While pregnant with their daughter, Audrey, Angie Smith and her husband, Todd, was told by the doctors that she would not survive. Angie began blogging to cope with the hurt and to update friends and family as they went through those difficult days, which eventually became a way to share her faith and her heart and resonate with those who had experienced a similar loss. Angie is a speaker, a best-selling author, and a blogger. She writes Bible studies, adult and children’s books including Seamless, For Such a Time as This, Chasing God, Mended, and What Women Fear. She joins us in this episode to talk about motherhood, women reaching out to other women, being obedient to God and our calling, finding our own identity and authenticity, and overcoming grief with the loss a child.
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Of Faith, Obedience and Motherhood with Angie Smith
I’m super excited to have my guest on, Angie Smith. She is an author, speaker and she writes Bible studies. Her mission in life is to make the Bible relevant to us. We are going to jump right in, Angie. Tell us a little bit more about you. Do you live in Nashville?
I do. I live 30 minutes South of Nashville. It’s called Franklin. It’s a sweet town. We got over some major flooding. I have four living daughters. The identical twin girls are sixteen years old, the other is thirteen, and the last is eight.
Can we please talk about driving because I have a seventeen-year-old? It’s been six months since she got her license. The day she got her license, I said to the guy that did the test, “Now, what do we do? We let her drive wherever she wants. What do parents do?” He goes, “The smart ones don’t.” We made her drive from our house to school for a few months. We live five minutes away from school. She had to take her brother who is turning fourteen. She graduated to driving to the next town where there’s stuff to do about ten minutes away. Honestly, I can’t picture the next step.
They have rules. Ours is super weird rules. You can only drive if you have a parent in the car and you can only have one sibling. You’d have to write a note. It’s a lot of steps. We didn’t ever have that, but it’s good.
There’s a lot of rules here. You can’t drive after 9:00 if you don’t take driver’s education. You’re not driving after 9:00 anyways.
If I need something from the grocery store, then we’re going to take our chances because I’m not driving.
We do live close to the grocery store, and I do use that a lot. When she got her license, I told her, “I’ve dreaded this day since you were born.” She started laughing and I said, “I’m dead serious.” They don’t get it. We tell them why we’re scared. We have snow and deer that come on the roads.
When I started driving, my parents had no way to get ahold of me. I could be out, and be two hours late and I get home and I’m like, “Dad, why are you frustrated?” I’m looking back, and I’m like, “How did we do that? How did my parents do that?”
Do you watch them on GPS?
Yes.
My mom is like, “I would have driven myself insane watching you on that.” They’re better than I was because I knew nobody was watching me. It makes me scared because I feel that they’re going to do what I did. All of our friends that have teenagers right now, we talk about little kids, little problems and big kids, big problems. These are the hardest years.
My older girls are sweet. They’re perfect children. They make me look like such a great mom, but my third daughter who’s thirteen, there’s a 50% chance she’s going to have a prison ministry. She’s a little bit unpredictable. She’s bold; she’s a spitfire, she’s honestly me. When she starts driving, it’s going to be a different ballgame.
[bctt tweet=”Your children will learn more about you through your obedient absence than they ever will in your disobedient presence.” username=””]
The boys are totally blowing up her Instagram, and she doesn’t get it. She’s like, “This boy said that he liked me.” She doesn’t get it. I’m like, “On Instagram, they see you.”
We’re in such a different time period. I’ve had some random things happen where it’s not the end of the world, but I’m like, “That’s one more thing I didn’t know about.” A friend called me and told me about this thing online that is terrifying. I had never heard of it.
Is it a social media platform?
This is some freaky thing called Momo. You don’t want to see it. It’s the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen. Being aware is a good thing. Satan climbs into innocent things with our kids.
I want to talk a little bit more about motherhood because I have a question I want to ask you. I found you on RightNow Media. My church sent out a link. I was on there. The reason why I started watching you is because of your hair. It’s your jam. I’m like, “That girl has some good hair.” Then I hear you talk. The way you were talking on the video, I was like, “You seemed real and authentic.” It drew me into this stuff. We see so much on social media. I started following you. We reached out to you for you to be on the show and your assistant was so sweet. She said, “She would love to, but she decided to focus on her family.” You had some stuff going on with your dad and your sister. I thought, “Good for her for saying no.”
