Amy: Hey guys, I have Hannah Keeley, America’s number one mom coach with us today.
Welcome Hannah. I am so excited to be here with you, Amy. What a joy.
I’m so happy. Well, I was able to meet Hannah a couple of years ago. And
then last year we were able to have you come speak at one of our women’s conferences,
which was so amazing. Everybody absolutely loved you. And we have two daughters and
we were able to have a meal with Hannah one night, and our daughters have talked
about you ever since. They just absolutely adore you. So this obviously is How Leaders
Replenish, and I figured as a mom of seven, you have to know a lot about how to
replenish. Before we even get into that though, I would love to know, how did you get
into mom coaching?

Hannah: Oh my goodness. Being a mom. So I was a behavior therapist before I started having
kids, and I had this idea of what, you know, being a mom would look like. You know, it’s
just, “it’s going to flow, and it’s going to be so perfect,” and, “oh my gosh, I can’t wait!” A
couple of years down the road, you know, here we are with one baby and another baby
and another baby. I have seven children, right? And so after a few children I’m like, “this
is not what I thought it was going to be.” And I’m going to be honest with you, Amy. I was
the poster child for “mom stress syndrome.” It was overwhelming! My house was
cluttered. I was losing my cool. I had so much anxiety, depression, all that stuff.
I felt like I couldn’t get ahead. I was gaining weight. The bills were piling up and we were
trying to borrow from one creditor to pay another. It was just so much debt! And it was
just way too much. And here I am, a former behavior therapist, and I could not cope. No
strategies were working on me. Like nothing. I knew how to help people get results in
their life with their mental health, but I was just spiraling. Then this one day I walked in
to my bedroom. I was carrying a load of laundry and took a glance at myself in the
mirror. And it was not a pretty sight. I was just like so young to look so old and wearing
my husband’s t-shirt, because I couldn’t fit into my own clothes. And it was just like no
life at all. And I was just like, “is this really the life that I’m living? I thought it’d be so
much more.”
I had a mental breakdown that day, like on the floor sobbing into my laundry. It was
definitely a movie moment. Like if the cameras were filming, they would be capturing all
of that because it was just the ugly cry where you can’t tell the tears from the snot. And
it’s like, “Oh my gosh!” I was crying out to God, right? “Help me! Help me!” And so I’m
expecting, you know, a miracle from God, the heavens are going to roll back and I’m
going to hear an audible word, and He’s going to prophesy over me. And there’s gonna
be a knock on the door, and I’m going to get a check in the mail and someone’s going to
show up! But it wasn’t quite like that. I did hear from God, and He told me very clearly
one direction to take. He said, “get up and fold your laundry.” And that is not what I
wanted to do. Very counterintuitive. I’m sharing this with you and your listeners, because
the strategy that is going to create the most effective result in your life is always,
always, always, always going to be counterintuitive to what you naturally would do. This
is a long way to answer your question, but I started that day. I started just taking action
on what God was telling me to do. I really dug into the Word like I never had before. I
had gone through all the self-help books, all of the self-help programs, and I finally took
the Word of God as my self-help manual. And I discovered strategies in there that would
completely transform my life.
So I started taking like the best of what I knew from neuroscience and neuroplasticity
and cognitive behavioral therapy and all of that, and then started seeing how they could
practically apply to a mom in the Word of God, And I started getting dramatic results!
And so that led to me starting to share these results with moms and coaching them.
Then that led into books and television. Now we have an entire university for moms
where I’m providing the coaching and we’re actually training up coaches as well.

Amy: I love it! I love it. That is so amazing.
And just to see the fruit of your ministry and all that you’re doing is profound. And I love
your Crazy Blessed podcast! That is amazing.
So fun to listen to. Awesome. So I am curious, as a mom of seven–I only have three kids- you’ve got to have some systems somewhere along the line that you put in place
because things were getting so crazy. So at what place were you making transitions and
what did you do? What were some of the things that really made big differences?

