Have you ever felt like God was moving you to a new stage or even a new state in your career? Were you completely sure or did you have some uncertainty surrounding whether you should stay or go? Well, you are not alone. Coppelia joins us this week to share her journey from Puerto Rico to California to Texas to Florida in her career in Christian radio. She lets us in on what moving has been like for her kids and how her husband played a major role in all of the decisions to pack up and go. You don’t want to miss this one! See more from Coppelia at coppeliamarie.com
Episode Transcript:
Hi everyone! I’m Alexis Busetti and this is, That Makes Total Sense! On today’s episode, we get the chance to hear from my friend Coppelia. You have probably heard from my friend Coppelia, if you have listened to Christian radio for any length of time. She was on Air1, which is a nationwide station. Um, years ago when we were living in Oklahoma, she also moved to Houston and was on KSBJ, which is the major radio station here and now she’s in Orlando. And if that sounds like a lot of moves, I cannot wait for you to hear her story because following God in her career path is exactly what she’s going to talk about. So I know that we have all been there where we felt uncertain in a job or uncertain in some sort of direction. Where does God want us to go? But that’s why I had Coppelia on; I wanted her to share what she and her husband Adam have been doing and what it’s looked like in their lives to listen to God in the midst of all of those moves. And spoiler alert, they’re in the middle right now. I mean they’re in the middle where they have heard God and they’re in a place, but they haven’t exactly seen the conclusion to this move yet. So I can’t wait for you to hear it. Here’s my conversation with go. Yeah. So today on the podcast, I am so excited to bring you my friend Coppelia! Thanks for being on the show today.
Coppelia: Thank you so much for inviting me. It’s so great.
Alexis: This is the best. This is the best. So the last time that Coppelia and I were together, we were on a double date, really, if we can call it that. We were with our husbands and no kids. So I think it counts.
Coppelia: It totally counts. And it was so random how we met on Twitter.
Alexis: On Twitter. So on Twitter, I don’t know anyone who meets on Twitter but Coppelia and I did. And actually so we don’t have it anymore. But Seth for the business used to run a Twitter account because he’s way more witty and like really good with those quick, you know, Twitter quotes than I am. And so he and Coppelia somehow, I don’t even know if it was a hashtag or what, how your accounts connected. He said, “You’ll never guess who’s following us on Twitter.” And I’m like, “Who?” I don’t even know if you knew this. And I’m like, “Who? And he says, “Coppelia!” And I’m like, “No, no, no, no, no. I’m like the Coppelia, like, like from the radio?” And he’s like, “Yeah, I’m sure it’s her.” So I think that maybe you guys had a couple of DM’s or something like that. And he texted me and said, Seth texted me and said, “Hey, Coppelia wants to get together with you. So I gave her your number.” And I’m like, “SHUT UP.” Coppelia, did you know, I really tried to play it cool. I texted you, are you texting? You’re totally fangirling I was like, I don’t even know what to do. I’m like, I can, I don’t even know what to do. I’m totally fangirling, so we’ll get to this. But the reason I was fangirling is because Coppelia, before she moved to Florida, before she moved to Houston was on Air1 radio, which I’m sure you guys know, national Christian radio was my favorite station, really is my favorite station forever and ever and ever. And so I, you know, feel like I was friends with Coppelia long before we were actually friends.
Coppelia: And that means I was doing my job because that is what I try to do every day. It’s really hard, but we try.
Alexis: You just know you’re so good right at it. You’re so great at it. So Coppelia and I did get together with her husbands. We had a great time and then um, and then they moved. But we’ll talk. So the reason I wanted to have C on this show is because that night that we had pizza on our double date, we really, during our get to know you conversation, Seth and I were amazed and just really completely enthralled in the conversation because she and her husband Adam shared with us how they got to where they were in Houston, how God had really just so intimately and miraculously in some ways brought them through their career and their moves with their family. And I know that there are so many people who struggle with what do I do next? How do I know how to follow God, how do I know how to get from here to there? And I thought Coppelia was just one of the perfect people to talk to this about that. So Coppelia – talk to us about how you got your start in radio and then we’ll just take it from there.
Coppelia: So talk about like, Lord, what do you want me to do when you know, in high school everybody’s like, well you need to pick a major or what are you going to do in college? And I really had idea. So I’m like praying as a Christian girl in my church youth group, like, Lord, I really don’t know. I’m supposed to pick a major. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. So I remember I always enjoyed writing and I do have a blog, so that’s, you know, still writing. But I just left it open and I was like, just praying. God lead me. And in high school, my church, go figure how to relationship with a local radio station. How cool. We had a couple of us, you know, you teens would go up to this am radio station to do like a teen talk show and let’s see what the teens of today think about, you know, hot topics, blah blah blah. So we were like 80 it’s running up and down the I, you know, the hallways. What does this button do? You know?
