37 Life & Business Lessons I’ve Learned! It’s MY BIRTHDAY!

Hey Friend!

It’s my BIRTHDAY! I’m 37 years young today and I figured we’d do something special in celebration.

I came up with 37 life and business lessons that I’ve learned over 37 years and I’m sharing them all with you.

I pray these bless you, big!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
Hey, friends! Welcome to today’s episode! This is a special episode because it’s my birthday.

Today I am 37 years young and I am super excited to be sharing with you guys 37 life and business lessons I’ve earned in 37 years. It should be a doozy! Get ready!

(00:24):
Y’all probably gonna want a notebook and pen for this. I’m sure that some of these are really gonna resonate.

And I pray that they bless you and maybe you can take some of these lessons and implement them into your own life or business.

So, while I have these awesome lessons for you, I also wanna celebrate because while a few things, one, it’s my birthday and that’s always fun.

And two, we never really did a big celebration for passing 750,000 downloads here on this podcast, which is such a huge milestone.

And I think we can do a double whammy and just totally celebrate together birthday fun plus podcast growth, reaching more people, helping more women really know that they are called.

That God has a plan for them and they can create an actual business from their gifts.

(01:20):
And I’m so excited that you got us have been on this journey with me and whether you’re new around here, Hi, welcome! So happy and can’t wait to meet you over in our Facebook community

Or, you’ve been here for years with me on this journey, and lucky for you, you’ve gotten to see all of this growth firsthand and the stretching and the challenging and the work that God does in us when we continue to show up.

(01:46):
But the point is, I wanna celebrate with you, celebrate the fact that I’ve been doing this now for almost four years, 10 years, 11 years as a full-time entrepreneur.

And finally, I’m doing the work that God’s called me to do.

(02:01):
I finally have peace, purpose, and absolute clarity over what He’s created for me, so that I can hand it to you. And I think that that really deserves some celebration.

So, we are doing a super fun celebration. It’s just a birthday bash up in here and what we are gonna do, my friend, is you can get entered to win three awesome prizes right now.

And it is so easy. And it’s gonna take you 60 seconds.

(02:31):
So are you ready? I’m gonna tell you what to do. Grab a notebook and pan a sticky note or your phone and write this down. So let me first tell you what you win.

Our first prize winner wins a 30-minute unstuck coaching call with me. And these are valued at $400. So you get to hang out, and get all your questions answered.

We can really dig into your clarity work, what you’re called to do, and the five tiers of your brand map.

(02:56):
We can flush out your podcast. I can do a podcast audit, or if you’re past that point, we can even work on some copy messaging or outlining a course together.

Whatever you want in that time, it is yours. Prize number two is gonna be a scholarship, a complete ride to either Clarify Your Calling course or Podcast Pro University, either of two options.

And then prize number three is a 15-minute live power coaching session in the Facebook community. So if you wanna win any of those three prizes, here’s what you’re gonna do. You ready?

Step one. You’re gonna go from your app on your phone, you’re gonna open the Apple Podcast app and you’re gonna go to my podcast, The Stefanie Gass Show, spoiler, you’re already here.

You’re listening to me most likely right here on the app. But what you’re gonna do is go to my homepage.

(03:52):
So you can just type into the search bar, The Stefanie Gass Show. Then what you’re gonna do is click on it, click on the show, and you’re just gonna scroll.

You kind of scroll for a while until you get to the ratings and review section in little purple writing under the first review that you see here, that you can read. Click write a review.

All you’re gonna do is if you believe this is a five-star podcast, you click the five stars, you title it, and then you leave a review for the show. And it’s my birthday.

If you guys just do one thing for me today, it’s leaving me a review. This is the only way that I know that you’re loving the show.

I’d love to hear from you. What has been your favorite part? What’s your favorite episode?

What do you wanna hear more of? Is something inspired you or challenged you or changed you? I wanna know. Who are you and what has this show meant to you?

(04:44):
Has it helped you in some way? Has it made you laugh? What are your favorite parts about this podcast? Share that with me. Just take 30 seconds and share your heart.

And then you’re gonna take a screenshot. So step two, take a screenshot of your review, do this before you click send. Because sometimes it takes 24 hours for the reviews to pop up, take a screenshot.

Guys, if you can please add your name to your review, we actually know who you are to be entered into the giveaway because sometimes it’s like John 324Q17, left a review for the show.

And we’re like, who’s that? So add your name to the review, and take a screenshot.

(05:25):
Step three, you’re gonna go to www.stefgasscommunity.com, in the Facebook community you’re just gonna post your screenshot. That’s it, post the screenshot that you did the review.

