Have you felt God urging you to step out and take a bold leap of faith?
Kate Battistelli is the author of the new book “God Dare: Will you choose to believe the impossible?”, as well as the mother of Grammy Award winning Christian singer, Francesca Battistelli.
In today’s podcast interview Kate shares about some of the challenges she took up after God dared her to believe the impossible for her life and her family.
Listen in and be encouraged….
[bctt tweet=”IF GOD CALLS YOU TO DO IT, HE WILL EQUIP YOU, BUT YOU HAVE TO TAKE THAT FIRST STEP OF TRUST says @katebattistelli on #MimikaTV #Podcast”]
Guest Bio
Kate Battistelli is living proof that God can and will use anyone if they’re willing. Kate experienced infertility, miscarriage, an abortion at age 18, and four failed adoption attempts; which all wreaked havoc on her life. Kate had a life-changing experience as a young actress in New York City, going from understudy to starring as Anna in the Broadway National Tour of The King and I opposite Yul Brynner for more than 1,000 performances.
Kate and her husband laid down their careers and the Broadway theatre in answer to their first “God dare” and moved out of New York City and into a life of homeschooling and a home business. As their daughter grew and began expressing her gifts in music and songwriting, they learned there was a bigger purpose in leaving their careers than they had imagined.
Kate is the mother of GRAMMY-Award winning Christian recording artist Francesca Battistelli. Kate is a natural encourager and believes in people’s ability to change the world.
Links
Kate Battistelli Book “The God Dare
As a Mindset Coach I’m here to help you shift your thinking and unlock your full potential! If you’re needing support, encouragement and accountability; consider joining my group coaching program Unstick Your Mind.
TRANSCRIPT
Speaker 2: If we’re willing to step out with him into that scary place to what, what I call a God dare cause I really believe God is dropping those little seeds, those ideas, those thoughts, those that crazy thing where you just go, God, this makes no sense and I’m not equipped to do it. There’s no way. What happened with me with that first book was definitely God daring me to step out of my comfort zone. Do the thing I was not equipped to do because if if he calls you to it, he’ll equip you to do it. And I learned that very, very clearly in my own life and I’ve just seen it in so many other people’s lives. If it’s, you’ve got to take that first step of trust.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Mimika TV. I’m your host Mimika Cooney. Today we talking about how to do the impossible with God. Kate Battistelli is living proof that God can and will use anyone if they really hate experience in fertility, miscarriage and abortion at eight 18 and four failed adoption, the tips which all wrecked Heather crown her life. Hey Ted, a life changing experience as a young actress in New York City going from the understudy to starring as Anna in the Broadway national tour of the King and I opposite Yull Brunner for more than a thousand performances. Kate and no has been laid on the careers and the Broadway theater in answer to their first calling and moved out of New York City in into homeschooling in a home business as a door to grew and began expressing her gifts in music songwriting. They learned there was a bigger purpose in leaving the curious than they ever could imagined. Kate is the mother of Grammy Award winning Christian recording artists. Francisco better STI hates is a natural encourager and believes in people’s ability to change the world. So welcome Kate. I am so excited to talk to you today.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mimika. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: Well, I love your story and I love the fact that your daughter is super talented. I’ve been listened to music like forever. My daughter now who’s eight, two, we love putting her music on there and we’ve done writing to his songs and it’s just super encouraging so that is so amazing how you can really follow that. Those as you mentioned God dear cause this is something we’re going to talk about a lot. You have a new book called the God dare, totally another title which is what really got me excited about interviewing you because it’s something I think we really need to hear more of in today’s society because what did she say kept that a lot of people are getting a little lax in what they do nowadays. Maybe God’s talking to them about their life and they’re scared or maybe don’t feel equipped to do what they want to do today.
Speaker 2: I think both of those things, but also I think we just kind of get stuck in our comfort zone, particularly in the US where from, for many of us, life is good, life is nice, you know, things are working just great. So why kind of step out and do that scary thing that God might be nudging you? Why I’m certain is nudging you to do. Definitely. I mean, well your story, I mean we, I read over a little bit and I really love the idea of it that you were actually working at just totally love Brunner. You’ll Brunette the fact he’s got no heres, that’s hilarious. That’s always how I remember him. But um, so I mean there was something amazing because as an artist of performing artistic must be like that was the dream, right? To be a, an artist and to be on stage and all of a sudden God sought such shifting.
