Soaring with Wings of Resilience: Triumph and Identity in Christ with DeAnna Cavenah

Discover the transformative power of coaching with the uplifting journey of DeAnna Cavenah, a pastor and author who has overcome past traumas with resilience. I'm Kristin Kurtz, the founder of New Wings Coaching, and I'm excited to share how coaching has empowered women like DeAnna to conquer challenges and uncover their authentic identity in Christ.

In this heartfelt conversation, we dive into DeAnna's journey and her experience with my group coaching program, "There's More! It's Time to Soar and Roar in '24". She shares how this supportive community jumpstarted her heart and fueled her transformation.  She reflects on the profound connections made in both the group and our one-on-one coaching sessions, describing them as soul-boosting experiences that have reignited her passion and purpose.

Tune in to be inspired and motivated as we discuss how challenges can be turned into triumphs and how every woman has the potential to soar to new heights.

DeAnna's contact info:
Email - Passionate4Praise@yahoo.com

Resource mentioned:
DeAnna's book -
Not Defined by the Struggle: 40 Days to Embrace Your Encounter with the Lord  https://a.co/d/9aNshYE

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:16

Hello and welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm your host, kristen Kurtz, and I'm also the founder of New Wings Coaching, where I empower and unlock women to soar in their calling and roar with their voices. If you're curious to learn more about how coaching can help you unlock your potential, be sure to explore the show notes for ways to connect with me further. Get ready to dive in as we uncover empowering keys and insights in this episode. So tune in and let's unlock hope together. Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm Kristen Kurtz, your host. I pray this episode is like a holy IV of hope for your soul. Please help me welcome my friend, deanna Kavanaugh to the show.

Speaker 1: 0:57

I am so excited for her to share some of her story, who she is and actually you know partly her recent experience, being part of my most recent group coaching experience called there's More it's Time to Soar and Roar in 24.

Speaker 1: 1:14

And I just want to start by saying we met through the Facebook. I've met a lot of amazing, amazing women through social media and I know that social media can get a lot of amazing, amazing women through social media, and I know that social media can get a bad rap sometimes, but I believe if we are on there for intentional reasons to bring hope and love and all of the goodness that we are led to do through Holy Spirit, there are some amazing connections that can happen. So I just wanted to share that with listeners today, that this is a testimony of a connection that was made through Facebook and she I believe you saw one of my posts about this group coaching experience and we were able to have a conversation We'd love to hear. First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself and then we'll kind of get into the conversation about, like, what led you to join this.

Speaker 2: 2:14

Okay, awesome. I'm Deanna Cavanaugh. I live in the big state of Louisiana and I'm married. The big state of Louisiana and I'm married. Next month will be 34 years that we've been married. My husband and I are full-time pastors. We're going into our 17th year of being full-time pastors, and that in itself is quite an experience. We have two boys. My oldest is 33. And then we adopted our younger son, which just turned 16. And I have one beautiful granddaughter, rosalie, and she is 11. So it's quite an adventure. Yes.

Speaker 1: 3:04

So it's quite an adventure. Yes, and I love that you say that, because I feel like you know a lot of the women that I am called to kind of run alongside, use that term a lot pioneering trailblazers, kind of the wild ones, the ones who are on wild adventures Um, I feel like that's a lot of um what we were able to do together as a group through the group coaching experience. What like do you remember, like how you came across it and like what sparked? In you to be part of it.

Speaker 2: 3:36

Oh, yes, yes, I, it definitely was a God connection all the way around. I'll just give a little backstory the last quarter of 23, october, november and December, I kind of had a spiral down. I had a trigger of an old wound and I started reliving some of that trauma and I knew that it was up in it for a little while and I knew better, but I just stayed there in it and it started really messing with my mind and so I just, you know, I just felt like instead of moving forward, I was going backwards. And so, towards the end of the year, and I just started, you know, in my mind, replaying some things. And the crazy thing about this is I was preparing to minister at a uh, uh, a women's conference, and it was for leaders and pastors and pastors, wives and I was like, right now, I feel like I'm the most unqualified person to be doing this. I was like the main speaker and I was like God, what is happening to me? And so all I knew to do is to journal it out. And so I've been a journaler for years and I took out my journal and I just began to write just like a mad woman, and it's like almost every single day I would play the song by Melissa Helser, sound Mind. And I just declared over my life that I had a sound mind and so go in.

