9 to 5 Faith Podcast: Episode 09

Paige C. Clark 00:02
All right, hello everyone happy. Whatever day you’re listening this on this will be released on a Saturday. So if you’re listening to it on a Saturday, happy Saturday, I’m here with my friend DeeDee. How’re you doing today?

DeeDee Lake 00:16
I am doing really well. I’m tickled to be here with you.

Paige C. Clark 00:19
I’m so excited. I’m excited that this can happen today and that all the stars aligned and we were able to talk about life and military life and how to fit God into all of that. And I’m just I’m so excited for this conversation. Me too. Me too. And you’re like continuing kind of the theme of your life of moving a whole lot. And you just moved and you’re in a brand new house right now. So that’s exciting.

DeeDee Lake 00:48
There, we decided that we wanted to, we live in Colorado Springs area and wanted to come down and spend some time over the last eight, nine years we’ve been doing that to spend time with their grandkids in San Antonio. So we’ve got a year we’ve been looking for property, couldn’t find it went home back to Colorado. And within three weeks, we saw a house and bought it down here in Burnie so yeah, it’s pretty like, oh my gosh, so yes, exactly like the military life for you.

Paige C. Clark 01:14
All crazy. So can you tell our listeners a little bit about you?

DeeDee Lake 01:19
So I’ve been married almost 40 years, I have two adopted children. They’re adults now both married and providing grandbabies doing exactly what they’re supposed to. And then I grew up as a Navy brat and was an army wife. So Army Navy Day football game, not a good day in our house. Since I’ve been an army wife longer than a navy brat, I decided to go army.

Paige C. Clark 01:45
Very good. And are you still living the military life or since retired?

DeeDee Lake 01:51
We are retired, but it’s still a military life. Like you’d never quite get away from it. Just using this new neighborhood. We almost all of our neighbors are retired military. So we have that in common. And so it gives you that bond, no matter where you go, you know?

Paige C. Clark 02:07
That’s really nice. Yeah, for sure. And what do you do for like your regular nine to five,

DeeDee Lake 02:13
so my regular nine to five, I have three different jobs. And that all of them pay well. Fine. So a wedding officiant in Colorado and love that I actually did 40 weddings in 13 months. Wow. Figure it out and loved it every minute of it. Because it’s so neat to be able to see the people’s faces like I have the best seat in the house. I didn’t know I right there. You know, like when He winks at her or she smiles or whatever. It’s like, I’m right there. So it’s so much fun to do those. And then I’m a writer and speaker. So I’ve written a couple of books. And then also I work for a Christian publishing house crossover media, and I am their author, relations coordinator. That means I am the cheerleader for the authors. I hold their hand through the about two year process of, you know, from beginning of manuscript to getting it to the market.

Paige C. Clark 03:02
Oh, that’s awesome. And like, as you’re describing those things, I just like, sing like yep, that that fits. Yeah, that sounds that sounds just about right for you and your personality, and just the energy that you’re exuding. It feels you know, just about right?

DeeDee Lake 03:20
Every job I’ve ever had had something to do with chatty now. I don’t know if it was in the actual job description, or if I just kind of made it about chatting, but yeah, and connecting. That’s my my heart is about connecting.

Paige C. Clark 03:32
Yeah. As StrengthsFinder Are you connector?

DeeDee Lake 03:36
Yes, actually. Yep. Whoo. But I’m gonna find out. I was not aware. I was quite disappointed. But then I realized, no, that wasn’t my strength.

Paige C. Clark 03:45
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So take us through a little bit of like, what your day to day life looks like and how, how do you incorporate your faith into your daily work and what that looks like, and even in the military? Talk a little bit about that. And like what I mean, y’all move a lot.

DeeDee Lake 04:10
Actually, this is our 51st house I live in. I’ve lived in 50. And so I’ve moved around a little bit more than a lot of people did. But yeah, it was quite a bit. So day to day. So I grew up in nonbeliever, and my parents didn’t go to church, they they had both grown up in the church, but didn’t really share that with us. And I think part of that problem was because we were military, it was hard for them to get connected. It really is. If you’re intentional about it. It doesn’t just sort of happen. You know, I think that way was everyone but especially the military because you every two, three years you’re moving you know, or three or four years. And so it’s hard to get some people have a hard time getting connected. And that was my case, I think with my parents and then for me, once I married my husband, we were believers and so we always that was like our first thing that we will Look forward to like, you get your orders and or your say you might be going someplace you look online or you, you know, call people, Hey, do you know somebody there? So for that, that was important, you have to do it that way. But as far as putting things in my daily life, I work for a Christian organization, I write Christian things. The only part that really isn’t is I married people that aren’t, aren’t Christian believers. And they know though that my faith and so it’s kind of neat, because a lot of times will ask me questions, it gives me an opportunity to say, you know, we’ve been married almost 40 years, and this is why it works. And we have a great marriage, my husband stuff. And so it’s kind of neat to have that as an example to be able to kind of lead into talking about God.

