Gratitude is supposed to be a spiritual discipline. I mean, it is a spiritual discipline. It's a marker of maturity, the thing that separates the content from the chronically dissatisfied. But what if it told you that gratitude can also become a hiding place? Not the real kind of gratitude, okay? The performed kind of gratitude. The kind where you keep saying, I'm so blessed,

while something in your chest is quietly suffocating.

Here's what I've learned. Gratitude is fuel, not a fence. It's supposed to propel you forward and not lock you in place.

And somewhere along the way, a lot of us started confusing being thankful with never wanting more.

And today we're going to talk about the difference between gratitude that anchors you in God's goodness and gratitude that chains you to a season that has already

expired. Because staying small isn't the same as staying faithful. I'm going to tell you my story with

this and what I've learned from it. But first I want to tell you. Okay, let's dive in. Years ago,

I was working at Propel Women, helping build this global ministry for women. And on paper,

it was the dream. I was surrounded by brilliant, amazing women who were doing meaningful kingdom

work. I had a front row seat to something that was genuinely changing lives. I knew I should be

grateful. And I was. But there was this whisper, this low-grade hum that wouldn't

go away, no matter how many times I reminded myself how good I had it. It felt like wearing a sweater

that fit perfectly two years ago, but now pulls a little tight across different areas. Nothing

wrong with the sweater. It just wasn't quite right for me anymore. I knew that

God was calling me away and I ignored it for a while because how could I want something different

than what I had? This is a decade ago. I told myself I was being faithful. I told myself I was

being content. But deep down I was scared. I ended up having to admit to myself that I was scared to leave something so good. I was scared to rebuild my company from nothing. I was scared to look ungrateful. I was scared to look disloyal. And honestly, I felt like a traitor because I helped build this thing. I had called other women into it and now I was feeling pulled away. It did feel like a betrayal, like I was abandoning something that I promised to protect. So I stayed longer than I should have. I kept performing gratitude while my body just drained of life until I couldn't anymore. In 2018, I left. I rebuilt my business

from the ground up. I'm not going to lie, it was really terrifying. If you read Standing Strong,

you know the whole story. I shared about that there. There were moments I wondered if I made a

terrible mistake, moments I missed the security and community and the clarity of having a role that was already defined.

But here's what happened on the other side.

I've now helped thousands of women through my programs, hundreds through one-on-one coaching.

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