Creating Space & Time: Taking Aligned Action Toward Fulfillment

If you’ve ever wondered whether your dream has an expiration date, this conversation was made for you. We unpack how to move from longing to action by creating space, setting SMART goals that respect real life, and surrendering the plan to God’s timing. I share the unfiltered story of going back to school at 30 as a single mom, the routines that kept our home steady, and the small steps that stacked into a degree, a book, and a calling. No hype—just honest momentum built one faithful choice at a time.

We also walk straight into the money room—lights on. Stewardship isn’t about guilt; it’s about purpose. From scarcity loops and impulse buys to tithing and zero-based budgets, we explore how to invite God into finances so your dollars tell a story of trust, not fear. You’ll learn practical ways to track progress, set achievable targets, and align your spending with what matters most. The goal is simple: become trustworthy with little so you can carry more with wisdom and peace.

Finally, we tie the full Empower Her journey together—healing the past, rebuilding confidence, and stepping into aligned action. When identity is set and goals are clear, you can pursue the dream in front of you without bowing to timelines or comparison. If your heart is stirring, join our next Empower Her 12-week coaching cohort launching January 4, 2026, and watch for our Black Friday Empower Her Makeover promotion. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help more women find this community. What’s your first small step this week? Tell us—then take it.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Community Invites
• 2:35 Series Focus: Create Space and Time
• 4:10 Limiting Beliefs and God’s Timing
• 8:00 Break Big Dreams into Small Steps
• 12:20 SMART Goals That Actually Fit Life
• 18:30 Perseverance, Support, and Prayer
• 22:40 Commit Plans to God’s Lead
• 26:30 First Steps and Weekly Micro-Wins
• 28:30 Money Mindset and Stewardship

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Amiga, have you ever felt like your dreams are sitting on the back burner waiting for the right time, the right money, or the right season? What if I told you that it's not too late and it's not too impossible to pursue the very things God has placed in your heart? That's exactly what we're talking about today in episode three of the Mommy on a Mission Podcast. And before we jump in, I want to invite you to join Amiga's Rooted in Christ and Fueled by Coffee, our Facebook group. It's a faith-filled sisterhood for prayer, Bible study, and real talk to grow together in Christ. You'll find the link in the show notes. And if you're looking for a smaller, more intimate circle, then come join my weekly study group, Amiga Ready to Read Your Bible. We meet every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Central Standard Time through Zoom. And together we're reading through the entire Bible and having real conversations about what God has shown us through His Word. And the invitation is open. You don't have to do this journey alone. So grab your cafecito, get a notepad, and let's get started. Welcome to the Mommy on a Mission podcast. I'm Mariana, your host and the number one best-selling author of Mommy on a Mission, a guide towards healing, self-discovery, and walking in confidence. As a dedicated life coach, wife, mom, ya, and most importantly, daughter of the king, I am passionate about empowering multi-positive women just like you. In each episode, we dive deep into informative topics that help you read the highest together. Welcome to the Mommy Animation Podcast, your go-to resource for living a more purposeful and fulfilling life. So grab your task of cafe and vamos a platicar. Hey amigas, welcome back to the Mommy Animation Podcast. I'm your host, Mariana, and I am so glad you are here this Saturday morning with me. Listen, I want you to grab your cafecito, your notepad, and a pen because today we are going to dive into the final part of our Empower Her series. And this is going to be about creating space and time. This is part three of the 12-week program that I offer through the Empower Her 12-week coaching program. And this part of the journey is all about moving from healing and clarity into aligned action. It's not just about dreaming, it's about doing. And today we'll touch on four themes pursuing your dreams boldly, setting goals and per with purpose. I'm sorry, stewarding God's resources well, and living victoriously in your God-given authority. So listen, for years, Amiga, I believed the lie that I was too old or that it was too late or too stuck to pursue my dreams. Those what are were my limiting beliefs. And I know I'm not the only one who's felt that, right? But those were some of the limiting beliefs that I had, that it was too late for me to pursue my dreams, or that it was, you know, that I was too old to, you know, be sitting in a classroom trying to, you know, go back to school, all of the things, you know, like because everybody puts you in this like timeline. You always hear it, you know, like once you graduate, you need to do this, you need to do that. But but you know what? That's not true. In my book, Mommy on a Mission, a guide towards healing, self-discovery, and