Be Brave, Be You with Lisba Romo

Meet my Guest:

For the longest time, Founder, of Be Brave. Be You, Lisba Romo struggled with 
the spirit FEAR. In her early childhood, Lisba suffered from being bullied at school 
and being verbally abused at home. Consequently, this led to Lisba’s feelings of 
unworthiness, low self-esteem and having fear to do things. Lisba was so shy to do things that simply speaking up and expressing herself was a challenge. When 
Lisba became a teenager, she battled with depression and having suicidal thoughts and experienced being spiritually attacked by an evil force. In college, Lisba began to step outside of her comfort zone. Yet life still had some challenges for her along the way as she entered the workforce. After being laid off for the second time, Lisba decided to become one of the caregivers for her dad who was 
battling cancer. Unfortunately, her dad lost the battle against cancer and this rocked her to her core. Her father had to hold off on living his life fully in hopes of retiring one day and doing all the things he wanted to do but unfortunately life had a different plan for him. It is then that Lisba made a decision to be brave with her life. 
She created her own challenge to conquer her fears by challenging herself for 10 days going live on Facebook doing a Be Brave and Get Uncomfortable Challenge. The more Lisba got uncomfortable, the more comfortable she became with being uncomfortable. Lisba’s passion for overcoming fears and adversities lead to creating her 
own YouTube channel.
One day Lisba met with a woman who invited her to co-author on a book to share her life story and gave her the inspiration to start her organization, Be Brave. Be You, LLC. Lisba is now leading a purposeful life as the Brave Warrior Life Coach, Motivational Speaker and Published Author in Today’s Inspired Latina. Lisba believes that there is yet more dreams to accomplish and 
that nothing is impossible if you put your faith in God. Lisba is a child of God, a wife, daughter, and a sister and 
has two pet childs, Honey and Bella.
To learn more about Lisba and her organization, Be Brave. Be You, LLC. visit www.bebravebyou.com

Transcript

Ann: 0:08

Hey there friends, my name is Ann Calvillo and welcome to Her Scars Tell a Story podcast, a safe space for women from all different walks of life and different backgrounds coming together to share their stories of God's redeeming love. So grab your cup of coffee and journey with us now. Hey there, friends. Welcome to Her Scars Tell a Story podcast. I'm your host, Ann Calvillo. I want to welcome my special guest today, Lisba. Um, I met her through a mutual friend. This is our first time meeting in person. It's so nice to meet you, Lisba. Welcome to this podcast.

Lisba: 0:58

Thank you so much for inviting me, Ann. I'm so honored and blessed to be here with you. Thank

Ann: 1:04

you. Likewise. So, I haven't heard your story just yet. And that's the one thing I love about this podcast is that not only am I meeting you for the first time in person, I have been following you on your Facebook page, right? Lisba is part of a, well, actually she's a founder. Of a woman's ministry, so if you can share a little bit about that, because I think it's important to know what is behind the story, right? We hear women's story, but we don't actually get to see what God's been doing through these women's stories through these women's lives. So I want to give you that opportunity to share a little bit about what you do.

Lisba: 1:48

Yes. Thank you, Anne. So, the name of the business, it's become a ministry now. But the name of it is Be Brave, Be You. I love it. And, uh, we have a Facebook group page called Be Brave and Get Uncomfortable. So, uh, we have our members there. We post positive things and, uh, we also have other programs like membership programs and leadership, uh, leadership coaching program as well. So there's a couple of things that go on within, Be Brave BU. So

Ann: 2:21

I've gotten a chance to see a couple of your live videos and I love that you do that. Where you're stepping out of your comfort zone, like you said, you said, get, get uncomfortable, right? Yes. Because it's so easy for us to get comfortable, right? We love to be comfortable and cozy. Yes. And so I see that you've been on this walking challenge, a 30 day walking challenge.

Lisba: 2:44

Yes. So that's a recent challenge that I did, uh, 30 days of 30 minute walks. And I challenged myself and I called it the brave warrior challenge.

Ann: 2:54

Wow. Brave warrior. And let me tell you that, um, walking for me has been one of those things that especially since COVID, um, that has been so therapeutic, not just for my body, but for my mind and my soul, you know, um, spiritually too. It's like it walking has been holistic. therapy for me, meaning it's treated the whole me right? Um, as I'm walking, as I'm looking at the sky, as I'm looking at the flowers and the different seasons as they change, I think about my life. I think about how good God is. I think about his grace, his mercy, right? Tell us a little bit about those

Lisba: 3:37

walks. Yeah, so these walks have been more than just it started off as a, okay, I'm going to get healthier physically, I'm just going to get on board with my weight goals. And you know, just being more healthy over overall. And it's more than that now. So it's given me a lot of reflection. mentally it's helped me, you know, it drives away those negative thoughts that sometimes, bombard us on, all those different things that happen, during these walks, it's very reflective. You get to appreciate, like you said, you know, be grateful for the things around you, looking at the flowers, how beautiful the flowers are, looking at the sky, like, thank you. So, I also say thank you God, for this beautiful flower, for this beautiful sky. Thank you that I'm here present and in the moment and I'm being mindful. It has,, become more of a mindful experience, being present and really grateful for everything that's happening in your life. Like the seasons, like you said.