With women, that’s the hardest thing for them. When you have a brand, and you’re doing ministry, and you’re up in the world, and your whole life is around you talking, it’s not like you can send you so and so in your place. It’s hard to say no. The fact that you’re taking care of your dad and your sister, I thought it was sweet and awesome. I sent you a note. I said, “I’ve had a heart for you.” I get a note back from you. I’m laughing because I’m like, “We’re writing handwritten notes. What happened to this? Nobody does this anymore.” I was like, “This is cool that you wrote me back in a little note card.” Thank you for that.
I love that you found me by my hair because I’ve always felt it was my ministry. I have nothing else to offer. When I was supposed to be doing this interview, I had a panic attack because I forgot it was a video. I asked for 21 minutes to try and do something. I got a little bit of makeup, but I didn’t go to the hair department, so it’s disappointing.
In your note, you said, “It’s nice to have women reaching out to other women.” I wanted to talk about that. I wrote a post about friendships with women and stuff like that. I said, “How many times are we making excuses to not reach out to other women because we’re too busy?” Everybody is busy. No one is less or more busy than the other and we can all fill our time. I want you to speak about how important it is for other women to embrace each other. Especially when women are working for the kingdom, they get it. They’re like, “There’s enough to go around for both of us. Nobody is stepping on anyone’s toes.” The rest of the world needs to hear that too.
My first go-to is, “I am too busy.” What I’ve started to do and what’s important is I have a small circle of people that I invest in. This story came to me. My girl started school for the first time. They’ve never been in school. We homeschool. My thirteen-year-old, because she’s Kate Smith, gets nominated for the little homecoming court that is part of the school. Her friend ends up winning, and she comes down to me, and I was like, “Are you bummed that she won?” She’s like, “I’m excited for her. Mommy, can you believe I was nominated?” It hit me. We’re feeling jealousy.
There’s something to be said about genuinely being happy for each other and celebrating each other and realizing that you getting something great doesn’t take something away from me. I do think it strangles a lot of friendships. It’s hard to narrow it down. I’ve found out there are people who I’m like, “You suck the actual life out of me. I cannot be around you.” I have to figure out where my boundaries are and stay within those. It’s taken me a long time. If someone says, “Do you want to have lunch?” I can’t say no.
I told my daughter one time, “A real friend wants you to be richer, skinnier, healthier and happier. If they don’t want that for you, they’re not your real friend.”
If you have those things, and I don’t and I’m frustrated, there’s no competition that way. I screw up a lot of things up but being a cheerleader for other people, I’m like, “I could make a living doing this. It could be my favorite thing in the world.”
It hurts me much more when I have a friend going through a hard time than when I have a friend that I can celebrate with.
I don’t know if that’s an honest answer for most people.
I don’t see it any other way. That’s why I don’t think it’s a real friendship if that’s not how you feel. You said that you have a small niche. I was listening to some of your other podcasts, and I heard you with Christy Nockels who has an awesome voice. You are talking together on the show. It’s like, “How do you have such soft sweet voices? That’s the Southern belle.”
I’ve known her for several years. My husband’s group toured with her. We were on a bus for a few weeks with our kids. If you could go on a bus for a few weeks with someone and love them more, you got good company.
I saw her perform when I went and met Jennie Allen. In the show when you were talking to Christy, I thought it was cool how she was asking about when you travel. You got a nasty email from a mom that was like, “You should be home with your kids.” You said in the interview that your highest calling is being obedient to God more than motherhood. I love that because a lot of people get the order messed up and it makes them feel much more guilt as a mom.
I’m in India on a mission trip. I’m terrified of flying. I don’t want to go, but I felt I was supposed to and the email said, “You’re damaging your kids.” I don’t hear the Lord audibly, but at that moment, even though it wasn’t audible, I had this idea, “Your children will learn more about me through your obedient absence than they ever will in your disobedient presence.” I’m like, “I have to be obedient. My kids are riding the snoopy ride at Mall of America, so they’re fine.”
