Intro: As a Christian working woman, you have many roles from your responsibility with family and friends to community and work. How do you connect all that you do with all that you are, and still have your faith shine through. It's a challenge, but you are up to it. The, sheWorks4Him podcast at the gathering place to empower Christian working women, to live out their calling at work.

By connecting them to God resources and each other through powerful faith stories from other working sisters in Christ. Welcome to sheWorks4Him.

Martha: You've tuned into, sheWorks4Him, where we connect Christian, working women to God resources and one another. We are your host today. Martha Brangenberg, and Nadya Dickson.

And I am so excited about the show ahead, but before we get started, I just wanna remind everybody you can connect with us on. sheWorks4Him.com that's she works the number four him.com and on Facebook, we also have a YouTube channel. So if you're like me, I love to watch because there's just so much expression, especially, you know, as, as women we get excited and we're talking about things, there just might be things that are added when you're, when you're watching the conversation. And we want you to feel like you're sitting with us, that you are pulling up a chair and just joining in on the conversation. And you know, having a cup of coffee, Nadya just held up her coffee, cup of coffee.

So, whatever that might be for you thank you for spending this time with us. And we just love being able to connect with you, the Christian working women out there in the trenches, doing the work that God has designed you to do. So thank you for joining us and take it away. Nadya.

Nadya: Thank you, Martha. What a privilege it is to be with you ladies today. Well, I wanna ask our listeners out there, especially as Christian working women. Do you feel challenged and pressured sometimes to adapt to your environment? I know I have. Do you feel challenged or pressured to settle for mediocrity simply to appease others or to pursue goals maybe that are not truly aligned with what you want or what you are?

This can cause us to feel adrift. Even - especially after living through a transition or an unexpected life event, I'm just wondering if you can relate or maybe you're a Christian working woman who is on the other side experiencing great success in the past and you're trying to figure out what's next.

What does the next chapter look like for you? Well, today we're going to Colorado Springs to talk with my dear sister Kim Levings. You know, after going from a suicide attempt, she is now living a thriving, successful life functioning in her passion. And she believes that with the right mixture of thinking belief and then action, anyone can set themselves free to live a life they were created to live. Kim, welcome to sheWorks4Him.

Kim Levings: Thank you so much, Nadya. It's so wonderful to be here.

Nadya: I'm thrilled to have you share your story with our listeners today, but first I want I want to ask you to share what it looks like for you to connect your faith to work, but how did you even become a believer?

Kim Levings: Well, you know, Nadya, I was one of those sort of typical kids growing up with Christian parents, you know, specifically in the Anglican church, my mom had grown up Catholic and, but we were raised in the Anglican church. You know confirmed and baptized and, you know, went through confirmation classes. But as I say, I never really found Jesus until much later in my life.

So I grew up in religion, but I never had the relationship until I was in my teens. When I went at the local coffee club at a Baptist church, gave my life to Christ when I was about 14. And even then I wasn't discipled. I was typically one of those seeds on the pathway. Life came along and I went in a completely different direction and it took a long time, which I'll come back to later, but I ultimately rededicated my life and then became an active Christian in my mid twenties.

And then, you know, I've gone through several kind of rededications, saying, okay, I'm coming back. You know, I've gone out and run around a bit. Now I'm coming. But my last coming back to Jesus was in 1994 when I've never looked back. So...

Nadya: So glorious and yes. And in your work life, your professional life, when did you realize that your work mattered to God?

Kim Levings: Well, it's also part of my story, which I'll come back to, but I've been blessed that for a long time, I've recognized how he has gifted me and how he's called me to do what I do. The locations have changed the relationships and the actual nature of my work has changed, but he is a constant. And I like to say that he's the constant central axle to my wheel.

You know, it's like, no matter what spokes are coming out of it, it's still my central axle. So I've been blessed that way. I know many people are not, and I think sometimes it's a realization. About discovering your purpose through the window of who he created you to be and connecting those dots. And, you know, it's just a fabulous process when you see that happen.

Martha: You know, I am imagining that there are a lot of women even listening right now that can relate with you even from the, from the very moment that you said, you know, I was raised up with religion, but not relationship. And, and you know, now seeing your eyes wide open, basically. As you walk out your purpose in life.

