Dawn Damon: Hey, my guest today is an award-winning author, a keynote speaker, a sports journalist, and a humorist. When I say that, I mean it. I have listened to her book on Audible. She's hilarious and she's basically an all-around spreader of hope and joy. Please welcome my guest today, Amy Daughters.

Hi, Amy!

Amy Daughters: Hi Dawn! Thank you so much for having me on. I'm excited to be here.

Dawn Damon: Thank you. We've been so excited to have you here. You and I talked before the program about how we're going to wear our cool glasses today. So here we are, two sisters, two cool glasses, and a couple of brave stories, and I can't wait to hear about your story. So tell us a little bit about yourself.

Amy Daughters: Well, I'm an advertised, author and a freelance writer. I'm a mom, I'm a wife, you know, I'm just another skinny hot girl trying to make my way, you know, through the day.

Dawn Damon: Absolutely. And you are a hot girl and you are skinny, at least from this angle here. You look amazing. So, listen, skinny is an attitude. So is sexy. So that's it. We're enjoying our midlife.

So I love asking everybody when they come on the program to tell me about their brave story. We kind of just did it a little bit in the teaser here, but tell me about your brave story in life. You've probably had more than one.

Amy Daughters: Right. But the story that I've been entrusted with, you know, what you said in our pre-talk or the pre-part of this call. But I was basically just minding my own business. That's the way I like to tell the story. I was a freelance writer. I had written one book and I was just doing life.

Then I do the next obvious thing is I stalk her little page and I'm like, Oh, her hair changed. You know, now she doesn't have a perm and like, she got blonde hair and it's straight. Like what happened? Oh my gosh, this is a great story. Then I realized that she had overachieved in the kid department. She has five kids and the youngest one is your only boy. His name is Parker and right away, I figured out this kid was at St. Jude in Memphis, Tennessee, and he had cancer. And so if he's there, he's probably fighting for his life.

So the first part of this engagement was as a mom, as a human being, I was like, Oh my gosh, this is terrible. I want to follow along with the story, but I could tell right away Dawn, that was kind of overfeeling it. Then she asked the golden question. She said, you know, Please pray for us. I'm kind of a prayer that was always like my background gig. I was like, okay, that's what I'll do. I'll start praying for these people.

And it was kind of like, I was drawn in a way that didn't make sense. Like we've all seen prayer requests on Facebook or social media, and you know, I'm pretty good at it, but then it drops off at these people. I just could not get out of the story. So I prayed, I prayed, I prayed. She was really honest on Facebook, really opened up. She was, had that big, same big personality. So she goes eventually into remission. So I'm relieved. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is great.

So it kind of goes on the back burner of my prayer life and my consciousness. What she posted about football and football is my thing. She went to LSU, so I followed along with that, and then at the end of the next year I could tell something was different. She got back on Facebook and said, guys, look, Parker has relapsed. We're going back to Memphis. And I was like, oh my gosh, no. And then, so she's like, we really need y'all to pray. So, and again, I had had no contact with her. I didn't put like on any of her posts or I didn't even. I said nothing, which is hilarious.

And so, I immediately thought, okay, I'm going to start praying again. I'll put this on the front burner. But I sat at my desk. It's like I said, I'm a writer. I sat on my desk and it was almost like a bolt of lightning from the heavens. I didn't ask anything. I didn't say anything. I just sat there. It was like, you know what I'm going to start doing? I'm going to start writing Dana and Parker letters and send them to the Ronald McDonald house to Memphis. I know now that that was all God. But it was like, I was so invested in this idea and I hadn't written anyone a letter probably in 25 years and I hadn't had any contact with Dana. I'd never met Parker.

So I like to tell the story at different levels of craziness. So there was like Defcon four, you know, I'm going to write these people letters. I was so invested that I sat down the next morning and I literally got a card out and was like, dear Dana and Parker. I started writing them and I'd write, you know, I'm praying for you. I'm supporting you. All the stuff that you would normally write. Then I started saying, well, here's who I am and here's what I do, because I didn't really have anything to say.

