I sat down for another Firebrand Rapid Fire this week with a woman named Jade Smith, and about ten minutes into our conversation, she said something that stopped me mid-sentence.

She said if you try to manufacture something, if you try to control it, it will always end up being a counterfeit. It will never be the full, pure version of what God actually has for you.

I haven’t stopped thinking about that since we hit stop on the recording.

Because if I’m honest, most of us aren’t asking God for less. We’re asking for more. More reach. More clarity. A business that finally feels sustainable. A calling that feels fully alive. We pray for expansion.

But we rarely stop to ask what has to be removed first.

Jade’s story is one of those that makes you sit up a little straighter. She started an operations agency for business owner moms almost ten years ago, homeschools her kids, and somehow still hosted a full conference three months postpartum. When I asked her why, her answer was simple. “I want to, but that’s the only words I had.” That’s Jade. She doesn’t wait until she has it all figured out. She starts.

What makes her story so relatable is that she isn’t only building a business. She’s also stepping into a completely different calling, leading worship and coaching women to hear God’s voice for themselves. Two brands, two callings, both real, both hers, existing in the very same season. If you’ve ever felt like your life doesn’t fit into one neat lane, you’re going to feel this conversation in your bones.

Here’s the part that got me. Jade talked about a season she calls the fire, one she opens up about more in her chapter of the upcoming Firebrand book. What she learned in that season wasn’t how to control her way out of it. It was how to stop manufacturing an outcome and start trusting the One who was already leading her through it. A manufactured version of your calling might look impressive. It might even work for a while. But it will never carry the fullness of what God actually wants to do through you. Only surrender does that.

One of my favorite moments in this episode is when Jade said, “You’re actually safe when you’re in Him.” Not safe because the fire disappears. Safe because He’s in it with you. It reminded me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. God didn’t keep them out of the fire. He walked into it with them. If you’re in a season that feels like fire right now, that isn’t proof that God left. It might be proof that He’s doing something you can’t see yet.

Before I let you go listen to the full conversation, I want to leave you with something to sit with. Elimination doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like letting go of a version of success you built to prove something. Releasing a timeline you set instead of the one God is actually working on. Stepping out of a role or identity that was never fully yours to carry. Trusting the messy middle instead of demanding a five step plan.

What is God asking you to release before He expands what’s next?

Listen to the full episode 187 here

One more thing. Firebrand releases this November, and Jade’s full chapter is part of it. If this conversation resonated with you even a little, I think the book is going to mean even more.