So Kim, in your work, you have worked for a lot of in different organizational settings. Somewhat we would call traditional ministry based and others that are more corporate. I would love to hear you talk about how that has impacted the way you've integrated your faith in work, cuz for some people that may look very differently depending on the organizational structure that they're working in. So what wa how did that look for you?

Kim Levings: Absolutely. And it is a difficult question. So I think there's three different parts to the answer. So the first situation is that if you are in an organization that is sort of definitely anti-religion especially large organizations that I've worked in, that you know is, and it's now sort of legal issue that, you know, you're not allowed to talk about your religion at the workplace and you can't hold prayer meetings, et cetera, et cetera.

I've navigated that because ultimately, as I said, if your axle is anchored in Christ, You live life and you shine your light so bright that you can't help, but be who you are. Daughter of the king, no matter what situation you're in and people are attracted to that light without you having to be overt, you don't, you know, I don't have to proselytize from, you know, and I was always a trainer that, you know, did a lot of training workshops.

And I always used to say, I'm not going to evangelize from the front of a training room, but what I will do is teach the principles of leadership that are rooted in scripture. And I don't have to bring the Bible out. And in fact, it just happened to me recently. I'm working with a company right now and I, I never say I'm not a Christian.

I don't even bring it up. If it comes up. I say, yes, I am a Christian, but this doesn't change what I teach or what I do, but. I was teaching something and I heard the one person say, sounds distinctly biblical. And I laughed because he is a Christian, but there's only some of the team that are Christian and they immediately catch when I teach something that's biblical, but that's how I've navigated.

Cuz I believe as Christian woman, it's a danger to think that you must only ever work within the Christian realm because I've been in the Christian bubble. And I can tell you it's just as dysfunctional as the non-Christian bubbles, right, of organizations, and I think that we're called to do his work in whatever field or situation that he calls us to.

Martha: Mm amen. You know, you mentioned, you said that, you know, teaching biblical principles. And even more than that, you are already applying them in your life. And so it's, yes. You know, you can't separate the two when it is a part of who you are. And I think just continuing to have this conversation is gonna help empower more women, especially in this conversation about, about actually doing that. That if it's, if it's true in your, if it's real in your life, it's just going to be lived out and then it, that is coming from scripture.

So I wanna just, before we break real quick, Kim, just tell us. You've written some books and your most recent one is called Practically Imperfect in Every Way. And I would love for you to share just a little bit about what led you to write this book and, and what's the main takeaway that you're hoping your listeners or your readers will get, right?

Kim Levings: Yeah. It's Practically Imperfect in Every Way. Cuz of course it's a bit of a spoof on the Mary Poppins. And the subtitle is walking in God's armor.

And I know there are plenty of books written about God's armor, cuz it's such a perfect construct for any Christian book. But let me say this, the, the purpose behind it was because of my company being ReThink You, I help people rethink themselves, but there's still this concept where many Christians and unfortunately are often Christian woman -

I mean, I'm a woman. So I focus on that audience, but there's a veneer of perfect. Where we feel we have to show up on a Sunday with everything put together and in the realm of mental illness, relationship, stress, depression, all of those issues. Those are messy issues. And traditionally the church and the church community has not done - and I say, traditionally - their exceptions it's changing, but there's this perception that you have to show up or put together because there's something wrong with you if you're not. And that's why the Practically Imperfect in Every Way, the principle is embrace, embracing your imperfection and recognizing the work of Christ in you and how absolutely gloriously perfect you are when you do that.

So it's walking people through a journey of kind of rethinking themselves, but through the principle of the armor of God, of understanding, you know, like the belt of truth, mm-hmm is the truth of who you are. And going through the, the sections of the armor as a way of understanding to come to grips with your imperfection.

Martha: That's so incredibly awesome. And I just hope that our, our listeners will take the opportunity to get a copy of the book Practically Imperfect in Every Way. And I didn't catch the play on the word until I heard it with your lovely accent, because it, it makes it makes it sound more like Mary Poppins even then.

So I'm glad that you said that. Thank you for sharing that. We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be back with more with Kim Levings, as we are talking here on, sheWorks4Him. We'll be right back.