Well, about eight to 10 weeks into this arrangement, it was all on my end of sending these letters. I can tell again on Facebook that Dana's tone of her post started to shift. Then eventually it's her friends posting and I can tell it's not good. So then I go to church one morning, we come home, it's a Sunday. I get my phone out and Dana posts this paragraph post and it's like, you know, Parker passed away this morning. Oh goodness. It was only 15 years old. I mean, total devastation and this had nothing to do with me, Dawn. I got that.

But after, you know, reading this, I sat down and I was like, Oh my gosh, what am I supposed to do? Because I felt so called to write the letters. So I sent a condolence note and I was like, God, what are you really, what do you want me to do? Then it was another, like a smaller bolt of lightning. It was just pure, like adrenaline and gut instinct. I was like, you know what to do? I'm gonna keep writing her letters. So only this time, I don't even know where this girl lives because I knew she lived in Louisiana, but you know how Facebook works. Like, I don't really know where she lives. I don't really know anything. So I kind of stalked her again and I found out her husband had an office address.

So I just crazily Defcon three, started sending her letters to her husband's law office address. Like crazy. I knew the whole time I was doing it. Do it like you are not. So this is outside the boundaries of normal behavior, but I couldn't stop myself. And so I just started writing to her week after week after week. You know, Dana, I'm praying for you, Dana. I'm sorry, Dana. I know. I don't know what to say. You know, and then Dana, guess what? My sister's crazy. Like I started telling her stuff about my life. Then magically, about five months into this, I go to my mailbox. I was living in Ohio at the time. I go to my mailbox, and I pull out my mail, it's my birthday, and I'm kind of hoping for a birthday card, but that doesn't happen anymore. I pull out, and here, in my hands, is a ten-page handwritten letter from David. GASP! She had written me back, just amazeballs, you know, and so I went in and I hadn't really told anybody about any of this, so I didn't even really have to read the text.

Dawn Damon: I got to interrupt you for one second because you are gripping me with the story. I'm fighting tears, but the humor is wonderful. So thank you for the small, whoops. Thank you for the small reprieve with the DEFCON 3, but we have to just say this, like, when you get gripped with something like that, you are definitely on an assignment from God. Like he has apprehended your soul and it's your must. It's your divine bust, right? You got to do this. It makes no sense, but you have to do it.

Amy Daughters: Right and people tell me all the time and hear the story like, Oh my God, you're so wonderful. I'm like, no, you don't understand. I was not twirling around in a field of wheat saying, God, what do you want me to do with this beautiful white dress? I was wearing yoga pants from Target and I was like eating a snack pack pudding. You know, I'm not asking about anything. I'm just trying to watch Dallas on my iPad, you know? So it was like, God just overtook me and was like, this is your mission in life and no, it makes no sense.

Like you said, it was gripping. Like I was, I'm still in the grips with these people. So she wrote back. I sit down and read this letter and she opens up about her grief, like right away. I don't even know what to do with this. So, you know, obviously, I write her back and then this kicks off this two years. We spent two years writing to each other, exclusively through the U.S. mail. We didn't text each other. We didn't email each other. We didn't Facebook message each other. We just wrote each other letters. I didn't ask her to write me. She didn't ask me. We've never asked each other for anything, but we started sharing on this level that made no sense. And the part that we're writing letters, it created this vacuum. Because if I write to you, Dawn, and you write me back, you have no idea. When I opened that letter, you had no idea when I read it. It doesn't tell you at the bottom that I read it. It takes all the pressure off of one replying and gives you all this time to think about what the other person said.

Like you walk around and think about it. Then when you're writing about your life, you're looking out from the outside, outside in. And when a person opens up in words like that, it is so intimate. It absolutely turned my life on its head. I felt so profoundly close to this person who had shared me and I knew nothing about her. And the best part was I didn't know if she was a Democrat or Republican. I knew she believed in God because she asked for prayers, but I had no idea. Was she a Baptist? Was she a Methodist? Was she a Catholic? I couldn't have cared less because all I knew was this girl, she needed the prayers. Also, she became my friend in the mail. She cared about me, like, she'd be like, I care about your mom. I care about your issues with your blah, blah, blah. You know, she cared. So that's all that mattered.

