The Estherpreneur

Have you ever felt like life is demanding more than you have to give—but quitting isn’t an option?

You’re grinding, striving, and giving it your all—but no matter how hard you try, you still feel stuck, drained, and far from where you thought you’d be. Deep down, you wonder: Is rest even possible when so much depends on me?

In this soul-stirring episode of Estherpreneur, I’m pulling back the curtain on a truth God revealed that changed everything: Rest isn’t quitting—it’s trusting God while moving forward. Learn how to surrender without losing momentum, follow divine instructions, and break free from the hustle that’s been silently draining your strength.

Tired of doing it all alone? Join my Business Unlimited Program, where faith-driven business like you learn to scale their businesses with clarity, confidence, and God’s pace of grace. Visit FavorandWealth.com/BusinessUnlimited to get started.

What is The Estherpreneur?

The Estherpreneur is a weekly chat about doing business and life God’s way. Join your host, Edna Harding as she offers biblical strategies and practical applications to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as she talks with guests on how to thrive in all areas of life. Edna is a Wife, Mother, Growth Strategist, Author, Minister, Certified Maxwell Business Consultant and Executive Coach, an accredited Master Mindset Coach, and Speaker whose message of hope, truth, and wisdom reaches people all around the world. FavorandWealth.com Estherpreneur.com

Edna Harding [00:00:03]:
Welcome to Estrepreneur, a podcast for entrepreneurs and leaders doing business and life God's way. Each week, we discuss biblical and to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as I speak with special guests on how to thrive in all aspects of life. Hi, I'm Edna. Like many of you, I wear many hats. I'm a military wife, mother, author, certified John Maxwell business and executive coach, trainer, and founder of Favor and Wealth who we help the good guys win. So tune in as we bring on the light. Well, hello, everyone.

Edna Harding [00:00:47]:
Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the Estopreneur podcast, where we talk about all things business and life God's way. I'm super excited that you guys are tuning in. Welcome to all my new listeners, as well as my family who's been listening to me for quite some time from all over the world. I am so excited to see that the reach has expanded. And I know that if you're tuning in, this is not an accident. This is truly a divine thing. Because one thing that the Lord told me was that all I have to do is feed his sheep and he will bring the sheep to the field. And so if you guys are here, welcome my fellow brothers and sisters.

Edna Harding [00:01:34]:
I'm nothing but a messenger of life. Okay? I'm nothing special. All I know is that I've I seek the Lord with all of my heart, but every ounce of my being, he shows me secrets. And what I do is I share secrets are what I say secrets, keys from the Bible to help you prosper in business and in life, utilizing timeless wisdom and timely methods. My name is Edna. I'm your kingdom minded or kingdom driven business coach and strategist. And today we're going to dive into something real and raw, and it's the topic I that the Lord would put on my spirit is about rest for the weary entrepreneur, how to surrender without quitting. Oh, come on.

Edna Harding [00:02:20]:
Am I speaking to anybody right now? Right? How to surrender without quitting. Now if you've been running on empty lately, feeling like quitting is the only way out, this is your breakthrough moment. By the end of this episode, you won't feel better. You'll actually know exactly what to do to reclaim your strength, reset your focus, and activate God's power in your business. You see, I'm not one of these things. I you know, something that I say in my trainings or in my coaching is like, I don't want you to feel good. I actually want you to be good. And so I'm not here to motivate you.

Edna Harding [00:03:00]:
I'm here to speak truth and love and hopefully set you free my friend. And so let's go ahead and get started. You know, I want you, you know, funny thing is the the hardest thing for people to do is face reality, right? To really be authentic and be honest with themselves. So I'm gonna ask you this question. Okay. And I want you to be honest with yourself. How often have you said, if I don't do it, it won't get done. Or how often have you said, I can't afford to rest right now.

