The Weight of Purpose: Finding the Courage to Change Direction

When was the last time you felt that unsettling disconnect between what you're doing and who you're becoming? That strange tension where everything looks right on paper, but your soul feels tired?

This episode dives deep into the sacred space of pivoting—recognizing when God is calling you to something new and finding the courage to follow. Drawing from Isaiah 43:19 ("I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?"), we explore what it truly means to navigate leadership transitions with both faith and practical wisdom.

I share my family's unexpected journey of pivoting our entire business direction after Hurricane Helene, when my husband felt called to develop emergency communication systems for disaster response. What started with a late-night phone call from our pastor saying, "What if God has made you for such a time as this?" evolved into one of the scariest and most purposeful seasons of our lives.

The path to pivoting requires three key steps: reflecting honestly on what feels heavy or misaligned, reconnecting with your core values, and taking one small step forward in faith. But we also need to acknowledge the two companions that always join us on this journey—fear and grief. It's possible to hold both the sadness of what you're leaving behind and the excitement of where God is leading.

Whether you're questioning your current role, feeling restless in your leadership, or sensing that still, small voice calling you to something new, remember this: pivoting doesn't mean you failed. It simply means you're paying attention. What part of your life feels misaligned right now, and what's one small change that could bring you closer to the life God is calling you to lead?

Chapters

• 0:00 The Courage to Pivot Introduction
• 4:37 Pivoting Doesn't Mean Failure
• 7:44 Reflect, Reconnect, Take Action
• 10:10 Communications Mission: A Personal Pivot Story
• 13:40 God Is Always Working
• 17:24 Holding Joy and Sorrow Together

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hey friend, welcome back to Entrusted to Lead. I'm Danita Cummins and I'm so glad that you're here today. We've been talking this month about something that I think so many of us wrestle with quietly what happens when the thing you've been doing just doesn't fit anymore, when your leadership, your job, even your routines, feels more like weight than purpose? Or calling this month's theme is the courage to pivot, and today I want us to talk heart to heart about what that really means, especially when God is stirring something new in you. Our scripture for today is Isaiah 43, 19, which is one of my favorites, and it says I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and the rivers in the desert. So let me ask you something have you ever been in a season where you're still doing all the right things but inside you just feel off? That's okay. Today we're going to dive into some tools and tips and areas to help you grow. So grab your cup of coffee or your favorite beverage or some really good walking shoes and let's get started.

Speaker 1: 1:17

Leadership can feel really heavy sometimes, especially when you're carrying vision and people and purpose all on your shoulders all at the same time. You have got a big mission, but the strategy feels fuzzy and your team is looking at you for clarity that you're not sure you actually have. I get it. It's hard. I'm Danita Cummins. I help faith-driven leaders like you find clarity, align with your values and lead with confidence, without burning out, because that's never okay. If you're ready to get unstuck, lead your team with courage and to turn that God-given vision into a strategy that really works. I want us to talk. Take the free leadership clarity quiz that I've created today and I want you to schedule your no-pressure coaching call, because together we can uncover what's holding you back and how to move forward in faith and confidence.

Speaker 1: 2:11

So back to the beginning question have you ever been in a season where you're still doing all the right things, but inside you feel just off? Maybe you're tired, not just physically, but it's like your soul is tired. Maybe you're tired not just physically, but it's like your soul is tired, like you don't feel as lit up about the work that you used to do. Or maybe you're still showing up, but you're secretly wondering why it all feels so heavy. Sometimes that's burnout, which is totally fair, but sometimes and I feel this even right now, in this season of my life, it's the Holy Spirit that's gently nudging us, saying hey, the season is about to come to an end, it's time to do something different. Look, behold, I am doing something new. Now listen first.

Speaker 1: 2:58

Before we dive into this topic, which I know can be a little bit scary, I want to tell you this one thing Pivoting does not mean that you failed. Okay, let's just say that a little louder for the folks in the back of the room. It doesn't mean that you're flaky or that you missed out. It doesn't mean that you are broken or flawed. It just simply means that you're paying attention. It means that you're growing.

Speaker 1: 3:23

God's not mad at you for changing directions. In fact, he often leads us into new assignments when we least expect it. So if you're sensing that it's time to shift, that's not something to hide from. It's something to bring to him in prayer with open hands and an open heart. And we're going to talk a little bit more about that today.

Speaker 1: 3:45

The thing that I've learned over the years, when we get to this place in the initial feeling or identification, is really just that it's really listening and saying, hey, hmm, I don't think this fits anymore or, hmm, I don't really feel like everything is aligned and we are only called to stop and acknowledge it. I don't necessarily have to fix it or solve it today. I might not have the next five or 10 steps of my life or my plan figured out, but just acknowledging and listening and looking up and saying I recognize that something is shifting. I might not know exactly what it is or where we're going, but I definitely at least acknowledge that something's going on. That's a huge win. Okay, so let's talk about what we can actually do when we feel like we might need to pivot.