Speaker 1: You tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2: Well, absolutely. That was my dream for years. I grew up always wanting, always knowing I could sing, never really knowing where that was going to fit in. But then when I discovered theater, that became my love. I grew up in New Jersey and so New York was just 30 minutes away, so it was easy to start going in and auditioning and you know, you start working as an actress with the very lower things like children’s theater and regional theater and all that, which is all great. But eventually I was able to connect with someone who recommended me to go out for the understudy for the part of Anna and the king and I, which was wonderful. I was 26 I thought this is great. It’s a national tour. I’m going to earn some money. I know I’ll never get to perform the role, but hey, it’s great experience, good on the resume. So I go out and I’m doing the show in the chorus for a few months and you know, during the day I’m often practicing with the stage manager because you need to know your part backwards and forwards. Typically an understudy is basically just an insurance policy for the producer just in case something happens. Well, about three months into the run of the show, the leading lady got sick and I went into the theater one night at seven 15 now this is back in 1981 so there’s no cell phones, there’s no computers, there’s no way for anyone to contact me during the day. And I was out with friends shopping and, but I come into the theater at seven 15 for an eight o’clock show and the stage manager grabs me by the shoulders and says, she’s sick and you’re on. And I had 45 minutes to do this gigantic role with this huge star. I was terrified, but I learned very early on that sometimes you just have to do it afraid. So I went on and did the show. She ended up having pneumonia and was out for two weeks. So I got to do the show with Yule Brenner for two weeks. And I thought, wow, this is awesome. But then she came back to the show and I went back to the chorus because that’s just what you do. But interestingly, they did not get along really well. So a few weeks later they actually, they ended up buying out her two year contract and giving me the part, which was just shocking cause that doesn’t happen. I mean Yule Brenner was a huge star in those days. He could have had his pick of any actress in New York or la or anywhere in the world. And he picked me, I mean I was, I think I brought youthfulness to the show, which, which I think he liked, but it was just one of those crazy God things.
Speaker 2: Now this is before I knew the Lord, I was 29 when I came to know the Lord. So it was a little bit later in life for me. And it’s, it just sort of was a prophetic, I see it as a prophetic picture of what God was doing in my life to just sort of lift me up out of obscurity gives me this huge role. But then after about three years, about a thousand performances, I met my husband on this show. We literally fell in love across the footlights. He joined as the assistant conductors. So we met, fell in love and we got married and then um, had our, then we got saved after we got married the same night, both of us together, which was really neat. And then had our daughter and then the Lord just started working on our hearts. He was calling us out of that world, asking us to lay down our lives, what we’d worked all our lives for and walk into the unknown with him.
Speaker 2: Kinda like Abraham. I mean not really, but just leaving everything you know behind and going to, to a place where he’ll show you. He doesn’t, he kind of tells you about it, but he doesn’t really make it all clear. It was, it was really an active obedience for my husband, Mike and I. But we, we did it and, and it changed our, it changed the trajectory of our lives. Cause I know had we stayed in New York, we were both doing well, we had good careers going. Our, our agents thought we were crazy. Our friends all thought we were absolutely insane. Why would you lay down good careers to go live in New Jersey? And then Florida and follow the Lord. They just didn’t understand it. But we knew, you know, as Young Christians, the Lord was really beginning to just speak to our hearts in it. It wasn’t, he didn’t speak to us. It wasn’t a clear voice that we heard. It was just that uneasiness where you just know that, okay, something is not right here and I’ve, I’ve got to find the balance. I’ve got to get the balance back.
