Hi.
I'm Hope.
I am Nikki.
We're just two Jesus love and friends on mission to share personal stories, resources, and real talk about our triumph breakthroughs.
Struggles? Why? Because we believe you are called to live victoriously, and we're here to equip you with holy spirit led tools and strategies to strengthen your faith transform your mindset and walk boldly into god's promises.
Oh.
Welcome to the family.
Wow.
Welcome to the family.
Can't believe we're doing this.
I'm so excited.
This is episode number one of equip fellowship.
One of many to come.
Yes.
Yes.
Cannot wait to just dive into all of the topics, whatever the lord puts on our hearts, and here just to share our why.
Right? We've been friends now for just shy of a decade and good friends, and that's part of this whole thing.
Right? As we've shared so much together, some of the hardest parts of life together and That's right.
The fellowship.
And here we are, ready to bring it to other women.
So we find it.
That's right.
And, um, I'm gonna dive just a little bit of what god revealed to us, because this whole thing, like I said in the intro is Holy Spirit.
And so I was running today, and I was thinking about how Hopenheim met.
It was really just There's no reason why we should have met but god.
We don't live in the same state.
We've what have we been together, like, four times? Yeah.
We've only met, like, in person four times.
We live in different states.
We have an age gap.
Between us.
Um, there's like only but god could bring us together.
And I was like, god, and I've asked him this question before, and there's a lot that I could tell you about how I know that hope is not just my friend.
She's my sister, but god revealed to me on my run this morning.
He said, I sent you your sister hope because he knew that you would soon be entering into a season of darkness and that I would need her to help me keep my eyes on Jesus.
That's so good.
Exactly.
What I needed because I did go into quite a dark season and without hope.
I don't know where I would be right now.
And that is literally the definition of fellowship And I think of how we met and we met through a network marketing company.
And I look back to the seasons of when I would go to, um, those conferences And I was not in a good mental space, but I the environment, right, it's all hype and exciting.
So I'm like, yeah.
But I was hurting.
Like, I had so much pain on the inside side, and you were, uh, glimmer of, like, and I say I wanna say glimmer because I really think back to those times, and it was it was just dark because I had not done any healing.
I have not Right.
Really when we first met, truly gave my life to Christ.
We met in 2016, I think.
And I gave my life to Christ in 2017.
And we all know prior to Christ, life is not.
There's no wipe.
Right.
But you were that, like, good dimmer.
And then the journey just unfolded in the most magnificent way.
And so good.
And that kinda leads to the thought of, like, Why the heck are we doing this? Right? Right.
What is our reason, which makes me think about us meeting and network marketing.
They focus on the why.
Right? Like, what is the reason why for joining and building your team and making sure you push hard and push through to make your goals.
And it's gosh, I so often would take from other people's whys because I didn't have an identity because great.
You know the lord.
And so I and I should know a puppy.
And it makes me think about how much we've changed and what how different our whys are now.
Right.
And it's so good.
So what would you say is our reason why for for coming to fruition with us? I think why, and I think why now is because we both have worked so hard on our relationship with god, and we are in this moment of time where we're fully surrendered to god's plan.
Not our own.
We're fully surrendered to god's expectation.
Not other people's expectations for our lives, not what other people are doing, um, not being into the fomo, but just being in alignment and surrender.
To what god wants, and there's so much freedom in that, and there's so much bondage in the other way when you are tapped into, like, the world's expectations and the world thought you're in a bondage system, but when you are bullying alignment with god, you just flow in the spirit.
And I think why now is because we are both in that surrender posture, and god had placed this on our hearts to have other people experience that freedom that comes with being in alignment with the father.
And when you're in alignment with the father, there's no shame.
There's no condemnation.
There's no comparison.
There is forgiveness.
There is grace.
And when I say when we're in alignment with the father, we don't walk perfectly.
We'd be the first ones to tell you.
We get off track a lot.
We get in the curly queue.
I'm, like, like, calling the curly queue.
It's just so I we might end up having, like, roo and lingo um, yes, people look for curly q.
Yeah.
I put this on the straight path and we see something shiny and we go off on the curly q.
But god knows, like, they'll be back.
They'll be back.
And I think that is why we wanted to do this podcast, this equip fellowship because we have this accountability system.
We have this checks and balances where if one goes a little off balance, we help them and the other one, the other way, and that's why we wanna equip all of you to have those same tools, strategies, resources at your disposal, not to walk perfectly, but walk in alignment with god, with your heart, and your spirit, and your mind.