Speaker 2: 5:53

And you know, I really wanted to bail out of that conference but and my husband was like you can't do that. You know what you're called to do and you can't do that. And so I was like God, what am I supposed to tell these women that you know what they don't already know? And you know why am I going through this? And I said, what am I going to tell them? And so I heard the Holy Spirit so clearly say to me re-read your journal notes. And so, as I read over all of what I had journaled, he said that's your message. And I was like really, and the conference theme was Lord, thou art the potter and I'm the clay. And here I was wanting to jump off the potter's wheel and you know, I felt like he. He was like throwing me back on the potter's wheel and smashing that clay and reshaping me and reforming me and, you know, making me what he wants me to, what he wants me to be, what he wants me to do and what he wants me to be.

Speaker 2: 7:03

So, so, coming into 24, I crossed over, you know, and I'm thinking, okay, this is going to be a great year. And I crossed over kind of you know, teeter, tottering, I guess I could say that word and I was. I was, I was like I always pray at the beginning of the year for a word to stand on, and the Lord gave me. Uh, I was praying and I was like, okay, lord, what is my word? And I was, you know, thinking that it was going to be this, you know, real spectacular word that I heard. And he spoke to me whole, wholeness. I want you whole.

Speaker 2: 7:49

And he revealed to me that what I went through was some residue and that he was after the residue of all those wounds, and that he wanted to go deeper in me and to just, you know, clean me up and heal me on a deeper level. And then he spoke you know, this isn't only for you, this is for the entire body of Christ. This is what, or where I want to bring the body of Christ to is wholeness, spirit, soul and body. And so, you know, I was like, okay, lord, and so I began to lean into that and I started to. You know, look up the definition and the synonyms and you know the whole thing that went with it. And so I'm I'm, I guess, going through well, back in November of 23,. You had sent me a friend request. I don't know how you found me.

Speaker 1: 9:13

But I was a suggested friend and I'm like, because Facebook knows sometimes, okay, well, I was like I've never seen those pop up and I'm like, huh, let me see, who are you suggesting here? I'm like I think that I could be friends with her.

Speaker 2: 9:31

Yes, yeah, yes, ok, so, yeah, that that does happen. And so back in November you requested to be my friend and what I will do when I get a friend request because, you know, I don't know these people I'll go to their profile and check them out and see if they're, I guess, worthy of my friendship. And so, anyway, I was like, yeah, she looks legit, I'll be her friend. And honestly, I didn't really, you know, look into your profile any more than that. Uh, you know, look into your profile any more than that. And then so, um, one day, um, I was going through, um, you know, scrolling through Facebook, and I think I came across your 75 whole, uh, something, you know an advertisement or something, an announcement that you put out there, and that word whole grabbed my attention. It's like when the Lord, like, unveils and opens your eyes to something or speak something to you, it's like it's been there all along, but all of a sudden he's highlighting it, and so I mean that word just jumped out. So I thought, okay, let me look into this a little bit more. So then I saw that you had this group Women of Wonder Warriors Arise, and I was like, maybe I should join that. So I hit that, I wanted to join that and you had like these questions on there, yeah, and, and some you know most groups do, they'll ask you these little survey questions or whatever. And so then I get a message from you want, you were wanting to know about one of my answers and I was like, okay, and so then I began to pour out my heart to you and then you told me about this group coaching and you know, I said I think I told you I'd look into it or something.

