Rooted & Rising: Growth from the Greenhouse
Welcome to the Greenhouse! Join Denise each week as she has conversations with women who have experienced God’s power in their lives. We'll cover everything from relationships and parenting to running a business and building up our communities. We hope these stories inspire and enable you to make an impact in your world.
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Rooted & Rising: Growth from the Greenhouse
About Weathering Financial Storms
What happens when the financial ground beneath your feet suddenly shifts? When paychecks stop coming and insurance unexpectedly terminates? For Ashley Chagnon and her husband Pax, this wasn't a hypothetical scenario but a lived reality that transformed their understanding of God's provision.
Ashley takes us on a compelling journey through their financial awakening, from the early days of marriage when they prioritized furniture payments over tithing to the profound shift that occurred when they began viewing their resources as God's, not their own. Her candid admission that "it took me a long time to accept that the money that came into my life was not my money" resonates with anyone who has struggled to surrender control in this sensitive area.
The heart of this conversation centers on a particularly challenging season when Pax's employer suddenly closed doors, leaving them with an 18-month-old daughter and rapidly dwindling resources. Rather than succumbing to panic, they leaned into practices they had learned through Financial Peace University, holding regular "financial summits" and bringing their seemingly impossible budget before God in prayer. Month after month, unexpected provision arrived just in time, confirming the promise that when we test God in our giving, He truly does "pour out a blessing you cannot contain."
Beyond finances, Ashley shares wisdom gained through raising three children while navigating career transitions, including stepping away from her legal career for ten years to focus on motherhood. Her description of early morning devotions in a tiny closet, where she encountered God's personal love through studying Song of Solomon, offers a beautiful picture of how intimate relationship with Christ becomes the foundation for all other decisions.
Whether you're facing financial uncertainty, weighing career and family priorities, or simply seeking a deeper connection with God, Ashley's parting wisdom resonates: dependence on God is not weakness but freedom. "He will give you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him." Join our community at easesgreenhouse.com and discover how surrendering control transforms every aspect of life.
Good morning ladies, I'm so glad you joined us today.
Denise Jackson:You are daughters of the King of Kings. Welcome to Rooted in Rising Growth. From the Greenhouse, I'm Denise Jackson and I'm with my friend, ashley Shagnon, and I'm so excited to have y'all join us today. We're going to be talking about several things, because this is our little conversation together, but I feel like we're going to be focused a little bit on trusting God in our finances, so I'm really glad you're here today. I know he'll bless you through this. So, ashley, we were visiting earlier just about you and Pax and how you met and then how your little path went for your lives to get equipped to do work right. So can you just like give us that little synopsis, because I think they'll be excited to hear that?
Ashley Chagnon:Yes, so my husband, pax, and I grew up in Rosalind, new Mexico, together and we met in Spanish class in high school. I kind of think we was before then, but we hadn't really ever met until we got to high school. So we went on to college. We went to different places first and then went to the same school. Eventually we got married after we'd finished college and we didn't really know much about handling finances. My dad gave me some books but we just kind of were flying by the seat of our pants a little bit on that. And uh, we lived um in Denver, colorado, when we first got married.
Ashley Chagnon:We began our. I was going to law school and my husband had gotten a job in an architecture firm there and we were um. Pax and I had been a believer since I was seven and Pax had become a believer at 19. And so we were following the Lord and getting involved in church and all that kind of thing and we eventually, through our church, we had done Financial Peace University and through our church we had done Financial Peace University and that was kind of where we set us on a path to recognize that it was God that was our provider and that he was really in charge of our finances and we had some bumps along the way. I remember I was telling you about how we had bought our first house and we purchased furniture on credit and we told each other and the lord lord, you understand that we're not tithing right now because we have to pay off our sofa I really love that story.
Denise Jackson:we had a sound system. That was really fun. Yes, yes, yes it's. It's the things that we set up there as our little idols, I think that we think are perfectly fine. Yeah, and God's really patient with us about that kind of stuff. Yes, we were just talking through that, like how he lets us take these steps and figure things out. Take these steps and figure things out. His word's right there. It's the truth, but we're not ready to accept the truth until we are, and so he lets us walk through things and suffer a little bit through our own decisions and our own choices. But that was good, that's hilarious. We're not going to talk, because that stuff is really important.
