Foreign s welcome to Fed by the Fruit, a podcast focused on nourishment for the mind, body and soul.

I'm kb, a spirit filled certified life and nutrition coach with a calling to disciple women who are hungry for more.

Each week we will learn who God is and what he wants for and from us through powerful testimonies, biblical truth, and so much more as we fuel our minds and bodies in ways that honor Him.

Let's get fed.

Hello friends.

Happy Monday.

Welcome to Fed by the Fruit.

How are we?

I hope that you're great.

I hope that you are just utilizing every last bit of summer.

It is quickly coming to an end.

Today is a catch up episode.

So that's what we're going to do.

We're going to catch up.

I miss catching up with you guys but honestly, I'm so grateful for the stress structure of Fed by the Fruit.

It.

It's so helpful in and just what I'm sharing, it just makes it so much more just easy for me to come up with the content.

So it's exciting when I get to the fourth week of the month and I just get to catch up with you and tell you what's been going on in my life and I don't know, maybe something I've learned or something I'm doing.

And so that's where we're at.

So, so that is what we're gonna do today.

So I think I left you last month when Jonathan and I had gone to Texas.

I think when I recorded we were getting ready to go to Texas and we just had so much fun.

I'll never stop preaching about the importance of getting away with your husband or wife.

Like it's just, there's nothing that can replicate it in our marriage.

Like the way we feel going in, in comparison to the way we feel coming out of a trip together is just, it's just so different.

Like I will tell you.

So we had the best time.

So we went to a little town called Fredericksburg, Texas.

I 100% 10 out of 10 recommend.

It was so fun.

Now I'll say if you enjoy like a walkable town, Breweries, wineries, live music, boutique shopping, history, incredible food, small town vibes.

Fredericksburg is your place.

It was everything I hoped it would be and then some.

We just had the best time exploring the little town.

We had the best food.

Like we didn't eat a bad meal.

It was incredible food.

We could walk everywhere we wanted to go.

Which was one of my, one of the things that I was looking for when I chose where we were going to spend our time.

We stayed at the Albert Hotel.

It's a lovely boutique hotel.

We, we absolutely just loved it.

Our room was huge.

I could actually walk in there like laps.

It was crazy.

Fredericksburg is between San Antonio and Austin.

You can fly into either one.

For us, San, San Antonio was way cheaper than flying into Austin.

And it was actually maybe like 10 miles closer.

We did have to rent a car and drive about, about an hour, hour and 10 minutes from the airport.

So we did spend the first like afternoon.

We landed in the morning and so we couldn't check in until three in the afternoon.

So we spent a couple of hours in San Antonio, which I 0 out of 10 recommendations.

Just not my vibe.

It felt, I mean, I'm glad I can like check it off the list.

We saw the Alamo.

We ate some Mexican food, some subpar Mexican food.

I'll say.

We walked along the riverwalk.

But it felt, it felt dirty.

It was, it was stinky, like, I don't know, like New York City.

And I got a message shortly after we got there.

I'd posted a story and just an Instagram friend was like, hey, what are you doing in San Antonio?

I hope you enjoy your time, but please be careful.

The river was, has gotten really unsafe.

And so that's just kind of the vibe I got.

And I didn't, didn't love it.

But Fredericksburg did not disappoint to the point I was like, which we all know.

This is my toxic trait.

Every time I visit a place, I then want to live there.

But this was the first time that Jonathan was like, I'm in find a place.

And the cool thing, because I've gotten down the rabbit hole of real estate more than one time since we got home.

There's still like huge ranches you could buy.

I mean, there I found 10,000 acre ranches that you can buy in the hill country of Texas.

And it's just, it was just everything I wanted it to be.

And the funny part of that is that it was everything I wanted it to be.

And still we, we were kind of at each other the first, the first day or two.

I hate to say I think it was, it was me.

It was all me.

It always is all me.

Jonathan is just always kind, but he like had enough of me.

And I think that it's because when we go on these trips, historically it has been like we just do what I want to do because it's like he's doing these trips for me because I'm the One who needs this, like, to feel connected.

He will tell you that he always feels connected to me, to which I roll my eyes, but he's like, I don't need this.

