Abigail Denton

Welcome to the Refresh Podcast! This podcast is a place for us to discover freedom in Christ and to engage in our unique role in the Kingdom work God has called us to. Today I’m going to share a recap of my recent trip to Charleston, South Caroline for the Go and Tell Gals coaching retreat. It was my second time attending, last year I attended as a new coach and this year I was honored to attend as a veteran coach. In this episode I’m going to share my thoughts on how I prepared, how it went, and some ways I’m moving forward.

Let’s start at the beginning. For those of you that don’t know, I am certified through Go and Tell Gals coaching program. Last year the coaching retreat was the end of my training and sort of the culmination of the program. Last year though, I was pretty stressed. I was really overwhelmed with learning how to coach and how to use the program. I am an introvert so being with so many ladies, while they are wonderful ladies, there were so many of them. I was trying to absorb the content and it was just really overwhelming. Everything was new to me so marketing and starting a business and paying taxes and creating an email list, blah blah blah it just all felt overwhelming. I did connect with the ladies I sat with and a few ladies that I worked with for different parts of the retreat. A handful of which I’m still really close with and so so grateful for!

Anyways…this year I was excited to go back and have everything not be so new. I had already heard a lot of the terms and I have experience. I actually have a business that I can apply this knowledge to, it’s not all abstract and theories. So going into it I was already more excited and prepared. The first part of this recap that I want to talk about is how I prepared.

Honestly I didn’t do an awesome job, but I did do some. I was more honest with Isaac, my husband this year. He went with me and we went down a day early to have a day away for just us. So we prepared by giving ourselves more margin. I knew that flying right in and out was really stressful last year so this year we gave ourselves a whole extra day. We also rented a car so we had total freedom to do and go wherever we wanted. I was also honest with Isaac about how I was nervous and in what ways. I was nervous about leaving the kids, there was a weird transition and we were just a little stressed as a family. I was nervous about seeing the veteran coaches again at a meet up we had. I didn’t know if I would know anyone and social anxiety sometimes kicks my butt. On the way down though I had some time to just relax my brain and my heart. I really wanted to be brave and have fun. We told the kids when we said goodnight that night before we left that it’s important for mom and dad to be Abigail and Isaac sometimes, not mom and dad so that was one of the reasons for our trip. I wanted to really lean into our day of rest and our time together just us and my time with my coaches. Now that I’m reflecting I would say that I prepped by thinking about how I could be brave and speaking that over the trip. I knew I would have more fun and the trip would be more beneficial and impactful if I was brave. 

Let’s transition to the second part which is how it went. The veteran hang out the night before was better than I thought. I reconnected with a few friends I knew from last year but also got to meet in real life some of my friends that I’d only messaged online. It was surprisingly so meaningful to me. I loved seeing these women that I love and look up to and walk alongside with in person. Being all together was just so nice. Then in the first session of the retreat, Jess Connolly led us through an exercise. She’s the founder of the network and also GATG. One of the things we did was talk about our expectations for the retreat. I realized that I had expected it to be hard and I wouldn’t know anyone and nobody would come up and talk to me. I realized I was setting myself up to fail because I was expecting it to be hard when I should be expectant to what God had in store for me. Jess encouraged us later in the session to be sensitive to what God was asking us to receive from him during the retreat. I felt this overwhelming sense that God was asking me to lean in. Go meet with people rather than sitting around fussing over them not coming to meet. Speak up about my experiences with coaching for the benefit of the new coaches. Share my struggles and receive encouragement and hope from coaches in the same struggles. Ask for help and ask questions. After that first session I felt so at home, I felt like I could clearly see my role and how I fit into this family and I was so content to play that role. I loved getting to know the new coaches at my table and seeing how connected we were under the surface. I got to meet one of my clients who decided to become a coach and that was an amazing experience! I got to share about how GATG has brought me so much hope and equipped me to fully occupy the lane God has called me to be in. Each session I got to evaluate my business and see where I’ve been the last year and where I can head from here. There was time for me to learn and grow and there was time for me to rest and connect. When Isaac picked me up after the first day I felt so much joy and peace. It was so unexpected actually and I wasn’t drained at all. I felt so alive and full of hope. 

The second day was just more good stuff. It was warm, literally the whole wall behind my seat was windows and it was so hot and cozy and I was soaking it all up before heading back to winter in New York. The sessions were just as good. The new coaches did one more practice coaching session and us veterans got to be pretend clients. All three of the sessions I got to help with were so fun! It’s a lot of fun to be on the other side of that! Haha. It was just nice to connect with new coaches one on one and spend a little bit of time with each of them. Overall it was for sure a highlight of my year.

Let’s transition to the last section of this episode, how I’m moving forward. I have a few areas that I’d like to share about how I’m moving forward.

1. I’m hiring a coach! I actually connected with a coaching friend and after chatting for a while we decided that a coaching session is just what I need. I’m pivoting in an area of my business and honestly I have taken myself as far as I can on my own. So I’m asking for help. I’m hiring a coach and I’m so excited. It’s not until January so you’ll have to stay tuned until then to hear how it goes.
2. I’m spending some time casting vision for 2024. By that I mean just asking God to show me what He might have in store for 2024. I feel expectant that this year God has abundance for me in my coaching business and my personal life. It’s funny to think back to this summer when I was really struggling with abundance. It felt so elusive and exclusive and a person like me with a life like mine doesn’t qualify for abundance. God has shown me that’s not true and I’m excited to lean into that more in 2024. 
3. I got a new book while I was at the retreat. Actually I got 3, but one of them was on prayer and I’m so excited to get into it. I started it and already feel so convicted. I’m moving forward by being specific with my prayers. I got to meet the author and thank her for writing the book and giving me this resource. She told me that just that week she was praying and reminded that God wants us to be specific when we pray. How can we know when God answers our prayers if we aren’t specific? So I’m going to move forward by praying for specific things. I’m already seeing fruit! Even only being back for less than a week. There was a situation that I prayed specifically would be ok and not blow up and it was great. It wasn’t awesome but it was fine and that’s an answer to prayer! It didn’t blow up and create a lot of conflict.

Usually I close these episodes with a coaching prompt or a challenge. But today I just want to celebrate with you. I really am so blessed by you listening and I’m so honored that you are here. So I’m closing with gratitude, a thank you for listening. Thanks for sharing this time with me and thanks for coming along!