This week, God spoke to me through a pair of bedroom shoes.
I know that sounds strange, but stay with me.
Lately, I've been wrestling with a question that many people in survival mode face:
What do I do when the thing I've depended on is no longer there?
After losing my only virtual assistant client, I found myself standing at a crossroads.
Part of me wanted to immediately jump into fix-it mode.
Find another client.
Replace the income.
Solve the problem.
Move quickly.
Do something.
Because that's what survival mode does.
Survival mode hates uncertainty.
It wants answers immediately.
It wants movement immediately.
It wants solutions immediately.
But over the last year, God has been teaching me something about myself.
When I go into fix-it mode, I stop listening.
Not because God stops speaking.
Because I stop making space to hear Him.
So instead of rushing into action, I prayed.
And while I was praying, I happened to look down at my feet.
I was wearing a pair of pink bedroom shoes that I purchased last year after losing my home in a house fire.
As I looked down, I noticed something I had never paid attention to before.
There was a gold butterfly with a crown on the shoes.
The exact symbol of the Beyond Survival Mode™ logo.
The exact symbol that represents transformation.
The exact symbol God gave me for this framework.
And immediately I started crying.
Because I realized something.
The butterfly had been there all along.
Long before the framework.
Long before the journals.
Long before the assessment.
Long before the vision became clear.
The butterfly was already there.
I just wasn't ready to see it.
But as I sat with that moment, God showed me something even deeper.
The butterfly wasn't just on the shoes.
It was on the thing covering my feet.
And immediately my mind went to Acts 14.
Acts 14:8-10 tells us about a man who had been crippled from birth.
Scripture says:
"He had never walked."
According to Pastor Mike McClure Jr.'s teaching, one of the most significant details in this story is that the man had no strength in his feet.
No strength.
In his feet.
No foundation.
No ability to stand.
No ability to move forward.
No ability to carry himself into the future God had for him.
And as I reflected on that, I realized something about survival mode.
Many of us have spent years trying to move forward with weak foundations.
We learned how to survive.
We learned how to endure.
We learned how to carry pressure.
But we never learned how to build.
We never learned how to steward.
We never learned how to stand firmly on what God said.
So we spend our lives moving from crisis to crisis.
Reaction to reaction.
Emergency to emergency.
Not because we lack effort.
But because our foundation has been built on survival instead of stewardship.
That was me.
For years, my foundation was:
Fear.
Urgency.
Pressure.
Overthinking.
Trying to control outcomes.
Trying to fix everything.
Trying to get ahead of every possible problem.
And survival mode convinced me that was wisdom.
But it wasn't wisdom.
It was fear dressed up as responsibility.
The man in Acts 14 didn't need more effort.
He needed strength.
He needed a new foundation.
And I think that's what God has been doing in me.
Not just changing my circumstances.
Strengthening my foundation.
Teaching me how to trust.
Teaching me how to wait.
Teaching me how to hear Him.
Teaching me how to build from stewardship instead of survival.
The butterfly on those shoes reminded me that transformation doesn't start when the breakthrough arrives.
Transformation starts when the foundation changes.
A caterpillar becomes a butterfly because its entire structure is transformed.
Not because its circumstances change.
And maybe that's what God is doing in this season.
Maybe He's not just trying to give me another client.
Maybe He's trying to build a foundation that can sustain everything He's preparing me for.
Because if Beyond Survival Mode™ is truly what He called me to build, then it cannot be built on panic.
It cannot be built on urgency.
It cannot be built on fear.
It must be built on faith.
It must be built on stewardship.
It must be built on a foundation strong enough to carry the weight of the assignment.
Acts 14 teaches us that when the foundation changes, movement becomes possible.
The man who had never walked stood up.
The thing that had never been possible suddenly became possible.
Not because he learned a new strategy.
Because strength entered a place where weakness had existed.
And maybe that's the word for this season.
God is strengthening foundations.
Not just finances.
Not just opportunities.
Not just circumstances.
Foundations.
Because the thing He's calling you to stand in will require strength in places survival mode never developed.
Looking back now, I don't think it was a coincidence that God spoke to me through my shoes.
Because shoes cover feet.
And feet represent foundation.
And perhaps God was reminding me:
🖤 Before I move you into what's next, I'm strengthening what you stand on.
"Stand up straight on your feet!" — Acts 14:10
Maybe this season isn't about finding the next thing.
Maybe it's about becoming strong enough to carry it when it arrives.
Reflection Questions
🖤 What foundation am I currently building my life upon?
🖤 Where has survival mode become my default response?
🖤 What might God be strengthening in me before He changes my circumstances?
Scriptures for Reflection
Acts 14:8-10
Matthew 7:24-27
Isaiah 40:31
Psalm 18:33
Proverbs 24:3
Ephesians 3:16
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