So we’ll say in high school and when I started my communications degree in college, they will just try and figure out what do I do Lord and praying about every class I was supposed to take. Like Lord just lead me cause I don’t know. Um, I ended up with a part time job at that same radio station in Puerto Rico.
Alexis: How cool. <inaudible> at your part time job.
Coppelia: So basically I was there on the weekends pushing all the buttons and playing some old am radio teaching programs, which some of us who are a little bit older, Mike recognized Chuck Swindoll. Charles Stanley told me everyone. Yes. So the peripheral image of hearing all these incredible Bible teachers. David Jeremiah. Yes, the cream of the cream. It was amazing.
Alexis: I listen to those guys still. So if I can just date myself right now, number 2 on my dial. 100.7 FM now is when I was into in Houston. But yes, all of the guys that you’ve named.
Coppelia: Yeah. So I was playing their shows on that am radio station and just learning so much while trying to do my college homework. God just knew what he was doing because I was at that radio station trying to fast forward through the story for almost 10 years, just whatever they needed me to do. I was not on the air at first, just I was the, what is called a board off. Just basically pushing buttons, playing the programs, making sure things timed out properly and all that stuff. But in 10 years I ended up learning what to do on the air. I did promotions, I did time sheets, I stuffed envelopes, I was a receptionist, I was office manager like, and I remember somebody told me one day, this is like a bootcamp for your future.
Alexis: Wow.
Coppelia: Yeah. It was crazy. Oh, I’m just working and I’m finishing my college degree, blah blah blah. But God totally knew what he was doing. And I remember people would say once I got my bachelor’s, you could be paid so much more at any other job. And I just never felt peace. Like I left once homework, I don’t know, the radio station that paid a little bit more. And like two weeks later I was back and it was, God knew where I needed to be. And incredibly, I remember thinking, I don’t want to leave unless it’s for something better. And my program director, general manager, who happened to be a woman in a very male dominated field, she trusted me and made me director of programming under her wing, kinda like I’ll keep, and it was amazing. A shout out to Janet will TRO. That’s amazing.
Alexis: Incredible.
Coppelia: So she was like, come with me to this NRB convention, national religious broadcasters. It happened to be an Anaheim, I’m a big Disney person. So I went, you know, walking around downtown and I was like in candy land. It was like all these people that I had heard about for years. James Dobson was there and I’m like, Oh no, no. Focus on the family, you know, crazy. So I ended up meeting two guys who I didn’t know who they were. You know how it is. It’s like God just puts you in front of the right people. They have an OB, two of the head leaders at EMF, which is Caleb and Erawan radio. And I remember sitting at a round table programming and table thing and I’m just like, Oh, you know, I just got promoted and I’m so excited and I work at this radio station in Puerto Rico and they’re like, we like that girl.
So I’m thinking, Oh yeah, here’s my card. I got their card. And they’re like, we think you’d be perfect for a job opening that we have in California. So what’s really crazy is I go back home at this point, my husband and I, Adam and I had been married for like a year and we had bought a little apartment in co in Puerto Rico. I’m thinking we’re good. Like we’re, we’re good home, good work is good, everything’s great. And he’s like, you have got to call these people back and follow through on this. Like we are moving to California. And I’m like, you’re ridiculous. That’s impossible. I work in a real small, you know, like well-established but small am radio station. There’s no way that Caleb and Erawan are going to hire me. No way. It’s impossible.
Alexis: Well, can I pause right there because I’m thinking, how did that make you feel as a wife, like as a spouse, to have your husband have your, to have your spouse say you, you can’t leave this on the table. You’re like, you’ve got to at least try. Like I know you were kind of thinking he was crazy. Yeah. I mean I would have probably been thinking the same thing, but how did that, what did that do for you that he really kind of pushed you a little bit into, into maybe just give it, give it a try. Just to see.
Coppelia: I’m so glad you asked that because at that point it was, I know he’s, and this is not a super popular opinion, but I’m one of those people that I’m like, the husband is the head of the house, right? I want to honor him if he saying, you know, this is a decision that I think is right. I want to honor his wisdom and leadership. So that w that that played a lot into my decision of, well I’m kinda reluctant about it, but okay, I’ll send them an email kind of thing. Um, and I really feel like God uses that headship, you know, that covering through your husband. Um, so do something that I made may not have followed through on my own. So I really think God was in that in every single way. But I emailed the email back in what was crazy about the story and I’ll try to give you the nutshell.
