The moment you decide to obey a calling is often the moment life tries to talk you out of it. Sylvia Worsham sits down with Dr Michelle Machado, a two-time TEDx speaker, former educator, and author of Alive Again: Four Steps to Reclaim Your Life in a Distracted World, to unpack what it looks like to follow God when you want control first and clarity second.
Michelle shares her turning point after years of chasing credentials and achievement, and the startling story of writing her resignation letter while her car was being stolen outside. Instead of treating chaos as a stop sign, we explore discernment, spiritual warfare, and the idea that “calling comes before clarity.” We also get practical about protection: the sacred morning hour, staying off social media, anchoring your identity in Scripture, and using the Armor of God to fight lies that hit your mind, your purpose, and your confidence.
We connect faith with real-life tools for emotional regulation and relationships. Michelle brings in neuroscience and nervous system wisdom to explain why conflict spirals, how breathing creates calm, and how small pauses can change a marriage conversation. We also talk attention, distraction, AI, and why human connection is the one skill technology cannot replace.
If you’re a purpose-driven woman wrestling with doubt, identity attacks, or overwhelm, this conversation gives you language, practices, and hope.
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To connect, listen to Dr. Machado’s TEDx talks, and purchase her book, visit: michelledmachado.com
To download a free chapter of host Sylvia Worsham’s bestselling book, In Faith, I Thrive: Finding Joy Through God’s Masterplan, purchase any of her products, or book a call with her, visit her website at www.sylviaworsham.com
Transcript:
If you’ve ever struggled with fear, doubt, or worry, and wondering what your true purpose was all about, then this podcast is for you. In this show, your host, Sylvia Warsham, will interview elite experts and ordinary people that have created extraordinary lives. So here’s your host, Sylvia Warsham.
Hey Lightbringers, it’s Sylvia Warsham. Welcome to Released Out Review Purpose. And today is Michelle Machado. She is a two-time TEDx speaker, former educator, and she’s someone that is going to be speaking on a topic that is very near and dear to women’s hearts. It’s the kind of doubt that creeps in. It’s the doubt that no one’s talking about. Because as women, we want control. We need control and clarity before we move forward in faith. But deep down, not just subconsciously in our minds, but in our heart space and in our soul, the Lord, the Lord Himself is waiting patiently and has been prompting us to step into our divine purpose. Living in a world that we live in today, we are drawn more to the world’s opinion than to the Lord’s opinion. And the Lord sees us. We know we are fearfully and wonderfully made in his image. He’s known us since we were in the womb of our mothers. And he’s created us for a particular purpose that will advance humanity. We each have a very unique set of gifts that he’s given us from the time we’re born. And yet, some of us take 20 years, 30 years to discover it. So without further ado, Michelle, thank you so much for joining us on Released Out Review Purpose.
Thank you so much, Sylvia, for having me here. And oh my gosh, I had chills as you were speaking because I so feel the power of what you have just said and our listeners. I hope you did too, because we truly are made for a purpose. But I don’t think many of us even think that or feel that until uh we reach a certain point in life where God is probing us and calling us to a certain action.
There is a turning point. There is a moment in our life where God is calling us, and the calling gets so loud in our heart space.
It’s hard to ignore. What was that turning point for you, Michelle?
