You're listening to Women in Fuse Radio, where women in the marketplace connect with purpose and spirit, where the conversation covers all things women, business and fascinating faith. And now your host, Christy Lynn Olson. Hey, hello and welcome back to the Women in Fuse Radio Podcast, episode 27. Today, you're going to hear from an amazing woman, Gail Gillespie.
Gail is one of our co-authors from the Women in Fuse book series, We Walk by Faith and Not by Site, Women of Faith in the Marketplace. If you haven't grabbed your copy of the book yet, Gail's story is in volume 2, which is available now on Amazon.com. You can click on the link below and in the show notes to get more information on the book. Gail is what I call a sweet and mighty warrior of God, all rolled into one godly woman of faith.
You would never know the tragedies that she's faced at a young age. Life hasn't hardened her. In fact, she describes herself as tenacious, optimistic and compassionate. Gail Gillespie was born and raised in Queens, New York, where she experienced hardship from a very early age.
At the age of 10, her father was murdered. At the age of 12, her mother had a stroke and died. Then, at the age of 14, her eldest sister was also murdered. It was only through the grace of God that she could go from tragedy to triumph.
As a woman of purpose, Gail has a passion for serving people and bringing hope to others. The struggle of the loss of her family gave her a passion for the family unit, which means so much to her today. Gail is a manager of practice development for a health and wellness company now. Her role involves consulting and partnering with her clients to enable effective and prosperous practices.
And she uses her unique gifts that God has given her to impact her circle of influence for his purposes every day. She considers it a joy to be part of making a difference and putting a smile on others' faces. In addition to her successful career in the marketplace, Gail is an evangelist and served in ministry for many years while living in South Dakota prior to moving to Florida, where she now resides with her husband of 28 years. As a woman who works and walks by faith, she understands how we are called to do spiritual warfare.
She knows that she is in the workplace on a mission sent by God. She understands that people need salvation, hope, healing, restoration, peace, joy, and love. And with God's guidance, she sets out to do just that. She is a prayer warrior and loves the ministry of intercession.
In my interview with Gail, she shares more about how powerful prayer is and how to receive mercy and find grace in your time of need. Listen in. Gail, today I want to welcome you to Women-Fused Radio. How are you doing today?
I'm doing wonderful. Thank you so much for having me. You know, it's so funny to all our listeners, Gail and I were talking briefly before we got on this interview. The fun thing for me is to find out where people are, where they travel, where they grew up.
We both have this common connector point where we spent some time living in the great state of South Dakota. Of course, we talked about the winters. Gail, if you think back, how many states have you lived in? I don't know, you don't have to give us an exact number, but it sounds like you've done a little bit of traveling.
How many states have you lived in? I would say at least seven different states. Okay, and what was your favorite one? Do you have a favorite without offending anybody?
Well, it's kind of tough. I was born and raised in New York. I loved living in New York, but of course, recently being in Florida, the panhandle. Oh my gosh, they're close.
They're close. It'll differ from different temperatures, but I agree with you. There's a lot more green down Florida way. You know, part of I think what God does with us as Women of Faith is he allows us to have all these different experiences and live in different places.
And I know in the chapter of this book, We Walked by Faith and Not by Sight, you listed right away that you have a passion for serving people, bringing hope to others. And even though you've had hardship in your life, you know that you are a woman of purpose. Could you share a little bit more about what you believe your purpose to be and how is that walking out in your life right now? Wow, that's a good question.
But it seems like it's a little lippy question. So I'll try to shorten it up. But as I shared in the book, having had experienced tragedy very early in my life, you know, my father was being murdered when I was 10. And then a year and a half later, my mother died, she had stroke and then a year and a half later was 12 when my mom and then at 14, my sister was also murdered.
And this was in New York and a very, very unexpected experience. You see things on the news or you hear about other families, but you know, not thinking it would ever touch or affect my family. So that in and of itself, I know I then became very, very interested in understanding, you know, like how could this happen? I think search is where I found the Lord and was able, oh my gosh, to have such a, it's another way to describe it other than just a piece and knowing that he never willed anything bad like that to happen in my life, but that he was going to be there with me that I wasn't alone.
And that was just so comforting. And then he began to at a very young age, 14, when I came to know the Lord shortly before my sister was murdered, I started having dreams and dreams that I was traveling. And so odd to be traveling now, you say, how are you mapping this out? And I was, I had dreams that I was like in this nation, but even in other nations, it's preaching and ministering.