I hope that Adam had brain surgery for a benign brain tumor that at first they thought it was malignant in November of Oh four, and by April of Oh five, we had an offer letter in our hands that we were moving to California, neti Fewless huh. That’s nutty. So when was the, when was the conference that you went to in California compare like on that timeline where, when was that? When you can look through February. It was like earlier that year. It just, things happen like back to back to back and we’ll write like surgery, conference offer, boom, boom, boom. Like, it’s, it’s so the whole story is so crazy. So I remember journaling because you know, when something like that happens, like your husband has brain surgery, you have to like deal rocess slightly. I remember journaling and for some reason I, I jotted down, I think it’s Deuteronomy seven and he talked about um, God would bless the food of your warm and heal every disease and increase all the oil and grain and all that kind of like lots of blessings in that chapter.
And I remember in May, looking back on my journal thinking, God, what, like you told this this like months ago after the, I have the journal and it was like we got the job offer, Adam got a clean bill of health after all the surgery and the follow-ups and all that stuff. So we were able to move to California without having to worry about any other further treatment. Um, my sister’s wedding was in April. I get the offer letter in April, end up moving in May and we find out I’m pregnant. Like it was all, it was crazy. All these things happen. And it was like he would bless the fruit of my wound check. You see, you know, like grain and olive oil. It’s like, well, yes, the job offer was like three times my salary at that time. So I’m like, chairman, go Pallia that’s crazy. It’s so crazy. Clean bill of health check. And we really were praying like, Lord, are you sure I don’t want to move to California if it’s not your will? And he was over here like, um,
Alexis: Yes.
Coppelia: How much more do I need to sell it for you? Yes. But it was such a big move. It’s like California, you know, over here, Puerto Rico over here. So, and honestly I, you know, for people who don’t know who I am, I have always been like the most insecure person in the world. So I’m thinking there’s no way little meek and walk into this national network place and who the heck do I think I am? Like, I can’t do that job. And they’re over here. Like we’re hiring you because you can <inaudible> amen.
Alexis: But don’t you think there’s, because, because I’m telling you, because we were friends, you know, before you knew me, um, because of <inaudible>, because you were doing your jobs so well. But I think that there’s two parts to that. I think it’s number one, like you, you’ve got to look at, like you said, they’re hiring you because yes, you can do this, but as believers, I feel like not that insecurity is a good thing, but that there’s something in us that says, God, you, you are going to have to do this because this is not on me. Like you made me and he made you with these talents and these things on the inside. But I’m just, I think we can be real just like you’ve been real and said, but watching that come through to the outside and come through to fruition is scary, isn’t it?
Coppelia: It was a lot of, it was scary and we moved there like just Adam and me. We have no one. We’re pregnant. I’m starting a new job. I mean there’s so many unknowns that this is where I think this is the, one of the important messages to take away from this podcast episode is a lot of people are like, well, if it doesn’t make sense, you know, you shouldn’t do that. You should, you should have like your pros and cons and blah, blah, blah. There’s a lot of things that sometimes you know, God is telling you to do them and you have to just, you have to go and trust him,
Alexis: Right? Because they don’t make sense. Some of them, some of them don’t make sense.
Coppelia: A lot of the times, yeah.
Alexis: But I think not, I think, I know there’s biblical precedent to do things that don’t make sense in the natural world. Like, oh, it made total sense for David to grab a Slingshot and a few stones from the river and go against a guy twice his size. Like, oh yeah, that’s great. Like that. That’s good. No, that’s ludicrous is what that is. That’s ludicrous. But God works inside the ridiculous a lot of times. And when you’re saying like this didn’t make sense but God, I feel like we could hash to hashtag but God said go.
Coppelia: Yeah, go.
Alexis: So. So tell us what happened when you got to California. I mean you did it.
Coppelia: For a little while and it’s so crazy just looking at the way God orders your steps. The people that he pulled on our path, I mean there was a coworker that was like, Hey, I have an extra car sitting in my garage if you need, you know, transportation while you guys like get a car. And I’m thinking, I’m sorry you mean your little cute red convertible that I get to drive around California. What? I’m not even kidding. Like Adam and I are there like newlyweds. We’ve been married what, a year and a half going on two years. I got my cute little pregnant belly and we’re driving around, you know the top down.
Alexis: He doesn’t, God doesn’t just do it sometimes over does it sometimes.
Coppelia: Honestly. And I don’t want to tell everybody like, Oh well we live the great life in California. There were a lot of ops and a lot of downs and a lot of curves and a lot of, you know what I mean? Like I ended up having a C-section, which was kind of like a whole thing in and of itself and we had no family born getting our church came around us and surrounded us with support and love and you know, our family eventually came in and helped us out and whatever, but it was just all the things that you’re thinking, what if this Robin, so what about happens? It just God kept showing up and there was even a time before I was on the air on air one, I was behind the scenes doing promotions and I ended up taking a D motion and it was $10,000 less that year because I just, I couldn’t, I had a newborn at home.