Yeah, so I mean, I’ve been an educator for 20 years, and you know, we do the things that society kind of tells us to do, right? You go to school, you get your degree, you go to university, you get a job, and then you’re like, maybe you want more degrees. And so that’s essentially the path that I did, right? I did my bachelor’s, I then did my master’s, I eventually did a PhD. That wasn’t enough. So I did an MBA, and I was constantly trying to climb this academic ladder, this ladder of success, according to you know, what society tells us is going to make you more worthy and more achieved, more successful. And so I done that for close to 20 years. And um at the height of the pandemic, I was living in England and I moved to Canada. There was a complete pivot in my life because I went from working in medical education to working in business education, which was entirely new for me. So it was an identity shift because I went from being a faculty member to an administrator. And again, you know, the roles have shifted. I have two young children at the time, you know, new country again. Even though I lived and grew up in Canada, repatriating back after 14 years away is a challenge, especially you’re coming back as a married woman with kids in new different roles, living in your parents’ basement. So there was a lot that happened here from an internal identity perspective. I kept doing the thing that you’re meant to do. I was in that journey, and eventually I got a chance to go back into medical education, which was fantastic. But I reached that point and you know, praying for this job that I wanted, and it finally came and I was in it and it was great, and I was making impact. And all of a sudden, things start to shift at work where I’m getting more of this sense internally that says, Michelle, I want you to pivot. Have you ever thought of like leaving this world? Have you ever thought of starting your own thing? Look at everything that you’ve seen over your past 15, 20 years of young kids and education and where it’s going. I want you to just turn. I want you to step out of this. And of course, your mind is like, well, no, what do I know about running a business? I swear that, you know, my husband and I used to always have this conversation about business entrepreneurship and the employee mindset. And I said, Oh, I would never be able to start a business. Like that is just, I do not know how, I would never do it. Like, you know, you have an employee mindset, you have a fixed income, it’s stable. That’s great. That’s all I need. And all of a sudden, this voice, this internal, this push towards like leaving this comfort zone that I’ve known for my entire life and pivoting into something different. And so I ignored it for a few months. And then I found this book called The Greatness Mindset by Lewis Howes, you know, unlock the power of your mind. And that just something in that book catapulted me. So it was my birthday weekend, and over three days, I decided I was going to build this website. It was called Luminara Academy at the time. I started this journey of like, you know what? I’m going to help young kids build the soft skills that are so needed in today’s world because we’re losing it with technology and AI and digital distraction. I felt like my soul was on fire. And in six weeks, I built the website by myself. I never knew how to build a website before, but I did it. And I created this program and I said, I’m just going to go all in. But I was still employed. I was still like in my safe space because I’m like, I’m going to do this, but I’m also going to stay safe. The voices grew louder and louder, Sylvia. And to a
point where, you know, I had the conversation with my husband. And I speak about this in my upcoming book, Alive Again. Um, and he was fully supportive. And so I decided one day that I was going to trust this voice and I’m going to quit my full-time job. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I’m going to do it. So I woke up one morning, wrote my resignation letter. And I have a morning practice that I do and I speak about this in the book. And I was fully at ease with what I was doing, the decision that I had made, I wrote the resignation letter. And then I get my kids up later in the morning, get them off to school. And as I open my door, my car is not there. And I’m like, hmm. And I’m like, honey, did you move the car? And he’s like, no. And I, and then my daughter’s like, Mommy, look at all the glass on the on the driveway. And I realized our car had been stolen from our driveway. Long story short, when we look at the footage, we realize that at the same time that I am writing my resignation letter at the back of the house, my car is being stolen by three people over 20 minutes at the front of the house. And so automatic thoughts were like, oh my gosh, uh, is this a sign? Is God telling me not to do this? Uh you know, I’m supposed to meet with my boss in like a few hours to give her the resignation letter. Should I not be doing this? Am I making the wrong decision? And 30 minutes before sitting on a call with my boss, I closed my eyes and I prayed. And I kid you not, the voice that whispered in my mind was, stealing is not the work of the Lord. And I knew that was my sign that when you are about to embark on a journey that God has set for you, the enemy comes to distract you from that journey. And I did it. I gave my resignation and the rest was history. And I say in my book that no matter what we are going through in life, if you are feeling something pulling at your soul, something calling at you to take action towards something that is not comfortable for you, that you don’t know what you are doing and how it’s going to work. I tell you, listen to it because calling always comes before clarity. And so that’s been my journey of transformation. I stepped in two years ago, just over two years ago. And I have been on a journey. It’s not been easy, but I have been on a journey that I would not go back on. It’s been beautiful.
And it has its ups and downs because I can completely relate. And as you were speaking, when you think it’s a sign from God, in my mind, I was like, that’s the enemy distracting her. Even before you said it. Yeah. Because spiritual warfare is a huge theme, topic that I didn’t encounter until I started to obey his promptings. Once I started to step into my mission, the attacks got harder and harder. Oh, yes. Amen. I mean, yes. Can you speak to how you push past that piece when it comes at you? I know you have a practice in the morning, which I think is beautiful. Why don’t you why don’t we do this? Why don’t you talk about the practice that you have in the morning? Yeah. And then as you go throughout your day and you have the attacks, number one, how do you recognize that is a spiritual attack? And how do you push past that distraction or deception that your mind or what I call the ego identity in In Faith I Thrive is coming at you with? Because that’s where the enemy does twist. Yes. Yes. Your thoughts. That’s why your thoughts are key here in like swiping
them away when they come at you, or using the word of God to replace that thought and to remind yourself of his truth. Okay. So let’s start with the morning practice.
