Faith or Foolishness? What to Think About When Making Big Decisions

Christopher Muiña [00:00:00]:
What he wants out of all of this, out of everybody's life, is for our relationship with him to be strengthened, for us to get closer to him, for our will to be aligned with his will, for our prayers now, to be praying like God, whatever you have for us, that's what we want.

Stephanie Muiña [00:00:27]:
Welcome to the Family Business with the Alessi's, where family is everybody's business business. Good morning, everyone. Good afternoon, good evening, good night, whatever, and welcome to the Family Business Podcast. My name is Stephanie Munya, and I'm here with my husband, Christopher Munya. And we are here to talk about something that we've been navigating, which is faithfulness or foolishness. Dun, dun, dun. And how to walk that tight line of listening to wisdom and stepping out in faith when it comes to our finances, when it comes to our parenting, when it comes to our marriage, but also trying to stay within the guidelines of wisdom and practical steps for our future, which I'm sure a lot of people deal with today. So this is our first time talking about it.

Stephanie Muiña [00:01:23]:
We talk about it all the time at home. But right now we wanted to get on the podcast and really just expand on this topic and share with everybody how we're dealing with it, how we're walking through it right now. Personally, we are searching for a home in Miami, Florida, which is like trying to find the needle in a haystack.

Christopher Muiña [00:01:45]:
Which you need faith for.

Stephanie Muiña [00:01:47]:
Which you need faith for. And a lot of wisdom, too. And it has been a really, really big stretching season for us, is the best way to say it, wouldn't you say?

Christopher Muiña [00:01:59]:
Yeah. Yeah. And I think these two. These two truths of faith and wisdom, you can apply them to really anything that you're going through in life, whether it's health, whether to, you know, listen to that doctor diagnosis or to have faith that God is going to heal you, whether you're looking for a house like we are, you know, should we. How much of a stretch or how much of a stretch are we stretching our faith? Or should we stay within the, the. The close, tight knit of our budget, you know, or whatever it is. You can use that. But I have.

Christopher Muiña [00:02:30]:
We have this battle in our minds, especially as, as believers of these two truths of faith and wisdom cannot live together.

Stephanie Muiña [00:02:39]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:02:39]:
When I think the Bible says that they should be going, they do go together. They go hand in hand. But for some reason, we put them on these polar opposite ends of, of life where they can't. Because if you're operating in too much faith, then you're operating in foolishness or if you're operating in too much practicality, wisdom, it's too practical and you're not exercising your faith enough. That's the scale, right. That in our minds we tend to put them on these two different scales. But first of all, what. What is this conversation? Where is it going to lead? What does the Bible say about it? That's the whole thing, right.

Christopher Muiña [00:03:21]:
Of where we're at, what we're talking about.

Stephanie Muiña [00:03:23]:
So yeah, I love that you said that, that sometimes we think that it has to be one or the other. But what I've learned, I mean, I'm 28 years old, you're 36. What I'm learning is, yeah, we have a huge age gap.

Stephanie Muiña [00:03:35]:
Scandalous.

Stephanie Muiña [00:03:37]:
But what is fun is learning that adulthood and maturity is. It's not a balancing act, it's like a abrading of all of that where you are operating in wisdom. You are taking all of the lessons your parents passed down to you that you learned in school, that you learned from your elders or your mentors. And then you are blending it in with what the Lord is asking of you for this season and using faith to walk that out. And it is this crazy walk. It's such a stretching. It's. You're learning so much about life, about how God works in you.

Stephanie Muiña [00:04:14]:
I think what's cool is also you and I are learning how the Lord is using us and how the Lord speaks to us apart from everybody else. Which is a really cool season to walk through because once I get a word from God, then I feel like you will get it or vice versa and you just see what God is evident throughout the entire process. But we're learning as we go, so we should probably share personally, what is it that we are walking out? Like, what's our plan? What is it that the steps that we are taking with our home so that people see the example of what we're talking about.

Christopher Muiña [00:04:53]:
Yeah. So we want a bigger home for our family, single family. We have this whole checklist, right. We want a two car garage, we would like a pool, we'd like a big lot in a good location. We want what everybody wants pretty much. Right. We currently own our townhome, so we have to sell that town home in order to make the leap into the single family. Now in the Miami market, there's a big disparity between the townhome mark cost or price range and the single family price range.

Christopher Muiña [00:05:25]:
So we're in that leap of faith, right. Got to sell one. Oh God, what do we do if we can't find a house in time. What if we do can't find a house we can afford or a house we don't like? It's just. It's an unknown. Right. It's unknown waters that we're walking into. So that's where we're at, right?

Stephanie Muiña [00:05:42]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:05:42]:
That's what kind of sparked this whole conversation.

Stephanie Muiña [00:05:44]:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña [00:05:45]:
And we might have to move in with our parents for a short time to look for a house, which I always believed was like a big no, no. Like, you just can't do that. Only to discover that so many couples have had to because they're renovating their home, they're looking for a home. It's a very normal thing to do. And I really thought that that was like a failure in my naive mind. And now I'm learning it's something that we might even have to do as we're searching. And at the same time, we also said, okay, every single day, I. In our closet, I printed out a picture of like, a bunch of pictures of you and I.

