“He’s curating something personal between you and Him, so nobody else can take the credit.”
—Kishea Boyd
There’s a difference between just getting through the day and waking up certain we’re living for something that matters. All of us, at certain point in our lives, have reached a point where we wonder if there’s more we’re meant to do, a purpose only we can fulfill.
After retiring from the military, Kishea found herself searching for direction, far from any clear endpoint. Each new job and conversation nudged her closer to what resonated most deeply: a sense of purpose designed just for her.
Listen as this episode walks through finding meaning after big transitions, the role of faith and wise mentors, embracing unique talents, and practical ways to see purpose in each season, and how to spot the moments that can shape your path forward.
Episode Highlights:
01:24 Life After Retirement
03:14 Exploring New Careers
05:18 Discovering a Purpose Coach
07:04 Embracing the Prophetic
11:41 SHAPED and Purpose
17:15 “Well Done”
Resources:
- Coaching Service: https://www.shapedonpurpose.com/services
Quotes:
07:42 “When you get to a place where you’re really seeking the Lord, He’s going to show up and start showing you things.” —Kishea Boyd
11:59 “SHAPED— S was for spiritual gifts; H was for heart, your passions; A is for abilities, your talents, your gifts, your skills; P was for personality, basically who you are; E is for experiences, good, bad or indifferent; and then D was for dominion. He started showing me how to tie it all together.” —Kishea Boyd
12:48 “One thing about God that he was showing me is to not complain during your seasons.” —Kishea Boyd
18:30 “Sometimes, you have to do it afraid. Sometimes, you don’t always have that courage.” —Kishea Boyd
19:33 “He’s curating something personal between you and Him, so nobody else can take the credit.” —Kishea Boyd
Kishea Boyd is a woman whose journey began not with triumph, but with a search—for identity, purpose, and the heart of God in every season. After serving over 20 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, where she honed resilience and leadership, she found her true strength not in uniform, but in faith. Rededicating her life to Christ in 1999 marked a turning point, leading her into ministry, mentorship, and a deeper understanding of who she was called to be. Through the joys of family life with her husband, Quinton, and their son, Kameron, and through the challenges that shaped her, Kishea has learned that God’s love never lets go. Today, she lives to help others rediscover identity, healing, and purpose through Him.
Transcipt:
Hey, sis, I see you. The strong one, the faithful one. The woman who keeps showing up for everyone else while quietly wondering if anyone still sees her. You can breathe now. You’re safe here.
I’m Keisha Boyd, The Identity Midwife. This podcast was created to help you rediscover who you are right in the middle of real life. Here, we talk about faith, healing, identity, and the gentle work of becoming. You don’t have to fix a thing, just lean in. You’ve been located.
Kishea Boyd: Hey, family, welcome back to The Identity Midwife Podcast. Listen, if you made it through Episode 2, may the Lord bless you because that one had me all up in my feelings. But today, we’re going to shift gears. We’re going to talk about purpose, mentorship, and how God will send the right people at the right time into your life. So let’s do a little drum roll.
Let’s roll it back to 2014, that’s when I was about 39 years young. And finally hit, boop, submit my retirement paperwork at the 20 years of serving in the Coast Guard, my shift was finally officially over. Welcome to the quote, unquote, civilian world. Real life. Now, if you put that paperwork in about a year or so before you actually retire so you can start transitioning into the civilian world, the real world, my official retirement date was September 1, 2015. But because I had over about 40 days of leave on the books, I was able to go on leave quite early. My last working day was somewhere around June or July 2015. So while I was technically still getting paid by the military, I was already home, and beginning my civilian life.
And listen, that first month, I slept and slept some more. I rested well. Every day I was like, I don’t even have to get up early. I don’t have to wear a uniform. I don’t have to answer to anybody. I don’t even have to crawl out of bed if I don’t want to. But after a while, it’s quite boring, that rest turned into restlessness. Like, okay, what now? So although I was proud of myself being so young, 20 years in the game, people looked at me like, you retire. There was still that moment of standing at the fork in the road like, okay, Lord. Now what? It was quiet, empty mornings, everyone else was at work. My son was in kindergarten, my husband was at the shipyard, and it was just me. I love the peace, but I also started asking those big questions, who am I outside this uniform? And what do I do now? I tried different jobs. I worked at a car dealership for a little bit. Listen, I ain’t nobody salesperson. But hey, I tried.
I worked for the government doing supply, and that money was good. But Lord, it was so boring sitting in traffic an hour each way, going to Virginia from North Carolina, doing work that didn’t feed my spirit. Then I went and worked for this nonprofit organization with an amazing woman of God whose heart was for human trafficking victims, and that just lit something in me. It was such a powerful, pivotal moment. Even in the interviewing, that felt a lot closer to my purpose and where God was leading me. It was Christian based, my boss. Like I said, she was amazing. She loved the Lord. We used to pray in the office. We worshiped in the office. It wasn’t even like work, and it was such an honor to serve with her. She poured into me and taught me about treasure hunts. Asking, God, who do you want to talk to today? He might show you a store, a name, a color shirt, or tell you to go somewhere different. He’ll highlight the person for you. And that changed my life, because I never heard of treasure hunt. But I was still searching.