Yes. So I have a morning practice I have been doing consistently for I’d say close to three years. And again, this is something that I never did. So as a mom, I would wake up like closer to when my kids have to wake up, right? Get my coffee and then go wake them up, do the usual mundane routines of getting them ready for school, drop them off, come back, go straight into work, and my day starts. And then you realize already by the time morning starts, depending on how your morning is gone and whether your kids have, you know, had tantrums and you’re running late, you know, you feel already sometimes um either low mood or you’re already drained. And so this morning practice I started a couple of years ago was really what I call the sacred morning hour. I usually wake up an hour to two before the rest of the household is up. Now, that doesn’t have to be your practice in terms of timing, like you can whatever works for you. But the reason I picked the morning is because when you pour into your cup, you cannot pour from an empty cup, but when you use that time and space to really connect to you, to yourself, to the divine, you’re able to fill your cup spiritually with the word of God before stepping out into the world where the attacks are constantly there. I always say the spiritual warfare is real. And just like we can, you know, in our world, there are so many things that we don’t see. We don’t see gravity, we don’t see wind, we don’t see the different, you know, waves, ultraviolet rays and radiation, but they exist. And so spiritual warfare exists. So before you step out into the world where those attacks are prevalent, why don’t you spend the morning hour sacred, where it’s not on social media, not like checking your inbox or your emails or messages, but really with God, with yourself and put on your spiritual armor. And I use this analogy of when soldiers go into battle, they don’t walk out in plain clothes. They walk out armed up because they know what’s coming. They’re prepared. So, how are you preparing for the day? Are you armoring up with the word of God? Are you putting on your spiritual armor so that you are able to withstand the attacks that will find you that day? And they will certainly find you when you are walking in God’s, in God’s path and purpose. So my hour typically involves time with scripture. I will read and open up the Holy Bible app. So I say no phone, but what I really mean by that is I’m not on social media. It’s on Do Not Disturb. I’m not looking at any other app except my Holy Bible app. And I’m reading scripture or I’m reading a plan, and then I go into a meditation practice. And that can range anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes. It depends. And I find so much of connection to God in that time, like his inspiration, his guidance, and everything in my journey of challenges and opportunities have come from inspiration that has happened during that moment. And so when I engage in that practice, and it’s typically about an hour, sometimes an hour and a half. When I then go to wake up my girls, my cup is full and they get the best version of me. And people will always say, Well, I’m not a morning person. I’m a night person. And I say, Yeah, that’s great, but that’s a choice we make. It’s not like we’re born morning people and night people. We make choices in whether
we are morning people or night people. So you have to determine is this important for you to give yourself time in the morning to put on your spiritual armor? Because when you step out into the world and the world tells you who to be, are you going to stay grounded in who you are, in who God has said you are, uh, so that you can withstand all of those forces. So that’s my that’s my sacred practice. And to answer your second question of, you know, how do I, how do I withstand the attacks that come? I completely agree that when you are fully walking in God’s path, the attacks are even more. And it kind of makes sense, right? If you look at our wars today, the attacks are happening when you’re more of a threat to people. And so when you are more of a threat to the enemy, the attacks are going to be are going to multiply. And so recognizing it is one thing, and you can start to recognize it because you will find yourself not operating from a space of love and gratitude. You will find yourself operating from a space of frustration, of negativity, of anger. Uh, those are not works of the Lord, right? And so thinking through and recognizing that instantly, but then also combating that with scripture. So I have here, like, I mean, it’s not the best, but it’s like these little sticky notes I have that have like this one says Proverbs 3, and it says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways, submit to him, and he will make your path straight. And I tell you, when I have these moments, I have to go back to those scriptures, you know, like Jeremiah, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, right? Philippians four, and my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory. I have these plastered all over my workspace table. And obviously, in looking at it every day or in, you know, remembering it when I’m faced with those attacks, I’m able to stand strong. Now, this is not to say that I don’t fall, because I certainly do fall. And I have moments where it overpowers me. And I have to give myself grace because I think we are human after all, and just realize that and ask for forgiveness and just really settle into prayer with God to say, please help me. Please help me and put one foot in front of the other. And as I put this book out into the world, I have felt the attacks like I have never felt it in my life. It has come tenfold. Tenfold. But I know that is ammunition for me to say, I know I’m doing the right thing.