Ann: 4:43

And so often, right, because life doesn't stop. Responsibilities don't stop, uh, we get caught up on that busyness of life that we don't stop to appreciate the ordinary, simple, mundane things in life that we kind of just overlook. But for that time, whether it's 30 minutes or an hour, As you're walking, and I love what you said, you're able to reflect, you're able to do some, even inventory of yourself, like, right, you're able to, to take that inventory, you're able to think about what you think about, right? And, um, that's been just so key in, in every season of my life to really be thinking about what I'm thinking about prayerful. There's been times where. I'm walking and all I'm doing is praying. I'm just praying and praying and you know, I'm these the people that God places on my heart I'm just praying for them, in my mind, it's not that like I'm stopping and just you know It's just in my mind. I'm praying to the Lord and like you said that that gratitude that thankfulness really matters It makes a big difference. Yes,

Lisba: 5:57

absolutely

Ann: 5:58

Lisba, I want to give you the opportunity to share your story with us. We want to know what God, has been doing. And I say, he's been working. Since we were in our mother's womb, he's been, he's been very intentional about, working in us. So please share your

Lisba: 6:20

story. Yes. So before we could, celebrate and, honor all of the blessings that the Lord has bestowed on me, it's not never been, always. Peachy and rosy, of course, right? There's, some digging, I call it digging into the uncomfortableness, right? Like, some not so great moments in your life that you you've gone through that make you who you are. So I love your podcast, because it is about the scars that are in your life. There's scars and you should be proud of those scars. I wasn't always proud of my scars. Um, so kind of going back, looking into the uncomfortable, I grew up, uh, being a very shy kid, being bullied at school, um, and also I experienced some verbal abuse at home as well. So, you know, kind of like, uh, words that don't build you up, but build you down, right? Hurtful words that kind of stay within you. Because let me share something, as human beings, our minds and our subconscious, everything that they say to you. It stays there. And when you're a kid, I just learned this from a retreat that I just went to this weekend, the years of ages six to 11. That's when you build your character. That's when everything that they tell you, you believe everything that they prophesy over you. You take in, right? You believe it. This is a person or group of people that you respect that you're learning from. And so those things stay within you and um, for a long time. I grew up that way. So being very fearful, I had the spirit of fear within me, not wanting to voice out my opinions, or being afraid to stand up for myself, all these different things. So in school, I wasn't standing up for myself. And so I was bullied at school. And, um, and I grew up that way. You know, growing up that way, thinking that, okay, no, I'm not supposed to speak up when my parents or my family members or whomever that I respect that are my elders, if they say go over there, this is an adult conversation, you believe those things, but yet it's doing something within you. It's now allowing you to create that character, your own personality, your own being. You believe certain things and you have to voice those things. Even if you're a kid, you have to become who you are. And so I grew up with those feelings. After grammar school, I went into high school, and in high school, things got better, but I was still struggling with the spirit of fear. And at that point, I became depressive, like suicidal as well. You know, I had these different thoughts. There was a, uh, a case in, um, I was, I was like deep asleep, okay? And this is where the Lord, the Lord was always with me somehow. I knew even if I was a kid, I knew the Lord was there for me. Can you believe it? I don't know how, but that came to my mind like, Oh Jesus, Jesus, you know, and they didn't really talk too much about Jesus, but about God. So I grew up Catholic. And, um, a lot of the Catholic religious traditions that we kind of go through, I knew them. And so I grew up that way. And there was one instant where I was deep asleep. And I'm not kidding you. This is where it gets really uncomfortable. There was a voice. In my head. Okay. And it wasn't me. There was a voice in my head that was telling me, Get up. Get up. I need you to go to the pantry. And I need you to follow my instructions. I'm gonna build a drug for you to take. I'm gonna show you what to put. What ingredients to use. How is that? And there, there was a buzzing noise. Like as if there was a fly in my ear. Where was this coming from? Why did I wake up in the middle of the night? And it was so, so profound, very intimidating that I had to get up from my bed. Granted, I used to sleep with, in the same bed with my sister and I got up, she didn't even feel a thing. I got up and I went to the pantry and I'm like, what's in here? Why? Why are these voices telling me to do this? This is not who I am. I was so nervous and scared that I went to my parents room and I shook them, mommy, papi. And my mom is like, what's going on? I just don't feel good. I was so embarrassed, you know, cause I carry that, that, um, fear in me, not wanting to expose certain things about myself and see that the devil will do that. He will make you believe that you're in this alone. So you're not supposed to expose certain things about him because he's a liar. He wants you to live in shame. He wants you to live in shame. So I hit that. I'm like, Oh no, mommy, I, you know, I don't know what happened, but I'm just not feeling good. Is it okay if I just talk to you right now? And God bless my mom. She's like, Oh, you had a nightmare. It's okay. Go back to sleep. But at least hearing her voice was so comforting. And then I went back to my bed and the voices continued. So what I did, I'm like, this is, doesn't feel good. It feels almost like something evil. I just didn't know that, that it was that at that point. But I started praying and praying and praying fervently praying. I'm like, Lord, take this away. I don't know what this is. Lord, bless me. I don't know what this is. I just started praying, not really knowing the Lord. I know I believed in God, but I didn't have an intimate relationship with God at that point. I wasn't even a born again person, at that point, I was a teenager. And so I started praying and praying and it went away. And that's when I started kind of believing a little bit more. I'm like, Oh, wow. So, if I could pray something off that's bothering me, I need to know more about this. So, that was a point in my life that changed a lot of things in my thinking. But, um, after high school. I transitioned into college. I said, okay, I'm going to