S9.14 | Redeeming Your Story: Embracing and Stewarding God’s Plan for You
Today, we're diving deep into the transformative power of redeeming your story. Carla shares her personal journey of overcoming trauma and mental illness, shedding light on how these challenges can stifle our God-given dreams. In this discussion, she explores how to reignite those dreams and walk in the purpose God has prepared for us. Tune in as Carla introduces her empowering 12-week program, "Redeem Your Story," and calls on women to rise above their past, embrace their gifts, and step boldly into their God-given potential. Join us for an episode filled with hope, encouragement, and a call to obedience that promises to uplift and inspire.
Did you know that Carla is a Christian Mental Health coach?
See if working with her is what you need in your current season.
Book a discovery call today!
Key Takeaways
God’s Purpose for Your Life:
Carla emphasizes that God has planted a unique dream and purpose in your heart, even before you were born. Referencing Ephesians 2:10, she reminds us that we are God's handiwork, created for good works He prepared in advance.
Obedience and Prosperity:
Walking in your purpose is an act of obedience to God, which leads to spiritual prosperity and joy.
Introducing "Redeem Your Story":
By sCarla introduces her twelve-week program, "Redeem Your Story," which starts on September 17. This course is designed to help you navigate trauma, reignite God-given dreams, and create actionable plans to walk in your purpose.
Redeem Your Story INFORMATION or book a DISCOVERY CALL
Connect With Carla:
Foundations to Healing—-> https://www.carlaarges.com/renewing-hope
Inquire about 1:1 coaching ---> carlaagreswellness@gmail.com
Come hangout on IG with me @carlaarges
Check out the blog
Resources:
5 Steps to Building Resiliency
Affirming Truths Facebook Community
5 Tips for Overcoming a Negative Body Image
Who You Say I Am Biblical Affirmation Cards
TRANSCRIPT
Carla Arges [00:00:08]:
Hey friends, welcome to affirming truths. I'm your friend and host, Carla Arges. This show is a safe place to share our struggles, grow in faith and root our identity in Christ.
Carla Arges [00:00:20]:
My hope is that you will leave.
Carla Arges [00:00:22]:
Each episode feeling encouraged in your journey. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Carla Arges [00:00:27]:
And it would mean the world to.
Carla Arges [00:00:28]:
Me if you would leave a review. I am so glad you're here. Let's get started.
Carla Arges [00:00:36]:
Hey friends, welcome to this episode of affirming truth. I am so excited that you're here today because we are going to talk about something exciting and you may not feel excited about it at first, but my hope is as we have this discussion, it will fan into flames the excitement for what God is calling you to do. Are you ready? So God has a purpose for your life. Now that may not sound like shocking news, but in my personal experience in my own life, having that head knowledge yet walking through the effects of trauma and mental illness, I didn't always believe it to be true for myself. And as I work one on one with clients, as I talk to people that go through foundations to healing my self paced course, I'm seeing more and more how trauma has robbed us of our ability to dream. And can I tell you, God dreams align to God purpose. So God planted a dream in your heart even before you were born, before the foundations of the earth. He knew that you were going to be breathed into existence, and he planted a dream in your heart that aligns to the purpose he has over you.
Carla Arges [00:02:13]:
We read in Ephesians 210, it says, for we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God prepared in advance your purpose. It is not a mystery. And he planted that purpose in your heart in the form of a dream. But here's what trauma does, and here's what mental illness does. It stifles our dream. It stifles our ability to dream. God dreams.
Carla Arges [00:02:52]:
It fills our head with lies that we're too broken to do what God's calling us to do, that there's no way that we could be used by God because of our past. We have lies. That trauma speaks over us, that we're not capable, that we'll fail, that no one would want to partner or engage with us in our dream as we walk it out and we get filled with fear and doubt and then complacency. And for some of you, you've lived in fear and doubt and complacency for so long that you know, you know, you don't even know anymore what that dream initially was. You'll be like, carla, I have no idea. I can't dream. I don't know what that dream is. But, guys, it is planted in you, and it is time to reignite it.
Carla Arges [00:03:55]:
It is time to stop letting your past trauma or your challenges with your mental health, to stop you from walking in your purpose. Because that is a call of obedience. Walking in our purpose is a call to obedience. And when we allow trauma to distract us, to discourage us, we walk outside of God's will. Right? Because his will for you is to prosper in your purpose. And when I say prosper, I'm not talking monetarily, although that certainly can be true. I'm talking about prosper in your spiritual life. Prosper, enjoy, prosper in the overflowing of the fruits of the spirit, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, and living a life that is full of hope and full of joy.
Carla Arges [00:04:59]:
One where you can wake up each day and be like God. How would you use me, my purpose today? To serve and bless others. I'm reminded of the parable of the talents when I think about not walking in purpose. You know the story. The rich ruler gave talents of different measure to three of his servants. Two of them multiplied that because they went out and they used the talents. The other one, out of fear, buried his talents and it didn't multiply. And when the rich ruler came back, he blessed the servants that had multiplied and they received the same blessings.
