Speaker 5: Welcome everyone to Faith and Purpose podcast.
Each episode of this podcast contains the personal testimony of an ordinary person
transformed by an extraordinary God.
My name is Kaylin and I'm here to introduce this podcast
for my friend Jesse Duke.
Jesse is a husband, father, author, life recovery guide, lay counselor,
and small group leader, but his most important role is disciple.
As a disciple of Jesus.
Jesse created this podcast to help other believers tell their faith stories.
We'll be hearing the personal testimonies of all sorts of people
who have one thing in common, Jesus has transformed their lives.
Jesus used parables because he created us to learn best through story.
And as we listen to how God has worked in others lives, we find encouragement
and inspiration for our own faith walk.
Whether you are already a believer or just a curious seeker, we believe that
as you listen to these stories, you will be encouraged on your own faith journey.
We are sure that God can speak to you through one of these episodes and that you
will see that our Heavenly Father truly works all things together for our good.
When we simply love and trust him.
If you are currently going through a trial, we believe that you will come
to see that your troubles, heartbreaks, and failures are not gravestones, but
stepping stones into new life in Christ.
Here's Jesse with today's guest.
MacBook Air Microphone-1: Welcome everyone to faith and purpose podcast.
I'm Jesse Duke.
And today I'm very excited to have my friend Gigi Butler here to tell her story.
How are you doing today?
GG.
Speaker 2: Doing really good.
Thanks for having me.
MacBook Air Microphone-2: Well, I've been waiting for this day for a long
time, and we're finally getting together.
And I know you have a lot to share.
So just start at the beginning.
Tell us your story.
Speaker 2: well, I was born in Oklahoma and I was born in a blizzard, which
kind of makes sense for my age.
Tire life going forward.
And then we were, I was raised in California in a little desert town.
Cause my dad got a job as a LA County fireman.
And so we were raised in the high desert on a farm and my dad was a fireman, but
he was also an amazing entrepreneur.
he had the gift of faith.
And so he was always trying different businesses and different jobs.
and he failed at lots of them.
But What it taught me at a very early age is that it was okay to fail.
And even if you failed, you got your butt kicked.
God was always with you.
He always had your back and your family was there to pick you up.
So growing up, I saw this.
I never knew that people would be afraid to do something because I just did it.
I was also gifted.
I believe that God gives us certain gifts when we're born.
And, he gave me the gift of faith and tenacity, the gift of mercy and patience.
I'm still waiting on, but we can't have it all.
so, Faith and tenacity is just definitely ingrained in my whole system.
And that's how I've survived and thrived.
so when I, at seven, I decided I wanted to be a country music singer, songwriter and
moved to Nashville and sitting at dinner, I announced Hey, I just heard that latest
Dolly Parton song, and that's amazing.
And I'm moving to Nashville.
And they were like, Okay, we're who, you know, because no one really in the family
other than my grandpa played guitar.
So we weren't raised musical.
but being the type of people that they are with trying things and not being
afraid, they were just like, okay.
Wait a
Speaker: minute, you said you were seven years old?
Seven.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Yeah, seven.
Seven, I knew what I wanted and that That was my identity and we'll get to,
having your identity not in something and in someone, which is God, which
that I always had God, but that didn't come into play until recently.
So I, at seven, said, okay, that's what I'm going to do.
So at seven, I started singing professionally, taking lessons and
really working towards that goal.
And then at 15, I decided to start a cleaning business,
Gigi's Cleaning Company.
And so that was just going to be my job that gave me freedom.
And then age 15, I also started a band.
And then at age 17, I started traveling, across different parts of California
and singing and, still going to school, but school was never my thing.
I had way too much energy and.
I never fit in the school box.
And I think a lot of entrepreneurs don't fit in the school box of how
school is taught us to sit there, be still, think inside a box.
And my mind has always been outside of box.
So I've never, I felt school to me personally was torture.
I hated it because I couldn't learn the way that they taught me.
wanted to teach me.
Speaker 4: And
Speaker 2: I never, I was a total rebel on that.
So I always had the plan of, I hate school.
I'm leaving.
I'm going to Nashville.
So as soon as I graduated, I thank God I graduated high school.
I went to college and it was like, this is not for me.
So I moved to Canada and I traveled all across Canada and
I sang in a band in Canada.
And then I came back home and.