be, I'm going to get out there. I'm going to be less shy. I'm going to be, doing all these different things. Now, you know, I'm going to join all these different clubs. I became a student ambassador. I started singing for those of you that know me, that didn't know that. I started singing. I sang it, it was like a, coffee cafe thing and I sang it a restaurant too. And I was just, participating in the talent show in college, like just being in the newsroom as a writer, I started doing these things because I just wanted to get up. You know, uncomfortable. Yeah. I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone and see what I noticed is that God was pushing me. That was his way of teaching me. You need to get uncomfortable in order for you to step into faith. See when you're in fear, You have to stay, step into faith because if you step into faith, there's no room for fear. Fear has to flee. And so I joined all these different things in college. Like a butterfly right from its cocoon, getting out of its cocoon. I started getting uncomfortable and I started doing things and, I loved it. I said, I need to continue doing these things more. I don't know how, but I'm just going to go at it. And so I started doing these things, but I knew that there was some, still some hurt in there. I had not addressed all of the different things that were really bothering me from my past. So at that point, then I went into, the workforce I got my first job and guess what? Things were not that pretty again. So at work, they made me feel really low. I was feeling depressive, because at that time, the one that led the company, he actually, cursed a lot and he was very,, kind of poor leadership skills with his employees. I was disappointed. I'm like, I need to do something because I'm getting depressive again. I don't know what's going on. There were times like, see, when you have a hurt, there were times when I would cry to my now hubby. He was my boyfriend back then, but I would cry to him. I'm like, I don't know why they're doing this to me. I just don't feel good. Like, am I that bad? I was putting the blame on me. Instead of, understanding that, no, that's a different viewpoint, or perhaps they have their own issues or their own filter, but I was putting it on myself. So there were things that were needed to get addressed. So fast forward. I get laid off after my second job. Actually, my first job I got laid off, the one that I was being depressive. My second job was a much more positive environment, but I got laid off again. And I said, okay, enough is enough. At that time, my father had been diagnosed with cancer. And so my sister had to go back to work. See how God is so good. My sister was taking care of my father for the first one and a half years. Then the second one and a half years, I stepped in when I got laid off from the job and I took care of my dad, but it was one of the most. traumatic, one of the most painful experiences because he was at the latter part of his sickness. So I had to be there for him. And in the meantime, girl, I was trying to like find mentors. I was trying to, uh, lead a nonprofit youth program as a director. Um, I had no funds, we came to a point that I'm like, no, I'm going to stick to helping my dad. I don't care what it takes. I don't want to have the regret of not being with him during his toughest, hardest parts of his time in his life. So, there were times, and some of them might not know this, but there were times when I was like, I'm still going to lead those youth because they have nobody that they could look up to. I'm not going to be that first person that's going to disappoint them in their life. So I continue with that program with like, not even having enough for the parking and still showing up for those ladies. There were times where I almost lost my car. It got repossessed. We almost lost our house. We sometimes had no money for milk. It got bad before it got better. So these, all these different things were happening. And in the meantime, I was trying to work on myself, seeking mentors, going to retreats, getting empowers in some sort of way, finding some. Type of faith group or something that I could relate to. But, God had a different plan. Unfortunately, my father passed away from cancer, but that's the moment that I took life by its horns. I said, no, I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to work in me and I'm going to be a voice, the voice that the enemy was trying to shut me up all this time. During all of my life, he tried to put my, my voice in silence. I said, no more, no more. And I'm going to do something about it. And I'm going to be that inspiration, that empowerment for other women that are going through some of the same things that I went through. I want to be that voice. I want to be, you know, that story of encouragement for somebody that could see themselves in me that might be even fighting the battle by themselves. Because of shame, they're not sharing it. They're not seeking help or whatever the case may be in your life. I don't know your life personally, but I do know that there's always hope. God is always there. He was always there, always there. And he pushed me and he got me uncomfortable because he wanted me to act. He wanted me to be brave. Yeah. And so My father passed away and then COVID came right shortly after that. COVID came and I made one of the best decisions in my life. I decided to start up Be Brave, Be You. So this is the women empowerment organization that we have now, uh, where we teach women to step outside of their comfort zone so that they could step into their God given purpose God has always been present. He's always given me the inspiration, the faith that I need, even in the times that I thought that I couldn't do it on my own. You know, there's struggles, right, that women go through and everybody, not only women, you know, men too. These are struggles that we go through that sometimes we think we're alone. And I started just seeking a ministry, finding someone that could help me, you know, finding a group that I could be a part of,, cause it does take a village. Yeah. It does take a village not only to raise a child, but also to be in community as a woman. It takes a village to build you up. You find strength not only in your church group perhaps, but you find strength in a community like our community where we help each other to empower each other, and raise them up. We build ourselves, even with other moms. Right? Like all these different things that are out there, I want to strongly urge someone that's watching this, like to say that you're not alone. You're not alone in this. And it's okay to be going through this because, healing is a journey. You always heal something. You always grow in something. The best things in life are on the other side of fear there. There's so much goodness that there exists when you. Seek God and push away the things that hurt you.