Hannah: Oh my goodness. One of the first things I did was I really started researching the mom
brain and realizing that, as a woman, your brain actually changes like physically and
anatomically. It changes after you have a baby.
It’s because we our brain now is not just keeping us alive, it’s got to keep our children
alive. So we have certain parts of our brain that deactivate and other parts that activate.
So I studied this. And I discovered that all of these programs for moms that
are supposed to replenish them and make life easier for them and help them out are not
working because they’re not designed to work with the mom brain. So I started coming
up with these strategies that do work with the mom brain and how a mom’s life actually
works. That started becoming really, really effective! I started getting like these radical
results in moms. So I started sharing these with moms, you know, after I practiced them
on myself. I was like my first guinea pig, right? I had to, I had to test it out on myself and
figure out if these worked.
And now these mom brain hacks are super popular with a lot of moms because it helps
us to live a life without the mental dialogue that is so stressful. If you talk to a mom,
they’re exhausted. They’re just overwhelmed. They’re exhausted. They feel like they’re
just running on their last nerve. Right? And we know as goes the mom go the kids. If
mommy ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy. So if the mom’s stressed out, the whole family’s
going to suffer because of that. But what I found is that the overwhelm and the
exhaustion is all because of the mental load that we’re carrying.
If you look at it, we’re not like out digging ditches. It can absolutely be physically
exhausting, I’m not going to say it’s not with seven kids. It absolutely is. But it’s not like
we’re doing reps, and lifting weights, and running marathons. It’s not the physical side.
It’s the cognitive chaos that’s going on where it’s like, “oh, I can’t do this,” or, “I’m such a
loser,” or, “I’m so overwhelmed,” or, “my kids deserve a better mom!” You can go on and
on. Everyone’s got their favorite flavor of suffering.
That’s what’s really exhausting. So I started working with these little hacks for moms.
Just things like how to out-think your brain so you can actually like get more done and
not be so stressed about it.

Amy: I love that. You know, as you’re talking, it’s reminding me of a church that we used to
attend years ago. And I remember they, one mother’s day did a video and they asked
specific moms within the church, you know, how do you feel you’re doing as a mom?
And the moms would say things like, oh, you know, I’m trying so hard, but I feel like I’m
missing the mark. And I just feel like I could do so much better. And the moms, as they
interviewed them, they were very hard on themselves.
And they interviewed those women’s exact children from the kids ministry. And so they’d
show the mom and what she said about herself. And then they showed that woman’s
child and what her child said about her.
And the kids, when they would say, tell me what you think of your mom, the kids would
say things like, “oh, my mom is a rock star. She is amazing. She does so much for us.
And I just don’t know how she gets it all done. And she’s always loving me and hugging
me. And she still makes time for me, even when she’s tired.
And I have the best mom ever.” And so then they would play this video of what their
child said about them. And that’s so true, how we can beat ourselves up like that.

Hannah: Yeah. Well, I mean, the enemy, you know, we know Satan is the accuser of the brethren,
right? And I think that moms, the moment you have that baby, I don’t care if you’re
adopted you, if you’ve like, now you’re a blended family.
If you actually gave birth to this child, the moment you become a mom, now you’re on
his radar, like that there is a target on you, like good news, bad news, good news, your
mom, bad news. Now you’re on the radar. And the reason Satan targets moms is
because they’re so powerful.
Like I think moms don’t realize that they have the power to shape the world, shape
future generations, like what goes on in their home matters because that is going to
move out and expand. So you’re either expanding the kingdom of God or expanding the
kingdom of the enemy. And so if you are a believer and you’re a mom, you’re a target.
So that’s why he tries to get you to think negatively about yourself and what you’re
doing, because if he can accuse you of being a bad mom or not using your time well, or
keeping a cluttered house or not teaching your kids effectively. Like I know this because
it’s all run through my head, right? Then he can, the joy of the Lord is our strength, right?
So if he can attack you and accuse you, he robs you of your joy, there goes your
strength. And that’s why you’re sitting on the sofa, scrolling on Instagram, because that’s
all you can do. It’s not that you’re a bad mom.
It’s all you can do because of the scenario that the enemy has now cleverly devised for
you. And you just fell prey to it.

Amy: Exactly. It’s just like the scripture that says, as men think, yes, so is he.