Edna Harding [00:03:34]:
Or how about the saying, I'll slow down when I hit my goals? This is something that I struggle with and a lot of people struggle with. You know, I've gone so let me just share a quick story. I've had seasons of rest and seasons of building. You know, there's scripture that says there's a time to build. There's a time to battle. I don't know if that's a scripture, but I remember that was one of the key nuggets revelation that I got. And some of you guys might be in a battle zone right now, and some of you guys might be building right now. And some of you guys might be resting.

Edna Harding [00:04:11]:
Right? So building, battling, resting. Okay? Those 3 seasons. So one thing I can say is whether you're building or you're battling, you still need to rest. Okay. So so let me say this one more time. I don't think I said it right correctly. So maybe I'm sorry. I'm just getting too excited about this because I know that this is going to really change your mindset and really set you free.

Edna Harding [00:04:36]:
Because it set me free regardless. Thank you, holy spirit, regardless if you are building or battling, there is a rest that comes with it, Right? So for me, in this particular season I'm building right now, the battles have subsided and I'm building something that God thank you, holy spirit. The battles will always be there. Okay. You know what? Thank you, Holy Spirit. He just corrected me. So I'm gonna go ahead and correct myself. Okay.

Edna Harding [00:05:07]:
In life, you as you build, you will battle. Okay? And as you do those, the two things, which whether if you're building or you're battling, you need to have rest within it both, both seasons. Okay. I mean, sorry, both. How would you even explain it, Lord? Sorry, guys. I'm having a conversation with the Holy Spirit. Thank you. It's like a dual role.

Edna Harding [00:05:33]:
Right? So thank you, Holy Spirit. I like that. Okay. Sorry, guys. Okay. So it's kinda like, you know, being a mom. Right? I'm a mom, but I'm also a business owner. So while I'm nurturing my kids, I'm also building my business.

Edna Harding [00:05:49]:
Right? Or while I am, you know, fighting the demons, you know, in my prayer walk, I am still being a wife to my husband. So you don't pick or choose. It's like, you could do all things. You can do all things through Christ to give you strength. So my point is while you're building and while you're battling, you could still be resting. Okay. So I want to go back to those original statements that we just mentioned earlier, and I'm sorry, I got, you know, got sidetracked, but I wanted to share this with you. Those beliefs that you just, that I just mentioned are slowly draining your spiritual it's draining your emotional and your physical bank account.

Edna Harding [00:06:29]:
Oh, let me say that again. For those who can't hear me, those things are, are draining your spiritual, your emotional and physical bank account because the hustle culture says push harder, but God's word says it is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat for God gives rest to his loved ones. So I want you to ask this question first is, are you operating from faith or fear of falling behind? Are you relying on God's strength or your own hustle? Okay. So right now, what I want you to do is pause this podcast if you can. And I want you to audit your load. I want you to write down everything on your plate right now, whether it's personal business, spiritual, relational, whatever it is. What are you carrying alone that God never asked you to? Oh, come on. What are you carrying alone? Because God never asked you to carry that.

Edna Harding [00:07:31]:
Okay? Alright. Let's move on. So we've twisted the meaning of surrender. Right? Surrender isn't quitting. It's a power move. K? Surrender isn't quitting. It's a power move. Let me explain.

Edna Harding [00:07:47]:
Surrender doesn't mean giving up. It actually means giving over what was never yours to carry. K? It's letting go of that illusion of control and trusting God's power and practical action driven ways. Okay? Let me say that again. It's letting go of the illusion of control and trusting God's power and practical action driven ways. So here's his truth. The Lord will fight for you. You will only need to be still right.

Edna Harding [00:08:19]:
Exodus 14/14. Let me tell you guys something. And I hope you hear me by way of the spirit. God didn't tell Moses to quit when faced with the red sea. He told him to be still not passive, but ready for God's power to activate. Okay. Let me say this one more time, because I believe that you're not hearing me. Surrender doesn't mean giving up.