Speaker 1: 4:37

First, just like I said before, we need to reflect, and some of the questions you can ask yourself, or one of the main questions, is what feels heavy or out of sync in your life or in your leadership? I know this might seem like a pointed question and, at face value, it might seem really easy to ask or answer, but you can't reflect on anything if you don't stop. Be still. That was the verse last month, right In April, and if you got the Beyond the Boardroom newsletter that we just sent out, you'll remember that that was the verse that we had, psalm 4610. That says be still and know that I am Lord, be still, is an action. You're intentionally doing something, so the same thing. We're going to equate that to reflection. We need to stop and we need to look and see what's going on.

Speaker 1: 5:27

I've been reading some really great books about purpose and about wholeness as I'm working on my new book project, and one of the ones that I read just last week that I'll share in the show notes was really insightful because he said sometimes well, all the time you can't see the way forward without looking back. Sometimes we think that their purpose or plan or God's calling or whatever that is in our life is just going to lay out like a path right when we're going to have 12 stones and we're going to see the steps and it's going to be this beautiful yellow brick road. But then we get frustrated when it doesn't. Or we open the door, we try for a job, we apply for a new promotion and we get denied and that is super frustrating and disappointing which is totally okay, friend, because hearts matter but then we dismiss that door closing as an opportunity for us to simply turn around and look behind us. So when we're standing in front of the door and the door closes. That wasn't the way. That's basically the point of the book. It's not the way and it's simple. At face value, you're like, yeah, totally Of course it's not the way because the door closed.

Speaker 1: 6:38

But the power in that perspective is that all you have to do is turn around and there are thousands of other ways, there are thousands of other paths, there are thousands of other opportunities and they're right there, probably behind you. So the first step is to reflect, and we can't always do that going forward. Reflection is only when we look back. The second is that we have to reconnect, and this is hard right. We've been talking a lot about values this year on the podcast because they are so important. So the question is what are your core values right now and what matters most to you in this season? I'll just be a little honest and tell you that in this season of our life, my husband and I are pivoting our business.

Speaker 1: 7:22

So in the fall of 2024, after Hurricane Helene hit, we felt called to help and, as many of you know, we've served for the majority of our life in the military and the Department of Defense, space and technology and communication systems, and Hubby is ridiculously smart and a skilled network and RF engineer. He just is. He's a craftsman. God has given him a gift to design and build things with his hands, which is not something that I can do. So I do words, I'm a worder and I feed you, but Hubby is so incredibly gifted as a designer, as a creator, so he created a communications kit, a mobile communications platform. Can you just say that Like? Who does that? Like on a Friday night in their basement. He did. He put together all of these components enterprise level 5G cellular routers and antennas and Starlink terminals and batteries and integrated them all into mobile communication kits that you can put in your backpack and you can put into a small hard shell container and you can take them and set them up within two or three minutes and you have this robust communications architecture that you could use almost anywhere in the world. And he built it because he has such a heart for first responders and the men and women who are leading, like in the churches or in disaster recovery and response, who are out there trying to save people's lives. And the technology is available and it's here and it's commercial, off the shelf, and there is a way to build it and put it together, to put it in the hands of people who actually need it, at a price and a value that's going to make a difference for them. And so that was really his heart.

Speaker 1: 9:13

But it started with a conversation on a Friday night that our pastor called on a Friday night and said, mark, you know how to do this, you know how to solve these people's problems. He said they are in the mountains in North Carolina and they have nothing. They have no communications, they have nothing. He said so what if God has made you for such a time as this? And he got up at 430 on Friday and went downstairs in the basement and for four months he didn't go to bed until three o'clock in the morning and he built a system and a solution. And so that's what we've been working on in the background, and that one for such a time as this phone call has shifted our entire family. It's shifted our everything, and we are now in this place where we are launching a new business and product lines and we're working on patents and all these things that we know nothing about. He quit his job, he resigned from his corporate nine to five so we could go out and do this thing, and that's super scary and I don't know what tomorrow's going to bring, but we know in this season that it's just something that the Lord has called us to and we're super excited but we're also super scared.

Speaker 1: 10:26

But that what was important to us. It's important to us that that lives are saved. If I'm just being super honest, it's not a talking point, it's if one life could be saved by having a communications system in their hand. When somebody goes in, when a firefighter, first responder, goes into a house or tries to go into the woods in a crazy place where there's nothing there and there are landslides and mudslides and all these things, they can walk in and they know where people are and they can find them, the people that need help, and they can rescue them or they can get them out. Like that matters, right, if it saves one life, then every single thing that we did mattered, and that takes a lot of time, but we know very clearly, at least from that perspective, what matters to us and why we're doing what we're doing. And so sometimes God will call us to pivot and sometimes God will call us to lean in faith and walk out in faith and do all these really hard things. But we can't do that if we don't connect or reconnect with our values and what's important to us. So what are your core values right now and what matters most to you in this season?

Speaker 1: 11:38

The third question, or the third step, is to take one small step. Maybe it's just a conversation, maybe it's just saying no to something that you used to say yes to. Maybe it's journaling or sitting with God and asking him to show you what's next. Maybe it's a phone call from your pastor. Maybe it's sitting at your neighbor's house on Bible study night saying we don't have any idea what we're going to be doing. I don't know what it looks like for you, friend.