Oh, absolutely. Believe me, I’m with you. And when I was about to release in faith, I thrive, finding joy through God’s master plan in 2024. My father was dying. Oh gosh. Um it released in September 24th, 2024. My dad had passed away on Father’s Day of that year. And the attacks were so pronounced. I felt like I was drowning. Parts of me did not want to stay close to God because of how harsh those attacks were coming at me. And it was in those moments that I remembered the message that the Lord downloaded through my book. And I went back to my book. And the message was surround yourself with a community of believers who will hold you while you’re falling apart. And so surrounding me were people of faith, and I would go to them, all the righteous women, and say, please pray for me. Yes, because I’m feeling attacked, like on all sides. Please, you know, pray for protection of my children, pray for protection of my marriage, pray for protection of me. He wants to distract me. I know what he’s up to. I couldn’t even come up for error. It was one thing after the other. The more powerful the purpose in the person, the more powerful the attack. I there’s no doubt. No doubt. Because what does scripture say about the enemy? I mean, read it in Peter, he prowls, he’s looking for someone to devour. Yeah. Then you read it in James 2: like you need to banish him, and he’ll leave you. If you use the word of God in the name of Jesus, leave me, he has to depart. Yeah, it’s the only thing Satan understands. Absolutely. It is the only offensive weapon you have in the armor of God is the sword, which is the word of God. Yes. And you know, because we shield ourselves, right? We know that the armor of God, for those listening, if you’re not Christian-based, let’s just kind of review for them, Michelle. Why don’t we go through the helmet of salvation? Yes. Put on the helmet, we put on the sandals of peace because we know we’re standing on the word of God, and God is peace. Yes. Christ is peace. He came with the message of peace, right? We know there’s the belt of truth. The truth is God, the truth is the word. All of these are synonyms for each other, right? So we we rely on the truth, we hold steady because without the belt, we’re not steady. It’s in the middle of our core. We know that there’s a shield of faith to block the flaming arrows of the evil one, right? We have the sword, but we also have the uh breastplate of righteousness. We are all righteous with God. That’s that was the whole purpose of Christ coming and dying on the cross because he knew that we were sinners, we were going to fail him, and his expectations are really high. He’s perfect, he’s a perfect being. So I loved what you said about pushing past that, and I added the thing about the community because that is extremely powerful in those moments of doubt. Let’s walk people through on this interview how you kept going despite these attacks and how you landed in the space of being a TEDx speaker. Yeah.