Break: Did you know that God has a calling on your life? It's true. He's called you to bring Jesus to the world. For some that may look like a pulpit or a foreign mission field, but for most of us, it looks like a construction site, a cubicle, a hospital, or a classroom, wherever it is that you work, live, volunteer and invest. That is your mission field to learn more about integrating your faith into your work in retirement. Check out our books. iWork4Him. sheWorks4Him and iRetire4Him by going to iWork4Him.com/bookstore.

Martha: Welcome back to, sheWorks4Him with Nadya Dickson and Martha Brangenberg. We're here with Kim, Kim Levings and we are, kim, we're just tip getting the tip of the iceberg, but thank you for sharing about the book that you've are recently written.

And I just, I know that there are so many women that really need to embrace the imperfection because we focus so much on wrong thinking and God has so much more in store for us. So thank you for telling us about your new book.

Nadya: Yes. Thank you so much, Kim, and Kim, I've known you for a little bit now. I, I love our times together, you know. I know you wrote practically imperfect, but you've really, you've really got it going on, Kim. Like I would recommend you to any company, anybody for coaching and consulting. But the truth is you experienced a huge challenge earlier on in your life. You overcame a near death experience after attempting suicide. Can you share a little bit more about this event?

Kim Levings: Absolutely. You know, as I alluded to earlier, this is really at the core of my story because when I was in my mid twenties or in fact when I was 18, my parents divorced after 25 years of marriage. And I had anchored a lot of my sense of identity and self worth in that happy home foundation.

And I was the youngest of three girls. And when the, the, my older sisters were not at home, when the marriage fell apart, it was like all on me. And in hindsight, I realized the tremendous amount of grief and trauma that I experienced that was never dealt with. I simply buried it and it turned toxic because I didn't get the help that I needed. At the time I was doing very well in my career.

So, okay. I failed university because of all of that. I went off and lived for the next seven or eight years, a very wild life. As I said, I didn't jump off the altar. I skated off the altar, just flew off, went off into the doldrums of life. But interestingly at the same time built an incredibly successful career.

So I poured my identity into my work and I found my self-worth in my job, which in some ways is good. But over time you pay a price. Not once, but twice I attempted suicide because of just the depths of depression and the sense of hopelessness and lack of self worth.

And, you know, you throw yourself into the gutter, it only is a matter of time before you hit that rock bottom. And there's nowhere to go from there. And I didn't think I was worthy even of God's love, but the second time was when I was 26 and I was actually living with my father and my stepmother. He had remarried by then, and I tried to take my own life. I took an overdose, but I woke up 24, 36 hours later in the hospital and they had saved my life and I was off work for a few days.

But when I woke up in the hospital, I had a huge wake up call, literally. And God said to me, I'm not done with you. Like, are you, are you ready now to listen to me? I'm gonna show you how to put your life back together and you're gonna show other people how to do the same. I have a mission for you. That was the beginning of the story.

So, you know, it's been the foundation of my life in that. I then took all the tools and the gifting he had given me, cuz by the, at that point I was, you know, an HR manager for a large clothing store. I mean I had great job and, and I was the trainer for the region and but I took all the tools that I was using in training and human resources and applied it to my own life.

And I came up with tools that I use to this day in all my program. To help people literally reset themselves, rethink themselves and figure out who am I and what am I here to do and how do I get on with it? So it's really just an intricate part of my story, but it also goes to the fact that there's still so much shame and, and guilt attached to mental illness.

And when people are not treated properly and they don't handle it properly. The results are never pretty, and I think that's why I have a passion for this topic.

Martha: You know, I wanna interject something here, Kim, because we are in a time, like no other where we are hearing more about people wanting to take their own lives. For different reasons, we just feel so much despair. You know, God has given you time as a, as a beautiful space between that time in your life, to where you are in such an, a beautiful place to be able to speak into other people. So right now, could you just, what would you say to the listeners that maybe they have people in their life that they either see them in despair or there has maybe even been an attempt or actually a success, you know, for someone that's taken their life. What can you, what are you speaking into that right now? That can be a help for anybody that's listening.

Kim Levings: Well, I thank you for asking that, Martha, I think there's two, there's two ways to look. There's two people involved. There's the loved ones around the person, and then there's the person.