That’s the only way we know that you actually did the review and how we can actually track you and find you when you win.

(05:48):
So recapping, it is a birthday bash. We are doing a giveaway to celebrate. It’s gonna be so much fun. It is so easy. Just do it. I promise 60 seconds of your time could win you a huge return.

Now all you have to do to be entered, to win one of three prizes, prize one, a 30-minute unstuck session prize two, a full scholarship to either Clarify Your Calling or Podcast Pro University.

Prize three, a 15-minute live power coaching session in my Facebook community, is number one, go to my podcast The Stefanie Gass Show and leave a written review for the show.

Step two, screenshot that review and submit it.

(06:29):
And step three, come post your screenshot in our Facebook community, which is at stefgasscommunity.com. That’s it. So thank you guys so much. Good luck!

I hope that you win because this is gonna be so much fun. This is gonna be going on all week. Do it now so that you’re already entered.

If you wanna get a bonus entry, you can also do so by sharing this podcast with a friend and then letting us know in the Facebook community.

We’re gonna be sharing the winner over in the Facebook community on Monday. So in order to see who won, come on over to our group and get ready. Okay. Let’s dig in.

(08:41):
Y’all I am 37 today. I don’t know. If you’re anything like me, but when I was 18, I used to think people who were over 35 were over the hill. Now I’m like, what? We just getting started up in here.

You know what I’m saying? Anyways? I don’t know how you feel, but my thirties have definitely been the, actually my latter thirties so far as 34 on having really been some of the best years of my life.

Definitely spiritually. I have grown and I’m closer to God now than I’ve ever been. Feel really secure, in my body and who I am.

I understand a lot more about what marriage actually means and how to be a godly wife. I’m understanding a lot about, well, I’m still learning.

But God is so showing me so many great things about how to parent from a biblical perspective.

(09:39):
And of course my business is God’s business and I’m so honored and grateful that He’s chosen me to partner with in this business and what He’s created out of truly nothing.

I’m just over here in awe, jaw on the floor, okay, God, I’m so here for this.

(10:00):
And I know that life may not always feel this peaceful, easy and free but what I do know is that God always has blessings for His beloveds and you’re His beloved and I’m His beloved.

Some of the greatest revelations that’s come in the past few years is just how much He truly cares for me and how much He loves me.

And how many ways He’s constantly expressing His unconditional love for me. And I know that He’s trying to do that for you too.

(10:31):
And maybe some of you are experiencing that and maybe some of you are blocking that.

But I encourage you to seek Him more deeply and pray that you’re able to receive His love in a new and exciting way and watch how different your life begins to feel.

See how crazy and amazing God is. His power is his infinite power and how it can just work and be woven through each area of your life.

So I thought it’d be fun today, and hopefully, I can get through these rather quickly to share with you 37 life and business lessons that I have learned in 37 years.

(11:10):
So here we go. These are in no particular order. I definitely bounced around. I just let the holy spirit lead. And so, feel to grab a notebook in pen.

You can also read the transcription of today’s podcast episode over stefaniegass.com/blog.

(11:26):
We’ll link that in the show notes for you in case you just want to head over there. Take a look instead of writing all the things down. All right, you ready? Here we go.

(11:36):
Lesson # 1, Jesus over everything.

(11:46):
2, the fruit of the spirit is always the answer. Whether in my reactions to something or how I’m feeling about myself or anything that I’m looking at in my business, life, marriage, motherhood, body, any of it.

Galatians 5:22-23, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Period. End of story.

You’re looking for an answer. Look at the fruits of the Spirit.

(12:21):
3, a fit body equals fitness in many other areas of life.

(12:28):
4, some friendships are lifelong and some are for a season and to just be open and accepting of how God wants to weave people into your life when, how, and for how long.

(12:43):
5, surrender, repentance, and obedience, aren’t shameful, bad words. They’re actually godly words and they are at godly practices. And once I finally realized that, wow, did my life shift in a big way.

(13:00):
6, alcohol is a drug. Period.

(13:04):
7, my body is a temple. Treat it that way. Your body is a temple. Treat it that way. Literally a temple, I just was gonna move on past this one, but God’s been showing me some really cool stuff.

I’m reading Haguy, don’t even know if I’m saying that right. Right now doing a Bible study and it talks a lot about God wanting his people to rebuild his temple.

And how that was just a beautiful foreshadowing of the gospel and how we are actually literally his temple now. We are the temple that God gets to come live and be with us.

(13:41):
He’s always wanted to be with His people and show His glory. And now He gets to do that through each of us.