And so he began to show me at a really young age. I think I was even 19 where he began to show me the type of ministry that my husband and I would have a pastoring and establishing churches and schools. And so we have a very strong passion for education. My husband's a musical minister of music.
So music. So we just, he just fitted it together. And it's, it's like, I'm just amazed that how he has, he has done that with, with what the statistics would say and what I even felt during that time. I was even suicidal and didn't know what would happen.
It's because of the Lord that he turned that statistic around and, and because of him and through his race, he turned what we went from tragedy to triumph. And he definitely has through his race turned that around for me. Wow. That is very powerful.
And I know you've just given us kind of a sneak peek into that. But I, I believe there are other women out there that probably have gone through a situation that even if it's not as difficult as yours, they have felt like there is no hope. They have felt like, how am I ever going to get through this? And what would you say to them, like to keep going, like even if they know the Lord or if they don't know the Lord, but what's one thing that helped you, even in the darkest night, just keep pressing forward.
And I know you mentioned you have been suicidal. In addition to the love of the Lord, is there anything else that you can share that would encourage them to just not give up? You know, immediately the first thing I thought about is I found out about my sisters on death. I was in church.
I was 14 years old, I sang in the choir and the Deacon came to my sister. I come to the church to tell me what was going on in the Deacon came to up to the choir to tell me, you know, tap you on my shoulder, which we were praying and said, your sister's here, she wanted me to tell you that your sister Sharon is dead. And I know this is just it was just that, you know, straight forward that I heard that news. Just that exactly how that I heard.
And I remember it. And I can only think of the scripture that says, though he's slaving yet, will I praise him yet? Will I trust him? And I've been down like, grab my stomach because it was overwhelming, obviously having been through the other two deaths.
So recently and to hear that. And I just without even thinking, I began to worship the Lord and again, to praise the Lord. And then the service stopped and the pastor had everyone begin to pray for me. But the scripture I heard not long after that has kept me as that.
It says that the sufferings of this present world are not able to be compared, even with with a glory that shall be revealed in us. And so I knew that although this was a period of suffering, a period of despair, a period of hopelessness, that God had something greater for me and that through the comforter, his holy spirit, that he would empower me and strengthen me and help me make it and really heal. There's a lot of healing that I know that God did in my heart and has continued to do when we go through our struggles and our hurts and our pains. But he is our healer.
God is our healer. So if I can encourage someone who is listening and you're going through that there is nothing that's too hard for God. He is a God of impossibilities where we feel like it's impossible, where we feel like it's dark, there's no hope. He brings the light.
He brings the hope. He brings the truth. He brings encouragement. He brings us out.
And although we hear this all the time, but it's really true, we, you know, weeping, may endure for a night or two or months, but God does bring joy. Joy does come back. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
And it reminds me of the song, Trust and Never Doubt. Jesus will always bring you out. He's never failed yet. I mean, that just kept going through my mind and that is so powerful.
Thank you for sharing that. You definitely have a ministry in the 19 on your life. Yet in this season, you are working in the marketplace. And that's why this book series is so exciting to me because strong, high achieving women of faith have stepped and been placed into a situation where they can influence those around you.
And so you are in a health and wellness company right now. Share a little bit more about, you know, what are you doing just briefly in that role? But also what kind of gifts and strengths that God has given you have really been able to help you in the marketplace and in your career or be better or maybe used to your advantage? Well, I, I think when I think of what I do and the people that I interact with, on a daily basis, working with health, with practices, family practice, internal medicine, practices, the biggest joy that I have with the talent that I see that God has given me is to bring that encouragement into the offices.
And a big part of it is comfort. You know, people are in need of comfort, being comforted and want to be comforted. And the thing I love about health care in general is that people that are called to it typically have a gift of empathy or compassion where we can put ourselves and the other person's shoes. So in the course of the day, thinking about what that person may be going through or facing or dealing with.
So it's not just the patient coming through the doors, it's our staff, our team members, the physicians that are caring for patients. What can, you know, I realize the Lord has me asked a question regularly. What can I do to encourage to comfort to also people want to know, you appreciate their talents and their abilities to give them praise and affirmation. And so that, that I believe God is just put naturally, you know, it's like in it, in need, just to bring that level.
And usually at the end of the staff training or the meeting with the physicians, they'll say, you know, I didn't hire you to be my therapist, but somehow. Of course. It's amazing. They'll just open up and start talking.
And they're always apologetic. Everyone is. And I laugh because I'm thinking, that's just the gift I put in me. It's not you.
