Pivots and Purpose: How to Follow God's Voice with Bonnie Randall
Aug 05, 2025Summary
Our guest, Bonnie Randall, candidly recounts her transformative journey, during which she learned to discern God's voice amidst the cacophony of life’s demands. She emphasizes that each woman possesses a unique calling, often shrouded in uncertainty, yet ripe for discernment through faith and reflection. Bonnie's narrative serves as a clarion call to those grappling with feelings of inadequacy or fear, reminding us of our inherent worth and purpose as vessels of divine intention. We delve into the nuances of pivoting in life, discussing the importance of surrendering our plans to God and trusting in His timing, ultimately leading us to a place of healing and fulfillment.
Show Notes
The illuminating discussion between Tamara K. Anderson and Bonnie Randall unveils the transformational journey of embracing one’s divine calling amidst life's complexities. Bonnie eloquently articulates her initial foray into the marketing world, which spurred her passion from a tender age, ultimately leading her to establish a successful agency. However, a pivotal moment arose during a Mastermind class where the divine promptings urged her to radically alter her trajectory by shutting down her agency and focusing on healing—both personally and within her family. This transition, Bonnie shares, was fraught with doubt and fear, yet she emphasizes the importance of trusting in God's plan, which often involves relinquishing what we hold dear for a greater purpose. Through her narratives, Bonnie inspires listeners to navigate their unique paths, ensuring that they remain attuned to divine guidance, especially when faced with daunting choices. The episode encapsulates the essence of faith, resilience, and the beauty of emerging stronger through life's trials, encouraging women to embrace their roles as warriors of light, ready to shine in a world that often seems overshadowed by uncertainty.
Takeaways
- In the podcast, Bonnie Randall emphasizes how divine design often comes disguised as challenges, such as her experience with ADHD, which she ultimately learned to embrace as a blessing rather than a curse.
- The conversation delves into the importance of recognizing when God is calling us to pivot in our lives, urging listeners to trust that these transitions are part of a larger divine plan.
- Bonnie shares her transformative journey of shutting down her successful marketing agency to focus on healing and spiritual growth, illustrating the necessity of prioritizing personal well-being over professional success.
- Listeners are encouraged to view life not as a rigid schedule but as a harmonious dance, adapting to the divine prompts that guide us through various phases of our lives.
- The discussion highlights the significance of building a strong connection with God, as Bonnie describes her personal methods of prayer and meditation that facilitate her ability to hear divine guidance more clearly.
- Finally, Bonnie reassures women that their feelings of inadequacy are not barriers but rather opportunities for God's greatness to shine through, encouraging them to embrace their unique journeys with faith.
Companies & Links referenced in this episode:
Host & Guest
Tamara K. Anderson @tamarakanderson
Tamara, founder of Women Warriors of Light, is a dynamic speaker, award winning author, and a podcaster. She is driven by her Christian faith to inspire faith in Jesus Christ. Alongside her husband, Justin, she navigates the joys and challenges of parenting four children with autism, ADHD, and mental health hurdles. You can find out more about Tamara on her website: https://www.tamarakanderson.com/
Bonnie Randall @bonnie.randall
Bonnie Randall is a wife, mother, trainer, speaker, actress, copywriter, heart centered life coach and has also been a business and marketing consultant for over 20 years. Her real passion is to help people grow as individuals and teach them how to resolve limiting beliefs. Bonnie enjoys teaching about mental health, abuse prevention and recovery classes. She runs a trauma recovery support group and YouTube channel called, Come Off Conqueror, which helps survivors of abuse find Christ centered healing. Find out more at: https://www.youtube.com/@comeoffconqueror
Transcript
Bonnie Randall
00:00:00.160 - 00:00:25.680
And that was one day I had this light bulb go on. And I realized he blessed me with adhd. It wasn't a curse, it was a blessing.
Because my ability to bounce from thing to thing to thing was by divine design. Because I personally am meant to be involved in many different things.
Intro/Outro
00:00:28.660 - 00:00:37.060
Are you a woman who knows God is calling you to something more, but you're unsure where to start or how to grow it into something impactful? You are not alone and you're in the right place. Welcome to the Arise Women of God podcast, a show for Christian women who feel called to shine his light and step into their divine purpose.