Paige C. Clark 05:41
Yeah, my gosh, and I could go on a separate rampage about like, how much easier marriage is when you are both believers and stepping into that, because it just makes things a lot easier and a lot more centered, because you’re going for the same thing. When you’re married to another believer, so yeah, definitely.

DeeDee Lake 06:03
We, a lot of the people, not a lot, about a third of the people that I marry are not believers, or not strong believers. And so funny because I still pray for him pray over them, you know, not without their knowledge as to whoever I want to know. So I at home, I write for them and their relationship. And I have a goal that none of the people that I officiate will ever be separated. So that’s my I don’t know if they will, because I don’t get in touch with them. But that’s my hope.

Paige C. Clark 06:29
That’s beautiful. So tell me a little bit about your, your job of working as author relations.

DeeDee Lake 06:39
What’s the title, the author, relations coordinator coordinator,

Paige C. Clark 06:42
I was gonna say, coordinator, but I like author relations coordinator. And you said you work for a Christian organization, how much is your faith intertwined, and like your ability to practice and like Minister your faith in that?

DeeDee Lake 06:58
So I work, my job was created just for me. I met Tamra climber who is the publisher for and she’s the one who started the company. There’s only three of us actually, that work for the company. And we’re all in three different different states. We have an editor Deb Butterfield, and then Tammy. So I met Tammy at a Christian writers conference one year and we just connected we both are adopted moms, and you know, just all these different stories. And so the next year when I saw her mean that she was on my heart all year long, so I thought, You know what, when I see her next time, I’m gonna ask her a question. So we’re sitting around the fireplace, and I said, Hey, can I Is there something I could do that i where we could work together, you don’t mean necessarily should have to pay me I just wanted to be in relationship, you know, rounder, because I just loved what she did. And so she thought about it, she was like, okay, you know, she came up with this author relations, because she really needed somebody to, you know, to connect with them. And that’s how my faith really worked for me in my job is because I am a strong believer in pretty much every thing I say, has something to do with being about the Lord or, you know, every conversation somehow or another gets brought around to that. And it’s great to be able to just been encouraged or you know, sometimes, well, not sometimes writing is a very lonely job, you know, and so I’ve gotten off, there’s a lot of them are very introverted. To start with. That’s I one of the weird ones is an extrovert. But basically, you’re either a writer that learns that has to learn to speak to promote your book, or you’re a speaker first, and then you have to write a book, so you can get contracts. That’s been, um, the second one, so I was. And so which is good, though, because I encouraged the ladies I’m able to pray with them. I always pray with them. It just, you know, I check in with him, you know, it’s like, Hey, how’s life going? And and so those whole conversations are just like, sitting down having coffee with your friend, you know, your, your Christian believer, friend. And they’re all at different levels. Some of them are really strong Christian, some are, you know, newer. And so it’s kind of neat, just to be able to mentor them. Really? Yeah. They call myself the writer, Wrangler, because, you know, I lived in Colorado, so a good writer, but they’re like, yeah, no.

Paige C. Clark 09:04
needs to be a little bit more formal than that. Yeah, exactly. And I probably fall into the small like, 1% of authors who are actually very extroverted. I’m right there with you. So I feel that and I think also, it might depend on like, what genre you write in, because I found this might be stereotyping, but I found fiction authors to be a little bit more introspective, and then nonfiction authors to be a little bit more out there.

DeeDee Lake 09:37
Yeah, yeah. Definitely. I write both. So I’m kind of like, you know, a little double brained or whatever. But yeah.

Paige C. Clark 09:45
So when you were in the military and traveling around you said that, you know, you were making, finding kind of a faith community a priority. What did that look like for you and how did you, you know, kind of first temporary season find your people. Yeah.