Six months later, I moved to Nashville and I had 500 to my name.
here comes the gift of faith, 500 to my name, knew no one, didn't have
a place to live, didn't have a job, but I knew that God would provide.
And my theory is, if he could provide for the unbelieving Israelites or the
doubters, the Israelites and move those millions of people and cross that red sea,
What could he do for me, just going to a different state, and trying something?
So, that's where the gift of faith came, and it was shown
the first time in my walk.
And it's shown many other times, other than after that.
So I got to Nashville, and worked at Red Lobster.
For a little bit and then met lots of stars there.
I met, Wynonna Judd, Naomi Judd, Tanya Tucker, Joe Diffie, George Jones.
I waited on him.
Uh, Steven Curtis Chapman, Brooks and Dunn.
I mean, name it.
They all went to red lobster, which go figure.
But 20 something years ago down in Franklin, there was
not a lot of places to eat.
And so they would all come, come there and.
So I learned a lot about, how the music went and I formed a
band there and started singing at writer's nights and meeting people.
And I started Gigi's Cleaning Company again during the day.
And so that kind of kept me going and I just worked very hard at singing and
I went to Vanderbilt and studied voice.
And I just really.
focused on my vocal ability and I sacrificed.
Everything, including parts of my soul for the music industry and in the grace of God
and knowing what I know now and how good God is, I think that he knew that I wasn't
going to be able to become the person I needed to be if I was going to be famous.
So he didn't let me and I'm glad, but at that point I wasn't glad.
And it took me a long time.
I I think the epiphany I had was I was singing down at Tootsie's and I'd
sang parts of the world and written songs and whenever did backup vocals,
did everything, but never fully.
Made it, you know, or really got that record deal like a Shania
Twain or, you know, all the people in those time, Wynonna Judds.
And so it came to the point to where there was a new era
coming in to the music industry.
I was nearing 30.
I was almost 30.
I think I was 28, almost 29 at the time.
I had just sang at Tootsie's, the famous bar, downtown Nashville, and
got my butt pinched that night and was.
sexually harassed once again, and, you know, propping up all my
stoned or drunk dudes on the stage along with all the other people
in the crowd and made 30 bucks.
After I paid everyone and I had an opportunity to get a music
deal with the people that owned them, Tootsies at the time.
And I turned them down for reasons that probably not this
podcast, but it's in my book.
And.
So the next day my brother had said, you really need to think
about maybe doing something else.
And I'm like, this is my life.
I don't have anything else.
all I do is clean toilets and then I'm going to be a singer.
I've got the talent.
I've got the passion.
It's all I ever wanted since I was 16.
What am I going to do?
And so that was processing.
And then I started cleaning for a new family that just came into town.
And they had a daughter.
She was 15 years old and full of musical talent.
And her, they had 2 million to push her dream.
And came into town and literally said, make my daughter a star.
Because she had the talent, no doubt.
And one day I was cleaning her house, her parents house.
And I was cleaning her toilet.
And this was just a few days after I'd done it.
Talk to my brother and I was mulling over, what I do with my life.
I'm a loser.
If I quit, that's my whole identity.
And, I was cleaning a toilet, her toilet, little kid, 15 year old.
And she came in her bedroom and she started playing.
practicing guitar and singing on her bed.
And I was cleaning her toilet and I looked over at her and I
said, did you write that song?
And she's yeah, it's going to be on my first album.
And during the six months that I'd been cleaning for them, I had seen
these famous songwriters coming in, The ones that I could have never even
imagined meeting, let alone they're coming in a house that I'm cleaning the
house, but they're still writing with this kid and I'm like, what the heck?
And the song she wrote that day was teardrops on my guitar.
And that was Taylor Swift.
And so I'm thinking myself, she's like, yeah, it's going to be my first album.
And I packed my cleaning supplies in my truck that night and I drove home
and I was like, If this kid who's 15, I'm, she's half my age almost, and she
has millions to support, she is writing with these big, I'm cleaning her toilet.
That was my epiphany that day.
And that's when I knew I had to find a new dream.
And it wasn't like, Oh, a celebration.
I'm finding a new dream.
It was a death because I had had my entire life.
wrapped up in this is what I was going to do.
Here comes the tenacious part, right?
I'm never giving up, never give up, never give up.
But sometimes God has something different for you.
And I'm so like my way tenacious, you know, blinders on that.