Each week you'll hear stories of faithful women, both from the Bible and today, who heard God's voice and chose to say yes even when it felt uncomfortable or uncertain, to step with faith into the unknown. You'll walk away with encouragement, spiritual insight, and practical steps to follow those holy promptings in your own life.
So let's arise together as women warriors of light. Let's do it God's way. God Strong.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:01:25.880 - 00:01:43.800
Welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast. I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson, and I am so excited with this woman warrior spotlight that we are bringing on today. Her name is Bonnie Randall.
Bonnie, it is so good to have you with us today.
Bonnie Randall
00:01:44.840 - 00:01:47.720
Thanks so much for having me. I'm honored to be on the show.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:01:48.770 - 00:03:17.780
And you may recognize Bonnie from our previous podcast. But today we're going to talk a little bit more about Bonnie and kind of her journey.
And so to formally introduce her, I am going to read her bio a little bit and then we'll dive into the journey that God has taken her on as she has learned to listen to his voice and pivot with Him. So Bonnie is a wife and mom to four adorable kids.
Bonnie has been obsessed with all things marketing since she was 14 years old and was lucky enough to receive her first real marketing gig as a sports marketing intern at the University of Utah her freshman year of college.
Which put her on the fast track to a successful career in business, doing everything from running small and large scale events such as concerts with 50,000 people plus attendees, to writing and producing commercials with millions of views and and even helping small startups to Fortune 500 companies grow and scale. However, God had other plans for her and after doing that for 15 years, he inspired her to shut down her agency and do a complete 180.
And that is the story we're all about finding out and having her tell us about today. All right, Bonnie, so I'M sure you could say life hasn't turned out how you imagined or thought it would.
Bonnie Randall
00:03:19.620 - 00:03:21.780
No, not even in the slightest.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:03:23.940 - 00:03:34.420
So why don't you walk me through these? Maybe simply a few of these pivots and how you learn to hear God's voice and where it has taken you to today.
Bonnie Randall
00:03:36.180 - 00:07:43.370
Yeah. So it's very rare for a teenager to know what they want to do in life.
And I randomly was in a TLC class in junior high, and I don't know if this totally dates me, because I don't think they do TLC anymore. But anyway, we were doing a business segment, and I got put in accounting department, and me and accounting are not friends.
And my friends were doing the advertising department, and I walked by their desks one day to turn in my assignment, and I saw that they were making posters, they were making these flyers, and I'm like, that looks so much fun. So I went up to my teacher and I said, can I switch departments? And she said, no, you're in accounting. You need to stay in accounting.
It's too late for me to switch. Like, it's only been one day. Come on. She's like, no, sorry. And I said, well, can I do the assignments anyway?
And she looked at me like I had three heads. And she was like, you want to do more homework? And I said, yeah, looks fun. And she's like, I guess if you get your other work done, why not?
So I would hurry and get my accounting side of stuff done, and then I would go and sit with my friends in the advertising department, and we would make these posters and come up with all these fun ideas to market our business. Anyway, this sparked this passion for business, and I did every class. I read every book I could find. I became obsessed. I was in deca. I was in fbla.
It was like, I don't know, a horse to water kind of a thing. I just was obsessed. And so I did it forever. I.
All through college, all through high school, I did event planning and marketing and advertising and commercials. I was an actress. I did all sorts of fun things. And about 15 years later, I'm running my agency and helping, at the time, startups.
I really loved entrepreneurship and helping startups get up and going and teaching business classes. That was so much fun. But one day, I'm sitting there in a Mastermind for women. It was ran by a woman named Jen Anderson. A lot of you guys know her.
She's amazing. And the whole podcast, or the whole master class was about making God your CEO and learning how to include him in your business decisions.
And I'm in prayer, and I'm working on the worksheet that she had us do, And I hear a very distinct prompting to shut down my agency. And I just sat there like, did I hear you correctly? You want me to shut down this agency that I have worked really hard to build? And it's.
The only thing I know is marketing. That's all I know. I don't do anything else. This is it. And he was very clear.
So I sat with that for, I don't know, three or four weeks during this masterclass.
And by the end of the class, I knew I was supposed to shut down the agency, and I was supposed to take a sabbatical and focus on healing myself and my family. My marriage was in shambles at the time. I was. Had really young, young kids. We had four kids in four and a half years. So, yeah, it was crazy.