And about six months into this whole thing, I sat back and I was like, if God can do this with this one random girl who got carotid in Louisiana, you know, what else is out there on this list of absolutely random people of all these different points in my life. I was like, Okay. You know what I'm going to do? Defcon one. Let's go. I'm going to, I'm going to write all these people a handwritten letter.

So I literally got an Excel spreadsheet, and typed everyone's name into it. I cut out little pieces of paper and I took a box and I wrote on the top of it. This is about God. This is not about you. Because that's kind of what I learned about from Dana. I shoved all the names in. I bought stationery, said my name, your Facebook friend. I sat down. Starting on day one and pulled somebody's name out. I was like, Oh God, now I've got to write this personal letter. I journaled the whole thing. I never thought I'd finish. I did not mean to go on a meaningful journey. I did not mean to do anything really. It was again, the kind of what I knew I was supposed to do. I kept writing Dana and I wrote 580 Facebook friends, a handwritten letter. It absolutely just changed the entire trajectory. Yes. Of my life, but more importantly, you know, of my heart.

Dawn Damon: Hmm. Say more about that. That was a work in your heart that was being done. Wow. I mean, how was it changing? How was your heart changing? What was the transformation that was taking place?

Amy Daughters: Well, there were so many different levels to the change because, you know, one of the first things was I realized when we look at our list, it's so relatable. We look at our list of social media and friends and we're like, Oh, these are all people that I randomly that I kind of thought that I remembered how I knew them.

Well, first of all, you know, just a simple act of, cause if you're going to write somebody a letter, what are you even going to say? Well, first of all, I had to go. Let's say I went to high school with Dawn with you. First of all, I had to identify that because there were so many people. I was like, Oh, I think I went to high school with her. I was like, no, it was summer camp. No, we worked together. No, we danced at a wedding together. Because you'd not because you're a bad human being, because it's too much. You can't sort that person out, but you have to zero in on that person to write them a letter. You had to go figure out who they were.

So that was the first gift of the whole thing. So the first gift was I was like, I'm going to go unpack Dawn. Like what happened? Like, first of all, Oh my gosh, she's doing this podcast about, you know, helping women flourish midlife. She's helping people. She's inspiring people with these stories. She's probably impacting people. She doesn't even know.

So the first thing I'm going to say to you, Dawn from high school, I'd be like Dawn, Oh my God, I'm so proud of you. I can see how you would have done this, but you just got to know. I'm looking from the outside and going, this is my friend. Dawn's a rock star, you know? Then the second thing I'm going to do, 'cause I got to find out something to say to you. I'm going to sit back naturally. Not cause I'm a great human being just cause I'm a person. I'm like, Oh, Dawn Damon. Oh yeah. She was the one who, when that guy broke up with me, I was standing by the pay phone outside of the lunchroom. She was like, you know what, Amy? You're not going to let this define you. You're going to have better relationships. You're going to be fine.

The number two thing I'm going to do in my letter to Dawn, I'd be Dawn, I never said this to you, but I should have. Thank you. Because that advice is something I still think about, even though I don't connect it back or blah, blah, blah, whatever. So I'm going to say those things to you. And here is what's going to happen. You're not going to expect this letter. But you're going to go to your mailbox one day and you're going to open before you even read the words, you're going to be like, Oh my gosh. You're going to connect the dots of what I had to do to create this magic woman. I know this, cause it happened to me and happened to people on the other side of the letters, but you're going to hold this thing in your hand. You're going to be like, oh my gosh, you're going to be like, she had to sit down. She had to find paper. She had to find a pen. She had to get an envelope. She had to look at where's my address. Oh my God, I need a stamp. Oh my gosh, I got to drive across Grand Rapids. Where's the post office? I have no idea. Because I forgot about all that and you're going to hold it in your hand.