I can’t keep up with this job. I just want a, an easier, you know, like, um, work week. And it was more that quit. I’m on the air and I was like, I really hope I can get that job, but it’s $10,000 a year less. Right. And I had felt like, Oh my gosh, I failed. Like this is not what God sent us to do in California, blah blah blah. And one of the head leaders that I met, um, I’ll shout out David Pierce, he, I remember he said we did hire the right person. We just need it to find you the right seat on the bus.
Alexis: Wow!
Coppelia: And it was amazing. A year later, um, I actually got moved up to the air one morning show for like a minute and the salary came back up buddy. It’s those things where you’re like, Oh no, what’s going on? Did I mess up? Did I make a mistake? Let’s go. You know, God’s still like I’m still here. Stop freaking out. Cause I freak out all the time.
Alexis: Well I think we do. You’re not the only one. And I think when you have that, I love that phrase first of all, that David Pierce said that we hired the right person, we just had to find you the right seat on the bus. I just think, wow, what organizational leaders can learn from a statement like that, right? Like let, we’ve got the right people here. Let’s just figure out where they need to be. That’s incredible. I feel like we could go off on a total bunny trail there. That’s, that’s incredible. But when you know, and you can look back at your journal and you can remember where God has been and where he brought you, when those things, when you said there are ups and downs. Yeah, there are ups and downs, but you’ve just had your faith strengthened by what just happened. And so when those ups and downs come now you know, then when you were in California, when they came in, they, you can say, okay, but I know I’m, I’m here because God wants me here. And then you can travel those ups and downs with him because he just got you here. So that’s good. I like it.
Coppelia: Well, and the same thing, I mean, we were, and I’ll, I’ll kind of jump to how we ended up from California to Texas. I, my son was supposed to go to kindergarten that summer. We were praying about his school because a lot of the families that we knew were homeschooling or charter and my schedule just really wasn’t homeschooling friendly. We couldn’t get into a charter and I just didn’t have peace. And I’m like, Lord, what are we, what are we going to do? He had gone to a preschool in a church and he was just, you know, sweet little guy. I don’t want to expose him to a school where like, well, you know, you little Christopher, you can’t be talking about Jesus around here. Like I just didn’t want him to be in that environment. And the school just, I didn’t have peace go in through registration and orientation and whatever.
So out of the blue Houston comes calling, this is even crazier. There was a girl that came to work at one, um, who had interned at KSBJ in Houston.
Alexis: Oh cool.
Coppelia: Somehow it’s like, oh, there’s this radio station that’s looking for a DJ and they’re asking me if I want to interview and she’s like, girl, you need to go.
Alexis: Wow.
Coppelia: I knew nothing, but all of a sudden her family is already in Houston. They become kind of like our extended family as we move, like the more we started praying about is this a door that God is opening, the more he was like, um, yes. Here you go. Um, and what was crazy is fast forwarding through the story, when we get to Houston, we were praying about a church. We visit a church in Kingwood, a shout out to Journey Church. Somebody asks us, always in your son going to kindergarten, do you know the school? And the teacher teacher at a public school ends up being a Christian and yeah, we don’t know nothing about Kingwood. We don’t know nothing about school districts or anything. We’re just showing them like, I don’t know what I’m doing. And God is like, I’m answering. I’m not really answering your prayer for Christopher school. I have so much more prepared for you. Like just
Alexis: So I mean for, for those listeners who are not in Houston, first of all, Houston, I mean you know that Houston’s huge, but the districts, the school districts, the suburbs, it’s crazy. It’s spread out. There’s so much difference between sometimes one neighborhood to the next, um, of how schools are zoned and all that stuff. I think it’s, it’s that way in a lot of big metropolitan areas. But also the, I wanted to mention the KSBJ is a huge Christian radio station. It’s the huge Christian radio station in Houston, which obviously is one of the biggest markets in the country. Um, is demographic wise. I feel like it’s targeted most, it probably is very close to what Caleb target. Um, so Caleb has a national radio station and KSBJ is very similar I feel like in um, in the kind of music that they play and probably the demographics that they target to Kayla because actually Caleb doesn’t exist in Houston. You kind of get KSBJ instead. So, um, yeah. So when, when Capella is talking about KSBJ, this is not some teeny tiny little run of the mill Christian radio station. I mean, it’s a big, it’s a giant radio station in a big market.
Coppelia: Right. And at that point I was leaving Erewhon, which was a nationwide network to come to KSP day. And sometimes people were like, why are you taking a step down? But numbers wise KSBJ because it’s, it was a morning show in a major market. It was kind of a horizontal move, not a downward move. Right. And that that does play into it. I mean it’s like, yay, that’s great. I’m going to learn a lot about local traffic and weather that we hadn’t been doing on air one. Right. But it just, some of it is like he do I want to make this decision, do I want to make this move? And some of it is, if God is saying go do I want to say no to God, you know? Right, right.