Edna Harding [00:08:45]:
It means giving over what was never yours to carry. K? Let go of control. Bottom line, let go of control. K? Let go of control. How do you surrender? Right? How do you how do you do this? Okay. So you shift from being an owner to a steward. K? You don't own your business. You manage it on God's behalf.

Edna Harding [00:09:14]:
K? Again, you don't own your business. You manage it on God's behalf, which is why I take my job seriously because this is not my business. This is God's business. I'm just the face of it. Right? So I want you to pray this in your own words. God, this business belongs to you. Lead me. I will follow again.

Edna Harding [00:09:37]:
You're not trying to figure things out. God already figured it out. You're listening for his instructions to teach to tell you where to go and you just follow it. K? Number 2, stop forcing outcomes. Be diligent, not desperate because obedience over outcomes. Oh, sorry. Obedience. Obedience over outcomes.

Edna Harding [00:10:01]:
Hear me when I am safe. Who cares about the outcomes? God doesn't care about the outcomes because he's already taken care of the outcomes. K? He already knows that victory is yours. At the end, what he cares about is obedience. Did you obey? Was your heart posture right when God told you to do it? Did you do it with joy or did you do it while grumbling? Did you do it with peace or did you do it while you were freaking out? Were you were afraid? Right? You know, God you know, and the the thing that I have to say is I can't tell you how many times God told me to do something. And I don't even know if I missed it or not. I just did it. And I could be completely wrong.

Edna Harding [00:10:46]:
It could have been in my flesh or it could have been the devil even. But in my mind or my heart of hearts, I thought I was doing the right thing. But I believe God honors that because he sees your heart. Maybe you got deceived. They'll could take your holy spirit. There's a difference between deception and rebellion. Okay. Deception is you do something because you think it's the right thing to do, but it wasn't the right thing to do.

Edna Harding [00:11:08]:
And then rebellion is you do things that, you know, God told you not to do, but you still do it, did it. Okay. Which God speaks to me now. I just did that today. Oh my gosh. I'm sorry, Lord. You guys are literally hearing me having these conversations with God while on the podcast. I hope this is encouraging you that you truly can hear his voice.

Edna Harding [00:11:29]:
Okay. And a lot of times, thank you, Holy Spirit. And a lot of times it won't even come the way you think. A lot of times he speaks to you through like thoughts, like subconscious, like it's not like a love voice, Edna. No, none of that. It's actual like little, like, like, thoughts, like, random thoughts that come into your spirit or in your mind. And you're like, woah, that came out of nowhere. I wasn't even thinking about that.

Edna Harding [00:11:53]:
A lot of times that is the holy spirit speaking to you. Okay? So I have to go because I literally have meetings I have to go to. So I'm gonna make this as quickly as possible. So what do you need to do? Number 1, every decision should come through prayer, peace, and patience. The 3 p's. Let's say it again. Prayer, peace, patience. Did you pray about it? Do you have peace about it? And are you patient? Oh, Lord.

Edna Harding [00:12:17]:
Help us all. So here's what I want you guys to do. When faced with a big decision, I want you to pause. Pause. Stop. Pause. Pause. Pray.

Edna Harding [00:12:28]:
And proceed only with clarity, not panic. Oh, come on, Lord. You're preaching to me now, God. Are you panicking? Or do you have peace? Pause, pray, proceed only with clarity, not panic. Let's move on, my friends. Let's get practical and tactical because that's my goal. Right? I'm all about practical and tactical. Okay.

Edna Harding [00:12:52]:
God. Sorry, guys. I had too much mushroom coffee again. I really gotta stop doing this before my podcast. Alright. I just love mushroom coffee. Alright. And, no, I am not a brand ambassador for mushroom coffee.

Edna Harding [00:13:05]:
Okay? I literally do enjoy the taste of mushroom coffee. Okay. So holy spirit's like focus. Focus. Yes, Lord. So sorry. Okay. God calls us to work from rest, not for rest, but work from rest.

