Chapter 12 when you are in Chapter 2.

In my journal from 2014, I was weary 16 days into launching my coaching business.

Sixteen days.

I was not behind. I was just ahead of myself.

And the same is likely true for you.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10

Be still. Not be idle. Not be passive. Not give up. Cease striving.

The Hebrew word here is raphah, and it doesn’t mean what we think it means. It means to sink down. To relax. To let drop. To let go. To release your grip. To withdraw the tension you’ve been holding.

God is not telling you to freeze in place and wait. He is telling you to release. To stop white-knuckling it. To open the hand that has been gripping your timeline, your reputation, your results — and let it drop into His.

Be still in the place of knowing. In the settled, anchored knowledge that He is God and you are not, and that He is with you right where you are - and that is actually very good news.

The woman who knows God is God does not have to white-knuckle her calling.

She can open her hands. She can breathe. She can trust that what He started, He will complete — on His timeline, and not necessarily the one she typed into her notes app.

What Resting in God Actually Produces

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

The word translated “wait” here is the Hebrew qavah — and it doesn’t mean to sit passively until something happens. It means to bind together. To twist. To braid. Like strands of a rope being wound tightly around each other.

And it also means to hope. To expect.

To wait on the Lord is to intertwine yourself with Him. It is the posture of a woman who has stopped running on her own strength, wrapped herself in His strength, and is fully anticipating what He is about to do.

That is not passive. That is not weak. That is a woman with a big calling who has learned the most powerful thing she can do is to trust the One who gave it to her. The promise is that waiting on God, and leaning into Him in the tension, is what renews your strength.

The eagle doesn’t flap wildly to rise. It catches the current. Then it soars — with less effort, more altitude, and greater distance than the bird that wore itself out in frantic motion.

You were made to soar. But you cannot soar while you are gripping.

Your Commission This Week

I want to invite you to do something this week that may feel unproductive but is actually the most strategic thing you can do.

Stop. Get quiet. And physically — with your hands, your body, your breath — practice releasing any self-imposed weight or pressure.

You don’t need to figure out the whole plan today.

You don’t need to have clients in 16 days. You don’t need to have your new season figured out before you’ve even fully arrived in it.

You need to trust the One who called you.

And let that trust do what no nervous system protocol can do.

Not by gripping harder but by trusting deeper.

So here’s your permission and your commission:

You are allowed to exhale. You are allowed not to have it all figured out yet. You are allowed to be in the beginning of something and trust that the One who called you into it is already in the middle of it.

Rest. Release. Trust.

And from the place of rest and surrender, God will give you exactly what you need.

Here’s to your rising,
Anita 💖

You’re high-achieving…but are you high-capacity?

The difference between the two is everything.

You gets things done.

You hit your goals, show up on time, deliver with excellence, and somehow still manage to hold everything together.

From the outside, you look like you’re thriving.

But on the inside?

You’re running on fumes.

Something is working, but something else isn’t…and you can’t quite name it.

Your achievement is causing stress and instead of enjoying the fruits of your labor, your fruit is eating away at you.

Sound familiar?

If you’ve ever felt like this, you’ve experienced what it means to be high-achieving while being low capacity.

And that distinction? It’s everything.

Achievement Is Not the Same as Capacity

High-achieving is about output. It’s what you produce, what you accomplish, what you can show for your effort. It’s measured in results, in deliverables, in “done.”

High-capacity is about what you can sustainably carry.

It’s the internal infrastructure — spiritual, emotional, physical, relational, professional — that determines not just what you can do today, but what you can steward for the long haul.

One is about performance. The other is about fullness.

Jesus didn’t just want fruit from the vine…He wanted fruit that would last.

“I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit — fruit that will last.” John 15:16 (NIV)

That word “last” is the thing.

Lasting fruit doesn’t come from striving. It doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from abiding — from being connected to the source at a level deep enough to sustain what God is releasing through you.

The truth is, you can achieve without abiding.

But you cannot carry without capacity.

And capacity comes from both abiding and growing.

Why High-Achievers Hit the Wall

Here’s what happens to women like you.

You’re gifted, so you produce. You’re disciplined, so you deliver. You’re faithful, so you keep going even when it’s hard. And for a season, sheer ability and work ethic carry you.

But then the assignment gets bigger. The responsibility expands. God starts releasing more — more influence, more visibility, more opportunity — and instead of feeling exhilarated, you feel overwhelmed.

You’re pleased with “the more,” and even prayed for it, but your capacity hasn’t grown to match it.