Speaker 2: 11:39

I'm you know, my personality is I'm not real spontaneous, personality is I'm not real spontaneous. But I knew that the Lord was doing something in that moment. And then, all of a sudden, I just started seeing eagles and hearing stories about eagles and I think I told you I went to lunch with a friend and I sat down and there was like an eagle etched into the table that I was sitting at. I go to the doctor's office and around the corner and there's this huge picture of this eagle and I'm like, okay, lord, I hear you, yeah, and, and so it just I, you know, I went to your profile and I began to like I guess, stalk you, and I was like this woman. I already feel connected to her because we, we used the same language, um, you know keys and eagles and wording, and it just was like she's like my sister or something you know, it was just that God connection and so that's, that's really how we got connected.

Speaker 1: 13:01

Yeah, and I mean, and that's like one of the keys I love that you shared is that you know you were paying attention, like there's he really like if we see him in the details? You said you may not be spontaneous. Right, I can be spontaneous, but there's times where I'm a little bit more cautious, too cautious too, and I think it's in those times of you know, maybe being a little bit more cautious where he's like okay, like I've got like an alarm going off over here, like pay attention. So some of you, you know, are you know stepping, you know being maybe asked to step into something, and it's like, oh, this maybe doesn't make sense, and he's like I'm going to show you. It's like Gideon laying out fleas and we don't want to have to do that all the time, right, but there are times.

Speaker 1: 13:50

There are times. There are times for sure. Yeah, I would definitely agree. We have so many things that are like the connection points and I love how the Lord is really drawing his daughters together and I tend to be. I've shared this with people before. You know. I talked to a lot of women and I tend to carry the hearts of many women from around the world. They feel safe to open up and there are so many interconnected stories that I get to hold really closely and I can't share with everybody, but I get to say so many of us are walking through something similar and I get to listen.

Speaker 1: 14:34

For what do people need in this hour? And that's what this group became. I don't know if you'd be open. I'm not going to share all the keys with the listeners, because it's really a sacred place If somebody comes in. I don't feel led to give all the keys away, but if you were to hear like which key was most impactful for you, we'll, we'll give one key, because it really was the keys he gave me to drop each week. They were straight from him and it's very and I don't know if you would agree if you've been in group coaching before, but, um, it was very unconventional, I would say.

Speaker 2: 15:20

I uh, you know that's kind of hard to pick out just one key, because so every one of them were so ordained of God, every one of them spoke straight to me and was exactly where I was in my life and exactly what I needed. And I guess across the board, for the entire body of Christ, those keys are being echoed. It's almost daily. I guess I'm stuck because I'm trying to figure out. You know, you started with identity. I will just say that, okay, so I really think that in the Church of America right now there is an identity crisis and it's really bad. And you know the enemy will always fight our destiny and our purpose, and I mean just even Jesus. I mean Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, but there he encountered the enemy and the enemy came even at him and, you know, challenged his identity. And so you know I do a women's fall conference we're fixing to go into. Our this year will be our 12th annual conference and the theme of that conference is unity in community. So I'm thinking that, well, I know, because you know Holy Spirit revealed to me, you know, the identity and my word for this year is whole and wholeness and thinking about unity. You know the three go hand in hand.

Speaker 2: 17:38

And I think that there are so many people women especially, men too, but I think mainly women and they walk around with all this brokenness on the inside of them and they continue to operate out of that brokenness which causes walls to go up. And you know, they either don't know, know who they are in Christ, or they have allowed the enemy to blind them and they have forgotten who they are. So, you know, in order for us to have true unity, we have to know who we are first of all, and we have to allow him to go deep on the inside of us to heal us of all those wounds. And I know that. You know, none of us are perfect and we're going to be continuing to go through the process until Jesus comes back. You know, it's always a process.