Hannah: Yeah. Our thoughts direct everything. And if we can start really leveraging the way that
we’re thinking and start becoming, I really, one of the things I love to tell moms is that,
you know, if we can get really curious about the thoughts going through our head, that
may be the first step.
We always want to condemn the thoughts in our head. We’re always like, oh man, there
we go again. I was doubting.
I was fearful. I was angry. Like you fill in the blank, right?
And I think that’s such hard pressure for moms. What if instead of having a spirit of
criticism, what if we could have a spirit of curiosity and be like, oh, there, there I go
again. Okay.
Okay. So here, I know this, I know how this plays out. So let me think of a positive
thought.
So I want, I would love to share like one of my most powerful and weird mom brain
hacks. You ready for this? Yes.
Let us have it. Kind of weird. Okay.
So you’re listening to this. One thing that is really effective when you do have that
negative spiraling thought, like I can’t get out of it no matter what, I can’t stop thinking
about that fearful thing, or I can’t stop running that scenario, or I keep on thinking I’m so
exhausted. I’m so overwhelmed.
Here’s a really kind of weird strategy, but I’m known for my weird strategies, right? We
have to have a pattern break. A pattern break is something that is just unusual and
weird enough to break the pattern of how we’re thinking.
So I teach moms to hold up their hands in the air, like kind of like they’re stopping traffic,
right? And I say, hold up and then point your finger up and say, wait a minute. And this is
the fun part.
You put your fist, you make fist, and then you just sashay a little bit, put a little super in
it, back and forth, like a little dance. Okay. And now you’re thinking, yeah, why are you
teaching like, like TikTok dances?
What are you doing? This is, this is bizarre. You’re supposed to be helping me parent.
You’re supposed to be helping me be a leader, help me be a coach or mom. No, what
this does is it’s just weird enough. You can’t do it and not laugh at yourself.
So you can’t do it and your kids don’t laugh at you. So it’s just enough of a pattern break
to make you stop and think for a minute, if I were to switch this around and think a more
positive thought, what could that be? But we have to call a halt to that dialogue that’s in
our head.
That’s just running without us even being aware of it. So if I can say, “hold up, wait a
minute, put a little super in it.” That’s just enough to make me stop and think, you know,
this, I don’t need to think this.
I could put it, I could put a better thought behind this. So you see the moms inside my
university, mom master university, do some pretty weird things. Just don’t question it.
Just go along with it because they know what they’re doing. They’re living their best
lives. They’re rocking it as moms.
They’re showing it for their kids because we have to out think our mom brain. It’s so
true.

Amy: I love that. You know, I have a friend who’s a neuroscientist and she talks about how the
brain has, it looks basically like a tree and it has patterns and those brain patterns just
want to go in that direction. And once you start spiraling one way, it just wants to
continue on that trail that’s already blazed so many times before.
And so I love that what you’re saying about how you, how you teach them to stop and do
their little dance because that totally blocks that brainwave from continuing and starts
that new path. I love it. I love it.

Hannah: That’s so true. And when you look at the mom brain, like it does, it looks like a tree. So
one thought could lead to another negative thought, lead to another negative thought.
And if you continue this, what you’ve done is you’ve developed like very, it’s almost like
instead of a thread, it’s like a rope. Now it’s really dialed in there. It’s like a highway and
not a trail.
So these pattern breaks help you stop, just like you said, stop that and start moving in a
different direction. And I always think about when I look at what a neuron looks like,
when I look at that, like a brain, what I’m seeing, if you’re seeing a tree that could
actually be that tree that’s planted by the waters of living life. You know, if we’re planted
there, planted in His word, planted in that love, then that’s where we, the Bible says we
produce fruit in all seasons. So it doesn’t matter. Like we can’t, we always think we have
to change the circumstances. We’re like, if my kids were just more supportive or if my
husband respected me more and helped me out more, or if my house was bigger or if I
made more money or if I was thinner, or if I was like, you know, everyone’s got their
scenario, what they think.
If I could change this, I would feel so much better, but that’s actually reverse. We need to
flip it upside down. When you change your thoughts, you put something, this power into
effect that moves you forward and that changes your circumstances.
Even if, I remember I was invited a lot of times to come on television shows and help like
declutter homes or help like, you know, moms like change their habits or something. And
I’m like, you know, I’m not going to do it. I remember this one show is like, we want you
to come in and we send the family away.
And then you come in and like declutter and get organized. I’m like, no, because they’re
going to come in and mess it all up again, because nothing has changed with the heart.
And Proverbs says like above all else guards your heart for out of it flow all the issues of
life.
So if you’re not going to change your heart, don’t think a change in your money or more
square feet or someone coming in or a new diet, or don’t think that’s going to change it.
You will go right back to the pattern that you have already established.