Edna Harding [00:13:23]:
Rest isn't just a nice idea. Oh, come on my friends. It's a spiritual weapon that renews your mind, body, and business strategy. So how do you create room for rest without losing momentum? Let me tell you what you need to do. Rest daily, block 1 hour daily for rest and reset. That's quiet time prayer within the word. I do that typically early in the mornings because no one's bothering me during that time. Okay.

Edna Harding [00:13:49]:
You want to schedule it as an, what I call an unbreakable appointment. Like no matter what's going on, whether if you're on vacation, whether if someone's sick, whether you got only 3 hours of sleep, you do it. That's what I do with God. That's my power hour. That's where I get energized by the Holy spirit himself. Okay. Is those early mornings between usually between the hours of 3. Sorry.

Edna Harding [00:14:12]:
I think holy spirit, 2:30 to 4 AM. I know I've had those 2:30 main mornings and that's challenging, but my body's kind of used to it already. But those are the hours that I literally take the time to spend time with God. And I usually end about 4:45 am so I could go to the gym, right? Anyway, rest daily. And the second thing is rest weekly. You have to honor the Sabbath one day completely off, no emails, no work talk. God can do more in 6 days than you can do in 7. And that's something that I I'm not going to lie.

Edna Harding [00:14:45]:
I struggle with that. Sometimes I do that. Sometimes I don't. So I just need to be consistent. That's an area that I'm working on in 2025. Only, and it's not even about, it's not even like long emails. It's like, I'll send an E I'll see an email or a message from my client, even though it's like, if it's a quick, it's not like I'm spending hours on it, but the fact that matter is I need to completely shut off from business and I need to work on that better. So here's some challenge sheet.

Edna Harding [00:15:10]:
I want you to commit to 1 Sabbath day for the next 4 weeks. Watch how God multiplies your time. Oh, come on. That's a challenge for me. Commit to 1 Sabbath day for the next 4 weeks. All right. Last thing I want you guys to do is rest strategically. So in your work calendar, I want you to build margin.

Edna Harding [00:15:32]:
Okay. And how do you do that every month? Take 1 to 2 days away from the business for spiritual and business realignment. I used to do this actually on a quarterly basis, which is what I would, I, when I was single, I would rent a hotel, spend the whole weekend there, no phones. I literally, we'd do, I won't even leave the hotel room and I will get everything that you guys are seeing. Okay. Sorry. You guys are my podcast people, but those who are my clients who scenes all these strategies and these programs that I've implemented, those all came from those times with the Lord, what I call my quarterly business review with the Holy Spirit. Right.

Edna Harding [00:16:09]:
So I would take a weekend nowadays. I have to do it on daily basis or as much as I can, because I'm a mom and have 2 kids and I'm a wife, but I really miss those days. And I know at some point I can do that again when the kids are not so young, but right now I'll do what I can. Right? So bottom line is you want to have strategic breaks. You want to have weekly breaks and you also wanna have daily breaks. Okay. Okay. So let me, share a quick story.

Edna Harding [00:16:38]:
There was a time when I was pushing nonstop for business growth. I mean, nothing moved despite my relentless work. Okay. So I want you to hear me nothing moved despite my relentless work, no matter what I did, my business wasn't growing. So one day during prayer, I felt the holy spirit say, your work has become your idol. Oh, come on. I know. Drop mic mic drop.

Edna Harding [00:17:05]:
Your work has become your idol. And that was hard. That was extremely hard for me. So what I did, I surrendered, not by quitting, but by shifting my approach. So instead, I started working from a place of peace and that's easier said than done. Okay? Especially you, you, you people who are in these crises moments in business work from a place of peace, listen to God's direction instead of chasing every opportunity. Listen to his direction. I remember one time he said, just do one thing, you will prosper.