A vine that hasn’t been tended cannot bear more fruit just by trying harder. It needs to be pruned, rooted deeper, given the right conditions to grow. Jesus knew this. This is why John 15 is as much about the gardener’s work as it is about the branch’s.

The ceiling you hit isn’t a limit on your calling or impact. It’s a capacity gap.

And a capacity gap is not a character flaw. It’s not a sign that you’re behind. It’s an invitation to build the internal infrastructure that your next level requires 🔥

The Six Areas Where Capacity Is Built

Capacity isn’t a single thing. It’s built across every dimension of your life — and a weakness in any one area creates drag on all the others.

I measure capacity across six distinct areas:

Spiritual: Can you hear God clearly when the pressure is high? Is your prayer life a foundation or an afterthought? Your spiritual capacity is what keeps you anchored when the stakes get real.

Emotional/Mental: Can you process disappointment without derailing? Can you hold tension without collapsing or numbing? Emotional capacity is what keeps you responsive instead of reactive.

Relational: Do you have people who sharpen you, speak truth to you, and carry weight with you? Relational capacity is both who’s in your corner and how well you lead and influence others.

Professional: Do you have the systems, skills, and structures that match the vision? Are you leading your work or just doing it? Professional capacity is where your gifts become scalable.

Physical: Is your body resourced for what God is asking of you? Sleep, movement, nourishment — these aren’t luxuries. A depleted body limits a willing spirit.

Environmental: Does your space — your home, your office, your digital world — support the level you’re called to, or is it creating friction? Your environment is either expanding your capacity or contracting it.

Most high-achievers are strong in many of these areas and underdeveloped in the others. And they’ve been running on the strength of what’s working to compensate for what isn’t.

That works — until it doesn’t.

What Building Capacity Actually Looks Like

It’s slower than you want it to be. It’s less visible than you’re used to. It often feels like you’re not doing enough, because the work is internal before it’s external.

But this is the work.

In John 15, Jesus said abide in me. Not perform for me. Not produce for me. Abide. Stay connected. Let the life of the vine flow through the branch — and from that place of connection, bear fruit that lasts.

Capacity is built in the abiding in…

• the prayer that nobody sees.

• the boundary you hold even when it’s hard.

• the therapy or spiritual direction session

• the hard conversations

• the rest you actually take

• the mentor relationship

• the accountability,

• the covenant friendship.

In the systems you build before you need them.

It’s the infrastructure of a life that can carry more without breaking.

God isn’t withholding the increase. He’s waiting for you to become the woman who can hold it.

This Week: Your Capacity Audit

Here’s your practical application for the week. Don’t overthink it — just be honest.

Look at the six areas: spiritual, emotional/mental, relational, professional, physical, environmental. In which area are you most depleted right now? Not which area needs the most work overall — which one is actively costing you the most?

That’s where you start.

Not by doing more but by asking: What does this area need in order to be able to expand? What have I been tolerating that I need to address? What would it look like to actually invest here?

You don’t have to overhaul everything at once.

One area, one honest assessment, one intentional step at a time.

That’s how capacity is built. Consistently. Over time.

And when the fruit comes — and it will — it will last.

Here’s to your rising,
Anita 💖

After many years in full-time ministry, Bob and I retired, packed up a Budget moving van, and headed to Florida to begin a brand new season.

A milestone we had been looking forward to for years.

And then — before we even made it to our new home — I got hit with the worst virus I have EVER had in my life.

No celebration. No excitement about the new chapter. Just sick, depleted, and trying to get through the day.

Almost two weeks later, I’m still recovering.

Not exactly the picture I had in my head.

As of right now, I’m not feeling energized, inspired, or motivated.

But here’s what God’s reminding me — and I think you need to hear it too.

You cannot build your calling on how you feel.

If everything you’re building only moves forward when you feel inspired, energized, and ready — you will build very little.

Life is going to happen. You’ll get sick. Things won’t go according to plan. There will be seasons that feel far less exciting than you expected.

And that’s where most women stall out. Not because the calling isn’t valid, but because women are waiting to feel like it.

There are three seasons (or modes) every builder moves through:

Kingdom Flow — ideas are coming, divine inspiration and creativity are high, energy is strong, momentum is real. These seasons are wonderful. Lean into them fully.

Kingdom Fight — life is messy, energy is low, things feel heavier than they should, and inspiration is nowhere to be found.

And then there’s everything in between.

The season most people overlook.

The liturgical calendar actually has a name for it - Ordinary Time.

It’s the longest season of the church year. Not Advent, not Lent, not Christmas or Easter. Just the long, steady, unglamorous stretch where most of the formation actually happens.

Your calling has an ordinary time too. In fact, most of your calling will be built there.