It's, you know, it's unexplainable, God allowed it. So then it opens up the doors for ministry. And although in this climate, we can't always be, you know, we have to be careful because you don't want to offend. But they always open up the door for me to say, well, can I pray for you?
And it's amazing to me how many people, how many say, yes, please, I would love for you to pray for me. So it definitely opens up the doors for those type of ministry opportunities. Well, and that's what marketplace ministry is all about. How do we be salt and light in a world that just so desperately needs us?
And maybe if they don't even know they need us, like you said, they open up and are apologetic or yet there's a need there that you're feeling. And so you uniquely are being put in that position because God knows he can trust you. He knows he can use you. So there's got to be some, you know, you're making a difference.
And that is the joy I hear you saying. Yeah. Now, one of your roles really involves not only consulting, but being effective and teaching these practices, how to be effective. And I always ask people about their strength finders if they've taken that assessment and you have.
And so you've ordered me your strengths and your top five are learner, relater, responsibility, activator, and belief. Of those five, is there one that stands out to you the most that you think has really helped you kind of take advantage of your position or help you get further along in your career, maybe more than the others? Wow. What's interesting is learner stands out the most.
But belief made me really smile. Of course. When you think of value as a core of who we are. But the learner part, I really like this particular testing style and the results because it really helps you understand not only that you're a learner, but how you teach and how you can help other people have a learning, understanding their learning style.
So that really stood out to me because I can't get enough in terms of research and learning. I love to try new things. I love to learn new things. It's just that that is a big motivator for me within my world because it is vast.
It is ever changing. At healthcare, every evolving, you have to be ready to get, you know, to be a learner, to change and evolve with what's new. So I love that. That is great.
And you're right. To be a learner, you're teaching, you're learning, and it never ends, especially in this information age. You know, another thing I think you have to learn, especially with your travel schedule and all the things I know you have going on in your personal, professional life, we as women have to learn how to employ effective time management strategies, but also learn how to be balanced. And I always ask this question because I've asked myself a hundred times, is there such a thing as work life balance?
And how is that kind of played out in your life? How do you navigate that? Well, that's a good question. Balance I learned early in my twenties is key, very key because things were so chaotic with small children, pretty close to in age and trying to, like you said, navigate through the work experience.
But for me, it's the time management piece that really helped me. And I had a mentor, mentors through books, actually through a former director that I was working with. So there were several messages that were coming to me like, yeah, you need to get your time management down. And then that would better help me be more balanced.
And I hear you say, go Ken, the Ken, like you said, work balance. Is there really such a thing? Right. And at some point, sometimes my life is definitely didn't feel like it can happen.
But when I really began to sort of put everything in a specific, I call it my color coded calendar in a color and then manage my time better. And also I had to learn to give myself more time. Sometimes I was only giving myself a little bit of time and I had to watch those habits. It's almost like how you take a diary and journal and you write down what you spend or you write down what you eat.
You also have to write down how you spend your time. And so that you can see this is, oh, okay, I do need more time for this. I do need more time to get ready in the morning. My husband would be the first one to tell me that.
You don't give yourself enough time. So you need to plan your plan. I'm moving up half an hour. So you can get ready so that you're not sure.
I think you're not wearing it. Like I heard him say it, but I really didn't change it until I started listening to my own journal. And saying, oh, I do need more time. But yes, that I would definitely say in terms of balancing work and your personal time, your family time, all of that has to be for me.
Works for me, it's jotting it down and scheduling it. It really helps me a lot. Right. Now, you also, as you write in the book, schedule personal time and I saw a favorite thing that I'm going to start doing that you already do.
And it's called pajama days. Tell us how that came about. And to me, that just seems almost this shy of heaven. How can I spend a whole day in my pajamas and that guilty about it?
But tell me how that came about and let us know a little bit more about it. Well, this is so funny. I call it the beloved pajama day and it has become beloved and it has become a part of me realizing I need it to function. And my, it was my spiritual mom actually.
She was just, she said a spirit of excellence. She just was really impacted my life to have that same type of spirit of excellence. But she could get all of these projects going and get many of them done. And they were fabulous.
And I always admired that about her. So finally, and she never seemed like she tired. I thought, what, how do you do this? I'm exhausted.
What are you doing? And finally, I asked her and she said, well, no one's looking. I have a pajama day. She said, I watch shows that I want to watch.
I just, it's a do nothing. Relax. Day and you would never, she was so good at it. You would never even have imagined that she took downtime like that.
And so I started incorporating that much later. I didn't do it right away, but much later I finally did it. And I realized, Oh my gosh, this is what you need to refresh, to refocus. You also need that time away to hear things you don't make the time to hear from, you know, from God, because we're so busy.