Edna Harding [00:17:46]:
Don't do everything do one thing. And I believe that that's the reason why a lot of entrepreneurs are struggling is because they're doing a lot of things, not the one thing that God told him to work on. And actually some, some people in the world had created a book out of it. I think it's called one thing, but it's truly comes from the Bible. Right? He says I was meditating on, I don't have my Bible in front of me, but I was meditating on it this morning about, in Deuteronomy chapter 28 about the blessings. And one thing that really stood out when I was reading it was it was talking about how something about following instructions daily. So I look at it this way. God will give you instructions for the day.

Edna Harding [00:18:33]:
It's not just following instructions as a whole, but each day he has an assignment for you to complete. And it's our responsibility to obey whatever instruction that looks. Right? So for me, for example, my instruction was to upload all my content in my program, finished that, send my proposal to Steve, work on my podcast episode, which I'm doing, and also, purchase a domain name. And then the other thing he told me to do what was that other one, Holy Spirit? It's get organized. I need to organize some more of my stuff, but and prepare for my meeting tomorrow. There's a lot of things. Okay? But I feel like, you know, thank you, Holy Spirit. When I first started my walk with the Lord, he would only give me one thing.

Edna Harding [00:19:17]:
And now he gives me like 10 things to do, but I get it done. Why? Because I've learned to what work on his business at the pace of grace at the pace of peace at the pace of joy being excited because I know that he'll give me the energy to fulfill everything he told me to get done that day. And you know what, guys, I've got I did. So for example, let me give you a prime example. So I created one time he told me create a LinkedIn, project, plan, which is basically a ta an action task list. It's an action items for LinkedIn. And I I created this, gosh, what, 6 months ago. And so I had a client meeting this morning, a strategy session, and he couldn't do his assignments.

Edna Harding [00:20:04]:
And so I was like, okay. Well, we'll just work on your LinkedIn strategy. And I was, like, preparing for it last night. And anyways, bottom line, things were a bit challenging last night because we went to dinner with our pastor and his wife and the family. And by the time we got home, I was exhausted because I was up early because my youngest daughter went to our bed and, you know, unfortunately she wanted to sleep in our bedroom. And so we did not, unfortunately, but that's what happened. And so I didn't get enough rest as I was a bit tired. I'm like, okay, God.

Edna Harding [00:20:35]:
And then as I was walking down the stairs literally this morning, as I was like, okay, I really need to, I mean, I I know how to use LinkedIn from the back of my head, but I wanted some sort of guideline. He was like, remember that LinkedIn, action plan that I told you to create many months ago. I was like, yes, use that. I was like, oh my gosh, genius. That's what I'm talking about. Right? He'll give you instructions for the day. And a lot of times you don't even make sense of it. Like, why am I doing this? What is this for? But I just do it anyway.

Edna Harding [00:21:05]:
And I forget about it. Right? I obey, forget about it and then move on. And then he'll bring into memory the things that I've done in the past. And what he does is he allows me to go ahead and, remember those things at the time it's needed. Right? Okay. So let's go to activation. Okay. So I want to say, I wanna activate you by the way of this spirit.

Edna Harding [00:21:29]:
This is a time to reset and release. And I know my friends is the 9th or sorry. But time you guys listen to this will be the 20th. I'm recording this on 19th, but you have 10 days left or 11 days left before the end of the school year of school year. Sorry. The end of the year. I'm telling you God can do more these last 11 days than you think possible. Okay? Oh my gosh.

Edna Harding [00:21:53]:
Holy Spirit, I hear you, Lord. He could do more these last 12 days than in the past year. But you need to listen to his instructions. I'm okay. Holy Spirit, help me. Help me, God. I feel this and I sense this by the way of the spirit of God. Okay? And I'm not trying to hype you up, but I'm serious.

Edna Harding [00:22:14]:
This is oh my goodness. The atmosphere has shifted, my friends. I feel it by way of the spirit. Whoever wherever you're listening the atmosphere is that it's like, what I'm seeing. It's like a open heaven. Thank you, Holy Spirit. That's what it is. It's an open heaven.

