Surrender with Michelle tufford

 Welcome back to the Milk and Honey podcast. I am so excited to bring my friend Michelle, tougher on today. I’ve been telling yall for weeks that I was bringing her on here because her story is just so incredible and I think it’s one that everybody needs to listen to. Michelle. and is on the field advisory board with me at Girl Power Alliance and she’s just incredible.

We just spent so much time talking about how much we love GPA and I, it was funny, I asked her, I said, Michelle, what do you want me to say for your bio? And she’s I just do G P A now. That’s what I do. That’s who I am. And yeah, it’s where her heart is. And so I’m so excited to bring you here.

So thank you, Michelle, for being here today. Thank you so much for having me.

Lemon. I’m excited to be here. I love your podcast, just what you’re doing and your heart. And. You’re like one of my favorite people. So thanks for having me.

Oh, guys, she’s gonna make me all emotional. It’s fine. We love her. So anyway, so the reason I brought you on here is that you have this incredible story about just surrender and radical obedience. And I would love for you to just give us a little of your background and like how you ended up here.

Yeah. Yeah. How far back do you want me to go? girl. It’s whatever God tells you to tell us. Wow. So even hearing you say that it’s just brings up definitely some emotions and feelings This journey that God has taken me on over the last really year.

Just a, definitely a refining year. And I went, got into the entrepreneur space. Like I’ve always had that entrepreneur spirit. I’ve always, from a young age, actually I’m one, one of 10 children, actually second oldest of 10 children. And so I’ve always had that leadership of I was the oldest girl.

So it was always looked to for, a lot of responsibility and honestly, like I was born for it. God put me in that and was like preparing me from a very young age and. Got into really just the entrepreneur space, but we will, I won’t give you the whole backstory of all of that, but just when I stepped into the online social media marketing space I saw an opportunity where women were.

Making an income from home and having it looked like such a free life of being home with their kids, making this great income, and I was hungry for that. I was wanting that so badly. I, my husband was a police officer at the time. And I saw how big of a toll that was taking on him and I wanted to be able to help relieve some of that tension of providing for the family.

And I wanted really, like the big vision was to give him an opportunity, if he felt called to it, for him to be able to leave that and not feel stuck. And so that’s why I decided to start an online business with social media cuz I had young children and I didn’t wanna work outside the home. And I saw an opportunity and I thought if other women are doing it, I can figure it out.

So that’s what really started this drive and this mission to move forward, make the income, create the success in business. And it was like my focus for three. Three years straight of just. Hustle, got in and hustled and I made really good income, so God definitely blessed it. I learned a lot, like God refined so much in me and I learned a lot.

I stepped into a lot of leadership there as well. Built a lot of confidence in being able to show up online and share my story and, but what ended up happening through that process is I got caught up in all of that. I got caught up in making the money. I got caught up in the success and. It really captured my.

Like it became such an idol for me. But God used it still for his good purpose. My husband ended up quitting his job as a police officer after 14 years of g giving his life to that a year ago in January. So we just passed a year anniversary of him being able to quit his job as a police officer.

He quit, came home. Huge blessing. Got to see my husband come back to life, got to see him in this past year, just grow so close to the Lord, and so it’s been such an amazing blessing that God led us to that point. But right after he quit, I was like, right after he quit that I came like face to face with the reality of where I was at in the stress, the anxiety was like at its.

Level and the enemy came in really hard and it really started to speak lies into my mind of it’s all up to you. Who are you? You’re gonna fail. Yeah, you brought your husband home, you’re gonna fail. He’s gonna have to go back. Like just a lot of stress. It was all up to me feeling. And that’s when God used.

That moment to really start to reveal to me what I’d done of like being out of alignment. I was so out of alignment. And then he used an act, a very large financial loss that my husband and I experienced shortly after he quit his job. We lo we had a six figure financial loss with some investments that went south, which was really like our safety net cuz that’s entrepreneurs.

We’ve got good months and not so good months. So I wasn’t worried about the not so good months cuz I was like, we’ve got this safety net, we’ve got these investments, like we’re gonna be good. And then when that was stripped out from underneath me is when I started recognizing that I had made such an idol out of the money and that’s where I was putting my hope and security in.