Absolutely.
And, you know, the word equipped is so powerful.
I'll always remember after giving my life to Christ in 2017, I understood that by his death and resurrection, we were equipped for all things.
And I think as a body of Christ a lot of times.
I think we're growing as a body.
I have to first say that.
You know? Like, we're all growing, um, like, maturing holistically.
But for so long, there was, like, this focus on just salvation.
And we were missing everything that Jesus died for to equip us.
Right.
I've become, like, obsessed with the word equipping because it's, like, I've become hungry for that freedom.
You're talking about But I I don't wanna focus on the freedom.
I wanna focus on him.
That's right.
And as you focus on him, all those things he's equipped us for unfold naturally.
Right.
And it's everything that he's equipped us for.
I always remember I won't go into it.
But just thinking about most most Christians recognize that when Jesus, you know, was on the cross, there were multiple places he was bleeding.
And every wound he took equipped us for something, be at peace, sound right.
Um, all of those things, of course, eternal life.
Like, they all meant something.
That's right.
Yes.
And I don't want his death to have been in vain Right.
With resurrection because now we're ruling and reigning with him right now, not an eternity.
Attorney is beautiful.
By all means.
Like, we win across the board.
Right? If we die today, we're with him anyways.
That's right.
Yeah.
No.
We we're ruling right now and I feel like you and I have really started to understand that and tapping into it our prayers have become more powerful, and I used to wanna, like, have a Fairbook all the time, which we do use Fairbooks because they they good.
But through the equipping of the Holy Spirit, like, Man, we can just know what to pray, when to pray.
How like, it's just the most beautiful thing, but I could have never arrived here without being equipped in fellowship.
Right.
And man, we all need this.
I know.
It's I'm feeling like overwhelmed just because you're just getting a snippet of like who Nikki and Hope are right now, but it's been a really wild ride to get where we're at, and it does take work and grace and just self love and self compassion to really or into the word and receive from the lord.
A lot of times, I think Hope and I both had all these barricades up from connection, not just to God and Jesus and Holy Spirit, but relationally with other people.
We just wanted to protect us.
We wanted to hunker down.
We wanted to be so strong and and muscle through.
It is in that I'm thinking about the onion analogy.
Oh, that's the best analogy.
Hopes can explain it in just a second.
But it was just like it's a layered approach to healing and connection and releasing and surrender.
Yeah.
And just kinda going a little deeper on that because I know recently I shared with you, like, a deeper revelation that many people know.
I don't know, but I just have to share it because it's that layered approach and I heard somewhere, can't tell you where I do tend to consume a lot of information from different ministries, different places.
Um, I'm so grateful for that.
Um, we'd never want anyone to be put on a pedestal That's right.
To ourselves.
We are We have no special qualifications other than Christ alone, so just have to put that out there.
But, you know, we've all cut an onion.
And man, when it makes you cry, it's because you went straight to the core, It's that that releases all that pain.
And he knows that we can't go straight to the root, straight to the core because it will make us fall apart just like when you're preparing an onion for your dinner.
And Right.
Thinking about it now.
I'm like, oh, my eyes burned just thinking about I don't want that.
I I actually, literally, once I heard that, I've been not using the core.
Um, so I always heard about the layered approach part, and it made sense, but the root ball is in the center.
That's where the little stringy thing these are.
Yeah.
Straight in.
It hurts.
And he knows that.
And so we've learned through our own frustrations how important it is to allow his grace to carry us layer by layer even when it feels slow.
Like, we know through our own seasons and you, whoever's listening, you are going through something.
If you're not now, you will in the future, and you need community and support to carry you through it when you feel like giving up because it's coming slow and it's painful.
But let me tell you, if you were to answer your prayer and go straight to the court, you're talking about painful now.
Right.
But her, you would unravel.
You wouldn't know how to function.
You wouldn't know how to grow.
You would go 45,000 steps backwards, and potentially not go forward.
He's such a good god.
Yes.
Because he understands that.
Amen.
I'm so grateful for that and for the layers and his patience and understanding of who we are, who he made us to be.
Right? He knows every hair count on our hair MR.
That's so hard for me to say.
Hair count on our head, um, and everything about us, and I will be forever grateful for that.
It is.
It's so it's so good.
And just two things.
Hopefully, I remember the two things.
But the one about the hair count I like to explain it this way.
Like, god puts so much intimate detail into creating us.
And this is especially for the women listening.
Have you ever put your hair on a ponytail in one hair is pulling? And it's excruciating, and it's just one little hair.