Speaker 1: With the lower the old season, it’s almost like a cool, when the grace lifts, you have a crisis season and a things flow, then all of a sudden strange things start, take me, things go wrong. The flown, it feels hard and it’s like, okay God, say, Hey, this season’s about to expire. Time to move on. So that must’ve been a difference. Especially when you have that vision that you know God’s called you to, but nobody else gets to see it. So what did you do after that? So you moved away and then you kind of did something totally opposite ride something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we just started a home business. Well as our daughter grew our daughter Francesca, we just have the one. As she started to grow, I began homeschooling, which made no sense because I don’t have a college degree. I mean none of it, not so much of my life just doesn’t make any sense. But all of those things I look at as little, little God dares, but the big ones are usually more a little more world impacting than that. But still for me that was a big thing. But I just, the more I read about it and researched it, I realized that was the path we were supposed to go on. So we did that for a while. We lived in New Jersey til she was about seven and then we moved down to Orlando where she was raised, lived there for 20 years and now we’re here in near Nashville, Tennessee because she’s here in our four grand babies are here.
Speaker 1: So you gotta be near the babies? Yes, definitely. Well I tell you Nashville is, is the music capital of the world now, right? It’s just everybody is connected. They, which is wonderful. So that must have been an amazing thing because what, you know, obviously as we look back now, and I’m a mom of three as well, and I can understand that sometimes God is challenging me to make choices that I can’t necessarily see. And as I’m, as my kids, my oldest is 20 and the youngest is eight, I’m starting to realize that some of those choices were for them. So do you feel like was kind of like God is asking you to stick out of your comfort zone? I mean, being a homeschool teacher, no, that’s not what you signed up. Certainly not. So how do you feel like if we had to relate this to, to help other people, how do you recognize that this is, this is God daring you to take a step and it’s not just some crazy idea that you, you woke up with one morning?
Speaker 2: Well, I think particular with our children, God is always looking down the generations. You know, we tend to think it’s about just about us and our lives, but God is looking at our kids and grandkids and great grandchildren. He’s seeing years and years down the road that we can’t see. So he knew that plan for Francesca’s life. Well before I was born. I mean that was all set that was set in stone, so it was just up to us to kind of figure it out. It took us a little bit of time to get it to understand fully what he was doing, but even when she was little, he began just showing me these little glimpses that, all right, there’s something more here. And a lot of times I think it’s just walking in trust, following the direction God’s giving you one day at a time.
Speaker 2: You can’t jump too far ahead and just doing, what’s he telling me to do today? What’s the, you know, what am I supposed to do this year with my child or with my life or with my job and not try to get too far ahead of God because I think he will show you if we’re willing to listen, to press in to pray and then let him start, begin to show us those things. So kind of like it always feels a little uncomfortable at first, right? Because wouldn’t you say that I missed that saying, you know, God equips the cold. He doesn’t, he doesn’t. Cool. The chosen, he flips, he equips us in. The price is on October. I pretty much how that is the whole point, right? It’s not mean to feel like, oh I’ve got this. I can do this well, because if we’ve got it and we can do it, what do we need God for?
Speaker 2: So yes, he, he calls, he equips the call. He doesn’t call the equipped how something, I know someone will go, right. That’s exactly true. And if we’re willing to step out with him into that scary place to what, what I call a God dare, cause I really believe God is dropping those little seeds, those ideas, those thoughts, those, that crazy thing where you just go, God, this makes no sense and I’m not equipped to do it. There’s no way for me, it was writing my first book. I wasn’t an author. I don’t have a college degree. Actually. I went to four colleges in two years, didn’t graduate from any of them, but I knew I wanted to do theater and music and all that. So it was, it just, none of it made sense. I didn’t have a publisher. I had no platform, nothing, but God just kept pressing that on me.
Speaker 2: And finally I said, Okay God, I give up. And I found a friend who was a writing coach, which I didn’t even know was a thing because I knew nothing about that world. But I stepped into it. I showed her my idea. She said, yes, this is a book or you’re gonna, I’m going to help you write it and we’re going to get it published. And she did. And I did. And it, you know, it just led to this next book called God dare. And I think what happened with me with that first book was definitely God daring me to step out of my comfort zone. Do the thing I was not equipped to do. Because if, if he calls you to it, he’ll equip you to do it. And I learned that very, very clearly in my own life and I’ve just seen it in so many other people’s lives.