walking in confidence. I wrote that society has a way of pressuring us into a timeline, right? Like we have once we graduate high school, we go straight to college or a vocational training program, whatever. Get a job, start, and raise a family. And it's like if you miss the steps, it can feel like you've missed your chance, right? You you hear that saying is uh, you know, that my time clock is ticking and it's almost over. And so for a long time, I let fear and insecurity keep me small. And not just that, but even within projects and within jobs, you know, I've always tried to it like because of fear and insecurity, or because I felt like I wasn't good enough. I don't know. I just made myself a lot smaller. Like I wouldn't volunteer to speak up or say much of anything because I felt like I wasn't able to do those things. Now you can't even get me to hush. I mean, obviously not because you see me on this podcast. So, but God kept weaving clues into my life. People would tell me, you're so helpful. You love to talk. You're a great, you're great at giving advice. At that time, I didn't know how to connect that to a dream. Like I thought those were just, I don't know, those were just that was just me. You know, I didn't think of it as a gift. I didn't think of it anything else. I just that was just who I was, you know. But those actually were the very gifts God would use to position me for coaching, for speaking, and for writing my book? It reminds me of uh Ecclesiastes 3.11 that says, He has made everything beautiful in its time. That means your dreams aren't expired, they're unfolding in God's timing. So let me ask you this what dream has God placed in your heart that you've been afraid to pursue because of fear or comparison or the world's timeline? See, dreams don't just happen, they're built step by step. And for me, one of the biggest steps was deciding to go back to school. So years ago, 30-year-old Mariana wanted to go back to school because she found herself being a single mama who had just left an abusive relationship and really needed to do something. At first, school seemed like the idea because I knew that I had to support my children and I knew that I had to go back. But even that felt impossible, right? But people would tell me, you're so strong, you know, you're going to do big things. But honestly, I didn't believe it. I didn't believe it, you know, because after leaving my marriage, I couldn't even think about writing a book or launching a podcast. Like those were not even things on my mind. I don't even know podcasts existed back then. But just the fact of writing a book, and even then, 20 years ago, the thought of self-publishing wasn't as big as it is now, right? And so my dream was much simpler. I just wanted to finish my degree so my kids and I could have our own stable home. And like I said, even that felt impossible. I was 30 years old, you know, going back to school with student loans and two kids to care for. So I wasn't sure how it would all work out. But I knew that I had to at least try. So what I had to stop doing was looking at the big picture and started breaking it down. Because here's the thing: when we have an idea of what we want to do, right away, we don't start with the little steps to get us there. We look at the end part, we look at where we want to be at, right? But we don't think about what we need to be doing in order to get to that goal because we live in a fast-paced society, and what we want to do is we want things fast. And the reality is that nothing is gonna come fast, right? God positions us to take the necessary steps. We can't go ahead of God, right? We can't go ahead of him. We have to, you know, go where God is leading us to go. And if we go ahead of him, then that means that we're not allowing for God to show us what we need to be doing. We're just going. And so we have to be able to take some time to pause and break things down. So I had to look at it at one class at a time, one paper at a time, because I had to do essays, one semester at a time. And that's when things started to shift. So what I ended up having to do, I learned all about what was called the SMART goal system, right? The SMART goal system comes in making your goals. And what does SMART mean? It means specific, clear, and direct. I will enroll one class this semester. Not I think I will, it's I will enroll in one class this semester. That's being specific. And how was I going to measure that? You know, track that. Completing this class equals three credits earned. So when I got those three credits, then I knew that I was done with that class. And so I was able to measure that. So I knew going in how many credits I needed in order to get my bachelor's degree. And at the time, I think I needed like 40, if I'm not mistaken, because I I was able to transfer some credits over and I was having to take some. But I knew that I had 40 credits. So, but every time I completed a class, that was three credits. So it was getting me to where I needed to go, right? So I could see that. It's just like also when you're trying to, when you're paying off debt, you're saying, I want to pay this amount of debt. So I am going to start putting money towards this bill. And by this date, I'm going to complete that, right? And so how do you