DeeDee Lake 10:03
So one, one thing that always that we did was we never looked at it as temporary. Because we know where we’re all going, you know. And so I get to see him up in heaven, we’ll get to celebrate and you know, laugh and joke, I think, I don’t know if we’ll get the laugh and joke, but that’s my extroverted mind, that’s what we’re gonna be doing is having fun. But we always looked at it as like, we’re planting roots as quick as we can. Just really putting ourselves in those positions. And in places where you could meet people, you’re gonna be like, most people are not gonna come knock on your door, go, Hey, I’m a believer, I want to love on you. We can, like, it doesn’t normally happen. It could. But so we just always, yeah, we met our neighbors, we would go to different activities like community activities. And I think as a believer, you’re kind of drawn to other believers, you know, like, there’s that presence about them. That’s like, oh, okay, they have something different. So that was one, I think a big thing was that we always made it as a permanent situation. And you know, because you don’t know. And I have friends from my best friend, when we were in junior high seventh grade, we’re still friends, I still go visit or, you know, we hang out, we talk to each other. So that’s really, you know, kind of fun, especially now with Facebook and on social media that Yeah, I mean, a lot easier.

Paige C. Clark 11:19
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And did you find it easier to relate or connect with other military, Christian families? Or did you have to kind of step outside of that military community? And then go find kind of some, some church community within that?

DeeDee Lake 11:39
That’s a really great question. So the military, when we first went in, you know, it was a while back and didn’t really have the support system that they have. Now, you know, they really support Army family team building, they’ve got, you know, small groups and stuff like that board. But what I kind of found was that there was a lot of negativity in that part, I even say that, but it’s true, you know, there’s some unhappy people in the world, they don’t like the changes, they don’t like their husbands, you know, leaving and those kinds of things. So I kind of avoided those, purposely I went, I would always go like one or two times. So they knew my face, they knew who I was. And then I looked at my church as my support and, and that really makes a difference, because then it does give you some time to be outside of the military stress, because that sounds very stressful. Even if you’re not changing, you know, somebody that is, you know, like, they’re very young, possibly deployed all those things. And not to the civilian world doesn’t have those same kind of stresses. But it just gives you a moment to be away, you know, to connect and be like, Okay, this is real life, you know, the military. So we would usually go to church, outside of the church outside of the pose.

Paige C. Clark 12:50
Yeah. And, and what was the best thing that the church did for you in kind of the situation that you found yourself in?

DeeDee Lake 13:02
So my husband, I were married seven years and couldn’t have children. We both knew that. So it wasn’t a surprise or anything. But we got to Panama. And I just knew that that when we were in Korea first, and I felt like God just said, I’ve got a baby for you. I felt it so strongly that I thought, well, this is a little, you know, perky. But I walked out church that day, I’m thinking, where’s my baby? Like? You said, I’m gonna have a baby, right? nine to nine, what’s one fix to make one of those. So our next duty station was Panama’s six weeks after we got there. They, we told everybody that we wanted to adopt that we would meet all the strangers that we knew, because that’s what the advice we’ve been given. And so we went there. And in six hours notice we got our daughter, the missionaries brought her Yeah, it was pretty cool. And so the church stepping in and just really mentoring is because now I’m a new mom, and really had no concept of what to do with the baby. Like, all that time. I was like, No, I don’t want to baby I don’t want to have children. God, you’re you’re great. You brought me this man. And I can’t have children. We’re all good, right? And God changed the terms. Or at least he finally revealed them to be a mom. So we had a four month old little girl that we adopted and just the church was our family. We really saw how, how God develops a Church, His Bride to be a family. Yeah.

Paige C. Clark 14:22
And I like for some reason, my brain just got stuck into this idea of like, having orders domestically. And like you said, Panama, like, Yeah, you had orders internationally, which I think poses an additional layer of complexity over it.

DeeDee Lake 14:43
Yeah, it definitely did. But it was also easier. You know, in Panama, adopting a baby was at that time we were talking about 32 years ago, so I just want my daughter’s age. But so it wasn’t so hard like it is in the States, but both of our adopted we adopted a son later when we were in the States and we joke around because he was from New York City. And we say that’s our other foreign country that we adopted from we were in Alabama at the time. So that’s where, again, though, that was our military connections that allowed us to know that this baby was available in New York. Yeah, yeah. That’s pretty cool.

Paige C. Clark 15:17
Wow, that’s incredible. But also like getting connected to the church community. And in foreign countries, it looks a little bit different.