So if you are a person that is feeling hopeless and in the depths of despair, ask for help. There is no shame. You know, if you break a leg and you need crutches and you need to go to the hospital, nobody thinks you're a bit, a worse person. Then if something is broken in your spirit, you are not sinful. You are not, you haven't done anything wrong. You are in a state of illness and you need help. Get the help.

And for those around somebody who is depressed, who is suffering. You cannot possibly understand what they're feeling. So don't say I understand, everything's gonna be okay. Reminds me of the proverb, you know, don't pour vinegar on a wound. It's like, you know, singing songs to somebody with a broken heart. Cry with them, put your arm around them and encourage them to get the help they need.

Martha: Mm-hmm that's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.

Kim Levings: In fact, I'll add to that. So I'll tailgate myself. I'll say many times the reason I went into such a terrible situation in my personal life was because I was trying to heal a wound internally by filling it up with all the wrong things and had I gotten the help that I needed, I would've learned how to fill it up with the right things.

Nadya: Wow. Wow. And from that experience in your own journey now, As the Lord told you in that, in that room, I'm going to use you now to help others journey through this space. How does this impact your coaching and equipping and consulting? Because you do a variety of organizational health, personal health. So yes. What does that look like?

Kim Levings: Yes. Well, I have two things, so I said, I'm, you know, I'm a certified master Christian life coach. And so I help people do reset. I also am an executive coach and a workforce strategist.

So, but at the hub of it all, as I said again, I come back to the hub and the spokes at the hub of my work is helping people rethink themselves, which is why my company is called ReThink You because you are the common denominator and whether you are an executive or a stay at home, mom.

Everyone is a human being with a mind, and your mind is where things happen. And helping you ReThink Yourself is really at the core. So even when I do corporate work, it starts with helping people think better and the core principles of thinking. And that's because of my background in manpower development, but I'll also have a neuroscientific technology that I use for performance diagnostics and performance coaching.

And then of course my believing, you know, I'll say to people, I'm a Christian coach. I don't - so I say to people, you're going to encounter God and biblical principles if you coach with me. If that's gonna be a problem, then I'm not the right coach for you. So I may not coach people from biblical life perspective if it's an executive program, but they just need to understand that that's my worldview. That's where I come from. And if that's gonna be offensive, then they shouldn't work with me. It's never been an issue. So that's how, you know, it influences what I do.

Martha: You know, I love that way of thinking and presenting it because you think about the fact that, you know, some people may say, well, I am a student of this way of, you know, organizing things. Well, we, we listen to that and we go, okay, that's gonna be their background. That's where they're coming from. And to just present it that way, how simple to say, you know, that's just where I'm coming from. And if that, if you're you wanna align with that, then I'm the coach for you.

So, Kim, I love that you've shared so much with us about ReThink You, your coaching and consulting firm. And you said so many things that You know, kind of descriptors and, and where you're coming from and the knowledge that you have and everything. And they made us, made us sounded very long, like lots of syllables in there, but it gives, I know that you have a great background in all of that.

So I love that. So, and we will have in the show notes, a link to your website so people can check you out if that's something that they wanna pursue a little bit further. Yes. So we're gonna take another quick break and then we're gonna come back with Kim Levings and learn some more from her and how God is, he has used her over the years and what he's doing in her now.

And just as a Christian working woman, all that we have in store for us, if we just would, you know, rethink ourselves and, and think, use our minds and align it with what God has in store for us. We'll be right back with more wish sheWorks4Him.

Break: Hey listeners. One of the huge projects Martha and I have been working on for years. Is making it easy for every workplace believer to find all the voices speaking, encouragement and equipping into the faith and work movement. Presenting the Awaken Podcast Network online at awakenpodcastnetwork.com with over 130 different podcast voices speaking truth into you, the workplace believer, including over 30 podcasts, dedicated to Christian working women. Go online to Awaken Podcast Network.com that's awaken podcast, network.com.

Martha: Welcome back to sheWorks4Him where we are here today with Kim Levings and her organization that we were just talking about, her coaching is ReThink You.

And I just love that, that name. Kim, you have something that you are generously offering to our listeners. And I want you to just share briefly about that and we will have the details in the show notes if you don't get this all written down, but tell us what it.

