322. Empowering Lives with Purpose, Interview with Beth Vazquez

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  • 322. Empowering Lives with Purpose, Interview with Beth Vazquez

Guest Speaker, Boy Mom, and Christian Mompreneaur, Beth Vazquez is the Founder of Recess and Results and shares how she teaches moms and kids how to be “Strong Not Shaken.”   Beth is an “anxiety overcomer” and shares her story of strength and surrender in all God has called her to do. Beth has been featured in Oprah magazine, Entrepreneur and Authority magazine, and teaches strong-not-shaken wellness systems which allow moms and kids to step into God’s power as they go after their God-sized dreams.   *****  

Kimberly Hobbs   Welcome to Empowering Lives with Purpose. And I’m your host, Kimberly Hobbs. I’m the founder of Women World Leaders. And we are so happy ladies that you have joined us today for empowering lives with purpose. And I’d like to welcome our guest Beth Vazquez. Welcome, Beth.

Beth Vazquez   Thank you. Hi, everyone. I’m so happy to be here.

Kimberly Hobbs   Hey, hon, we are happy to have you. And today we’re talking about strong, not shaken. And you are in for a real treat today to hear Beth and what God has called her to do in this world. Ladies, we know that you are here for a purpose. God called you here and you’re listening until we are praying God today you are strengthened, encouraged and empowered to run after Jesus in your life. And God is working in you giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. That’s Philippians 213. And we believe that God is working in and through you, if he led you here today, then you’re in for a treat. And we just pray that God will speak to your heart the way he will, as he does through these podcasts. And these women, these amazing women of God that come on. So today I want to share a little bit about Beth before we start and she is an amazing woman. And she has written curriculum called strong and not shaken. And that’s what we decided that we were going to title today’s podcast is strong, not shaken. That there’s a wife. She’s a boy mom, a Christian mompreneur and founder of recess and results. Beth is on a mission to help shape moms and kids who are strong and help them chase their god sized dreams. Beth has been featured in Entrepreneur, Oprah Magazine, authority magazine, and a contestant on Season Five of entrepreneurs elevator pitch, as anxiety had overtaken her bath understands how important God’s strength and surrender is to achieving all God has her to do she’s an overcomer. Praise God. Her signature strong not shaken wellness system shapes, strong mompreneurs mentally, physically and spiritually allowing them to step into God’s power as they go after their own god sized dreams. So I know so many listeners today are going to benefit from what Beth shares with us as she gives some examples later on. And how she teaches shares and shapes strong but not shaken activities. So Beth, before we begin, you grew up with anxiety and pressures in your life, and you had to overcome some of these. Can you share a little bit about your story and how you grew up? Strong? Independent? How it went to your head as well?

