I'm Erika, the founder of ANKRD IN, creator of Framed Verse, and owner of an AI consulting firm. Before this chapter, I had a very successful career in software sales. But behind that success, I was exhausted. For two years, God had been telling me to leave and fully run my own business. He had given me the tools and resources, but I was afraid to step out on faith and bet on myself. I stayed longer than I was supposed to, and I learned some things the hard way. After mistreatment and spiritual warfare across several companies, I was mentally drained. I was successful at work I no longer loved. I was rich in finances but bankrupt in spirit. Many people are in that place today. We've achieved things, fulfilled expectations, and built lives that look good, yet we know God is calling us higher. Many of us have made the pit stop the palace. We've settled into a place God intended us to pass through, and leaving it feels harder than staying. Then came an unexpected layoff, and I was crushed. Everything I had worked so hard for was beginning to slip away. When that door closed, I finally surrendered to God fully and completely. And it was difficult. He immediately led me into a season of isolation. Familiar voices were telling me I was making a mistake and needed to return to corporate. Hearing that from people I loved was painful, especially after everything I had experienced. God revealed that I had put more faith in my family's and friends' opinions than in His direction. He had to teach me to trust Him without needing everyone else to agree. I've come to understand how isolation can lead to elevation. In that quiet season, He began changing what I believed, what I valued, and whose voice I followed. Over these last two years, I've experienced immense spiritual warfare. I grew up in a conservative Baptist church where it wasn't really discussed. When my life turned upside down, I needed to understand what I was facing and the God I was trusting. Studying His Word changed my life.