Jodie Randisi is the owner of COWCATCHER Publications, an independent publishing company specializing in fascinating true-life stories. When she's not helping authors with their publishing projects, she enjoys speaking about her experiences as a prison volunteer, where she is a member and mentor to a prison Toastmaster club. Jodie's claim to fame is her status as South Carolina Toastmasters state champion liar, the first-place winner of the Tall Tales contest and Outstanding Toastmaster of the Year. She and her husband live in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Welcome to 12-Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, His creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Jodie.

What part of the world are you in today?

I'm in sunny, beautiful South Carolina, Hilton Head Island.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

I am fascinated by how you can be the champion of lying, yeah?

And I wondered immediately, did you practice for that?

Did it take a lot of practice?

And of course, how does this interact with your faith?

When we moved to Hilton Head, people thought we were in the witness protection program.

So when Toastmasters offered a tall tales contest, oh yes, I practiced, I had a coach, I told a half-truth and a sort of true story, and I won.

I'm a state champion liar, which is a fun thing to go out in the world with, even though I'm a Christian and we don't lie, we are not Pinocchios.

But when we have fun and we win a contest, it's kind of a God moment.

Paint a picture for me of what the event looked like.

Oh, well, there was a room full of 200 people, participants or audience, and I had my family in the back row wearing dark sunglasses with their hands crossed, so they looked evil.

And I told the story of how my neighbors or the kids at school thought we were in the witness protection program.

And because we have an Italian name, Randisi, I said, everybody, look, I brought my family, and that's when they all went, oh!

So yeah, it was really, really fun, really, really fun.

And that's when I became very convinced that I need to do public speaking and teach it as well.

That's good.

Was it ever challenging for you to do public speaking?

I love telling my stories.

As a prison volunteer, I've been collecting these stories in my journals.

I come home every Wednesday and tell my husband, oh, you wouldn't believe what happened at prison today.

I'm in a Toastmaster Club there.

It's a prison about an hour away from my home, and I go weekly, and it's fascinating.

It's really been a blessing, not only for the inmates who are finding their voice and telling their stories, it's for me.

I have been blessed beyond recognition.

I just never knew God had this in my, in his plan for my life.

I never imagined going inside a prison.

How did the opportunity come about to get into the prisons?

Well, someone at my club here on the island said, who would like to help maintain or start, establish a prison Toastmaster Club?

And I have always wanted to be in a position where I am not the majority, I'm in the minority.

I wanted to feel myself in a different culture, which is why I taught school at the Navajo Reservation 30, 40 years ago.

And then when I heard prison, I was like, yeah, I worked with the emotionally challenged and socially challenged students all my life.

So this felt like a fit.

And it did.

I fit right in, of course, now because I told the story about being a liar.

And they all accepted me.

I have a nickname.

I have a prison nickname.

Would you like to hear that?

Of course I would.

Breezy, because I make it look easy.

So you're doing prison ministry.

How did you even come to meet Jesus to begin with?

Oh, well, that's an interesting story.

When my charismatic Catholic in-laws said, let's pray and give your life over to God right after the honeymoon, 44 years ago.

And I said, what?

I think my ticket to heaven is already punched.

I work with handicapped children.

And lo and behold, I said the prayer not meaning the word of it.

And the next day, oh, I was a different person.

God got me anyway.

I turned on the radio and I heard people talking and singing about Jesus and they weren't swearing.

That's when I knew I was a brand new person.

What's it been like your walk with Jesus?

My husband and I became on fire for the Lord together.

So we've been lay ministers the whole 44 years we've been married, which has been a huge blessing.

It's been Bible school on a satellite long, long, long time ago, Bible studies, church leadership.

And it's been a fulfilling life because we gave our lives to Christ right at the beginning.

How has that impacted your children?

You mentioned they were at the back of the room for the for the Toastmasters competition.

I would like to tell you they're all very successfully launched adults having a blessed life because God has promised that in his word.

And we believe in God's promises and we rely on them.

And I'll tell you what the interesting thing is I am exploring because I'm in the prison, I'm exploring what it means to rebuild not just a life, but a sense of meaning when everything familiar is stripped away.

And to be honest, our life at this point is kind of similar to being marooned in a gated community such as a prison.

We live in a gated community, but we are financially in a U-turn.

And it's been a challenge to be at our age and still believe in God and still believe in his promises.

And yet be in a financial position that is not familiar.

We should be ready to retire, but yet we're still going strong.

What's your fix for that?

The word of God renews us.

And I don't think there's anything better than my therapy with Jesus every morning.

My daughter asked, how come you're not blessed?

All you do is help other people.

And I said, darling, you're my blessing.

And every morning, I don't need to go to a therapist.

I just go to Jesus and his word, and I get refreshed.

And I know where I'm headed is a beautiful, beautiful ending.

So I'm praying for all my children to come into the fruition that I know their blessed lives will honor God.

I know it will happen.

Right now, I'm not too sure.

But I think it's going to happen soon.

Well, as a child, to my parents, I can tell you that the model really does influence who I am today.

And it really doesn't go as quickly as I guess you as a parent would want it to go because of my experience with my children.

One thing is that God has connected a lot of dots in my life.

And because I journal and I take very good care of depositing those memories and those God moments and how he has put my life together with a series of dots that span over decades, it's apparent that he is real and that he is active in my life.

And if they would ever read my journals, I'm sure they would become fully convinced that God is real for them as well.

Five years from today listening to this conversation, what's one message you'd leave for future Judy?

I know a lot of people are trying to rebuild their lives and build a life.

So it's not just a life, but it's a sense of meaning that we're all searching for.

So when everything familiar is stripped away, that's where I find God most powerful.

So my thought for the future is if you're at rock bottom, keep looking up.

Judy, this has been a great pleasure.

Before we leave, is there anything else you'd like to share with our amazing audience?

I just wanted to say the dots in my life, you have to look for them.

You have to realize God has a plan for our lives.

And sometimes it's not exactly how we envision.

Oftentimes, it isn't.

It's nothing like what we envision.

So keep looking up.

God is beautiful.

He's got a beautiful future for us.

Amazing audience, of course, there are links in the show notes.

So if you need to connect with Judy, there's a ton more things that she does write.

A pleasure, a treasure.

Thank you for being on what is inspired by 12 Minute Converse.