And so all of a sudden I didn't care that you were a Democrat and I was Republican. I'm not saying that's what you are. I'm not identifying myself as such. I didn't care that you were a Baptist and I was a Muslim. I didn't care that you were this. I cared that your mother had been ill and you were struggling with that. I didn't know it till I went and looked at your profile page. I cared that you took care of me in high school. I care that you are a real human with real experience. So you think about what a profound, Revelation that is for a human being.

Then I'm connected to all of these rock stars who showed up in my life, that God put my life at the right time. So then my grateful meter goes just right off the chart and over and over again, I realized that if we connect individually in this connection that God gave us, if we rekindle this connection and remember, even if we don't continue on with our relationship, but me, just remembering Dawn and multiplying that by several hundred, then all of a sudden all the hope I was looking for is right there. Like who cares about anything else?

Dawn Damon: Yeah, I can so hear the humility in your heart as you're talking, because you said at the very top of the spreadsheet, you wrote, it's not about me. And you know, people might tend to think like, Oh, you did this amazing thing. Yet I can hear the humility that you were really amazingly impacted by this. Was there a response? Did people respond to you? Did you get letters back? Did you start a movement? What happened?

Amy Daughters: Well, that's what, you know, it's funny because movement is what I like to think about, like, what am I speaking? I never would have thought that I would have, you know, spoken about it or wrote a book about it. That was never my intention, anything. That's what, there is Dana who I'm best friends with now. You know, who I'm in contact with, who I talked with this morning, and who knows I'm on your podcast right now.

Oh, hi Dana. We love you! She's the best friend I ever had. God provided that as well. You know, but yeah, absolutely. I'm on a mission to tell my story and let God do the rest. But as far as responses, I'm kind of a numbers girl.

So I think I heard back from like 78 percent of the people who I reached out to mostly handwritten letters, but Facebook messages or text or, and the responses were so over the top gratifying. The fact that people felt compelled to share with me on the same level that I shared with them. The most common response I got though, and this just goes to, it just lives to what the power of lettering, not the power of me, not that I'm a writer, but over and over again, people told me, I'm going to save your letter in a special place for the rest of my life.

Dawn Damon: Wow.

Amy Daughters: And whether people believe in God or not, that's God's love over and over again, in the mailbox over and over and over again.

Dawn Damon: That's so incredible. You know, as you're talking, I'm thinking like you're the hairdresser, you're the masseuse, you're that safe person that I open up my heart to and go blah. Because you just reached out and touched me just like when a hairdresser is doing your hair. Oh, yeah. They're touching your body. There's this kind of intimate connection because they're caring for you. You were caring for the soul and you opened up people in an unassuming way where they're like, I don't really know this woman. But first of all, she just affirmed me. She just then thanked me. She also told me how I inspired her and she connected with me at a deep level and I want to tell her about my life.

Amy Daughters: Right. That's what Jesus did to people. I mean, that's so humbling. I almost can't go on, but I think that's why it's inspired by that. It's not me. It's not about me. It's about connection. It's about God's love. I will say that you know, back to Dana, what you just said is so powerful because letter writing is so, or note writing, it doesn't have to be a full letter. I have a lot to say about that, but it's so non-intrusive. It's back to, like, if I write to you, you don't feel like you have to write me back.

Now, some people want to write me back, and I get that. There were so many responses, Dawn, that I lost control of the whole project as just one girl over here trying to not screw up my kids. You know, I lost control, but since they didn't feel like they had to respond, that made it even more powerful because it was just, you know, something they could hold on to.

But Dana told me after the fact that the reason that she opened up so deeply about her grief is that because, you know, here she is doing life with four daughters and a husband who have suffered each and suffered this horrific loss that I don't even want to think about, you know, so she said she would go into a room and everybody seemed okay.