Speaker 2: But it’s, you’ve got to take that first step of trust. So what would you say if we had to sort of break it down and you know, what actionable tips could everyone take today? So would you say to kind of start like tasting things or you know, riding a battle? How, how has that, like if someone’s feeding like the heating something, because I think many of us don’t want to make a mistake. So what do we do in that first instance? Well I think you obviously need to pray and, and get and ask the Lord to give you confirmation. Get some good counsel. If you’ve got mature Christians around you, if you’ve got a pastor that you know and, and trust and loves you, talk to them. Get, don’t, don’t just go by your own feelings, but let the Lord bring you some help and bring you some confirmation.
Speaker 2: Cause he will, he knows we’re scared, he knows that we’re frightened to do the thing he’s calling us to do. So just I think those are the things that you can do to, to help you and just really listen for his voice. Cause he’ll speak in many different ways. You know, sometimes it’s through a dream, sometimes it’s through a vision. I’ve never had any visions. I’ve had dreams that the Lord spoken to me but, and I’d never heard him speak audibly, but I’ve heard him speak in my spirit where it’s very clear that, okay, I know that’s the Lord now. Always ask my husband for confirmation. So if you’re married and you have a spouse, talk to them about it. But you know, you don’t want to step out and do a crazy thing on your own. You want to know for sure that it’s got, and I think he wants us to, to, to get that confirmation from him.
Speaker 2: So I think it’s perfectly good to ask for that. Yeah. Cause I think when we hear that we sometimes we question is it me? Is it God? But that’s the whole point is to understand, you know, and sort of look and sit. And I think, I don’t know about you, but I always found God sends me on a, on an adventure, like on a treasure hunt. He wants me to date, he wants to be able to look for things cause he wants me to taste the, you know, like what is it that he wants to show me? And sometimes that’s not the standard, the destination, but the process. Right. And it’s like hot way. He’s getting you, like you talk about books, right? Um, and I know I’ve written, Floyd always say having writing a book is like having a baby. It’s all this excitement in the beginning and the nausea sets in and then you’re like going to go off, this sucks.
Speaker 2: Like I talk to my buddy and then when you bought to book the book, it’s the most painful. But once it’s done it’s like, oh, that was so great. Can we do it again? It’s the same thing with life, right? Yeah. And the same with raising children. I mean, you have to dig deep to find out what their calling is. And I learned that with Francesca who had to dig very deep. And I talk about that in my first book cause that’s, that’s more of a parenting book, parenting, you know, just 15 different principles that we use to be intentional raising our daughter to find her purpose. Cause I, when I, I was raised in the fifties and sixties and it just was different back then. It was kind of parents were more like just figure it out. You’ll, you’ll figure out your life. Which I did eventually took me a long, a long time and I made a lot of mistakes to get there.
Speaker 2: But we knew from early on we were going to be intentional with her. We’re going to tell her from the time she was little, you’re a world changer. God does not have you on this planet randomly. You are here for a purpose and we’re going to help you figure that out. So I think for parents that’s a really important thing to do, to not be afraid to dig deep with God and ask him to show you what is the purpose, especially if your kids are little, what are these kids on this planet to do? Because it’s, it’s not just about us, it’s about them and their children.
Speaker 1: Definitely. And everything is continued, right? Especially the whole, it’s comes down to being faithful or I can go gives you something you think is little, but then it starts to step up and he gives you more. So what other tips could you offer us? Like in terms of care, we know we’ve heard about that. God’s challenging us to do this. We look for confirmation. What’s the other thing that you would do next? I think you just have to step out.
Speaker 2: You’re not going to have all the answers. It’s not, you’re not going to have everything laid out for you. You’re going to have to just do it. Afraid. I mean, that’s just how I’ve seen it in my life over and over. It’s, it’s never it for me. It doesn’t ever really change. It’s always kind of, okay, Kate do this crazy thing, and I’m like, all right, Lord. I guess if you’re, if I’ve gotten the confirmation you’re really telling me to, we have to be willing to move out of our comfort zones because that’s going to just keep you stuck. It’s going to keep you ordinary and I think God wants us to lead extraordinary lives. He wants us to change the world now. It’s not always going to be in a gigantic way. It might just be living like Jesus lived in the, in the small sphere, doing, you know, being willing to forgive, being willing to live your life with integrity, being willing to love those who have treated you poorly.