Ashley Chagnon:We're not going to talk because that stuff is really important. That must have been before we were doing Financial Peace University.
Denise Jackson:Yes, yeah.
Ashley Chagnon:Yeah, we did. We had other things kind of like that, where it's like, okay, well, this is going to be our. You know, we're purchasing money for a community group. That's going to be our tithe.
Denise Jackson:Yeah, it did take us a while to figure out that. Okay, the tithe we're going to give to a local church and then we're going to give gifts and offerings. What Are you kidding? It took me a long time to accept that the money that came into my life was not my money and it wasn't that I earned it. It was that God had given me the opportunity to work for Him and he was blessing me. Right, that was a hard lesson. Yeah, you know it took a while. It took a few steps, yes, but wow, since I have like the weight that's lifted off of you when you realize that it's not your responsibility.
Ashley Chagnon:Okay, so that's a great lead-in to the season of uh, kind of a scary time for you guys yes, so we have begun to trust the lord more with our finances and we would have financial summits, what we like to call them, where we would we had budgeted because we had done Dave Ramsey and we'd had done a zero-based budget. We'd gotten everything down to that, but we would meet pretty regularly to see how we were doing. And at that point, pax, when we moved, moved when we were pregnant with my first child, noel. We moved to San Marcos where my parents lived and his parents were nearby also oh, kind of stepped out, and so we. I don't remember exactly how the job situation worked out, but he ended up getting a job with an architecture firm in Austin and it was a good job. It was a very good paying job, but the person that ran the firm was. He dreamed big, but he didn't manage finance as well.
Denise Jackson:Which is a common thing. We have big dreams, but being accountable is a really hard thing in a lot of people's lives. But how sometimes you, how sometimes entrepreneurs don't think about how that's going to impact the people that work for them.
Ashley Chagnon:And in this situation, that was a big deal. He ended up having to close his doors. Pax, I think, missed one or two paychecks and then also he had not paid our insurance and so our insurance cut off before we knew it was going to, and so it was pretty scary. We were not sure what was going to happen. At the time I was still working for the law firm that I worked for in Colorado. Thankfully they had kept me on remotely, and so I was still doing some of the paper part of litigation, and so we had that little bit. But then Pax was really having to pound the pavement to figure out what to do next and he was trying doing some design work on the side and somehow he we had. Noelle was 18 months old at the time and I remember doing our financial summits at that time.
Denise Jackson:I loved those financial summits and you talked about you guys praying.
Ashley Chagnon:Oh, we did. We did pray because we were like Lord, I don't know how we're going to, we're in the red, I don't know how we're going to make this work. So we need your help. And somehow, every month, we never had to decide is this going to get paid or is this going to get paid? There was enough. There was just enough for everything. There was just enough for everything. You know, a little, a little bit would come in from a design job that he had done, or there would be a um, an escrow, refund, you know, or something, um, you know, and it just worked. God made it work and we were faithful during that time to tithe um, our 10 of our income, because we knew that we were totally dependent on. Oh, that's god.
Denise Jackson:I'm leaving this problem, so the hardest time in your life, really, and you were tithing at that point, uh, trusting him, and he didn't let you down, he doesn't let us down, he just doesn't.
Ashley Chagnon:Well, he makes that promise and that's micah where he says you know, know, test me in this. That's the one thing he says.
Denise Jackson:I know, see if I don't pour out a blessing you can't contain.
Ashley Chagnon:Yes, he did. He blessed us and then he somehow stumbled into a job at Texas State. He applied. He ended up getting one in the design in the interior design program, teaching some of their drawing classes there, and he did that for about five years and that treated us really well. That's great. And then he started his own, or what happened after that he was kind of doing his own simultaneously, but it was, like you know, 80% Texas State, 20% Pax's business, and then, you know, slowly he started to build up. He was in touch.