Tiny tiny hair.
That is tugged in the wrong way, wrong direction.
It is kinked up at the root and it is immense pain.
If god would put that much detail and that much thought into one hair follicle, just think of all that he poured into every cell, every thing that makes up our body is just that much attention and love put in by the creator.
It is just unbelievable.
I love that.
I can't wait to dive deeper into who we are holistically, you know, as we unfold with this, like, the whole mind Right.
Our soul, the body, the spirit.
Um, because I know you and I definitely started with body.
Right.
Uh, that's how we met, kind of, and understanding that we were going body soul spirit when it goes spirit soul body.
And Right.
Can't wait to just share how we have physically healed because we focused on the spirit first.
And and then you'd kinda dive in, and then you begin to understand the depths of the body even better Yes.
How he made it.
So I love that analogy or, like, that description about the hair, because this weekend, I shut the door with a couple pieces of hair on my hair.
Um, and it hurts so bad.
So I'm, like, I don't even, like, feel that little tiny piece of hair, but boy, did it hurt? Yeah.
Yeah.
And then the second thing I wanted to ring up that you were talking about was that both Hope and I have tried to expedite, expedite god's plan.
For our lives.
Many times.
She's shaking her head to girl.
Yes.
Girl, yes.
We both.
I mean Oh, I used to be like, Nikki.
You wanna go you wanna go pray real quick.
Let's see what god tells us to do right here right now.
Let's figure it out.
Let's go.
And we would only half listen.
And then we would be 20 steps ahead of the spirit.
And we would just and then god's like, there they go.
Here they go.
Those girly queues.
That's correct.
Get me back, but and it just makes god's plan for life just drag out.
Because we try to circumvent the system.
There's no shortcuts with god.
It's his divine timing and his divine timing is always the best even if it doesn't feel like it.
Absolutely.
And just like we've learned, and I pray that we convey to listeners is as you build your belief on scripture and the character of god, you will have no doubt in that.
I don't have doubt like I used to because I now understand the character of god.
And I love who he is as Abba father.
That's the other thing that I pray that we can convey is he's father, and you and I could talk about that all day because, man, we needed Abba.
Yes.
We needed to be able to call, like, daddy out to him, you know, and so many women especially need that because we were created to need a father figure.
We all were.
We're all children, ultimately, children of god, but It's very unique with women.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
And it's so special.
It is so special.
It's, uh, I feel like I'm saying the world surrender a lot, but I had to learn to surrender to my father.
God, like, I wish it just had such a sticking point because I think my relationship with my father was so damaged that I didn't know if I could trust.
My heavenly father.
Yeah.
You're telling me.
I understand.
And it took so long to work through those layers and get to the root of why I couldn't do that.
But once you do and you feel that unconditional love, and for me, that was probably the first time in my life I've ever felt that was from from god when you feel that or over you there's nothing like it.
And that's when I wanted to go all in and blue pull obedience and just get into his word and create a relationship with him.
That was something that I was lacking for so long.
Relationship.
I was into the rituals, just doing the things that checked the boxes that said I was a good Christian, but I was missing that relationship with him.
Yeah.
You know, I remember years ago, again, through the vessel of how we met.
There was our top leader.
And she was on fire for the lord.
And I remember you might not even remember this.
You saying that she would talk about on those calls because, you know, they would have, like, those biblical calls Yeah.
Or whatever.
And she would talk about how she was constantly talking to the lord all the time, and I remember you saying you wanted that.
Right.
I remember that.
And I actually always pictured putting on mascara and just talking to the lord.
And so from that point on, that never left me.
And now here I am this morning putting on mascara and I'm just talking to god.
And it's like, how cool is that? Like, developing our relationship and seeing it in someone else and not being envious, but, man, I want that.
Right.
And it's available for you.
Yes.
Your pursuit of that.
That relationship and just that simple joy of talking to the father.
And I it's so funny.
You said that because I do that all the time when I'm doing my hair because we do have these calls, and she'd be like, I just tell god that you're just gonna make my hair look good today.
And then just do my hair and have faith.
It's just all gonna turn out alright.
And so I talked to my hair and like, hair, you're just gonna god, you're just gonna supersede, supernaturally on this hair, and it just go make everything okay.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
And that will totally I know we are word people.
We will dive into the power of your words and how all creation responds because they're all waiting.
Every part of creation, including our hair is, like, waiting for us to be like, Alright.
Come on.
Get an order.
Yeah.
Lord with you.
