Purpose Prevails even in the wilderness
In this episode, we sit down with Michele McMillan, my cousin, and a RN, and discuss how she discovered her purpose and path, even with spending thirty years in the wilderness. Though moments of her path seemed far from where she thought she should be, God always brought her back to where He intended her to be.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonia D Benas is the founder of The Journey of You. It is a lifestyle, a process and a community, where she teaches you to Love God, Love Yourself and Love Others with practical steps to Think, Act, and Live, With, In, and On Purpose, one mindset shift at a time.
Community & Membership Site: https://whereyourlifebegins.com
You can connect with her on IG: www.instagram.com/toniadbenas
You can connect with her on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tbenas
Website: https://www.toniadbenas.com
You can sign up for her daily inspirational messages here: https://toniadbenas.aweb.page/p/59c2a053-3ebd-47ef-a15b-351530e85634
Transcript
0:09
Hello journey of You family and welcome to today's podcast. Today we're sitting down with my cousin Michelle and I cannot wait to talk to her and let you all hear a little bit more about her journey. So I'm gonna let Michelle introduce herself and then we'll get started. Michelle, my name is Michelle McMillan. I am by trade or by calling a registered nurse.
0:35
Barry with one daughter who's in college, and that's me.
0:42
I love it. I love it. So let's talk a little bit about that college part, too, because how it how has that transition been of having your daughter in college and kind of being an empty nester down? Oh, it was hard. And she just turned 20 on Thursday, so that was very hard for me. And she was out with a friend. She didn't even come over to the house. She's living in one of the college apartments and she didn't even come by get her birthday gift. I guess we're just having fun, but.
1:12
You know, I understand. That's how life is. I mean, she has to grow and develop and find her way.
1:18
Definitely, definitely. And when she was first leaving and you know, kind of finding your way, what what was that transition like for you?
1:27
It was really hard. I kept trying to convince her, well, we can save money if you just stay home. And you can just stay home just right over. We live in Greensboro, NC, so she's right at one of the local colleges, North Carolina A&T State University. So, I mean, it's just right up the road. So I was like, well, it doesn't make sense. You know, I was trying to, but I was doing it for me, so I had to stop and say, Michelle, listen, you know, you have to let her.
1:56
Find her way in life and you know, you wouldn't ever want her to say, well, my mom, you know, held me back from developing and being who I need to be, so I had to stop it.
2:07
I understand that completely, and finding who we are isn't always easy. It's a continual journey. So I know you being a registered nurse. Was that what you always knew you wanted to do? Or how did you even discover that?
2:20
I did know when I was about 5I, it just came to me where I know it was Holy Spirit just showed me that I was going to be a nurse and I was telling everybody and.
2:34
I was going to be a nurse when I grew up. I was gonna be a nurse. I was gonna be a nurse and.
2:39
Yes, life. As I went through life and trying to find my own way, I.
18:46
You know some when you're married that can be, you know.
18:51
It's like the Bible was saying too. When you're married, you look at how you please your spouse. When you're single, you look at how you can please God. So those times, even though I have been married before.
19:05
It wasn't very long so.
19:07
Just going through the challenges of marriage and trying to get to know each other and trying to understand one another and not look to have your own needs met, but to understand that there's another person that has needs, that has a background as well. Trying to understand that person, just coming to that point of trying to understand what another person has been through has been the challenge, you know?
19:37
Trying to understand my husband and what makes him tick or what makes you know him act certain ways that he acts that.
19:47
Was challenging for me. So once God was able to show me well, you know, you got to understand where he his background is and.
19:57
His upraising and you know that can help you to love him the way he needs to be loved and then.
20:04
You know how we are as women. What about me? What about me? What about me? So.
20:12
Just getting to a point of just.
20:15
Trying to be humble and think about the other person. That's the where I'm struggling with now, but it took me a while to get there, you know, just the frustrations and why are you acting like this and.
20:28
But once I.
20:30
Once God was able to quiet those voices and get me to a place where I could understand then.
20:37
Has been. And then I'm trying to raise my daughter and I'm trying to make sure she has the background and the support that she needs and she's grown up and become the person so she can become the person that she needs to be without going through all the trials and tribulations and the muddling through life trying to figure it out.
21:00
The life of a mother and a wife is very to balance. For sure it is. And then still being you in there, not getting lost in all those roles and the understanding I think is huge.
21:16
Especially, like you said, with two becoming one and having to figure out, you know, how do you balance each other. Because to your point you did both come in with separate stories and separate lives and now you've got to figure out how to bring that together. But it doesn't mean that everything that happened prior to you getting together didn't happen. So it still has an effect on you. And so how do you walk through those things without your spouse bill in the brim of it. So it's definitely a delicate balance. And then even with your children and teaching them, it's a lot you, the Holy Spirit is like literally the only thing that can help with.
21:49
That is true.
21:51
So I want to ask you, I know that we're coming to a close, so I just want to know if you'd like to, like even pray us out for maybe there is a woman out there that she is in the middle of all those roles and trying to figure out her purpose and not lose sight of herself and what to do next. And she's not sure what to do. I'd love if you, you know, could pray and just help them with, you know, those next steps.
22:13
OK, Lord God, we just come to you today and we just ask that you would just give us what we need. Lord God, we ask Lord God that you would touch women all over and reveal yourself to them, reveal yourself to them, Lord God, in a way that they will understand and know that it's just you for God who is speaking to them and talking to them and leading them for God. Lead us all, Lord God, to have a heart for you.
22:43
And a heart for others, Lord God, that we can be strong, Lord God and.
22:48
Bring other women into others lives for God that can be support and be helpful or God.
22:56
Help us in this way, Lord God, that we will always praise you. We will always worship you for God in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for being here today, Michelle. Truly thank you for having me. Thank you for having me.
23:15
To have you on again because even that last part about like balancing motherhood and wife and we could have a whole another conversation about that. So we'll have to ohh yeah.
23:25
So thank you so much to everyone who joined us today. We'd love to continue the conversation, so please click the show notes and let's keep the conversation going. Thank you all so much and have a great day.
23:36