The days that aren’t a milestone and aren’t a crisis.

They’re just… Tuesday.

And those ordinary days?

That’s where most of what you’re building actually gets built.

So what does it actually take to build something sustainably and successfully through all seasons of time?

Three things.

1. Discipline and commitment.

Commitment means you show up because you said you would. Not because you feel like it. Discipline is what carries you on the days inspiration disappears.

Last Friday was that day for me. Today is that day for me.

Still recovering, not inspired, not energized — but showing up anyway. Because that’s what I’m committed to.

Motivation is a feeling. Commitment is a decision you keep making.

Commit to your calling!

2. Starting/Doing before the feelings catch up.

When you’re tired or in a hard season, everything feels heavier than it actually is. But here’s what’s true: clarity often comes after starting. Energy often comes after starting. Ideas often come after starting.

Waiting to feel ready is one of the fastest ways to stall what God has called you to build.

3. The capacity to carry seasons.

This is the one most women underestimate.

If you’re building something meaningful — a business, a ministry, a platform, a career — it will move through hard seasons. Seasons where life interrupts, energy is low, and progress feels invisible.

Your ability to keep moving through those seasons is what determines whether you actually build something lasting.

That’s capacity. Not inspiration. Not motivation. Capacity.

And capacity is what God is developing in you in the seasons that feel the hardest.

Faithfulness isn’t only about character. It’s about consistency — what you do on the unremarkable days when nothing is flowing and no one is watching.

God isn’t just building your calling in those moments. He’s building you. The woman who will be able to carry what comes next.

Your practical application this week:

Identify one area of your calling where you’ve been waiting for feelings before you move.

Then take a step - not when conditions are perfect, but right now, exactly as things are.

This step will not be insignificant, no matter how small. Small steps are often how God determines what He can trust you with next.

Faithful with little. Faithful with much.

Here’s to your rising,
Anita

Bob and I were in the kitchen, coffee being poured. Somewhere between the feelings of disbelief that this was actually our last day and the enormity of what was ending, I said it out loud:

“I feel like Jacob.”

Not Jacob the triumphant and not Jacob the patriarch. Jacob working seven years for Rachel, only to wake up and find Leah. And then seven more years before Rachel became his. Fourteen years of labor for what his heart desired most.

I had been in vocational ministry for fourteen years.

Fourteen years of using my gifts for the Lord. Fourteen years of showing up and serving faithfully.

We’d left this ministry for almost four years and in that time I found and fell in love with coaching, and Bob was engaged in teaching and training pastors and lay leaders - he was in his element. But we felt the Lord calling us back. And after prayer and conversations we believed that in the coming back, we’d be utilized specifically in the areas of our gifts and abilities, but it didn’t quite work out that way, and the coaching I loved had to be put on the back-burner.

We were placed in assignments that didn't fully utilize our specific mix of gifts and skills, and we found that there is an exhaustion that comes not just from working too hard, but especially from working misaligned. We loved the people we served. But we knew, every single day, that the fullness of what we were built for was still waiting.

But here’s the thing.

Jacob didn’t waste those fourteen years. He was being made into someone who could steward what was coming. The man who walked into Laban’s household was not the man who walked out of it. The waiting period wasn’t wasted time — it was formation time.

Moses saw his calling at forty and got it catastrophically wrong. Forty years in the wilderness later, he stood before a burning bush and God commissioned him.

David was anointed king as a teenager but didn’t sit on the throne until he was thirty. What happened in between? Caves. Battles. Saul’s javelin. Running for his life. God was building the man who could carry the kingdom.

Here’s what I want you to understand: the waiting period IS the preparation.

It is not a detour. It is not punishment. It is not God being silent or slow or unconcerned with your timeline. The waiting period is where He builds the container large enough to hold what He’s about to pour in.

I want to be clear with you about something.

My fourteen years of ministry were not wasted - even though the enemy wants to tell me that story.

You wasted your best years. You missed your window. You could have been further along by now. Did those sermons even matter? Did you actually change anyone? Will anyone remember you were there?

Maybe you know that voice.

Here’s what I know to be true: in every single appointment, every congregation, every season — there were people. Real people. People we connected with deeply, relationships that were meaningful, lives that intersected with ours in ways that were not accidental. God placed us there on purpose, for people who needed exactly what we carried.

Every person I served. Every responsibility I was entrusted with. Every skill I developed, every relationship built - none of it was wasted.

I am standing at the edge of something I have sensed for years.

A calling to help women step into the fullness of who God wants them to be.

Not a few women, not a small room. Thousands.

Ok, honestly - millions (I know, it’s crazy).

