Cindy Stewart: Today, we have a special guest with us, Ruth Hendrickson. She is amazing. We have been away at a pastors’ conference in Denver. We have had some incredible insights, and we’ve also had a lot of fun too, so welcome, Ruth.
Ruth H.: Thank you. It’s so good to be here. I’m glad to be joining you for this time, and for everyone listening, I just want to say hi, and stay tuned in. I think we’re going to have a great time together.
Cindy Stewart: I think so, too. What Ruth’s going to share, can really make a difference in your ability to go forward, to really live your dream, and to discover, what’s that next step.
Cindy Stewart: Ruth, why don’t you tell us a little bit about what you do?
Ruth H.: Sure. I have been both in the corporate world and also in the ministry arena my whole life. It started out in corporate, and then it switched over to ministry, and what I really love to do is to see people begin to take steps into who they’re created to be, because all of us have value. All of us are created with a purpose. All of us have something that only we can do, because it’s just the way our experiences come together and the way God created us to be, and as all those components come together and we get rid of our insecurities and our “I can’t do this” and this stuff that we’ve accumulated through years, that baggage that we’re pulling along. It just holds us back.
Ruth H.: I just love to see people get rid of that stuff and grabbing on to who they were created to be.
Cindy Stewart: Let me just ask you something. I know you’re transitioning. You’ve been in a transition for about a year now.
Ruth H.: Right.
Cindy Stewart: From moving from a full time position into launching, really, your own company, and helping people, and doing classes, and that type of thing. Tell me a little bit about your transition, and maybe one or two of the things that you had to overcome in this transition.
Ruth H.: Okay. Yeah, I had a really secure full time job. I had full benefits, all that good stuff, and I realized for the amount of hours I was working … and that the season had ended there. I think we all know when we go through shifts, and we can just tell that something’s changing, you know? It’s that season for change, and so with that, I’d had my own ministry, Ruth Hendrickson Ministry, kind of sitting on the back burner, if you will. It was time to pull it forward, and the only way I could do that was to step out of my full time position, and everything that that involved — I was full time staff at a church, I was pastor of the church — step out of that so that I could focus on this next season. There were a number of things that I really had to wrestle through.
Ruth H.: One was, who me? Can I really do this? I think that’s true, wherever we’re at, when we step out of something that we’ve become accustomed to, that we’re comfortable in, that we know what we’re doing, we have a certain sense of security there, that we have to say, okay, now I’m going to step into this next one. That was part of it, it’s just little old me. I’m going to a different level. I’m going deeper with something. I’m going into a new place. I’m going to have a different place of influence. I’m going to be surrounded by different people. I’m going to be teaching different things, so how do I do that? How do I step into that? The first fear I had to conquer was me.
Cindy Stewart: That’s good.
Ruth H.: Yeah, why me? And then, in my case, I also had a financial component, because I gave up this steady salary, and actually, I carry all of our family health insurance also, and here I am becoming self-employed, and my husband’s self-employed also.
Ruth H.: That was another big thing is often, in transition, there is shaky ground, or what can feel like shaky ground, as we make that adjustment, because if you think of being on a boat, people talk about that they get their sea legs, and then they go back on land, and they have to get their land legs back. Whenever we go through transition, there is that learning to walk in that new territory, and we have to learn to do it with confidence.
Cindy Stewart: That’s really good.
Ruth H.: … because there are things that will try to drag us back to what we knew, because that’s the comfortable spot.
Cindy Stewart: That’s the easier way.
Ruth H.: Yeah, but the only way we move forward is to claim new ground, and go for it.
Cindy Stewart: In that first month or two, what were some of the first steps you took, because when you leave a job, that you’re full time, probably 60 or more hours-
… that’s really full time in ministry, and then you’re home, and then all of a sudden you’re like, “What do I do now? Literally, what do I do now?” Did you take any time to reset or recuperate?
Ruth H.: After my last day, we immediately went out of town. My husband just said, “We’re going to get you out of here.” We went down to Florida, down to your territory-
Cindy Stewart: And you didn’t come see me?
Ruth H.: Ah, I’m from New Jersey, so I just, I don’t know. I should be in Florida or someplace warm, Hawaii, California, but I’d been planted in New Jersey, so we took a week and we just went someplace warm, to kind of separate, to reboot, and that’s not very much time. But, given my husband’s an excavation contractor, and since it was July, that was really all we could squeeze out.