track that? You track that by putting all your bills together and then you see how much has been paid off, right? Then we want to be able to make those goals achievable. So you want to make sure that it's realistic with your current time and resources. So you don't want to put yourself in a position where you're making unrealistic expectations for yourself. Like you don't want to say, oh, well, I'm going to enroll in three classes, plus you're taking care of two children, plus you've got to do homework. Then you have to go to work. And so what that's going to do is that it's going to overwhelm for some, it can overwhelm. I know for me it was overwhelming. So I knew that starting off with one class would help me to establish a routine, not only for myself, but also for my children. I had to make sure that my children were going to bed at a specific time so that I had the time that I needed in order to do homework. And so things had to be put in place. Once we got that routine in place, by this point, it's a whole semester. We knew how to do things. We got into that set routine. So the following semester, then I could say, you know what? I think I can add another class. And before you know it, I was adding a little bit more at a time. And so it took a lot of sacrifice, it took a lot of restructuring, and it took a lot of assistance and help. You know, I had to learn how to allocate some of the things that I had and ask for help. And there's no shame in asking for help. Okay. And so I had to do those things in order to be able to achieve the things that I needed to achieve. Right. And then it had to be relevant. So I knew that I needed to align with, you know, aligned with my values and God's purpose. Like, why am I going to school? Why, what is the purpose behind all of this? And God knew. God knew exactly why I needed to go to school. He knew exactly why once I got my degree, where that was going to take me. And then you've got time bound. And that's that clear deadline or that time frame. So I said, you know what? I need to go to school. I'm going to take this class. It's going to take me this amount of time. But I know that I want to finish sooner. So I would have to do this and rearrange things, right? But by this point, I already knew how to restructure my home because I had already established that frame within my household in order to do that. And so I was able to graduate one year earlier than anticipated. But I had to do a lot of praying to God, a lot of restructuring. And it wasn't easy. So I'm telling y'all all this, and it probably seems like, oh my God, but that was so easy. No, it was not. There were many times that I wanted to quit. I wanted to throw it in. I didn't want to do it anymore because it would get hard, especially the closer I got to completing it, the harder it was getting. Right. So it was not easy. So it required me to have a support system. It required me to really go to God. It required me to really be obedient, sacrifice, work with the resources that I had in order to make these things happen. But here's the piece most people miss, right? It's commit your goals to God. Proverbs 16:3 says, commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Another way of saying that is commit to the Lord your actions and he will establish and make your plans succeed. And Matthew 19, 26 reminds us with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. So going back to school at 30 wasn't easy. I had fears, I had roadblocks, I even made mistakes along the way. But each small step gave me the momentum. And before I knew it, I was walking across that graduation stage. And when I tell y'all, that was amazing. But even then, it was in 2008. It was the right after hurricane Ike happened. They had to postpone the class because the when we were supposed to graduate was the week of the hurricane. And so we had to, they had to put a pause on it. And then we were able to graduate. I mean, by this point, my family was all displaced. We were all over the place, but I still managed to graduate. And that right there was one of the most emotional days of my life because even through the storm, I was still able to graduate. And so your goals are going to look different. Maybe it's writing that book, maybe it's starting a business or just creating a better routine for your family. Whatever it is, don't just think about it. Break it down and surrender it to God and take the first step. And what's the very first small step you could take toward it this week? That's a very interesting question. So, what's one dream you've been thinking about for too long? And what's the very first small step you could take toward it this week? Right now in the group, the amigas uh rooted in Christ and Fueled by Coffee Group, we have ladies that they put in, because you know, weight loss is always the one goal that there's a commonality, you know, for women a lot of the times it's for women, right? And so right now in the group, their goal is to want to lose weight. So that was one of the questions that we asked like what's the very first small step you could take toward it this week? And one of the ladies says is changing what I cook, you know, changing what I cook. And the other one was I could add 15 more minutes towards my walk. So it's all these