And I had lost myself along the way.
I jumped so far into the marketing train that I had pretty much ignored every other aspect of my life, and God knew it was time for me to come back to him and repair that relationship and everything else would fall into place. And it did.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:07:45.770 - 00:09:07.790
Oh, my goodness, Bonnie, that. That is so hard when we're following promptings, because, honestly, God gave you this gift, and he tells us to multiply our talents. So you had.
You had multiplied your talents, and it almost speaks to the times and seasons of life, right, that he's saying, you have run a good race on this one. And now I need you to pause, and we're going to pivot just a little bit.
But that invitation to pause, when it's something you feel so passionate about, it's almost like somebody has stabbed you. Like, sorry, I've been there, too. Maybe I'm being a little graphic, but that's how I felt. It's just like, wait, what?
You inspired me to do this to begin with, and now you want me to stop? What. What's going on, God? So I guess I. I'm gonna throw this back at you and just say, bonnie, why do you think God gives us these projects?
Some of them that are big, some of them that are little, and some of them have an ending to them. Like, talk me through what your wisdom is now. With years hindsight on that.
Bonnie Randall
00:09:08.970 - 00:12:47.190
So excellent question. Because in that process, right, I did. I had an identity crisis. I didn't know who I was without marketing.
And I took all of these psychology and mental health classes. I read all these books. I took tons of trainings.
I became a life coach with extra trainings and trauma healing and abuse prevention and stuff like that. And because my backstory is I was assaulted at a young age and dealt with a lot of abuse, trauma.
And so it had reared its ugly head in my family and my personal life. My kids were even experiencing some of the backlash.
And God knew that in order for me to do the rest of my life missions, I really needed to heal these aspects of me. And so healing was a huge part of that.
And learning about mental health and in the process, learning how to trust him and see that life is all about progress. That's the whole point, is to come unto him and to become like Him. He wants, he says, right?
He has many mansions that he has gone to prepare for us, and he wants to have us inherit all that he has. And there's so many beautiful scriptures in the New Testament in particular that talk about these, these gifts that he wants us to have.
And we get those through these different little missions that he puts us on. I liken unto us being in God's army.
And if you think about the purpose of God's army, which is to build his kingdom, right, it's to help other people come unto Christ. That's. As a Christian, that's our overarching goal, right? Is to come unto him and to help others come into him. Correct. And we do that in his army.
And if you look at the way an army or the military is set up, they go on deployments, right? They might have like a six month or a year deployment or whatever, but there's a time frame associated with it.
And within that deployment they have missions, right? My brother was in the Marine Corps for four years and unfortunately went to Iraq and did a few different deployments there.
And we're very fortunate that he came home.
But he would talk about these little mini missions occasionally that some of them would be several hours long and it would be just to go rescue somebody who is in trouble. And other ones took several days to do. Another mission was a couple of months where they traveled up and they did certain things, right?
So each mission has its goal and an end date. The benefit that he had was he kind of knew this was going to end, right? We don't have that benefit.
We know at some point there's going to be an end, right? But we don't know when that is. We don't know when the shift's going to happen. We don't know.
And during this process of discovering who I was and coming back unto Christ, I Discovered that my life is more. It's not compartmentalized, like the military or like a man's life. My life is more like spaghetti, where it's all entwined. There's a book.
You guys should read it. It's men are like waffles and women are like spaghetti. It's life changing.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:12:47.350 - 00:12:48.870
Sounds like my kind of book.
Bonnie Randall
00:12:49.590 - 00:15:26.330
Really good. And anyway, she kind of describes how men compartmentalize everything. You can see how that happens, right?
They're able be work focused when they're at work. They're home focused when they're at home. If you try them to mix the two, they're like, I can't. Like, it doesn't happen.
Women, on the other hand, we have add a lot of us, and so we're able to just go shift, shift, shift, shift, shift, right? And we bounce from theme to theme. And what I have learned is that it's about harmony.
Life is not this juggling act for us where we're trying to keep all these balls in the air. That suggests stress, right? That gives us anxiety thinking about keeping all these balls in the air.