Yeah. So I think what you said about community is so important. And that’s something I didn’t mention is when these attacks come and it really overpowers you and you feel low. And I’ve had many days like that. I have reached out to a few women in my community and even to family for that support to help me because people need people. God has given us a community of people. And so finding that support to help you hold steadfast when you feel like you are drowning is so, so important and is absolutely one of the other things I have done because you cannot do this alone. None of us can do this alone, right? That’s why we have each other. I think in terms of doubt and holding on to that or moving past that, it is a combination of everything we’ve just discussed, but it’s also holding steadfast. And I
have this um practice that I started when I first went out into this journey. I was part of a mastermind with a group of women. And the lady leading the mastermind said to me, You need to have like a vision board in terms of what you want to see happen in the next like 12 months. And because she was a TEDx speaker, she said, Everyone here should do a TEDx. You have something to say. Like you should always aspire to do a TEDx. And I hadn’t, it had never crossed my mind. I mean, I’d been an educator and I’ve spoken on hundreds of stages with students, but never ever thought to think about a TEDx. So I said, you know what? Maybe I will. I will try. And I will I put that on my vision board. And I put some other things as well, you know, writing a book and I can’t remember now what I had on it, but there were many different things that I had in terms of goals and aspirations for myself. And she had primed it by saying when you apply to TEDx, like you have to obviously be ready to accept rejection because it can take up to a hundred or more rejections until you get the one. But because I was so grounded every day in my morning practice, I would tune into what the Lord was guiding me towards. And so I looked at the TEDx site. I went through all of the events. I applied to events where I felt there was alignment with the message that I wanted to communicate. And I said, you do your best and God does the rest. And I literally applied to a few. I think I applied to six. And I kid you not, in the new year. So this was, you know, my vision board I had created, I think, in December of 2024. And in the new year, just somewhere in early January, I got the email that says you’ve been invited to speak on TEDx. And I swear, oh my gosh, my jaw dropped. And I was just filled with so much gratitude. That after five or six applications, what most people say takes months or years was fulfilled in a few weeks, I would say. And that is not my work. That is the hand of the Lord. I was so grateful to be able to have the opportunity to step on the stage. My very first talk was the one skill AI can’t replace, which is human connection. And the reason I kind of ventured off in speaking about this, and I talk a little bit about it in my book, is that we are in a world of distraction. And I think the distraction is the enemy’s tool for each of us. Because if you keep a person distracted long enough, they’re never going to stop to pause and ask the deeper meaning questions of who am I? Who am I called to serve? What are my gifts? And how can I use it in the service of others to be a modern-day disciple of Christ? We’re never going to stop to pause to ask those questions if we’re so distracted with all of the things around us. And so I think in a world of technology and AI, and AI has its benefits. One of the things we’re losing as part of that, though, is our ability to connect to ourselves, to ask those deeper questions, to connect to others in a meaningful way and to connect to a bigger purpose. And the whole talk was cultured around that, those sort of points, those key points. In my book, Alive Again, hones in specifically on connection to self and what does that mean? How do you really understand your purpose? How are you showing up in today’s world? And I speak about it from the lived experience of how I was showing up in my family and what my kids were seeing and where I was trying to climb the ladder and how that manifested. So it’s just, you know, stepping into your calling. And that’s why I said calling comes before clarity, because when I left my job in 2024, I had no vision of a TEDx. I had no vision of what I was going to do, except like I’m going to start this business, I’m going to run some camps for kids. And I did. And then God pivoted me a little bit into the speaking world. And then he pivoted me into putting out this book. And so I don’t know what’s next, but I am being obedient to where I’m being called to. And I think that is a single most important thing. I had many doors open last year for me. And I think those doors were not mine to open. They were all divine-led doors. And I think that’s what happens when you step into your purpose and you know that the attacks come, but you stay grounded no matter what, because you are you’re putting on that armor every single day and you’re fighting those spiritual attacks through the word of God and through community.
Absolutely. And you see me nodding a lot for those that are just listening, because it is the further you step into your calling, and the further you know who you are in him, yeah, your identity is rooted in him. The more you’ll see the opportunities when they come. You’re not as distracted, but he will attack and he’ll get very sly with the attacks. In my case, he’s been in my marriage for far too long. And I have believed certain lies, twisted these old belief systems, old patterns of behavior. And recently, just last week, there was a lot of fighting between my husband and I. And it it it was cause for me to pause and to look at that from the spiritual sense. And I went back, and I like you,
and uh I wake up at five in the morning, and my first appointment of the day is with our Lord. And like you, I also have the Holy Bible app. The only reason I open up my phone, yeah. Like you, I don’t check anything else because it’s a distraction. Yes. And I went to work. I asked him very quietly, something’s up. I know there’s something happening. Can you speak into this? What do you need me to see? Open my eyes to see what you need me to see about these situations, and what came of it, Michelle, was really enlightening. He said, You remember Satan attacks identity. And I was like, Oh my goodness, because my husband, when he was attacking, like his words were attacking the identity.
Yeah.