DeeDee Lake 15:27
It does. It’s actually easier. Okay. Yes. And the reason I say that is that here in the States, we tend to our faith is just sort of, you know, part of who we are, you know, it’s like a, I call it, it’s more situational. It’s not a relationship, you know, so much, like, especially if you’re in the south, you’re just kind of expected to go to church, but you’re not except expected necessarily to live all for God and to, you know, be black and white about it, basically. But so like, we’re a Panama, there was so much stuff that like voodoo, and all that kind of stuff that was around. So it’s very easy to see that spiritual battle going on, that we I think that Satan here in the States kind of softens it, or makes us feel like it’s often but it’s not. So very, like you’re either for the Lord or you’re not in Panama is what? Yeah. And Korea the same way. So that was that wow, experience.

Paige C. Clark 16:21
That’s incredible. And also, I’ve heard that South Korea has like one of the largest Christian populations to in the world now. Yeah, yeah.

DeeDee Lake 16:34
I got to go, I can’t remember the name of the church. But that church that’s like, you know, 1000s of people that go to it, I actually got to go, our choir was invited from the chapel, because that’s how we’re going to the chapel. And we got to go there. And I didn’t really know anything about the church. This was before you get to google anything. And so we show up, and there’s like, 1620 of us, whatever, in this little choir. And we’re sitting there and all of a sudden, as we’re singing this choir of angels, we’re like, oh, my gosh, so by, and finally, I’m like, Oh, they’re right behind us. There’s like 100 and something people back behind this. So they were just enjoying the service. But yeah, it was fun. Because it was like, God to heaven. So yeah.

Paige C. Clark 17:17
That’s too funny. So kind of bringing it back to the present. What? How do you make sure that you find your one on one time with God? So your wife, a mom, a grandma, you know, you’re moving you have all these fun? Kind of? I don’t want to call them side hustles? Because they are, they are but also it doesn’t feel like that you have you have all these other projects that that are going on? How do you make sure that you find your one on one time with God and like you’re able to like cultivate your faith in that way?

DeeDee Lake 17:55
Well, there’s a couple of things I tried to. So I listen to the word like when I go to sleep, I just put it on and I fell asleep to the word which is really cool to be able to do that. And being an empty nester, now, it’s pretty easy, I can do it whenever I want, you know, and having my schedule that I have, I’m able to say, You know what, I’m gonna do this from eight to nine. But back when I did have children at home, they knew if they came in the room and saw me with my Bible open, you know that it was like, that was my time. And also, one of the things I really recommend people do is create a space that is a cozy space, we did that in every single house we were at. And the cozy space was where we’d have conversations with the kids that maybe were pretty strong, or you know, emotional. But it was also the place it was a cuddle spot. And it was a place that we are myself but sit and read the Word. And so that was my time to be with the Lord. So that for me, I think creating the space makes you when you walk by it, you’re like, oh, I’ll just to be sitting there and remind you without being harsh, you know, it’s like, oh, yeah, let’s let’s go in there and spend some time with the Lord.

Paige C. Clark 19:00
Yeah. So tell me about this cozy space. Like, what isn’t it? Like, how did you start it because I’m also thinking like, everyone listening is like, I want a cozy space.

DeeDee Lake 19:11
No, everyone should have a cozy space is that place that’s not in the middle of everything that you can get quiet in. It’s usually a place that has really beautiful sunlight in it. It’s not too hot, not too cold. It’s just that beautiful place and you make it beautiful with a soft light, a cozy chair that you want to or we always had a loveseat because or, or oversize when like a chair that like two or three people could sit in was supposed to be a chair. And I always made sure I got one of those or had one in that it’s basically a corner. Yeah, like picked up about your prayer closet. This was my corner that I asked. And I would do that no matter where we’re at. And, um, I am noticing that my kids are starting to create those two, which I think is really cool.

Paige C. Clark 19:54
That’s beautiful. Yeah, I have. I have this chair in my office and it Funny enough, my husband calls it my pouting chair. So like, when I’m angry, I like go sit in this chair, like I’m putting myself in timeout. But it’s also like the most is one of those chairs that’s big enough that you can tuck your legs up in, and, like still comfortably sit in it. And so I’m like, that would be the chair that would go in my cozy space.

DeeDee Lake 20:21
So typically, I’d have a nice light that I can, you know, see my Bible, you know, with, but also not glaring. So it’s just, it really keeps it in that cozy sort of, you know, Coffee House sort of feeling, you know, I have those couches and stuff. And then usually a table so I can make sure I have my coffee, you know, better. So yeah, that was what we did.

Paige C. Clark 20:42
And I found to like, when I’m creating spaces, or environments, like that, kind of having everything set up in like a state of permanency in that place. That way, when you’re sitting there, I’m like, also, like, I have shiny object syndrome. So like, I’m like, if I need to get up to go get like a pen or something, I might get distracted by something else and go off on a tangent and then like, lose my spot. So like having that having a place that’s kind of like prepared for what you’re doing?