My husband and I went away for the first time to celebrate our anniversary. We’ve gone away for weekends, but not all week. I thought it was time to do it for a big anniversary. Before we left I dreaded leaving them. But we get there and we Facetime them. They’re at my parents, and they act as if they could care less. When we hang up, I’m like, “We’re not contacting them the rest of the time.” They were doted on so much by my mom that they didn’t know what to do with themselves. They were like, “Every five minutes; grandma would ask us if we need some food and drink.” They loved it. We came home, and I’m like, “We’re leaving them for a week every year.” It was amazing. It was another honeymoon. I need to tell everybody, “Don’t even think twice about it. Go. Do it.”
Where did you go?
We went to Saint Lucia. You already feel like you blinked from your honeymoon and then, “There was no time at all.” It’s worth it. Now that they’re teenagers and every day is much more pressure, it’s like, “I need a break from you every year.”
You’re going to come back a better mom. That’s the thing.
Somebody saw my son at a basketball game, and she asked, “Do you miss your mom and dad?” He goes, “Sometimes it’s good for everyone to have a break.” He felt it too. I’m interested in your work in ministry. I heard you say that you did not grow up in a Christian home and either did I. When God was like, “Now you’re going to use this platform for ministry.” I’m like, “I’m not a pastor.” I thought, “Who am I?” The more he worked with me, the more I was like, “I get what you’re saying.” I’m passionate about teaching people to let go of things of the world in order to focus on Him.
That’s the thing that I want to tell the world. I started looking into it and then I started a career coming out of that. When I see women out there doing that, I love it. It’s amazing. What you’re doing is amazing. It’s cool. It’s the perfect time in the universe that this group of women is going forward and saying, “It’s still my work, but I use it for the kingdom.” Everybody’s work could be used in the kingdom. They say, “Your message can be your ministry.” You can do it anywhere. How did you get started? Was this something that you ever saw yourself doing?
[bctt tweet=”You can contend with God. You can go to him and say, ‘I am angry. I am devastated.'” username=””]
I didn’t grow up in a Christian home. I had no interest in it. I came to Vanderbilt for graduate school here and I met the sweet group of girls and they invited me to a Bible study. I didn’t know what that even was. I was supposed to go get the Bible study. I pulled up and I was like, “I’m not going in there.” I listened to the Beastie Boys in the parking lot. That’s what I remember. I was like, “I’ll never go in there.” They’ve been my publisher for several years. They didn’t make me feel like a project. They loved me well. We did Breaking Free by Beth Moore. The next week, I brought my Precious Moments Bible. It’s the only one I had. They were super kind to me and they welcomed me.
All of a sudden I’m like, “I want to know more about this.” They invited me on a singles retreat, which sounded awful. I couldn’t think of anything I would less want to do. I went because two of my friends were trying to land the same guy as their husband. I thought there’s going to be a catfight. I’m like, “I’m going to go for that.” It was the worst show for them because I ended up marrying him. It was these gradual people being kind. I think in a very academic way, and I was like, “I can’t prove this.” All of a sudden, God did something that was no denying it. It was a special time.
Did you think that you would ever turn that into writing and speaking in a public way?
I have always loved writing, and I minored in English, but that’s not something that you can reasonably say, “I’m going to do this as a career. I’m going to bank on it.” My dad was like, “You need to find something else.” A lot of people have that in their heart. They know, “This is what I’m called to do. This is what I want to do.” I don’t like speaking in public. I don’t like being on planes. I hate money coming into my house unexpectedly.
I don’t think it ever gets easier to speak in public.
It’s good to hear that because I feel that a lot of people I’m around love it. I’m a reluctant speaker.
I love it when I start, and it’s already happening. I hate leading up to it. I hate thinking about it for the last few minutes before I get on the stage. That part freaks me out, but once I’m up there, it’s not as hard as I made it in my head.
I had a random event, and I was like, “I’m sorry.” I’m feeling paranoid, but they were kind afterward. It was part of the country that I was in. That was how they worked. I’m like, “I’m not making them happy. They’re going to be upset.” I have that pressure on me when I’m on stage.