A podcast. Transformative coaching programs. Words on pages that reach people I will never personally meet and change the trajectory of their lives and their families and their legacy.

Not for the accolades, but for the glory of God.

And even if I don’t reach millions, I know I am called to try. To do the work. To follow the Lord’s leading.

To be obedient to this call.

In the end, it’s not the outcome that matters most - but the obedience.

So let me ask you again.

What feels heavier right now — the weight of your calling, or the wait for it?

If you are in a waiting season, I need you to hear this:

You are not forgotten. You are not behind. You are not passed over.

You are in formation.

All the prophetic words, all the dreams, all the visions are still yours, and are still valid.

The stirring you feel is not just restlessness - it’s assignment. The restlessness is not ingratitude - it’s your spirit recognizing the gap between where you are and where you sense you’re supposed to be.

It is evidence of what’s coming.

David in the cave was still the anointed king. Moses in the wilderness was still the deliverer. You, in your waiting season, are still the woman God called before the foundation of the world.

Be serious about the preparation. Don’t waste the wait complaining about it. Don’t spend the formation season trying to shortcut the process. The capacity being built in you right now is essential to everything that comes next.

The weight of your calling is heavy because it is significant, and the wait is long because what God is building in you is substantial.

Both are evidence of how seriously He takes your assignment.

Don’t you dare dismiss it down now.

Here’s to your rising,
Anita

Why?

Because when I was seeking depth, growth, and maturation, what I kept being served felt like cotton candy - sweet, fluffy, and gone in seconds.

Somewhere along the way, much of the Christian content for women became story-centered with simple encouragement.

But when did depth get replaced with anecdotes?

A story, light reflection, gentle encouragement, and a scripture verse.

I don’t need fluffiness. I need formation.

And women are capable of depth. We need depth.

(Don’t get me started on women’s ministries in many churches).

We need substance.

Listen, there is nothing wrong with encouragement.

We all need encouragement.

But if encouragement is all we consume, we will remain spiritual infants.

Women are building businesses.
Raising families.
Leading teams.
Influencing culture.
Stewarding resources.

We cannot afford shallowness and personally, I crave more.

So, if you’ve felt slightly restless reading devotionals lately, it might not be cynicism.

It might be maturity.

You may have outgrown spiritual cotton candy.

So here’s the question:

What are you actually building your spiritual life on?

Encouragement alone won’t grow you.

Formation requires substance. Substance requires engagement. Engagement requires responsibility.

If you’re ready for that — stay tuned.

We’re not here for cotton candy.

We’re here for capacity.

I’ve been excited to see incredible women creating substantive content here on Substack.

And by all means, if things have changed in the printed devotional space - point me in the right direction!

There is a tension I have observed for years in Christian women who are serious about their faith and who are also carrying and stewarding a call to leadership and influence.

They love God. They care about obedience. They want their lives to reflect the eternal.

For many, that desire has been difficult to reconcile with the messages they’ve absorbed about humility, submission, and contentment.

Somewhere along the way, smallness was subtly equated with holiness.

Ambition became suspect.
Visibility became risky.
Financial increase and the desire to create wealth became ungodly aspirations.

And so women learned to temper their language. To soften their ambitions. To downplay the scale of what they sensed might be possible.

But Scripture does not equate fruitfulness with pride.

We are invited into stewardship. Into multiplication. Into responsibility over what has been entrusted to us.

Ambition itself is not a problem, nor is it unholy.

But unformed ambition is unstable. It reaches before it is ready and it confuses urgency with calling.

But formed ambition - aligned ambition - is something entirely different.

It is anchored.
It is disciplined.
It is governed by obedience rather than ego.

It does not chase platforms. It builds foundations.

They are interested in alignment.

• Alignment between who they are in Christ and how they show up in ministry and the marketplace.

• Alignment between their convictions and their financial decisions.

• Alignment between their gifts and their execution.

Rising, in this sense, is not about becoming louder but becoming more formed.

It requires spiritual depth. Emotional maturity. Financial literacy. Practical skill.

Capacity.

Calling without capacity is heavy. It strains marriages, leadership, businesses, and faith itself.

So we build capacity deliberately.

Not to prove anything or to compete, but to honor God; stewarding what has been placed in our hands with excellence, nurturing our God-given potential, and stepping into the fullness of who He created us to be.

This space will explore these questions:

What does it look like to:

• Pursue influence and authority without ego?

• Steward wealth without idolatry?

• Reflect health and beauty without vanity?

• Work in excellence without pridefulness?

The answer is not to suppress the desire; it is to submit it to Jesus and allow Him to use it for His glory.

Let’s rise,
Anita