So that’s kinda where I was at, like getting to this point. Oh my gosh. Okay. I can relate so much to this story because I did the same thing, right? I brought my husband home and everything. Everybody that I worked with was New age. And none of it, I was getting sick. I was feeling terrible. And it was great to have my husband home.

And my husband was really excited. He found something he was passionate about, business wise that he wants to do. But then it came all the stress, like it’s up to me. What if I don’t sign a client? Like we lived and died by clients paying their invoices. Yeah. And that was. So stressful and he was like, this is too stressful.

Like I’ll just go back to work. So you don’t have to work with new age people anymore and like we don’t have to live and die by people paying their bills on time. Yeah. So we can pay our bills on time and Now we’re in a place where I’m like, all right, you need to come back home again. And he’s been off for week, which has been really nice, like unexpectedly off.

And then he’s wow, I missed this. Yeah let’s get back to this. But it’s doing it in alignment and with God’s purpose at the front. So I love it. You. I’ve gone through that. Yeah. Share that similar experience and yeah. You mentioned being surrounded by like the new age for me.

Like I was surrounded by other people who were like idolizing money too. So it was like who I was like around you become like those people, it’s that’s what happens. And honestly, that’s why I surrounded myself with those people. Cause I was like, they’re making this money. I wanna do that too.

So I like became such in close proximity to those people that’s what. I then. Turned into I, came into that. And I was preaching from the rooftops, make money. I was all about high ticket strategies. I would preach. That was like my content for three years straight. It was like, leverage high ticket, make all this income.

You don’t need to build a massive team. You don’t need to make, hundreds of sales in order to. Five figure months. That was my message. That was like one of those people. And not that there’s anything wrong with making money, but that was like what I preached was the answer to all your problems and another thing that ended up happening with that is I would bring people in who believed me, right? Who believed me. but then weren’t seeing the same success that I was. And that was like a repeating pattern. And I, that started to really take a toll on me too, where I was like, I’m leading people to this and they’re not seeing the same success that I am.

And I started to feel like a fraud. So I was now feeling like a fraud. Now the enemy’s telling me I’m a fraud so it was like real heavy came to head and. Something had to shift. And it was like in that moment of that huge financial loss was such a huge blessing because it allowed me to come face to face with like, where are you at right now?

Like where, like, why are you like in this space? You’ve forgotten me. Like I feel like God was like basically reminding me like, you’ve forgotten me. You’ve forgotten what’s important. And then I started to really feel that tug from the Lord, just like pulling me back in and inviting me back in. And.

Oh, it was just such a like, beautiful time to like really press into that. And the first thing that God really revealed to me, he’s you need to surround yourself with women who are putting me first, who are building businesses with me at the center. And so that was really clear. You need Christ-centered mentors in your life, women like that.

And that’s where it started. And girl power lines came into play for me and. That was really clear from the beginning with Girl Para Alliance was that I got on a call actually with Ma Michelle Schaffer. She’s the founder of Girl Para Alliance. I got on a call with her and it was just like that confirmation from the Lord.

He said, this is like who I’m talking about, people like this who are Holy Spirit led leaders who have built successful businesses because there’s nothing wrong with building a successful business and making the money, but what happens is if you do that without him, That is where things go wrong, right?

And it’s like the love of money, right? Is the bad situation, right? It’s not money itself. And so that was like really clear. in the beginning, and I thought it was just gonna be that I thought, I was like, we’re gonna come here. I’m gonna get mentorship, I’m gonna continue doing what I’m doing. I’ve got a high ticket coaching program that was successful.

I had my high ticket network marketing company and we are, still making good money here. Awesome. I’ve got this mentorship now, let’s move forward. I thought that was the answer, but it, it definitely didn’t stay that way. , God had other plans. It was continuing to, just shift things in me and teaching me what it looks like to surrender.

Like the more I learned through the resources at Girl Power Alliance and through the mentorship, the more I started to recognize okay, what does it mean to really be fully surrendered and continue to say yes to what God has planned, even if it doesn’t make sense. So the first time that I like started to feel like maybe God was asking me to let go of.

My businesses because that started with my coaching program, started with recognizing like I. Wanting to really feeling called to partner more with girl power lines and the resources. I, I loved what I was doing in my life. I saw transformation that women were having and I of course wanna be able to share that with others.