Stephanie Muiña [00:06:19]:
It's sort of like a vision board, our kids Bible verses. And then I put a picture of a house that's like my dream house. And we said, okay, every day we're just going to put our hand over it and pray for it and just pray that God's will be done. So we're. We're. I'm learning like, okay, this is something that I'm gonna have to be stretched in this. And this is. I.

Stephanie Muiña [00:06:42]:
I have to really, really stir up my faith side as we walk out the practical side. But a big lesson was learning that, like, a lot of the practical side that I saw as failures are just things you. They're refining seasons that you have to walk through. And they help, number one, bring us closer together big time. And then they also help us align with what the Lord wants for us. Because I feel like at the beginning of this, I had a totally different idea of what I wanted in the house, what I wanted for this next season. And now because of this, this, the doors closing, the house isn't coming up. What I love is it's kind of repositioned my prayers to now say, okay, well, Lord, what do you want for us? What is it that you have in mind for us? Which I'm so grateful for, because what I thought was faith was actually just me chasing a dream that was not ours.

Stephanie Muiña [00:07:44]:
It was my dream, but it wasn't our dream. And I think that the Lord allowed me to walk through a season of like, hey, I'm not going to open up this door yet until you and your husband are in alignment with what God's will is for our life.

Christopher Muiña [00:07:58]:
Well, we. We go through a class, as in church, about prayer and what. What is effective prayer? The. One of the titles is, like, how to get God to answer your prayers. Right. It's just.

Stephanie Muiña [00:08:09]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:08:09]:
To kind of catch your attention. And it's all about aligning your will with God's will. Right. And ultimately, God, he's not really concerned about the house we have.

Stephanie Muiña [00:08:20]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:08:20]:
That's not on his radar. What he wants out of all of this, out of everybody's life, is for our relationship with him to be strengthened, for us to get closer to him, for our will to be aligned with his will, for our prayers now, to be praying like God. Whatever you have for us, that's what we want. He wants our heart. It's been God's desire since day one, since he created Adam and Eve. He wanted our heart. He wants us to worship him. So it's.

Christopher Muiña [00:08:52]:
He uses the process of searching for a home or the process of a health scare.

Stephanie Muiña [00:08:58]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:08:59]:
Or the process of, you know, searching for your spouse to get us closer to him. That's his end goal.

Stephanie Muiña [00:09:05]:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña [00:09:07]:
So then here, drink my tea.

Christopher Muiña [00:09:08]:
I got water.

Stephanie Muiña [00:09:09]:
So question for you, Chris, and you can take your minute. Take a minute to think about it, because it is a big question. How do you. How have you, like, found a way to walk in faith but within the boundaries of wisdom in this season?

Christopher Muiña [00:09:28]:
That's a good one because I'm out of the two of us. I'm the. I'm the nuts and bolts.

Stephanie Muiña [00:09:34]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:09:35]:
Practical. I run the finances in the house. Like I have my finger to the pulse on the pulse of our finances.

Stephanie Muiña [00:09:43]:
Yes.

Christopher Muiña [00:09:44]:
I like to look at the budget a couple times a week. Right. I'm the practical thinker. So for me, I'm going to want to stay within those parameters of, well, this is the home we can afford. You know, this is the maximum we can squeeze out of our budget right now to be able to afford this home at this price. You're more the faith. The faith. You bring the faith to the relationship when it comes to those things.

Christopher Muiña [00:10:13]:
So it's a stretch for me, but at the same time, if I'm leading our home in my strength only then I'm not leading it. Right. Because I'm not having faith and trusting in God to stretch us, to lead us. Right. So I need to activate that faith side in order to be doing my role as the leader of our home correctly, the way God wants done. So it's, it, it doesn't matter what, what type of person you are. And you need, you need the practical side. You need to know the practical side of so helpful of what we're getting into.

Stephanie Muiña [00:10:52]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:10:52]:
Because there's the wisdom side of it. Right?

Stephanie Muiña [00:10:54]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:10:55]:
Going back to faith and wisdom.

Stephanie Muiña [00:10:56]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:10:57]:
Like wisdom is simply searching for the most effective action to take.

Stephanie Muiña [00:11:05]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:11:05]:
Right. And then the Bible talks about how faith without actions is dead.

Stephanie Muiña [00:11:10]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:11:11]:
So the two coincide.

Stephanie Muiña [00:11:12]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:11:13]:
They should be working together if done correctly.

Stephanie Muiña [00:11:17]:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña [00:11:18]:
And you know, for me, I had to ask myself when we were looking for a home, you know, it also was back when I was, when we were both single and dating and I was praying for God to bring me a spouse. I had to ask the Lord, okay, am I, like I said earlier, am I praying for the future that you have planned for me, God? Because you know what I'm going to want and what I'm going to need 10 years from now. And am I using my faith to believe you're going to give me exactly what I want and what I need for today and for tomorrow? Because God is, He's omniscient. He's omnipresent. He knows the beginning and the end. So he knows exactly what I'm going to need today and he knows exactly what we're going to need 20 years from now. And do I have the faith to trust God to supply that? And I think God takes into. He goes, yes, I will give you everything you need and I'll give you everything that you want.