And so to me, I’m like, wow, the honor, and yet responsibility of creating the best possible temple in my mind, heart, spirit, and literal physical body that I can for God.

What an honor! And I get to wear that honor with pride.

(14:04):
8, my kids learn more from what I do than what I say.

(14:10):
9, I let God my problems before I do. And have you learned this one, in your twenties, maybe even some of you later in life too. We wanna tackle our problems, we wanna head into it.

We’re here for the controversy. We’re here for the battle. And I’ve learned that there is no battlefield that I wanna be unless it’s God’s battlefield and He will lead me when necessary.

And He will also help me fight the battle in a godly way. So let God tackle my problems. My battles before I do.

(14:50):
10, spiritual warfare is 100% real present and in our lives, but our God is bigger, stronger, and an overcomer.

(15:02):
11, find a church that lights up your spirit yet challenges you to change for the better, in a biblical way.

I think it’s important that you find that community and that church family, but the right one, the one that God leads you to that has a great combination of spirit-forward, worship, and those things.

But also isn’t afraid to actually challenge you. When you read the Bible, it’s not all fluffy feel-good.

It’s a lot of challenging and a lot of changing so that we can transform into the hands and feet of Christ and we can live out purpose and intentionality as Jesus did.

(15:50):
And that does not mean that we are winning at life as sinful humans. It means we have a lot to do. We have a lot of work to do here.

We have a lot of change to make, and we can’t be afraid of looking at these things that need to be shaken in our life so that we can see the fruit from our, remember the good words, surrender, repentance and obedience?

Just write those three words down. If you hear nothing else today, it’d be like, God, help me believe that these three words are so good that they’re so full of glory in my life and help me to live them out.

(16:22):
12, being offended is a choice. Y’all go read The Bait of Satan. Enough said.

(16:31):
13, God can use you and wants to use you but is waiting for your yes.

(16:37):
14, opportunities must be vetted and discerned through. Guys, just cuz it’s a shiny opportunity and it’s sounds good, does not mean it is from God.

Every opportunity must be prayed over carefully, vetted against scripture, and discerned through, in partnership with you and the Trinity.

(17:08):
15, forgiveness frees you.

(17:15):

16 What does success mean? Success means loving God and serving others. Period. Who are the others?

Others are my neighbors, my children, my husband, my friendships, people in my business, my community, and all of you. That’s what success is. It’s true service. Period. End of story.

(17:37)

17. Growth is always hard until it’s not. Every single thing you will ever do in your business that’s going to make you better.

That’s gonna serve people, it’s going to be hard, and then it’s not gonna be hard anymore, cuz you’ll have done it. That is the most incredible advice. I read it somewhere.

That is not mine, but it is so powerful because you’re gonna feel, and even in your other areas of your life when you finally realize that, I didn’t write this one down.

(18:09):
Here’s a bonus one. Not all conflict is bad. Conflict is hard until you realize it’s actually sometimes necessary and it’s not. Parenting is hard until you get it and it’s not.

Maybe that one’s a lie. Maybe that one’s always hard. Figuring out all the business stuff it’s hard until it’s not. Guys, getting your first coaching client it’s hard, then it’s not. This is just part of it.

(18:31):
18, don’t quit testing and failing until you find the one thing God is calling you to. Don’t quit seeking after the answers. They’re there.

(18:48):
19, never give up, throw it outta your vocabulary.

(18:53):
20, invest in yourself, spiritually, physically, emotionally, and in your business.

(19:04):
21, marriage isn’t here. You’re not married to make you happy. You’re married to make you holy. Yeah, go read Sacred Marriage. Marriage isn’t here to make you happy. It’s here to make you holy.

(19:21):
22, we are called to teach and train our kids in the way that they should go. And the Bible is the best parenting handbook you’ll ever…, I was gonna say buy, have, read.

The Bible is the best parenting handbook there is.

(19:39)

23 No outcome ever happens the way you planned, just trust God and go. Trust Him and go, take massive action and realize the outcome that you have in your mind, that you perfectly planned out.

That you sketched out, that you reverse engineered and you know exactly how you’re gonna get there, it’s not gonna happen.

(20:02):
Not the way you think, not the timing that you have, not the perfect plan. Plans I’ve learned are absolutely nothing but a wish. Sorry. And yes we plan.

Of course, we plan, but we then lean forward with excited anticipation of how God actually wants to make that happen if He wants to make that happen. So trust and go.

(20:25):
24, peacefulness isn’t laziness. Let that one sit for a minute.