He was going to use all of that, that the stage presence and the,
all of that tenacity and all of that creativity, but he was just
going to do it in a different way.
I had no idea what that was going to be.
So I took a few years to really heal about being, what am I going to do?
I'm a loser.
I've spent my whole life.
I'm just going to clean toilets really.
And two, my attitude changing.
And I got into a lot of, listening to tapes and reading books on how to better
myself and how to, you know, listening to Joyce Meyer and people like that, and.
Slowly, but surely my attitude of why me turned into well, why not me
if I'm just going to be a cleaner?
Okay, God, I feel like there's something else for my life.
But if this is all you want for me Okay, and I finally got to a part
where I was okay With just all right.
God, I had sacrificed some things.
I'd done made some decisions.
I shouldn't have I didn't walk your path Okay, what do you have for me?
I'm open.
And that's when normally when you're open to God's leading and
you let him be the mold while you're the clay, he's manhandling
you and throwing you in the fire.
It's not comfortable.
But then you're like, okay, I give God, you know, uncle.
That's when it usually God is ready to, thrust you into something
Speaker 3: new.
Speaker 2: And thrusting into something new, you have to also be open to that.
Speaker: It sounds like You went through like a grieving process.
I did.
you saw your dream had died and you went through mourning and I can imagine
this whole process that you finally got to the point where you completely
surrendered whatever he wanted.
Yeah.
I
Speaker 2: went through a definite identity crisis.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: who am I?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
What
Speaker 2: am I?
What am I?
And at that point, still, I wasn't fully grounded in the Lord, right?
because I think that takes a, I think that takes a whole
lifetime to really learn that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But God being as faithful as he is, he chases after us and he pursues us.
And then he smacks us and puts us on a different path
Speaker 4: and says, you
Speaker 2: know, this is, I don't really want you over here.
You better move it over here.
Speaker: Now, I'm going to show my ignorance, and everybody out there
might laugh at me, but did you say that 15 year old was Taylor Swift?
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker 2: It was Taylor Swift.
Speaker: Correct.
Because I don't know.
You don't know who Taylor Swift is?
I know who she is.
Oh.
I've heard her name, but I've never listened to
her
music, and I don't live in that world, so
Speaker 2: I think you're okay to not live in that world.
That's a whole other story.
but she has become, you know, the world's most famous music star on the planet,
and she has sacrificed lots to get there.
So I think everyone in the world knows who Taylor Swift is.
I knew her at 15 and then, consequently when I got in the cupcake business,
she bought thousands of cupcakes from me, which is hilarious.
And she doesn't even know it was me.
so yes, it was Taylor Swift.
Speaker: Okay, well I thought I caught that and I was trying to make sure.
so after God changed your course, Right.
Where did it take you next?
Speaker 2: Well, I expanded my cleaning business and I got to the
point where I really, you know, I had girls that were working for me
and I really, Was enjoying my life.
I was dating.
I was trying to figure out, you know, I was now almost 30 and then
one day I was cleaning September was Labor Day, September, 2007.
I was cleaning a client's bathroom.
Go figure.
All my epiphanies happened near a toilet.
And, my brother called me, my other brother called me, and he was in New
York City, and he had stood in line at a cupcake shop for two hours.
And he's like, you should open a cupcake shop in Nashville.
And I was like, what?
He's like, your cupcakes are better than theirs.
And he was in Central Park eating a red velvet cupcake at the time.
And I was like, what?
What?
I gotta go.
Like, okay.
He's like, No, think about it.
you're a better baker than these people.
You could do this.
And I got off the phone with him and I looked in the mirror and
I had my pink O Cedar gloves on.
And I'm like, Why not?
Why not me?
And so I was like, I could do that.
I've already failed miserably at the thing I thought was, that was it.
So, why not?
Why not a new dream?
And so I went to four banks and they all laughed in my face.
They're like cupcakes because at that point cupcakes wasn't a big deal.
No one had a standalone cupcake shop
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: And so I'm like, yeah, this is gonna work and I you know,
I've been in business since I was 15 So like 17 years at that time
and I was like, this is gonna work.
this is it I have this feeling and they're like no and I said, but
I have a little bit of savings.
I have great credit I've been in business, but none of them would give
me any And I went home that night and I'm like, God, if you really
want me to do this, What do I do?
What, how do I do this?
And I just thought, you know what?