one little thing, one little steps, or these little steps that are taken to get them to where they want to get to. And then it brings me to financial freedom. That's the part of our life that we don't like to talk about. None of us do. Like talking about money is one of the hardest conversations to have because numbers don't lie and numbers tell a story. I have friends who are financial coaches. So for a long time I did employment coaching for nonprofit organizations before I decided to become a biblical life coach. But I would always tell my client, they would never want to go see a financial coach. They always wanted to come see the employment coach because they were looking for employment, but they never wanted to go see a financial coach. But here's the thing I would always tell them, you can't look for employment without talking to a financial coach first. And they were like, Well, why? Because I know I need to, you know, I need I need to pay rent, I need to, you know, pay my bills and stuff. I said, I understand that, but here's the thing how do you know how much you need to make in order for you to find the right job for yourself? I said, see, God already has prepared a job for you. It may not be right now, but right now you may have to find what's called a survival job. But what are your plans? What is it that you want to seek? What is your goal for your finances? Because you also have to address that, right? God talks to us a lot about being a good steward of his resources, and he also talks to us about tithing, you know, he wants the first fruit of what we earn because the money is not ours, the money is God's, first and foremost. And so I said, So, in order for you to find employment, how much do you need to make in order for let's talk about this? How much money do you need right now to survive? But do you always want to just survive? Do you want to earn more? And if you earn more, I don't want you to set yourself up in the trap that you earn more so you spend more. But if you can manage your resources with little, then you can manage your resources when you have more. But you also need to know what you need to do about that, right? And again, when it comes to prosperity, it's like I said earlier, it's about stewardship. So I want to be transparent with you here. I'm not someone who naturally loves math or even the thought of finances. So one of those people, okay? And honestly, it gives me anxiety. In my current marriage, my husband is the one who balances the book. Not because I can't, but because of the emotions I still carry around money. I realize that I still need to revisit this area of my life, especially now that I have a business. I, and here's the big and here, this is just me being real, okay? I still wrestle with a scarcity mindset. I have the tendency to impulse by little things because they're cheap. So I'm one of those people that shop on Timu or Amazon, but over time, even those little things add up. And the truth is, I want God to be able to trust me with more. But He can't do that if I don't first get my personal finances in order. Right? I can't grow my business if I don't have that foundation first. And that reminds me of Luke 16, 10, where it says, whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. And that means financial freedom doesn't start when you hit six figures. It starts when you decide to be faithful with the$20 in your pocket today, or$5 or$1, whatever it is that you have, right? You have to be faithful with little before God can bless you with more. So let me ask you this: what are your emotional ties or habits when it comes to money? And why do you do what you do with your finances? Because this isn't just about numbers, it's about the heart behind them. And financial freedom begins when we invite God into this area of our lives. And so ask him to heal our money mindset and commit to becoming good stewards of what he has already placed in our hands. So, where do you need to invite God into your finances so you can steward his resources better? For me, it's to learn not to impulse buy. And when I do impulse buying, so I am not a mall shopper, I don't like to go to malls, I don't like to, it just it gives me anxiety to be at the mall sometimes. But one of the things that are similar to my mom's actions, because my mom is one of those that is also an emotional buyer. And what that means is that when she's depressed or when she's anxious or whatever emotion she's feeling, shop therapy is what she does. Well, mine looks different because at first it's like, well, I don't spend a lot of money, but shop therapy is still what I do when it comes down to it, because just because I don't go to the mall and I'm on Timu or I'm on Amazon, I'm still shopping, right? And it's it can be because of boredom, it can be because I'm anxious, it can be because I'm depressed. And I do the same thing when it comes to my health as well. Like I'm an emotional eater. So it really just depends where it's stemming from or where it's coming from. And the reason why my husband is the one that handles the book is because when I was in that season of being a single mom, I handled all of it and it would stress me out so much. It really, really would. It would cause me to get sick sometimes. And I know that sounds