But what if life was more like a beautiful dance and we were flowing from station to station, from person to person, and it was more like, oh, this needs my attention. Let me take care of this, okay? This needs my attention. And what if we were more in harmony with that and okay with the fact that we change?
Once I stopped trying to make my life this rigid plan, right, my OCD wanted me to have this routine in this strict to do list. But once God showed me. Bonnie, throw out the list and listen to me. I want you here. Oh, now I want you here Now I want you here.
Once I started going with the flow. Flow and being okay with being in this flow state, oh, my goodness. My stress has melted away. I am now okay with the crazy.
I can stay calm in the chaos. That was my one, number one thing that I had complaints about with God was, why can't I stay calm in the chaos?
And he was like, because you're not going with the flow. Flow. Recognize it for what it is and just go with it. It's okay to be in constant movement.
And that was one day I had this light bulb go on, and I realized he blessed me with adhd. It wasn't a curse, it was a blessing.
Because my ability to bounce from thing to thing to thing was by divine design, because I personally am meant to be involved in many different things. Does that answer your question? I think I kind of went off.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:15:26.810 - 00:17:05.890
No, it does it does. And I. And I love your comparison to it being. We can kind of see ourselves especially as women in the Lord's army.
You know, we're women warriors of light.
And so following impressions as women, whether it's a one hour impression, something that takes us just a few minutes, or a couple years impression, they will have beginnings and endings and learning to be okay with it, basically.
I think one of the most challenging things that we have as women when he inspires us to do something, is then laying it on the altar and saying, okay, God, do with it what you will, because sometimes he wants us to continue those things that we're really good at. And then when it comes to the end of that time period, he says, and you're done.
And I remember when I felt impressed that I needed to stop my podcast, that he had inspired me to build up, and it had been going for four years. And he's like, and you're done. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. You inspired me to do this to begin with.
But it's at that point, you know, after you've processed and prayed and cried and maybe banged on the doors of heaven a little bit, going, what the heck, God? That we have to then lay that on the altar and just say, okay, okay, you can have this too.
And I'm going to trust that whatever is next, that I will find joy in that as well. But that's hard.
Bonnie Randall
00:17:06.930 - 00:19:47.070
But isn't that. The point is that he's giving us all these opportunities to find joy?
And suffering is when we are going against the grain, when we are fighting against our divine design and against God's will and our plans and those sort of things. That's what suffering is.
When we learn to accept the time and the season and the circumstance that we're in, be it hard or good, when we learn that divine acceptance, right, that amazing book, radical acceptance, when we have that come to realization of, okay, this is where I'm at. And once we finally start to go with it, we find joy. Joy in my mind is not this.
It has moments of this elation, right, the excitement and all of that, but true joy for me is peace. It's harmony. It's knowing that I am right with God and I am right with the world and I am doing what I want.
I had a life coach, his name's Griff Nielsen. He's a personal trainer down in Kaysville, Utah. Amazing guy.
And I went to him because I needed to lose weight, but oh, my goodness, did he set me straight. He told me that I would not find true happiness until I found my true path in life.
He's like, you will be happy when you stop fighting against who you are and you embrace who you really are. And I. He didn't mean it in a religious context, but when he said it, my whole body lit up, and I knew that he was right.
This was during all that identity crisis stuff in the mess with my marriage and everything. And so I dove deep into trying to figure out, well, who am I? What does God want for me in my life? What is the direction? And he unfolded this.
I kind of call it the divine map. He gave me this blueprint of how to discover who we are and where we're going in life and.
And how to pivot from mission to mission and how we all have very similar signposts, if you will, that point the way and show us who we are and where we're going and help us navigate life.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:19:48.190 - 00:20:42.460
That is so beautiful, Bonnie. I love that, that you took the time to heal. And that is one thing I've noticed as.
As I've been talking to women for the last year plus about their callings, what they feel, God calling them to step into, is that often when he calls us to step into something, there is some healing that needs to take place that helps us progress to the next level. Does that make sense?
So he calls us to do one thing, but he also is calling us to move forward and to advance and to slowly and carefully, just for us, walk this path that leads us back to Him. But as we're leading back to him, we're beckoning people to follow.
Bonnie Randall
00:20:42.620 - 00:23:52.230
You know, we're in, like, a hot air balloon. And this hot air balloon destination is heaven. But we have all this emotional baggage.