I'm going to take out money in my credit cards.
So I took out a hundred thousand dollars credit card debt, and I called my
credit cards like American Express and Discover and Bank of America credit card.
And I said, Hey, instead of 22%, would you, if I took out 50, 000 or 35,
000, would you get it down to 11%?
And they're like, yeah, we'll do that.
So I negotiated with the credit card companies.
So it wasn't as high as a 22%, but I, it was still a huge risk.
So I took a hundred thousand dollars.
So there is once again, that gift of faith, right.
And stepping out.
And I thought, well, if I'm going to fail and I'm going to be in debt
for a hundred thousand dollars, All clean for the rest of my life.
I'm still going to be cleaning anyway.
So what if, so I, at that point became the person that said, why not?
Not what if I don't want to live with the regret of what if I refuse.
So even if I get my butt kicked and I'm in debt and I'm
embarrassed and whatever it is.
I would rather be that than sit on my porch when I'm 90 and say,
what if I would have done it?
Why didn't I do it?
I was young then.
Why?
I'm never gonna be that person.
So hence, got my butt kicked, lost tons of money, gotten sued, blah blah
blah blah blah blah, but I can still say I'm still the why not person.
So that's, that will always be me.
I will be 90 and be the why not person.
Speaker: Wow.
not many people are like that.
And we all live
Speaker 2: our lives in quiet desperation.
Correct.
Very safe, very afraid.
And so there I was.
100, 000 in debt, still cleaning, working on my parents would help me
with the, help me grind the floor.
And I picked out the paint and I, worked on it.
And February 21st, 2000, I opened my doors.
I had 33 left to my name.
33 is a very interesting number for me, because I had made 33.
It was 33.
at Tootsies that night, right?
33 was what was in my bank account the day I opened my store, one
store, and crowds just came.
And I, it all of a sudden, this one store with walking on faith
and stepping out turned into 124 stores in 24 states in five years.
And in two years.
I was grossing 33 million,
Speaker: 33,
Speaker 2: go figure.
33, 33, 33.
So it has been a very wild ride and I made decisions while
building this huge snowball of a monster of bringing people on.
I shouldn't have brought on trusting people.
I shouldn't trusted.
not getting the right lawyers.
And then having a child, raising her all on my own while this was
happening, it has been a very wild ride.
And I decided to sell it in 2016.
And then Boom, I sold it, then lots of things has happened since 2016.
and then 2020 comes a long ride.
And I don't have a job.
I don't have an identity.
I don't, I mean, like, what am I going to do with myself?
It's just like, now what?
so that's where trying to put your identity into something that you
think is gonna make you great.
So I was a singer.
then I was nothing.
Then I was the cupcake queen that sold 150 million cupcakes
across the country, right?
On Undercover Boss, going around the world, signing cupcakes, signing books,
putting a book out, being on the Today Show, you know, all of this stuff, right?
So I'm this cupcake queen.
To then nothing, So then what are ya?
where's my identity again?
So then why you go?
When you have that huge high that you think, oh one day I think I'm in for
more, and then God gives you the more, and maybe you were ready at that time,
but then, It's now, not that again.
So, who the heck am I?
Speaker: well let me ask you a question.
I don't, I didn't ever live in cupcake world.
what was the name of your store?
Gigi's Cupcakes.
Now, is that the name of the store all over the country?
Yes.
Yeah.
It was
Speaker 2: franchised.
I did franchise.
I'm so sorry I
Speaker: missed out.
I was a low carb guy.
Speaker 2: You know what?
You get to enjoy some of my goodies now, you and Becky.
Speaker: I do.
I gave up low carb for cupcakes.
No, that's really awesome.
So yeah, I really like this theme of the identity, um,
because I can relate to that.
Right.
So, God was with you throughout all of this.
what was your spiritual life like during all this, during the cupcake boom?
Speaker 2: Well, I had to cling to him.
And my creativity shifted from when I was, would be writing songs to,
oh my gosh, I could write music.
this cupcake could have this on it and this and then i'll put this
color and i'll name it this and So my creativity has always been there.
It was singing and writing then it went to Designing cupcakes and designing
the stores and designing the colors and designing the boxes, which is a form
of creativity That god always wants us to continually recreate Because we are
supposed to create as humans keep creating keep creating never stand still You
Speaker: Always create.
That's the exciting part.
Right.
We feel close to the creator when we're creating.