If it’s impacting me, I wanna be able to turn around and share with others. But I felt like my attention was very divided. And so that’s when God started to press on my heart that I may need to let go of my coaching program, which was like the first like leap of faith. So I ended up going to Activate, which is.

The conference that girl power lines had for convention, I guess you would call it for girl power lines. And I asked God going to convention, I said, God, just re make it really clear. Make it. If I’m, you want me to let go of my country program and you want me to go all in here with girl power lines, I want you to make it really clear at convention.

And he did. He made it so clear, just over and over throughout the weekend. He just made it very clear. So I knew that’s what I needed to do. So that was like my first like big kind of leap of faith of being like, okay. I’m gonna let go of this coaching program, high ticket coaching program, and it was at Activate that God was working some stuff out in me because I was afraid to let it go.

I was afraid to let it go because I was so used to being able to make that high ticket income and I was afraid that. In order to make the kind of income I needed with Girl Power Alliance, I was gonna have to bring in a lot of women, like thousands, right? In order to make up for what I was bringing in with my high ticket coaching program.

And so there was a fear there. And I remember God asking me at the event like, and cause obviously like in my thoughts, he was like, why are you so afraid to impact thousands of women for me? I’m like, that’s how I ended up here. That was my husband’s question to. when I was sitting on the fence Macro Power Alliance, like what is it that you want to do?

, what sort of impact do you want to have? And I was like, okay, yeah, you’re right. Like I can do this and that. That is what flipped the switch for me in joining. Yeah. I love that God gives people like very similar downloads, like download. Yeah. How do you know it’s from the Lord? Like when Trio I love it. And you are such an incredible leader, so I’m so thankful that you are here. And activate guys. When the tickets for activate come out, you should go, because Michelle and I probably spent the whole weekend crying Oh my gosh. Together, which was really great. We just there’s definitely like pictures.

I remember all of us up at the stage like on the gala night, which is so fun, guys. So you get to wear like, it’s like prom. It was so funny. I didn’t have weddings. Yeah, I didn’t have a wedding, so I haven’t dressed up like that since I went to prom many years ago. I’m not gonna say how many years ago that was, cuz then I’ll feel really old.

But it was adult prom and then there was no boys, so it was like an even better prom, perfect and everybody’s just standing around in really beautiful gowns, praising Jesus and crying together. Wow. It was a powerful weekend. Best prom I’ve ever been to. Yes. So you go to this incredible weekend and the Lord’s like, why are you af, why are you afraid to be so afraid?

And it was like a very real like moment that I just had to sit in and I like, I was like, yeah, okay. I was like, how to process it. I was like, Is that really what you want me to do? God? Because instantly I go to my insecurities. I go to, but how am I gonna be able to do that? God? Like I don’t have the influence.

I don’t have what it takes. Like I just felt very inadequate to be able to do that, especially since. I’ve been preaching this like high ticket message for so long and I think that’s why God asked me that specific question because I literally told people, you don’t have to do that , like you don’t have to do that to make the income.

That was like the opposite of what I was preaching. And God was like, why are you so afraid of that ? And so it was really cool that like God, allowed me to sit in that moment. And then he spoke right to my insecurity. So right after he told me that he then, You’re right cuz I was like, like feeling this in my mind of like, how am I gonna do that guy?

I’m not capable. Like he said, you’re right. He’s you can’t do it. He like acknowledged it and then he said, watch what I can, oh I’m gonna get emotional. Sorry . Oh get emotional cuz we, that’s he said, watch what I can do. When you partner with.

Whew. Yeah. That was like the moment that I knew that I just needed to say yes y’all. And when she said yes, she did impact thousands. I just wanna I’m gonna give her a minute cuz she, so she stop crying for a second or keep crying. It’s fine. But I remember so clearly when like you made that decision because you blossom.

In a way that I’ve never seen somebody blossom before. The way that you stepped up into leadership and the impact that you had and the way that it has changed your life trajectory right now, right? Like you are just a different person in the most beautiful way than you were six months ago.

Thank. I just love you. It’s, she’s had this incredible journey. So tell them what happened when you partner with her. Yeah. Okay. So shortly after that, like I said, yes, right? I sold my coaching program, let it go. Pretty much just gave it away. To be honest, I didn’t really sell it for much, gave it away.