Stephanie Muiña [00:12:24]:
But you need. I have to make sure that I'm making God my number one provider before he supplies any of those things. Because if I'm asking for my dream home, our dream home is going to get us into a thousands of dollars of debt after owning it for a year. And that's not wisdom. That's not the will of God for my life. That's a. God is a God of order. And I need to have the correct faith, that trust that God is putting me in the right place at the right time, with the right provisions in his way that he gives it, not in my way.

Stephanie Muiña [00:13:06]:
And that takes bigger faith. I think sometimes the day, the, the use for your faith changes with the day and with the needs. So yes, there are some days that I have to say, hey, we have to have faith that God's going to give us a beautiful home. Because there are days that we look at a house that is, it's within our Price range. But it is nothing like we want or what we've prayed for. If anything, it feels like a back in terms of a home right in our own.

Christopher Muiña [00:13:34]:
In our own strength. We can go out this week, put an offer on our house and give it if we wanted it, right in our own strength. But that's not really what we want.

Stephanie Muiña [00:13:42]:
It's not an improvement. And that's where I have to activate the faith that says, no, this is the kind of house that I'm praying for, and this is the kind of house that we want to get. But then when it comes to the money and when it comes to how much the houses cost and we're having that conversation, then I have to say, okay, well, Lord, I just have faith that you're going to give us exactly what we need. And it's the prayer. It doesn't change. But my heart position has to adjust a little bit where I say, lord, I trust you to give me exactly what you want to give me for the season that you're going to give it to me for, if that makes sense. So I guess the faith, it doesn't go up and down. It just.

Stephanie Muiña [00:14:21]:
I have to apply it wisely and I have to apply it. How's the best way to say it? I have to apply it in a way that's going to align me with the Lord's will and not my own will. And there's a proverb that talks about a young man that chases after the wind, and you only get stuck chasing after the wind. And that's not wisdom. Wisdom is chasing after the things that the Lord wants for you. I think that's. That's probably my. What I'm learning.

Stephanie Muiña [00:14:52]:
It's like, okay, well, let me use my faith with wisely because God's going to give me that dream house. But maybe it's not tomorrow, but it'll be at the right time. Because, I mean, you speak to people in their 60s and they'll tell me, well, I so badly wanted this one house, but we just didn't get it. But thank God, God didn't give that to us in that season because if he had, we wouldn't have been ready for it. And that's where my faith is being activated in a new way, where it's faith and trust working together.

Christopher Muiña [00:15:22]:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña [00:15:23]:
Does that make sense?

Christopher Muiña [00:15:23]:
Yeah. And if you're a listener and you don't even know where to start, Right. Then I would say start with the council of many. Right. The Bible says in the council of Many, there's Wisdom in the council of many. Wage war.

Stephanie Muiña [00:15:36]:
Right.

Christopher Muiña [00:15:36]:
Like, go for it. And we've. We've done the council of many. We currently still do the council of many. Right. Where that's a part of our. Of our normal routine is going. Seeking counsel of the people that we have over us.

Stephanie Muiña [00:15:52]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:15:52]:
For these decisions. But there's the aspect of it, of. There's got to be an action.

Stephanie Muiña [00:15:57]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:15:57]:
You know, there's. There has to be. I think in every, Every believer, there should be a level of risk or an aspect of risk that they are taking in their life in some way, shape or form, because that, that risk really puts. Puts it on the Lord and be like, yeah, hey, we put our house up for sale. It's on the market right now. God. That means we're. We're putting it on you.

Stephanie Muiña [00:16:20]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:16:20]:
The next move is on you. First of all, to bring us the right buyer, but also to make that home available for us when. When we do sell our home.

Stephanie Muiña [00:16:28]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:16:28]:
So the action, it's. It's the chess move that is like, all right, God, we're doing our part.

Stephanie Muiña [00:16:37]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:16:37]:
Now we have faith that you're going to do yours like you always have been. You know, like you. He always has in her life. He's never not come through in her life.

Stephanie Muiña [00:16:46]:
And you know what else, Chris? What's really been fun about this season is that God has given me a new definition of faith and a new definition of practical. Because a lot of times I associated faith with big dreams that are way out of reach. And while sometimes faith can mix with that, that's not all it is. And then sometimes I mixed practical thinking with scarcity thinking and fearful thinking, which is not what practical thinking is. That's the wisdom isn't saying, oh, well, there's not a lot of houses out there, so snatch one up now while you have the chance. That's not wisdom. Wisdom isn't saying there's not a lot of good guys out there anymore. So if you have a just okay one, then just marry them.

Stephanie Muiña [00:17:40]:
That's not faith. That's. That's fear. That's. That's scarcity mindset. That's a scarcity mindset, and that's making God seem.

Christopher Muiña [00:17:48]:
Feel smaller.

Stephanie Muiña [00:17:49]:
I know. And the other day, remember how I told you a scarcity mindset can really be, and I use this word wisely, demonic, Because a scarcity mindset introduces a fear to you that is masked as wisdom, which could then drive you to obsess over things that become your provider. For example, I was Looking at Zillow every single morning. Every morning I would wake up and I would open. The first app that I would open was Zillow. Because that was the one thing I could control. That was the one thing that made me feel like it would provide me something within instance. It would make me feel like, okay, at least something is happening.