Ruth H.: So I walked into that, and then as I came back, I just had to kind of sit back and say, “Okay, what is needed in this new season?” It became working on a website. I knew that I was going to be teaching some major material on just getting whole emotionally, and that was coming up. I had a number of months. I rewrote all that material, because I really wanted to look, okay, I taught this in the church. I’ve taught this in that sphere, but to take this material even deeper, and to make it available to more people, what do I need to change? I took a lot of time and rewrote that.
Ruth H.: I worked on connections. Who do I need to be connected with so that I can learn, and that I can grow, because again, I’m stepping into new territory?
Cindy Stewart: Right.
Ruth H.: The connections I had in the past, some of them could help, but I also needed people who could help me learn to get my footing, and so it was also connecting with them, and spending time with them, and saying, “How do I do this? How do I grow in this area?” I mean, you and I talked some about publishing even this week, because I have a book in process, and that’s something, how do I find a publisher? How do I step into that?
Ruth H.: I had to learn … I took some course on media, because media, as we’re doing right now, is so huge, so I had to learn additional components of that. It was really a time of exploring and asking questions, and also, in the midst of that, forcing myself to reset, letting go of my past position, knowing that if I tried to hang onto that and move into the future that I could get pulled back. And it’s not that there was anything wrong, it’s just we have to let go.
Ruth H.: It’s like with our kids. Cindy, if you tried to hold your kids back and keep them in your home, they would never become the men and the women that God called them to be. They would never reach that, and it’s that same concept that as we step into the next thing, I can have relationships back there and I can have great memories back there, and it doesn’t mean that everything hard and fast stops, but it has to change and I can’t hang on to the way it was if I’m going to walk into what God has for the future, into this new season that’s supposed to be.
Cindy Stewart: So really, you looked at what your vision was for the future and what needed to be adjusted, you took some classes to help shore up, you connected with people that can help bridge you over to that next thing-
Ruth H.: Right.
Cindy Stewart: … and you actually took some time to reset and refresh yourself. Those are really four great steps that you can do. You touched on something and I want to go there a little deeper, because some people may not really understand, what is emotional healing?
Cindy Stewart: For me personally, I know that I had some things. One of them that I’ve really worked hard on was people-pleasing, because growing up, my family revolved around my dad and what he wanted, and so I felt like, that was my goal in life – to make sure that he was happy, and everything I did pleased him, so I spent a lot of time adjusting to what he needed, because that’s the way our house worked, it just … I had to really go through a process of realizing that my job in life is not to make sure everyone else is okay.
Ruth H.: Right.
Cindy Stewart: My job in life is to be me, and I went through some emotional healing on that. I can tell you what I went through, but kind of explain, what is emotional healing?
Ruth H.: Sure. Here’s the thing. Emotional healing is really a churchy word, and so I just want to put that out there and I want to take it both from we go, and we all accumulate stuff, that baggage, through life.
Ruth H.: I have a severe speech impediment. I know this isn’t a politically correct word, but think of this as the 1960s, okay? They wanted to say I was retarded. That was the word of the 60s, so hear that. Let that word sink in. Now, I was a little kid, so I didn’t understand. I used the term knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly. But somewhere, this went into the core of my being.
Cindy Stewart: That is understandable.
Ruth H.: Some of the things that come at you are like the softball being thrown at you, or a hardball, and they just hit. There’s an intentionality behind of it. Other things just happen through life, you know? Think of how many of us have been teased on a school playground.
Cindy Stewart: Yes.
Ruth H.: Or on the school bus, or we’ve had … I have loving parents, but they weren’t perfect parents. I’m a loving parent, but I wasn’t a perfect parent, which means I also —unintentionally — gave my kids some things that hurt.
Ruth H.: What happens is, those things that we carry along, they become part of us, and they kind of become … they form how we see life, and how we respond. I think all of us can look at ourselves and go, “Oh, my gosh, where did that come from?” Well, it comes from, it transfers back, to all those things that have added up, and it becomes this perception that we have of life, and how we see ourselves, and that we respond through, so it actually impacts all areas of our life. It can also impact us physically.
Ruth H.: So, when we’re talking about emotional healing, there’s also some secular terms for it, but basically, it is coming into alignment with who we were created to be.