That’s when I’m like, “I have to crack a joke. I have to make them laugh because they’re too serious.”
A lot of people stay in this thing, and you’re like, “They’ve got to breathe. Let them up for air for a second. We’re all in this together. Let’s process it and be together.”
I was watching the Rachel Hollis documentary. I had a bunch of girlfriends over. Did you see it?
No, what is that?
It’s on Netflix. You have to watch it. She’s on there, and she’s like, “I need a little more from you. Come on. How about an amen? How about, ‘Yeah, I got it?’ How about something?” Next time, I’m doing that.
I did it. I was like, “Are we awake? What are we doing?” It’s a little uncomfortable. I’ve got to go watch that. I didn’t even know it existed.
When you speak, and then you listen to a speaker, if you’re the audience, it’s like, “I got you because I feel that.”
I do that so much. I remember being at a Beth Moore taping. It was in a church, and she started walking down the aisle that was right next to me. She knew that I was there. We had chatted beforehand. We’re on video now. She’s walking toward me, and she says, “Has anyone in here done such and such study?” I was like, “I’ve never done that study.” I’m nodding because I feel that I need to nod right now.
I wanted to make sure that the audience knows that Seamless is your one Bible study. I did it during my Bible study in church, and it’s amazing. Let’s do a shout out to that. They’ve got to find it. They’ve got to do it. You’ve written several books so they need to get on your website and find them. Since you’re around many people in this arena of speaking and Bible study writers and authors, how did you find your own lane? When you start out, it’s easy to look at what everybody else is doing. I know that I even do it because I’m like, “If you want to talk about organizing and expert on-time management and all these things, I’ve written a book. I’m in that lane.” I want to steer over to this lane so I’m going to check out this person. Sometimes I’m like, “I think it’s better to not look at anybody because then you lose your own individual voice.” Did you go through that?
I struggle a lot with that. It’s hard because you start to feel that you don’t have anything to offer. I’ll listen to someone and be like, “She’s bold. She’s preaching the Gospel. I’m not doing that. Her words are beautifully put together.” People always say the same thing about me that I’m authentic. I think that’s true but then it’s this part of me like, “What value does that bring?” I know that if God has called me to this, then he’s going to equip me to do it. I got thrown into the deep end with the ministry. I believe that the second time I ever spoke in public was in an arena with Women of Faith with 7,000 women. They had never heard me speak. We had a meeting. Lisa Harper had to physically walk me up the stairs. That’s not an exaggeration. I could not get up on the stage. I was around these powerhouse women from the beginning. There are a lot who were very encouraging and that helps. A lot of times you’d go back to your hotel room and you think like, “I didn’t do anything.” Sometimes I feel that we’re not supposed to say that.
It’s real and that’s why people love you. You can feel that when you’re speaking. Keep doing what you’re doing because that’s what shines about you. More people need to be that way. Even now, our culture is leaning more towards people that are more vulnerable and don’t bring it all together. Once I hit 40, I’m like, “I don’t have to figure it out. Who cares?” Take it or leave it. I don’t want to tell you. It’s a work in progress.
I don’t know how to organize or manage my time. I need you to offer that to me.
I’ve never been to Nashville so I would come and help you. It’s one of those places I always want to go and I never get there.
How could you never be to Nashville?
I was supposed to go and then my son had major baseball tournaments and I didn’t want to miss it, so I didn’t go.
Consider this your invitation. It’s the best one ever.
[bctt tweet=”Realize that others getting something great doesn’t take anything away from you.” username=””]
One of my girlfriends went. Her kids were in worship band so they were singing at some event. I’m like, “Send me videos.” My parents went a month later and I could have gone with them but it didn’t happen. I have heard many wonderful things about it. We need to get that on the calendar. I can help you. As far as you mentioned time management, it leads me to another question about the fact that you do have to travel a lot. I’m happy to hear that you hate that part of it. When does that get better? That’s a nice thing, speaking, leading up to it. When you get somewhere, you’re fine. The actual traveling and the stress of getting on the planes at the right time. How do you balance this kind of career? We want to talk the talk and walk the walk. How are you finding the balance between striving and resting?