Stephanie Muiña [00:18:37]:
Let me go on Zillow. At least I can find this one house that is some somewhat in our price range. We can go look at it today. But was I worshiping? Was I allowing the Lord to be my provider? Or was I allowing Zillow to be my provider? And I remember I was talking to my sister when she was single. She had the same issue with a dating app that every day she would go and wake up and she would look at the dating app the first thing in the morning and she said the same thing. It was the one thing in my control to help me get closer to the thing I was praying for. But I was putting that on the pedestal before I was putting God on the pedestal. And essentially it replaces God, which, which is demonic, which is putting something worldly, which is pushing something fleshly before God.

Stephanie Muiña [00:19:34]:
And it's trusting in earthly things more than it's trusting in the Lord to be your provider. And a scarcity mindset is, has nothing to do with practical and wise thinking. It is fearful. It is straight from the enemy, and it squashes your faith every time, which means it is not of God. And I had to tell myself, if anything is taking me away from my faith, then I have to get rid of it. I have to get it out of my life. If it's, if it's becoming my answer provider before God is, then it has to be gone. And it's so tough for our generation because within seconds I can get the answer to a question on my phone.

Stephanie Muiña [00:20:20]:
Like, we don't know what it's like to live in the 60s and 50s where if you needed to find a spouse, if you needed to find a job, if you needed to find a home, if you needed to pay the bill, you couldn't just go online and automatically search for ways to get out of it. You had to wait on the Lord. You had to just wait for God to deliver you. And today that's a really big thing that I've had to challenge myself in. Just let God be the only answer provider. Let him be the one that brings the home. He brought my spouse out of nowhere in the worst conditions, so he can bring our home in the same way.

Christopher Muiña [00:20:56]:
Yeah. Yeah. What about The. The wisdom side of it.

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:04]:
I know.

Christopher Muiña [00:21:04]:
How do you. How do you juggle that?

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:08]:
I know. I don't know.

Christopher Muiña [00:21:12]:
Because, for example, even in another topic of, like, health. Right.

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:17]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:21:18]:
You get a diagnosis from the doctor. What do you do with that diagnosis?

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:22]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:21:22]:
You continue to get all the tests done and the procedures and surgeries or whatever it is. We know families like that.

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:30]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:21:30]:
Currently who are going through that. Doesn't mean they don't have faith.

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:35]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:21:35]:
Right.

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:35]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:21:36]:
We went through our own health thing this year. Doesn't mean we didn't have faith.

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:39]:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:41]:
How do you get through it? What do you do? What about you, mister?

Christopher Muiña [00:21:45]:
Well, wisdom is. Is finding the. The. The best way through best course of action. Right.

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:52]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:21:53]:
And doctors are. God uses doctors.

Stephanie Muiña [00:21:58]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:21:59]:
God uses medicine. I think they're there for a reason, and we can definitely use them and rely on them. And as long as we're not looking at doctors and medicine as our source, like you said. Right. As our. As our healer.

Stephanie Muiña [00:22:18]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:22:18]:
Medicine can. Can do the job. It can heal our body. But who gave man. Who eliminated man's mind to create the medicine or to create that. That machinery or that surgery or whatever.

Stephanie Muiña [00:22:31]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:22:32]:
You know who's getting the glory in.

Stephanie Muiña [00:22:34]:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña [00:22:35]:
You know, when you. For me, when I walk through seasons that I. I truly just don't know how to navigate, and this is a season I don't know how to navigate. Just being very transparent. I've never bought. We have bought the townhouse, but searching for a new home in a market, that is very, very hard. This is a whole new frontier for me. And in these seasons where I don't know what to do, I heavily rely on.

Stephanie Muiña [00:23:03]:
On the wisdom of my friends and family and leaders around me. Heavily. I choose the people that I want to mimic their life, and I go and I talk to them, and I'm very transparent. I tell them all of our issues, all of our hurdles, and I ask for advice, and I ask for practical advice, I ask for spiritual advice, and I then bring it back to you. And if it works for us, then we pursue it. And if it doesn't, then we just keep going. But I really try to rely on the wisdom of my leaders around me and of my parents. And what I have noticed is when some of the wisdom stings, when the advice that they give me hurts, and that's, to me, a sign of it stretching me.

Stephanie Muiña [00:23:55]:
Like last week, was it last week when we looked at that big field out in Palmetto Bay. So last week we found this huge lot down South. And I got so excited about it because financially, we could have done it. It actually kind of worked out. Timing? Not really, but I was thinking, you know what? Let's just build our own home. We can build the dream house that we want, and it could be somewhat affordable. Well, I got excited and I called my dad immediately, right there on the spot, on the lot. And my dad was like, well, where is it? And I told him, it's down south.

Stephanie Muiña [00:24:32]:
And he's Immediately. He was like, you gotta start looking in the area. Your kids are gonna probably go to school, because then you're gonna be up four, five days out of the week driving them to school. And then I was like, come on. And I actually got frustrated with him because it was the look of the house, the look of the lot was everything we've wanted, but there was something about it that was not God. And my grandmother says all the time, there's good and then there's God. And this looked really, really, really like God. But it wasn't.