Cindy Stewart: That’s good.
Ruth H.: And getting rid of the labels, and the wounds, the hurts, the pain, the things that have been spoken over me, that become, again, like that baggage that you’re lugging through the airport, going, “Oh, my gosh, I packed way too many clothes,” you know? “Couldn’t I have left my computer at home this time?”
Ruth H.: Just to be aware that we need to be free from all that stuff that we are carrying, and that’s emotional healing, so that we can walk really in wholeness, seeing the world correctly, talking to people from a place of health, not from wounding, and to also, then, allows us to really become the person that we were created to be.
Cindy Stewart: That’s really good, and we do … I know your ministry does that. You do emotional healing with people, and then a lot of other things, and we’ll talk a little bit about that. But the one thing about this process is, there are lies that we’ve believed that we don’t even know has happened to us.
Ruth H.: That’s right.
Cindy Stewart: My lie was that if I didn’t make everything okay, then something bad was going to happen, because that’s the way my family culture worked. Once I got rid of that lie, I realized that I don’t have responsibility for everyone else. I always say, “I’m responsible for what’s in my hula hoop, and if you’re trying to get in my hula hoop, you don’t belong there, so get out,” you know? But I tried, I used to squeeze everybody, every problem, into my hula hoop, so then what happens? The hula hoop can’t move. I can’t go forward. Just getting rid of those lies that we believe about ourselves, or that the perception, that lie we believe about everybody’s against us, or whatever it is, just gives us such freedom to really uncover who we really are.
Ruth H.: What is interesting, as you said, those lies, we don’t know they’re there. We’ve accumulated them over time, and there can be a desire, almost, to blame somebody for those? That’s why I like the language, intentionally or unintentionally, knowingly or unknowingly, we receive these, because I want you guys to hear something. We take responsibility for that, when we say, “Okay, this is what I believe,” as opposed to looking for somebody to say, “Well, I did this wrong,” or, “I did that wrong.” It’s just like, “No, this is what I’ve come to believe, and this doesn’t align.”
Ruth H.: Now, speaking from a Christian’s perspective, a follower of Jesus, we want to say what aligns with the Word of God, and as we come into alignment with health and wholeness, and what the truth is, as opposed to those distorted lenses, it changes everything, because then we are fully equipped to walk into who we’re created to be.
Ruth H.: One of my mentors said to me, years ago, “What makes your heart sing?” I love that question, because that’s a great question for all of us. What makes our heart sing? Often, what makes our heart sing is something that’s impossible to get at carrying all of that stuff.
Cindy Stewart: That’s true.
Ruth H.: Then the question becomes, what have I come to believe? Because I believe this, what do I do, how do I act, because I believe that, your hula hoop wasn’t created to have everyone in it.
Cindy Stewart: Absolutely.
Ruth H.: No, no. And so, as you get healthier, and a hula hoop that houses everyone, when you have everyone in there with you, you can’t move, but you watch a kid with a hula hoop that knows how to use and move with it, it’s phenomenal. You see such joy come forth and such delight, but you can only do that when you’re in your sphere of influence, where you’re supposed to be, operating with the mindset that you’re supposed to have, without all the strings attached from the wounding and the pain and stuff that we’ve accumulated over the years.
Cindy Stewart: Yeah, I agree, and there’s … I feel like we’re in such a season where the possibilities are endless, and part of that is getting some of these emotional wounds or lies that you believe cleaned up. I always call it … It’s like a car tune-up. That’s what you do with your emotions, your soul. You get a check-up to see, is there anything within me that’s holding me back from moving forward, because we all want to move forward. We all want to live a life that we dream about.
Ruth H.: Right. Exactly.
Cindy Stewart: I believe that we’re in that season of possibilities becoming alive and being realized, and part of that is just making sure that your mind, your heart, and your body is in the best condition it can be.
Ruth H.: That’s an important point because we need to take care of ourselves physically. We need to take care of ourselves emotionally. We need to take care of ourselves spiritually. We’re created to be this wonderful, awesome, amazing, complex person, with so many … you’ve got your unique personality in that-
Cindy Stewart: And gifting.
Ruth H.: Giftings, yeah.
Cindy Stewart: Incredible gifting and talents.