Speaker 2: 18:48

The word tells us that trials and tribulations will come. It's not that they might come, it says they will come. But you know, as we grow and as we get healed and as we, you know, are able to stand firm in our identity with Christ, then the body can become unified. It's learning, you know, when you become whole and you know who you are in Christ and you allow Holy Spirit to give you wisdom and discernment, it's easier to see beyond the surface of another person. It's easy to be able to say, okay, I understand why they're acting that way, or why they're saying that it's because of the broken place in their life and us. It's because of the broken place in their life and us. You know, I like the saying empowered women, empower women, and it's almost like a mandate for us to help and rescue others, you know, from those broken places. I think I kind of went on a rabbit trail for you.

Speaker 1: 20:08

No, I love it and I believe that you know that identity key. It really is the most important and foundational and it's something that we need to go back to a lot.

Speaker 1: 20:24

We, you know I'm constantly on a journey and we may think, oh, I've got it all together, but there's still layers, layers and layers and layers, and you know, like you said we get firmed up in our identity in Christ, we can stand firm no matter what comes our way, like I've just been really leaning into a lot of you know, when Jesus was in the boat and there, you know, the waves were crashing in the storm and like it was the disciples that woke him up it wasn't the storm, he wasn't even startled by any of that. I was like, can we just, can we just get firm with him? And it's a journey and that's where it's like, okay, you know, lord, what are the keys, what is the order? And at first and I think I shared with you gals on one of the calls, like I initially got the order of the keys back um, last fall and there was a time I think it was week three and four that it swapped up and somebody was like, oh, my goodness, like the timing of this, and I'm like, well, I, I swapped the keys. So to be just, um, you know, as, as you're journeying and those of you who are listening, you know when you're journeying, you know with the Lord on what I like to call a wild adventure, to be willing to pivot um and and do things that maybe seem kind of counterintuitive, I guess, uh, identity Like.

Speaker 1: 21:50

Well, I know that these women are, like you know, fiery. Maybe they don't need the key of identity. No, like he showed me that we we need to continually go back and go deeper. Like you said, there's a there's, you know, we can stand on the shoreline or we can go deeper with him. And, um, I love that you mentioned that too. I think the other two girls who've come on mentioned the identity key as well. So I love it. Well, you um a deeper, even beyond the group coaching.

Speaker 1: 22:34

Um, for those of you who know me and have heard me talk about it, one-on-one coaching is is really my heart. I love going really deep with people. They share with me and open up. Like I feel like he's created me to be a safe place for women to open up to. Um, I hold women's hearts very sacred and very um near and dear. I guess you could say Um.

Speaker 1: 22:59

But in doing you know the group coaching, he, he's shown me that I, you know the coaching and the connections are huge, like it's like in my DNA. That's part of my identity, like the things that I operate and do, um, and he was showing me with the group coaching it's, it's this piece of bringing together women to connect, but then there was an option for gals to, you know, also do the one-on-one coaching, which is something that you had decided to do. How would you one-on-one coaching, which is something that you had decided to do, how would you, how would you, um, say, you know, between the coaching one-on-one and then the connections, you, you were able to experience both of it, like what is that? On the other side, now that we've completed the eight weeks which went by so fast, let me just say, um, how would you, I don't know, like, looking kind of back on that, like what would you say with the connections piece and then the going deeper, how did that look like for you?

Speaker 2: 24:00

I loved it, um, you know, being a co-pastor and a pastor. Co-pastor and a pastor, I do a lot of group gatherings. Like you, I'm a connector of women, but I also like the one-on-one time that I have with other women. So, you know, I'm always giving out, giving out, giving out and, um, you know, I have some, some trusted, uh, a few trusted people that I can go to, uh, you know, to be filled back up and of course I get into the word myself and, you know, into the presence of the Lord and worship and I feel myself up that way as well. But sometimes you need those outside voices, you know, that are biblically sound and trusted and I knew I can trust. I knew that I could trust you from day one because you know you can tell, you know spirit. The spirit was confirming for sure. With the group coaching. It was great. I loved the Well, the number eight for sure. New beginnings that was number eight for sure. Um, new beginnings, um, that was ordained for sure. And I love the scripture in all sharpening one another. It's a very scary place to be when someone feels like they have arrived and they don't need anyone. God did not create us that way. He created us for connection, he created us for community and it's very vital for us, um, to not only survive but thrive. Um, we, we, we thrive in the community, um, but, uh, I, I just loved it. Um, and then, with um, getting back to that, you know I learned, I learned so much, you know, by listening to each woman talk. You know, it's like they would drop these little nuggets that I could pick up and put in my satchel, you know, to help me on my journey, and I hope that I did the same for them. With the one on one, I love the deeper. With the one-on-one, I love the deeper. I love that as you and I talked, and as I talked, it's like you would see beyond that and you would give me a different perspective on something or say something, and I was like, oh I, you know, I really hadn't thought about it that way. And then you just kept digging deeper and I.