Kim Levings: Yes, I have an online training program that's called life reset. It's a 40 day journey of transformation. It's a hybrid journey of eLearning, a group accountability, and some coaching, and I'm offering it at 50% off to your listeners. And the, the information will be in the show notes, but you'll have a coupon code "workforhim." And that will take 50% off the price.

Martha: Awesome. Thank you so much for that. I, I hope that there will be some listeners that will take advantage of that because I just hearing yes, you talk and all that. There is in the opportunity to have that connection with you to take it a little deep, a lot deeper in a 40 day journey. What an exciting thing.

So right now I would love for you to share with us some practical tip that you wanna give to the listeners about, you know, just rewarding the Lord with all of our mind. What, what would that practical tip be?

Kim Levings: Right. The practical tip would be to remember every day that you have a choice, and living life with a godly mindset and choosing to put your focus on him takes intentionality. It's not our default. Our default is to go to a sin pattern and to buy into the lies and the lies that we believe about ourselves. And the incorrect perspective that we have of the world around us is what drives stress and dysfunction. So every day you have a choice.

So my practical tip is to pause, even if it's for two seconds in the morning and say where am I choosing to focus my mind today? You know, and as Paul says in Philippians 4:8, you know, look at what is true and noble and pure and whatever is lovely and admirable, you can choose to do that. God gave us just the most incredible tools that already exist within us. And all we have to do is surface that from within us, but it takes a choice that doesn't happen automatically.

Nadya: That's so good. So Kim, is that your life verse or do you have something different that you use?

Kim Levings: Yeah, it's so funny ask because I have so many verses, but the one that's sort of really speaking to me right now is the Ephesians 3:20, you know, that God will do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine because of who he is in us. But I particularly like the, the definite the, the. Translation the passion translation by broad street publishers. My new favorite Bible.

Martha: Mine as well, mine as well.

Kim Levings: Yes. You know, the way it's worded, there is never doubt God's mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest requests, your most unbelieving dream and exceed your wildest imagination.

He will outdo them all for his miraculous power cons constantly energizes you. Wow. I mean, if you read that, it's just the fuel in the engine. It's like, I have God with in me. If he is for me, nothing can stop me. So, yeah.

Nadya: Oh, true. That is being a real overcomer.

Kim Levings: Yes. I can't do it in my own strength. That's what I keep reminding myself. What, and the last thing I'd say is what you put your focus on is what you get more of. Yes. So choose what you're focusing on.

Nadya: Yes, because it will grow. God made it that way inherently. Yes. If it's, if it's in him and it's our faith, it will continue to grow putting our faith in him rather than in bad news or misinformation or whatever. I love it so much. Thank you so much for encouraging us today. Thank you. And the emminence from you, Kim it's who you are, it's what you bring and how you show up. And I know there are so many others out there that have felt oxygenated this morning, just from listening to you. So thank you for being with us.

Kim Levings: Yes. Thank you both very much. This has been a delight.

Martha: Awesome. And you know, the last thing I just wanna say to our listeners is Kim, you were saying about it. It's how we choose what we choose to put in our mind, you know, in our mind and scripture. If that is the choice of how you are, especially launching each day, filling your life with scriptures, like what you were just reading you know, then God's gonna be at the center of all we do and all that we say.

And I just think that's a great encouragement for all of our listeners today. You've been listening to, sheWorks4Him with your host, Martha Brangenberg and Nadya Dickson. And we are Christian working women, helping other Christian working women to live out their calling network. As sheWorks4Him!

Outro: As Christian women, we have many roles from daughter, sister, friend, wife, and mother to analyst, accountant, executive or educator. Is it possible to balance our roles at work and home in a way that honors God? The answer is yes. And our new book, sheWorks4Him will help show you how. Written to celebrate, encourage and equip women in the workforce. sheWorks4Him. Discusses the diverse experiences of today's Christian working woman. Pick up a copy by going to iWork4Him.com/bookstore.

You've been listening to the, sheWorks4Him podcast with your host, Catherine Gates, Nadya Dickson, and Martha Brangenberg. Please like us on Facebook and subscribe on YouTube under sheWorks4Him and to access any of the resources we mentioned on today's.

See the show notes at sheworksforhim.com that's she works the number four, him.com. This podcast was created to empower you to live out your calling at work. So the world knows sheWorks4Him.