This is one of the things I struggle with. I pray that the Lord would make this better. I taught here in town, which is uncommon. I leave to teach. Lately, I’ve been emotionally stressed. When I come home, I’m exhausted. Do you ever get rid of that? With time management thing, I get overwhelmed and I’ll shut down. I was like, “I’m going to do some Sudoku in the kitchen. I need my brain to stop.” It’s hard for me to keep jumping into the walls. I’m like, “Todd is here. I’ve got to do that. He’s traveling. I’ve got to be on stage.” That is the hardest part for me.
I’m a list person. I’m like, “What’s the next thing I can be checking off my list? What can I get done?” If I get it done now, I’m going to be far ahead of the game later. It’s wrong because the list is always there. I always tell people like, “Make sure that you realize it’s never going to end.”
It’s like laundry. It’s not going to be done. I’m like, “I’m going to catch up.” That’s a lie.
We have to stop and tell ourselves, “Let’s just appreciate the people that we have to do laundry for and the fact that we have clothes to wash.” We have to go that far because otherwise, you’re complaining over answered prayers. The traveling and striving are so much. One of the things that people may not know about you is that you’ve lost a child. I had two miscarriages myself. I know moms need to hear a little encouragement if they’re going through something similar. It seems that you will never get to the other side, and you have. It was part of what launched a lot of your work. God always has a plan inside of the picture. Can you tell a little bit about Audrey?
She would have been our fourth daughter. We found out at our twenty-week ultrasound. We want to know if we’re having a boy. That’s what we’re thinking. We’re like, “I’ll find out.” We knew right away. We can tell from the tech space. They said that she was incompatible with life. That was the term they used. They suggested that we terminate the pregnancy. They told us that she was hurting, which was the part that was like, “How do I choose to be a good mom in this?” I struggled with it. The next morning they said, “That wasn’t the case.” We prayed and we were like, “We can carry this as long as we can.” This will resonate with people who have been through anything similar.
It’s hard to balance the hope and the reality of it, even with your kids. You always want to be thinking, “With Audrey, maybe there’s going to be a miracle.” That balance is hard, but we got to have her for two-and-a-half-hours. The girls held her. Our neighbor drew a picture and brought it to church. Our kids’ best friends and then her sister, I was talking about something and they were saying, “At the middle school, they do this.” I was like, “Which grades is it? I have a fifth grader.” She goes, “Yes, you do.” That’s the heart of what I want to say to people. When you have gone through that, especially in the generation above us, they don’t want to talk about it.
One of the beautiful things about the period that we live in is that it isn’t how it is. We’ve made a lot of progress. Be around with people who want to walk with you through it because grief is not a study line. People don’t know much about the background of my story. My husband sings in a group called Selah. His sister was in the group for the first several years of the group. Our pregnancies crossed over. I asked her to sing while Audrey was being buried and she’s incredible. She’s holding her few-week-old son and singing over Audrey. We’re both looking at each other like, “What is this?” She was born and passed away on April 7th, and Nicol’s son died of SIDS the next month. Two babies buried next to each other. It was like, “Are you joking? Are you even real?” One of the things that I learned and I would encourage people to do is you can contend with God. You can go to him, and you can say, “I am angry. I am devastated.” He knows you’re angry. When I talk to people, I’m reminding them that they have permission to go to God that way. There’s a lot to be said about what we’ve held inside that affects our relationship with him.
Somebody can look at your story and say, “How did she stay faithful? Wasn’t she angry?” A lot of people in your shoes do become angry. Maybe that wouldn’t be the case if they’re more honest and real because God knows your heart anyway and what you’re thinking.
That is biblical. You can pull out examples of people who are like, “I want to believe this so much.” It’s the desire of your heart. It’s also reading the things that he’s grieving with you.
I had my little cousin that I used to babysit every day after school. He was killed when he was three. My aunt was eight months pregnant with my next cousin. It rocked our family. I remember being in eighth-grade thinking, “If God can take a little child, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.” That was the last time we think off limits. One of the things that my aunt has always taught me is she can go through that and still have faith. She said she felt God hugging her on the way home from Huntsville. The word she used was honor. She felt that God knew she wouldn’t turn back and she could handle it and do it. That’s why he chose her.