Alexis: Right. Now let me step in here real quick because I know that you mentioned talking about Adam and kind of how he really encouraged you to contact everyone in the first place. And obviously he was with you on this move to Houston. But I think that for some of the couples out there, cause I think it’s actually really cool. And I was actually, um, have been having these conversations, Seth and I’ve been having these conversations. They’ve been coming up with, um, some of my friends and things like that, but to have a husband and wife team because when we get married, we become a team. Um, we become a team inside the kingdom, become a team in, in our family. And I think that it’s interesting because a lot of people might be looking and saying, okay, well, you know, Adam is, um, the, the head of the house and he holds this certain leadership role, but he’s, he’s not on the radio like there are, you know what I mean? Like there may be people who um, are looking at this and kind of going, okay, but you have a little bit more of a public career.
And so, you know, what does that, what does that look like? Because a lot of times it might be switched where the, where the husband’s career is kind of the driving force or the catalyst for a move or something like this. And in your situation it was the other way around where your career was kind of the, the catalyst for these moves. And Adam was completely supportive and encouraging and is completely supportive and encouraging to move along. So what does that look like inside your, inside your marriage?
Coppelia: I’m glad you asked that because the most recent move from Houston to Orlando was all Adam, even though it was my job. Oh, I can’t wait. I can’t wait when I, I mean, we were just super happy in Houston. Um, even after hurricane Harvey and the flooding, we were super happy. We had bought a house in 2017 2018. Um, it was probably December. I get this Facebook message and they’re like, Hey, would you consider this opportunity opening up in Orlando at a a Christian radio station here? And I remember sitting down just on the couch like, what? Right. Like the blue again, out of the blue. First thing I, I’m like, Lord, I’m like, literally, what do I do with this? Cause I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t know how to answer this Facebook message. I don’t know what the thing, we’re happy here.
I love my job. We love our church. Our kids are happy. There’s no logical reason why we would uproot our family. No, I don’t even, but at that point I’m thinking, I’m going to sit on the couch and I’m going to just give this to God and say, okay Lord, what do you want? So after that moment on the couch, my dog was sitting there with me on the couch. I go upstairs to do a little devotional with my daughter and we do the cartoony Jesus Bible app. I haven’t even seen that. The Bible app for kids, we call the cartoony Jesus cause it’s <inaudible> Bible app for kids.
I’m thinking, Ooh, let’s do the one about like Abraham, you know, going out and like God’s going to speak to that one. And she’s like, no, I want to do this one. So it’s like the one where the, uh, I think it’s Elijah and the profits and the, the sacrifice, you know, like consumed by the fire and it’s older. So I’m thinking, Oh, this has nothing to do with moving in decision. So, okay, sure, we’ll do this one and I’ll keep praying about the whole Florida thing. So we watched the video and I’m still like, okay, well that was cute. I click on the scripture and one of the first things I read said, fill your horn with oil and go wash it. I’m sitting there, I literally journal they’d, because I’m thinking if this is, if we ended up moving to Florida, this has to be the quickest answer to prayer.
I have right, well, entire life, right? What is going on? And I started a note on my phone of texts and emails and scriptures and songs I heard in the car and just over and over and over again, just confirmation, confirmation when I’m, we ended up coming on an interview trip and the station paid for Adam to join me and we came together. We happened to be in Orlando for our anniversary, like mom, we honeymooned at this new world. Right. I was going to say Orlando. People are thinking back to the beginning when you said, I’m a Disney girl and we’re at Disney world. My sister ended up having a friend who had tickets, so we’re like, okay, well we’ll go to this new world. While we’re interviewing for this radio station, of course I’m thinking, what is God doing? This is ridiculous. I don’t want to move.
I don’t care how amaz like is it stupid? I’m the biggest Disney freak ever and I’m thinking, I don’t wanna move to Disney world. Our life in Houston was that great. Like things were great. We both loved our bosses and if you’ve ever had a bad boss, you know how that is. If you have a good one, you keep him right? Like I don’t want to leave our amazing bosses. Shout out to Chris Chicago and Mack Brown. Yes. It was just like, no, I don’t. Yes, I love this new world button. No. So Adam comes with me to the radio station. He meets all the new Orlando people and blah, blah, blah. We go to lunch, we go to dinner. I go through the interview process and that night he had two things. He was like, I just want to have clarity after the, you know, the interview process and we want to sell our house and we need to get out a job.
If we’re moving for my job, he needs to get a job. He was like we’re moving to Florida. Like this is the job that you’re supposed to do. He had 100% clarity. After we met with the radio station, we had conversations with the leadership. We kind of understood what they were asking me to do on the air and English and doing program director in Spanish for their new radio station in Spanish, um, Spanish Christian music animals. Like you are the person who is supposed to do this and I’m over here like no, I’m not.
