We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sarah Green a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I help women overcome defeat through small steps so they can live confidently and trust change is possible by God’s grace.

As a desperate young wife and mom, I felt unequipped to live out my calling well. I longed for growth, change, and a thriving life. Yet, it felt like I was always in survival mode, consistently falling into bouts of depression. I had dreams but had no idea how to reach them. I would launch into a new life plan in a “big way,” only to throw my hands in the air and give up after two weeks. At a low point in my life, I read, “You can do anything for 15 minutes.” I quit attempting to “overhaul” my life and began taking small steps in 15-minute increments, eventually running a marathon, which was one of my dreams, and conquering depression. This is where Growth Through Small Steps was born. With God’s grace and tiny steps, we can overcome any obstacle and unwrap the potential God has given us, like opening Christmas gifts every day. God doesn’t want us to remain stuck.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Sarah Elizabeth Green. I’m married to my best friend, a mom of six with two beautiful daughters-in-law and one perfectly precious grandson. I am from Wyoming and love my family, outdoors, and fitness. Journaling/writing is a healing balm in my life; not a day goes by that scribbled words don’t find paper. My gratitude journal, tennis shoes, and Bible go with me everywhere. You can usually find me in running pants, a ponytail, and a cap.

My life consists of the beautiful ordinary with running kids here and there, cooking meals, and ending arguments.
Yet, I find beauty in small steps in the middle of it all. You see, I understood the magnitude of wife and mother as the most critical work in the world, and rightfully so. Sadly, I found myself drowning in overwhelm as a young mom. I was uncertain that I could handle the enormous responsibility that consumed me. After my second daughter was born, postpartum depression felt like a weight unwilling to lift. I grasped depression far too well, as it has roots in our family line. I also knew this was a slippery slope and would drown in the pit of sadness if I didn’t pay close attention.

Failure lingered in my midst like a bottomless basket of laundry. I’d start something new, give it a few weeks, fall off the bandwagon, and give up. Baby steps are how I learned I was okay. Baby steps are how I learned to trust myself.
Trust in God is vital, yet I had to learn to trust myself first. God became my everything because I saw his magnitude in the small things.

Running marathons for years gave me a heart for women who feel stuck in their lives. Being one of those stuck in what I call the try-and-fail vicious cycle, I can relate to the deep longing of those who yearn to thrive in their lives, not just survive. Healthy failure is essential, like a child who attempts to ride his bike repeatedly until he masters a skill. Yet, the try-and-fail vicious cycle causes disbelief that change is possible. We begin strong, and once we quit, the ingrained belief in our mind becomes, “Why try.” As I learned to put one foot in front of the other, take small steps, and stop beating myself up, I began to see progress in my life. This is the message I impart to my reader. My website/blog, “Growth Through Small Steps,” emerged from this struggle. On my site I encourage women to “run the marathon of their own life” with tiny steps. You can find my Proverbs 31 devotion on my site, published in January 2024, “I’m Not Cut Out For This.” I encourage my readers to subscribe to my site as we walk together, overcoming defeat and building dreams one tiny step at a time.

I share a blog (Dandelions Pothole & Wrinkles: Finding Purpose In Life’s Imperfections) and a podcast (Sister’s On Purpose) with my sisters, where we encourage women to live a life of purpose.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

No one knew my secret as I ran up and down the hills of the Black Hills, SD marathon. It was my first 26.2 run, and I was five months pregnant. My belly was tiny, and I was in good running shape, so my secret was easy to hide. I was twenty-five years old and had been training for months before finding out I was pregnant. I had always dreamed of running a marathon. In many ways, it was less about the run and more about a desperate need to start and finish something in my life. Before joining a gym and running every day, I felt stuck, circling the same patterns in my life repeatedly. It took an all-time low, like falling into a tree-well, to make a change. In my desperation, I began jogging one mile a day. At first, one mile was hard, but one mile was doable. Anyone can trot for one mile at a time. I say trot because I was slow. Most days, I wanted to skip my one mile (or fifteen minutes, my other requirement) because I didn’t feel like it, but my goals were so small I had to go every day. This was new for me. I was accustomed to setting ginormous, perfectionistic goals that weren’t attainable, so quitting made sense. But now quitting did not make sense. If I was stuck, my only requirement was to lace up my shoes and step outside. That’s it, and it always led to movement.

As I built strength, I ran more until I could run reasonably fast for one full hour on a treadmill (sounds terrible, I know). Some might say I was running away from my problems, but my running years were healing for me. I met God on the pavement or the treadmill. Eventually, I was asked to join a marathon training group. This was a terrifying decision as I considered crawling into a hole and never returning to the gym or the treadmill again.
I knew I needed to say yes. This was a dream of mine, but meeting new people, stepping out of my comfort zone, and committing to accountability meant this could happen, which was scary. I wanted this more than anything. Yet, I was trained to sabotage everything I longed for. If I got too close, I might succeed, and if that happened, all the lies I had believed for years would be debunked. If I said no, I knew I’d remain stuck. Thankfully, I did say yes, slowly training and learning among a great group. That’s when I found out I was pregnant. Of course, I was happy, and our child would come first no matter what. But my thoughts immediately went to, “Well, I guess I can’t run the marathon. I’m not surprised; I figured something would get in the way,” which solidified my feelings of defeat. Until my doctor told me running was okay since I’d been training months before becoming pregnant. I had no excuses now to complete what I started, and a group holding me accountable. The finish line of that race solidified in my heart that I’d never be a quitter again. I was running a marathon but running the race of life. My life of overcoming defeat, overwhelm, and failure was in the past. I knew it would be a journey and all my problems wouldn’t disappear, but I was on a new path. As my five-month pregnant belly full of life ran through the finish line, I knew I’d never be the same.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn that large, perfectionistic goals are not a means to healthy change in life. It was only through God’s grace and small steps that real, lasting change occurred for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.growththroughsmallsteps.com/blog
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.elizabethwriter/profilecard/?igsh=dWpoM2Uwb2ZxcW9i
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/kY4CnrvbXGsDQXsJ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/dandelionsisters4?igsh=aHRpanNmM2hsamNt https://www.instagram.com/sistersonpurposepodcast?igsh=MWxlZzVweHc0dHdiZw== https://www.growththroughsmallsteps.com/devotions https://www.growththroughsmallsteps.com/freebies

Image Credits
Cari Faye Photography Becky Remington Pickrel