Was he sick?
He’s totally fine. He ended up getting killed by accident in the backyard. She was pregnant. It was out of the blue. Her faith was strong. She never once turned her back on God. She goes, “I don’t have anything going on. I’m always free.” I was like, “Do you want to go to Nashville? I have to do some organizing.” She was like, “I have nothing going on. Let’s do it.”
I make lists too, but I make liar lists. I promise I would’ve written Sudoku after and then checked it off because I wanted to know the feeling. I write things I’ve already done.
That’s common now. People think they’re the only one that does this. I work with women all the time, deep down we’re all the same.
There’s a lot of freedom in that. That is amazing. I feel like such a weirdo. No one sees it. I could have systems for my house because my kids have always been home. We’ve had a full-time nanny because we were homeschooling. I’m like, “How do I discipline myself to work at this point and do this?”
One of my close friend’s oldest kids is going into college, and her last two kids went started public school. I have a Bible study at my house, and we were talking and I’m like, “What are you going to do with that? Do you have a plan?” This has been your plan. She’s like, “I know.” You gain so much time.
It’s like, “Where does the God though? Other than that, I don’t know where it goes. I’ll get to the end of the day.” I’m so down on myself. I look back, and I’m like, “You screwed it up again. Look how behind you are.”
That’s why I love what I do because it’s not worth it. It can be fixed. There are other solutions to that. It’s not worth a mom going to bed feeling bad about herself.
This is why it’s a ministry. It’s not just having things in order, it’s that you’re able to serve better. You’re able to love better. You’re able to be a better mom. There are many ministries in that. For me, there’s so much emotion, and guilt wrapped up in it.
That’s what God has taught me. I was doing this behind the scenes, but he’s like, “People need to hear.” It’s all tied to him. Why should we pray that we want a bigger house when we can’t even take care of the house we have? I always tell people, “Everything that comes into your life that you have to say yes or no to is going to take some STEM, which is space, time, energy and money. It’s going to take something away.” I’m finishing up a book. It’s my first Christian book. I’m laying it out to you. If you want to organize your kitchen cupboard, you can get this stuff. He gives us so much wisdom already. It’s a matter of learning a few things, and the guilt is not worth it. Let it go. It’s similar to, “You don’t work out, and you don’t eat right.” I don’t care if I would’ve done twenty minutes and I would not go to bed feeling that way. Tell me about Come To The Table. When I first saw a pop up, I’m like, “Are you coming to Hamburg, New York?” I’m almost positive you’re coming to Hamburg. I was like, “She’s coming to Hamburg.” I started seeing Come To The Table pop up. It’s not through Proverbs 31. It’s your own thing.
It’s through compassion. Compassion is the one doing the chore. They’ve been asking me to do it for a while because I don’t like it, so I don’t do it. At one point, I said, “I’ll pick my dream team knowing that they’re both way too busy to do a tour, but at least it looks like it.” They’re like, “We can do it.” It’s Annie F. Downs, myself and Danielle Walker. It’s going to be a different conference. It’s going to be fun.
What cracks me up is there was something that popped up. It was on Instagram because you posted a picture of your sister. I’ve been wondering this whole time like, “How was your sister doing? How was your dad doing?” It’s been several months. You have a little bit of flip through and different things. You said something about not going how you wanted to go on a tour. I’m like, “People struggle with that.” I’m locked in a conference. I’m not running it with others, but there are parts like you’re in it. This is running the whole thing, and it’s scary. I know God wants us to do it and I know I have the best group of women. I know that you’ve got it. There are days where you’re like, “What if it doesn’t have it? This is going to be a train wreck. What if he didn’t tell me to do it? What if that was my ego? What if nobody likes it?”
I’m in that mode of like, “This is going to be awesome.” It’s in my head right now. When we do rehearsals, I’m like, “I’ll feel better because I know how many minutes we do this.” Time management is not my strong suit. Getting into it and doing it will make me feel better. We know what we’re doing, but we’re still putting pieces together. We’re feeling that. We got to get everything in a way that works.