Right.
I love
Speaker 2: that.
Yeah, we feel close to the creator because he's the ultimate creator.
Yeah.
Right.
So, my creativity just shifted and then when I sold the company and I started all
of the nightmare of that whole debacle, then I started writing the first book.
So then my creativity shifted again and I started writing.
Right.
And so then the first book came out and then COVID hit
and the whole world stopped.
Everything stopped.
And I decided, you know what I really always wanted to do was open a pie shop.
So I'd always wanted like to own a French farmhouse country pie shop that,
you know, that was always my dream.
I always, pies were really my signature thing even before I did the
cupcakes, which most people don't know.
So pies are my love language.
So I was like, you know what, I'm going to do this.
I've got a little bit of my savings left after the sale and
all that happened with that.
And so I started creating this pie shop.
Like what would I be calling it?
What do I do?
Here's the color where it's the theme.
And I put everything I had into this pie shop during 2020.
And then I was getting going.
I opened in October of 2020.
And that holiday went great.
And then remember Omnicron.
Biden scared the whole world to death with stinking Omicron.
So then people stopped coming in.
And then I'm like, I have a very expensive rent, which was 8, 700 a month, by
the way, that's a lot of pies to bake.
And the people where I was, they wouldn't let me have like a drive
thru or a, you know, pull up and take, you know, casseroles.
Cause I did shepherd's pie and chicken pot pies.
Casseroles and like a take and bake type of situation too.
And many pies, pie bars and big pies.
And then it became like, how am I going to pay my rent?
If everyone's scared to death to come in it was nightmare.
So that completely put me out of business and I lost everything.
And I had to close up my shop, sell my dream house.
that I had built, and I thought, who the heck am I?
I've lost everything.
Still fighting another lawsuit.
And I thought, who am I?
I've lost, now again, everything?
Which a lot of people were feeling that way.
If you were in small business in 2020,
Speaker 3: you
Speaker 2: felt the heat.
Only people that, made money out of that time was, if you're into pharmaceuticals,
but we won't get into that.
or big, big pharma.
so the small business really suffered.
So there I was sitting there going, wait a minute, my other dream didn't work out.
I just got my butt kicked.
I lost hundreds of thousands and thousands of dollars.
I have to now sell my home.
Where am I gonna, what the heck am I gonna do?
So, I sold my home and I said, if I'm going to sell my dream
home, I'm moving to the beach.
So, I found Fernadina.
I always thought I would move to Florida and, but I'd go down to the
panhandle and I was going to, you know, not be an old maid, be a mermaid haha.
I have a jeep and just when I retired and Kindle went to college,
you know, but it came about 10 years earlier than I thought.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I just took a huge step, knew no one here, didn't have
a job, Didn't have a place to live.
I was just going to come find a place and just venture out and
just journey to something else.
And everyone thought I was crazy.
You didn't know anyone you're crazy.
And even my daughter's father took me to court to try to sue me.
Did not leave the state.
That was the, another lawsuit.
And.
I was like, no, I'm led here.
And they're like, but you don't know anyone.
And I'm like, but that doesn't matter.
I didn't know anyone when I went to Nashville.
So I could, be a pilgrim again and just recreate myself.
So I came to Fernandina Without a job.
No one knew who I was here because I never had stores over here.
And no one had any expectations of who I should be here.
Right?
I just came here with my child, bought a little house, I was trying
to lay low and just recreated myself again and started writing.
I, two books, I'm almost finished with both of them.
Started podcasting again and I started, guess what I started doing?
Cleaning houses.
Cleaning
Speaker: houses.
Speaker 2: So who knows what you're going to do.
And I just started baking for a little coffee shop here on the island.
And I would come in and they'd say, Oh, Gigi's here.
And I was like, yeah, I am here.
And they didn't know who I was.
They just thought I was some grandma Gigi that baked these.
Why are your baked goods so magical?
Well, I had bakeries.
They don't know any of that, but it's okay.
Speaker 3: Yeah,
Speaker 2: because I have found out that my identity
doesn't come through what I do.
Speaker 3: My
Speaker 2: identity comes through who's I am.
And that's God's broken, bent, you know, I just am, I am not the perfect
person, but I know, and I've had a very broken, very, very hard road.
But God is so good and he's so faithful.
In our brokenness, he can make us beautiful.