Thankfully I had some coaches, a part of my program that took it and ran with it. So it made it really easy. Cuz they kept it going. So I get to celebrate them from the sidelines, which is amazing. But I pressed in, I was like, okay, we’re gonna do this thing. Let’s go all in. So I pressed in, God led me to TikTok.

So I was on Facebook, Instagram, been doing that for years, right? Drug my feet to get on TikTok. So I’m like, I don’t need another platform. I hesitated, but God, he is I’m go to TikTok. I’m like, okay, I’m learning to just say yes. God says, do it. You just go. So I started a new TikTok account hired a.

To learn how to navigate that. Cause I knew that I wanted to do it right. God was calling me there. I wanted to do it right. So I hired a coach, started a TikTok account brand new, zero followers, right? Just started creating the content, right? Just being obedient, just putting it out there, seeing what God is gonna do with it.

Ended up having one of my TikTok go. Specifically for girl power lines. So it was one of those where I post didn’t really think that much of it. I’m like, cool, I might get some leads from this. Cause I was getting a few leads here and there, but I woke up the next morning. with, the first thing that was like I knew something was different was I was looking at my calendar.

I’m like, who are all these people on my calendar? , who are all these people? And then I went and I’m like, what is happening? And then I went to TikTok and literally had at that, when I saw it, I had just over a thousand women comment on that TikTok wanting more information about girl power lines. And it was like this moment that just floored me of wow, it wasn’t like 900, like it could’ve been 999. It was literally like over a thousand women had reached out specifically for co power lines. And it was like a moment that God gave me that was like almost like one of those, I told you so moments from God where he was just like, I told you so daughter. Like just trust me.

Watch what I can do. And I was like, wow. This is what you were talking about, God, like I had. Had no control. I don’t know, like you never know when TikTok is going to push a video out or if it’s not, sometimes you only get a few views, but this time it was just really cool to see how God used that.

And then ended up, yeah, getting, top and roller for the month and got a bonus and stuff. So it was just like, God just was beautiful at showing me what it looks like. Again, just say yes to God and giving me moments of, just conf C what’s the right word I’m looking for?

Confirm. , it was giving me those like confirmation moments and it was just so beautiful that it was like thousands, right? It was like, no, not all of them signed up, but it was just like that first, real big indicator of wow, this is what God can do. This is what he’s capable of. And I’m just excited to continue to see that happen.

My TikTok account has continued to just grow like crazy. It’s been about three months now and yeah, just over like almost 27,000 I think now followers in three months, which is crazy cause I’ve been on Instagram, Facebook for years and know we’re close to that. But it’s just all God and I just have such a heart for.

Really what God is doing here. And for marketplace ministry, like you said, lemon, like I’m just a, I’m a different person and it’s all because of God and I’m just excited to see what he’s doing in and through me and the, even this, the small part that I get to play in someone else’s life as they’re coming here.

And the women, the messages that I get from women who’ve come into Girl Power Alliance are messages that. just priceless. They’ll tell me like, I’m spending more time in the word. I’ve never been this like close to the Lord. Thank you so much for showing up. Whew. See, just get me going again. Start crying again because God allows us to like partner with him and it’s just such a beautiful thing when we get to do that.

And I’m just so grateful to be a part. With God and getting to see what he’s doing with it. When we give him our yes, like He, he ma, he expands so much more than we can ever imagine for ourselves. And it’s beyond us, right? All, all God asks for our obedience and for us to just lay it down to surrender.

and he takes the rest. That’s it. Like it’s simple. But yeah, we make it so complicated, right? We make it so complicated cuz we get caught up in what makes sense to us, right? Cause it didn’t make sense for me to let go of my coaching program and ended up actually letting go of my high ticket network marketing company eventually too.

There were some things that kind of came into play for that, but yeah. It’s so worth it though. It’s worth it. Even if it doesn’t make sense, it’s worth. Yeah, I love this so much because I know that it was like after you, said yes to God that the other things that came into play with your other company.

And so it was like a really. I feel like it’s gotta be an easier transition because you’re like, I’ve already seen the confirmation from the Lord. This is where I’m supposed to be. And I know I felt that I, we’ve made we made the same sort of big leap where I gave up my agency that was doing, I used to sell blog post content for $18,000 for for only a few posts a month and things like that.