[bctt tweet=”You can say no. Figure out where your boundaries are and stay within those.” username=””]
The first one is always the scariest. I like to know what’s coming. I like that plan. I don’t like things that I don’t know are going to happen.
My husband tried to throw me a surprise party once, and I was like, “I despise you.” I walked in, and I was like, “You are kidding.” I didn’t even think about it. I went to Buffalo State. I lived at 1024 Elmwood Avenue.
People need to know where you went to school.
I went to the University of Dayton. I’m from Cincinnati. After a couple of years into it, I transferred to Buffalo State because of the jerk that I dated for a few years. We broke up all the time. It was the week before I met Todd. I remember saying like, “I could never have him. Could you give me someone like him?” It was an abusive bad relationship. I lived on Elmwood Avenue 1024.
Have you seen Elmwood lately? It’s cool and artsy. You’ll love it.
I’m like, “They have that breakfast place.”
If you come in the fall, that would be perfect.
If we’re not already, we’re going to plan on it. I’ve never been back.
My school asked me to come back and speak. I was like, “That was surreal.” My daughter is on her list. We’re doing college tours starting in 2019, which is crazy.
I have an event in Dayton. I’ve been dreading it lately.
Have you ever gone back to speak there yet?
I have, and it was really hard because my dad had several strokes. That’s where I introduced him to Todd. I was in my head about him — the familiar things. I could tell you that street and the thing that I would order at this place and what was here. I have many fond memories about being there. I’ve got to come back.
People from the South end up here for school and those of us that are up here go to the South for school.
When I moved here, they threatened that we might have flurries canceled school. A lot of the bread at the grocery store is strapped to the back of the store. I remember being in Buffalo like, “Sorry, you can’t find your car under the snow.”
When I went to North Carolina, they freak out over the littlest flurry and air. Outside my office window, it’s blowing and snowing. It’s one of those days. We’ve had a crazy winter. They’ve canceled a lot of my son’s basketball games. I told Josh, “They better not cancel the basketball game tonight.” This is winter.
You have trucks. You’ve got a system, and we don’t.
You can’t even get to my house if you don’t have four-wheel drive. People that have minivans, it doesn’t work. Is there anything else you want to tell us about what you have going on or should they go to AngieSmithOnline.com? Make sure to check out Angie’s books and Bible studies. They’re awesome. She’s the real deal. You are sweet and precious.
I had fun with you. I like you.
Thank you so much for being on the show. I appreciate it. I know that everybody is going to get a lot out of it. You are a doll. Hopefully, we can have you back on or meet you in person soon. Thanks to everybody reading the blog where we know that every single minute, every day counts. We will be back again for another episode with another amazing guest.
Important Links:
- Angie Smith
- RightNow Media
- Breaking Free
- Precious Moments Bible
- Women of Faith
- Seamless
- AngieSmithOnline.com
About Angie Smith
Hi! I’m Angie. I’m Todd’s wife, Ellie, Abby, Kate, Audrey, and Charlotte’s mommy, and a host of other things to many other people I love. Many people met me when they joined our journey a few years ago. While pregnant with my fourth daughter, Audrey, we found out that she would not survive after childbirth, and I began a blog as a means of communication with friends and family who wanted to be updated as we walked those difficult days.
My blog, Bring the Rain started as a simply that-a-way to share my heart and struggles honestly and to have the gift of listening when they took the time to speak back to me. Truthfully, not all that much has changed. I write books and Bible studies now and do some teaching around the country, but the heart of all of those ministries is the same as it was when my fingers typed the very first words on my blog. I want to share my stories and my love of God in the hopes that they will inspire you, make you feel like we’re friends, and hopefully, give you some really good laughs in the process.
My greatest passion is to make the Bible feel accessible and relevant and to share my own ups and downs along the way to encourage others in their faith. Whatever brought you here, know you’re welcome to stay as long as you want. I’m glad to meet you here, and hopefully one day our paths will cross in the great big world as well.
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