At the end of every podcast, we like to ask our guests to share what God has been teaching them in this season of life. This week’s guest is Diane Paddison, 4word Founder and President, is a Harvard MBA graduate, former global executive of two Fortune 500 companies and one Fortune 1000 company, and serves as an independent director for two corporations and four not-for-profits.

Psalm 9:1

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High

Every year, my husband and I do the YouVersion Bible study where we go through the Bible in a year. So we're probably in our seventh or eighth year now. And, you know, the key things that God is teaching me now, well, number one is what do I do to fulfill my potential? 

And Matthew 12:46-13:17 is all about pursuing intimacy with Christ. And, you know, I think that's the key for me is just putting down roots and making those roots go deeper and deeper so that everything I do is really led by the Holy Spirit and by following the word of God in the decisions that I make each day. 

So I think, you know, fulfilling my potential happens by pursuing intimacy with Christ. And then you can imagine I'm a type-A. I’m an achiever, but, you know, I need to sometimes just let God be God.

And it’s great to just read Psalm 9:1-12, which really talks about the sovereignty of God and believing that she will never forsake us and that he's given me great gifts, that I need to use responsibly and work hard. But I also need to remember that God is sovereign through it all. And sometimes it's better if I put it down and let God take over. 

So those two, I would say, are where I am right now, especially as 4word is exploding. I brought in a COO who is phenomenal. She's given me life again. I just brought in a CFO who is just phenomenal. And now I need to bring in a development director. But just allowing me to move to that role where I'm really where I should be and let other people take care of a lot of what's going on so that we can just continue to reach women in the workplace in a way they've never felt community before. 

So those two things are what God is teaching me now—how to reach that potential and let God be God.