Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to Grace Among Us, the podcast where we unearth the many faces and places of grace and share stories of the power of grace in our human lives. Our desire is that this will inspire you to see grace in your own life and share it with others. Good afternoon.

Ebony Gilbert: 0:21

Carri Richard, pleasure to be here with you today to talk about grace once again, our absolute favorite topic. My name is Ebony Gilbert and I am a corporate America employee who really just needs a little bit more out of life. So I do this in my spare time and it fills my cup, Carri who are you?

Carri Richard: 0:49

Hello, Ebony Gilbert. I am Carri Richard. I am doing one of my most favorite things in the world too being here and speaking about grace. I am a mindset coach and I help people make space and enjoy the ride and full disclosure. Part of that has to do with grace, most often. So, yeah, I'm excited to be here. Let's see the question. Oh, here's the question. You ready?

Ebony Gilbert: 1:27

I'm ready, let's get it.

Carri Richard: 1:29

So there's a lot of talk in the world about alignment, like getting into alignment, finding your purpose and being in the flow, And I wanted to ask you what does that have to do with grace?

Ebony Gilbert: 2:00

Finding your flow, being in the flow, finding your purpose. We have this thing at work. When we say it, often it kind of recalibrates conversations when they go left and we ask are you leading with purpose? And I'll be honest with you and I'm going somewhere with this. it typically comes up when we feel like it's a hard decision. It's not easy when we don't feel like we're in the flow.

Ebony Gilbert: 2:31

And if I had to put my grace glasses on, I think it really translates a little bit to, " are you leading with grace? Is there grace in your leadership? And I think when you're in the flow and things are moving in a very literal sense, you're in it. So if I'm in the flow, I'm from the beach And if you're in a rip current, you're not creating it, you can't stop it, you can't even fight it, you can go with it. So if the flow, if the current is the assignment, is the purpose and you go with it, you're in it. the grace is going to carry you because it's already moving. It's already moving.

Ebony Gilbert: 3:32

So when I think of you know, we say what does this have to do with grace? If you're in the flow, you're operating in the grace for today and then tomorrow and the next day and the whole. finding your purpose is knowing when to begin that flow, knowing when to move with it, even if it feels like something you should resist. And my mind is very linear right now, but I feel like my words are not. are you going with me? Are you there with me? Are we all the same?

Carri Richard: 4:08

I am going with you. It's. you know that rip current, like if you fight it or try to do it all yourself, it literally is life or death. It is, it can be right, and so, I think it's a great analogy And the travel that you do in that rip current is not under your own power. In fact, you have to let go and trust that all you need is there. It's there. Get out of it.

Carri Richard: 4:41

Right And when it's ready to release it will, yeah, and where you're going, like the direction you're traveling in, you really don't have a dog in the fight on it, you don't.

Ebony Gilbert: 4:57

So if you want to live, you want to survive, you've got to go with it, you've got to be in that flow.

Carri Richard: 5:05

Yeah, that current.

Ebony Gilbert: 5:06

Yeah, i think that current is the purpose. Agreed.

Carri Richard: 5:12

And it's. There's a sense of ownership, of, like personal responsibility. So if I'm caught in that rip current, i have to accept that I'm in a rip current. I have to accept I do not, i cannot do this myself, like if I don't own that it's usually to my detriment.

Ebony Gilbert: 5:36

Now let me ask you the owning it. Does that happen immediately? Cause if you're in that rip current and I've never been fully immersed in the rip current, but I've definitely had one right around my ankles and your immediate inclination is to pull, oh no, it's just fight it for me So do you immediately know that it's a rip current? when it happens, do you immediately know? this is the flow, this is it.

Carri Richard: 6:07

It's happening. I don't think I would never answer yes totally all the time, because that is not true. I am going to reflect that the more I know that that's a possibility, that if I'm let me say it this way yeah, i'll fight it, because usually I'll fight it because I don't know what the outcome is going to be. I feel like I'm out of my element. It's new and it's scary, like I'm doubting myself. I'm doubting whatever it is. That's my fight, that's the resistance, and I also have the blessing of enough experience that if I keep pushing and it keeps getting harder, like if I was in a rip current, i would start drowning. Then I know I'm I am not inviting grace and then I know I have a choice today. I need to let go. Like this is no bueno, it's like go and let God.

Carri Richard: 7:23

Exactly, exactly.

Ebony Gilbert: 7:28

So when the flow, the current, is the assignment, and you don't know, and you don't know all those things you just listed out on the outcome, i don't know this, i don't know that. But I do know that if I fight this based on past experiences, it doesn't fare well for me.