Denise Jackson:So what a gift to be able to start your own business. So I you know I talk about that with business owners like you want to be an entrepreneur, keep your job going and begin to do the steps to build your business, because really that's the provision God has for you right now. But he's put that dream in your heart and so He'll open the doors. He will open the doors to how you're going to do it, if this is going to get to be part-time and you'll go. And so here's the perfect example of how he did that with Pax's life. That's great.
Ashley Chagnon:Yeah, and he moved us here. When he moved us here, um, we got connected with our church. The first day we met one of the overseers at the time, katherine duffy oh, I love to get yes. And she just started talking with us and, um, we were a little bit overdressed for, you know, because our'm just kind of casual. She picked us out as new people right away oh, that's funny. And um, she, she talked to us for maybe five minutes and learned that pax was in architecture and I was in law but planning to stay home. And, um, she said, I know exactly the community group you need to be in. She put us in community group with a group of people who the husbands were all in some kind of construction related type business or, you know, were business owners. They knew about business and solid, solid mamas. You know that I could connect with.
Denise Jackson:Oh, that's awesome.
Ashley Chagnon:You know, he learned to talk with people about how they did business, and that's us begin to figure out how to step into his own, and he continues to do that, and talk to people, I still like kind of laughing, because we went to mexico last year and pax was out there doing the construction.
Denise Jackson:Then, giving him direction to do the construction, he'd say oh, no, no, no, but then he would do it and he was so proud of working with his hands. It's just so great when we get to see our husbands just feel so fulfilled in something like that and I enjoyed it, we all too. It was really good. Yeah, it was good, yeah, good to see how that was done.
Ashley Chagnon:Keeps on the ground.
Denise Jackson:And you said that at one point during that really scary time, pax had gone up to the porch and was drinking his coffee and just saying Lord, what am I going to do? You know, I have to trust, you have to trust you, and I thought that was good too, because you know, god has positioned our husbands, when they're trusting in Him, to be priests and kings over our household, and it is the hardest thing when they feel like they cannot do the job that they were intended to do, which is make sure that we're secure, but still, even in that role, for them, it's about depending on god yeah, and lord, he kept him strong.
Ashley Chagnon:I mean, I don't remember really. I guess there were times whenever he would confide in me that he was, you know, feeling um, stressed or whatever. But most of the time, you know, I guess stressed or whatever, but most of the time, you know, I guess those morning conferences with the Lord on the porch really kind of filled him up and gave him purpose for the day and helped him to walk with confidence.
Denise Jackson:And you were probably praying for him. You were praying for your family, of course, but I bet you were praying, yes and I think it was probably during that time.
Ashley Chagnon:I have this thing in my head and I feel like it must have formed during that time Just the idea that God gave men broad shoulders for a reason. You know there's a lot to bear.
Denise Jackson:And he gave him good women, because he says, women pray and kings of armies flee. They flee when we pray, and so we have such. I mean men have this responsibility of carrying this burden of taking care of their families. Women are called to pray and we are mighty. We fight battles that they can't even see. Satan has to flee. Take your armies and go, because we're after you and we.
Denise Jackson:We stay home and divide the spoils right. I really love that so much. And that is not a pronouncement that we don't work. We work, we get to work with our hands, but we don't. When, when our homes are ordered by the Lord and both of us are listening to the Lord, I feel like this weight just gets completely lifted off of us and we can just trust that God has this and he's leading our husbands in the paths of righteousness, for His name's sake and for our good. Yes, yeah, that's so good. So you have three children, I do. You have two beautiful daughters that are the oldest, and then it ended up with a son who is such a boy. He is so fun and ready for every adventure. What a blessing. But how was that growing those kids Like, when you realized you were responsible for these children. Is that how you felt?
Ashley Chagnon:okay. And so, um, we, we started off with noel and I remember telling a friend who had three kids at the time how do you do it? I feel so overwhelmed with just my one child, and I see you just kind of going along with your three. And she said you know what I learned a long time ago and somebody told me that whatever you have, you're at capacity. Oh and oh, that's a great lesson. So you know, you can't look at my situation and and it's different, it's just going to be different. And then you, your capacity, grows along with your family. That's true, it does, it does. And so I thought, you know, I'm going to space them two years apart, because my sister and I are five years apart.
