My Personal Walk With God – Interview With Michelle Onuorah From the Prophetic Listening Podcast

Hey Friend!

Join me as Michele Onuorah from The Prophetic Listening Podcast interviews me about the popular topic of walking with God.

I hope sharing my story will help unlock or provide insight for you. With God, there is always a next level; He surprises you and shows up in unexpected places.

Stef’s Walk With God as a Podcast and Business Coach

Michelle: Thanks, Stef, for being here and sharing on this episode.

Stef: Thanks so much for the kind words, and I’m so excited to be here.

Michelle: Typically, I do prophetic listening sessions with my guests. Given your experience as a successful entrepreneur and a woman of faith, I thought it would be fun to ask you a few questions about how hearing God’s voice and following His directives have been crucial in your business and your walk with God. How did you learn to hear God’s voice?

Hearing God’s Voice

Stef: I was saved at 9. My mom and I went to a large Easter service at one of the football stadiums. Before that, we had gone to church here and there. As a child, I had gone through a lot of spiritual warfare (even demonic attacks at night that I experienced for years). I went to therapy. They would tell me that I just had separation anxiety and no one could explain it otherwise.

This went on for a while before this Easter service. They did an altar call, and I felt like I heard this voice say “Go.” Even at nine, there was this new intuition that I was safe because Jesus was with me. After this, I had no more of these attacks at night

I went on to be a rebellious teenager and tried to find my identity and worth in all the wrong places like partying and drinking. As a Christian, I pushed away my relationship with Christ. I felt like I was in charge of my wholeness.

After I got married, my husband and I started going to church here and there. I then got pregnant and decided I’ve got to figure out my walk with God. I had just gone through a business failure which was my whole identity. Drinking led me to huge anxiety attacks. I prayed to God to show me why but wouldn’t accept that it was the alcohol. I turned to God because things in my life were not feeling right, but I wasn’t surrendering yet.

My surrender

A pivotal moment came when my business fully fell apart. I was 60 pounds overweight because I had just had my second child. I was leaning into the Lord but still gripping so tightly to myself. My worthiness was truly in the trash at this point in my life.

We attended a church service, and I stood in this worship moment. I dropped into that nine-year-old girl moment where I felt like God said, ” I’m here, and everything is going to be taken care of.” I had my hands up and was sobbing.

When I went home, I was hungry for God. I wanted to get to know Him. That moment was when my walk with God grew deeper intentionally. There’s always another level of listening and growing with God.

There is always more

Michelle: That’s beautiful and totally resonates. Like you said there is always more. You never arrive in this Christian journey until we reach the pearly gates. That’s a beautiful testimonial of total surrender and it’s so hard to get to that point.

Stef: It’s easy to lean into what has brought us comfort in the past instead of what brings us true comfort in the future. We have to remind ourselves as Christians that what is comfortable is not always His way.

Michelle: I agree! If it’s comfortable, it’s not His way. He’s always stretching us. I’m glad you mentioned facing a business failure because people often see a successful businesswoman like you and think, “Well, she did it. Why can’t I do it? What’s wrong with me?”

Failure is just a part of being, and the question is whether you fail forward or not. As we fast-forward to where you are now, have there been times when you made a decision ahead of God rather than being led by His spirit?

Staying Aligned, Walk With God in Business

Stef: Yes! There are two sides to this coin. You’ll find yourself on one or the other: You are a massive action taker who remembers to check in with God, or you feel you hear nothing and don’t move your feet.

I’m the first, and so I often take big audacious action. It’s a learned practice to pause, which is part of my 4 “P” process: Pause, pray, people (wise council), and plan. I’ve learned in my walk with God that whenever I take action without doing my 4 P’s, it’s either chaotic, not fruitful, or doesn’t feel right.

I did that a lot more in the past than I do now because I’ve learned those hard lessons. God’s way is scary but also very peaceful. I’ve learned that you must lean in and let God lead you.

Prophetic words about starting a podcast

Michelle: That’s so good. As a recovering striver myself, I can relate to learning the hard way and that I need to check in with God. It’s easy for go-getters to say, “Okay, you gave me the next step. I’m just going to go for it.” I received 2 or 3 prophetic words about starting a podcast.

The first one was right before the 2020 pandemic. I was thinking to myself that I needed to do it. I started other podcasts, and they didn’t work. What it comes down to is timing. Just because God says a thing doesn’t mean it’s supposed to happen right now. There was this moment for me when it became apparent that it was time. He showed me Podcast Pro University to equip me to do it.

Now that you are in that healthier place in your walk with God, how do you balance being a goal-oriented entrepreneur? How do you trust, rest in God’s favor, and do things from a spirit-led place? What does your business walk look like?

Are You Fully Trusting as You Walk With God?

Stef: It comes down to whether I fully trust in this thing I’m doing. If we struggle with something we are doing, it comes down to trust. I can be called to a business and great at growing a company because God has called me to do that. However, I can make it an idol and become sinfully obsessed. That’s what the enemy wants you to do: cross that line.

I’m constantly checking in with God. Hearing from God is not one-dimensional. It doesn’t mean I have to do the same thing every day to hear from Him. I’ll pray for each thing in my life that needs His input. It’s the constant invitation of more of Him and less of me. Every time I follow his call, I’m deeply blessed. That “call” might be a whisper, a scripture, a word from someone, or another beautiful way God uses to communicate.

God has already taken care of all the stuff you think you need to obsess over.

Michelle: You just took us to church! That was powerful. I’m so glad you mentioned the following listening styles:

• telepathically – a thought that’s not your own
• feeling/inner knowing – emotion
• audible – out loud voice
• someone else – speaks directly to you through someone else
• images – we see things in our mind’s eye
• music – lyrics in songs

I also love that you mentioned being a mom. What a high calling that is and how God gives you the capacity to navigate that. Your bio mentions that you are a “boundary queen.” How has that process been with you over the years?

How to thrive in our calling

Stef: Being the personality that I am, I’ve always been the leader. I’m bossy and a big presence. I’ve been that way since I was little. We have natural anointings. It’s always been that I was going to be a leader and a speaker from the beginning.

When we get into those spaces it’s going to feel good because it’s what God has called us and blessed us in BUT it’s not all that He’s called us to. We have to be aware that we can thrive in our calling, but not become it. I don’t want to become the call because I would miss the other things God has for me like being a mom, wife, and a good friend. These other things have to happen for purpose and fulfillment. It’s balance in the things He’s gifted me and then creating boundaries to protect them.

I had guilt because I wanted to stay in the calling. The guilt is what I call discernment alarms and God telling me I got it wrong. You’ll feel the guilt because your boundaries are off. I started paying really close attention to these things. When I felt the alarms I would pray, “God, what do you want for this situation and I’ll do it?” He makes himself very clear. So I drew boundaries like putting my laptop away or whatever else He called me to do.

Michelle: That was so good! As we come to the end of our time, where can people learn more about navigating their walk with God as an entrepreneur?

Resource for Your Own Walk With God

Stef: You can find weekly episodes on my podcast at Online Business for Christian Women. I also have a free resource called The 7-Step Biblical Battle Plan which is a Psalm 18 guide on how to approach spiritual warfare with God. It would be an excellent source for entrepreneurs growing in their relationship with God!

I pray this blesses you!

APPLE PODCAST | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE

RELATED EPISODES:

Dream With God and Find A Fresh Vision With Polly Payne: New Year New You

Silence the Noise: Overcome Distraction to Hear God’s Call

Does God Want to Fulfill Our Dreams? Study From Psalm 105