Beth Vazquez   That yeah, yeah, so I grew up on a farm in Nebraska, I was one of six kids. Number five. And you know, farm life, I mean, maybe you know, maybe you don’t know. But I grew up on a farm. My, my father struggled with alcohol. And so it just brought, it brought a lot of chaos, it could cause a lot of chaos in life. And when I was young, I didn’t realize that I had so much anxiety, but I did. And it came out in various ways. I remember having stomach aches a lot of times just feeling that sort of uncertainty. And I think so many moms can relate today to that feeling of anxiety and how it can manifest differently and all of us. But I felt that even as a as a young child, although I learned to kind of push it away to become to kind of ignore it and to just be strong, you know, and very independent early on. Like I sort of learned to just take care of myself and to count on myself. And in some ways, I guess that can be helpful, but in a lot of ways it’s detrimental to life, right? But I was praised for it. I was praised for it. I remember my mom specifically telling me like, Oh, you’re super independent, you always have things under control. We never have to worry about you. And that I kind of just hung on to that and I was like, okay, so I guess it’s a good thing. I’ll just keep pushing this off. I’ll do my best to take care of myself to rely on myself to not need anyone else because I don’t want that to be a burden to people right And so, as you can imagine, you know, growing up and leaving home and going to college, that sort of mindset and mentality really played a big role in a lot of decisions that were made. And I lost my way I grew up as a Christian, we went to church every Sunday, I grew up learning the Bible, and abiding by, you know, Bible commandments. And I went to college and just really lost my way I was living for myself, I made a lot of bad decisions. I ended up living with a boyfriend at one point during grad school, who I thought, you know, was the one and we were gonna get married and have this wonderful life and all the things, all the while still believing that I didn’t need a man, I didn’t need anybody. I only relied on myself. And so clearly, this is a very unhealthy relationship from the start, but I always prided myself in that independence. And even in my friend groups, I felt like I was sort of ahead of the game. I prided myself in career I prided myself in taking only needing myself and, and, and those sorts of things. Well, there was a point that I came in, kind of to a breaking point, my anxiety got worse and worse. I was seeing a therapist, I was having panic attacks, I didn’t really understand what was happening. And I was like, What is going on, I felt like I was sort of like losing control of everything. And I didn’t know what to do about it. And one day, I did really lose everything I had lost my job, I was laid off from my job, the relationship, horrible relationship that I was in, fell apart, we broke up, he moved out the whole thing, I felt like I didn’t really have a lot of friends. Because I had moved away, I was living with this, this guy. And you know that and myself were like, the my whole world. And so I felt like I had lost everything. And I was down to nothing. And I remember laying in my room one day, and just laying on the bed, and I was depressed. And I didn’t really know what that was like, because I had never let myself really feel those things. Because I was strong, and independent and strong and independent. People don’t get depressed, and they don’t have anxiety, right. So like, I had never really let myself feel those things. And that day, it just all came crashing down. And it was overwhelming. And I was like, just so broken. And I remember

just crying and just calling out to God and just saying, like, help me like, I don’t know what to do. You know, I was scared. Because I’ve never felt these things before. And I remember through the window of my room that the sun kind of shown in through the window, and on the wall distinctly made the picture of the image of a cross. And I just remember like, like this sigh of relief, like a break in the sobs and just like, Okay, I’m not alone, you know, like, I’m not alone. God is still with me, thank God, because I had basically just pushed him away, you know, push them away all of these years. And it was that moment of my life that was the lowest, and also the absolute best because it started a relationship with Jesus that I didn’t know that you needed. I knew the Bible. I knew what the Bible said. But I didn’t understand the difference between believing in God and having a relationship with Jesus. And that was the start of it. And it changed my life.

Kimberly Hobbs   Beth, amen. Amen. And praise God, how he reaches us at those defining moments, and we all can just hear what you’re saying and think Have I ever had one of those defining moments where Jesus reached me right where I was. And, ladies, if any of you are identifying with that anxiety that builds up over time, you know, we all go through things in our life, that that shape and and start to define who we are. And God intervenes at just the right time. And he did with you that moment where he showed up on the wall, and that shape of a cross that there was no denying that he was getting your attention.

Beth Vazquez   And the peace that came over me was just indescribable, a peace that passes all understanding.

Kimberly Hobbs   Overwhelming peace came on you. Board gives his people strength. Ladies, when this is a scripture, the Lord gives his people strength and blesses them with peace. Psalm 2911. Remember that? And God also says he will keep you in perfect peace, all who trust in Him all those whose thoughts are fixed on you, God that psalm or no, that’s Isaiah 26 worry. So God will keep you in perfect peace, ladies and that peace that came over you, Beth. So for the first time, God has this pivotal part in your life, and you decided to do this 40 Day Challenge. And you drew circle, a group of girls that you came together with. And in that time to you had wanted to get pregnant. Okay, now you’re married? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it’s time to talk about that. And how, how did God speak to you through this time in this dream that you had?