Speaker 2: 27:19

That is like my passion, because I do a monthly gathering with women and it's not just for the women of my church, it's for the women of the community, it's open to any woman that wants to come and it's called Cultivate, and the Lord laid that on my heart. Next month will be two years that we have been doing that ministry and we gather, we have tables and it's, you know, like table talk, but it's a place. It's to provide a place for women that want to go deeper. It's there's a lot of healing that takes place there because, you know, I don't believe that we're ever going to heal just by having surface talk, just by having surface talk. You know, it needs to be revealed in order to be healed.

Speaker 2: 28:16

I know that's like a little cliche, but it's so true. I mean, nobody's going to get healed by just. You know, how are you? I'm fine. No, really, how are you? You know, you just go deeper. Know, really, how are you? You know, you just go deeper and and it sometimes when you ask a question, it just hits something, a vein and you're like, do I really want to go there? Right? But um, it's, it's the deeper it gets you to really think, you know, and yeah and yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:50

So I loved everything. I love the aspect of it.

Speaker 1: 28:56

Such a joy to have you in the group. I hope we'll. We'll do more in the future. Like I am actually starting another group, you know, end of this month. I I'm still leaning in with the Lord about. You know, there there's more like even for me, like even this group coaching was for me too, there's more. It's time to soar and roar in 24. So, um, if you were to explain, like some people don't really understand what a coach is and there's a lot of coaches out there but if you were to like kind of just in, like a little nutshell, like how would you explain what I do?

Speaker 2: 29:35

Yeah, Well, I'll be honest, I'm visionary, so when I see pictures, so when you asked me that question, the first thing I saw was battery cables and it's like you jump started my battery, I felt like my battery was going dead. You know, just like you know, when you get into a vehicle and sometimes when you turn that key and you get that you know it doesn't want to go, and or maybe it does that, and then it does start, but then it kind of sputters.

Speaker 2: 30:21

you know, um. You know, like I said earlier, I give out and give out and give out, and if I don't have somebody pouring back into me, you know I can't pour from an empty cup. You know, um, I have to keep myself filled up and we need someone to come alongside of us sometimes to give us that extra boost and that, that jumpstart. And so I'm sorry that I compared you to battery cables.

Speaker 1: 31:01

I'm going to add that to the list, because the Lord's called me a flight attendant. He's called me a gold digger, like. I'm not going to put it in my bio that I'm a gold digger. But you know, I actually had seen, when I heard that, I saw like panning for gold, and there's this process, when you're panning for gold and you know's, just, it's I actually like it so and I was just hearing my heart. I don't know if that's a song.

Speaker 2: 31:27

I think it might be jumpstart my heart, I don't know yeah, yeah, I think so, or at least the lyrics of a song, um, but you, you helped open me back up. You helped me remember who I was. It kind of reminds me of the uh, when Simba forgot who he was, um, and he had to be reminded of, of who he was, um in order to go back, um to where he came from and uh, and to possess, you know, um, that territory. And that is another thing. You know, the the Lord is calling us to uh, possess territory, and in order to do that, we need to know who we are.

Speaker 2: 32:32

Um and you remind me of who I was.