Stephanie Muiña [00:25:05]:
It was good. So I called my dad, and you heard the whole conversation. He was just like, no, don't. This isn't it. Like that. That doesn't make sense. It's gonna. It's not gonna give you the lifestyle that you want.

Stephanie Muiña [00:25:15]:
And I really got mad. I was like, well. Well, what do you want? What do you want from me? Because you're telling me to stretch my faith, and you're telling me to look bigger. And there is an aspect of it that is. It's an invisible. This is where it's faith. I can't put my finger on it, but it is not God. And you have to really use your discernment.

Stephanie Muiña [00:25:35]:
And when it hurts, when you are listening to the person who's giving you wisdom day after day, and they have a life that I want to mimic, and they are giving me really good advice. If it hurts, then that means that it's stretching me, and I have to lean into that and I have to trust it. So I may not have all the wisdom it takes to buy that perfect house, but I do have enough wisdom to listen to the voices that I know are guiding me in the right direction. And what's that quote that's like, if you at least just do the right thing today. What is that quote where it's like, just do the next right thing. That's what it was. If you don't know exactly what to do in the whole situation, do the next right thing. And for me, in that one moment, the next right thing was to trust my dad.

Stephanie Muiña [00:26:26]:
And then you started to say, yeah, you know, your dad's right. And I was starting to get mad at you because I'm like, no, you need to be on my side for this, because this is. This doesn't make sense. And then when I saw even you said, no, this isn't it, I thought, okay, the next right thing is trusting my husband, trusting my dad, and moving forward with that and finding the next one.

Christopher Muiña [00:26:50]:
Yeah. We didn't have a year to build a new home, and the location wasn't all that great. So at the end of it all, you're going to go through over a year's process, still expensive, and still not be in the right location.

Stephanie Muiña [00:27:07]:
Yeah. How do you do that? As like, how do you balance between faithfulness and practicality as the leader of our home and as the builder of our future? Because you're also pursuing a side business on the side. I know. I wanted to have something on the side as well. We had this conversation in the car the other day about, like, what I could do on the side. And you navigating, you know, what is going to build our future, but also what's efficient for us right now, what's wise for us right now. How do you navigate through that?

Christopher Muiña [00:27:46]:
Well, I, you know, me, I like action. I like to do. I like to produce. Right. That. Those are the things that get me going. I'm not one of these people that just sits around talking about an idea for months at a time. Like, I'll talk about it, I'll get my confirmations, and if I feel like it's the right move, we're going to act on that.

Stephanie Muiña [00:28:07]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:28:08]:
And I think that's. I don't know. That's just the way I am. That's my leadership style. That's what I do. Some people see it as like, well, that was fast.

Stephanie Muiña [00:28:20]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:28:20]:
It's like, well, no, you didn't see the whole process of before the step, before the action, you know, So I think as long as you're going through the right steps.

Stephanie Muiña [00:28:30]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:28:30]:
You know, the right, the right wisdom.

Stephanie Muiña [00:28:32]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:28:34]:
Then an action is necessary.

Stephanie Muiña [00:28:36]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:28:37]:
Like your sister Gabby and Christian, they're going to get married. They're about to buy a house. I was helping them look for a home.

Stephanie Muiña [00:28:46]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:28:47]:
And we probably saw 10 properties, 15 properties, maybe.

Stephanie Muiña [00:28:54]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:28:54]:
You know, not a lot consider compared to some people who look at, you know, 40 before they buy a home. But when they found the house that they, that they liked was in the location that they wanted, had all the things fit within their budget. It was a stretch in certain areas.

Stephanie Muiña [00:29:11]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:29:12]:
But it was perfect for them. They made the decision. We put an offer in. We're going to close next week. You know, so there's a. There's a. There's an action part of it that I like.

Stephanie Muiña [00:29:24]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:29:24]:
You know, I think that's what. What is necessary.

Stephanie Muiña [00:29:27]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:29:28]:
If you want your life to grow, you got to take action, which you do so well.

Stephanie Muiña [00:29:32]:
You're a hustler. You really are. You. It's. People don't know how hard you work.

Christopher Muiña [00:29:37]:
No, thank you. But my. My trap is I can't get stuck without using faith. Like, I have to add faith to the formula.

Stephanie Muiña [00:29:46]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:29:46]:
You know, if not, my pace is going to be slow.

Stephanie Muiña [00:29:50]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:29:51]:
Or my pace is. Isn't going to get me to where I want to be because there's no faith. Activated.

Stephanie Muiña [00:29:56]:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña [00:29:57]:
Now another question, because people don't know this side of you. You were single until you were 30. 30. 30 what? And I know that that was a tough waiting season for you, too, before finding me the savior of your life. You know, the one who changed everything for you. And you're welcome. No, it's my pleasure. It's my honor to just totally change everything about you.

Stephanie Muiña [00:30:22]:
I love you so much. Before you met me, and your life just became a little brighter and the sun got brighter. What was that journey for you? How did you walk through those years of singleness and be honest, Expand on it?

Christopher Muiña [00:30:37]:
I mean, if there's a certain thing you want me to say, don't tell me, because I don't want to miss it.