Ashley Chagnon:It took a long time for us to build a relationship and so I wanted my kids to be close right away. But well, the time came where I should be moving on to child number two and I was not ready to have another child yet. So we waited and had Omri three and a half years later and she was much more active and climbing on things, and you know, go get them. Then Noelle was very calm and then Levi was a whole nother level. That was an interesting story because I remember that our pastor at the time before we had Levi, we thought you're done. Well, actually it was interesting. It's funny. I remember driving home from the hospital with Omri and as I'm sitting there thinking, feeling like this is not it? Oh, and I was a little mad.
Denise Jackson:Well, yeah, because you just got through labor. She was my easiest labor.
Ashley Chagnon:Oh that's good. But yeah, it was interesting. I was like it's weird that I'm feeling that way, but our pastor had had a series at that time and it was, I guess had had concepts of legacy, and he talked about the arrows in your quiver. Um, you know, children being arrows in your quiver and sending them out, and and I feel like we that just struck something in us and we were like why not have another one? You know, why not? That's kind of what it was.
Denise Jackson:yes, and then here comes levi and we thought, for sure it'd be another girl yeah.
Ashley Chagnon:But I went to the ultrasound fax, wasn't even with me and uh, it's a boy and I was like I went and bought a texas rangers t-shirt more at home to announce to my family. It was really fun. It was fun to know that we were going to have, we were going to get to raise a boy.
Denise Jackson:I loved, I love. We have two girls and two boys, and our first, of course, I was young, young when Jenna, when I was pregnant with Jenna and raising her, I was just still a kid and so I felt like I just made so many mistakes going through that time because I didn't know anything so I really wanted another girl. But then we had two boys right together and then we went five years and I just thought, okay, we're not having any more kids. And then when I got pregnant with her, I almost had a breakdown because I was like, oh my gosh, I'm finally going to school, I'm finally getting to do some things. Oh, my gosh, that little girl. It was the most fun because all the other ones were older and I just got to spend time with this little baby. And then this little girl and she always used to tell me I'm always gonna be with you and she's not, she's so independent. But it was a very sweet at that time of my life to just have this little girl telling me I'm always gonna be.
Ashley Chagnon:Oh, my favorite times were um the you know late night feedings and changes it's just it was quiet and I could just sit with them. And I remember, especially with noel, because she was my first during her. You know, after her feeding time I would sometimes just hold her and let her take her whole nap in my eyes.
Denise Jackson:She's a long napper but jenna was very peaceful oh, that's awesome. I don't think that I was that far along in my faith that I was singing and praying over them at that time. Very, I mean. It mean it was very my own thoughts, not God's word or not thinking about it intentionally, but how I loved each one of them. They were just miracles. It was just so much fun to raise them up.
Ashley Chagnon:Yep, I remember I tell Noelle all the time that she has amazing hair and I remember specifically praying for her hair did you pray for her art talent?
Denise Jackson:oh my gosh, that girl is. I feel like all of y'all are going to know about noel one of these days, but if I ever get my act together, she's going to illustrate a book for me. Um, she is just so wise and she's still in high school. She's going to be a senior, but she has wisdom beyond her years. I feel like I'm with a friend when I'm with her and I'm 67 and that girl's 17. She's a really amazing kid. All of them are. Everybody's got art too. That's awesome, really incredible to watch them yeah.
Denise Jackson:I really enjoyed so much being with all of them. Well, actually, I enjoyed being with the girls so much and then I would go off on adventures with the boys in Mexico and we just had the best time we buy in the boys. It was a lot of fun. It's what they do. So in your life today, um, are you feeling like you're in a good place? Uh, do you feel like there are things that, uh, you're you're seeking from the lord, that you're hoping, and what and how are you going through that if you feel like you are All the?