Amy: That is exactly true. In ministry, being a pastor, we see that and you’re so right. You
have to change what’s going on in the heart and in the head before anything changes on
the outside, because people wonder why they’re reverting back to old behaviors.
Like there’s a scripture that says the dog returns to its vomit. And why are the people
returning to their vomit? It’s just because those brain patterns have not been changed.
The heart, the brain all connected so powerfully.

Hannah: You know, it was funny, Amy, because I did have a client one time who was, he said, you
know what? I just want to go. I just want to go at this.
This guy did me so wrong. I just want to go back and give him a piece of my mind. I’m
going to call him up today.
And I’m like, wow, that’s kind of gross. I didn’t know you liked eating vomit. And he said,
what?
I used that. I’m like, because you haven’t changed the pattern, you’re not operating in
love. And you really think this is going to change how you feel about this?
No, you’re going to be returning to the same vomit that we tried to get out of you last
month. So if you want to go ahead and eat the vomit, bring some salt and pepper, have
a good time, or we can just change this around and we can get to the root so we can
change the fruit.

Amy: Oh, I love that. That is great. Get to the root so you can change the fruit.
And, you know, we were talking about trees for a moment and our brain being like trees.
And it’s funny, before we got on this podcast, I actually had a scripture that came to
mind. I was kind of just talking to the Lord about what we were going to be talking about.
And this verse came to my mind in Isaiah 55. And this is the power of God to change our
lives. “Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. And where nettles grew,
myrtles will sprout up.” And so just the power of we can have this thorny bush in our
heart, in our brain, wherever that is, we can have this thorny bush. And through the
power of God and his word transforming us and changing the way we think, it can turn
into this beautiful tree.

Hannah: Absolutely. It can. And God has no respector of persons. Like what he did for one, he will
do for another. Now, here’s the deal. We see what he will do in some people’s lives,
right?
Like we’ll see, oh, well, if I had a house like theirs, or if I had a marriage like theirs, or if I
had a body like theirs or whatever. But if we are operating with that spirit of jealousy,
you know, then we’re actually operating with this belief that God can’t do it for us too.
Exactly.
So if we could, because we’re not, I mean, we’re called not to covet, but the root of that
covetousness is a distrust that God will also show up for us. So what if we could
celebrate other people’s successes? Think about how that would push that belief
forward.
I’m celebrating that because I know what’s happening in my life too. Like I’m celebrating
your financial success. I’m celebrating your marriage.
I’m celebrating that new baby you just had. I’m celebrating the promotion. I’m
celebrating it because I know mine’s on the way, right?
Because I’m in the same neighborhood. And so if God’s in your house, he’s coming to
mine next. I just love the idea of being able to trust, like open yourself up and trust God
that He is not holding back.

Amy: I love that so much, Hannah. That is so, so true. The power of just being happy for
someone else, when you purpose to do that, it creates this cleansing in your own heart
where it really builds your own faith for God doing it for you.
Exactly.

Hannah: Like I said, He’ll never respond to your discontent. Exactly. You know, and also He’ll
never respond to your desperation. Sometimes I feel like we’re just approaching God
with such an enslaved spirit and that, you know, the prayer of a righteous man avails
much, not the prayer of a desperate man. So approaching God with desperation also
comes out of a place where you think that he hasn’t already done the finished work, that
He hasn’t already supplied, that He’s not good for His promises, that you have to
somehow emotionally coerce Him into coming through for you. But God doesn’t respond
to that.
What He responds to is that prayer of a righteous man or a righteous mom who’s like, I
know who I am. I know I’m loved. I know I’m the head and not the tail.
I know I’m the top and not the bottom. I know that Jesus did everything, went to hell,
paid the price and rose again for me. So everything in this covenant, everything that I
have a right to as a child of the most high God, I receive it.
That’s the prayer of a righteous mom, not desperate mom.