And I’m like, oh my goodness, he’s in the room, you know. And so one of the things that I’ve learned through my journey, and maybe you can speak to this as well, is in the moment of when you recognize his attacks, is immediately banish him with the name of Jesus. And what I’ve seen throughout um people that I’ve been privileged um to be friends with in my community of faith, they’ve always said pray. Like stop and pray, both you and your husband, because when he attacks, he attacks by trying to twist the old lies around. And the other thing he revealed to me was my selfish behavior. Because I kept telling my husband, I said, I’m not these things, but my behavior may be. So it’s it’s a way of I outlining. One of the things I learned in one of the marriage um conferences I attended, Michael Jr., he’s a comedian, he does um tours around the United States and I think around the world. He’s been part of the Kendrick films. Yeah. Okay. There are books, The Love Dare and then Fireproof was part of theirs in The War Room. And one of the things that Michael stated was when conflict occurs with your spouse, it is a vertical invitation from the Lord to turn inward, yes, and seek his guidance, seek the revelation of that conflict. Yeah. And my goodness, Michelle, I started to see things through my husband’s eyes. He was attacking, I know he meant the behavior, but instead, you know, when we get angry, of course, today’s today’s verse of the Holy Bible app was be careful with the tongue, because the tongue has the power of life and death, right? Yeah, absolutely. And when we speak, we have so much power in that. So we really need to watch how we speak because yeah, here’s something that most people don’t realize. I didn’t realize it until once again I was stepping further and further into my faith. And the more courses I’ve taken in this, the more I see. Is the enemy hears your words, he cannot see your thoughts. Yeah, the only one that can see your thoughts is the Lord. Yes, okay. So be aware of that. And if you are going to say something, be very intentional with your words. Yeah. Because he is prowling and he’s looking for someone to devour. And that person will be you if you give them a foothold. Yes. And like Michelle said earlier, it’s your anger, it’s your bitterness, it’s your resentment. It is how you speak about yourself and others. Yes. He will twist things around and he will keep you in the darkness longer because it will feel so much that you won’t want to turn to God because you’re afraid of the attack. But when you stand firmly, like Michelle and I have stood firmly, once we realized what was actually happening, and we said, No, we love God more than we love Satan.
Yeah.
Right? Because that’s in essence what you’re saying. When you turn away from the Lord, when you turn towards what the world wants you to hear about yourself, that’s why these morning routines or even nightly routines, because one thing I also learned in one of the courses is if you don’t like waking up early, well, late at night is actually also a good practice because in our dreams, yes, there’s a lot of attack as well. And that’s when the Lord can also step in there and protect. Yeah. Uh if you ask for protection. Because once again, one thing that I think most people forget is that we have free will. We have choices. Yes. And when we invite him, he’s there. He’s always there, anyways. But he is someone that is now going to impose himself on us. Yes. He’s gonna wait patiently for you to invite him into your world and into your life. So if there’s anything that is standing in your way of having a good relationship with him, clear it up and start speaking to him and inviting him because the more you do, the more you do step into a role that is in perfect alignment to who you are. And it doesn’t feel hard. That’s the thing that I found in my journey. Have you found the same thing, Michelle?
Yeah, no, it doesn’t feel hard when you’re living in alignment, and but of course the attacks come, and sometimes you will have moments where it feels hard. But I think when you have those opportunities to really stay strong, and this is when I have when I say you will have hard moments and bad days, and I surrender to the Lord and I pray, especially at night, as I’m going to bed. And I find that when I wake up in the morning lighter and ready to say, you know what, today’s a new day. And I’m stepping back into my calling. But again, like you said, the attacks are very real. But I want to pick up on something you mentioned,
you know, about um when you’re upset and you’re fighting with your spouse, it’s sometimes very hard to stop because, you know, neurologically speaking, you know, I’m a trained consultant, um, neuroscience trained consultant, and one of the programs we talk about is how do you change from the inside out? You have to be the change that you wish to see in the world. And when you think a certain set of thoughts, your brain releases a certain set of chemicals that cause you to feel that way. So if you think, or if someone’s coming at you with words of anger or words that are really hitting at your identity, it’s going to cause you to think angry thoughts and feel angry. And there’s a loop because your brain and your body are always in constant communication with each other and it just spirals, right? So you think a thought, you releases chemicals that cause you to feel that way. Because the brain and body are checking in with each other, the brain checks in with the body and it causes think more corresponding thoughts of anger that cause you