We have these emotional anchors that are literally weighing us down. And as we heal and we let go of those false belief, those unmet expectations, those traumas, those challenges, and we can start to learn from them.
That is the key, is that when we learn from these challenges and we learn from these mistakes, we learn from the weeds in our life. We cut those anchors and they fall to the ground, and our hot air balloon goes just a little bit higher.
And as we go higher, we receive gifts, we receive more spiritual gifts, we receive more enlightenment, we receive more understanding. We receive a greater understanding of the scriptures, an ability to hear him more clearly.
Clearly, like, things just start to really kind of come back together. And the more healing we do, the more we rise and the more we become like the Savior.
And then One day we realize, oh my goodness, I have more compassion for myself and for others. I can see myself in my truth as a daughter of God and I'm okay with the fact that I'm flawed and I make mistakes.
I can see that that is a part of the journey which then allows me to then have that compassion and that charity that he's begging us to have all throughout the scriptures. I mean, it's the second greatest commandment, right, Is to love others like we love ourselves. Right? We have to love ourselves.
And he doesn't mean that in a self centered way. He means that in that compassion, charitable way, right? That pure love of Christ. And when we have that, we can then see others in their truth.
We can see them in their brokenness without judgment. It's more of a, oh, I'm so sorry that that happened. How can I help you? How can I support you? How can I love you through this?
It's not about changing them. It's about supporting and encouraging and loving them through the difficulty. And I feel like the Savior was obviously the epitome of that. Right.
He corrected people when they needed to be corrected, but he always did it with such love and compassion and with this divine eternal view of who they were on the eternal perspective. Right. And I think that's the key is remembering that there's an eternal perspective to this. This is our goal as heaven.
These are just the milestones and the stepping stones that are getting us there.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:23:52.870 - 00:24:23.410
That is so wise.
I, I love, love that you have talked about both the journey for yourself, but you've mapped it out for the rest of us because this is ultimately God's goal for all of us is to. I like how you call it letting God be our CEO, just dropping whatever we're doing on the altar and saying, okay, if this is a one day thing, great.
If this is a four year thing, great. Help me be okay with it.
Bonnie Randall
00:24:25.170 - 00:24:28.530
Especially with getting off the ship because we're done.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:24:28.690 - 00:24:47.280
You know, those are, those are especially the hard things. So you've kind of talked about how God gave you, led you to the right people, it sounds like, to help you heal.
And once you're healed, then you're now you feel called to help others. So why don't you tell me about what you're feeling called to do now?
Bonnie Randall
00:24:48.640 - 00:31:13.810
Oh, and when you ask that question, I had such a hard time because as a woman, right, we wear so many different hats. So let's just obviously state some of the obvious, right. I'm called to be a wife I'm called to be a daughter of God. I'm called to be a mom.
And in this season, right. I love how, Tamara, you always say this to me. You're living life in the right order.
When I have moments when my kids come running into the office or interrupt our meetings and stuff like that, she's always so good about reminding me, you're living life in the right order. So those are first and foremost. But I have also have some pet projects, right. That he's given me to do, and I'm super excited about that.
One is working with helping and child abuse. So we're working on child abuse prevention projects. I'm still working with women who are healing from abuse trauma. That is still a side project.
And currently my main focus is I finally get to bring marketing back into the mix of healing, which is super exciting for me because I miss it. I really, like. It was a hole in my life. I. I kept getting pulled back into these different marketing projects.
My husband took over the agency, and that was kind of hard to watch, and he grew it like crazy. He's doing amazing. I mean, the results he is getting are incredible.
And sitting back and watching this growth was honestly hard to sit back and be like, I'm all part of this, and I want to be a part of it. But I knew he was leading me, and eventually he said, okay, it's time to bring the healing stuff that you've been learning.
All the mental health, all the emotional healing, the spiritual aspect of learning God's voice and how he speaks to you. I want you to combine all of that with your business experience. And I was super stoked. And I was like, okay, how? Like, what do you want us to do?
Like, what is that gonna look like? I have so many ideas. And he's like, well, I want to hear those ideas. Give me some ideas. And I love that God.
Now we can have a conversation, which I realize sometimes sounds weird to people. They're like, you're just conversing with him. I'm like, yeah. And that's what he wants for you too.
