What if the season you’re waiting to get through is actually the season God is using to prepare you?
In this episode of Not Just Waiting, I’m joined by Athena Newell, a wife, mom of three, family nurse practitioner, and owner of a functional medicine and movement practice in Charleston, South Carolina.
Athena shares the story of how God slowly changed her heart about leaving a job and a life she loved in Atlanta, ultimately leading her and her family to move to Charleston. What started as a difficult step of obedience eventually opened doors she couldn’t have seen from the beginning—including new opportunities in business and leadership.
But this conversation isn’t really about figuring out God’s plan. It’s about learning to trust Him when you can’t see the plan yet.
We talk about what surrender and obedience actually look like in real life, how God forms our character through difficult seasons, and why sometimes we have to walk through the hard before we understand what He was doing.
We also talk about something so many of us struggle with: carrying responsibility that was never ours to carry.
Athena shares how she learned to set boundaries around the outcomes she couldn’t control in her work and stop riding the emotional roller coaster of trying to make everything turn out right. Together, we talk about creating emotional margin, making space for God to work, and remembering that we are not the Lord.
If you’re in a season of waiting, uncertainty, transition, or becoming, I think this conversation will remind you that your life is not on pause. God may be doing more in you than you can see right now.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Surrendering something you love to God
- What obedience can actually look like in everyday life
- Trusting God when you don’t know what comes next
- How difficult seasons form our character
- Learning to release outcomes we cannot control
- Setting healthy boundaries without guilt
- Creating emotional margin for what God wants to do next
- Recognizing that you may be on the path to the plan—not at the plan yet
Find Athena Newell:
- Instagram: Athena Newell FNP
- STAT Wellness Charleston: Functional medicine, movement, and telehealth consultations
If this episode encouraged you, share it with a friend who is learning to trust God in the middle of her own becoming.