Like, I love you.

And I'm like, I do.

We need to get away together and spend this time.

But.

So my expectation of how the day would go was different than his.

And I was being a brat.

Like, this is going to sound awful.

So we were walking the first morning, and he was wanting to go into the stores.

And I'm like, no, we're going into the stores tomorrow.

Like, that's how regimented and planned and routine, Diane.

Like, this is just a walk, so you can, like, look at the stores when you walk by, but we're not going in.

This was like a.

My watch is running.

It's on a walk.

This is like a dedicated walk.

But he wanted to, like, shop, and I didn't want to, which is so funny.

That was supposed to be for Saturday, so Friday we were just on a walk.

So anyway, he was tired of me, and then I was in turn tired of him.

And we had a few words on our walk.

And then.

And then tmi.

I had the worst cramps of my entire life.

This is the second trip we've gone on that.

That my period came on the day we left.

Actually, this time it came the day before we left, which I said.

The only worse thing than it coming on the day we leave, is it coming the day before?

Because then the day we leave will be horrible.

So, anyway, not that you wanted to know that, but I was unwell.

I've never really had cramps, praise the Lord.

I was.

I was, like, physically ill.

I was in so much pain.

So that was for the first two days, and mind you, we had three.

So we were kind of sick of each other.

But that just shows you that we were disconnected when we went, and it's why we needed to go because we were just getting short in bickery.

So worst cramps of my life for the two days.

Then on the third day, we worked out just in the hotel gym.

We went two of the days we worked out in the hotel gym, and I gave myself a migraine.

So I went a little too hard and I got a migraine.

So after two days of being miserable, not feeling well, then I gave myself a migraine and had to go lay down for three days, three hours in order to start to come back to life.

So having said all of that, it was still the best time.

So that just shows you, like, how badly we needed it.

How important it is for us to get away because we still just, we just still had so much fun together.

And we absolutely felt reconnected by the time we left.

And it was just, it was just so good.

I had delicious pizza.

They actually had chicken crust pizza, which just checked all my boxes because I got the extra protein and I got pizza and I just had Jonathan get regular pizza because he didn't want chicken crust, let's be honest.

And so then I got to have a little of his pizza so I could get the best of both worlds, you know what I'm saying?

And it was, it was so good.

I got my cinnamon rolls when I tell you.

I actually, I actually decided on Fredericksburg when I saw that the hotel actually advertised cinnamon rolls, like on their homepage.

And I was so excited for those cinnamon rolls.

They did not disappoint.

There are, there are bakeries and coffee shops galore.

I love a good coffee shop.

So we just had slow mornings, we got coffee, we, we had breakfast, we did workouts, we, we walked.

It was just, it was what my dreams are made of.

So it was just the best trip.

The, Everything there is old and beautiful.

It's a German town, so there was some amazing German food, German bakeries, tons of history.

Very close to where the hill country floods just took place.

So that was very evident there as it was, you know, still pretty close to when it had happened.

But we, we just had so much fun.

I don't know how to even tell you if you're, if you're, if you've been married a while, if you're in a long term relationship and you're not taking time out to just spend one on one time together, I cannot recommend it enough.

So lots of fun.

We love Texas.

I have, I haven't actually found us a ranch, but I'm looking.

Your girl's looking.

That's also funny too, because I say I would move there tomorrow, but when it really comes down to it, if he said, okay, let's go, I would be in a real panic because I have some really wonderful people here in my life.

Like, I would be, I would be so sad to leave my gym and my friends and just the life I've built here.

You know, I moved to Virginia when I was 28, about to turn 29, and it's not easy to make, you know, really close connections as an adult.

And so I feel like I've had like iterations of friends since I've been here.

But now my friendships are solid and it would be, it would be really tricky to, to think of starting over.

So we'll see what the future holds.

We just keep asking God to just, you know, lead our steps, show us the way, let us know, give us discernment, you know, show us what he wants for us and where he wants us to be.

And we just have all the faith in the world that he will, he will direct our steps.

So.

So we actually came home the day before my birthday and I turned 44 on July 28th.

We.

It was kind of a low key day.