Alexis: So, so to, to clarify this clarity, we’re talking to clarity, this clarity, Adam, God came before these that you had listed. So you, you have, you have you at this time Adam is saying you are the one for the job. You are the woman and you have not sold your house. He does not have a job. All of these things that you were check, check, check, check. And Adam is saying, I don’t care about the checks you are, the checks will come. You’re the woman for the job.
Coppelia: And I know we can talk for hours and hours, but we’ve, we moved in so I had to come in March to start the job and there’s so many details. So the story flew back in April, got my family, we came back. So we’ve officially been a year in Orlando since April and it’s August and we still haven’t sold our house and we are waiting to hear back on Adam’s second job interview. So there are still things that are loose ends that we’re like, okay, well I know we’re supposed to be here, but everything is not falling into place the way you’re like, well here we go. Everything’s perfect. You know, red convertible this time and there have been red convertible moments. I can’t lie. My sister had lived here for four years, so can we, connecting with my sister has been like amazing.
Alexis: That’s huge.
Coppelia: That’s huge. And our kids are not that far apart. Um, our sons are like a year and a half apart and our daughters are like four, five years apart. So constant time has been priceless. Yes. Shout out to my sister a meal and she’s a Disney girl too. Yes, yes. So I mean God is absolutely up to something, but I have to tell you, we’ve been here what, April, may, June, July, August four months. And I keep saying give me a year because I know it’s hard. It is hard. Alison, my daughter had a solid gymnastics little community and she misses it like crazy. You know, Christopher’s a teenager and there’s just a lot of stuff that we’re still kind of like, ah, I know. I know we’re following the Lord. I know he’s in control. I know he’s in the midst of this. We’ve had so much confirmation and so much clarity.
It’s just like, Oh, you know what I mean? Like we’re not, I’m not there yet yet supposed to be here and I keep, I keep looking back on my journal and the notes. I have it on my blog, like the whole moving to Florida thing throughout the blog. It’s like I struggled with the decision. I struggled with this. I struggle with that and I think that that is a story that needs to be told because obedience to God is not like, Oh yay, it’s going to be all rainbows and fluffy unicorn. Yes. It’s, you know, the disciples on the boat were freaking out when the storm came. Even Jesus work with them. Yes, we freak out. Even though we know Jesus is in the boat with us, even though we know we’re in the right boat headed to the right destination. Right? Yeah. So I feel like that’s where we are right now.
And we were out of Christian conference and I think this is important. If you’re in the middle of a journey, you’re trying to obey, you’re trying to figure things out. I think it’s important to surround yourself with Christian messages. Go to conferences, go to church, study the Bible. We devotionals because we were standing at like a youth youth service and we’re not youth, like we’re not in leadership, but we just happened to be at a conference and we’re like, Oh, let’s see what the youth, you know, people are doing. And the guy had me in tears, or maybe it was the spirit had me in tears because he was saying something about how what you have lost will be restored. And I feel like we walked away from this dream house and this dream situation in Houston and you don’t have any guarantees when you walk away from something. Oh, you know, God’s just going to bring everything back and it’s going to be perfect. We have to obey trusting that yes, he works all things together for good. I don’t know what that’s going to look like. Right. You know?
Alexis: Right. I mean it’s an important story that you tell because you are in the middle of this. You’re at the beginning of this part. And I remember I didn’t, I didn’t go back and look them up, but you and I were texting a little bit, kind of near the beginning, um, after they had called you. Um, and, and it was kind of like, Oh my goodness, you know, do, what do you think about this or that certain aspect of it. And, and you know, I think we were both on the same page because it was like, well I can give an answer on my opinion about this or you can give me your opinion about that. But really it is what you were asking the Lord is what but what does God say? Because some of these things just like your move to California didn’t make sense when you put out the pros and cons lists that you talked about earlier.
You make this list and you go, my husband doesn’t have a job con, we don’t have a buyer for our house. Con my daughter liked her gymnastics in Houston con, you know, you write all of these things out but you can have a list a mile long on that side. But when you and your husband are confident and you say, but God has called us here. That’s the only pro you need. But you may have to go back and look at that pro over and over and over again. Right. When you, when you come up against some of those checklists on the other side and I go, go ahead.