Speaker: You know, most people, can't really be as bold as you are to just
go for your dreams over and over in the face of all these obstacles and,
and raising a child and a divorce and moving to a new place where
you don't have to know anybody.
that's very challenging, but
You seem to know your identity, your true identity, because that seems
to be what's getting you through.
Other people would just crumble because they don't have that.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, when I speak, you know, cause I did a lot of public speaking
across the country and most people ask me, they ask me, how do I fight the fear?
I'm so afraid.
I nine times out of 10, when I get a Q and a, they're like, how can you be bold?
How did you do it?
Why did you do it?
Why do you just change it up?
And I just, know that no matter what, and it hasn't been a golden ticket.
Yes, the cupcakes was very successful, but was it at the end when I lost everything
and I was the target for so many people to sue me, you know what I mean?
So was it a golden ticket or did I just get more beaten up, and
then losing everything and getting embarrassed with the whole pie
shop, but I can honestly say.
I'm never gonna have to worry about the what if with the pie shop.
I got my butt kicked.
I did it.
I don't want to do it again, but I don't have to lay in bed
at night and go, why didn't I?
Why wasn't I brave enough?
Most people, they are so afraid.
And I tell them, and I'm writing a The book about this is you have to
look at fear like an obstacle, like a rock that's standing in your way.
it's something that you either have to blow up, go
through, climb over, go around.
Or you're just stuck.
So it has, it's like a mountain.
Okay.
I got to climb this mountain of fear.
How am I going to tactically do it?
And another example that I use when I speak is, the Indiana Jones.
It's not the temple of Dune.
I think it's the, I can't remember, but he's going through this cavern
and he's in, you know, with this big, the ball chasing him, right?
That whole.
I think it's Temple of Doom.
I can't remember, but it's one of them.
And he comes to a drop off, and it's like he cannot see the drop off, but where he
needs to go, his cavern is over there, and he can see the hole where he needs to go.
Speaker 3: But
Speaker 2: there's a huge chasm between him and where he has to go.
But then he remembers, in his map of his riddles, You gotta take the first step.
You gotta step out.
And so he takes his big breath, and he goes, Oh God, I'm
gonna drive, die to my death.
But he steps out.
And when he steps out, then the path, there's one walking step.
Then he steps out again, and there's another step.
And then he steps and his path illuminates, but he had to first
step out for his path to become clear where he needs to be.
But most people can never step out of that cave to go to where
they need to go because they are too afraid to take the first step.
And people say, what if I'm wrong?
What if I, you know what?
You're going to know pretty quick when you're wrong, you're
going to get your butt kicked.
But what will you learn?
Did I lose everything?
Yeah, I did.
Did I get my butt kicked?
Did I get tortured?
did I get dragged through the mud?
Yes, I did.
But am I a better person because of it?
Yes, I am.
I am.
And you know what?
Had I never, I'd always wanted to be married.
I've always wanted to find the guy, the one, the love of my life.
And that's always been a goal of mine, but I've been so busy
building companies and having a child by myself and doing all that.
that I didn't have time to focus.
But when I left Nashville, I knew my soulmate was not in Nashville.
And I knew that if I made this big journey across the country,
that I would find the guy for me.
And I did.
And had I not got out of my comfort zone of Nashville and gone to a different place
to where there's a different, you know, just a completely different mindset here.
I would not have found The guy for me.
So if I lost everything materialistically, but fine and had a huge home,
but was lonely in that huge home because I didn't have my soulmate.
Speaker 3: I had
Speaker 2: Kendall, of course, she's my number one soulmate in the world.
But if I lost everything, but I gained so much more here, and maybe it's not money.
But it's just peace, it's knowing of self, it's creating again, and
it's finding the love of my life.
I would do it over.
And I'll keep creating.
And who knows what God has in store for me.
I don't know.
But God does.
Speaker: I think what we see sometimes from our human perspective, this
is my experience, what I see as complete failure, total failure,
that's the only word I can think of, is God's success because he's
got me right where he wants me.
Right.
Totally dependent on him.
Speaker 3: Correct.
Speaker: Emotionally.
Absolutely.
Physically, financially.
Relationally, everything.
In every way, total, rock bottom is where he wants us to be.
That's right.
And as we continue to succeed, I think, staying there and
staying humble is the trick.
You know, just as we go.