Amy: Yes. Standing on His promises and just believing they’re true for you.

Hannah: I remember like my mama would always, she was a music leader at church and she
passed about a year and a half ago. And all the time I’m like hearing her hymns coming
through that, “standing on the promises of Christ my King.” I’m like hearing those old
Southern hymns all the time.
I’m like, yeah, mama, I gotcha. I hear it. I’m standing.

Amy: And you’re singing right now is reminding me when we were talking a while back, you
told me the funniest thing that you do in your house when your kids are having a
disagreement with each other. Will you share that with everyone? My kids heard this and
they’re like, what?

Hannah: Okay. So I have done this. I’m serious.
The hacks, I got it. I got a load of those hacks, but one thing I would do. So with my
seven kids, they’re all grown adults now.
Okay. And actually the last time they were over a couple of them started having this
political disagreement. I’m like, all right, right now, hold hands, do the loving and kind
dance.
So you can see it was like 27 year old and a 29 year old doing the same dance. Okay.
That they did when there were seven and nine.
And so what I would do is like, if there is, I always built up my kids to understand you’re
each other’s best friends. You have each other’s backs. You love one another.
Like I’m just telling them who they are. And if there’s ever any sibling rivalry, if there’s
ever an argument, I’m like, okay, so we’re going to stop this. We’re going to talk about it.
There’s going to be apology and forgiveness. And there always had to be forgiveness.
And then after that, there was the loving and kind dance.
So, so there’s no, like, this is a pattern break for your kids. So they have to hold hands
and, and seeing, you’re going to make me sing this on the podcast. Okay.
They would have to sing “loving and kind, loving and kind. The Keeley family is loving
and kind.” And so they would have to like go around in a circle and sing the song and
hold hands.
So it never failed. Amy, one was really mad about it. And one was laughing about it.
Right. Never failed. And so at least that was enough to like, okay, we’re breaking the
pattern.
And they don’t even remember after that, like somewhat humiliating experience. They
don’t even remember what they were fighting about in the first place. It’s like, mom’s
going to make us like act like idiots and dance.
It’s like, you know, yeah, you’re going to do that. We’re just going to make sure this is
not a problem. We’re going to get past it.
So yeah, even today and they’re like twenties and thirties, I’m like, guys, loving and kind
dance. Let’s go. So you can imagine now they’ve turned it into like raps and they have
like the downbeat to it. And now they’re like, yeah, it’s all the things.

Amy: Oh, that is so awesome. I love it. I am just loving all of this great parenting advice and
also just great mindset advice because that is so much a massive key to walking out
victory.
It’s really, you can’t have victory without changing the way you think if you’re in negative
patterns. And so many people have grown up with the negative patterns. And I think
even more in the day we’re living with the influence of social media and everything
going on, there are just so many negatives coming at people that having those hacks to
pull yourself out of the negative thinking. That’s a powerful thing.

