Obedience Over Perfection: 50 Episodes of Showing Up
We made it to Episode 50. 🎉
In this milestone episode, I’m reflecting on the journey behind this podcast — the insecurities, the fears, the pauses, and the lessons God has taught me along the way.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re not polished enough, or “ready” enough to do what God called you to do — this one is for you.
In this episode:
• The insecurities that almost kept me from pressing record
• Why I stopped editing and started showing up more
• The comparison trap and what God taught me about my voice
• A charge for anyone questioning if they should keep going
💛 “Let’s aim for obedience to God over perfection. Because perfection sometimes hinders us from doing what God says.”
đź’ś Stay Connected & Supported
If you’re needing prayer, encouragement, or a place to reset, I’ve created spaces where you can be poured into:
✨ Join the FREE Teaching With Jesus Community: A supportive community for Christian teachers to pray together, stay encouraged, and walk this journey with faith and peace. Click Here To Join!
✨ Pause + Pray Call (Live): We gather monthly at 6:30 PM EST for prayer and encouragement. Each month I will share the date it will be held. Replays are also shared inside the community. Click Here To Sign Up!
📲 Connect with me on Instagram: @thetransformationalteacher
🎧 Subscribe & share this episode with another teacher who may need prayer, peace, and encouragement today.
Transcript
Hello and welcome back to the Transformational Teacher Podcast.
Speaker A:I am your host, detoya, and thank you.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for being here with me today.
Speaker A:We are at episode number 50, and I am so thankful to God that he has allowed me to get to episode 50.
Speaker A:This has truly been a journey, a journey to discovering and releasing the voice that God has given to me.
Speaker A:And if you've been here on this journey with me, thank you so much.
Speaker A:Thank you for every episode you have listened, to every episode you have shared.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:And if you're new, welcome.
Speaker A:I'm so glad that you're here.
Speaker A:This space is where I share conversations that I've had with God and the things he's been teaching me along my teaching journey and life in general.
Speaker A:But today I want to talk about the journey behind the podcast in hopes that it blesses you and it blessed me as I reflected back on things because I've seen my growth and this podcast journey again.
Speaker A:It hasn't always been easy, and even to this day, I have to push through certain things.
Speaker A:There were moments where I question, am I going to be consistent with this?
Speaker A:Am I good enough for this?
Speaker A:Do I have what it takes?
Speaker A:Do I have the time?
Speaker A:Will I mess up on my words?
Speaker A:Will it make sense?
Speaker A:What will people think?
Speaker A:Is anyone going to listen?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Those were some of the things that came to my mind and so much more here.
Speaker A:Here's the thing.
Speaker A:Insecurity.
Speaker A:It had such a tight hold on me and it showed up in different ways.
Speaker A:I felt like if I didn't have a professional intro on every episode, I wasn't a real podcaster because my beginning episodes, they had that.
Speaker A:Then I decided, let's just jump right into the topic.
Speaker A:I felt like if I wasn't editing, I wasn't good enough.
Speaker A:And honestly, editing, that was one of the things that held me back the most.
Speaker A:It took so long to to do, I would push off recording.
Speaker A:So I made a decision.
Speaker A:I stopped editing and I started showing up more.
Speaker A:I started showing up as God was instructing me to show up.
Speaker A:Now, guess what happened after that?
Speaker A:My mic stopped working and I almost gave up right there.
Speaker A:But instead, I picked up my iPad.
Speaker A:And that was big because again, in the beginning, I felt like I had to be like others.
Speaker A:I had to have my mic and I had to do it that way.
Speaker A:But when I picked up the iPad, I said, okay, this is what's going to work for this season, because this is what we have.
Speaker A:And here's what I learned.
Speaker A:You don't have to do everything one way.
Speaker A:You just have to do what works for you in the season you are in now.
Speaker A:Of course, we want to always make sure it's in line with what God is telling us to do now.
Speaker A:One of the other things that was holding me back was comparison.