Beth Vazquez   Yeah. So like I said, the relationship with Jesus really started in that moment, but in that moment alone in my room, but we know that a relationship builds and grows over time, right. And God has done such a work and just pulling me closer to him and letting me release myself. And so yes, he blessed me with my my greatest gift in life, my husband, who was amazing, and such a great supporter of me and a great leader, godly leader for our family. And we were praying about having a baby. And it was difficult for us for a lot of reasons, which is a whole nother podcast. We’ll talk about that another time. But we were having struggles getting pregnant. And so we were praying about it together, you know, obviously, my husband and I was praying about it, I was doing all the things, the ovulation sticks to the stress. And I felt that anxiety coming up again, of me trying to control something. And so there was a few friends that I knew that were also moms are not mom mompreneurs yet at that point, but entrepreneurs, and we were Christian entrepreneurs. And we started to do a Bible study together. And one of the girls recommended the draw the circle prayer challenge. It’s a prayer challenge written by Mark Patterson. And so we did this 40 Day prayer challenge together as a group, and there were many women in the group. But there were three of us specifically that were praying for healthy babies, as well as other things in this group. And this prayer challenge changed my life. It was the first time that I heard God speak to me clearly. And that I knew it was him. Like, without a doubt, this is God speaking to me, telling me, you know, basically, what’s going to happen with my life. And when I say this, everyone, please know that when people would say before they heard God speak to them, I kind of questioned whether they were like, I had just never experienced it. So when people would say, Oh, yes, God told me this, I’d be like, did that really tell you that? Or is that like what you want to do kind of thing, you know, and I’m telling you now, for anyone that might be skeptical, God will speak to you, if you stop to listen, he will fake to you if you stop to listen. And when I heard God’s voice the first time, it was through a dream. And it was not a profound dream. It was nothing crazy. It was a very simple dream that I was walking to the car, I had one baby on my hip, like I was holding a baby on my hip. And I was holding one by the hand. And we were just walking to the car. And I was putting them in the car, like putting them in car seats. And that was it. Oh, and I woke up it was at it was at a specific house, you know where we lived. It wasn’t even the house that we lived in at the time. That’s what’s so crazy. It was the house that we ended up moving into in the stream. And so anyway, I had this dream, and I woke up and I was like, again, that overwhelming peace. That indescribable peace that passes all understanding that you were just certain, and you just know that everything is going to be fine in the midst of all the chaos and in the midst of what you feel like you can’t control. But it’s that peace that’s like, Okay, I don’t have to worry about this. This is already handled, you know. And so we stopped ovulation tests, we stopped all the things and I just told my husband, I’m like, we’re gonna we’re gonna have a baby, we’re gonna have not just one but two babies. So we don’t even have to worry about it, you know. And six months later, I was pregnant. And today we have two amazing baby boys. And I of course also have my bonus son who’s away in college, but God fulfills those desires on your heart, and they’re planted there for a purpose that is far bigger than you.

Kimberly Hobbs   Oh, my heart’s beating like that is so beautiful and so true. God’s purpose and plan. You know, ladies, we are all a masterpiece. God tells us that and he’s planned things for us long ago, and he wants to fulfill them through you. You are his masterpiece ladies. So and now, Beth, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has spoken, and he can change his plans. When his hand is raised, who can stop him? That’s Isaiah. 1427 and leading scripture to heart, please, when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has spoken to you, who can change his plans, ladies, and when his hand is raised, as God’s Word says, Who can stop him, and his hand was raised over you that getting your attention, he spoke to you, you heard his voice. And now the desires of your heart are moving towards serving Him. So it wasn’t about yourself anymore. You got that pride out of the way, and you surrendered. And God developed a love for families in your heart, and faith, family fitness began. And God God, He called you to do this for him. So can you talk about that part of your life now and how God led you into this?