I promise that as you start to learn his voice and how you pray and what's the best prayer method for you, you will start to converse with the Lord, and it will look different than it looks like for me. For me, he and I converse when I'm writing. I have a prayer journal, and I hear him very clearly when I'm writing.
I also hear him very clearly when I'm meditating. Someone taught me something called a heart meditation. And you literally imagine connecting your heart with God's heart.
And when I visualize that, I have a stronger connection to him. And I can hear sometimes an audible voice. And it was through this meditation I really wanted to make sure I touched on that.
So, sorry, I went on that little tangent for a second there, but I knew I couldn't forget that. So in doing this process of meditating and prayer and brainstorming, I took all these ideas to him and I said, okay, here's what I'm thinking.
And he's like, these all sound great. You can't do all of it. I'm like, I know, but I want you. Are you sure we can't do it all? And he's like, honey, you're one person. And I was like, okay.
And he's like, but they're all wonderful ideas. I'm going to send you an army of people. And he has. The child abuse prevention stuff is with this amazing group of women.
The healing women's hearts and helping people get through their trauma is with another amazing group of people. I'm not heading up either of those. I get to just support.
And then we have this business retreat that we're doing with Tamra and Wendi and some of our other friends where we are teaching women who are business owners how to incorporate God in their business, how to make him a true partner in the business. And in doing that, we one learn how to hear him right? We learn how to connect with him, how we best get answers from him.
Because that looks very different for everyone.
Done as I've done these workshops and meeting with women on one, on one, it is astounding to me to see the differences in our paths and the differences in the way that he speaks to us. But he does speak, and that's the key, is that he does speak to you. So learning that, we're also teaching at these retreats, in these workshops, who.
Discovering who you are.
What are those signposts that he's given us that show us who we are and what our divine missions are and how we accomplish these big goals of getting to heaven, Right? We're going to learn some business strategy and these proven marketing techniques that we've used. And we have. What's the word? Pivoted.
That's the word of the day. Because marketing is an evolution, right? Business always changes. And the strategies. Strategies, for the most part, stay the same.
But tactics change, right? And that's just warfare.
So we're going to teach the new tactics and things that are working so that you can actually do what it is that God's calling you to do. So we're going to discover what is it that he's calling you to do, how to do it, with whom to do it, and the timing in which to do it.
Am I missing something or did I cover that?
Tamara K. Anderson
00:31:15.730 - 00:32:21.940
That is you. You did awesome. I love that. Oh, Bonnie, you have given us so, so much here.
And I love that your life is a living example of both figuring it out and learning to have that conversation with God and hearing him in the little pivots and learning as you place things on the altar.
What things you're supposed to delegate, what things you're supposed to keep, what you know, what things you're supposed to stop and when you're supposed to stop them. And I think that's all part of the process. I know every time I get overwhelmed, I go through a similar process.
I call it my not to do list, where I list everything I'm working on, and then I prayerfully just take it to God and say, okay, I'm feeling overwhelmed. There's too much. And what things do you need me to keep? Delegate, get rid of, change, whatever.
And it's a great process to do, except sometimes, and I've experienced this as I've taught it to other women, and they come back and say, I was told what I'm supposed to stop, and I don't want to stop it.
Bonnie Randall
00:32:23.620 - 00:32:25.620
Amen, sister. All the time.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:32:27.780 - 00:32:28.180
So. It's. It's also the process of learning to trust him, that if, If. If he's going to open new and exciting doors for us, we need to have the capacity to let go of things that are in the past and that maybe they are more of a foundation stone for us now so that we can then build on it and do bigger and better things. But it is trusting him enough to let some of those things go. And that, like we discussed today, is so hard. Right?
Bonnie Randall
00:33:00.850 - 00:34:56.740
There's a quote that I have loved ever since I was in junior high when I first heard it. I think I was like, 12 when I heard this quote. And it says all.
When you put God first, all things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. The interests we pursue, the demands on our time, like goes on to say a few other things.
But that drop out of our lives part is what struck me, because at the time, my parents were going through a pretty crazy divorce. They were together and then not together, and then together and not together. And that went on for, like, five years until they finally got divorced.