And so that sometimes a fresh, different way of looking at things, a creative touch would hit me and it's like, Oh, I can do it this way. When I finally just turned off everything and then got back and I had a, it's like you had a brand new pair of eyes. So yes, why thoroughly love it and I encourage it for everyone. All right.
We need a national pajama day. Our calendars, you brought up something else when you were talking and I love it. You said your mentor had a, your spiritual mother had a spirit of excellence, which I think is something we as Christian women in the marketplace strive for, but we can also get caught up in a spirit of perfection. You know, and there's a difference.
How would you relate to that? Have you ever felt like I'm doing it well, but I also have to do it perfect and then set yourself up for failure because I don't think we can achieve perfection. But is there a difference in your mind between a spirit of excellence and a spirit of perfection? Absolutely.
What I realized is when I was operating in a spirit of perfectionism, I was procrastinating. I actually wasn't getting things done because I was afraid to fail. Oh my gosh, the liberty to just not just tell yourself, don't be afraid to fail. And it took away that I can't think that I can always do this perfectly.
And it's okay if it doesn't turn out exactly perfectly, you know, you do know that it's your intent is to be excellent, to do it in a most excellent way. But at the same time, laying down that perfectionist mentality in that mindset that would oftentimes cause me to procrastinate. And I always, now that I look when I look for the root, what's I'm trying to do it in a perfectionistic way rather than a spirit of excellence. I just had an aha moment there.
Thank you. We know when I get stuck in that procrastination, I've always tried to figure out why am I procrastinating? Well, that's exactly it because we're trying to do perfect. And we don't want to fail because we're afraid what people might think.
So, you know, it's just it can snowball. But if you can cut it off at the root, realize that for what it is, then that there is is freedom in that. So thank you for clarifying that. That is my aha moment for the day.
Hey, it's Kristi again. I want to make sure and invite you to listen into the rest of my interview with Gail, where we talk about your kingdom calling in the marketplace, prayer and spiritual warfare, what it is and how to use the weapons we've been given. And then I have Gail close out the interview as she prays a powerful marketplace anointing over every woman who listens into this broadcast. You don't want to miss that.
In fact, I want to encourage you to listen to that recorded prayer every morning while you are getting ready to start your day to set the tone and allow the Holy Spirit to supercharge your day. I'm definitely having Gail back to do an interview with more teaching on the importance of prayer and strategies of spiritual warfare that we can all employ. Now to listen into the full interview, including Gail's powerful time of ministry and prayer over us, you need to download the Women Infused app. There you will also find all of our podcasts, our bonus interviews, which are available exclusively on the Women Infused Broadcast Network.
The Women Infused Broadcast Network is a free app that streams our podcast radio show on demand so that you can listen in wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcasts. The app is available wherever you download apps for your Apple or Android mobile device. We also have a variety of broadcasters who are all women of faith teaching you biblical principles on how to succeed in business and in life. And we are adding more broadcasters as we officially launch the Women Infused Global Broadcast Network this fall.
When you download the app, register to log on for the first time, create a quick profile for yourself, and then go to the channel icon on the bottom of your mobile device. Quick on the Women Infused podcast channel to find episode 27, which is my interview with Gail Gillespie. We also want to give you a free downloadable e-book devotional entitled, Love Notes of Encouragement for Women of Faith in the Marketplace. It's a companion devotional that highlights personal inspiration and a note of encouragement to you from our co-authors of the published book series We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight.
It's our gift to you for downloading the app and becoming part of our community of Spiritfield Women making an impact for the kingdom. So go to womeninfusedapp.com for links on where to download the app and make sure you go to episode 27 to listen to the full interview and download your free devotional e-book. Also, visit us at womeninfused.com to find out more about how you can partner with me and have me walk alongside you as you uncover your gifts and step into your highest calling. And I call that your kingdom calling, that place where your gifts, your purpose, your passions, they all intersect, where you step out into something much greater than yourself, all for God's glory as you shine his light and impact a generation for Christ.
Join our community of Spiritfield Women and share your thoughts, prayers, and wisdom with us in the comments section below each broadcast on the Women of Used App and remember this, alone you are significant, but together we are amazing. This has been Women Infused Radio, connecting women around the globe with purpose and spirit, and we want to connect with you. Get your free gift, unveiled voices, six things you need to do to define your value, voice and vision. For more information on the free gift and links to join the conversation on social media, visit us at christylenalston.com