Stephanie Muiña [00:30:41]:
No, you say everything. Great. I just want you to expand on it and say more words. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Say, share from your heart.

Christopher Muiña [00:30:52]:
I think. I think it was. It was a long time. And when I thought I was ready. So right around the time I was, like, 27, you know, I had the career I had. I had already gotten, you know, both of my degrees. I was like, got him. I'm ready.

Christopher Muiña [00:31:09]:
Like, what. What's going. What's going on? What's taking so long? Like, any minute. When are you going to do something? When are you going to bring that person? It was another three years. Right. And I think that that just kind of that process produced in me a certain perseverance and patience.

Stephanie Muiña [00:31:29]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:31:30]:
Whereas now, when we're going through this next challenge, I have the perseverance and the patience and the trust. Hey, God's going to do it. Like, I have that assurance.

Stephanie Muiña [00:31:42]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:31:42]:
Whereas you might get frustrated and you might be like, come on, God, why aren't you doing this? I'm like, I'm a spoiled. I can revert back to that.

Stephanie Muiña [00:31:50]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:31:53]:
So the, like, what I said in the beginning, how God is more involved, more cares more about the. The process or relationship with him through whatever it is you're going through. That's a perfect example of it.

Stephanie Muiña [00:32:07]:
And what did you do between 27 and 30 to when you were ready and you were just simply waiting? How did you navigate that? How'd you get your mind off of obsessing over it?

Christopher Muiña [00:32:20]:
I mean, I don't know. I mean, I. I dated people. I. I thought, no, you didn't.

Stephanie Muiña [00:32:25]:
You didn't date anybody.

Christopher Muiña [00:32:30]:
I just did normal life. You know, I served in church, I worked, went to the normal thing. I went on vacations. Like, it was normal life. You don't just sit around, you know, waiting and waiting and waiting. And, you know, you just keep trusting in God.

Stephanie Muiña [00:32:46]:
The show must go on.

Stephanie Muiña [00:32:49]:
It's so true that. I think that is why you have been very patient in this season and just trusting the Lord to do it, because he. He brought you just the most amazing wife ever.

Christopher Muiña [00:33:01]:
Yes, he did.

Stephanie Muiña [00:33:03]:
And, yeah, like, it's. Honestly, I'm very grateful for God to be putting us in this mini desert. It's not a big desert. See, it's not the. It's not the most challenging thing we've ever walked to. It's just finding a home. And honestly, it does allow us to question, you know, if nothing ever were to be added to our life, which we know would never happen. God is going to add, but am I content with what he's given me now? And yes, my good, my goodness, I'm so grateful for what the Lord has brought us.

Stephanie Muiña [00:33:36]:
But what is so healthy about this season is again, the Lord just exposing small habits that we might have gotten into, small mindsets that we've adapted that are not of God, or at least they're not going to give us the fruit that we want. And a scarcity mindset. And scarcity talk was a big one. You don't talk saying, oh, well, Miami's never going to be the same. There's not enough houses out there. Just don't even buy into it. There's no point. There's no point in saying it and doing it.

Stephanie Muiña [00:34:15]:
And then that's a big one that we had to eliminate. But then also, like, I had the tendency to obsess over things. Like, I can obsess over something that's not moving. I'll get on Zillow every single day. I'll look for side businesses and side hustles so we can make more money, so we can afford another house. And again, it's putting things back in my control and not trusting the Lord, which I disguise that as hustle. We gotta. We gotta work hard.

Stephanie Muiña [00:34:47]:
We gotta work at a different level. Which is true. There is an aspect of that that is very true. But in a season where I need to dedicate my free time to my kids that need me, that want me, and I need to teach them, I have to feed them, I gotta bathe them, I gotta take care of them, why substitute that for a little bit more money for the possibilities at a bigger house? Why push that? The truth is, God wouldn't even allow it. Like, I've surrendered my life to Jesus. I've let him guide me, and he has not allowed me to really pursue anything else. All those doors have closed as a protection for me, as a protection for us to stay focused on what we are meant to do for this season in our life, you know?

Christopher Muiña [00:35:34]:
Yeah. What about this one? The other day, somebody came to see our house, right? And that night, it started to sink in a little bit. Like, oh, my gosh, there was strangers walking around our home today thinking if they wanted to buy it. And we started to think, like, oh, man, all the memories we've made in this home. Our kids, you know, first. Everything for our kids was in this home. And so many cherished memories. It reminded me of, like, the people of Israel when they finally left Egypt.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:08]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:36:08]:
And then they went through their first hardship and they started to complain, like, oh, you just brought us out here to kill us. We should just. We were better off in Egypt.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:15]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:36:15]:
And it was like, oh, my gosh, it's thousands of years later.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:20]:
I know.

Christopher Muiña [00:36:20]:
And we're the same people. Humans are the same.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:23]:
I know, right?

Christopher Muiña [00:36:24]:
We start to worry about missing our home. Our. Our home.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:29]:
I know.

Christopher Muiña [00:36:30]:
But hey. Well, then we started to say, like, hey, God. God has way more memories to make more firsts for us.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:38]:
Yes.

Christopher Muiña [00:36:38]:
Like all these new things that are exciting that he has right there in store for us, ready to give to us, but we gotta let go.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:47]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:36:48]:
And have faith that he's gonna bring us into that.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:51]:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:52]:
No, my dad, he spoke on that. Please have a sip of my tea. I'm begging you.