Edna Harding [00:22:29]:
Okay? You're listening to this. You made it this far to this episode. I want you to hear me over the next 11 days. The holy spirit, if you take the time, if you apply what I am teaching you right now at this very moment, God is going to move for you in ways that you will know that the God who created the universe, the God who created man, the God who created everything inside of you has visited you. Jesus. Hallelujah. Okay. So listen to me.

Edna Harding [00:23:01]:
Over these next 11 days, every morning, I challenge you. Write in a journal. Ask God for one instruction. Ask him, what do you want me to do today? What do you want me to do today? The moment he tells you to do, obey. Immediately, obey everything he says. I don't care what it is. Obey. Just do it.

Edna Harding [00:23:18]:
Stop making excuses. Just get it done. And I believe before the end of this year, you will see a miracle. A let's say miracle. My tongue, a miracle. You're gonna see something huge, something God, something amazing, something mighty that you wouldn't even believe if I told you what it was. Come on, Lord. Come on.

Edna Harding [00:23:44]:
Alright. Thank you, Jesus. Okay. I want you guys to declare this right now. Follow after me. I am not alone in this journey. I surrender control of my business to God. I will rest in his promises, trust in his provision, and move forward in his power.

Edna Harding [00:24:16]:
The weight I've been carrying is not mine to bear. I give it back to God. Amen. Alright. So let's go ahead and pray. You could say this prayer if you want, or I'll pray for I thank you, holy spirit. Say this prayer. Oh, I love it.

Edna Harding [00:24:40]:
Thank you, Lord. Alright. So pray this guys. Heavenly Father, I surrender my business, my dreams, and my burdens to you. Teach me to rest, renew my strength, and realign my heart with Your will. Lead me into divine opportunities and strategies that only you can provide in Jesus mighty name. Amen. Well, friends, I just want to end with this.

Edna Harding [00:25:21]:
You guys, you, all of us, we were never meant to carry it all. Surrender isn't quitting. It's activating God's power in your business. Now I wanna say if today's message spoke to you, I want you to share this episode with someone who needs rest, who needs renewal, who needs restoration, share it with them, share it with them, guys. And I just wanna say, like, I, you know, the the year is ending. I before the year ends, I do want to say that it doesn't mean you have to thank you, Holy Spirit. You still have time to finish whatever it is God told you to do before the end of this year. And I truly believe that if your heart is right, and that you ask God for help and you follow his instructions, you can complete that assignment that God told you to finish, even though there's only 11 days left.

Edna Harding [00:26:20]:
And even though majority of the people and majority of things are going to be shut down, you don't have to be shut down. God can still, again, give you rest in the midst of building. And even if you're battling right now, okay. Now, if you guys are interested in speaking with me or connecting with me, you could follow it, find me or follow me on LinkedIn. That is my most active social media. And then also you could sign up for a newsletter on my website, fabrinwall.com. You could reach out to me. I also have a group coaching program, a group mentoring program that I have that it's active right now, even through the holidays.

Edna Harding [00:27:00]:
So if this is something that you're interested in, go to business sorry. Go to favor, what was it? Okay. Sorry. Favorandwealth.com. Sorry. I have so many websites in my head. Favorandwealth.com. Look for the tab that says growth, mentoring, and coaching, and click on that, and you could apply there.

Edna Harding [00:27:21]:
I have different packages. I have the group coaching and also have a self paced one, which is a lot more, affordable, budget friendly. Well, both of them are budget friendly. Okay. But feel free to sign up for that. Okay? Alright, guys. Remember, rest is your reset. Stay blessed.

Edna Harding [00:27:38]:
And until next time, keep shining. Thanks for joining us this week on Estrepreneur. Make sure to visit our website, favorandwealth.com, for more information on our services. While you're at it, if you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes. Or if you simply tell a friend about the show, that would help me out too. Also, check out my book, The Old New Side of Sales, available on Amazon, where I share 7 of my secrets on how to win and grow business the right way. Until next time, keep shining.