I think I shared in the last one that I had like given up the scale.

Well, the scale kind of like it, it hadn't left the house, so I found it and so the scale came back, but now it's gone again.

But I was really struggling with going out to dinner for my birthday because I just spent, you know, basically four days eating pizza and cinnamon rolls.

So I actually was like, no.

I said, no, we're not going to.

I went to coffee with friends after the gym and then I told Jonathan, let's just cancel our dinner reservation.

And my friends actually talked me into it.

They're like, you need to go.

And I thought, you know what, this is silly.

I'm going to be disappointed if we don't celebrate, if we don't like, make today special.

I love my birthday.

And so Jonathan, I did.

We went to a new restaurant here in Northern Virginia.

It's called Proof Kitchen and it's my favorite new place.

I love it.

The food is so good.

The atmosphere is 10 out of 10.

And so we went and I got, I got chicken and veggies and it was delightful.

So good.

And I felt so good about it leaving.

Like my body was just like craving healthy food at that point.

So I'm so glad we went.

And then we stopped at the store and bought cupcakes on the way home because I needed, I needed to feel like I had birthday cake.

So we got vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting and they were what my dreams are made of.

So anyway, birthday was good.

So grateful.

A birthday I didn't know I would see.

And so just so, so grateful to, to have gotten to celebrate it.

Later that week I had a cardiologist appointment.

So it was a follow up.

Just something obviously that I'm going to have to do now in my life is follow up with a cardiologist.

And as I shared, I had been in the emergency room, they'd done a CT scan, everything looked wonderful.

And the cardiologist was so thoughtful and kind, just so wonderful, so reassuring.

He just.

He just told me to have confidence in my heart and in my health and to go and just enjoy my life and live it at the highest level of fitness that I want to, and again, to just have confidence in my health.

And he cautioned me against any more CT scans because, you know, you build up radiation in your body, and then that's an increased risk for cancer.

So he.

His message to me was loud and clear, like, just be confident you are okay.

Nothing is wrong with your heart.

You don't need to be checked out.

So that felt really, really good.

He also said.

He said your CT scan confirms that Dr. Ryan is a wizard.

And I was like, okay, I'll take it.

Like, everything's looking good in there.

I am supposed to have another CT scan at the end of the year for Dr. Ryan to look at things, but I'm hoping he can just use the one that I had in July and we can go from there, and then we can just try to never have a CT scan again as long as I live, because I've had so many.

I do have to see the neurologist this coming.

This coming Tuesday, so tomorrow.

But I need a prayer for that because this is my fourth week of scheduled jury duty.

So Monday night, tonight, I'll find out if I have to go to jury duty tomorrow, which would mean that I wouldn't be able to go to my doctor appointment.

And it was two.

Two months to get in, so I'm sure it'll be months before I can reschedule.

And so I'm really, really praying that I'm able to get in and see the neurologist and get to the bottom of the migraines because I haven't been doing any conditioning.

I've been strictly pretty much lifting because that doesn't.

Doesn't have that.

That side effect.

I don't get the migraines unless I do high intensity cardio, high heart rate, sustained for a period of time.

So.

So just praying, and if you wouldn't mind sending one up for me, I would appreciate it that I do not have to go to jury duty.

I keep saying, Lord, I don't want to go.

If you need me there, your will be done.

But if you don't, Lord, please don't make me have to go to jury duty.

So far, three of the four weeks I've gotten out of it, so I'm grateful for that.

What?

In other news, I guess Asher will be going back to school.

He goes to an online school.

It's called Valor Global Online.

And it is the best thing we've ever done for Asher.

And he's also started training with my friend Holly.

She is amazing and wonderful.

She's a high school PE teacher.

She teaches weightlifting.

She's a.

She has every certification known to man.

She's a CrossFit coach.

She's.

She's the person that I was always, always chasing at the gym.

Like, I just wanted to be like Holly when I grew up.

And so she's training Asher and so he's learning proper form with lifting and different, the different lifts.

Today he was doing cleans, and the other day he was doing deadlifts.

And then he does a conditioning piece at the end and he's just really loving it.

I can tell that it's.