Christopher Muiña [00:36:56]:
No, I like water.

Stephanie Muiña [00:36:56]:
I'm begging it. It's good. It's gonna help you. My dad, this past weekend, when he spoke on mental, toughness the one that really got me was the. You're good at change. That the person who's mentally tough is good at change. And it's. It kind of like caught me in my.

Stephanie Muiña [00:37:15]:
My tracks, stopped me in my tracks because I have realized that I'm not very good at change. Like, seasons changing, me, changing you changing. It really, like, throws me for a loop for a little bit. And when he said that, I really thought, like, oh, man, that's me. When things change, I used to tell myself, you know, give yourself a little time to mourn and. Yeah, sure. Like, if you're sad to be leaving your house, if you're sad to be getting older, I'm a little melancholy to be ending my 20s. You know, I'm in 29, I'm in the last year, and I'm a little sad about it.

Stephanie Muiña [00:37:50]:
That doesn't really lend itself to being mentally tough, though, because what if God really, really wants to use you in big ways? Like, I've been thinking a lot about the parable of the talents. And the one who was given five coins and he turned it into 10. Can you imagine if somebody came to that man to give him five more coins and he said, I'm sorry, I can't take on much more. I already handle so much. This is where I cap it. What if he wasn't good at change? What if he wasn't good at growth? Then he missed out on the opportunity to be used to turn it into 10? And even though, yes, we are operating at such a high level and our capacity is growing, what if down the line, God wants to use us for even bigger things and these are small ways for God to stretch my capacity so that by then, in 10 years and 20 years, when an opportunity comes our way, we can say, you know what?

Christopher Muiña [00:38:53]:
Yes, well, that is what God is doing, by the way. Yeah, that will be the end result.

Stephanie Muiña [00:38:58]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:38:59]:
That he is preparing us for that. For that.

Stephanie Muiña [00:39:02]:
Exactly.

Christopher Muiña [00:39:03]:
You know, we. These. I'm sure there's somebody listening right now that is listening to us and be like, I remember when I was there.

Stephanie Muiña [00:39:10]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:39:10]:
You know, 20 years ago.

Stephanie Muiña [00:39:12]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:39:13]:
And they are. They are so much further along the line, along than we are. But God, this is what God is doing in you and our life right now. So he does have more and greater and bigger and all this stuff for us, but he has to get us through these things. First things, there's a quote, and I don't know who says it. If you know who says it, you put it on the comments. But it Says the greatest consistency in life is change.

Stephanie Muiña [00:39:36]:
Oh, yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:39:37]:
You know, it's. I know.

Stephanie Muiña [00:39:38]:
It always talks about it.

Christopher Muiña [00:39:40]:
Yeah. I don't know. It always sticks with me because it's like that's. It's always going to happen. It's always going to change. I like change. I like. You do moving furniture around every three years.

Stephanie Muiña [00:39:51]:
You like something new.

Christopher Muiña [00:39:52]:
I like to keep it fresh.

Stephanie Muiña [00:39:54]:
Yes.

Christopher Muiña [00:39:55]:
I have to teach myself to stay consistent and to think long term. Like, I have to make an effort to do those things because I naturally want change.

Stephanie Muiña [00:40:08]:
That's so true.

Christopher Muiña [00:40:09]:
When I, when I was a teacher, I used to teach high school and sometimes on a Monday morning, I would rearrange all the desks in a very, like very. Not in rows. Right. And the kids would come in. I would just like to see their faces, like, oh my gosh, where do I sit? I never had assigned seats, but they would assign their own seats kind of thing because we're so much into consistency as humans. And I would just change it up and just watch what happened.

Stephanie Muiña [00:40:36]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:40:36]:
Because it was fun.

Stephanie Muiña [00:40:37]:
That is exactly you. Because I don't like that. I like a routine. I want to wake up at this time. I want to do this in the morning. I want to have this to eat. I want to have my coffee. I like my furniture.

Stephanie Muiña [00:40:49]:
Once it finds its perfect place, keep it there forever. Please don't change anything. And then when you want to change it, it's like, no, please. But you find a better way. And it's like a really good yin and yang, they say. And also that scene in, remember the Beckham's documentary where she. They had. He had just retired.

Stephanie Muiña [00:41:13]:
Who, where did he play last?

Christopher Muiña [00:41:16]:
He played in Real Madrid, I think, or in la. In Los Angeles.

Stephanie Muiña [00:41:20]:
Yes. And right when he retired, he flew to Miami, like the next day flew to Miami and started Inter Miami. Do you remember that?

Christopher Muiña [00:41:30]:
Well, that's what everybody saw. But he was probably planning and.

Stephanie Muiña [00:41:34]:
Yes, yes, yes.

Stephanie Muiña [00:41:35]:
But like I'm saying, remember, the interviewer asked him and asked her, like, why did you guys move so fast? Like, don't you want to give it some time to breathe? And Victoria just got quiet and she just looked at the camera and she went, we've got places to go, We've got things to do. We're ready for the next season. And I was like, I want to be like that. And both of our parents are like that too. Where it's like they are ready for the next. If God is pushing them, if God wants them to grow, if God is asking Them to build a house in Georgia. They're going to show up by themselves and they're going to build it. And I love that.