DeeDee Lake 21:14
Well, our body has like those memories of you know, or, I’m not sure how muscleman memory, you know, basically. So like my office that I have that I write in, I speak, you know, do things like this. That’s all I do in there, I don’t play games on my computer in there, I only work in that space. And so when I go in there, my body is ready to be or my mind or whatever is ready to be like, Okay, it’s time to work. The same thing with the cozy spot. When I sit in the cozy spot. It’s like, okay, this is time to unplug it, you know, just relax here. And what’s nice about that, too, is if you do that, it teaches your children like, Oh, I’m in this space, this is my cozy spot. This is my quiet place, you know, so to get quiet with your spirit, not why like you still talk but Right. And it really trains them that way. I think a lot of moms, especially young moms have a hard time with their children, teaching them that and you just have to I mean, that’s just something and you’ll be glad that you did you. Were here this is you know, kind of like the library. But yeah,

Paige C. Clark 22:15
yeah, I love that. I love that. So you have your cozy space, and you kind of have your routine. And I think that working from home because you work remote, I work remote to for my job. I think it adds a layer of simplicity and complexity. At the same time. When it comes to our routine and our rhythms through throughout our life. It’s very easy to get sucked into things on off hours. And it’s very easy to get distracted by things on on hours. So how do you balance that for yourself?

DeeDee Lake 22:52
I put it on my schedule. Definitely I put it on the schedule. I’m not like super strict about it. But I once heard, I think it was a pastor was talking about like, we put all these different things in our schedule, work, a doctor’s appointment, whatever. But the most important thing is our relationship with price. And we never put it on the schedule. So he said the first thing you do just like you tied, you know, with your money, slides with your time. So when you’re gonna say okay, this is what we’re doing next week. The first thing is, I go to church, or I’m going to spend my quiet time at this time. And then again, it goes back to that muscle memory that says you know what, this is my routine. This is what my body feels good when I when I do this. Not all like who do duty, whatever you don’t say, naturally, that’s who we are. We feel better when our the Lord. So putting out my schedule really makes a difference. And also being in a Bible study keeps me accountable. I like that when I’m going to Bible study, I noticed that I’m better at it when I have, you know, other ladies that I’m going to meet with and be like, oh, yeah, they’re gonna be like, So how was your week? Ah, you don’t sit down and spend time with it. I can almost guarantee you is a crazy week for you. But even if everything’s going crazy, and you split time with the Lord, your your day just doesn’t feel is out of control.

Paige C. Clark 24:05
Yeah, yeah. And I also even like, you know, second and third that accountability piece because like, even even with my husband, I we don’t do it every night. But like, every now and then at the end of the day, he’ll be like, how did you see God move in your life today? And I’m like, did I even pay attention to God today? Like, Yeah, real talk. Like that’s a real life sometimes. And it’s, you know, having that accountability is like a gut check of like, ooh, like, did I even like talk to God? Did he even like, did I even consider him today in the midst of everything else that was going on?

DeeDee Lake 24:43
I think to the more you mature in your face, it becomes such a natural routine for you that yeah, like I was saying about every conversation I have somehow another turns around to God or you know, and I don’t do it on purpose. I mean, just just who I am. Just do what God says what you put in come Without and so that makes a difference. And eventually people will stop wanting to talk to you about anything but the Lord. So like, Okay.

Paige C. Clark 25:08
Absolutely, absolutely. And, and I think too, there’s a lot of shame and maybe stigma over the need to schedule him these things. And I think that we have to, as a culture accept the fact that we are far we have a lot of stimulus happening more than other generations and cultures that came before us.

DeeDee Lake 25:36
Absolutely. I always say that being a mom or dad today is way harder than when my kids were younger. I mean, I admire anybody that does it well, because, I mean, you got the whole world of fighting against you wanting to come into your home and, and, and their friends and their family. I mean, we have problems a little bit when our kids were in high school, that, you know, we raised them a certain way, and they would go to a friend’s house that was a Christian home, but they just weren’t as strong in their faith, maybe, or maybe didn’t implement it as much, you know, and right. And so, you know, there’s some criticism, but we’re like, you know, what, we’re gonna do what we’re gonna do. Our son was funny, he would get mad at us, because we would let him go to parties where they were drinking. Yeah, in high school, you know? And yeah, yeah, he would always Yeah, they’re gonna be drinking. So like, why would we let you go? Right. But now as an adult, he’s like, oh, yeah, that was, that was really good. I’m glad you guys watched out for me, you know, I’m just having to that accountability, I was gonna say that, we want to make sure that we’re giving grace to, you know, whenever anybody’s struggling. And remember, there are seasons, I remember when my babies were little. And our son was, he was like, 10. And one. I mean, he just was active. And people were funny, they would come up to me and say, Oh, he’s so busy. I’m like,