to feel more angry. And this loop goes on and on. And that’s what happens in any sort of conflict situation. I don’t know if you’ve ever found it. Like if you’re with your kids or your spouse and you feel like you’re getting more and more angry in your life, but you always do this, and then this always happens, and you never listen. And you, and unless you interrupt that pattern, it’s going to build up and the conflict can escalate. And we see that happening. I’ve seen it happen in my own life, and I know it certainly happens in in many people’s lives. But it’s that awareness, that small microsecond of awareness that says, stop, pause, interrupt that loop. And what I often do is because my husband’s often, you know, or my kids are also upset, we’re not going to stop and just pray together. At least in my world, it doesn’t happen because they don’t have that awareness that I do. But I will walk away and I’ll pray for myself and say, calm the situation down, Lord. I ask for your guidance. One of the other things I also do is breathing. And the Lord has made it so beautiful that there’s so much power in the breath. Because when you actually take in, you know, a good dose of inhale through your nose and a slow exhale through your mouth, your brain is talking to your body very quickly and it starts to slow your heart rate down. And when it starts to slow your heart rate down, you start to get through that breathing momentum, you start to get into what we call heart coherence. Your heart rhythm slows out and it’s just beautiful waves, and your brain patterns start to change and shift, and you start to move from a place of very high stress to a place of more minimal activity and calmness. And when you are in a state of calm, then you can look at a situation from another person’s perspective. I think so often when we are engaging or in a situation where conflict is starting to arise and sometimes escalate, it’s because we are perceiving that as an attack on the identity. And like you’ve said, the enemy works that way, attacking the identity. And so that micro cause and that shift of just awareness and pausing and stepping away. So allowing people to maybe step away if they’re not able to pray together is also another way that, you know, our listeners hopefully can be able to de-escalate that situation. Walk away from the room, give yourself the time and the space and the time with God and time with yourself to calm yourself down and then come back. And I will guarantee the conversation will be very different.
Absolutely, because emotional dysregulation is the enemy in that moment. It you’re not gonna be logical, you’re not gonna be able to see their point of view. And and one of the things that I’ve used is with my husband is hey, I’m walking away not because I’m disrespecting you or not wanting to hear your perspective. It’s because I want to, and I’m not regulated right now, and my brain is not responding. And I need time to cool off. Is that I’m gonna walk away. Yeah, I just do. I walk away. There’s times I’ve done better than others, other times I get pulled into it. Of course, and this is where I want to add one thing to what you said because I think it’s brilliant what you discussed. You’re right. In our bodies, everything’s connected. The nervous system is connected, everything remembers, the body remembers. It can’t score. That’s why that book is so powerful because it is so true. Yeah. And one of the things that I have done, aside from the moments that I’ve stepped away, is the breathing exercises. I also talked to the kids about coming back to presence. Yes. Besides breathing, there are the five senses that you can do.
Yeah.
You can think, okay, where am I? What can I see? What can I hear? What can I smell? What can I taste? What can I touch? And when you come back, yeah, right, and you pray, and you just
take deep breaths and then come back. And they’re way more logical. But then you also have to respect when they want to talk about it too, because it may take men about two days to cool down. We as women can bounce back very quickly, biologically speaking, but men cannot. So FYI to the women out there, I know we don’t like feeling that tension between us because we feel like it’s gonna spill into the kids and we’re protectors and it bothers us. But can I just add, if at one point he feels like you were the cause of the conflict, it’s gonna take him longer. So give him the space and the respect that he needs. And you know your husband better or wife better than anybody else, right? Yeah, um, one of the things that the Lord also prompted me to do in this season of wilderness that he had me in, was to read the book of Job. Yes. The book of Job is clear in Satan’s strategy. Yes. If you want to learn more about that, the one Bible that my very good friend Denise Milianta, who um I met at a mastermind years ago in 2022, she’s a brilliant podcast host. And I reached out to her in a moment of attack, and she said, the life application Bible is also a very good one, but it’s it’s huge. In the book of Job, it has all the explanations as to what Satan’s up to because it is his strategy. He wants to show the world that if you can attack a human being long enough and severely enough that they’ll you know curse. And Job never did. He was angry with them, yeah, he but he never cursed them. He still honored him. And that book is powerful for many reasons. I know it’s a book that terrifies most of us because if you were to lose everything, what would you do?
Everything, right?
And he lost everything, and then some, right?