Stephanie Muiña [00:42:12]:
It really inspires me to like, stretch my capacity and. And always be ready for the next.

Christopher Muiña [00:42:19]:
There's no room for being stagnant. It's. Yeah, it's exciting to have some, but something to look forward to, you know, something that you're planning, something you're scheming. Your grandma is like the epitome of that. Right. Your grandma Faith, she's in her 80s and she's looking to buy another property. She's on the search. It's what keeps her going in a sense.

Christopher Muiña [00:42:37]:
But it's. It's what we're talking about. It's like change. It's pushing the limits, growing. It's stretching herself, even at that age. Yeah, like, you don't stop that. And that didn't happen just now. Like, I'm sure she was always that.

Stephanie Muiña [00:42:51]:
Person or she became that because of these seasons of stretching, because before that she was on the road, but she would travel with two twin daughters on. In a little tiny RV all around the country, and that was used by God to stretch her. And then as she got older and a lot was put on her plate and she was given a lot of properties to manage and a lot of finances to manage, she then had to use the wisdom component to learn how to manage all of that and to keep it and maintain it, which I. I so admire her for, because she walked that line of faithfulness, but being practical, too, and wise. And the one thing about her is she just surrounded herself with really smart people and she listened and she obeyed and that helped her. Is there anything else you want to add? Last thing before we.

Christopher Muiña [00:43:45]:
No, no. You want to remind them what we're talking about?

Stephanie Muiña [00:43:47]:
Yeah. I mean, faithfulness versus foolishness. But if you just have the right definition of faith and you have the right definition of practicality, then you could weave those two things together and navigate a season beautifully and come out the other side with more wisdom, with a larger capacity, with more patience, with more discernment, and with more faith that God can do anything if you just surrender your life over to him, but also be willing to gain knowledge and wisdom from him as well.

Christopher Muiña [00:44:26]:
Yeah. I think if. If we believe that the Bible's the inspired word of God, it's God breathed, and he was telling all these authors in proverbs to seek wisdom, to, you know, write it as a tablet on your heart, to above all else, you know, find wisdom all these things about wisdom, like, we have to get this solom was given. The magic genie came out and asked Solomon, what do you want? I'll give you anything. The Holy Spirit. And he said, I want wisdom. Right. Wisdom is this thing that we need to be striving for as believers.

Christopher Muiña [00:45:01]:
And then you have talking about faith, of faith without works is dead and faith requires action. Then there has to be a way in 2025 to utilize those two truths and for our life.

Stephanie Muiña [00:45:15]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:45:16]:
Together.

Stephanie Muiña [00:45:16]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:45:17]:
You know, they. They both need to be co working together to make decisions.

Stephanie Muiña [00:45:21]:
Yeah.

Christopher Muiña [00:45:22]:
You know, that's what we're figuring out.

Stephanie Muiña [00:45:23]:
That's what we're figuring out.

Stephanie Muiña [00:45:25]:
But I'm glad to be figuring it out with you, Chris. You're the bomb at it. And we'll be on here sharing our story of a miracle for sure.

Christopher Muiña [00:45:33]:
Yeah.

Stephanie Muiña [00:45:34]:
And Chris and Rochelle too. God's gonna come through. Well, that is it for the family business with the Alessies. We hope that this blessed you. We hope that it brought you clarity, and we hope you enjoyed our conversation with me, Stephanie, my husband here, Christopher Muna. And if you enjoyed it, share. Oh, my gosh. We also forgot to share.

Stephanie Muiña [00:45:55]:
We made it to 6,000 subscribers on YouTube. Thank you so much for supporting. Thank you for, for partnering with us and believing in our. Our podcast. We just absolutely love coming on here and sharing with you our conversations as a family, as a family business. And stay tuned because we have so much more ahead of us. But here is the last thing. Share.

Stephanie Muiña [00:46:19]:
Share this with five people who may need it. Five of your friends, five of your married friends, five of your single friends, whoever who may need this topic of faithfulness versus foolishness. And trust me, it will bring them the clarity that they need. But we need you to share so we can grow the 6,800 7,000. But we hope that you enjoyed this. We hope it blessed you, and we thank you again for joining us for another podcast of the family business with the lessees. Have a great day.

Chris Alessi [00:46:44]:
You've just enjoyed another episode of the family business podcast with the Alessis. And we can't thank you enough for being a part of our podiance today. Now that you've learned more about us, here's how you can join in in the family business. First, make sure you're following our podcast right now and down the this episode so you can hear it at any time. Second, think of someone you know that might need or enjoy this episode and share it with them. You'll be helping them and helping us to spread the word about the family business. Third, go to alessifamilybusiness.com and tap the Ask the Alessi's button. This is really cool.

Chris Alessi [00:47:19]:
You could use it to record a voicemail comment or question and we can add your voice to our conversations. Finally, while you're on our page, tap the Reviews tab and you'll see a link to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. We love reading your reviews and we might even share them on the show. Thanks again for joining us and we'll see you next time at the Family Business with the Alessis. Because family is everybody's business.