So she was like, you know if she wasn't okay, she wasn't going to bring the room down. She would write me and she didn't even know who I was, but she would write me because I became her outlet. Now she's become my outlet for sure and in a lot of different ways because we still write to each other. I wrote to her this morning. So that's what you're saying about the letter writing. It creates this free space between two people where you can share. You don't have to share. You can say whatever you want. You can say nothing.

There's something so powerful about dropping it in the box. And you almost forget what even happened. You don't have a record of it anywhere. So the person who's the most changed from letter writing or note writing or card writing or whatever context you put it into. We commonly think that you know, if I'm going to write you, Dawn, me saying something nice to you, you're going to be the person who's changed, but that's the misconception, the person who's the most changed from all of this is me. Because it opened up something inside of me that I didn't know was there, you know, profoundly.

Dawn Damon: Yeah, it enriched your life just in incredible ways. I think that's the power, too, of the gospel. Like, when we serve, you know, Jesus gave us that upside-down kingdom. Like, if you want to be great, be the least. If you want to live, die, surrender. If you want to have joy, then give and be generous. So you were all of those things, you know, by the spirit of God who gripped you. But I feel like, you know, the Lord ushered you into a call that he had on your life and that opened the gateway. You didn't have to be obedient. You didn't have to surrender to that nudge. What would you say to someone if they're feeling a tug on their heart about something, about being brave, about like taking a step and what you think?

Amy Daughters: Well, this sounds great. I feel like a creeper or a stalker, right? I thought that's such a great question because I kept a journal the whole time. I did the Facebook letters over and over again in the journal. It's like, Oh, I can't go on. I cannot write Miss Atwood from the fourth day. That's nuts and I know it. And I can't do, I can't do one more letter. This is stupid. This is ridiculous. I'm putting myself out there. You know, people are going to think it's dumb. Like you said, that I'm a stalker, that I'm crazy, you know, but just letting go. And not letting that stop me absolutely changed my life. I'm not talking about, I wrote a book and I give a speech and I get to be on the podcast. That's not what I'm talking about. It changed my life.

Like if I could be one person, I wanted to be in my entire life. I would be the person that God let me be the 18 months I was writing letters. It was absolutely the best version of me that I will ever be. All I had to do was let go and just almost jump with a wave and see what happened. I think the other thing we can do. We all have this voice in us telling us, and that's God. You know, telling us what to do and we all think it's crazy and it's all different. We don't have to have the same voice. Your voice can be totally different from my voice, but if we could just encourage each other to jump into the waves together and try something. We don't know that we're good at that. We're pretty sure is ridiculous and mezzo and dumb in our own head. If we could just jump in and see what happens. It's almost like the act of dropping the letter in the mailbox because it's just taking a chance on the fact that maybe this world doesn't have it all figured out. Or maybe what everyone's telling us, all the naysayers, and I'm not talking politically, I'm saying in our culture are incorrect and maybe we make the difference when we let go and do the stupidest thing we've ever done.

Dawn Damon: Yeah, I love it and that's like why I've written my book, you know, The Making of a BraveHearted Woman: Courage, Confidence, and Vision in Midlife. It's like, why are we trying to live safe and small and shrink our dreams instead of expanding our faith? Like if we have that nudge from God, or we have that sense, that if there's a dream in your heart, it's there for a reason. God wants us to act on that and do something with it. And then you did do something more with this because did you not write a book called Dear Dana? How to reconnect in a disconnected world?

Amy Daughters: Through the forgotten practice of handwriting. Yeah, that's the speech. And then there's the book, Dear Dana. That time I went crazy and wrote all 580 of my Facebook friends a letter. So it's become my life's mission. God's made it my life's mission.

When I was just like, I said, minding my own business at Defcon five, not trying to, you know, but it's all God. It's a thousand per cent God. The misconception would be to look at the story and think anything. But God just set the world on fire and I just got to be a part of it. You know, and to this day, and one of the most undersold parts of the story is, you know, this would not have happened.