Go to the next thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
I think that you've hit what the secret of life is, but what most
people are too afraid to do is be completely reliant on the Lord,
Speaker 3: and
Speaker 2: we have to get at our lowest till we find Him.
Speaker 3: Really,
Speaker 2: most people really find Him.
Because if we're safe and we're, oh, we've got a nice house, we've got our, and we
don't Will we ever really, truly find Him
Speaker 3: where
Speaker 2: He really wants us?
And what he really wants is dependent on him.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Fully.
And every day I have to depend on him.
Because I'm more of a, I'm gonna do it, person.
Which are, you know, the best thing about us usually are our worst things.
Our best thing that we could ever be about us are usually our worst traits too.
Because in him.
That's our weakness too.
So we have to rely on him.
He gives us great traits, but he also, they could be damaging if we use them
the wrong way and we don't rely on him.
So in him, we're perfect.
Speaker: Yeah.
Well, I think God is, happy when we use those traits.
it's like the, talent, right?
So you had this tenacity, you had this faith, the gift tenacity.
You used it, and I think that pleases God, even though you
may have gone a little too far.
Speaker 2: Right.
Right.
I think it does please God.
I think he wants us to step out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 2: And use what he has given us.
Speaker: Yeah, that's beautiful.
Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, God is good.
Yeah.
Speaker: So Tell us about your book.
Speaker 2: So I'm almost finished.
I've got two more recipes.
I'm writing a book called Full Belly Open Heart.
Speaker 4: And
Speaker 2: it's a 31 day devotional with a recipe for it at the end
of the so we talk about Rocky Road Pie, let's just say for instance.
And I give them the recipe on how to make this amazing pie.
Rocky Road Pie, and then I talk about the rocky roads in life, and
then I pair it with biblical verses.
And so that's almost done, which I'm hoping to do as a more of a TV
show or a given 15 type of thing.
. So I'm trying to think about doing it electronic, you know, more of a digital.
Although it could be a hard copy.
And then I've also, I'm in the process of writing a book.
I'm blogging for a company in Nashville called the Heartland, heartlandjournal.
com.
So I do a weekly blog.
I blog every Monday and do a recipe for them, which I've loved.
And it's, Really been rewarding for me and I could give you the yeah, the
links and stuff for people to find me there, but I've I'm also writing a book
called This takes the cake and it's called it's about what to do when faith's
been shaken and cakes been taken Right.
So it's all about from 2012, how through everything, all of my cake has been,
taken and how God has been so faithful, even through all those shaking cake
taken times and what you can learn from losing everything, but also gaining.
so much more in the long run.
So it's called this takes the cake and then it has a cake recipe
at the end of every chapter.
Speaker: Oh, I love it.
That's gonna be so i'm
Speaker 2: excited.
Yeah, it's more of a it's a continuation from the first book the secret
ingredient success In business and life.
And that came out in 2019.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And then, the second book will be called This Takes the Cake.
Speaker: I want to put a link on to your blog.
Okay.
Website.
Your current book.
Okay.
We won't have one for the future.
Not
Speaker 2: yet.
Not yet.
But yes, I'll give you all of those links.
Okay.
Speaker: That's awesome.
That's exciting.
I really love the whole idea.
Speaker 2: Me too.
Speaker: Especially when you include cake.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah.
Well, it'll be an interesting, it'll be interesting.
People will be like, what happened?
And then what happened?
So it's been real hard to write because I have to go through the emotions
again, but it's almost finished.
I'm finishing the devotional one first and then blogging.
And then at the first of the year, I'm going to really finish the second one.
Speaker 3: So we'll
Speaker 2: see what happens.
I don't know if I'm going to self publish yet, or we've been talking
about maybe doing a movie about it.
Both books as a life story.
I'm not sure what God has for me, but I'm just open again and willing to just
let him take it where he wants it to go.
Speaker: That's awesome.
that's what I do.
Just trust the Lord.
That's right.
Step on out.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Step on out.
Speaker: And I love that, that image of the, the Raiders of the
Lost Ark where he has to step out.
The step is not there until he steps out.
Speaker 2: Right.
Step isn't there until he steps out, but he had to do it to get across.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker 2: Or else he's stuck.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And so that's what, I guess that's the best visual I could come
up with when, what I tell people, when people are asking me, why am I so stuck?
What do I do when I'm stuck?
Well, here's your visual.
Step out.
Step out of the boat.