It's good for his confidence and it's something that will serve him his whole life.

You know, he's not a team sports kid.

And so this is kind of what we've settled on for now.

And he's loving it and we love it and we love Holly and it's just been so great.

So.

So that's where Ashy is these days.

What else can I share with you?

Oh, I. I have been reading.

This might be a record breaking.

No, not might be.

This will be a record breaking year for me reading books.

So part of my.

Every morning when I wake up, every single morning, without fail, I go and I make my cup of coffee and I come back to the.

The front room and I sit down on the couch and I do my Bible recap.

I read my daily devotion.

I do my Bible study from the Bible app.

I post the verse of the day and then I read.

I have another like prayer devotional that I read and then I read a book.

Currently I'm reading, it's called the Story and it's just.

It's basically the Bible in story form.

And I'm also reading another book called the Bible Simplified.

And I've been keeping a running list of all the books that I've read and I'm.

I just started book number 42 for 2025, so that's wild.

That is so crazy.

And I just, I got a Kindle for Christmas and so I read on that like just whatever.

I started reading Kristin Hannah at the beginning of the year.

Right now I'm reading Charles Martin.

I have loved his books.

Karen Kingsbury, Francine Rivers.

Just a lot of Christian fiction and a lot of Christian nonfiction.

Like, I've just been.

I spend probably minimum 90 minutes every morning.

That's how I start my day.

So that I thought that was pretty crazy when I wrote book number 42, like, who is this girl?

So that's been fun.

I also am continuing with my brand builders coaching.

And I'm not going to lie, I had immediate buyer's remorse because I thought.

What was I thinking?

I was not ready.

I was not like, at the level, if you know what I'm saying.

Like, everyone there has, like, successful businesses that they've been running that have systems and I don't have that.

I more just was like, somebody help me figure out what the heck.

Like, what do I do?

What do I offer?

How do these things make sense?

What's the through line here?

And so I started definitely from a different place than others.

However, it has been so valuable.

I have loved it so much.

And when I tell you I've been praying for 13 years about my purpose and where God wants me and what he wants me to do and what he wants me to do in my life in this, just feeling that there's more for me.

And you know, we all as Christians feel discontent and like there's something more because we were not made for life here, we were made for heaven.

And so we're always going to be feeling this pull towards something.

However, I feel more aligned than I've ever felt with what I'm doing right now.

What I want to do is turn believers into followers.

So I just find so many people are deceived.

Like, yes, I believe, yes, I'm a Christian.

But then none of the fruit in their life shows that.

And it's not about being perfect.

We're all sinners.

But I want to give people knowledge so that they can go from a believer to a follower of Jesus.

And I feel like that is what I do here on Fed by the Fruit.

And with the next thing that I'm about to announce to you, I'm hoping that the last episode of September will be the big announcement.

So stay tuned for that.

But that too is just in line with turning believers into followers.

And, you know, when you follow Jesus, your priorities change, your desires change, your life changes.

If you are a follower of Jesus, your life looks different after you decide that and when you pursue a personal relationship with God.

So that's what I want to do.

I want to.

I want to help people.

I was like, I. I don't feel like my audience is not necessarily unbelievers or the unsaved.

My audience is believers, people who love the Lord, but maybe people who Lack understanding.

And I feel like that's what I needed for so long.

And one of the things that they say at brand builders is you're most powerfully positioned to serve the person you used to be.

And that' who I used to be.

And so I get to learn every week with you as I share.

And it's just been.

Man, it's been such a blessing in my life.

I was in church on Sunday, and it was like, I just feel such a calling on my life.

I was so moved at church on Sunday that it was almost like something was in me that just needed to come out.

And I thought, man, how blessed am I that I get to be?

I get to live this life and I get to feel like I feel right now.

How blessed am I that I got to be in that car accident?

And how blessed am I that I got to have an aneurysm on my heart?

And how blessed am I that God used that to transform my life?

Like, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

I thought about, you know, we used to preach on this podcast or on Activate.

One of the things we talked about a lot of times was this saying that you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with, right?

You've seen those memes where it's like, hang out with four smokers, you become the fifth.

Hang out with four whatever, you become the whatever.