Hannah: It is. You’ve got to have tools to use strategies that work with you. And the problem is I
think a lot of people, I remember hearing this the other day and it’s kind of something
that was going around on social media felt very woo woo.
And it was, it was this saying that was like, what is meant for me will come to me. And
that sounds really nice. And it sounds like a really cool little Pinterest post, right?
It sounds like really, you know, something going a little sunset in the background and put
that copy. And, and I was thinking, you know, this is how the enemy works. The enemy
always works with half truths.
And the thing that has been for you, yes, it will come to you, but we are taught that Jesus
stands at the door and knocks. And He says, if anyone opens the door, I will come in and
I’ll dine with him. That intimacy, right?
Because when you’re going to dine with Jesus, you’re going to be transformed. There’s
just, there’s just no doubt that’s abiding in His presence. But when you talk about like
our current culture today and mindset and how to get out of maybe what you were
raised in or that negative programming, there’s always going to be opportunity.
It’s not going to fall in your lap and just magically change. You’re not going to wake up
one day and like, you know what? Wow.
There’s no more anxiety. There’s no more depression. And it could be even you’ve been
going to counseling or therapy for years, and you’re still stuck in the same patterns.
Jesus, his love is the ultimate pattern breaker. So if He is standing at the door and He’s
knocking, he’s like, “Hey, here’s an opportunity. You can leave the door shut, or you can
open the door and it will always take courage to go through everything.
That’s going to change your life. It’s going to be counter to what you think you need to
do. It’s going to require a great amount of faith and there’s going to be transformation
on the other side.” And so I think about that, even like laying in a pile of laundry, it’s like,
okay, I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to stand up and fold this. I got seven loads here.
I’ve collected them over the week. Right? And so I don’t want to mess up a good thing.
I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to put action toward it. It’s going to require a great
amount of faith because I don’t know what it looks like.
I don’t know what true obedience, 100% trust that faith looks like, but I know there’s
going to be transformation on the other side of it. So simply obedience, like we’re taught,
if we are willing and obedient, we will eat the good of the land. In our current culture, we
think if we’re willing and able that we’re just going to be able to do it.
Right? That’s not what God calls us to do. He’s like, I’m not asking for your ability to
change your mindset or change your life or change your finances or change your
parenting style, or even stop this cycle of abuse or addiction that’s been running through
your family.
I’m not asking you to have the ability to change it. I’m asking you to have the obedience
to step through that door that I’m knocking at right in front of you and see what’s on the
other side. But it’s going to take courage.
It’s going to take faith because we don’t know what it looks like.

Amy: That is so true. And what would you say to that person who they’ve been in a cycle for
such a long time?

Hannah: Well, actually, it’s kind of funny that you’re saying this to me because literally a few days
ago, I had someone who wanted to get into the university and wanted to change, but
there was so much, I’m scared. I’ve been burned. People say, trust me, this will work.
This will work. And I’m like, got it. You don’t have to feel good about it.
You don’t have to feel like people think peace is a feeling. That’s not a feeling. Peace is a
conviction.
And sometimes peace feels like you’re pitting out. You got clammy hands and your
heart’s racing, right? But it’s conviction.
And I said, I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m not asking you to even trust the program.
I’m asking you to trust the call of God right now.
And yeah, you’ve tried everything, but that’s not really true because you’ve never tried
this, you know? And so, and of course, you know, just the, just in a few weeks, how her
life has transformed. She actually said, I, you said, I’d be happy.
And I can’t believe it. I’m actually happier. Like that kind of, that’s why we’re called
Happier Ministries. That’s because everything we do Mom Master University and
Covenant Coach Academy, like training up life coaches, it’s all about helping people with
happier lives by the grace of God, because everything we do, all the choices we make,
even the choices we think are, are self harming is still trying to get some relief, trying to
get happier, trying to get some emotional state, right. That brings us more joy and more,
more, you know, less anxiety. And so when we really follow the call of God, then we can
push through that.
And yeah, there are some things that haven’t worked for you. Sometimes you feel like, I
really felt like God was calling me into this, this relationship, right? This choice I made
this, this move or whatever it looks like, or this job.
I felt like God was really directing me to it, but we have to, have to, have to go to
Romans 8: 28, “all things work together for good for, to those who love God and are
called according to his purpose”. So what if even the bad decisions, what are the
decisions that didn’t work out are still designed to bless you designed for your good. Like
we can all say something bad that happened in our life.
Actually, we got a lot of good out of it. All of us can say that. So why can’t we just allow
every bad decision to now, when we lay it at the feet of Jesus, he’s going to be like,
good, that’s all I needed, babe.
That’s all I needed. Give me everything and watch me make something extraordinary out
of it. So I think it’s like, instead of never stop trying, I think it’d be never stop trusting,
you know, that God is leading you and it may, and He’s not saying, oh, you messed it up
or you screwed it up. That’s not, that’s not the voice of grace. Grace says, it’s all good.
I’m going to take all of it.
Even the worst parts of you, even the worst decisions you made, and I’m going to turn it
around and bless you. That’s something only He can do.

Amy: So true. I love that, Hannah. Just transitioning for a moment before we wrap up today, I
want to know with your busy life, and you can speak from when your kids were at home
or even right now, I know you’re still super busy with everything you do. What are some
things that you do to replenish when life is getting busy?
It can be small things day to day or big things, whatever comes to mind.