First of all, if Dana wouldn't have written back, you know, because at some point I would have stopped writing because I'm just another girl, like I said, you know, I'm just another human being. So one, Dana writing me back, and two, the richest part of this whole story, you know, beyond the 580 people and myself and our relationship through the letters is that I have this. Friendship with Dana and her daughters that, you know, their prayer support team, you know, and that every day I'm in contact with one of them. They have a prayer request and now they pray for me. These broken people that lost everything, you know, I mean, that's the thing. God has turned this into something way bigger than a book, way bigger than a speech, way bigger than an interview or an appearance. It's a real-life story of hope and that things aren't going to work out the way we really want them to, but God's going to have. people there for us. And that's such a story of hope to grab onto as well.

Dawn Damon: I love it because when you say you're a spreader of hope, but hope really is the gift that keeps on giving. It's contagious and thank you for doing that and sharing that. You know, I see in pictures and you can tell I'm a former pastor, but you know, you let your life be interrupted by a call of God. You could have said, no, I think of the mother, Mary. That was getting ready to have a wedding engaged to Joseph, you know, right?

Amy Daughters: Yeah, right.

Dawn Damon: She got interrupted as her plans got interrupted. She was minding her own business, too Right, right, but God said I want you to birth my son into the world. In some ways, you partook in that same kind of miracle where you birthed Jesus into the lives of so many people because you were willing to let your life be interrupted. I just want to encourage anyone who's listening today that maybe your life is being interrupted. Maybe God's put a tap on your shoulder and you're dismissing it. You're like, Oh, I'm not trying to hear that God, but he wants to use your life in amazing ways and wouldn't you say that because you said yes to that? Your life has just been blessed in amazing and profound ways beyond what you could have even imagined. I don't think you saw this in your dreams.

Amy Daughters: No, you know, God's plans were better than my prayers. I mean, it was beyond anything I could have imagined, you know, ever. Again, it's not about the books and the appearances. It's about the experience, the heart, and the way I honored every day. I still get up and write somebody a letter like, My gig now is, you know, we're all on social media. If I see someone lost their mother, or I see someone won an award, or I see someone struggling, then I send that person a note, I have a little journal I keep by my desk where I write that stuff down and I write a note because the one thing it reminds me of Dawn is that every day it honors the story. It honors Dana, it honors Parker, it honors my 580 out there who I exchanged letters with. But most of all, it reminds me that in this crazy world and we're going to Defcon one and craziness again, you know that we can make a difference and that I can do something. It sets the tone of gratitude every single day and God's allowed me.

It's funny. You talk about interrupting because I'm a busy person like you are. Sometimes I sit down to write that letter. I'm like, gosh, I don't have time to do this. I mean, I have a lot going on here. These people all want their stuff. But letting God interrupt me for that 15 minutes. It's 15 minutes, 66 cents. You don't have to be a writer. I tell people this all the time. I almost wish I wasn't a writer and telling the story and a human heart. That's all you need to write a letter or a note. That's all you need to get into this game. But honoring that every morning. Is a reminder of so many things for me. It's like the reset button, but it does seem like an interruption. Even as somebody who's crystal clear on the lessons how much clearer could god have been on the lesson for me? But I still sit down. I wrote somebody this morning whose husband has cancer and I was like, oh my gosh I don't have time to this as soon as I lick the stamp and put it on there. I don't lick it anymore It's a sticker obviously, but I was like, this is what i'm born to do. Yeah, let's go!

Dawn Damon: Yeah, isn't that so amazing? And you know, the reward is always on the other side of doing the thing. Do the thing, receive the word, the reward, and so well done and keep going. You know, I want to shift gears just for a second. Our time is almost up. I loved what you said a moment ago, and this isn't the gear that I want to shift, but I do want to rephrase it. God set the world on fire and I got to be part of it. I love that. Like, I want to be part of the next Brushfire of God. That's just such an exciting way to live your life and I think it's amazing. But I want to ask you real quick about the other book that you've written, You Cannot Mess This Up: A True Story That Never Happened. You are hilarious. And I don't know which came first, was it the, You Cannot Mess This Up and then Dear Dana?

Amy Daughters: Right, that's the order.