And I remember hearing that quote and bawling my head off and thinking, but how could it be part of your plan that my parents get divorced? And I remember a very distinct prompting he gave me. This is interesting.
This is coming up, but I think it's important to note is that God is not going to take away our ability to choose, and that not everything is necessarily his choice. That we do have agency, we do have our ability to choose to listen or not to lose. Choose to listen.
We have the ability to choose this path or this path. Right. Like, we have choices, and so do other people.
But what I learned from this experience, experience and from all the heartbreak and all the stuff I've been through in my life is that God makes beauty from the ashes. Where is that? Is that Corinthians? I can't remember that scripture, but it talks about making beauty from the ashes. And there's a picture.
Can you see the one behind me here?
Tamara K. Anderson
00:34:57.140 - 00:34:57.540
Yeah.
Bonnie Randall
00:34:57.540 - 00:36:37.490
This my favorite painting. Because if you notice he's pulling. Pulling this person. It looks as if he's pulling this person out of dirt or in my life, out of the ashes.
And he's making them a new. And he's holding them and loving them. And that is what I feel like God has done for me in my life so many times.
He has made the bad choices and the unfortunate decisions and my mistakes when I've chosen not to listen to Him. He has made beautiful and good things come from that.
So you listener who's probably listening to this and going, yeah, well, Bonnie, that's all well and good. I'm glad that your life has worked out. It's not always roses, right?
But it does work out in the end when we learn to come unto him and let him heal us, and let him direct our paths and be led to the podcast, led to the book, led to the different people that we need to listen to and go to for help, people who are trying to live their life in harmony with Him. We will find answers and we will find healing, and we will find that the path is made straight again. Does that make sense?
We can wander, but it comes back into alignment and it can be made straight. I hope that makes sense.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:36:37.650 - 00:37:18.610
It does. It does. And I think that is a beautiful message to anyone listening. Right.
Is that as it says in Romans, all things will work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
That this is part of the process, but it is learning to say, okay, that hard thing that I had to go through or These several hard things that I had to go through, that God can build on that foundation, right? And help me become who I need to become in spite of and probably because of those very hardships, right?
Bonnie Randall
00:37:20.210 - 00:40:11.700
Because of them for sure. Because it's that refining fire, right? Malachi 3, verse 3, one of my favorite scriptures. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, right?
And we all know the analogy and how that works. Of jeweler takes the hunk of metal, right?
The raw material throws it into the flame, into the hottest part of the flame, and all the impurities start to bubble up, right? And when the jeweler knows it's time to take it out is when he can see his reflection in the metal. Hello.
That couldn't have been a better analogy to throw into the Bible, because that's our lives. We're being thrown into the fire, fiery furnace of affliction, right? But again, in Romans, he says, and we are more than conquerors.
We will come out on top. We are being purified and made to be in his image through all of these experiences.
And I feel like if no one gets anything out of my message today, I pray, I prayed a lot about what to speak about on this, and I've kind of gone off on some tangents here, but the number one message that I feel God really wanted me to share was how to hear him, because he is speaking to us. We live in the information age, and it is overwhelming.
I mean, we can turn on chatGPT, or any one of these AI apps and get a million resources, a million answers, right? There's so many influencers and books and podcasts and so many things out there. And that I believe, is by design, because we are unique.
If you look at your kids or your neighbors, no one has the same issues, right? We're all very different, which means we're going to have different solutions to our problems, right? But the key is knowing where to go for answers.
And when we go to him, he will lead us to the correct path, to the correct solution, to the correct tool, to the correct person, to the correct everything, right? You might be told, stop drinking Diet Coke. He actually did tell me that the other day that I needed to stop drinking caffeine.
I was like, that's how I'm surviving. Like, what? So talk about giving up a baby that you love, right? I'm like, okay, you're gonna have to strengthen me and help me.
And he's like, okay, but it's going to be a painful process. You're Addicted. So you're gonna have to go through the withdrawals. Can you make it through? I'm like, I'll try.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:40:14.180 - 00:40:43.520
Oh, that's all we can do, right?
Oh, well, Bonnie, this has been so, so helpful and I love that you're pointing us to God because he is ultimately the one who can help us find the right answer for each of us. So thank you for that.
Now I know there's going to be people who are going to want to connect with you because you're so awesome and you are so fun to listen to. Where are the best places they can go to listen to you, find you on social media? And also where can we find the upcoming event?