Coppelia: One thing that I, you know, I was driving to my daughter’s gymnastics earlier tonight and I was just like, Lord, give us words to share, you know, in this podcast. And it was like so clear. I’m looking at the sky and he’s like, God is bigger. He’s bigger, he’s bigger than what we think he can do. He can, he can go bigger. He’s, you know, he’s so much bigger than our needs and our wants and our desires. I mean, I know I’m a Disney girl and that seems so superficial, but the fact that God had us here on our anniversary month and the Adam and I were mulling over, should we move to Florida in the same restaurant where we came as a honeymooning couple in 2004 yeah. God is so much bigger than my little, you know, pro and con list and my little worries and concerns about always my daughter going to like her new gymnastics place and how are things going to work out? I feel like God is so much bigger than we give him credit for. We are so limited in our understanding of his creation and his design, it’s like I can, I can try to figure things out on my own, but how much better is it if I let him write a story, if I let him lead, even if I can’t see where we’re supposed to be going, it’s going to be so much worth it in the end. And a lot of the times it’s better than we could’ve written the story like, exactly,
Alexis: Exactly. And you guys, what I’m thinking is you guys have these other two major moves and sorry, like forgive me, I’m like, I’m a finance person at heart, right? I’m like, your bank account is full. God moves already, right? Like it’s gonna take it, you know, it would take a lot from now to deplete all of those memories of what God has done. And you look back and I think about, you know, all of the places in the Bible where it’s like you had set up this stone set up this place so that when kids ask you what happened, how did we get here? You have something to tell them. You have a Memorial and you have, you have air one as a Memorial, you have KSBJ and engine as a Memorial. You have this great life that you’re, that it was hard to leave in Houston, but at the same time it’s a Memorial stone for you of what God did in an unexpected move. And so now, even though things Kevin panned out just yet, the way that you may have thought, you have those Memorial stones that God has built up for you already, that you can look at every day and in anticipation for what’s coming next. Right. And I love it that you’re, that you’re willing to share this in between part of your story because it’s huge. We live in the, in between.
Alexis: It’s huge.
Coppelia: And we shouldn’t let, I mean the enemy deals with fear much. It’s like fear of the unknown. Fear of, well, don’t go make that choice because you’re never going to be able to buy a house ever again. That was the only that you could ever buy for the rest of your life because your credit’s going to be messed up. And what are your kids going to grow up in a rental house, I, God forbid. And he just gets into your head and it’s like, wait a second, he’s, yeah, he’s a liar. If God gave us a house to begin with who gave us a house, right? Can you give us another one? Yes. And if not, that is not what I want my kids to be like, Oh well we never bought a second house. I want them to trust God and the seed God and I’m a journey.
And it’s like even if a decision is hard to make, we made it looking to him for everything, for direction, for provision. You’re not at the end of the day, what do we really want our kids to learn that we only made decisions because we were afraid or because we were too comfortable or because of this, because of that. And I think, you know, some people have way harder decisions to make. Some people crawled to some mission field in the middle of Africa. Africa is always given as an example. I know, I know. Retention Africa. Yeah. But you know, whatever it got us you to do, it’s like what? Why are we going to say yes or no? Are we going to say yes or no based on our comfort or are we going to say yes or no based on Lord? We just want to be obedient to whatever you say. And for me right now, my biggest struggle is I’m like, I feel like I have so much on my plate at work that it’s keeping me away from being the mom that I want to be.
And I’m struggling with that and I’m like praying about it. Like, Lord, I, I feel like I don’t have enough time with my kids. And I feel like he somehow got them either make that clear or clear my schedule. I don’t know how we’re going to do that. But even in those things, it’s like we can either freak out and worry about it or we can just give it to him and say, Lord, this is what is on my heart. This is what I’m struggling with right now. You know? And, and he gave us these desires. You know, he gave us our husbands, our children, our career dreams because Alexis, your career dreams are different from mine. Right, right. And he gave them to us individually. Exactly. Your passions. We might intersect in some things, but it’s like God cares about the things that are on your heart.
Yes. He, I think we’re going to grow in our relationship with him. The more we come to him and say, you know, father, this is what I’m struggling with. It’s almost like take this cup. But if not, there’s a reason why you’re wanting me to take this Coke right now. I don’t get it. I don’t want it. But you’re going to be glorified at the end of the day. And what comes after the, the, like you said, those Ebeneezer stones, those reminders comes after those struggles. And those tests is so much more ridiculous than mind blowing that we could ever comprehend. Like right now, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but right now I got a call about a crazy thing that’s supposed to be a secret. So I can’t say anything about it Jesus. But it’s like if anything comes out of this, my mind is going to be blown because it’s like God brought a storm. I know for such a time as this, and I’ll have to fill you in on whatever happens if anything happens. And if it’s not a secret, come back and talk about it.
But I will say this, it’s an opportunity to do something that I love to do. Um, and one scripture that I hold on, I’ve held onto since leading Houston, Houston was a lot of tears. We believe Kingwood and Houston and the scripture, if I’m not mistaken, it Psalm one 26 verse five, and it had to do with, you will sow in tears, but you’re going to read with songs of joy. Yes. Yeah. I’ve just, I’ve just been holding onto that and reminding my kids, teeters don’t mean that we’re making the wrong choice or that we failed or that we messed up somehow. Tears. God is saying if you sow in tears, you’re going to reap with songs of joy. Yeah. We just have to trust him that yes, this decision was hard. Yes, we’re still in the middle of it, but joy comes in the morning. Amen.