Ann: 21:54

And I just want to say that you being here is brave. Yes. You being here and sharing your story, it's being brave. It's being courageous because this is not an easy task to get before, a microphone and just share your heart, share your story, share the uncomfortable. Parts of your heart, in your life, it's never easy, but I, I truly believe that, even when we fear because fear is inevitable,, we are gonna face some scary situations in our lives. I just think about when I went to Colorado and I had to overlook the mountain, I was scared. I immediately, I thought if my foot slips, I'm gone. Right? That fear came in. But at the same time in the face of fear came courage to see, you know, I was before I took that look before I stepped forward, I was way in the back. I was like, I don't, I don't, I can't do that. I immediately, I told myself, I can't do that. But my husband said. Um, you don't know what you're missing out on. He's like, you have to see this

Lisba: 23:24

view. That's a good point. That's a good

Ann: 23:26

point. He said, you have to see this view because back there you can't see what I see. But when you see it, you're, it's just amazing. And I said, there was a struggle there. In my mind, I thought, man, I really want to see this. I came all the way here to Colorado. This is a once in a lifetime thing. I really want to see this God. So what I did, I held on to my husband's hand, right? I closed my eyes. He says, all right, you're, you're, you're at the ledge. You're here. He says, open them. And I opened my eyes. And what I saw was breathtaking and I was able to stay there and just look around with the courage, with bravery, doing something that I was so uncomfortable. When I'm telling you I was on, I can feel my heart racing inside of me. That's how it feels. But I had the courage to face that fear, and I was able to walk away with that breathtaking moment of seeing something that my eyes have never seen before. Um, and, and it was precious, and that encouraged me, and it inspired me to say, Ann, if you could do that, there's so much more where that courage came from. There's so much more there. That, you know, God says, be of great courage. Yes. Right? Fear not. Be of great courage. And he gives us that courage to face those scary things in our life, even within us. There's scary things within us, as you mentioned. Trauma, past hurts, past disappointments, abuse, there's so much that's scary within us. A lot of times it's like we want to do what I did, close our eyes, say no, no, no, but it's when we take time to process those scary things that have been in us. That we're able to courageously say, okay, I can work through them. I can face these things. God, you can begin to heal those areas in my life that I've been too scared to face that I've been too scared to acknowledge that I've been too scared, um, to even be honest with myself and with you, God. That I've been carrying all these years, years and years and years of it, layers and layers and layers of it that has been keeping me from being the woman that you've called me to be courageous, bold, sharing my story, getting my voice out there, not for me, but like you said, if it can help one person, Lord, then you're thankful. Use my voice to help one person, to encourage them, to bring hope to them, and to let them know, yes, it's scary, yes, fear will try to take over you, but God gives us courage. God gives us courage to face those fears beyond, beyond what we can even think or imagine. And let me

Lisba: 27:12

share something with you, um, if you don't take that bold step and you don't step away from fear, guess what? It starts to manifest itself physically within you. So one thing that I didn't share from, from my story. is that from building all that anxiety, all that fear inside of me, I developed a panic attack where I thought I was going to go to the hospital. I called hubby. I'm like, I don't know what's going on with me right now, but I think you have to take me to the hospital. It was so bad because I was building all that inside of me, not addressing it. So it's important to address it because it willed. develop into other things. I know, I don't know if there's enough studies about this, but I'm pretty sure like if you're holding something very, hurtful within you. And you're not addressing those feelings and that fear and those all those different past traumas that you talked about, it will develop into something I got to a point that I not only had a panic attack, but then later on, I had a Bell's palsy. And for those of you that don't know what a Bell's Palsy is, my left side of my face got completely paralyzed. That was a low point in my, in my life as well, where I'm like, I couldn't even drink water or eat because my, my mouth was droopy. I couldn't even sleep at night because I had to put like a little patch with tape on it. To make sure that my eyelid would close and I was able to sleep at night. These are the things that happen if you don't address these things. I mean, this is real. Just like how we work on our, on our outer selves, on our outside. We need to work in our inside as well. Your internal well being is very important. Thank God for the things that happened to me. I'm grateful for them because now I know that through all that pain, there's a purpose for that. I'm like, I would never believe that I would be at the point that I am now. And I'm not a I'm not even near to where I, I feel that God wants me to be at. I'm still a work in progress. Like you said, I'm still a work. We all are. We're not perfect. We're imperfectly perfect, right? I mean, there's so much in us that we still have to work on, but we have God and we're getting equipped and that's what we're teaching the women. We're getting them equipped to perhaps you're, you could deal better with things. Yeah. Amen. Amen. Each time, each milestone, celebrate that, each accomplishment, because change happens in small steps. If you got where you're at, and it was years in the making, yeah, don't expect an overnight success. It's going to take those small steps, but being consistent. And taking action. I started doing a little like mini podcast at one point because I just wanted to bring back that voice to other women. And I met a lady. Her name is Jacqueline Camacho. She's the one that encouraged me to really move forward with opening up Be Brave BU. And she invited me. She saw something in me. She invited me to be a published author to share my story. So I brought my book here and, I mean, it's amazing. I would never, like, how can a shy kid like me, right? That her voice was silenced for so many years. All of a sudden I'm speaking, all of a sudden I'm a life coach. All of a sudden, I'm an author. I mean, this is surreal. Like sometimes I, I don't even believe it. I'm like, Oh my God, you know, you have to have that moment of appreciation. Uh, but that's how good our God is. Yeah. He will be there when others are not there for you, lean on to God. He will place someone there for you to help you along the way because he placed a lot of women, a lot of, other people in my life. And they were all pouring into me. So don't expect overnight success and don't expect to make it alone. You could only go so far. But if you lean into God, if you lean into the community that builds you up, if you lean into those that support you and love you unconditionally, and there will be there for you. It makes such a difference. So I just kind of wanted to add that because it's so important to kind of voice that that it does affect you physically. I'm a testament of that. You know, I went through that several years ago. Yes. And I still have a little bit of the effects of that. I had to go through facial therapy. I had to go through acupuncture. I had to go through all these different things to get, to get myself kind of like, kind of back to normal. physically in my face. But you know, there's still kind of remnants of that. Yeah. Yeah. And it's okay. You know, God will heal you along the way. Yes. You know, he will place other things for you. So that's how it is also internally. Yeah, we're a work in progress.

