I thought my life was falling apart when I had to stop – then I realised God was redirecting me

For a long time, I thought moving forwards was the same thing as making progress. I was used to being busy, working hard, achieving and always having the next thing to aim for. Stopping didn’t feel natural to me. Then, quite suddenly, I had no choice. A concussion forced me to stop for a year.

It was a difficult and confusing time. The life I had been living simply wasn’t possible anymore, and I struggled with the uncertainty of not knowing when I would feel like myself again. But somewhere in that difficult season, something changed. I found God.

I had known about God before, but this was different. When everything I had been relying on was stripped back, I began to seek him in a much deeper way. I started asking questions I had been too busy to ask before: What am I actually living for? What is the purpose of my life? What is God calling me to do?

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I began to realise that perhaps the pause wasn’t the end of my story. Perhaps God was using it to redirect me.

Eventually, that redirection led me to build Monty, my functional mushroom drinks business designed to create moments of calm and clarity in the middle of busy lives. In many ways, it reflects what I had been learning myself: that we need to be more present, slow down and create space to think, connect and understand what really matters.

I had always thought about becoming an entrepreneur, but I never had the courage to do it and didn’t listen to myself.

I had always thought about becoming an entrepreneur, but I never had the courage to do it and didn’t listen to myself. Over time, I felt a growing sense that I was supposed to pursue this idea. It required enormous courage because there was no guarantee it would work, but I began to see Monty as more than a drinks business. It became a way of encouraging people to live differently: to pause, build meaningful connections, find greater purpose and make room for clarity and calm.

READ MORE: From business failure in New Zealand to winning over the Dragons: How one mum of four built an entrepreneurial empire through faith and resilience

I believe God built, and is continuing to build, this business with me. Looking back, I can see how he used a season I desperately wanted to escape to lead me somewhere I would never have found on my own. And I think there is something important in that for all of us. We can become so focused on what we are doing that we forget to ask why we are doing it.

You don’t have to be a priest, missionary or work for a Christian organisation to have a God-given purpose. There is purpose in every workplace when what you are doing is ultimately being done to honour God and serve his kingdom. The job itself isn’t necessarily the calling. The question is what you are pursuing through it. There are so many people who spend their lives chasing success, money, status or possessions without ever stopping to ask whether those things are actually giving their lives meaning. You can spend years climbing a ladder, only to discover that it was leaning against the wrong wall. Having more to live with is not the same as having more to live for.

I think one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is the space to discover what that “more” is. And that requires slowing down. There is even a fascinating scientific reason why this matters. When we aren’t constantly focused on tasks and stimulation, the brain’s Default Mode Network becomes more active. It is associated with reflection, imagination and making connections between ideas. Some of our deepest thinking can happen when we stop trying to think. This is what happened to me when I was forced to slow down: I came up with a business idea that has changed my life and given me purpose.

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I now speak about the importance of slowing down and creating space for the brain to rest. 

I now speak about the importance of slowing down and creating space for the brain to rest. But for me, this isn’t just neuroscience. It is deeply connected to faith. When we fill every silence, we can miss the still, small voice. Sometimes God needs us to stop long enough to listen.

And perhaps you’re in that place right now. Maybe your career isn’t going how you expected. Maybe a door has closed. Maybe something has forced you to slow down and you are wondering what on earth God is doing. I want to encourage you not to assume that a pause means you’ve failed. It might be a redirection.

God created each of us with purpose. He has given us gifts, ideas, dreams and opportunities for a reason. We don’t need to make our dreams smaller because they feel too ambitious or uncertain. We need the courage to trust him with them. My own journey has taught me that faith isn’t about having the whole plan mapped out. It’s about being willing to take the next step, even when you can’t see where the road leads.

I’m incredibly proud that Monty has won an award, is stocked by retailers across the country, has been featured in GQ and will now appear on a TV series. There is something quite surreal about that when I think back to the girl who was forced to stop for a year and wondered whether her life was falling apart. I couldn’t see what God was doing then. I can see more of it now. I still have big dreams to accomplish, and I’m scared every day, but I always feel God guiding me every step of the way. 

So if life has forced you to slow down, perhaps don’t ask only, “How quickly can I get back to where I was?”

Ask instead: “God, where are you leading me?”

Give yourself enough quiet to listen. Dream bigger. And then have the courage to follow where he leads.