crazy, but it's because of the fear that I had when it came to having to manage all of those things. And I believe the lie that I couldn't, but I know that I can, and I know that I have. But because my husband's strength is money, so we both have degrees. Mine's in business management, and my husband's in international business, where his is more financial, mine is more about how to manage a business. And yes, finances are included in there, but it's more about people, whereas my husband, it's more about numbers. And so he's good at numbers, he's good at math. And so, therefore, because that is something that he likes to do, that you know, because he's very, you know, he's a very statistical, I can't even talk right now, statistical type of person, then that falls along where he's good at. Whereas mine is more about managing. You know, I can manage if he when he says, okay, we have this, okay, then I can manage that. And the pressure comes off of me, right? So I know that I need to invite God into my finances so that I can steward better. However, even with my business, my husband is helping me with that, with the finances of the business as well. And so we do incorporate tithing. That is one of the things that we are faithful about because we know that it's God's money and we know that he wants us to give him our first fruits. So I ask again, where do you need to invite God into your finances so you can steward his resources better? All right. All right, so to tie all of this together, everything that we have learned over the last three episodes, we've walked through the same path, you know, you would experience and empower her. In episode one, we looked at healing and self-discovery, the first step of peeling back the hurts, facing what you've been carrying, and beginning to see who you really are in Christ. In episode two, we talked about building confidence, resilience, and balance. We walk through the reality of external expectations, the lies that try to define us, and the way God steps into give us strength when life feels impossible. And so today, in our final episode of this series, we've taken it further with aligned action. We've explored how to pursue your dreams boldly, how to set meaningful goals, how to invite God into your finances, and how to start walking in your purpose. So, what does all of this mean? It means you don't have to settle for surviving anymore. Healing plus confidence plus aligned action equals what? Transformation. So living victoriously doesn't mean life is suddenly perfect because the reality is nothing is perfect, right? We live in a broken and imperfect world. But what it does mean is that you know who you are in Christ, you know whose you are, and you faced your past with courage, you've built resilience to keep going, and you've learned how to walk forward with clarity and purpose. And amiga, here's the best part too. This transformation isn't just for me, it's for you too. The same God who carried me through abuse, through loss, rebuilding, and rediscovering my purpose, he wants to do the same for you. 2 Corinthians 5 17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. And that, my friend, is victory. It's not about what you've lost, it's about what God is making new in you. So picture this you living lighter, freer, and more confident. You finally, you're finally chasing that dream God planted in your heart. You're walking boldly in your identity and purpose, ready to impact your family, your community, and your world. That's what it means to live victoriously. And that's what empower her is all about. So thank you so much, amiga, for joining me today. I pray this episode has given you both hope and a challenge to take that next step. And if your heart is stirring and you're ready for real transformation, I want to invite you to join the next Empower Her 12-week coaching program. Our brand new cohort launches in January 4th, 2026. Can you all believe it? We're going to be going into 2026 really soon. But it is it's the perfect way to start the new year with clarity, with confidence, and purpose. And here's the exciting part our Black Friday special is your chance to enroll in this new year Empower Her cohort at a special promotion. We're calling it the Empower Her Makeover because Makeover. Aren't always about the outside. This one is about reshaping your heart, renewing your mind, and exercising your faith muscle so you can strengthen your relationship with Christ and step boldly into your God-given purpose. So think of it as a faith-fueled glow-up for your soul. Because when your spirit is strong, everything else flows. So stay tuned for the Black Friday details and the it'll we'll have it on Facebook, we'll have it on the website, on the social media platforms, but you don't want to miss it. And until next time, remember, you are loved, you are chosen, and you are a mommy on a mission. I'll see y'all next Saturday. Stay connected with me on social media, follow us on Instagram at Mommy on a Mission Podcast, and on Facebook at Mommy on a Mission. If you're considering working with a coach but aren't sure if you're ready, send me a DM and I will send you a free gift to help you get started on your journey. Until next Saturday, keep shining and remember the power is within you. Adios amigas.