Ann: 32:51

Hmm. I love that you mentioned the physical aspect, because it's true. What's happening on the inside will definitely affect us. Physically on the outside. Yes. And it's a lot of internal stress. Our body goes into fight or flight mode. Yes. And so immediately that attacks our nerves, our nervous system. And so, um, the facial Bell's palsy is the facial paralyzation. Those are the nerves that are being paralyzed. So that all comes from anxiety, fear, um, the nervous system is being overworked. Yes. And so now it starts to, like you said, it shows up. And it showed up in your face and it shows up in some people end up with GI issues, stomach issues. They end up, physically it affects you lack, I'm sorry, lack of sleep. Some people lose sleep where they have to take melatonin sleeping pills in order to rest their mind. And so I wanted to also talk about, with us being so. Uniquely created by God, all of us have different personality types. And I want to say this to that woman with personality type that can handle multitasking that You know, gets an adrenaline rush out of doing, doing, doing, there's some women that blow my mind because they are like, they're like Wonder Woman, they can do and they can tackle so much at one time, maybe. That's her comfort zone. Maybe being a workaholic. That's her comfort zone. That's where she's like, she's in her zone. So maybe the bold, courageous thing, the scary thing would be stepping out of her place of comfort and resting. And resting and learning to slow down. Learning to be present. Learning to quiet myself, learning to take those walks, learning to step away from the busyness of life can be scary, can be uncomfortable, can be paralyzing for some women because that's, that's the one thing that they can control is the busy is, is almost they think. they can control is that busyness of life. If I just stay busy, I'm, I'm good. If I just stay busy, I don't have to face the scary things in myself. If I just stay busy, I can avoid dealing with the problems I have at hand because I'm just so busy. So again, going back to the different personality types, let's go to the personality type is comfortable in, in being in, in a state of, you know, what? I'm not a multitasker. The way my mind works is I like to tackle one thing at a time, one thing at a time. And when I get comfortable, don't try to challenge me to do something more. Because if you challenge me to do something more, I'm going to freeze on you. And that's scary to me. So let me be and let me do my one thing at a time and let me do what's safe for me. Um, Because if you challenge me, then...,, I might go into anxiety mode because now you're asking me to do too much. It becomes too stressful. It becomes a burden. That's where that woman may need to take those baby steps as you mentioned, right? And that woman is me. Take those baby steps to the edge. Of that mountain, take those baby steps right in doing that thing that God's calling me to do that. I'm so afraid of doing right. That means maybe asking community. Hey. I need your help. I don't know. God's giving me this idea, this vision, but I don't know about how, how I can go about seeing it through, you know, and maybe I need that woman who knows how to multitask, who's, who's an expert at just organization and she knows how to nail it, you know? And so that's where I see that community, that networking. In helping one another where my weaknesses can somehow play as strengths to you and your weakness can somehow play as strengths to me. You know what I mean? That we can sharpen one an iron, another like iron sharpening iron, right? Where, where our weaknesses, right? Can compliment. each other and our strengths can complement each other, right? I think, I think that's where I see community plays a huge role where community isn't just women that are just like me. No, community is women that are different than me that have strengths that have, then we can embrace each other's differences where I can say, ah, I see her strength. And I don't have that. But maybe I can learn from her. Yes. Maybe she can encourage me. Maybe she knows how to go about things that I don't know how to go about. Right? Um, and embrace our differences., I think that that's huge in

Lisba: 38:43

community. It is huge. I'm grateful that you, brought that to the surface because it is very important. And let me tell you something. This is a lie from the devil. it's not that we're going to be completely fearless all the time. Even if we're afraid, we're going to be walking afraid, but still doing it afraid. Yes. It's doing it afraid because there's always a different level for each other, right? Like maybe my next level is going out and speaking to like a whole group of like a thousand people. That could be my next fear, right? You know, we all have levels of fear in our lives and it's okay. What's not okay is to stay

Ann: 39:23

there. Yeah. It shouldn't cripple you. It shouldn't cripple you. Yeah. Exactly. And if it does. That's a good thing because that's probably the thing that God's calling you to do, but you can't do it in your own strength. It's going to require his strength. Yes. It's going to require him leading you, guiding you and giving you that courage. So for me, Crippling fear. Let's just say fearful things, things that I consider scary, things that I consider out of my comfort zones. Maybe the very thing God is calling me to because, because now he's saying, I'm not calling you because I know you can do it because I know you got this. I'm calling you because you're going to need me to do this. You're not going to be able just to do it on your own strength. You're going to need me. You're going to need to prepare your heart. You're going to need to seek me. Pray to me. In order to get you to do this.

Lisba: 40:25

Yes, that's so powerful. And we come back to the story of, you know, David and Goliath. Everybody else did not see him as the person that would defeat Goliath, right? But God did, and he relied himself in God. He always had a heart for God. And so that's what I encourage you to do. Seek for a heart of God. Always seek him because if he sees you. You know, not giving up, relying on him. That's what he wants. Yes. God loves that. He loves making people that people see, you know, in society, the world sees people that could be like, Oh no, that's not her. She would never be doing that. I don't see her doing that. Yeah. But God does. Yes. So, you know, how rely on how God sees you, even when you don't see that for yourself. Yes. Yes. Rely on him. Sometimes, a small accomplishment could be like someone that's lifting you up. You know, rely on her strength, right? Maybe she's building you up. At that moment, maybe that's what you need. Until you could build your own strength, your own faith,

Ann: 41:43

right? And then you're able to build others up. Exactly. And you're able to walk alongside another woman and say, you know what? Someone held my arms when I couldn't. Yes. Somebody prayed for me when I couldn't. So now I'm going to walk alongside of you and I'm going to hold your arms and I'm going to pray for you. Right? Because that's what it's about. It's about loving one another, encouraging each other, and being able to speak into people, especially where they're vulnerable, especially where they're hurting, speaking live,, just speaking words of love and truth. Right? I also think listening to people when they're going through their situations, that plays a huge role in building someone up. Just listening to them because We need to make room for God to speak to them. We need to make room for God to minister to them, right? And if the Lord allows for the opportunity for us to speak into them, then we do so in obedience, but always to glorify God in speech and action and everything that we do. God wants to glorify himself. That's why he chooses the weak vessels. Yes. He doesn't choose someone who says, you know what? I got this. You know? No, he said he uses. People that say, God, you got this, but I'm going to do it in obedience to you, Lord. Right. He equips us and he prepares us what he, the Bible says that. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Yes. When we learn to humble ourselves, when we learn that my reliance and dependency is completely and only on you, God. I know that I cannot do this in and of myself, but I know because you call me daughter, because you call me yours, God, that I belong to you, God. I know that I can do. those things that you've called me to do because of who you are, Lord. And because of who you say that I am in you. Yeah, that's powerful.