And I have thought, I don't even know where this came up, but I thought, man, I've just got to challenge that belief.

Because if you are the five people you spend the most time with, like, how weak, how weak must we be that if we spend time with four people that do something bad or have a negative habit, that we become that instead of the opposite, like, we should be going into those rooms, we should be hanging out with those four people, and we should be changing them and having them transform their lives.

Not in a hypocritical way or a judgmental way.

That's the word, judgmental way.

But.

But be the example.

Like, go into the room and show them the fruit of a life lived for Jesus.

Jesus himself was a friend of sinners, but that does not mean he sinned with them.

He showed them the way.

He showed them the truth.

He is the way.

He is the truth.

He is the life.

The Great Commission.

In Matthew 28, Jesus says, to make disciples, teach the people, to observe all that he commanded, do the things that God commanded, do the things that Jesus showed us to do.

It's just.

It's Just so interesting, the things that, you know, pop up into my head these days and the.

The inspiration and the.

The convictions that God puts on my heart and the things that I want to share with you and the things that I wish I had known so long ago.

You're going to hear a powerful testimony next week.

And her story is just so beautiful.

And I just couldn't help but feel like, man, I wish I had that start to my life and hadn't made all these mistakes.

But at the end of the day, thank God for all of them because they've.

They've helped me to become who I am today.

And there's a stark difference between Kristen the believer and Kristen the father follower.

And I just firmly believe that some of us have to take the.

The hard way.

I learned everything the hard way, I swear.

But it's made me who I am today, and I'm so grateful to be where I am.

And it also gives me compassion and empathy for people who are making wrong choices or choices harmful choices.

Make sure you tune in for that next week because it is such a beautiful testimony and, you know, just.

Just very eye opening.

And I'm so grateful that she was willing to be on.

She's the guest that I had all of the technical difficulties, and then I had to cancel on her another day, and then she had to reschedule one day, and it was just like, the devil don't want this out there, guys.

He does not want you hearing this story.

But we finally made it happen.

And so I'm so grateful for that.

I think.

I think that's all.

I think that you're all caught up.

I'm trying to think, what else, what else do I have going on?

I don't know.

I think.

I think that's it.

Just getting back.

I'm getting strong again.

All this weightlifting, it's been really fun to see.

You know, I thought.

I thought so many things.

I had told myself so many stories about I would not be strong anymore and I wouldn't be able to do all of these things.

And, you know, our bodies are miraculous.

And the other part of being really strong is that when you go through something like this, you have.

You can handle it, you can withstand it.

And it turns out that, you know, my body knew exactly what to do.

I healed well.

I healed quickly.

And I'm back to being really strong.

And that feels so good.

It's just so exciting to be able to, you know, walk into the gym and feel good again.

And it's also really amazing to have it, have the right place in my life.

It's not the most important thing.

It's still important, but it's not the most important thing.

And that is one of the huge lessons that God taught me through, through everything I went through.

So it is the last week of August.

Crazy.

So fed by the fruit.

We're, we're a little over two months in.

It's again, it is such a blessing to me.

I don't know if, if I don't know if four people listen or 400 people listen, but if there's four of you, I am so grateful for you and I hope that you, you get something out of this and that your, you know, your life is transformed in some way, that you pursue a relationship with Jesus because that's, that's what matters.

Last week for our August memory verse, it's Isaiah 41:10.

So do not fear, for I am with you.

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

So lots, lots of exciting things planned for you for next month, so keep tuning in.

The most helpful thing you could do is to share these episodes.

That's.

I can't reach your audience, but you can share this podcast with your audience and you know that that would be the most helpful thing you can do.

You can also leave a review on itunes or Spotify, but mostly you can just pursue a relationship with God and be saved because that's really what I want.

Eternal salvation for every single person who tunes into this podcast.

So happy Monday.

I'm so grateful for you.

I will see you right here next week with a powerful testimony later.

If this podcast blessed you, please share it with a friend and hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

Leave a five star review on itunes and come hang out with me on Instagram edbythefruit.

I'd love to connect with you there.

And most importantly, I'll see you right here next week.

Come hungry, get fed.

Sam.