Then covid hit, and everything shut down. I finally had that quiet space to say, okay, God, what are we doing? Why am I here? So one day, I was scrolling on social media, and I came across this woman speaking. I was completely captivated. She was so full of purpose, and she just embodied everything that I didn’t know I needed. It was just something about her. I was drawn to her voice. I was drawn to her, just her positivity, and just how she showed up. And I happened to be in this room when she was a guest speaker, and she had called herself a purpose coach. Now, I had never heard of that before, but she knew who she was. She was strong, she was confident. I thought, oh, my. I have to meet her. But it was kind of random. She’s probably in a whole nother state. I’m in North Carolina. We’ll probably never meet. But hey, I could try, so I slid into her messages.
It was funny. Later on, she revealed she never checks her DMs. But that day, she did. God had her look. That’s how the chain of events started. We began to talk. She was a whole prophetess, and God was speaking to her about me, and it turned into mentorship. I’d even asked God one day, it was funny. Right before one of our mentorship calls, I said, can you ask her for me if we can be friends so I don’t have to feel weird. And on our very next call, she said, you know what? Although I am mentoring right now, I feel like afterwards, I feel like we could be friends. I almost fell out of my chair. That’s when I knew that I do hear God clearly. It was clear. I can’t make this up. And that season unlocked so much on the inside of me.
She started showing me things about the prophetic. I kept saying, girl, I am not prophetic. But God kept confirming it. He just kept confirming it. And when you get to a place where you’re really seeking the Lord, he’s going to show up and just start showing you things. In all actuality, he probably has been showing you things all along, but you’ve now turned your whole being towards him so you can lean in and listen. Because remember, he talks in a still small voice. He’s not all, y’all rap. I’m loud and screaming, and so you have to quiet yourself in order to hear him. I was just in such a place where I really needed to hear from God. I’m like, I have all this time on my hands. I’m still young. All of my friends are at work, and I am just alone all the time. But I want to be productive. Like, Lord, what did you want me to do?
I had tried real estate. I tried so many different jobs that I was just tired of trying. I was like, Lord, it has to be something specific that you want from me. I started trying to lean into the prophetic thing because I just felt like it was just something about her that kept drawing something out of me.
***If your heart’s been heavy, if you’ve been searching for clarity or peace, I invite you to pause. Encounter Coaching is a one on one space where you can lay it all before Jesus and let him speak. Every encounter is different, but the outcome is always the same, freedom, healing and truth. Take the time. Give yourself this moment with the Father. The link is in the show notes.
So one day, I was sitting at the waterfront park and I heard, go to IHOP. And I said, Lord, I don’t even eat it IHOP. So it couldn’t be God. Like clearly, that’s me making that up in my head. And then I hear again, go to IHOP. I was learning to hear his voice, and I had been asking him to hear his voice so I was like, okay, he’s giving me an opportunity. If I’m wrong and I just get some pancakes or some french toast, I just look crazy.
I went to IHOP. The waitress name was Destiny, and I was laughing at God like, you are so funny. So a lot of times, he’s just been showing me that he will speak to me through names. And I was like, come on, God. He was teaching me to trust and trust his voice. So I ended up talking to this young lady. Long story short, I end up ministering to her and just chatting with her. So I knew the Lord had sent me there for her, and so he showed me I was on the right path to my destiny. So I was like, that’s cute. Lord, I love that.
So basically, I start seeing him in the details, practicing, writing, listening, journaling. My prayer room became my sanctuary, and I painted this really nice furtive mauve with a deep purple accent wall. And I love the scent of my prayer room. I use the scent Luna from Scentsy, and I just absolutely love the way that when you walk into my prayer room, it is just such a sense of peace. And the smell is so inviting. This is nice and crisp, and like a lavender ish scent that just draws you in. And so I was always playing my worship music 24/7, I started getting into Julie True. She is my favorite when it comes to journaling, and that’s where I meet with God.
Then came the revelation of Shaped. He started teaching me how all of it worked together. Every good, bad and ugly experience, how it all shaped me. And so SHAPED meant that the S was for Spiritual gifts. The H was for Heart your passions. A is for Abilities. Your talents, your gifts, your skills. P was for Personality. Basically who you are. And Experiences, good, bad or indifferent were E. And then D was for Dominion. He started showing me how to tie it all together, so that was the beginning part of my journey. And I was getting excited. So later on, I had started working for the state, and I was helping people with disabilities to find employment. It was a stepping stone.