Ruth H.: As all that comes together, again, Cindy, you’re the only one who can do exactly what you’re doing, and nobody else does exactly what you’re doing, and I’m the only one who can do exactly what I’m doing. Yeah, we can have crossovers. There’s things that we do that are very similar, but they will never be identical, because we bring into it all our history and who we are and our uniqueness, and that’s true for everyone who’s listening. You bring in all your wonderful uniqueness, and the beauty that comes with that, and the creativity.
Ruth H.: You see, that’s the other thing, when there is creativity that the world desperately needs, and so when we go and we really walk in that freedom and that creativity is released, that really also propels us forward. It becomes like jet fuel, if you want to think of the shuttle launch? They pour in the jet fuel, and then as that jet takes off, you see all that come out? Well, the creativity helps propel us forward. Again, … you’re taking care of yourself physically, you’re emotionally working through your stuff, you’re watching what you believe, you’re watching what you take in, and that opens the door for that creativity to come forth.
Cindy Stewart: Yeah, absolutely.
Ruth H.: And that’s needed in the world. Oh, my gosh, we need people.
Cindy Stewart: I used to say, “I’m not creative,” but what I realize is that everyone is created, creative. Inside of us, no matter what our realm of influence is, whether we are an accountant, or whether we’re a fashion designer, everyone is creative. We just have to tap into the type of creativity that is within us.
Ruth H.: That’s right.
Cindy Stewart: I just believe that really having that wholeness of mind, body, and spirit, it just enables you to release the fullness that you were created to be. So, tell us, Ruth, before we close, tell us a little bit about how to contact you, and maybe some of the things that you offer that would be interesting to people listening?
Ruth H.: Sure. You can contact me through Facebook, which is Ruth Hendrickson Ministries. That is my public figure page, so you can find me there. You can also find me on my website, so that is just RuthHendrickson.org. You can find me there, and especially on the website, there’s a store on there, and like I said, my heart is really to equip people, to help you to move forward, so you’ll find a number of materials on there.
Ruth H.: There’s a couple messages I absolutely love. One talks about earth-shaking mountain-movers, like David is in the Bible. There’s a story of a man named David, and he had three mighty men. In that one, we’re looking at what did these three mighty men – actually the mightiest of his mighty men. What was it about them that made them so mighty? What was it about them that they were able to go into battle and have victory? That’s actually one of my favorite teachings, but there’s a lot on there.
Ruth H.: There’s also, for those of you who want to know more about how to pray for others, praying to Jesus, and how to do that, there’s a course on that. We also have a new course that’s coming up. It should be released within the next four to six weeks, and that is actually on emotional healing and deliverance-
Cindy Stewart: Oh, that’d be good.
Ruth H.: … which is what we’ve been talking about, so that will be up shortly, but there’s a lot of other things on there. There’s some articles on there that can help, and so I would just encourage you to go on there and just take a look, and to reach me, there is a contact button, so you can reach out to me, and I’ll get that email, and so I’d be happy to respond.
Cindy Stewart: And we’ll have all her information in the show notes. When you’re listening, you can look in the show notes. As we close, I just want to encourage you to just think about where are you going, and is there things holding you back? If there are, then reach out to Ruth, reach out to myself. Hit my contact form at Cindy-Stewart.com, and we’re glad to help you or direct you to the right connection that you need.
Cindy Stewart: We know that you are the best investment you can make.
Ruth H.: Absolutely.
Cindy Stewart: When you invest in yourself, it creates a dynamic shift for everyone around you, because they see your change, and they want to be a part of that and also experience their own change. Definitely, take a look at the things that you’re looking for in the future, and you want to have transformed for now so you can get there.
I would love to hear from you.
Leave your comment on my Facebook page by clicking here: CindyStewart or send me an email at cindy@Cindy-Stewart.com
If you want individual help through this process fill out the Connection Form.
Remember, you are the best investment you can make.
I have three upcoming events. You can access them on my website: cindy-stewart.com/events
Women on the Frontline
June 14-16, 2018 Tarpon Springs
Featuring Patricia King, Brandi Belt and myself.
Invading the Heavens Conference
August 16-18, 2018 – Tampa, Florida
Featuring Sid Roth, Robert Henderson, along with Dr. Kynan Bridges and myself.
Frontliners: Kingdom Advance
October 19-20, 2018 – Tampa, FL
Featuring Dr. Clarice Fluitt, Brandi Belt and myself.