Hannah: Well, it’s funny because I think, I think we’re so quick to draw the lines between work and
pleasure, you know, where we’re like, I need to take time off. If we adopt a mentality of
this is hard work and this is refreshment and recreation, then we’re also adopting a
worldly perspective on how we show up and operating the anointing that God gave us. If
Jesus said that, take my yoke upon you, it’s light, it’s easy to be born.
He says it’s refreshment, recreation, and rest for your soul. Why do we need a break
from it? Yes, there are ways to replenish, but what if we operate in the, in the constant
replenishment of a life without toil, like He just said in Deuteronomy, like “the blessing of
the Lord makes rich and He adds no toil to it”. So I think there’s something about when
your work, I call it workshop, like when your work becomes your worship and it’s, it is
what, and you do it just because you’re planted and grounded in God’s word. Now I am
of that personality where I will just go and go and go and go because I love it, right? I
feel like it’s invigorating and it’s inspiring to me, but with him, like we have to
understand, am I going and going and going because it’s a work of the flesh and I have
to push through and I have to make it hard or am I going because it is fruit of the spirit
and it is just naturally invigorating for me.
So I want to like challenge that idea of, I need a break because if we do need a break,
then maybe we need to readjust our perspective on how we’re showing up as leaders. A
leader doesn’t do everything. A leader inspires other people to go and become their best
self.
So I think that’s the things that I would always do to replenish is to really is living in that
place of like, I’m going to like go to God first. He’s going to be my first go-to. I have to, if
I stop doing that, I’m done.
Like I’ll give you a good 30 minutes and I’m done. But it’s that, you know, I always go for
a hike every morning with my dogs and that’s just a time for me to just really, you know,
be in a place without, I think it’s important for everyone to have a time during the day
that they’re without walls or ceilings. So we can operate in that expansive energy that,
that God has for us.
Right. And also to really invest in those relationships, because I think, especially like my
marriage, that’s a, that’s a source of power for me. Like, it’s not like, oh, we need to
make time for each other.
It’s like that time together is replenishing and it is powerful. So I want to, if everyone
could, like, if you could think about your life as what am I doing? Because I really think
it’s me doing it and I have to show up and I have to push this forward or what am I
doing?
Because God is so big in me that he wants to flow out to the world around me. I think
there’s a different energy in those two different places. And I catch myself.
Like I will often, you know, go to that place where I’m just working, working, working.
Cause I think it’s all me. And that’s, what’s exhausting.
But then have you ever had those times when you’re like, you’re so big in you that you
just lose track of time. All of a sudden it’s like 11:45 and you’re like, oh man, but I got
some more to write or I got some work to do. Right? So I think we, if we don’t want to
cap our capacity when God is in us, we can do so much more, but also that
replenishment comes from plugging in to him. I just enjoying life. We’re forgetting to like,
enjoy life.
That should be part of this journey. If we’re just like, if our work isn’t enjoyable and if
we’re not having fun, I don’t know. I’m that just may be my personality.
Cause if, if you’re not having fun, like, why are you doing it? This should be fun.

Amy: You know, you’re a master life coach. So I am going to throw out a scenario to see if I
can stump you with this one. Okay.
Please stop me. Give me your best. I know it won’t be any problem for you.
So let’s throw out this scenario. We have listeners who are doctors, who are moms, who
are putting in 65 to 80 hours a week. They spent 10 to 12 years going to school for this.
They didn’t realize, some of them, what they were getting into. They have all these bills
to pay from college. So they have to continue in this profession.
It looks like right now, unless they have some outside miracle to pay off all of their
student loans. And so they’re surgeons, they’re putting in all of this. The work
environment of people around them isn’t always fun.
So what advice would you have for them to maybe make the best of that? I’m just
thinking of a couple of women. I know they have young kids.
They’d like to be more involved with their lives. They’re putting in extra hours. And even
if they ask for less, they can’t get less unless they quit.
What would you say to someone in that situation?