Speaker 2: All those things that we forget about that Jesus talked about. I mean, to me every word Jesus spoke was at God there. He dares me with everything. You read the beatitudes, those are, those are not easy things to do. It’s not easy to wash the feet of someone who has hurt you. It’s, it’s not easy to go over to a neighbor and share about Jesus, but those are the things we think that it, I think sometimes we just mistakenly think I have to do this big gigantic thing for God, but that big gigantic thing may just be loving the people around you, raising your children to know and love the Lord and follow the Lord. I’m just just all, just being obedient to the word to what Jesus said to me, that’s the biggest God dare of balls actually living like the following, the example that he set.
Speaker 1: Definitely. And I would say I’m sure you’d agree that God isn’t going to expect you, so to go from zero to like huge with half the steps in between, you know, I think it’s, he’s kind enough to give us that grace to know that, you know, we, in order for us to take those bigger steps of faith, we can’t take these little baby steps. Right. Absolutely right.
Speaker 2: Another thing I want to say, you know, I did not live my life perfectly. I made a lot of mistakes in my life. Like you mentioned in the beginning of 18 I got pregnant, I had an abortion. This is in 1972 before Roe v Wade. Yet God’s still offered me his salvation, his redemption when I repented and asked for forgiveness. And I know there’s a lot of women that carry that burden, that and that can, that can prevent you from doing those things God has told you to do. Just because you think, I can’t, I have this burden on me, that and women. I held this secret for 46 years. I did not tell anyone other than my husband and maybe two friends because I was, I had such guilt and shame and I, I feel so strongly for the women that have this same secret that they’ve carried one out of three women and which means one out of three men.
Speaker 2: So when you’re sitting in your church and you’re looking down the row, just figure one out of three of us have had an abortion, which is an awful thing, but at the same time, God redeemed it in my life and he can redeem it in yours. But you have to be willing to let go of the guilt and shame and just, just move forward with God with wherever he’s going to take you. Cause it’s a secret that just weighs you down. It starts eating you alive from the inside. And I finally last summer, that was my, my most recent big God there when I was in the middle of writing my book. And God just started being very clear with me, you need to put that chapter in the book. I was, no, I’m not going to do it. Yes you are. And he just kept on me and I knew okay.
Speaker 2: And I talked to my husband about it, talked to my daughter because I hadn’t told her and she’s in her thirties I had never told her cause I was so ashamed and, but I, I obeyed and I did it and I believe it’ll be, I’m just, hopefully it will bring some healing and some freedom for other women to go. Well, she, she was able to talk about it and it, I know God didn’t strike me dead. So here I am and, and you know, I’m just hopeful that it can help relieve some of that burden of guilt that so many women carry.
Speaker 1: Definitely. And that’s the thing is it’s taking the risk of putting yourself out there because we think the power of sin isn’t, is, is in its secrecy and it’s amazing. How will you just let it go and you actually say it or you put it out there like, oh, that doesn’t have any, hold on me now I can actually move forward. And I think that’s the lie the enemy likes to tell us is that you can’t do this until you are equipped. You can’t do this until you educated. You can’t do this until you have the experience. And that just keeps us stuck. So what would you say would be, if we had to like wrap it up into what would be the big God tip that you want to give everybody?
Speaker 2: Just really be willing to listen and follow through and do that scary thing that he’s telling you to do. Because typically if it’s, if it’s God, it’s going to take you out of your comfort zone. Just don’t be afraid to move out of there. Don’t be afraid to, it’s going to take work. Typically, it’s probably going to be some God dares happen right away. You know, they just are quick like Queen Esther. Well, it wasn’t that quick, but she was brought to that position for a specific reason to save her nation and it took her a little bit, but her cousin, Mordecai was able to get her to the point where she saw, okay, I need to do for, I need to risk my life for my nation. And it worked out beautifully.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it’s an a smaller timeframe. Sometimes it’s years. It may be God calling you, I want you to go into this field and it’s going to take years of study. So it’s just sort of finding out what is God calling me to do and then asking him to equip you because he will. If you’re a BDN and you follow through and you, you say yes to that scary thing, then it’s his job to help you, help you accomplish it. We know we can’t do it on our own strength, so I would just say really just have the courage to step out to do the thing God’s telling you to do.