And we gave that up to. Here. And we went six months without me bringing in any income while I figured out what the Lord wanted me to do. And we ended up here. And I’m so grateful I did. Cause then I get to meet people like you and hang out with you. And it is really cool to see. Now you make me emotional.

It’s fine. I remember getting messages over the summer being like I was unsure about my relationship with the Lord, but because of the course that you put in GPA and the mentorship, right? Like I now have a stronger relationship with the. And you’re getting ready to put a course inside of gpa, which I was so excited about.

Tell ’em what you’re putting in gpa. This . I’m excited for it. So like I, I mentioned, just having such a heart for the marketplace ministry and I just am seeing how powerful this platform, this, these platforms of social media, like we live in such an amazing time. And I think sometimes we look at it and think this is.

It’s so terrible cuz yes, there’s some not so great things on social media. A lot of darkness in the world and we see all of the bad things happening because it’s so like information overload. But I see the other side of it and God’s shown me the other side of it. He’s but.

Again, it’s watch what I can do when I use it. So I’m like, if I can have any part in equipping and teaching someone else how to go out and use this platform to share Jesus and spread the light, like cuz we need more, Jesus. Let’s just say the world needs more Jesus. But what a powerful platform that we have with social media to get seen by thousands, by millions, like one of my tos a million views in Africa. Like one of mine went crazy in Africa and I was like, okay, God wanted these people in Africa to see this and it’s so cool that God can use that. So all that to say, this course that I’m creating is gonna teach women how to leverage TikTok. Because obviously I was able to, Come in, do some, use some strategies that have worked really well.

So I’m excited for those women who, especially who have that heart for ministry, have that heart for, you’re on a mission, whatever it is that you’re doing typically in, in business, like it’s something you believe in that’s gonna impact someone else’s life. So if I can teach you how to leverage a platform and help you get seen by more and like really have that get pushed out.

So the course will be specific to TikTok, how to leverage it, how to grow fast. How to really like, maximize the algorithm and stuff. Even though God’s bigger than the algorithm, I always say that God is bigger than the algorithm. It’s gonna be about just being obedient and putting it out there.

there’s some, strategies and stuff that we can help you with as well. So course is gonna teach you how to start, even if you’ve never started TikTok, br if this is a brand new thing for you, that’s gonna be really geared for those people who are literally starting from zero like I did brand new account.

What do we need to do? How do we set it up? All the things. So that’s coming to G P A next month. Super excited. I am really excited because Michelle has been my TikTok mentor for the last few weeks, and I just had a TikTok. Literally, we were just talking about it before this call below up, and by my standards, right?

I always say viral for you. That’s like my, that’s my little marketing brain, right? What’s, I had this conversation with my kids like, what’s viral for cat sticklers, not viral for like two different viral. Viral for you. And I said to Michelle today, I was like, I literally been getting G P A signups and people booking calls and all these things without.

Really doing anything other than sharing Jesus and who I am. And so you guys are gonna take her course because it is gonna be really good. I can tell you that from experience because I talked to her on a regular basis about it and constantly I’m sending her screenshots of my TikTok and pr. That’s probably all she ever sees from me.

I’m like, look at this. Hello. Because she’s incredible. So Michelle, thank you so much for being here. I just, I love your story. If you are somebody who is God’s pulling me to do this thing, go do. Yes. Just go do it. Yep. Say yes. Just say yes. Yes. And then take an act of ob. Take that leap of faith, cuz that’s what usually what it is going to require.

Especially if God’s calling you to something big, you might have to make. Decision that’s gonna scare you, , it’s gonna scare you. It’s gonna be terrifying. But just know that if you’re scared and God’s asking you to do it, he’s got something really big planned up his sleeve for you. And just be excited.

Turn that fear into excitement knowing that he’s about ready to do something really big. Oh, I love that advice. I’m gonna leave it there then with everybody like this is, she’s so good. Go connect with Michelle on social media, Eli, all of her social and the show notes for you and just come hang out with us.

We’re a really fun time, I promise. Come hang out. Is life changing. We can both tell you that 150 times. So just thank you for being here, Michelle. I really love and appreciate you, Fred. Thank you Lemon.