Hannah: I think I would challenge them. Like my personal clients are all very powerful business
owners. Like that’s who I coach personally, privately.
So they’re usually very high profile clients, building, you know, businesses and always
going. And so that’s one area where I’m coaching them is how do we have joy
throughout the entire process? Now, what you’re describing, this is going to sound harsh,
okay?
Is it feels like slavery. That feels like slavery. Now I can’t quit.
I can’t get out of this. And that’s where we have become our own source where we’re
exchanging time for money. We’re exchanging energy for money.
So what I would do is I think with that scenario is I would challenge a person to see, is
there a way to work higher and not harder? Now, this is, we’re often taught work
smarter, not harder, right? And I just don’t think that’s the right scenario because God,
the way he blesses is we work higher, not harder.
That means instead of changing, exchanging time or energy for money, we’re
exchanging communication and imagination for money. So that brings our level up
higher to the world. And that actually helps us work less with our time and energy.
So I would challenge, is there a gifting? Like, it feels like when you have a pile of debt
and I know what this feels like, like I, you know, grad school, all that stuff. So when you
have a pile of debt here and you can’t see the end of it, like no matter what I do, the
money comes in, the money goes out, the money comes in, the money goes out.
So the opportunity to advance there is so limited. You can’t even see that there’s
escape. I would say, do you have a gift in you that you can bring to the world at such a
high level that you no longer have to operate by exchanging time for money?
Now that’s, it’s a different way of thinking. I’ll give you an example. Her name’s Ruthie
and she was a middle school teacher.
And those are, those are, those are pretty hard hours, right? And she enrolled in our
covenant coach academy because she wanted to become a life coach, not just a life
coach, a covenant coach, which is like life coaching on massive steroids. So anyway, so
she was like, I kept on looking at my role as a middle school teacher.
And the only way to get more money per hour is to get more education. So she would
have to go get her master’s. And she’s like, I looked at the coaching program.
I’m like, what if that could be my master’s? And so she developed a skill that she already
had, like the, that has to be in there. Just like the woman, the widow with the oil, like she
had a little bit of oil.
She had to borrow the vessels, bring it in, pour out the oil and then take it to market.
Right? And then that one day was able to clear out all her debts, save her children, her
two sons from enslavement.
And then Elijah said, now you and your kids lift all the rest. And one day she was able to
do that because she worked harder, not harder. So what Ruthie did was she followed the
same plan.
Like she borrowed, she invested and became a life coach. And within a year, she was
able to quit her job and hit six figures. And so every scenario is not okay.
So let me get a different job. It may be God show me what I have in me that I could
serve your people at a higher level, because we have to go to, if He, if He truly means
what he says, “that the blessing of the Lord makes rich and he has no toil or sorrow to
it”, that we have to look at our current toil and sorrow and see where is this coming
from? Is this the necessary element to create money in my life?
Or is there something else that I have in me that God could refine and I could bring to
the world in a different way?

Amy: I love that. You know, this reminds me, I was listening to something recently about a
physician and she was doing the exact same thing. She said she was enslaved by her
hours and her student loan debt.
And she said she actually created a course for other physicians on how to work with
insurance agencies. And she was selling the course for $5,000 per course and had
already sold many, many, many. I don’t remember the exact number, but she was doing
that as a goal to work her way out of the busy career she had so that she could just more
be a fill-in physician, like more of what a retired physician would do.

Hannah: Right. She was working higher, not harder. And she was using those two things,
imagination and communication. She had imagination.
She came up with this idea. I could really help other physicians in this area. And she
communicated that, packaged it, just like the widow with the oil, packaged it, took it to
market, sold it.
And that’s what got rid of her debts, stopped the enslavement from being passed on to
her sons. And she lived off the rest.

Amy: I love that. Great advice. Great advice.
Thank you so much for sharing all of this, Hannah. You are awesome. Just so much
wisdom.
We appreciate you sharing that with us so very much today. So I know you are a very
full-scheduled woman, and you have so much on your plate, and yet you make time for
your family. And the one thing I have to say about you, Hannah, is when I have met you,
you really do exemplify what you were just talking about.
Like you bring joy to everything you’re doing. You make everything fun. And the joy of
the Lord is always radiating from your face and your beautiful smile.
And so you really do practice what you preach. Well, thank you.

Hannah: That is such a blessing to me. And I love what you guys are doing, just how you’re
blessing your congregation, how you’re really showing up strong in this world. Thank you
so much.