Lisba: 43:54

It's just so true. And it's also important to note. that even if you're at a higher place than what you were before, still keep on seeking him. So keep on relying on him. don't feel ashamed if there's things that kind of get triggered or come up for you because you're in this healing journey. It's your story. It's your hurt. You know, you need to kind of build yourself up again. That's okay. Yes. You know, we're in this together. Um, and that's why I think, you know, community is so powerful because I could be like, Ann, I need prayer on this because I don't know how to do it. I just, I don't have the strength right now. I don't know where to go. It's okay to be at that place too and honor yourself, feel those emotions, but just don't stay there. Yes. That's the key. Don't stay there. If you continue and move on and seek the Lord, you'll find a way. He will show you the way. He will.

Ann: 44:55

One thing I love about God is that, when King David prayed, he said, my innermost being, God knows our innermost being. He knows what we're going through. He knows what we're feeling before we even feel it. Right. Before we, we even tell them about it. What he wants is honesty. You know, when we're going through something, being honest and saying, God, right now I am fearful. I am fearful. God, help me. Help me to be courageous. God, help me to take the bold steps that you want me to take, Lord. And I'm telling you that God hears us and he enables us. Through his Holy Spirit to do what we cannot do in our own strength, but one thing he wants is our honest cries. Yes. You know, our honest cries. I'm not okay. God. Today, I'm not okay. I'm I've been thinking and, and, and just toiling with my thoughts, God, I'm, I'm, I'm unrestful Lord, I need your help. There's been many nights. Right that I've gone right before bed, right before the Lord and said, God, I'm not okay. I'm not okay. This is what's happening God, but I give you, I lay my petitions before you Lord, and I ask you to give me peace as I rest tonight. And he's so good and gracious and he does, and sometimes I toil, sometimes I toss and I turn, but I'll tell you what. That I see him and I hear him even in the midst of that even in the midst of that It's he's doing something in me And so there are times where I need to get out of my own way and let God do what he needs to do in me He's teaching me and he's speaking to me just like he is to you constantly. He's constantly talking communicating with us loving us But he's also teaching us, like a father teaches his child. He also helps us. So that's really important. I love that you mentioned

Lisba: 47:03

that. Yes, and it's also important to always acknowledge it. I teach something that's called act. So acknowledge your fear, you know, confront your fear and then take action. So God wants us to not only when we recognize those things that are going, you know, within us also to, step into things with faith, even though you might be afraid, but also taking action. Take your own responsibility in things. So good. It is so important. You know, you have to take responsibility for yourself. You know, forgive those that hurt you. Forgive yourself, right? You know, be at peace. Know that God is going to be with you, right? Thank those people, because even though they might have hurt you, be grateful. And be thankful. because they were part of your journey and they made you stronger. I'm thankful for my mom, perhaps, you know, she didn't have the right words at that time, but I'm grateful because that's, that's how she, that's all she knew to do. We have to be grateful for those that are in our lives. Right now, my mom and I, we have a, a nice relationship. We called each other up. I say, I love you all the time to her. She says, I love you to me. You know, you know, it's important to be at that place where you're like, thank you mom for making me strong. Thank you such and such because I learned this from you and forgiving them, but honestly forgiving them because God cannot fully help you to heal and to be at the place that he wants you to be if you're still holding on to things. Unforgiveness, right? Let go and let God, we've heard that phrase a lot, but it is very true. You gotta let go. You gotta let those heavy burdens. It's almost like, you know, I like to use the analogy, dirty clothes, dirty clothes that we're carrying on our backs. We gotta let those go, get them cleaned, put them away. God has something new. and better for you. And even if it's an ongoing healing journey, be grateful for that because God will give you more if you're grateful for what you have now. We're not perfect people. We're a work in progress. And I hope that's the message that you guys are getting that even though I'm, I'm fearful, even though I might have baggage, even though I might have gone through this or that, there's always room for God to make you who he wants you to become.

Ann: 49:56

More like him. Yes. More like, more like Jesus Christ, and I want to say this, those times where we fail, when we miss the mark, when we let people down, when we let ourselves down, I want to say this, those are opportunities To really come to the Lord, honestly, and to say, God, I want you to use the situation to help me to be more like you, God, Lord Jesus, to humble myself, just like you did, right? To see things through your eyes, Lord, help me to turn this situation that right now, to me, seems like the end of the world, right? But to you, it's the perfect opportunity to. See you in it to see what you are doing in me through it, right? If you're in a place right now where you think, you know, this is the end of the world like I've messed up so bad I've ruined relationships so bad It's an opportunity to let Jesus Christ in that situation and have him have his way in you Because that's where the healing is When we're able to look at our weaknesses, when we're able to look at the areas where we struggle with sin and say, God, I want to invite you in this, God, help me, God, forgive me. Help me to turn to you, God, help me to see what you're doing, that you don't waste anything. You don't waste anything, God, but help me to turn away from the things that. Um, entangle me that sin that entangles me and help me to turn to you and sin is a big word. We don't, we don't use it a lot anymore, but sin is the one thing that separated us from God and it continues to do so now. But by the blood of Jesus, here's the good news, by the blood of Jesus, we have been cleansed. Our sins have been wiped away. Washed away, we have been made new in Christ because of the blood of Jesus. Our sins have been atoned for, paid for because of the blood of Jesus. Now we can come to the Lord and ask for forgiveness, repent, repent is another big word, means to turn away, turn away from that sinful way, right? And I know we weren't, we weren't heading into sin, but I don't know. Um, I was led to speak on that for whoever's listening right now. There is forgiveness for you. Accept God's forgiveness for you. You don't have to continue to live in shame and guilt. God loves you and he sent his one and only son for you.