Carla Arges [00:05:43]:
Come be in my presence. Right? It wasn't about how much they multiplied. It was the fact that they were faithful with what they were given. But the one who buried the talents, the money, and did it multiply, was called wicked because he did not use the gift given to him to multiply your purpose, your gift, the dream gods planted in you has multiplication attached to it. Multiplication for the kingdom. And maybe that dream is just to be an incredible mother. Maybe that dream is to foster kids. Maybe that dream is to homeschool.
Carla Arges [00:06:25]:
The multiplication is going to be what runs through the generations of your family because of that faithful stewardship of where God is leading you. Maybe God wants to call you into business. Maybe he wants you to start a business or to start a ministry. And the multiplication is going to be the lives touched through that. But the dream he placed in your heart is not just for your own joy. It's for multiplication, for the kingdom. And now more than ever, God is calling the daughters of the kingdom to rise up and walk in purpose. Because the purpose he's given us is powerful for the kingdom.
Carla Arges [00:07:06]:
This is why the enemy hates it. And it's why women in greater proportion than men, struggle in their mental health. Men are quieter about it. Men have a quiet epidemic of mental health. Men have higher suicide rates because they don't talk about it. But in terms of the number, the volume of people living under trauma and mental illness, we see this at a greater extent in women. And it's not a surprise because the enemy is afraid of us. He's afraid of the mantle God has given us.
Carla Arges [00:07:47]:
He hates us. And so what do we do? Do we let him win? No. No. Romans 828 says, and we know that in all things that means in your trauma, in your mental illness, in your pain, in your challenge, in your suffering, in all things, including the good things, of course. But in all things God works for the good of those who love him. Yes, and who have been called according to his purpose. He works all things for good in those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose. So he has purpose in your life.
Carla Arges [00:08:36]:
And the good that he wants to work out in all things is actually to drive that purpose forward. And we're letting trauma steal that from us. We're sitting back and letting each day just pass, just struggling to get through the day, maybe wishing that there was more and there is more. God has called you to greater things than just to survive every single day. God has called you to greater things and to be bound in the chains of trauma. God has called you to greater things. In Jeremiah 20 911 it says, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. God has plans for you that go beyond your pain, that actually redeem your pain for good and spill over into your purpose.
Carla Arges [00:09:44]:
But you have to decide that you're not going to let trauma or mental health hold you back anymore. You have to decide that no matter how scary it sounds or how much doubt you're filled with, you're going to trust the promise of God and you're going to move forward and not accept the lies of trauma, but instead walk in obedience to where God is calling you for the good works he prepared for you to do in advance. And I know that this is very hard and this is why one of the purposes God has given me a is to help you navigate this. And one of the ways I'm doing it is through my twelve week program called redeem your story. It starts September 17. Twelve weeks. We are going to look at the impacts of trauma on walking in our purpose and dreaming our guide dreams. Then we're going to reignite that dream.
Carla Arges [00:10:46]:
We're going to set fire to that dream. We're going to help you clarify the call on your life and to discern God's voice and create goals and action plans about starting to walk in that dream. Because you can't just know what the dream is, you actually have to start walking it out. We're going to learn how to be open handed with those plans, right? Because yes, we can plan, but it's God's way that will be accomplished, right? It is good as a steward to plan our action, but be open handed handed with it. We're going to address how shame and guilt and discouragement get in the way of walking in God's plans. We're going to learn how to create guardrails in our life, to keep us on task, to keep us on purpose, to keep us stewarding the dream well, to keep us walking in obedience. And we're going to do this in a small community of women. There's only eight spots available and we're going to be a small community of a woman banding together to say, trauma is not allowed to steal my God dream anymore.
Carla Arges [00:12:00]:
Trauma is not allowed to take me off the course of obedience and walking in my permit, in my purpose. We're going to take back what trauma stole, walk in obedience, and see how God wants to do good works through us. Whatever that dream is, we're going to make a plan to take those first steps of faith in bringing it to reality. This is going to be a powerful twelve weeks live, taught, high touch, individual access. To me it's going to be powerful. And we are going to address the lies that trauma has told us that holds us back. We're going to address the limiting beliefs trauma has put on us when we think it's all about what we can do, when rather it's actually what God wants to do through us. Look at who God uses in the Bible.
Carla Arges [00:12:59]:
He doesn't call the qualified and equipped. He equips and qualifies the people he calls. He uses those with weakness so that his strength can be manifest and so that there's no doubt who gets the glory. If you've been broken in the past, you're exactly who God wants to use to show his redemptive power. We have a responsibility to walk in our dream, to walk in our calling, to live out our purpose. In one Peter 410 it says, as each has received a gift. Use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. You have been given a gift, and the gift, the spiritual gift, the natural talent and the life experience that you have, God wants to bring together for you to use to serve the kingdom and to be a good steward.
Carla Arges [00:14:10]:
This is about stewardship. And I'm not saying that to cause guilt or shame if you have not been walking in your calling. I'm saying this to awaken that part that may be numb to the fact that you actually have a responsibility here. You have a responsibility to walk in purpose. You have a responsibility to use your gift and talents. You have a responsibility to allow God to use your past pain and experience and transform it and redeem it into something that aligns to the purpose he has over your life. You have a responsibility to do that. And I want to call you up into that responsibility.