Speaker A:I had to stop comparing myself to others, comparing my voice, my intro, my setup, my consistency, my numbers, even the length of my episodes.
Speaker A:I didn't want long episodes.
Speaker A:I wanted short, focused ones.
Speaker A:And for a while, I thought that was a problem.
Speaker A:I thought real podcasters did long episodes.
Speaker A:I thought I needed to stretch mine out to be a real podcaster.
Speaker A:But God, he showed me.
Speaker A:Short doesn't mean it's not impactful.
Speaker A:Long doesn't always mean impactful.
Speaker A:The episodes that I create, they are the length that God gives to me.
Speaker A:And I have to remember that it's God using my voice to bless others.
Speaker A:So however he gives it to me, I have to release it.
Speaker A:I had to stop comparing and start showing up as me.
Speaker A:Because the woman God called to this mic is not a woman running someone else podcast.
Speaker A:This is the woman that's running the Transformational Teacher podcast.
Speaker A:And I have to do it God's way.
Speaker A:I have to do what he tells me to do.
Speaker A:And the people that this podcast is for, they will listen.
Speaker A:The more I realized it wasn't me showing up doing this, it was God working through me, the more I could yield.
Speaker A:I am one of the vessels God is using to get his message out into the world.
Speaker A:And I'm thankful that he chose me.
Speaker A:And I can really see it is God doing it through me?
Speaker A:Because honestly, if it was me doing it, I wouldn't be here.
Speaker A:So I know it's God.
Speaker A:The next thing I want to share is, during this journey, there were seasons where I paused.
Speaker A:Not because I didn't care, but because life was happening and I had to learn how to move within my capacity.
Speaker A:And to be honest, I also had to learn how to record at times and even in spite of what was going on, because there were times where God would say, now isn't time to record.
Speaker A:This season is a season for you to listen.
Speaker A:But there were also times where God told me, show up anyway.
Speaker A:Even though this is going on, even though that's happening, show up because I got something I want to say through you.
Speaker A: ember coming back in April of: Speaker A:It was episode 27.
Speaker A:That was a moment where I was honest about how I felt, how I didn't always feel like recording because it was hard, but Even in that, I knew God was saying, this still matters, you have to start back.
Speaker A:And I had to make that decision.
Speaker A:Am I going to keep avoiding it or am I going to go back and say yes to God?
Speaker A:I'm so thankful I said yes because I know God said to do it.
Speaker A:And I feel it has been a blessing to others.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But this journey has been also a blessing for me.
Speaker A:It has also been something that has stretched me and grown me in so many ways.
Speaker A:It has knocked down walls of fear, insecurities, and so much more.
Speaker A: after coming back In April of: Speaker A:That time it was more of a season where I felt like God said, let's pause here, let's get some things together.
Speaker A:I needed more clarity on certain things and I learned something even in that.
Speaker A:Just because I was pressing pause, it didn't mean God wasn't speaking.
Speaker A:He was still downloading things.
Speaker A:He was still teaching me.
Speaker A:He was giving me clarity.
Speaker A:And I decided to press record when he told me to press it.
Speaker A:And when I came back, I came back not from pressure, but from a place of alignment and grace.
Speaker A:And when I came back, I came back with more clarity again.
Speaker A:I had to remember that this is God's podcast and I'm just a vessel.
Speaker A:And I had to remember that change is okay.
Speaker A:Because in that two month pause, God was telling me, there's a way I want you to shift this podcast.
Speaker A:And the reason I say that is because when I first started the podcast, it was mainly for about encouraging teachers.
Speaker A:And that's still a big part of my heart.
Speaker A:I have a heart for, for teachers that have been called to the classroom.
Speaker A:But he told me this podcast is also about conversations that we just have about life in general.
Speaker A:So, yes, a good amount of episodes their teacher directed, but there's also some about just life in general, about different things that has taken place in my life.