Speaker 1: 32:37

Thank you, lord, and it's all about that. Oh goodness. I could go into a whole story, but I have to hop off. I just love you and I'm so excited Um I want you to share, like what do you have coming up Um soon and and do you still have spots open?

Speaker 2: 32:58

spots open. I actually have one spot open. I have a. I do a women's retreat. I started this will be our third annual and it's in Schulenburg, Texas, at Jordan Ranch, and that is in May, and the last weekend in May, or I think it is, it's the 23rd or the 25th and it's come away and it's just a place to rest and be refreshed. The Lord gave me the number 40. So there's 40 women that come and it's just a refreshing and anyone that would want more information about that. Like I said, we have one spot, but I think I could squeeze some other people in if there were more than 40.

Speaker 2: 33:51

The other thing that I am in the middle of, which actually sparked while I was in the group coaching, the Lord had spoke to me a couple of years. I am a first-time published author and I published my 40-day devotion. I hate to call it a devotion. It's really an encounter with the Lord, if you use it correctly, not defined by the struggle, and that's available on Amazon. That came out in the fall of 22,. But I felt like the Lord wanted me to do a second book and so in the middle of our group coaching, the passion just reignited to start that and I put that into motion to start that, and I put that into motion and this time I've got 25 women coming alongside of me and they're telling their stories in this next book. So I'm really excited about that. The title of that is you Matter Learning how to Rest in the Wrestle, and so I am shooting to have that published by the end of the year. So those are two exciting things coming up.

Speaker 1: 35:08

Amazing, oh my gosh. I mean just and look at just what you that that step for this next book you're it's not just you writing, it's others and that's going to impact them 25 women and then the bond them. That's kingdom. I love it. So we will. I will have Deanna's contact information in the show notes. I'll also include the retreat information if she, she she'll send me that information and then also her books. Well, I shouldn't say books. We don't have them both available yet, but I'll link to the book that's available right now and I would love for you to share. I always do this for the one and I love that you have one spot left, but I do the podcast for the one. So, as you're just sitting here sharing, is there anything that you would like to say to that one? And then would you be open to praying over the show listeners?

Speaker 2: 36:13

Yes, absolutely. So I would say to the one listening is to find, find your tribe, find that circle of friends that you can trust. Um, don't isolate yourself. Um, the the like I said earlier in in the podcast. Um, you know, god has not created us to do life alone. He has created us to do it together with others. And just dig into him, into his word, find your secret place and just get into his presence, because it's in his presence where there is peace and joy and deliverance and healing. And just make your tribe and just run on mission and go for it. So that's what I would say Just find your people.

Speaker 2: 37:33

Yes, lord, I just thank you for this day and I thank you for this opportunity that you have given me to share my heart. And, father, I thank you for Kristen and what she is doing and I just speak blessings upon her as she continues to not only pour into other women but to dig out the gold. Other women but to dig out the gold. Lord, I thank you that you have given her a great purpose and a great destiny. And she is not selfish, she doesn't keep it to herself, she just wants to continue to empower women to soar and roar in their calling and their purpose and their destiny, father, because we know that one can put a thousand to flight and two can put ten, and a threefold cord cannot be easily broken. I thank you, father, god, that it's not by might, it's not by power, but it's only by your spirit, and we are so grateful for you and your leading and your guiding us by your spirit, and we just give you glory and honor and all of these things in Jesus name, amen.

Speaker 1: 38:59

Amen. Thank you, my sweet friend. It's been such a joy to have you on today. Amen, amen. Thank you, my sweet friend. It's been such a joy to have you on today, and thank you for being a brave voice that sets others free. I'm going to close with the anchoring verse for Hope, unlocked it's. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope, and that's Romans 15, 13. Thank you again for sharing. Like I said, we will have all the contact information things mentioned in the show notes If you want to get in contact with Deanna. She's doing amazing things out on the mission field as well. So thank you, listeners. We will be back next week with another episode. Talk to you soon.