Carri Richard: 7:56

Exactly, Yeah, Most things in life that I want to fight are bigger than me, And so I need help. I need something bigger than me to help, And I'm I'm learning. You know we're talking about alignment here because it's a lot of people talk about it these days. It's an accessible idea being aligned, being aligned to your purpose, Like you said. Leading with purpose, Like when you get in a meeting and everybody's on the same page. That's usually when things move. If you have everybody all scattered around until you get on the same page, but somebody's got to bring you to that page. Right, It's that authority that you know. Alignment We had a little chat before this It's like assignment in the world of grace.

Ebony Gilbert: 9:03

I love it. So I got a lot of words alignment, assignment, the authority that comes with being on assignment and being aligned. Yeah, i like alliteration, it makes me excited. So, assignment, alignment gives you authority. God's grace covers you. You said something that sparked a thought for me. You said most things I'm fighting are bigger than me, right, and that's when you need the grace, that's when you need some alignment within your assignment and the authority.

Ebony Gilbert: 9:42

So, David, David, small guy, you know, little boy, teenage boy, in the Bible There's a giant, there's a fight that's bigger than him, much bigger than him, but he's on assignment. He's on assignment And, yes, god given authority to carry out this assignment. So, within this assignment, there's authority, but there's a misalignment of what? his seemingly small tool. There's a misalignment. He has a slingshot And there's a giant And his tool does not align with the size of the fight, right?

Ebony Gilbert: 10:27

So then the other G word shows up. You can use one or two here Big G, little G shows up And suddenly his authority is realized Because even though his tools seemed inadequate, it wasn't big enough for the fight. Grace made it bigger and provided an extra layer of authority. So when I think of when you said that it kind of brought to my mind all the times where I, as well, has felt like you know, this is I'm doing what I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be doing here. I know I'm on assignment, but this is so much bigger than the tools I have in my backpack right now. And then my guy shows up with the grace And now I'm realizing my authority, now I'm in the flow.

Carri Richard: 11:20

You're owning it, right, i'm owning it.

Ebony Gilbert: 11:26

Oh, you said that. Oh, man, the fight is bigger. The fight is bigger. And if you didn't take a moment to really just stop and say man, am I stuck? Sky, did he hear? Am I really on assignment? Does this align with the purpose of why I'm put on this planet? You know what?

Carri Richard: 11:46

And if you go ahead, when you're saying that one of the best things when I'm in that place, when you say, am I on assignment? The tool I use, the thing I say most often is for me it's like all right, god, open or shut this door, and being willing for that door to shut, because if I'm not on assignment, i want to know. I Want to know yep, and I'm willing to let it all go, and I'll tell you what.

Ebony Gilbert: 12:20

That second part mmm, we can't skate past that. It was easy to ask for help. It's a whole different thing when you say help me, and when you help me, i'm going to surrender.

Carri Richard: 12:34

Yeah.

Ebony Gilbert: 12:35

Yeah.

Carri Richard: 12:36

Yeah, but you had the perfect analogy to start with. I actually. Yeah, people die. This is life or death. Yeah, the rip riptide doesn't is. It doesn't work well, and this is the same stuff.

Ebony Gilbert: 12:56

All right, it's good.

Carri Richard: 12:59

I you know this this may be a little tangent, but it keeps coming up. So I used to, when I was in high-tech, i had a team in India who had never met yet and, oh my gosh, they were awesome, awesome people and I was in the in the US. We - a lot of time in the technical world, there would be team leads, right, so we would have the Responsibility without the authority. It's like they don't want to make you a manager or give you that title, and there's a culture here where You you kind of have authority, like with the team lead, even though on paper you don't right, it works. It works in high-tech functional in this in this country.

Carri Richard: 13:53

Well, so I what I found in Where I was in India, that that it's all about title mm-hmm. So it was really interesting the conversation To have and say, look, this title is important, this authority is important, because without having this authority or assignment It's not gonna work. It's just not gonna work. And it was amazing Nothing underneath changed, a title changed and everything shifted.

Ebony Gilbert: 15:03

Me neither I have a slingshot.

Carri Richard: 15:08

I. don't even know if I have a slingshot :)

Ebony Gilbert: 15:12

Maybe your pebble and put it in my slingshot will be alright. You know cuz. Listen here the slingshot.

Carri Richard: 15:18

Right on paper doesn't make sense, right? This little kid with a slingshot against a giant on paper? that that does not make sense. But he was on assignment. So the question to people listening to this is are you on assignment?

Ebony Gilbert: 15:39

Are you on assignment? Are you on assignment For little guy David? that was one of his early assignments. He went on to be appointed king. He had an appointment, another assignment, and the assignments grew and they got bigger and they got bigger. If you know anything about my buddy David, he has some issues. He wasn't perfect. His tool belt wasn't perfect either, but his assignments and his authority and his appointments continued to grow. That was just one. So are you on assignment? If you are, give it your all, become a good steward of it. stay in the flow, because the next one's going to be a little bit bigger.

