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Scripture: Isaiah 40:31 - "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles"

Summary: It's my birthday episode, and I'm celebrating with a bold declaration: Old is the goal! In a culture that worships youth and fears aging, I'm claiming the privilege of growing older with my whole chest. This episode is about what my 40th year taught me, what I'm praying for in my 41st, and why the ease we pray for is often found in our willingness to let life's changes actually change us.

I'm sharing the power of surrender - not giving up, but letting go of old standards of energy, tolerance, and productivity that belonged to previous versions of me. I'm talking about why my prayer for 41 is less about transformation and more about renewal - being revitalized in the woman I've become rather than becoming someone else entirely.

Plus, I'm answering a beautiful listener question about self-forgiveness that connects perfectly to everything I've been learning about surrender and grace.

Exercise: The Renewal Practice - (1) Name what you're ready to release (old standards, fixed stories, resistance to change), (2) Practice the gratitude shift (people who sustained you, moments that carried you, simple blessings), (3) Write your prayer for renewal.

Connect With Me

Want to go deeper? Visit www.revneichelle.com to explore my work, my ministry, and how we can grow together.

Let’s stay connected! Follow me on Instagram and Substack for more inspiration and continued conversation.

Ready to transform? Apply for coaching - I work with ambitious Black women who are ready to partner with God to create lives they love.

Questions? Feedback? Just want to say hello? Drop me a line - I’d love to hear how this podcast is landing in your life!

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In this New Year episode, I'm sharing something I'm living in real time - a different way of approaching 2026. I'm off to a slow start this year, and I'm completely okay with it. Actually, I'm more than okay - I'm intentional about it. Going slow is allowing me to ground for the year in ways that rushing never could.

Drawing from Deborah's story in Judges 4, we return to one of my favorite examples of seasonal leadership. Deborah wasn't always on the battlefield - most of the time, she was under her palm tree. This was her primary posture of leadership, and it's exactly where we need to be in January.

This episode is an invitation to plan differently this year - planning backwards from your values and vision instead of forward from obligation and hustle. Instead of setting goals you'll abandon by February, I'm teaching you how to think in quarters, how to create rhythms that honor different seasons, and how to be strategic about the support you need before you start building.

I'm sharing three mindsets that are shaping how I'm approaching 2026, and a grounded planning practice to help you think and discern with intentionality and strategy.

Exercise: The Grounded Planning Practice - A five-step process to start 2026 from groundedness instead of franticness:

(1) Name your gains from 2024

(2) Clarify your 3-5 core values for this year

(3) Plan your Q1 vision (just January-March, not the whole year),

(4) Identify your support needs to make that vision sustainable,

(5) Create your winter ritual - one grounding practice you'll commit to this quarter.

Connect With Me

Want to go deeper? Visit www.revneichelle.com to explore my work, my ministry, and how we can grow together.

Let’s stay connected! Follow me on Instagram and Substack for more inspiration and continued conversation.

Ready to transform? Apply for coaching - I work with ambitious Black women who are ready to partner with God to create lives they love.

Questions? Feedback? Just want to say hello? Drop me a line - I’d love to hear how this podcast is landing in your life!

Text Me!

Scripture: Psalm 77:11-13

As we close out 2025 and prepare to step into 2026, this episode is about something essential: reflection, release, and learning to flow instead of force. This is my end-of-year offering - stories, wisdom, highlights, and what I'm choosing to let go.

Drawing from Psalm 77:11-13, where the psalmist reflects on God's deeds and wonders, we explore what it means to look back on our year with both honesty and grace. Because here's what I believe: the year wasn't just hardship and lessons. There was also joy! And I'm refusing to let the hard moments eclipse the beautiful ones.

I'm sharing three key lessons that shaped my 2025:

Flow, Not Force - When you've crossed over into trying to control the uncontrollable, you've moved from flowing in the will and power of God to forcing things in your own power. I'm talking about the exhaustion that comes from trying to make things happen instead of partnering with what God is already doing on your behalf.

Align Your Efforts - Don't exert effort in one area of your life only to negate it with decisions you're making in other areas. This lesson showed up for me in unexpected ways, and I'm sharing how misalignment was costing me peace and progress.

Love Your Body As It Is - Even as you work to transform it into the body you want to live in. This one is tender and necessary, especially for Black women who've been taught that our bodies are never quite right, just as they are.

But I'm not just talking about lessons - I'm also talking about moments of grace and goodness. A lot of my joy this year happened because others held doors open for me to be in new and exciting spaces. I call this practice "adorning my crown," or, recognizing that I didn't just survive 2025, I also thrived. There were moments of genuine delight, breakthrough, and blessing that deserve to be named and celebrated.

And finally, I'm naming what I'm releasing as I step into 2026.

This episode is an invitation for you to do the same sacred work of year-end reflection. To sit with your lessons even if it means revisiting hard stories. To adorn your crown by finding the joy even among the ashes. And to release what's not yours to carry into the new year so you can step into 2026 with more space, more love, and more flow.

Exercise: The Year-End Reflection Practice

1. Reflect on the lessons - What did 2025 teach you? Sit with the hard stories long enough to extract the wisdom.
2. Adorn your crown - Name the moments of joy. Where did you thrive? Who held doors open for you? What jewels belong in your crown?
3. Release what's not yours to carry - What are you choosing to let go? Name it specifically so you can step into 2026 lighter and freer.

Connect With Me

Want to go deeper? Visit www.revneichelle.com to explore my work, my ministry, and how we can grow together.

Let’s stay connected! Follow me on Instagram and Substack for more inspiration and continued conversation.

Ready to transform? Apply for coaching - I work with ambitious Black women who are ready to partner with God to create lives they love.

Questions? Feedback? Just want to say hello? Drop me a line - I’d love to hear how this podcast is landing in your life!