(20:33):
25, emotions are healthy and okay, let yourself feel, process, and then pray.

(20:45):
26, audacious prayer equals awesome answers. Audacious prayer, big audacious, completely uninhibited prayer equals the glory of God. Every time.

(21:02):
27, nothing is too big or too impossible for God. Y’all, I have seen miracles, the salvation of family members who were absolutely not here for it.

I have seen miracles, adoption stories from my family members, and freedom from different idols. He is a miraculous, incredible, good Father, every single day.

And there has been nothing in my life that was too impossible for Him. And I’m gonna keep believing that, I live faith forward and I encourage you to do the same.

(21:48)

28. 10 more. Don’t get mad or worked up over politics, religion, or C words. This is a lesson I learned. Just love people. It’s just never worth it. It is never worth it.

Creating controversy and division is Satan’s tool. And we are going to rise above that. I for sure am.

(22:14)

29 Pray for your enemies. This is a hard one. Even if you gotta pray through clenched teeth, I will be praying for my enemies.

I am praying for the people who hurt me, who belittle me, who condemn me, pray for them because something else is going on in their life that is causing them so much pain, so much hurt.

Maybe they’ve had prior traumas. We don’t know what’s going on. But all we know is that if they are hurting other people, they are hurt people. We’ve got to pray for them.

(22:50):
30, your eyes and ears are gates to the heart. Protect them at all costs. What are you for me, what was I letting into my eyes, what was I letting into my ears, what was I watching on TV?

What was I listening to, what music, what false teachers? In throughout my whole life, guys, there has been a lot of things I should have not seen or heard that I could have easily protected my heart from because everything you let into your eye and ear gates.

And this is biblical, it will be planted in your heart and whatever’s planted in your heart, begins to bloom and blossom. And some of those are really busted weeds. I promise you. So, protect your eye gates and ear gates at all costs.

(23:39):
31, money isn’t evil unless you what? Abuse or idolize it.

Money can be the root of all evil if you idolize, believe that it has power, treat it more worthy than you treat God, give it more attention than you give God.

But if you are a godly person who is truly working for the kingdom, godly people can use money to create incredible impact and incredible change. And I believe that money can be used for good.

(24:15):
32, inventory your idolatry every, I mean, gosh, if you can do this every day, wow, go you. But for me, it’s probably monthly. Really taking a look at everything and I break up with idols immediately.

What does this mean? Well, gosh, I’m idolizing my phone. Boom. Going on a phone fast. Oh, man. I’m idolizing my body. Boom. Throwing away the scale, doing it. I am idolizing my marriage.

Why am I idolizing? There are so many things you could be idolizing your kids, your business, success, money, the way you look, this girl on Instagram that you don’t even know.

What and how do you know, guys, this is not an idol? I have a whole idolatry episode. Oh my goodness. Go listen to it. Let me find the number. It’s episode 342 on the podcast.

But it’s anything you are placing more thought, heart, focus, love, attention on over God. You are putting more emphasis. You are caring more about this thing than you are with God. That is idolizing something.

And guess what? We all have them. Every single one of us and some of them are sheeps in wolf’s clothing. There are things you don’t think are idols. One of the ones I had in my previous life was alcohol.

It’s normal, everybody drinks. It’s fine. No, absolutely not. It was an idol.

And business has been an idol in my life, my phone, there are so many things that have been an idol and have become idols that I have to constantly break up with.

And you have the power to break any idol in your life. I want you to know that. I’m encouraging you today to recognize and realize that God has given you the strength and power to overcome.

There is nothing in your life that He has not given you power and authority over. You just have to make the decision and be disciplined enough to say no more. And to make the change.

Remember that this is not about anyone else. It’s not about what someone thinks of you or this change that you make in your life. It is only about you and God. Period.

And if God says that you’ve gotta lay that thing down, girlfriend, lay that thing down and then experience His favor, provision and fruitfulness that comes from your, remember the not dirty word, obedience, repentance and surrender. Do the things.

(26:36):
33, Anoint your home. Gonna go ahead and Google that one, buddies Anoint your home, anoint your car, anoint your kids.

(26:51):
34, get organized intentionally and get the work done to get it together. If you wanna succeed in your life, or business, you want your home to be finally clean and tidy and organized.

You want and, believe me, talking to myself here too, you wanna know where things are in your pantry. You wanna know how to show up to your work and actually do it well.

You’ve got to take the time to set up things properly. So get organized intentionally and take the time to do the dirty work. It’s annoying. It’s awful. But I promise you, it’s transformational in every area.