Lisba: 53:06

Powerful. I felt that. I felt that. Praise God. Yes. It's so important, not to stay quiet. I stood quiet for quite a while and, there's power in your tongue. For good or bad. So use it for the good, but there's power in your tongue, right? You know, when you speak, Jesus cover me in your blood, the evil spirit has to walk away. I had gotten spiritually attacked, like I mentioned in my story, and I had to pray it off. And how powerful is God that even when just saying, Lord, cover me with your blood. In the name of Jesus, I rebuke the spirit, Eflis, that quick,

Ann: 53:56

because there's power in the name of Jesus.

Lisba: 53:58

Yes. So, so that's powerful. We are made in the image of God. And sometimes we don't. with that authority and that power that God has given to us already. So I encourage you to be brave. Uh huh. Lisva,

Ann: 54:18

I love what you're doing in your community. It's amazing. Can you tell me again the name and where people can find you

Lisba: 54:29

yes Yes, the name of it is be brave be you and we actually have a logo You'll see the logo, but the logo is like a little circle in the middle is your comfort zone and then outside of that So, we are called not to stay within our comfort, but constantly be bold enough and be brave enough to spread our wings and fly, fly towards what God is, calling you. And then there's like that fun, enjoy the journey. I like to say, fall in love with the process, fall in love with your journey, because if you fall in love with the destination, it's never going to be enough. Oh, let me give you an example. Oh, once I, I reach. a million dollars, I'll be happy. Or once I lose all this weight, I'll be happy. Once I, forgive my so and so I'll be happy. No, it doesn't work that way. It's never enough. It's never enough. So fall in love. with the process, God wants you to go through the process so that you could rely on him and not only on yourself, right? So the logo is the circle and we encourage women to, step out of that circle, open up their arms and spread their wings and fly to be brave, be you. So you could find us at be brave, the letter B and then Y O U. com. Okay. And I think I could probably give you the link so that you could share with everybody. But yeah, that's, that's our website. And if you connect with me on Facebook, I'm listed as Liz Baromo hyphen Martinez and connect up with me on Facebook and I'll send you an invite. To our group page, which is Be Brave and Get Uncomfortable, which is where we have, different programs and we have challenges all the time.

Ann: 56:31

I love your challenges. I'm going to have to take you up on one of

Lisba: 56:34

those. Yeah. Well actually, Be Brave, Be You, before I even started with Be Brave, Be You, I challenged myself to face my fears for 10 days. And I went live on Facebook with, yeah, so, so imagine, that could be embarrassing. If you think about it, I was showing like,

Ann: 56:53

I don't like to do lies. A couple of people have told me you should do some lives and I don't know, there's something powerful though. I get nervous and I'm like, no, I'm, I'm not, I'm not a live person, but. Who knows, that might be a challenge for me this year.

Lisba: 57:09

Yeah, so there's something powerful about going live because it puts you in an uncomfortable place. Absolutely.

Ann: 57:16

For me, for

Lisba: 57:17

me it's very uncomfortable. And then you rely on what God is telling you to do in that moment. Yeah. So there's something powerful in that. Yeah. So I did it for 10 days. And every day, uh, each challenge was harder than the one before. So I showed pictures of my high school pictures, you know, that were so uncomfortable. I'm like, Oh my God, I don't like how I look in here. You know, like I was showing, like I was singing and some of my challenges, like things that I was uncomfortable doing. Yeah. And each day they got. More challenging, but every time that I did a challenge and I got more uncomfortable, even if I was afraid, I got more comfortable with the uncomfortable, right?

Ann: 57:59

Yeah, that's been for the podcast for me. this was very uncomfortable for me to do., but something about, engaging someone in a conversation, I enjoy that. And I think that's the difference between the live where it's just you talking and the podcast where I'm able to have an actual conversation with someone. So I think that's what the difference is for me.

Lisba: 58:21

Yes. Yes. And so, it's so powerful. I love challenges. Uh huh. Um, and even though they might get uncomfortable sometime, I know that it's for something good. Something good is going to turn out of this challenge.

Ann: 58:35

So tell us a little bit about this

Lisba: 58:36

book. So this book, uh, so I was invited to be one of the co authors. My little picture is over here. So it's today, today's Inspire Latina. It's volume eight. And so it says life stories of success and the face of adversity. So, uh, all these women have gone through adversity.

Ann: 58:58

Yes. I want to, I want to kind of bring it up close. So you all can see it here and you can purchase it on Amazon? They could

Lisba: 59:06

actually purchase it, uh, I'm going to be building it out on my website. Okay. Um, and I want to try and give it at a lower cost, you know, on my website, but right now if you want a copy of the book, it is on Amazon.