Carla Arges [00:15:02]:
I want to call you up into your God potential. I want to call you out of the darkness. I want to call you out of the pit. I want to call you out of your chains of trauma and invite you to living an overcoming bold life where we are doing what God wants us to do. And you don't have to do it alone. You don't have to do it alone. You can do it with me in a small community of women on the same journey as you through redeem your story. You can get more details on redeem your story at my website.
Carla Arges [00:15:45]:
I'll put the link in the show notes. But what I would really recommend is book a call with me. Like, let's talk about redeem your story. Let's talk about how it can help you walk in obedience and steward that dream. Let's talk about how it can reawaken the dream. If you, if you feel unclear about it, let's talk about how we can make this program work for you. That's the beauty of having it as a small group. We can personalize each cohort to who's in it.
Carla Arges [00:16:18]:
We can personalize payment plans. We can, we can really make this work for you. So book a discovery call. I'm going to put that link in the show notes, too. We start September 17. So you got to move now. I mean, what are you waiting for? This is something that I had to ask myself when I felt God pulling me into the line of work I do now and into podcasting and into writing and into reaching women who are struggling. I had all the excuses why not to do it.
Carla Arges [00:16:55]:
And then I had to ask myself, what am I waiting for if God has called me now, he wants to use me now as I am. I can't prepare a perfect time. The perfect time comes when God calls it. God's timing is perfect. And if God is calling me to it now, then any hesitation is disobedience. And my heart so wanted to walk in the will of God that I took messy action, I took imperfect action. I took one small step of faith at a time. I didn't have a whole plan laid out.
Carla Arges [00:17:41]:
I still don't. Maybe I should, but I don't. Each moment is okay. God, what is the next step? I want to be obedient. I know that you want me working with women. I know that you want me encouraging women in their faith through their trauma and through their mental illness. I know you want me to call out the God potential in these women so they can live life of thriving and of purpose. So I'm going to take each step in doing that.
Carla Arges [00:18:13]:
And that's what God is calling you to now. He's calling you out, he's calling you up. Trauma doesn't get the final say unless you allow trauma to get the final say. Your mental illness and your mental health struggles don't get to drive the car unless you allow it to drive the cardinal. This does come down to choice. Your trauma, not your fault, not your choice. Your mental illness, not your fault, not your choice. How you walk out life with it is your choice.
Carla Arges [00:18:56]:
How you allow it to impact your walk with God is your choice. Now, choosing to say I'm not going to allow it to stop me doesn't mean it goes away, doesn't mean you don't struggle through it. It doesn't mean there's not two steps forward, one step back. Absolutely. There is a journey. Making a decision, it's like forgiveness. Making a decision to forgive doesn't all of a sudden take away all the hurt. And magically forgiveness is here.
Carla Arges [00:19:25]:
But the first step in getting there is making the choice. And then we align our efforts and our prayers and our hard work into that choice. There's no alignment that happens. Are we going to be stewards of the gifts God give us? Are we going to be stewards of our pain? Because, yes, we can steward our pain well. Pain may not be something that God's given us, but if we steward our pain well, it's something that God will redeem, like we said in Romans 828, that in all things, God works for the good according to his purpose, that he's placed in your life. He prepared you in advance to do the work that he's planted in your heart. Friend. It's time to do it.
Carla Arges [00:20:26]:
Friend. You're being called up from the kingdom needs you. Specifically, you specifically. God planned you with intention. He prepared in advance for you to do good works, that with intentionality behind it. It's not an accident. Trauma wants to tell you you're not good enough. Trauma wants to tell you, oh, God can never use you.
Carla Arges [00:20:53]:
The enemy wants to hide behind your trauma and your mental health struggles and say, you're no good for the kingdom. Who are you to be doing the work of God? You are who God has called. That's who you are. And that's what you've got to remind your trauma. That's what you've got to remind the enemy. That's what you got to remind yourself. I have been called by God. God created me for purpose.
Carla Arges [00:21:22]:
I have been called. Just like Peter was called out of fishing for fish to be a fisher of men. You have been called out of your dark spot to do work for the kingdom in whatever way God has revealed it to you. Because we all have different gifts, right? We've all been gifted differently. We all have different talents. We all have different life experiences. How God is going to use us is going to look different. Okay? So don't go look at Jane Doe's calling and be like, I could never do that.
Carla Arges [00:21:59]:
Yeah, maybe that's not where God's calling you. Or don't look at Jane Doane's calling and say, oh, I wish that was my calling. Get your eyes onto where God wants to use you and be obedient in the impact he wants to do through you. So again, I want to invite you into redeem your story. Click the link in the show notes to learn more on my website. But really book a discovery call with me. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it.
Carla Arges [00:22:32]:
Let me encourage you and challenge you to start being a steward of the thing that God prepared in advance for you to do. Are you ready? God's calling you up and out, guys. Let's answer that call together.
Carla Arges [00:22:59]:
Thanks for joining me today. I hope we're already friends on social media, but if we're not, come find me on Instagram, arlaarges, or at affirming truth. Can't wait to see you back here next week. Bye, friends.