(27:34):
35 act as if. What does this mean? This doesn’t mean pretending, this doesn’t mean lying. This means showing up in your business the way you want to ultimately end up.

Do you want to be a big, amazing, incredible macro food coach for moms? And that is how you show up in your own life. Do you wanna have a six or seven-figure coaching business?

Awesome. Then act as if. Get your legals in order, get your contracts taken care of, and set up that website. You act as if. Build it and they shall come.

You wanna be super close to God and have Him partner with you, you wanna hear from Him?

Then you act as if, you get in that scripture, like you’ve never gotten in scripture before, fast pray, partner with Him, invite Him into your life, get to church, do the work.

We have to take action in order to change our lives. And also, this includes acting as if, showing up in the way and the capacity that you want to end up being.

(28:40):
36, mind your mouth. If y’all had known me, I am just so grateful that you did not know me in my twenties and any of you that did. I’m sorry. I really am.

Y’all have no idea how many sorrys I’ve given out in the past 12 months. And there are still people God will like bring up in my mind. I’m like, oh really Lord? I don’t know how to say sorry to that person.

Mind your mouth. If something godly and good is not happening in your mind, you better capture that thought and take it to the feet of Jesus and ask God to reframe that thought, you better immediately challenge yourself.

(29:22):
And don’t you dare let it come outta your mouth because now you dagger that you’ve been holding in your mind has just come out of your mouth and stabbed someone else.

No, I am not saying this doesn’t happen to me. It does, but this is one of my 37 lessons of my life is to mind my mouth. However, if all else fails, I just keep it shut. So, it’s been a very positive experience.

(29:49)

37 It’s been so important. God loves you so much. This is my lesson. God loves me so much.

However, I think this was the weirdest concept for me as I really started to experience a lot of spiritual growth, a couple of years ago and it’s like, God isn’t an angry God, He’s not mad at you.

You’re not to be shamed because of this thing.

(30:16):
He just loves you. And when I finally started to understand and I don’t even think I’ve begun to experience the depths of His love for me. But it just is something that I think we fight so much as humans.

And so, it’s natural to believe that we are unworthy. It’s natural to believe that we are broken.

We are ashamed of things we’ve done, things that have happened to us is, is our fault, or whatever these lies are that the enemy so carefully and, sneakily – is that a word? – places in our hearts.

But the truth is, is that God is love. And so He loves us. He created us in His likeness and He loves us so much. And that means so much to me. He has blessings and miracles for you and He’s had them for me.

(31:17):
He has an incredible vision of where he wants to take you, and also of how He wants to use your trials and your traumas and your hardships for purpose and for the transformation of other people.

He wants to use you for good, He wants to bless you, and He wants to heal you because He loves you.

And also recognizing that through God’s love He becomes so many things that I search for throughout my 37 years.

(31:45):
You search for love in all the wrong places. And then you search for recognition and acceptance and you search for validation. Then you search for the right kind of worldly counsel.

And then you search for answers on the internet. Good Lord! You search for worthiness by whatever, losing weight or changing your body, or whatever those things are.

And you look for these answers in your spouse, which they’re never going to be able to do because they’ll always fall short because what we are really looking for is God’s love.

(32:19):
But we put so many other labels on it and we search for this wholeness in all the wrong places. And it’s always right there in front of us. God loves us. He’s everything.

You are His bride, you are His daughter. You are His friend. He is your teacher. You are His student. He is your best friend. He is everything you’re looking for in everyone else. And it’s all right there in front of us.

God loves me so much. And God loves you so much. It’s almost incomprehensible that every answer we seek is right there in His glorious presence, which is already where? Inside of you.

(33:05):
Those are my 37 life and business lessons that I’ve learned in 37 years. So, I hope that this blessed you. Also, I hope that one of these lessons really touched your heart deeply and or challenged you in some way.

And I love to know what your favorite lesson was from today’s episode, so don’t forget to leave that review to get entered to win in the birthday bash contest.

You can even leave your favorite one in the review that you leave today to get entered to win free coaching, a scholarship to one of my courses, CYC or PPU, or a 15-minute power coaching session. You have this week to do it, do it now so that you don’t forget.

Leave a written review for the podcast, step one. Step two, screenshot it. Step three, come post it in our Facebook community, stefgasscommunity.com, and then get entered to win girl. Good luck.

I pray God blesses you. And I pray for another healthy 37 years. And so, I pray that you are blessed in this next year of your life.

Thank you so much for being part of this journey with me, for believing in this mission, and for trusting me enough to be your mentor and friend through this journey. Love you so much. Bye.