Choosing Obedience in a World of Hustle with Malinda Fuller
Today, I had the privilege to chat with Malinda Fuller, the author of Obedience Over Hustle, all about the place of faith in our work and obeying God's calling first. We truly had the most uplifting conversation and I can't wait to share it with you to help you find rest and abandon the hustle.
I do want to say that this is not just for the hustling business owner, but the stay at home mom, the ministry worker, and the career mom. We all can fall prey to these struggles!
First of all, I want to introduce Malinda Fuller, as she is a wife, homeschooling mom of two, former massage therapist, and author. To give you a little bit of backstory behind the message of her book, we have to rewind back to a conference in 2015.
Malinda had been blogging at the time and wanted to do more writing, speaking, and creative work. She said she somewhat gave God an ultimatum that she wanted to be able to supplement her income from home, homeschool, and be able to continue doing what she loved. All the things.
God asked her in response, "Who is your provider?"
Having been someone who grew up in church, her gut reaction was to respond that God was her provider. Yet, she knew she wasn't living it. So, not long after that conference, she spoke with her husband and they set a date for her to quit her job. No backup plan. No safety net.
It wasn't long after that her husband's side job took off and completely supplemented her previous income. She saw more fruit in her family as a result of being home. Even more, she had more opportunities to write and speak since her book published!
"God isn't asking us to do all the things. He is asking us do a few things and the rest will come as a direct result."
Even though writing a book wasn't on the horizon for her, the idea of obedience over hustle was very present. She pursue the idea until it turned into a book. Still, the idea did not come without doubts, fears, and struggles...
- Do I have enough experience?
- Is my idea to small?
- I don't have a big enough platform.
- I don't have a journalism degree.
Despite all of those fears, she completed the book, but found a better triumph than that particular accomplishment:
Actually doing what God called her to do, "that was the greater triumph for me than actually writing the words."
We discussed next the topic of having a good work ethic in light of the hustle topic. Here were some of the main takeaways:
- Hustle has come to mean being a workaholic, not having a good work ethic.
- Workaholism is achieving a goal at a price.
- We start with a good goal and it morphs into sacrificing family and friends.
"Nobody on their deathbed ever wishes they worked harder or spent more time at the office."
Some of the tell tale signs when falling into too much hustle:
- Family is sacrificed
- Friendships are let go
- Not sleeping well because of stress and anxiety
- Losing and/or skipping time with the Lord
Her best advice for helping with these signs was to check your heart. Why do you feel like you have to do all of these things? Why do you feel like you have to say "yes?"
In light of managing our hearts well, we moved onto chatting a bit about stewardship. How can we steward what God has given us better? Stewarding our time is something we are notoriously bad at in our culture.
- Manage those "yes's."
- Have accountability check in to see if you are advancing toward goals in an honorable way.
- Our phone usage shows where your heart is and how you are using your time!
- Take a look at your finances as well. Where does your heart lie?
- Keep your phone out of your room at night.
We wrapped up our interview chatting about how Malinda is actually traveling right now after their family sold their home and a majority of their possessions in order to live a nomadic life with their family. Obviously, this was something that their family has felt personally called to, not something she was recommending to everyone, though they have found immense fulfillment in doing so.
They have additionally started regularly practicing Sabbath. She based this off the fact that though God did not need rest, He modeled rest for us because He knew we needed it. We have to have margin in our lives for rest--a true break full of connection with the Lord and our loved ones.
Overall, we want you to see that hustling for your goals and falling into a workaholic life is not the only way. Not only that, it is not necessarily the best way though the world will tell you it is. We are called to act in obedience to specifically where God has called us. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Let your heart rest.