Beth Vazquez   Yeah, so it was at that moment, you know, that I heard God speaking to me. And I realized that he cares. He doesn’t just love the world, which he does. But he loves me, personally, he cares about me personally, you know, like, enough to be in the details of my life, enough to come to me in a dream and enough to continue to speak personally to me about things that I pray for. Uniquely, right, like me, my life, not just the world. And so that was another kind of profound understanding and short of sort of like, shift in the relationship. Because when you really realize that about someone, imagine when you, you know, you see that in your husband, you see that in your kids. And when you see it in God, that he’s like, they’re in the midst, and like, so powerful, and all knowing it changes the way that you live, it changes the way that you live. And so for me, he gave me the, the desire of my heart, we strongly desired kids, right? And he gave me that desire. But in that he also taught me that that desire was not just for me, that he had planted that desire in my heart, because he has big plans for my kids, because they’re prophets of their time, because they will go and make disciples of all the nations, right, and that is a very strong call to be a mother. It’s not just a desire of my heart, right? Like it is a strong desire that he placed in me for His glory. And so when I started to understand that, and again, take myself out of things, and really just look to Him for guidance and understanding, I learned that he placed other passions on my heart, too, that were not just about me. And I had always had a love for fitness and staying active. I had always had a love for kids. And now this newfound love, not just for kids, but for the family units. And I saw families just being torn apart, you know, and really broken in today’s world. And there was just such a strong pole in my heart to help build strong bonds and strong families. And we know that many times moms really start that right, like moms are the center of that bond for families. Men are the leaders of our homes, but moms are the nurturers, right. Like, they’re really powerful in their homes. And so God put this these passions showed me how those passions were meant for something so much bigger than myself, meant to serve other people for His glory. And in that he put recess and results and the program that we have to teach moms How to Start profitable faith and fitness clubs in their communities. He put that on my heart to help other people have a way to serve him to bless families to bring revivals to communities. And in that, he showed me that, again, many people are broken, many people are hurting, many families are hurting many kids are hurting the world is hard. You know, the world throws a lot of light bombards us with lies every day. And it’s hard to be a Christian, right, like we will be persecuted for being Christian in today’s world. And so in my stress and my anxiety and my overwhelm, I cried out to God and just asked him for something to help me stay strong and him and not shaken by the world and all these things that are being thrown at me and he gave me a very specific program that we now teach through recess and results both to moms and to kids, to help them stay strong and not shaken in the world that we live in today.

Kimberly Hobbs   Wow, Beth, and it is phenomenal what you are doing and as we Beth and I were able to talk on the side and through phone conversations. Beth was sharing a little bit about what she pours in to, to children and also to the moms and how she teaches and it was God’s perfect timing to use You have the way he has bath in such powerful ways. So. So let’s talk about how you shape strong and not shaken. Leaders mom’s for tomorrow. And this is going to be fun because I asked Beth, if she would give some examples. And the Bible, the Bible says, oh, Lord, I will honor you. And praise your name for you are my God, you do such wonderful things you plan them long ago, and now you accomplish them. Isaiah 25. One, and he uses you both to accomplish some of that within these kids and these young moms. So some of the ones I had asked Beth to share the examples of how she teaches and trains these kids to look at God and how they’re playing in their activities. You play freeze tag with them. Can you talk about freeze tag and the talk some of these examples?

Beth Vazquez   Yeah, we play with we teach kids through play and families through play, because it’s this innate thing that God placed in us. And it’s the best way for them to learn. And there’s a Bible verse that says, this, the city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there. And it’s in Zachariah, and God talking about this image of, of a prosperous city, right. And so when we think about bringing revival to cities and revival to families, we think about helping kids play and really using that spirit that God placed in them, to draw them closer to Him. And so one of the ways that we teach is through a game everybody loves to play tag, it’s an age old game, right, timeless classic, that all kids love, and know how to play and always brings laughter and fun and of course, also helps us condition ourselves physically, as well as spiritually and mentally when we add our little spin to it. So freeze tag becomes cross tag at recess and results. And we teach kids that when they’re tagged, right, when they’re when they’re touched in the tag game, instead of just being out or standing frozen. They freeze like a cross with their arms straight out, feet together, and they make the shape of a cross and we teach kids. You know, John 316, For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. And so they’re frozen, and they’re in the in the game. But if they say Jesus saves, and they’re proclaiming that Jesus saved them died on the cross to save them from their sins, then they can be free. And they can run around and they can play again. And so in that we’re embedding the foundation of truth, right? We’re embedding the foundation of truth, through movement through play in a way that they’re not going to forget. So when they go on about their life, you know, they remember that verse. They remember that, that Jesus, that’s great.

