Do you ever feel like you missed your shot?
Like somewhere along the way you took the wrong turn or missed an opportunity that couldn’t be corrected?
Maybe it wasn’t even a matter of your own control, life forced your hand by dealing you with circumstances or struggles that kept you from where you were hoping to go. You had to close the business because of a global pandemic, or you said no to your passion project to pursue the responsible path of financial stability.
“You know the steps that leave you wondering, ‘If I would have just…. [fill in the blank] maybe my life would be different.’”
In many ways, today’s guest’s story should have been finished even before it started. In the throes of a family history of mental health struggles and addiction, one man’s decision to make a change in his life marked their lives for eternity.
They are legacy bearers and advocates of faith and family and that is why I couldn’t be more excited to be joined by Willie and Korie Robertson for today’s episode of The Mary Marantz Show.
Willie Robertson is the CEO of Duck Commander and Buck Commander and star of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty.” Robertson has expanded his family companies from a living room operation to a multi-million-dollar enterprise and destination for all things outdoors. He is the executive producer of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” and “Buck Commander” on the Outdoor Channel, as well as a New York Times best-selling author of “The Duck Commander Family: How Faith, Family and Ducks Built a Dynasty,” “American Hunter,” “American Fisherman,” and “American Entrepreneur.”
Korie Robertson is a New York Times best-selling author and star of A&E’s Duck Dynasty. She works in the family business Duck Commander, is co-owner in Tread Lively Productions, and is a writer and speaker passionate about motherhood, adoption, and empowering families around the world. Korie loves doing life with her husband, Willie and their six kids and five grand-babies in their hometown of West Monroe, Louisiana. Their most recent joint venture is entitled The Blind, a feature film based on the life of Willie’s parents, Phil and Kay Robertson from A&E’s Duck Dynasty, hitting theatres September 28th!
Mary’s new book, slow growth equals strong Roots is HERE! Click HERE to Order your copy today!
For many of the formative years of Phil Robertson’s life, shame and embarrassment followed him. Growing up in a small town, there was no outrunning the reality of his mother’s mental health struggles and the poverty of their family. From the outside looking in, it was easy to characterize who he was but no one truly knew the turmoil he carried within him. As Willie said of his father’s early life…
“When he became a star athlete, he became popular and he always felt like, oh, now you like me yet you made fun of me in high school. He always had that war inside him, that questioning of people that became part of his anger and rage. It doesn’t excuse the terrible behavior but you do start to have empathy because you can see that his life wasn’t all laid out, his parents weren’t necessarily there and he had to take on a lot.”
Over the next few years, Phil would face a harrowing journey trying to reconcile who he had become and who he was made to be.
With a wife and growing family, this was no longer just a choice for himself but for the generations that would come to follow…
“The narrative of the world will tell you people won’t change, that whatever they are that is how they are going to be but it is actually false because with Jesus you can change and Phil is perfect evidence of that.” –Korie
“Once Phil and Kay put their lives in Jesus, everything went through that lens and I can remember Phil reading the stories of Saul or Peter and saying, ‘Yes, I am reading about flawed people who did great things for God and I can become something great for God even though I am flawed as well.’” -Willie
Early on Phil’s sister said, if you bring Phil to Jesus, he will bring thousands and in fact, through the redeeming hand of God, the hardest parts of Phil’s life was not his undoing but rather the pathway to the bigger plans that God had for him.
If you feel like you cannot move beyond your past or that the vision for your life has been deferred, this conversation is for you! Join Willie, Korie, and I as we dive into the healing that can come through storytelling and what it really means to experience freedom in Christ.
Tune into today’s episode to hear:
Why we need to be curious about other’s stories
The saving power of the blood of Christ
How our muddiest stories can become foundations for generations to come
The reality is, even in all we have experienced, we only have a finite view of our lives.
We are indeed the sum of our surroundings and our decisions, but if we still have life to live our story is never truly over.
So friend, don’t lose yourself in what is missing or what could have been but live into the unfinished possibility of your life.
“No matter where you have been and where you are going, your story will never be wasted.”
I can’t wait for you to take a listen! And if you are looking to give up comparing, performing, and achieving for your worth, I think you’ll LOVE my new book Slow Growth Equals Strong Roots! Available now everywhere books are sold! And while you’re at it, take our Achiever Quiz to see which of the 5 Achiever Types you are….
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