Paige C. Clark 26:55
I didn’t notice. Like the frazzled,

DeeDee Lake 26:58
I would get a little jealous, I think of when I go to Bible studies, and there’s these older women there that, you know, had nobody at home to take care of it themselves. And they’d get through their whole Bible study where I might have three days done, you know, what, I just had some really great mentors that said, you know, what, you’ll do what you can. And it’s just a season, you know, there’ll be a season later that you’ll be able to spend hours with the Lord, if that’s what you want. But just remember to give yourself grace, and God does give us that, you know, he’s not expecting 24 hours a day for us to you know, he knows we have kids, we knows we have a schedule. Yeah, so not surprising. Yeah. And

Paige C. Clark 27:35
I think it’s, you know, having those moments where like, they say, you know, glitter gets just everywhere. And I think like, we just need to make God our glitter and just like, have him everywhere. So as we’re moving throughout our day, we find, oh, there’s a piece of glitter. Like,

DeeDee Lake 27:53
I love that. I once heard, and it’s probably been around a lot. But that is there a net if being a Christian was against the law, is there enough Christ in your life around your environments, and who you talk about what you say, who you hang out with, to convict you. And you so you look around your home, if somebody walks in your home, can they tell you’re a believer, that’s important, not that you’re doing it to show off or to be that, you know, Pharisee, whatever, but just that you just who you are, like, you know, my son brought me across him and his wife brought me this beautiful cross, it has parts from, you know, the old country in it, and I’m just very symbolic. And I thought that was so neat. You know, so I’ve got that on my wall. You know, yeah, we asked me about is like, oh, yeah, this is what this means. And you know, so I just think that we need to make sure that when we’re there when we’re in our home, that when we look around, we can tell? Yeah, I’m a believer.

Paige C. Clark 28:47
Yeah. Yeah. And also, like, not only can it you know, if Christianity was made to be illegal, not only like, Can we stay in conviction, but can we still sit in our faith? You know, do we know the word enough? Do we? Are we surrounded by people who know the word enough? Do we have enough inputs in our life, to be able to sustain that?

DeeDee Lake 29:12
Exactly. One of the things that we’ve always looked for is really great mentors. And sometimes mentors are a little bit younger than you, they’re not always older. You know, as far as their faith, they may be way further than you are. But surrounding yourself with those kinds of people that when you go to them and say, you know, I got an issue, I just don’t know what to do. Instead of you know, becoming a nag fest or whatever, it’s, it’s you guys sitting down praying together, you know, I’m showing you the word that we’re that can heal, you know, whatever the situation is.

Paige C. Clark 29:42
Yeah. And I mean, it might, it might be flippant, but one thing that I’ve been doing so I work in social media, so I’m on social media all the time. And one thing that I’ve been starting to do with like my personal accounts I’ve just started then like engaging with other Christian accounts that just talked about Jesus and, you know, other just other believers. And I’ve noticed such, like an attitude shift in me, in my heart when I’m in taking all of this, like goodness, I guess, via Instagram, versus, you know, the things of like I want to be or things that sort of jealousy or, you know, longing in me for things of this world that don’t belong, right? Yeah. And so it was so interesting because I, it’s, it’s been slow. And it’s been happening over the past, like, two months or so. But it’s like, oh, this is like, so much more fulfilling to have these kinds of people speaking into my life via Instagram versus things that will pull me away from God. Absolutely.

DeeDee Lake 30:53
I just recently heard that, how a whale dies. And a whale is a mammal. So it needs air to breathe. But it lives in this water, you know, almost like it eventually it drowns is how it dies. And I’m like, How could a whale die like that, you know, but he was comparing it to, you know, us as believers, we’re here in this world, but we’re not of the world, you know, we might breathe in it, but it’s not our constant place and having to remember ourselves that who we are, you know, and but doing on social media is so funny, because people have always like, oh, there’s so much negative on there. I’m like, none on mine. There’s not and I really don’t write, because I don’t allow those kinds of people into my life. And that’s something that’s really important, goes back to boundaries. I’m so love the book boundaries. Yeah, I preach about it all the time. And when you have great boundaries, you don’t have to worry about all that junk coming in. Because it’s like, yeah, we’re gonna put it on there. If they do take it off, you know?