Alexis: I couldn’t have said it better. I mean, it’s so good. One of the things that you were talking about that I want to touch on before we end is, is the fear, you know, and that even that there’s not just fear in those transitions that sometimes the enemy tries to speak beer to us even after we’re settled. And when we were waiting for our youngest to come home from Africa a couple of years ago, I remember God, it just like one day, you know, you’ve read those scriptures a hundred times and one day he just hit me. The spirit of God, just, it was the description. You’ve been really good with all of your addresses and I cannot remember the address of this one. It’s a Psalm I think, but it’s God wants to deliver us from all of our fears and he just hit me with, he doesn’t just want to deliver us from the obstacles or from the dangers or from the toils.
He actually wants to deliver us from the fear itself. Wow. That that is what’s holding us back. That is what’s what’s keeping us with those feelings and we feel bound by that and he doesn’t just want to deliver us from the dangers. He wants to deliver us from the fear. And that was revolutionary for me. I’m like, okay God, do it than deliver me from the fear so I can have the peace of God and not live inside of that anxiety and not listen to the enemy when he tries to speak those things. So, Oh my goodness. Go. Thank you so much. I mean it’s so huge. I know we could sleep all night, but to have you come on and share with us all of the things that God has done, but to share it in the middle of where you are right now.
Oh, and one more thing. I almost forgot for the Disney girl, I’ve never been, I know we can probably still be friends. I’ve never been, but I’m trying to think that I feel like on maybe on Instagram, can you see the fireworks from your apartment? Yes. And this is so crazy to me. I was telling my sister in law has been when you agreed to be on the show, and I was kind of telling her about it and I said, I think that she can actually see the fireworks from their apartment. And she goes, Oh my goodness, have you seen the fireworks? I’ve never been. And she said, you wouldn’t believe how amazing they are. And she’s not necessarily a Disney gal, but she’s been because her, her family, her in-laws have taken her. And she said, Oh, but that’s crazy to be able to see the fireworks. And so I just think like, you know, I don’t know another one of those things like kind of a kiss on the cheek from God. Like he’s there. You can see this apparently amazing show every night or, or however.
Coppelia: Yeah. It is so crazy because when we were looking for a house to rent, we were, we couldn’t find his thinking house because we have a pit bull terrier mix. And apparently in Florida pit bulls are not welcome anywhere and she doesn’t even look like a Pitbull. But two weeks and all the houses were like, no big dogs, no pit bulls, no big dog, no pit bulls, and we just couldn’t find a fricking house. So fine. I go see this house and I’m sitting outside in the car and I’m just praying and I’m playing a worship song and I am not even kidding. It was a song that Adam sent me. It’s called, this is a move by Tasha Cobbs? Yes. It was like a live version on YouTube when she says if you’re in your like if like in your car standing in front of your house, just, you know, this is a movement and I’m thinking, wait, I’m in my car and that’s profiles that I’m waiting for the wheelchair to see if we can go see it. It’s like mind blowing thing like, Oh my gosh, God is moving. So we ended up getting that house and my sister went to get the keys because we couldn’t be there because we’re like in the middle of the movie and she’s like, I hate you. And I’m like, what? No, no. When she went in to check the house. She’s like, you can see Disney fireworks from your daughter. No, we didn’t even know.
Alexis: I’m like, are you kidding? I just, I’m just thinking that’s just like a sweet, I just feel like that’s just a sweet kiss from the Lord. Like you know, I’m with you guys. I love it so much. So yeah. And then she moved to a close house. They like nearby. I know she has got fireworks to look good. She could tell ya. I mean besides coming back and later maybe telling us what the secret is. Tell us if we want to connect with you now. Where are you now? How can we find you now?
Coppelia: So my website is like my name CoppeliaMarie.com.
Alexis: And it’s two P’s?
Coppelia: Yes. And it’s @CoppeliaMarie for everything. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn.
Alexis: Everything @CoppeliaMarie ?
Coppelia: Yup.
Alexis: Yes. And you have a blog at your website at coppeliamarie.com and then, yeah, so go follow along with Coppelia. She’ll show you awesome Disney pictures and great quotes and encouragement, and even sometimes the picture of the dog, if we’re lucky, our own Instagram. Actually.
Coppelia: She does! Adam set her up.
So yeah, so go find Coppelia. See what she’s up to right now. If you are part of our Spanish speaking audience, please go see Coppelia because she does a lot of things in Spanish too. But thank you for doing this with us in English today.
Coppelia: Thank you so much, Alexis. I love being on your podcast!
Alexis: Thanks Coppelia! We’ll talk again soon.
So thank you again so much for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe so you won’t miss an episode. Share the link with your friends. You can visit us at Thatmakestotalsense.com and until next time, this is Alexis Busetti remembering to do well for ourselves so we can do good for others.
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