Kimberly Hobbs   Amen. Amen. That is so wonderful, so powerful. I loved that. And I’m sure that the listeners are never gonna forget that either the next time they go to play tag with their kids, and wow, what a teachable moment. Right. Can you also talk about the, the the talk? I think it was, yeah, right.

Beth Vazquez   Yes. So in strong that shaken strong is actually, I think it’s called acronym right, where every letter stands for something. So the T in strong, the it’s it’s six, habit formula for staying strong, not shaken in today’s world for stepping into God’s power, and moving closer towards what He has called you to do. And the T and that is taught, and the premises that the world is full of lies, the world will bombard you with lies or what we call trash. And a lot of us grow up with a lie on repeat inside of our mind. And the enemy loves this little lie, and he planted it there on purpose, to deter you from the plans that God has for you. The Bible tells us that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, right, but that Jesus came that we may have life and enjoy it abundantly. And so we need to take what the devil is doing to try to steal, kill and destroy by putting these trash thoughts in our mind and replace them with the truth of God, which gives us life and life abundance. Right? And so we we need to think about what we’re thinking about. And we teach moms and we teach kids how to do that, how to think about what they’re thinking about. What is a thought that maybe slowed you down today or made you feel bad about yourself or made you think that you couldn’t do something? And even all of the listeners here today, you can probably identify a lie that has been on replay inside of your mind a common theme that has been a replay on set on replay inside of your mind, and I’ll tell you what it was for me, and it was no matter how hard I try, it’s never enough. No matter how hard I try, it’s never enough and this life sprouted out of that, that reliance on Self, that independent attitude that I was praised for right? So I thought I had to keep trying harder and harder and harder when really, that’s not what the Bible says, that’s not the truth of God, the Word of God is that I am God’s masterpiece, and that he has good works prepared for me in advance to do that I am far more precious than rubies, that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength than the truth. And so when you can recognize that trash thought in your mind, and it’s super powerful, when you can recognize that it’s on replay, and then you can share that thought, or you can write it down in your journal and cross it out and replace it with the truth of God, it loses its power, and the enemy has to flee, where where we pour in truth, where Jesus is when Jesus is in us, right? When we rely on that Holy Spirit power, the enemy has to flee, it no longer has a hold on our life, or our decisions or the actions that we make. And this is a powerful truth that we need to teach our kids because the world is going to fill them with lies at every single turn through social media, through friends at school through society standards that they feel like they have to live up to. And so we need to pour truth into kids. And we do this little exercise with moms. And we also do it with kids in a game. So we will pull lies out of a hat, and we will just read them. Things that kids say to themselves all the time. This is too hard. I could never do this. They don’t like me. Nobody loves me. I feel unimportant. You know, things like that. And we replaced it with the truth of God, I could do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I was born with a purpose. He has plans for me and they are good. I am strong and courageous. Right. And we teach them these truths. So that is what is on replay inside of their mind and not the trash. And we make a fun game of it when we pull out a trash talk. So it’s a thought that’s no good. They literally run and throw it away. And they like tumble on on a little tag on a on a mat and they love it. They’re laughing. They’re having the best time. And really what they’re doing is battling the enemy. Right, they are fighting the enemy. And they are soaking up the truth of God and just like growing stronger and stronger and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Kimberly Hobbs   I love it. I love it and wow. 

Beth Vazquez   So hopefully no, no, but I get excited about this stuff.