Speaker: Yeah.
I had a poster many years ago that had it, it was a little kitty cat just
hanging on by his claws to a branch and it's like he's about ready to fall.
And there's a caption under it that said, faith isn't faith until
it's all you're hanging on to.
Speaker 2: That's right.
I like that.
Faith isn't faith until it's all you're hanging on to.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker: Well, it sounds like your whole life has been one adventure in faith and,
I hope that people who hear this are gonna pick up on that spirit of that, life is
too short to not to be timid and to not trust God and not go for your dreams.
Speaker 2: when he says he gave us a spirit of tenacity and
power, not a fear, he meant it.
But most people don't think he meant that when he said it.
No, I didn't give you a spirit of fear.
I gave you a spirit of tenacity and of power and of faith.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So if you don't use it, once again, like the gifts, right?
If you're too afraid to use the power that's invested in you, then shame on you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's just sitting there.
You're just stuck in a little trench.
Speaker: Well, we go back to the, uh.
The parable of the talents, you know, the guy, that buried the talent,
the Lord wasn't pleased with him.
Speaker 2: No, it wasn't pleased with him.
And I think I also, another visual is, I read this somewhere, a guy
died, went to heaven and he saw huge storehouses all in heaven.
And he's like, what are those for?
And one of the saints said, Oh, those are all the dreams for people
that never asked and never believed.
Speaker 3: They're
Speaker 2: just sitting here because God has them.
The storehouses are full.
He says that too.
Right.
And my storehouses are full.
You just have to exercise your faith and you have to believe it.
And they don't.
Yeah.
And I don't, I can't wrap my head around it.
Yeah.
Why don't you?
You're gonna die.
Just do it.
what are you waiting for?
Yeah.
And sometimes I'm afraid too.
I actually, I don't like change.
Isn't that funny?
You would think that, I, change scares me, but it also thrills me.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I get, I'm my best when I'm under pressure and Oh, I gotta do this.
So that's when I'm at my best.
Speaker: Yeah.
Yeah.
that's true.
Definitely your personality.
Definitely.
Speaker 2: Yes, it is.
Fortunately or unfortunately, yes, it is.
Speaker: Well, thank you so much for doing this.
I really know it's going to bless a lot of people out there.
Speaker 2: If they want to reach out to me, I'm on the
socials of official Gigi Butler.
GIGI Butler on all my socials or, my website is gigi butler.com or I am
blogging it on the heartland journal.com.
Speaker: Now, if they go to gigi butler.com, is there
a link to the Heartland?
Yes, there is.
Speaker 2: And then they can leave a message there or they
can, um, hit me up on my socials.
Instagram's more my thing.
I'm not much Facebook, but.
Instagram.
Speaker: If you want, I can put links on the, this podcast.
Perfect.
That'll be great.
All right.
Well, would you mind praying for the listeners?
Sure.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for having me today.
Dear Lord, thank you for today.
Thank you for the power that you give us, Lord.
Thank you for enabling us to use that power, Lord.
And when I, before we started this podcast, that the seeds we plant, Lord,
we don't even know, but you water God.
So if we're just supposed to be the seed planters, And thank you for watering
all of the seeds that we put out, and you're the one that harvests them, Lord.
Thank you for the listeners, Lord, and I just pray that you will talk
to someone today and just get in their heart, knowing that they were
afraid to step out, and maybe this is the day that they will, Lord.
That you're speaking.
To them from this podcast that they need to be brave in
you and trust in Jesus name.
Amen
Speaker: Amen
Speaker 6: We hope you've been blessed by today's story.
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Our only criteria is that Jesus be glorified.
Most Christians don't share their faith because they mistakenly think
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about themselves, or that they are not competent to explain the gospel correctly.
But none of that is relevant.
If Jesus has changed your life, you have a story to tell.
All of our stories are completely unique.
No one has a story like yours, and you may be the only one who can reach someone
else through telling your experience.
So don't be intimidated.
A story is just that, a true account of your own experience, and no one
can disagree with your experience.
When we tell what Jesus has done in our lives, we are being obedient to his
command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
It's not about theology, and it's not about how interesting or special you are.
It's all about Jesus.
So when you're ready to tell how Jesus has impacted your life, you can let Jesse
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net.
There you can download guidelines that will make it easy to
prepare to tell your story.
Thank you for listening today and Shalom.