Yeah, I wrote that. That was my first book that I just written when I started, when I reconnected with Dana, I had just written that book.

Dawn Damon: That's what I thought.

I'm just curious, if y'all aren't familiar with that, please Google it. The Audible is hilarious because you get to listen to you in your own voice talking about it. You've just been cracking me up. But I just love the whole premise of the story and going back in time, the whole thing, because I'm a kid of the seventies. So I was totally feeling the vibe. But how are you different today from when you wrote that book to where you are now? Big change.

Amy Daughters: Oh, yeah. Well, that book was also a gift in a much different way. I mean, it wasn't as obvious, but you know, I went into that book a hundred per cent because I had been a freelance writer for a long time.

I'd read about sports for a long time and that was my big book idea. I was going to write myself back to my own childhood. Basically my whole intention was like, it's going to be hilarious. I want to go back in time to my own childhood, but what I realized when I actually wrote it was that if you're going to write yourself back to your 10-year-old self and observe your parents at the same age as you and your bowl cut, freaky self that, Oh my gosh, feelings.com. You're going to have to deal with that. You know a lot of stuff so it turned out to be a catharsis and people ask me about the first book all the time They're like, so did you sit down with your psychologist before you wrote? I was like no It's kind of like Dear Dana.

I had no intentions at all I'm, just rolling over here doing whatever I want to do, but it turned out that I went into that story Especially one of like, when I wrote about Little Amy, I was like, Oh my gosh, I want to get away from her. That's how I wrote the story. And then by the time I finished the book, I was like, Oh my gosh, I want to be her. Because I lived a lot. A lot of the things that were so wonderful about her, I lived away. Then you take that story and add the whole Dear Dana experience to it. These books have absolutely, God has transformed my life and then allowed me to share that with other people. And the gift, I'll tell you what, Dawn, you know, God has just, Absolutely. You know, brought that out for me, like hit it out of the park.

Dawn Damon: Yes. Well, I'm so proud of you.

You know, I'm just meeting you and yet at the same time, I hear your heart. I've written a book about my childhood abuse and how I've interpreted it now and what was then and how I was able to embrace the young me that I rejected for so long until I was able to have enough love for myself to reinterpret my past and recognize, you know, so I kind of feel you a little bit there and all that book did for you. I can imagine the transformation that has taken place in your life because what I can see is how you radiate the presence of God. Thank you so much for what you do. I don't say that to a lot of my guests on us. I mean, I love what I do, but I love your passion because it's really coming through and I'm so grateful that we had this opportunity to connect final words for any woman listening. So, you know, our audience, we're bravehearted women. We are reinventing our lives and many of them find themselves stuck and afraid and not ready to be transformed, but they so long for it. What would you say to my listener?

Amy Daughters: Well, I think it's back to what we said earlier is that that one small voice, that voice of God in your head, your heart is there for a reason. I would not only consider jumping into the waves as soon as I can surround myself with people who are going to demand that you jump in the waves. If you want to, and I'm not trying to settle anything here, go to amydaughters.com. Email me, I will be in your corner with you when you want to jump in the waves. I will be there.

Surround yourself with people who want to encourage you to be brave and realize that bravery is not defined the same by all of us, the courage that it takes. Each of us has something, a different hurdle to get over, but let's surround ourselves with other women who are going to be like, let's go, you know? And I encourage you today to really, you know, pray about, you know, jumping in the waves just to have the courage that it's in there. It's in there somewhere to do that because if it's there for me, it's there for everybody else.

Dawn Damon: Yes. My guest today is Amy Daughters and her book, Dear Dana. Also, You Cannot Mess This Up. You've got to get ahold of those books. I'm sure they can find you on Amazon and all the usual suspects.

Amy Daughters: Yes, ma'am.

Dawn Damon: All right. Thank you once again so much for being with us.

And hey, this is Dawn Damon, your braveheart mentor. Thanks for joining us. And I'm going to leave you, dear women, like I always do. Is this your moment to find your brave and live your vision?