Bonnie Randall
00:40:44.720 - 00:41:39.460
Okay, so the upcoming event answers easy. So divinebydesign.events is the website for that. So that's the retreat information. And you can connect with me on Facebook.
I have a page, I have Instagram, but I'm not on there very often, so I wouldn't suggest that. And I do have a YouTube channel that is for specifically women who are healing from trauma. And that is Come Off Conqueror.
It's a Christian based channel and we point everyone to God on there and how he is the greatest physician. He heals everything. So that's the ways. I'm currently revamping my personal website.
So that's not done and ready yet, but maybe when I do finally have it, we can update the show notes or something.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:41:39.460 - 00:42:12.690
But absolutely, we can totally update the show notes. Whenever you get that up, just let me know and we'll tack it on and I will put all these links in the show notes so people can find you more easily.
Oh, my goodness. Well, this has been so fun. It's always such a wonderful thing to have you on.
You are so full of life and I love how vulnerable you are, walking us through all of the things that you've been through, but yet how God has led you through it all.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:42:12.690 - 00:42:12.870
So.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:42:13.100 - 00:42:29.340
So any final thoughts as we have hope or encouragement to women who may feel kind of like you, that God has placed them in a point when they're pivoting and they're in that point of I don't know that I want to do that or why God or something like that.
Bonnie Randall
00:42:31.100 - 00:45:13.960
Thank you for asking that because you just reminded me that there was one more point I needed to make and it was this. That I understand that you might be feeling inadequate, you might be feeling scared, intimidated for whatever God has been writing on your heart.
But just like Esther of old, you have been created and prepared for this moment in time I read a book called the Deborah Mantle that I highly recommend anyone read that's going through this kind of moment of realizing God's calling me to something, and in it she talks. She said something so profound that it's really stuck with me because at first it almost sounds like an insult. So just stay with me here.
But she said God chose you because through your weakness, it just proves God's greatness that through our inadequacies he can shine.
Because if we did it through our own volition, our own gifts and talents and skills and all of that, people would just assume that it was the amazing Tamra doing it. Right. Which you are amazing. And you do have a million skills and talents and gifts. Right? Right.
But he also chooses us to do hard things that we're inadequate for so that his majesty and his glory can be a shining example to everyone. He uses the broken and weak things to bring to pass his glorious majesty.
And by doing that, it doesn't just show his glory and his majesty, but he up levels ours. He brings us up to his level by doing these hard things.
And so I want to encourage everyone listening that no matter what it is that God has written on your heart, it is there for a reason and he has given it to you because of your gifts and your talents and your life experiences that, like Tamara said earlier, they are foundation to build upon. You might not be fully there and fully qualified. Right. What is that phrase? He qualifies the unqualified. Right.
Bonnie Randall
00:45:14.840 - 00:45:15.960
Or how does it go
Tamara K. Anderson
00:45:17.400 - 00:45:21.900
that God, that God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called.
Bonnie Randall
00:45:22.780 - 00:46:05.740
That's it. And I feel like that's just an eternal principle. So you can do this. I know you can.
And if you're feeling a little bit not sure how, come and join us at a retreat or one of our workshops. Continue listening to Tamara's podcast. All of the guests share these incredible stories. I'm super excited for this particular podcast.
I loved all the other ones too, but this one I'm like hyper passionate about. Right. Because of my own life and the way God has taken me on this crazy, wild journey.
And so it's super exciting to see how he's taking all of us through the twists and turns of life. You can do this. I know you can.
Intro/Outro
00:46:07.580 - 00:46:26.110
Thanks for tuning in to the Arise Women of God podcast, brought to you by Women warriors of Life Light.
If you're feeling unsure how to move forward in your calling or just tired of doing it alone, visit womenwarriorsoflight.com you'll find resources, accountability, and a community of Women who get it. Sometimes the calling feels bigger than you. That's when you need steady reminders of the powerful God who called you. Subscribe now for weekly inspiration and the courage to keep going. Because with him, nothing is impossible.
And you're not the only one God is calling that friend on your heart right now. Share this episode with her. Your small act of obedience could be the breakthrough she's been praying for. Until next time. May you arise, walk God's way and stand God strong.