Carri Richard: 16:28

Be encouraged that you're being equipped with everything you need today, Three weeks from now. that's the other hang up. I want it all right now to make sure that I can do the whole assignment. I don't know that it works that way.

Ebony Gilbert: 16:45

You're equipped for today's assignment.

Carri Richard: 16:48

Yes, some call it daily bread.

Ebony Gilbert: 16:56

There's a pot.

Carri Richard: 16:57

Yes. So if you're on an assignment, be encouraged that you're always given precisely what you need at the time.

Ebony Gilbert: 17:07

Mm-hmm, then move in that authority. Take some authority. Give yourself the title. What's the title? What's the title you want to call yourself? I'm a child of God. My father's a king. He rules the universe. What title? How do you encourage yourself with the title that comes along with this assignment? It's not corporate America corporation director. blah, blah, blah.

Ebony Gilbert: 17:41

That's not it. That's some set of authority for different reasons. Sometimes there's alignment, sometimes there's not, but what is this title that gives you the authority to walk in this purpose and to leave the purpose and to walk in the flow and to have alignment and to not fight the current? Yeah, i like your example a lot.

Carri Richard: 18:08

What does it feel like to be on assignment and in alignment with authority on that assignment? Ebony.

Ebony Gilbert: 18:15

I love it. Can you say it again three times fast? What does it feel like? What does it feel like? It's decisive, it's very decisive.

Ebony Gilbert: 18:29

I know, when there's something that I'm supposed to be doing, even when I get the resistance or it feels hard instead of me feeling like I was going to give up. It's not worth it I become frustrated Because I'm like why are we wasting time with these barriers? I still must go for it. I've got to keep going. So I'm decisively moving in the direction I'm supposed to be going, but I'm really frustrated that I got to pause and take breaks and do whatever needs to be done.

Ebony Gilbert: 19:01

But my mind is still made up. My mind is made up. It's a made up mind for me, and I'm not talking about something that I rationalized and did a RACI chart on and project managed. I'm talking about my heart is convicted. This is where I'm supposed to be, this is where I'm supposed to be going And God's going to protect it. And it doesn't matter what you say, what you do, what I say, what I do, what I feel, because my feelings can be tricky, they're pretty fickle, but I've got a convicted heart. So it's not always warm and fuzzy here. Sometimes it's an immense amount of frustration, but I'm still decisive about it. My mind is made up. I don't have that certainty if I'm not on assignment.

Carri Richard: 19:52

I hear that.

Ebony Gilbert: 19:53

I hear that I can't even generate it. It doesn't come from me. Yeah, I'm going to. What was I? devil's advocate, You can't fake it.

Carri Richard: 20:02

I play that role all the time.

Ebony Gilbert: 20:03

Yeah, That's me. What do you mean? Glass is half full or half empty. My glass has mud in it. You know like I had to go on to come up with every possible scenario that can make this go wrong.

Carri Richard: 20:22

It's not on assignment If I'm not on assignment I got you. Yeah, that's my natural inclination. That's like pushing a boulder up a mountain.

Ebony Gilbert: 20:32

When I'm on assignment, those thoughts don't even enter into my mind. I see them And I'm like, oh, but no, i have authority here And I could speak to the mountain and it will move. That does not work when there's misalignment between the assignment and what I'm doing. So for me, that's my trigger point. That's when I know like, oh, and it's not based on an emotional response to what's happening in the moment, does that make sense? I'll give you an example. I'll give you an example.

Ebony Gilbert: 21:13

I feel like this podcast is an assignment for me. I feel strongly about that. Let me not miss words. I know that This, i know This. I believe It does not stop me from having a day, on a Thursday at 345, when my computer stops working. I'm tired, i'm frustrated, the long-term materials don't work. I'm like, ah, tomorrow I'm still going to have the feelings of frustration, i'm still going to have the feelings of fatigue, i'm still going to have the feelings of maybe not today, but my mind is made up. This is where I'm supposed to be. It doesn't matter how tired I am, it doesn't matter what's going on. God's going to make a way. We're going to get on here. We're going to talk. He's going to speak through us And someone's going to be reached. I believe that. So, regardless of my feelings which are, you know, let the wind blow, they'll change tomorrow My heart is convicted There's a line that between my purpose and what we're doing for 30 minutes, Does that make sense?