Ann: 59:21

Okay. Yes. So here you go. This is it. Or you can wait until she posts her link and then you can purchase directly from her website. Um, but yeah, I'm excited to read it myself and this is her gift. She's gifted me with this wonderful copy and I can't wait to read it and read all about the women that are in here. Today's Inspired Latina, I'm Latina for those of you who don't know, but it just blesses my heart to see. How, Latina women are being used in our society, that their gifts are being, acknowledged, right? And that they're able to use their gifts to change their communities, to change their families. Yes. The trajectory of, their spheres, that's so important. Right. And so thank you. Thank you for this.

Lisba: 1:00:12

Absolutely. I think the gift of knowledge is awesome. You know, whenever you could give the gift of knowledge to, somebody, I think it's really beautiful, especially if they're pouring their hearts and they're showing their personal story and they're, they're being a voice for someone else. I think it's. So unique and powerful. And I'm just blessed. I just feel blessed right now in my life. I feel grateful to be surrounded with people. There's moments when I cry and I cannot even believe it. I mean, this thing is real. Yeah. Right. Like what you're doing here, this, these are true life stories.

Ann: 1:00:51

I thank you for sharing this book, but I also, I love that your story is included in here. Um I love what God's doing in your life. And the way you're helping women, to see themselves, perhaps in a way that they never seen themselves before, as brave, as courageous. And I believe that that's how the Lord wants us to see us because it's all throughout the Bible. Be courageous, right? The apostle Paul prays and he asked for prayer. He says, that I would be bold., and so I think it's really important that we take those opportunities, those scary opportunities, right? As an opportunity to be bold, to be courageous, to step out of our comfort zone and into what Only God can help us with only God can be glorified through. Right. Lisa, it's been such a wonderful conversation with you. I'm so grateful to have met you in person and have gotten to know you. I definitely want to continue to work with you, in the future. I do believe that there may be some future planning together. just because I love what you're doing and, I need it personally. I need to be encouraged in that way to step out of my comfort zone. And that's something that I believe that I'm been revisiting in my life continually. And I know that that's where God's working in me in that area. And he'll

Lisba: 1:02:22

let you know when there's something that, you know, he wants you to do, he'll push you and you're so uncomfortable. I'm like, but Lord, I don't really like this. I don't feel comfortable with this person. I don't really, I'm not too fond of this project, you know, whatever it might be, but he's, he's pushing you.

Ann: 1:02:41

I am where I am right now. You know, I work at a homeless shelter, a Christian homeless shelter, Serving there now because I was trying to be courageous and step out of my comfort zone. It was very scary I was even told, when I was interviewed that. this is not going to be peaches and flowers and rainbows, you are going to walk into spiritual warfare and a battleground. And, I was scared. I was like, Lord,, can I just retire somewhere like where, where it's so beautiful and the sun shining and, and he's like, I got work for you to do girl. Wow. And, and so I, I said, okay, God, not in my own strength because I'm scared, but in your strength God. I'm going to answer the call and I'm there and I see the Lord. I see the courage that he gives me. I see, the strength that he gives me, how he equips me for his glory so that we can be his hands and his feet wherever he calls us to. It's always for him and his glory. And that's where we have to step aside and say, God, your glory, you be glorified. You be magnified in this. So I definitely, I hear what you're saying. And I believe like right now I'm walking in that. That's my testimony right now. Yeah.

Lisba: 1:04:18

And there's no mistake, um, that in the Bible, uh, the topic of fear is talked about 365 days out of the year. So there's 365 fear Bible verses. And there's no mistake to that because we're supposed to be walking even in fear. We're supposed to be still doing things.

Ann: 1:04:41

Yes, thank you. So, any last words for our listeners?

Lisba: 1:04:48

So I would leave you with this message. I encourage you to do it even afraid. Be brave. Be you, but also know that God will give you the strength that you need. Even when you don't have the strength, he will be there for you. Don't silence yourself. If you have something that God is calling you to do, something that makes you even uncomfortable, guess what? He wants you to go on to your next calling that God has for you. So don't ignore that. And if you need that strength and that encouragement, that empowerment, that's why there's community. God has given us the community of sisterhood to be able to build each other up, to have those strengths that perhaps sometimes we might not have those strengths, right? But we use each other to build each other up. It's like a stairway. Right? You know, someone up on top that has a strength that you don't have might be lending a helping arm for you when you need to take that other bold step, right? So keep on reaching those steps, keep on climbing those steps, and so I encourage you all. I'm going to be, doing our leadership coaching program. It's called the 90 days to brave warrior hands. I have my t shirt here, brave warrior queens, because we call ourselves the brave warrior queens, not because we're divas or anything that the world's might kind of teach you about being a queen. No, this is the queen. of the Lord. We're daughters of the king. So we call ourselves brave warriors because warrior, when you think about the word warrior, we're fighting and being equipped to fight off those battles that Jesus has already won the battle for us, first of all, but we're at least equipped to fight those battles that are coming against us, right? Those evil forces, that supernatural that we don't see. And the natural. So if you need that being equipped with those tools, if you need that encouragement, if you need that ministry, because we also call ourselves a ministry too, because every teaching, talks about God. So if you need that, I encourage you to check us out and uh, we'll, I'm looking for women that are being brave. Right? Give yourself that opportunity because you are the daughter of the king and he wants you to become everything that he has destined you to be.

Ann: 1:07:24

Thank you so much this spot. I appreciate you taking the time to come and do this podcast and share your story and encourage the listeners not only encourage them but empower them and equip them so I thank you for that. thank you all for tuning in for all your support. You can find me on Spotify, Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, also on Facebook and Instagram thank

Lisba: 1:07:51

you. Thank you for having me. I'm so honored and humbled and blessed to be here.

Ann: 1:07:56

You are so welcome. And to my listeners, thank you all and stay tuned for the next episode of Her Scars Tell a Story.