Ashley Chagnon:time. Yes, I'm still finding my footing in a career. I came back to it after a 10-year break. I was working for my firm in Denver, but then, after Omri was about six months old, I just felt the Lord call me to stop completely. And it was really interesting because I just we both had prayed about it. You know, I had both kind of prayed through it and at the same time came to the realization, you know, that the Lord was our provider and this was what we needed to do. And it's kind of scary, but it was such a wonderful time to get to be with them. And so um coming out of that was another great thing. Just I was at the playground at the school with levi he's playing with his baby leaves and um, a woman that I knew through Mops, I think, was there and her Mops was so good.
Denise Jackson:So that's so interesting that you went to Mops, because my daughter-in-law that was such a gift for her life Just when she needed friends. So I guess I'll shout out to Mops yes, go for Mops. It was really great, Equipping too it was really good.
Ashley Chagnon:It was really great. Equipping too, it was really good. She mentioned that her husband was a lawyer in town and was really busy and you know, if you're looking for work you might just give him. You know, give me your card, or no, here's his card. Give him a call, you know, and talk with him and see if he might have something for you. And I ended up going in, talk with him and see if he might have something for you. I ended up going in.
Ashley Chagnon:I was doing a little bit of contract work for my old friend at the time, which was very kind of them to Be willing to onboard me back again. Yeah, but talking with John and getting the opportunity to do work here in town was a blessing and it worked out, you know. And so I ended up going back to work full time when I leave. I went into kindergarten and so it was pretty scary because I had not really been doing much in the way of keeping up my skills. I would say, if you're going to take a break, do something to keep up your skills a little more.
Denise Jackson:But, you know, god worked it out. You had your focus on your children and what a blessing that you received to be able to focus on the kids during that season completely. And then, as they started growing and you were letting them go a little bit further in that little arrow not too far yet then you had this gift of a skill that you could use and he opened up the door. It was a miracle and he does that, you know, and he doesn't just do it for ashley or denise, he's not a respective person. If your heart is to raise your children, I think I wanted to say to you god knows your heart. He gives you the desire to take your heart. If you think it's impossible to do, just start trusting again and he will open the doors that no man can shut. It will just be an incredible testimony. Like Ashley's is, like mine, is for you too.
Ashley Chagnon:Yeah, and I love the way it's really true where it says he gently guides those with young. You know we struggled with when to start school. Noelle was an August baby and I remember specifically praying about that. It was time, you know. She was five and we were like, okay, it's time to start kindergarten. And I remember I was on my way to a play date and just praying and a thought just dropped into my head. It was like what's your hurry? And I was like I don't know, I don't know. And I was like I don't know, I don't know, and I was just thinking about that all during that play date, you know. And then I got home and I told Pax, I was like you know, I have this thought drop in my head today.
Ashley Chagnon:I think I might be saying we should wait to send Noel to kindergarten. And he was like you know what? I was just talking to some clients today and they said they waited and so we waited for another year and it was the best thing for her and it made it easier. When Omri was not, she was right at the perfect time, there was no question about her. But then Levi again was an August baby and it was easier. You know, I did talk to teachers and things like that at that time, but it was a little easier to be like it's going to be okay. Yes, we wait yes, fine.
Denise Jackson:and then you got that one more year with Levi too, which was your last, so that was such a blessing too.
Ashley Chagnon:It was really good and I loved how he would guide us in that and he gave me during that season I had such incredible I would get up really early.
Ashley Chagnon:I went through a season where I remember specifically telling Pax I know that there's more in. I went through a season where I remember specifically telling Pax I want, I know that there's more in the Lord for me and I want your blessing to seek it out. You know I want, I really want more. He's like I don't know what you mean, but sure I love that and I just knew that he had more for me and he wanted me to search it out and I was. I went and searched out some women that I knew that he had more for me and he wanted me to search it out and I was, um, I went and searched out some women that I knew that I felt like were operating and and what I wanted, um, and it was so beautiful and I would. During that season I would get up really early. I remember beth moore said you know if I knew that if I was going to have any victory in a day, I had to get up before my kids.