Kimberly Hobbs   this is what you just again, ladies, I hope you’re gleaning from these things, these truths and how important and how important it is to pour into our children, you know, to be strong and not shaken by what the world is feeding them lies. It lies upon lies, and God’s Word is truth. And we can stand strong on that truth and not be shaken. So no, Beth, I am so grateful that you poured into the ladies in this little bit of time that we have. But now we have to close. And so the Bible says the knowledge of the one result in good judgment. So this is all about good judgment, ladies, Proverbs, Proverbs 910. And also the Bible says, come and listen to my counsel, I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise. And I appreciate both what you’re doing. That’s proverbs 123. By the way, I appreciate what you’re doing, pouring into them, making them wise through the word of God through the truths of God’s Word. You teach good judgment, bath and skills in tough situations, right. And these young kids, they’re facing tough situations. So as you teach kids and moms how to be strong, not shaken. Ladies, there’s a way that you can search out some of this curriculum. So Beth as we close right now, can you just tell them how they can find you, hon.

Beth Vazquez   Yeah, of course, so you can learn more about recess and results in the strong not shaken program. Just go to recess and results.com You’ll have all of the information there. You can follow me on instagram also and message me anytime I would love to pray with you for you here to support you any way that I can help. It’s at Beth Vasquez. twosies Beth Vasquez 00 you’ll find me on Instagram so I would love to get to know you and all that God’s doing in your life.

Kimberly Hobbs   Wow. We are so thankful thankful for you for being that woman or a leader that we all should be striving to be in our place and our community in our homes wherever God has called us ladies, we all have that purpose. Remember that he can use you where you are. And ladies that women world leaders we have tools for you. We have ways ladies that you can grow and walk in God’s purpose just for you and one of those is voice of truth magazine and it comes out we have editions that are coming out quarterly now. Voice of truth, it’s beautiful. And you can read those online digitally at women world leaders.com, we have all the editions for the previous years online available to you for free. And you can also receive voice of truth by becoming a monthly donor of any amount $5 $10, whatever it is, and we will send voice of truth to you every addition to your home. So we are so grateful what God is doing within this ministry, we also have other tools of books that are coming out. And we have meetings that you can be part of, in fact, we are opening up our leadership meetings now to zoom where the teachings can go, and you can become part of that. And our next one, if you would like to become part of our zoom meetings where we meet once a month, our next meeting is going to be September 19, at 7pm, Eastern Time on Zoom, where we connect with women from all over the world. And this is one going to be one of our first ones that we are opening up to ladies. So if you are interested, please reach out to me personally at Kimberly, at women world leaders.com. And I will be happy to send you the Zoom link. So you can join us in that meeting. And also Beth, I want to thank you for what you have poured into the hearts of women today. And ladies, I pray that you will share this podcast and share these truths that are within Beth, you are a blessing. 

Beth Vazquez   Thank you. Can I just say one more thing, of course, I just want to encourage everyone because I think sometimes we can feel like we need to have it all together. Or we need to be perfect or we need to have this or that in order to do great things for God or to serve God in a big way. And I just want to encourage you and remind you that God does not call for you to be perfect. He just calls for you to be obedient. So if you’re feeling God pull you in one direction, or maybe you had this idea on your heart and it just stays there. Even though you keep trying to push it away. I would encourage you to just really pray and ask God to help you take steps in obedience, because it will bless you in ways and it will bless others in ways far beyond what you could ask or imagine. So I just wanted to leave you with.

Kimberly Hobbs   I love that powerful word powerful word. It’s all about obedience. Ladies, you watch when you step out in faith and obedience to what God calls you to do, but just blessings that just pour out and that again Ephesians 320 are lifers, right? Yeah, God will do exceedingly, abundantly above what you can ask or imagined. So, thank you. Again, we appreciate you. Thank you, ladies for joining in with us today. And we just pray that God touched your heart in the way that he would and all content is copyrighted and cannot be used without expressed written consent. But please do share the podcast ladies, we ask you that. So until next time, every Monday, Wednesday and Fridays you could join us on these podcasts ladies and women world leaders podcast. Goodbye and have a great day. Thanks bye