Carri Richard: 22:31

It does make sense And I agree. I love that. You said, like all along the way, that resistance and the feeling and the oh gosh really, and the you know all that stuff, you're right, those but but there's also for me. There's also, when you talk about it like I know this is, i know this, that feeling, like there is a feeling for me And sometimes I forget it which is where I get in all the resistance. But like when we get on here and start talking, i I know, like it's annoying, like my heart rests, like there's space, like my shoulders come down, like uh, there's something buoying me up. That is not me.

Ebony Gilbert: 23:19

Right And suddenly my slingshot of energy, my heart, my body becomes an arch And I'm ready And I'm equipped. Yeah, and I didn't see it before the moment, i couldn't feel it. So when my feelings fail me, i rely on my knowing, and my knowing says hey, remind yourself of why you're doing this, remind yourself of who told you to do this, who gave you this authority?

Carri Richard: 23:47

Now, walk in it, speak in it, and I'm going to swim to shore. I'm going to swim to shore. That's the putting feet on it, because when I forget, when I get far away, when I'm in resistance, when I'm deciding that I'm going to swim to shore, i've had enough of this floating about even though it's working. I'm going to swim to shore Until I, until I let go again, until I put feet on my faith And I'm going to swim to shore. I'm going to swim to shore.

Ebony Gilbert: 24:22

Until I let go again.

Carri Richard: 24:25

Because when I'm in resistance.

Ebony Gilbert: 24:27

I can't. I can't swim back to shore And I'm going to swim to shore. You can forget, but it comes right back once I get moving again. You have to remind your soul and remind your feelings That this really does make sense.

Carri Richard: 24:47

Yeah, in a hurry, i see something shiny and.

Ebony Gilbert: 24:50

I want it I want it now.

Carri Richard: 24:52

I'm gonna get there faster Yeah.

Ebony Gilbert: 24:58

That's good, that's good.

Carri Richard: 25:03

So, so yeah, it's the encouragement that if you have something that's going on right now whoever's listening to this and And, and you're just It seems really hard, you know ask for the door to be shut or open, and if the door stays open, you're probably on assignment. You're on assignment and be encouraged that all you need to take the next step is here.

Ebony Gilbert: 25:40

Absolutely. God's grace will guide you through.

Carri Richard: 25:46

Guided steps.

Ebony Gilbert: 25:48

Guided steps. It'll take you to the next point, you know. One last thought I'm always fascinated by these like message and a bottle things you know, and these events that happen in Japan and stuff watching them on the shore of the West Coast of the United States. You know, when I'm thinking of a current, I'm thinking about a flow, i'm thinking you don't know where you're going to land.

Ebony Gilbert: 26:12

You don't know where God's about to wash you, what shore he's about to wash you up on. You thought that shore you saw and you knew, but the shiny thing was attractive. You don't know where he's about to land you. He's taking you someplace you've never seen before, something you've never experienced before. a whole different continent of experiences. if you just stay in the flow, let them take you there.

Carri Richard: 26:34

Yeah.

Ebony Gilbert: 26:35

It'll take you there.

Carri Richard: 26:36

It's always better. You know, we. I've been talking about the conversation of like answered prayers never come in the packaging that we think it will. And I heard a different take on that Is I would have known what to pray for if I had had the view as broad as God. Say it again, i would have known how to pray for something, what to pray for If my vision, if my view, was as vast as God's. So I don't even know. you know so to the point of like we have no idea what shore we're going to wash up on. we're not supposed to. In fact, we can't.

Ebony Gilbert: 27:28

Would you need to pray if you already knew?

Carri Richard: 27:32

My gosh Hey so.

Ebony Gilbert: 27:38

Yeah, i don't. I don't listen. That is never. I don't want to know what God's going to do next. Sometimes today is overwhelming. You know, spare me, i don't. I don't need to see all the steps, but I know there's air. Yeah, i know there's air. All right, kerry, close this out.

Carri Richard: 28:02

You're so good, you're like I just did Ebony, you, i'm going to le t you to have the final words today.

Ebony Gilbert: 28:13

Alignment, assignment, authority, purposeful. Let the purpose give you peace. Yeah, let God give you the grace. Allow him to guide you steps. There's grace and in guided steps. There's authority on assignment. There's alignment with purpose when you're on assignment. All these little catchphrases that we're going to put in hashtags Alignment, assignment, authority, grace, god, peace, purpose. Now mix it all together and tell us what you think There you go.

Carri Richard: 28:45

I love it! Al right Ebony. Grace out.

Speaker 1: 28:52

Thank you so much for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know. We love to hear from you and share it with a friend. Also, please be sure to subscribe so you're notified when a new episode is posted. We hope you're leaving with another pointer to grace, a new perspective that will light it up in your own life. Until next time, be well, be bold, be kind to yourself and be on the lookout.