Paige C. Clark 31:50
Yeah. And I think too, this is a little bit of a tangent. But I mean, I work in social media. So it has to do with my job. But I think one thing that I talked to other small businesses about, because I get a lot of questions when I when I’m coaching, marketing, and they’re like, What do I do about negative comments? And like, bah, bah, bah. And like, it’s your space? Like your time out with a cozy space? Yeah, it’s your space, that you get to dictate what is in your space. And same with social media and your online presence, it’s yours, you can’t you are choosing to be there. And yes, like, meta owns, you know, half the world at this point. But like, you’re creating this community and this energy around what you’re doing, and you get to decide what’s in there.

DeeDee Lake 32:41
And you have to remember to do that. I think Jesus can read social media. So not that I think he has, you know, a laptop or anything, but you know, he knows what’s going on there. So you want to make sure that wherever you are, you’re representing who you are, no matter where it’s at, if it’s with your friends or with strangers at work, you know, in your car. It was like, I know my husband had this really neat guy that he worked with, but the guy was a little higher rank than him. And he would not allow people to curse around him. And in the army, which is very well, no, yeah, happen. But if people were going to curse, he’s like, You need to leave my office, and he would make them leave his office, no matter what rank they were, he was like, this is a cusp rezone. And I was so impressed with that, because that mean, that was probably when we were really new believers. And so you can’t do that. But I remember back to my dad telling me when I was in high school, he’s like, people will talk to you how you allow them to talk to you. So it goes back to that same thing with social media. It’s like if you stand there and let all that junk in on there. Yeah. Or in your job, even in your job. You still don’t need to have people talking like that. But you can’t talk like that, either. Right? talking trash that it’s like, you’re sitting you make expensive, just you can’t you can’t do that either have to be for the Lord or not.

Paige C. Clark 33:52
Yeah, and I think it’s just like, it’s these little things that we can set up in our life to create the boundaries. So we are just more set up for finding God’s glitter.

DeeDee Lake 34:06
My My son was funny because he didn’t want me to meet this other family, people, this group of people, I’m gonna say it was but and I was like, why? He’s like, Well, they curse and I’m like, Uh huh. Like, but you know, I could still be at a dinner with them. I don’t have to be all you know, the whole time with them, but I get to love on them. And they actually started calling me sister Diddy because I pray that was so funny. Oh, like, okay.

Paige C. Clark 34:32
They know I pray for them. So yeah, I love that. Um, so kind of rounding out this conversation. What is one thing and this like, I wrote this question, and then afterwards I’ve been asking other guests all this I’m like, I’m like really putting y’all on blast. But I’m just kind of go for it. But what is the biggest struggle you have when it comes to Practicing your faith

DeeDee Lake 35:04
is actually sitting down and reading my Bible, you know, and what makes me mad with that is that I love reading my Bible. So like, why it’s, it’s getting the noise out of your life, I think it’s really what is the case, turn off your phone, put that away from you or whatever. Because you, you need that time. It’s like a feed you that’s your food. And you got to spend time with that. And I really do struggle with that too. And that’s one of the reasons that I’ve kind of learned some other ways. Like we listen to praise music in our car, we listen to the gods, we’re, you know, when we go to sleep, or if I wake up or whatever, but just having, making sure I put those moments in there is really, it has to be intentional. It doesn’t just happen. And so I’m learning to do more and more, there’s like, gets to be an old lady,

Paige C. Clark 35:48
for sure. And the other thing on this is like, I don’t want anyone listening to think like, we got it down pat. Like, like, we’re not perfect, like I very much struggle to like sit down and read my read scripture, mostly because I get in my own head where I’m like, I’m more of like a study or, and a processor. So when I like sit down, I like go through this like rabbit trail I don’t like it takes me a lot longer than I intend to. And I know it’s gonna take me a lot longer, so I don’t do it.

DeeDee Lake 36:24
I’m a type A extreme extrovert. So to sit down and be quiet has always been a struggle for me. But as I get older, I will say it’s a lot easier now than it used to be. But definitely just making your getting quiet, you know, is probably my biggest struggle.