He knows every single one of you guys.
Right.
See, man.
You can do it.
My hair's going through a change.
I'm actually, like, trying to figure out my hair, you know, I guess it changes every seven years or whatever.
So it's kinda funny you're saying that because I have not talked to my hair, but I should because I've never had this straight and flat of hair in my entire life, and I can't figure it out.
So I'm gonna implement that.
Right.
And that kinda reminds me of, um, what I saw in this Oh, this is so good in this journal.
Um, I highly recommend this.
She believes journal.
Just I don't know.
The lord put it on my heart to journal it this year for learning who I am and him.
And as you journal, there's, like, single pages where there's just these beautiful, like, quotes, if you will, and then the scriptures on the bottom.
And as we're talking, and we're already sharing a lot of our journey and, you know, just how much we've learned and how we're really I don't like to say we're nothing special because we are really special because of what he's poured into us.
But we don't wanna ever make ourselves sound like we're extraordinary, I guess.
We wanna emphasize that we're human beings that I've had to learn, and we're still learning, and we never arrive.
Um, we cannot fully arrive because we are not him, but we sure as heck can pursue to look more and more like Christ.
And And this page was so special to me, um, because god really emphasized, like, last week that he this is gonna sound really weird, but for me to be a neutral person, um, not just I like the swing on the extremes of life.
And, um, I also process life that way.
And I think a lot of women do because god made us more sensitive, more emotional.
Um, and it's not a bad thing.
And I'm trying to learn, okay, god.
Yeah.
Made me this way.
How do I live in this and not be on this swinging pendulum of extremes towards my husband to my friends, all the people.
Right.
And, um, so in this page, it says she believes that she's an ordinary girl, which I put neutral girl, because you actually look up the definition of ordinary neutral.
They're not all that different, which is very interesting.
But she believes that she's an ordinary girl chosen by an extraordinary god, which is why we're not extraordinary because he is.
And that every day, she's becoming Holy beautiful in the wholeness of him.
Yes.
And that is what is unfolding for us and what we're pursuing and through equipped fellowship that your listening ears understand that you are no matter what you're walking through, becoming wholly beautiful in the wholeness of him, which means, and the equipping of what has unfolded through his death and resurrection.
And it's so, so good.
It's good.
Uh, it's so good.
I love this journal so much.
And it has Philipp four six through seven on the bottom, which most people know.
And I think this is a beautiful thing.
Um, it almost I feel like summarizes just our walk holistically, um, for you and I, and I think anyone could agree.
It is the mess message translation.
Um, and it says, which I love different translations because it helps you not become too overly familiar with something that you know.
So it says, let petitions and praises shape your worries and prayers, letting god know your concerns.
Before you know it, a sense of god's wholeness everything coming together for good will come and settle you down.
Yes.
Who hoo.
The end.
The end is what, like, got me of, like, whoever is listening whether you're in a season now, you will be, or you have been in the past, and you have testimonies from the past, which I love having history with the father, he will always settle you down and help you on that path, even if you go down curley queues.
And you feel his peace, which comes, actually, journal this day.
That's hilarious.
His peace comes through his love.
Yes.
Mhmm.
And we're not qualified because we're anything special, but because we're ordinary, girls, which I kinda love that because it makes me feel like a child.
I have god chosen by an extraordinary god for this time, this podcast to equip his children to become whole.
And we have settled down enough to say, yes, lord.
I hear your voice to do this.
May it just glorify you? To gotta be the glory, which I used to kinda not love that saying, but I get it now.
God forbid the glory for a quick fellowship.
Love it.
I love it so much.
Well, I think that that'll do it.
That'll do it.
That'll do it.
We declare it.
Yes.
I cannot wait for this journey, Nikki.
I know.
I know.
And just thank you if you're listening.
We thank you for being on this imperfectly perfect ride with us.
Right.
We are new at this.
Um, but we are so so excited and we're so excited to meet more people Yes.
That are in the family.
Right.
And now you can join us in our fellow shipping as another part of the family and just eager to see it grow and for us to sit together pull up a chair and and chat and share and I don't know.
It just all I feel like it's gonna be like this in the best way possible.
It just, like, emotions and goodness, and we'll cry and we'll laugh.
And, um, who knows? My dance, you just never know.
But, boy, with Holy Spirit.
I'm okay with with this.
Right.
Walkle up and enjoy the ride.
Right? Absolutely.
Uh, thank you so much for listening for joining us, and we cannot wait for episode two.
Alright.
See you soon