Denise Jackson:Yes, yeah, and that was hard, because they do get up early in there, or they don't, and you're having to get them up, so you just feel like, oh my gosh, this is a long day, yeah.
Ashley Chagnon:But then I'm super early. I got up at like four and would get in my closet, the downstairs closet. My mother-in-law was really kind to help me, um, like, get an alpha system in there. So it was super organized. Oh, it was teeny tiny. Yeah, it was wonderful. I would get in there and do my quiet time. Oh, that's great.
Ashley Chagnon:And he led me through a season of um studying the song of solomon, verse by verse, from the spiritual perspective. I, I love that and I encountered the love of Jesus for me, for me personally, in a way that I never had before and it was incredible. I mean, he just lit me up inside and it was like that honeymoon time where believers who are older, who have gone through a lot, maybe have a radical encounter with the Lord, will, you know, begin to talk about God. And it was like that, you know, yes, and it was so incredible and I got to have that, you know, before I went back to work and to enjoy it for a couple of years before I went back to work and to enjoy it for a couple of years.
Denise Jackson:And, you know, I told you like, in this time of my life, in the last few 20 years of just waking up and like before I even wake up, I hear him, and so then I just stay there and we can have some time together and it is like, and then, you know, usually get like we'll open up the word because I'll have my phone with my Bible app and then I write, and all of that has become like just this cadence that makes my days so amazing. Yeah, you know, then I just trust, like, okay, whoever I meet today, whatever happens today, you've got a plan and you're just using me and I love that so much. So, yeah, that's a good thing for you all to know, to just dedicate some time. And the first of your day is so easy because there's no distractions yet To give to the Lord. It'll change your life, it'll just change your life.
Ashley Chagnon:I still do that. It's a lot shorter than it should.
Denise Jackson:That's what I was saying. Sometimes it's just a few minutes and he doesn't have a rule about that.
Denise Jackson:It's just like I just grab onto onto his hand. That's what I feel. Like I'm grabbing onto his hand, saying, okay, let's not do anything today. Let's not do anything today without you holding my hand, because I am not that smart you are. You lead me, yeah, and it just changes the way that I walk and like when, when words are said that might have offended me in the past, now I see hurt in somebody. It's like there's so many things. There's so many things. We could talk about that forever, but you just see differently because you're seeing through his eyes instead of your own. So that's good. Okay, so we're at the end of our conversation. I hate that, but I always ask, like if there's something you could, a bit of wisdom that you could give to these younger sisters that are out there that are walking with the Lord. What's one thing that you would say to them, either about finances or child raising or just being God's daughter. What would you say? And you can just look at the camera.
Ashley Chagnon:I think the main thing that God's been teaching me in this season is to be dependent on him, and it is a gift, it is a release, it is freedom to know that God leads you and he does the doing. One of my favorite verses is that he will give you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. And that is so freeing because it's not on me. If it were, oh, that would be, that would not be good, it would be bent over right, it would be hard, and it is hard still, but that surrender is, it's more freeing than you know. Just to get yeah, find time to just get in front of the Lord and release whatever it is you're worried about to Him and just grab onto Him and trust that he's going to bring you through, big or small, just every little thing. That's what he's teaching me this season.
Ashley Chagnon:Just depend on me. Depend on me if you don't know the answer to the question. Depend on me if you don't have the finances. Depend on me if me If you don't have the finances. Depend on me If you're worried about whether this kid is going to follow me. You know he is in all of it.
Denise Jackson:Amen. That was so good, ashley. We really have struggled to find a spot because both of us have been so busy to have this conversation, and I know it's going to bless y'all. I'm so grateful, father. I just thank you for giving us this time today and I ask you to give that wisdom wings in the lives of these women who are listening today, your daughters. I know you have good things for them today. I know that you will teach them more about trusting in you and leaning into you and letting you guide their day, and I know that it'll be a really productive, awesome day, thank you. Thank you for joining Rooted and Rising Girls from the Greenhouse every Tuesday. Now we have a new podcast coming out, so I hope you'll go out there and find us and go to easegreenhousecom and join our community, and who knows what God's going to do with us. We love you and God bless you.