Speaker 1: Definitely. Well, that’s great encouragement because we just need to take the ones little tiny little step and God will show up. You’re like, okay God, you said you in the Queen Aerosol. I’m going to take the leap of it and it’s amazing how he does come through. Who does what. Would you be willing to pray with our audience because we’re sure love to be able to be activated in this and, and, and NMR loves these, these praise. So yeah, go for it.
Speaker 2: Sure. I would love to. Lord, I just, I thank you so much for this opportunity just to pray for these precious listeners, God the men and the women that are listening to this podcast. And Lord, I know you’ve dropped these little seeds in their hearts and I asked that you would give them the courage and the confirmation to know that this is you and that yes, you’re going to guide them every step of the way that you’re going to show them exactly what to do. You’re going to bring, you’re going to work everything out in your perfect timing and in your perfect plan. And I just ask God that, give them the courage to say yes to what ever it is you’re asking them to do, Lord. And, and especially for any of those women that are women or men that have a secret that they’ve held onto for years, I ask that you give them the courage to expose that too. Because when they do it will remove every bit of its power. So Lord, I just ask that you bless every listener and just give them that courage and that ability and desire to say yes to you and to step out in Jesus’ precious name.
Speaker 1: Amen thank you for that. I really appreciate that. And it’s always nice to be able to have someone stand in, in agreement with you because you know, we feel like we can be alone sometimes in an in our thoughts, but knowing that somebody else has gone through this, and that’s why I love books and testimonies because there’s power in the, in the tests when you, right. So I really appreciate that. But tell everybody, how can they get in touch with you? You know? Wait, can they find you online? Well, yeah,
Speaker 2: I’ve got a website, Katebattistelli super simple. All my social media is just at Kate Battistelli or on Facebook, Kate Battistelli’s my author page. So pretty easy to do. And then we have a little special offer that we’re doing right now with the God dare that just to give you a chance to try before you buy. We have a little texts to number and it just comes right to our house. It doesn’t go anywhere weird or spammy. And my husband comes to his computer. So, um, you can just text God dare all one word, no spaces, God d a r e to four, four one four four and you’ll get the foreword by my daughter Francesca, the introduction in the first three chapters. And there’s a lot of good meat in there to see you get a chance to get a real sense of what the book’s about. If it’s something you wanna go further with.
Speaker 1: Definitely. Well definitely, we’ll have your links to your website and all your social media platforms. They definitely can connect. And I know as a fellow author, we really appreciated when reed is a rate and review. So if you have read the God day, please go on Amazon and give Qaeda and review because it really does help to get the book out there. Cause this is an amazing content about knowing a lot of people and then share it as well, which you know, if you’ve enjoyed what Kate had to say today, make sure to share today’s podcast episode on what impact from you watching. I think there’s a little button that’s shared on social media because there’s lots of people who need to be encouraged by her testimony and her story. So definitely go ahead and do that. And if you’ve had any Aha moments, um, you would love to get your comments, anything you’ve learned or any questions, I’d love to keep our conversation going past these conversations we have with that guest and then also make sure to reach out to her and let her know that you heard are also on the Mika TV.
Speaker 1: Uh, we really appreciate giving our guests some love. Um, and if you want more free resources that are only shared with my newsletter community, go to mimikacooney.com and I have some resources like a free ebook mindset makeover as well as some other digital resources and screensavers we give you so you can meditate on the word every time you look at your phone. So go to mimikacooney.com but I’ve got to say thank you so much, Kate, for sharing a wonderful story. I’m so excited to read your book and I totally love the whole concept. I know it’s just gonna really excites and infused a lot of people to really step out in faith. So we’re going to get some amazing tastes in menus, I’m sure. I hope so.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having Mimika. It was a pleasure.
Speaker 1: Welcome into live. Until next time, everyone take care. Are you ready to build a platform with a purpose? Come to mimikacooney.com and download your free checklist, how to build your platform in 30 days.