Paige C. Clark 36:40
Yeah, I mean, but we have to put the things in our life to help us where we do struggle, putting the routines and the boundaries and the reminders and the scheduler in our life. So we can remember that. Well, DeeDee, I always like to wrap up the conversations with what is one thing that someone can do, after listening to this podcast, what is one thing that they can do in their life, to help grow their faith to practice a spiritual discipline, whatever it might be, get them closer to God this week. One of the

DeeDee Lake 37:17
things that we did and still do, even this, this move my 51st house that I’m living in, I started praying as soon as we knew we were going to move that God would bring Christian friends and Christian mentors to us. I was and I also pray for my neighbors, you know that God would bring somebody in, it’s like, we could be coffee neighbors, you know, it’s always my thing. I was like, if you have coffee, even before I start drinking coffee, I was just like, you know, somebody that I could spend time with. And it was neat, because when we were in Korea, and you know, we had a couple mentors there, but not real strong. But that’s really where we started getting to know the Lord. And we’re like, okay, but now we’re going to Panama, we don’t know anybody. So I just asked the Lord was like, Lord, please let us have one mentor, especially for self, my husband, who’s who’s in the battle, really, because I was stay at home mom at the time. And he had to go in and do the Battle of, you know, being with the army, you know, and still standing strong as a believer. But so he, we got to Panama. And it was so neat, because we went to this church off post that we didn’t know anything about, we just went there. And it was a Panamanian, an American speaking, English speaking congregation, they had two different services. And so what we found out later, but not very long afterwards, that most of the missionaries in that area that were in the jungle, they would come for their time in the city, to our church that we went to also almost everybody in there, they knew they were military, or they retired military. But the third thing was they were teachers in the Panama Canal Zone, like teachers, like they’re just naturally mentors, you know, so just give us one minute or you give us a whole church full. That’s where we changed. We changed so much that my mom actually went to a pastor here in the States, and said, I think my daughter and son in law are in a cult. And the pastor was like, Well, what’s going on since you told him and he’s like, I wish all people were that kind of coat. I mean, it was just such an experience of those mentors speaking. I mean, it changed us completely, you know, our way of thinking the way we live. And I mean, it was just not that we were crazy wild or anything before, but it just made us more intentional. I think that’s the biggest thing. And it’s been kind of saturated with Oh, yeah, that’s a great word. Yeah, we were saturated, and loved it and still do. So we still have mentors that I just got a message two days ago from my girl, one of my great mentors that I had, she lives in Florida. She’s like, Hey, you’re doing great, you know, she saw that I’m getting my book coming out. So that that’s really neat to continue to have that. 58 So I still get encouragement,

Paige C. Clark 39:49
you know? Yeah. So. So for all those listening, be praying about Christian friends and Christian mentors. And if you have one in your life that you haven’t Talk to us about it. I’ll be praying for a spirit of boldness and that you do take that step

DeeDee Lake 40:06
out. Yeah, absolutely. That’s,

Paige C. Clark 40:08
that is awesome prayer. Yeah. So, Dini, thank you so much for this conversation. And you’ve mentioned this a few times, and I want to learn more. Where can people find you? And what’s this book you’re talking about?

DeeDee Lake 40:22
So, my website is DD lake. So it’s D E, D, E, my mom and dad love E’s and DS, I think so DD lake.com. And you can find me there. But also, you can also email me it’s D to like the number two. So v squared, basically. But my book is I started writing a book when we’re in Panama, where we’re really started changing our lives. It’s a Christian romance set in a military setting. And 30 something years ago, I started writing this and over the years, I’ve had encouragers. Well, a few years back, I met somebody and she’s now my co author. And we have seven books coming out in this rules of engagement series. I’ll show you the first one. The first one. It’s right there. It’s counting operation camouflage Christmas. The next one is actually the first in the series. This was just kind of a little beforehand, to kind of get you interested, but it follows this family and it’s great family that all five of their kids are connected to the military, somehow. We talk about all kinds of different issues that military families have just we wanted to highlight the military lifestyle as a believer. And so your podcast was exactly what I’m like, Oh, my god, is this exactly what we’re writing about? So the next week of Operation allegiance comes out on the 21st of

Paige C. Clark 41:35
March. That’s so exciting. Well, thank you so much, DeeDee. And everyone go buy her book for any teens in your life. Yeah.

DeeDee Lake 41:45
Oh, that’s for adults do. Yeah, adults, adults. So it’s clean.

Paige C. Clark 41:50
So, young adults. Well, we’ll put them in the young adults. Yeah, there you go. All right. Thank you so much, DeeDee. And we’ll catch you guys on the next episode. Thanks, Paige.