At first, I complained. But God said, listen, Kishea, I have you here on assignment. And one thing about God that he was showing me is to not complain during your seasons, whether you feel hidden, whether you feel like you’re lost, or stuck, or it’s a quiet season. He kept showing me assignments. And sometimes, assignments were lengthy, sometimes assignments were short, but they were assignments. And so he was teaching me how to trust his voice. And so at this particular job, I said, okay, Lord, show me what the assignment is, so I won’t waste my time complaining about certain things that I didn’t have, or I thought I needed. I really want to work on nobody’s job from 9-5. I’m just honest. And so I was complaining about certain things, and once he showed me I was on the assignment and what that assignment was, I was like, say less. And so I began to see things differently.
Then he opened the door for my federal job once I completed the assignment that was on that job. And basically, my name was spoken in a room that I didn’t even have privy to, and I got this phone call and said, hey, I need you to put your application in for this job. And I was like, okay. And within a week, I had the interview, I got hired, and it was just wow.
So on this job, people really got to know me, my personality, my flavor, how I did things. And I really didn’t realize that I was touching lives on that job. And it was such an amazing opportunity, because I got to work with veterans. My people always say that I got to work with veterans. I got to encourage them. I got to help them fulfill their dreams. So it was just beautiful to be able to be part of their journey. But I knew still in the back of my mind, there was something more. There was something else that the Lord was calling me to. I wasn’t quite sure all the way. I knew Shaped on Purpose needed to have an outlet and start being cultivated and everything.
And so when God gave me the green light to leave this particular job after a while, it was so crazy. I had supervisors that were in tears for me leaving. And once I told them what I was doing, where I was going and I had planned on trying something different, they were saying, this is so you. It was just so great to know people considered me like a great coach, a great counselor. But when I was serving the veterans, I was able to pour back into the people that I actually came from. It was like a full circle moment. But again, it was really time to move on.
But before I did this, one gentleman had pulled me to the side and said, you don’t even realize you’ve been my support system since you’ve gotten here. And I’m looking at him like, dude, I don’t even talk to you. What are you talking about? He said, you’re always showing up, you’re encouraging, you’re positive, and you’re necessary. And when he said that, I was like, wow. I never thought that I was necessary. Never had anybody tell me that. And one of the reasons, because I had always hated the sound of my voice. I didn’t like how I spoke. And so it was interesting that he would use that choice of words.
And there was another veteran that has shared with me, he’s like, my wife noticed a change in me. And it was because every time I talked to you, you poured into me. You poured life into me. And it was just so encouraging to hear these people who don’t really know me. Just basically know me from me being in this position, like it was just God really giving me a guide wing, to be honest, and to just kind of give me a glimpse of where he was taking me. So I continued to get confirmation after confirmation, after confirmation that my voice was necessary, that I was needed, that I was impactful. And that’s when it made sense. That’s when I understood why I had to keep going. Why God was doing what he was doing in my life.
I went from thinking, nobody wants to hear my voice to realizing, girl, you are the whole force. And I made up my mind when I stand before the Father, I want him to say, well done, my good and faithful servant. You finish your assignment down to the last detail. John 17:4 says, “I have brought you glory on Earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” And that’s my goal. It doesn’t matter what family says, or what a stranger says, or what your friends say, or what anybody says for that matter.
When we stand before the Father, we stand alone. He’s not doing a jury of your peers, come on Jesus, that’s so good. He’ll say, look at me. What did you do with the life I gave you? What did you do with the talents, the skills, the abilities, everything that I poured on the inside of you? What did you do with it? And I’ll say, Lord, I did everything you asked, down to the last detail, and that is my goal. Will I be perfect? Absolutely not. But I’m striving to make sure that I hear his voice, and I do what he asked me to do. And sometimes, you have to do it afraid. Sometimes, you don’t always have that courage like, yes, I’m gonna do it. Sometimes, you’re still not sure. Your knees might be wobbling and nobbling, but you still must go forward. And so as I serve and worship an audience of one, he’s the only one I care about.
Now listen, your purpose coach may be on the way. Your destiny helpers are already in motion. Some have been praying for you before they even knew your name. And if you’re listening right now, that means every lie the enemy whispered was a lie. You’re still here. You’re still breathing. God is not finished. Stay focused. He’s aligning things even now. A song here, a video there, a text message. That’s him. It’s not random. It’s the chain reaction of heaven. You might have walked through isolation. You might lose some people, but he’s curating something personal between you and him, so nobody else can take the credit. So get ready, your shape, your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, experiences, good, bad and indifferent, and your dominion are all about to collide with you.
Thank you for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode.
Before you go, take one more breath. The same God who shaped you still sees you. Every scar, every tear, every wind, nothing about your story is wasted. Today, speak to your heart, share with another woman who needs a reminder that she’s not alone. And when you’re ready to go deeper, everything you need is waiting for you in the show notes. Until next time. I’m Keisha Boyd, The Identity Midwife. And daughter, you’ve been located.