Some and just so much in in excruciating pain as well through that, like physical pain as well.
Yes, awful. Because the first round was if you take everything away from him, yeah, then he’ll curse you. And then when he didn’t, he comes back to heaven, yeah, and then says, Well, but if you take his health away, I wonder what would happen. Yeah, right. And there you see that he has to ask permission. Yes, Satan cannot operate on his own, yes, he has to ask permission. So we know that God’s sovereignty is a topic for a different interview between you and Michelle because that was a very hot topic. I’m in that season right now of his sovereignty. Yeah, uh, the wilderness I’m in is a season of profound change. Yeah, that it takes rooting yourself in his love, rooting yourself in the identity in him. And that’s something that for a long time I struggled with because I, like you, came from the high achieving world. Yeah, and I thought that if I achieved that that would fill that worthiness gap that doesn’t do anything for that until I stepped into my divine purpose, until I became obedient to him. Did he fill that gap for me? Yeah, he is it’s from the overflow of his love that fills our cup. That’s how we can operate and give unconditional love to others. Any last words of encouragement you want to leave the listeners who have released out reveal purpose?
I would find the space to create opportunity to connect with God. Because whatever you’re going through in life, I tell you, like you said, there is always a reason, and no matter how bad the situation is, God always can create something beautiful out of something that is shattered. But your answer will not come from trying to fix it yourself, and your answer will not come from going on social media or like just distracting yourself with other things. Your answer will come when you spend time with the Lord. And so, whatever you’re going through, I pray for you, and I pray that you’re able to open, keep an openness to receiving from the Lord the gifts that He has for you. God bless you.
Oh my goodness, I love what you had to say. And I I want to learn more about you now. Can you share with us a website? Uh, how can we purchase your books? The titles
of your books, the titles of your talks. Yes, absolutely.
So if you go to my website, which is MichellDMachado.com, uh D as in for Delta, um, you will find my TEDx talks, you will find information about my book. It is called Alive Again, Four Steps to Reclaim Your Life in a Distracted World. And, you know, we’re all alive, but our what’s the aliveness that really um we’re living from? And how do we reclaim our attention and our presence in our life in this world of distraction, which I think the enemy uses beautifully to keep us hidden, to keep us from stepping into our purpose. Um, and so you can access, you can find that book on Amazon, you can go to my website, you can find me on Instagram and LinkedIn, it’s Dr. Michelle Machado. And uh, if I can support you in your journey in any way, please do reach out and I pray for you in whatever in whatever challenges and battles you are facing in today’s world.
Love that, love that. And for the listeners of release that reveal purpose, remember Matthew 5.14 to be the light. Be the light like Michelle’s been the light. Be the light that God has gifted you because he gifted you that light long ago. You’re the one that’s stuck in your own mind, yes, your own doubt, in your own circumstances, but you have choices, you have the conscious ability of your mind to interrupt those thoughts, swipe them away. Just like you have the same choice to say those ugly things about yourself, you can’t shift that. It takes some practice. Remember, practice makes permanent, permanent, and that is something that we all have as a gift from our Lord. We all have a particular set of skills, a uniqueness to us, and a reason for being here at this moment in time, such as a time as this. So I want to say thank you, uh, Michelle, for being on the show. It has been such an honor to hear your story and thank you so much for all the wisdom you shared about neuropathways, about emotional regulation, about presence, about faith in particular.
Thank you so much. It’s been an the honor, it’s been mine, and it’s been an absolute pleasure um speaking with you, Sylvia.
Oh, it was so amazing to finally be able to line up our calendar. It’s been a while, but we got here, you know, we’ve got here. We’re both very busy women, and um, I just pray that your journey stays open, that you stay curious uh and stay obedient to the Lord’s promptings because your life is beautiful, Michelle, and you’re making a beautiful impact. And we’re just so blessed to have you on the show and to everybody else, have a beautiful and blessed rest of your week. Bye now.
So that’s it for today’s episode of Release Doubt Reveal Purpose. Head over to iTunes or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on iTunes. We’ll interchange the grand prize drawing to win a $25,000 private VIP day with Sylvia Warshop herself. Be sure to head on over to sylviaworsham.com and pick up a free copy of Sylvia’s gift and join us on the next episode.