Speaker 1: 12:04

For me right now in this season, it's a lot of taking one small step forward, asking for help, phoning a friend and a lot, a lot, a lot of prayer and a few tears, and I'll just offer this. If you need help with your process, I would love to help you. You can take my free leadership clarity quiz that I have on my website or schedule a clarity call, and there's no pressure. I just want to offer the space to you so that you can process and plan just like we're doing as well. And so here's the reflection question that I want you to ask yourself today what part of your life or leadership feels misaligned right now, and what's one small change that you could make to bring it closer to the life that God is calling you to lead?

Speaker 1: 12:53

Sometimes the answer is not doing something that you've been doing for a really long time because it's not suiting you, it's not enabling you, it's not giving life to you. We all love clarity, but God is always at work around you and God is pursuing and continues to pursue a loving relationship with you that is both real and personal, and I truly believe that, friend, and God is inviting you to become involved with him and his work, and he's gonna speak through the Bible and he's gonna speak through the Holy Spirit and through prayer and circumstances and community, and as he does that, he's gonna reveal himself and his purposes and his ways. But he is inviting us to work with him. So sometimes, when he does that, it leads us to this crisis of belief that requires faith and action, and so we've got to make some major adjustments in our life so that we can join God in what he's doing, and when we come to know him by our experiences, as we obey him. He will accomplish his work through us and I think that's really a key part of at least what we see in our journey today for hubby and I. But there are so many different references and different places where we see God's hand in our life and then we're asking for the quintessential burning bush, like Moses. But God is already speaking and I think that's a beautiful thing that I've seen over the last few years with his promises and everything that he's shown me in my writing, everything that he's shown me with the center and now with this new business adventure.

Speaker 1: 14:34

God is always working. He's not silent. He is always moving. He's always working. He's not silent. He is always moving, he's always speaking and there's always an invitation for us to stop to reflect on what he's saying or what he said in the past, what's going on in our heart, to reconnect with him. What does that mean today, in this place where I work and serve, and then to take one small step forward.

Speaker 1: 14:59

Faith and action, and I think a big part of this courage to pivot, are the two elements that we don't really talk about One fear, two grief. Over the course of the next couple of months on the podcast I have some amazing guests who are going to come in and we're going to talk about fear of failure and we're going to talk about making your life work matter. So hopefully you'll get some other voices not just me to share and help reinforce these ideas. But fear is a real thing, friend. It's okay we don't like to talk about it, but it's always there and it keeps us from moving forward. And then we also struggle with grief, and I think that's a big part of it too.

Speaker 1: 15:43

So if God is calling you to reconsider, a new perspective, a new adventure, if you are in the season where you're called to lay something down, then it's okay for that. To be sad, it's okay for you to feel remorse or regret or any of those things. It's okay to grieve the loss, because it's a real thing. But we can't just stay where we are, we can't stay stagnant. We have to just trust that God is bigger, trust that he is continuing to call us to him, and this promise of God's restoration is something that I have just been digging into as I'm working on my new book project. So thanks to everybody who's filled out the survey and if you haven't had a chance, let me know and shoot us a comment or send a DM.

Speaker 1: 16:32

I'd love to share the survey and get your thoughts, but I'm digging into God's promise of restoration. What does that actually mean? What does the word say? What does it mean in Joel, chapter 2, verse 25, where it says I will restore to you what the locusts have eaten. And so I think all these things are leading us together to a place I don't know where they are.

Speaker 1: 16:54

Thanks for joining me on this adventure, discovery, journey that I'm on myself, but I just think there's so much power in what God is doing, so many powerful things in his life and his grace and his love that he gives us each and every day that we miss, and I truly believe that he cares. I truly believe that there is an abundance in life and in love that God has for us, and I truly believe that there is an abundance in life and in love that God has for us, and I truly believe that hearts are heavy this season of my life. I'm learning more and more how to hold joy and sorrow at the same time, because I truly think that that really is what we truly experience in life. You know, we like to say that there are peaks and valleys, and sometimes they're higher or lower than others, but in this season I've just seen this continuous place of joy and sorrow. Things bring me joy and they bring me sadness at the same time, and I think that's okay. I'm learning to just sit in them and not get lost or consumed by one or the other.

Speaker 1: 18:02

So that's my offering to you today, as we reflect what part of your life or leadership feels misaligned right now and what's one small change that you could make to bring it closer to the life that God is calling you to lead? Let me know. Or to the life that God is calling you to lead, let me know. Friend, I know this season might feel a little foggy or even scary, but I can promise you this God is already making a way. I do know that you don't have to force it. You just have to be willing to follow and if this episode helped you, please share it with someone that you love.

Speaker 1: 18:38

And don't forget to subscribe to the Interested to Lead newsletter or to the podcast, wherever you listen to this, so that you never miss an episode. We're going to have some great guests coming this summer I'm super excited and, of course, more updates about the business and all the amazing, crazy things that are going on in our neck of the woods. So, if you have the clarity, you have the courage and, most importantly, you are not doing this alone, friend. Okay, so don't forget to keep showing up every day, even when it hurts, because you matter. I'll see you later. Have an amazing day.