Speaker A:And that's where Conversations with Jesus came from because he said, share what I give you.
Speaker A:Now, to be honest, I'm still working on fully doing that, but there has been a lot of growth in that era area and I'm thankful for the growth.
Speaker A:So I want you to remember, look at the growth that you have made.
Speaker A:God has taught me a lot on this journey.
Speaker A:I've talked about some of those things throughout this episode, but I want to end with this.
Speaker A:If God has told you to do something and it feels challenging if you don't fully understand, if you don't see the whole staircase because sometimes we don't.
Speaker A:If you've paused or if you're questioning you, if I should keep going, I want to remind you of this.
Speaker A:If God told you to do it, you should go forth and do it.
Speaker A:Here's the thing.
Speaker A:Not in your own strength, not in your own ability, but allow God to strengthen you and help you along the journey.
Speaker A:Allow him to teach you and instruct you along the pathway to take trust him along the journey.
Speaker A:And I want to encourage you, as I'm saying this to you, I'm saying it to myself.
Speaker A:Let's aim for obedience to God over perfection.
Speaker A:Because I believe sometimes perfection, it hinders us from doing what God says.
Speaker A:So again, if God has told you to do it, go forth and do it.
Speaker A:And allow him to give you the words, give you the wisdom, to give you the insight on how to navigate and do it.
Speaker A:Here's the thing.
Speaker A:Take your hand off.
Speaker A:Give God total control.
Speaker A:Move as he instructs.
Speaker A:Sit still as he tells you to and remember you.
Speaker A:You are the vessel that God desires to use.
Speaker A:Let him use you as he pleases.
Speaker A:And here we are again, episode 50 and I'm so thankful to God for what he's doing in me.
Speaker A:I'm thankful for what he's doing in you.
Speaker A:So again, not perfect, but still here, still saying yes, still showing up, still trusting God along this journey.
Speaker A:So again, let's go forth and do all that God has told us to do.
Speaker A:Let us.
Speaker A:Let's pray well, Heavenly Father, we thank you right now.
Speaker A:We thank you Lord, just for who you are.
Speaker A:I thank you Father, for every individual that's listening to this episode.
Speaker A:I pray, Lord God, whatever it is that you're telling them to do, I pray that they'll do it.
Speaker A:I pray, Lord God, they will walk in obedience, Lord God, to you, regardless of what they their flesh might be saying.
Speaker A:They'll listen to the spirit and they'll do what you tell them to do.
Speaker A:They will allow you to guide and direct their paths.
Speaker A:They're trusting in you like never before.
Speaker A:They're keeping their eyes closed, focus on you along this journey.
Speaker A:And I thank you Father, for what you're going to do in and through them.
Speaker A:I thank you Father, for the people though, God, that will be blessed by them, doing what you instruct them to do.
Speaker A:I thank you Father for giving them the strength, Lord God.
Speaker A:I thank you Father for energizing them, Lord God, for the journey ahead of them, Lord God.
Speaker A:And I thank you that they will again, they will hear your voice and they will do what you instruct them to do.
Speaker A:I thank you, Father, that we are doers of your word.
Speaker A:Not just hearers, but we take the Word, we eat on the word and we act on the word daily.
Speaker A:So I thank you, Father.
Speaker A:We surrender all, Lord God, into your hands.
Speaker A:We give control over to you.
Speaker A:We release it, Lord God.
Speaker A:And we ask, Father, that you use us, Lord God, use us.
Speaker A:As you will, Father.
Speaker A:So we thank you, Father, for what you're doing.
Speaker A:We give you glory and we give you honor.
Speaker A:And if there's anything, Father, that we did not pray, we ask that you intercede on the behalf Lord God.
Speaker A:We give you glory.
Speaker A:In Jesus name we pray.
Speaker A:Amen again.
Speaker A:Go forth and do all that God instructs you to do on this day and the days to come.
Speaker A:Well, I will speak with you all later.
