Hour 1: Get Off The X

Published Jan 15, 2025, 10:40 PM

In her first book, Breaking Cover, Michele Assad introduced the concept “get off the x.” In CIA terms, this is how officers are trained to survive deadly situations: get out of the kill zone as fast as possible. While working in counterterrorism in the Middle East, every day brought a life-or-death situation for Michele. After learning to “get off the x” and use determination and discomfort to fuel a thriving life, Michele calls upon us to do the same. With stories of her time in the CIA and the lives of those whom she encountered, as well as everyday people who found ways to get unstuck in their own lives, she will encourage us to stop feeling stuck and take charge of your situation, much like an agent in the field would.

Hi friend, thanks so much for downloading this podcast and I hope you hear something that will edify, encourage, enlighten and get you out there into the marketplace of ideas. But before you listen and before you go, let me tell you about this month's Truth tool. It's a classic. It's written by doctor Josh McDowell and was updated by his son, Doctor Sean McDowell. It's called More Than a Carpenter and I love this classic book. There's about 15 million copies in print around the globe right now, and what this powerful book does is answer some of the basic questions that are being asked constantly by people who are seeking, who want to know who Jesus is. Questions like, Jesus had to be a liar, a lunatic, or he's exactly who he said he was, which is Lord, how do I put science in relationship with my faith? Ah, the Bible records reliable. Who would die for a lie? And isn't there some other way besides Jesus? Those questions and more are answered in this wonderful book called More Than a Carpenter. It's yours for a gift of any amount. When you financially support in the market with Janet Parshall, ask for your copy of More Than a Carpenter. When you call 877 Janet 58. That's 877 Janet 58 or go to in the market with Janet parshall.org for a gift of any amount. We'll give you a copy of this Christian classic that will help you know the answer. So in turn you can go and tell somebody who Jesus is. 877 Janet 58 877 Janet 58 or go to in the market with Janet parshall.org. And while you're there, consider becoming a partial partner. Those are people who give every single month at a level of their own choosing. They'll always get the truth tool. But in addition, my way of saying thank you is offering you a weekly newsletter that includes some of my writing and an audio piece just for my partial partners. So again, 877 Janet, 58 or online at in the Market with Janet parshall.org ask for your copy of More Than a Carpenter and now please enjoy the broadcast.

Here are some of the news headlines we're watching.

The conference was over. The president won a pledge.

Americans worshiping government over God.

Extremely rare safety move by.

A nation 17 years. The Palestinians and Israelis negotiators This idea is not new.

Hi friends. Welcome to In the Market with Janet Parshall. I am so glad you're going to spend the hour with me. And after our conversation, you're going to be so glad you made the decision to spend the hour with me. Raise your hand. And I know I'm talking to a boatload of people from all the way over there at Guam to all the way over there in the Cayman Islands, and a whole bunch of people in between. But raise your hands figuratively if you like movies about spies and the CIA. Yeah, it's just it's really a tremendously popular genre. And even though I'm here in Washington, DC, I know that it's popular all across the country. How do I know? Well, just look at some of the numbers when you see some of the streaming platforms and they decide to make original films about the CIA, it's amazing the numbers go through the roof. So what is it about that experience that captures your captures your attention, by the way. One of the most popular museums to visit here in DC is the Spy Museum. And you go back and you study the history. And by the way, all you have to do is open the Bible and realize that spying goes back to the Old Testament. So it's an absolutely fascinating career choice. Career choice. Think about that. And I have to tell you, it's more than a career choice. I thank God for these men and women whose names we may never know, by the nature of the work that they have been called to do, but nevertheless put themselves in harm's way on a daily basis for you and for me. And so often we can't say thank you. I had the privilege of bringing devotions to Langley one year, and I remember how impressed I was with the men and women who served there, and how many of them know and love God. I was particularly humbled by one man who was part of the Secret Service, who gave me a star pin, the kind that they wear in their lapel. It's one of my most treasured possessions. Not that I ever wear it. Thanks, but no thanks. I don't think I ever want to be confused with being a part of the CIA, but I was struck with his compassion in sharing that with me, and it made me value yet even more these men and women who serve something greater than themselves. But they also so many of them serve someone greater than themselves. There are many, many believers that come to work inside the CIA. And I tell you that because I want you to pray for these men and women. When Paul is teaching his young student Timothy, to pray for those in authority, it isn't just people who are elected to office. He's telling us to pray for those who are serving in important positions. And again, so many of these people are nameless, out of necessity, but nonetheless are serving and protecting their country and in turn protecting you and me. One of those people now we get to talk to today. In fact, I will never forget my first conversation with Michele Rigby. Assad. This is a brilliant, brave woman. She is an international corporate advisor now and a keynote speaker. But she parlayed a ten year career as a CIA operative in the Middle East to consult for now multinational companies facing complex geopolitical challenges. How often when we talk about ministries around the world, we first have to have to examine the geopolitical situation to better understand its impact on religious liberty, and Christians in particular, in that country. But her extensive experience in the Arab world drives her ability to interpret and navigate risk to design safe and effective operations. She is now the author of Not one, but two books. The first book that she wrote, by the way, very much tells her story of what it was like to be a CIA operative. In fact, it was called Breaking Cover. Can I recommend that to you? And in that book, she does describe her story, but she's got a brand new book out that is equally as riveting. I mean, I'm just one of those people who does love stories about the CIA. And the book is called Getting Off the X. Now you're going to understand in a bit what that means, but here's the subtitle, CIA secrets for Conquering Obstacles in Achieving Your Life's Mission. And throughout this book, Michelle tells stories about the CIA and people who had to get off the X and how it had a dramatic change on their life and their future as well. It well. It is one of those you can't put it down books, but it really is a catalyst for you and me to get off the X and to go where God is calling us to go. And I just love the way she writes, and I love the way that this book could be read by any secular market in the world. But it very much is a pinpoint application to us as followers of Jesus Christ. Show me, Michelle, for me to say that I've been looking forward to my conversation would be a gross understatement. Thank you for the gift of your time. Thank you for your service to our country, and thank you for still encouraging us through your powerful writing and speaking. What a joy to have you here today.

Janet, that is the nicest introduction. You're so kind and I appreciate all your words.

Oh, thank you so much. And again, thank you for your duty. I love the paradigm. I never would have thought that so much that you learned as an agent in the field could apply to how we learn to make decisions in our life, and for believers in particular, this is difficult because, again, if I were to ask for a show of hands, I would say overwhelmingly people listening to you and me would say, yes. I want to do what God wants me to do. I want his perfect will in my life. I just don't know how to get there. I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to. Your words. And you're going to teach us in a minute what this means to get off the X to go where God wants me to go. So thank you for taking this whole verbiage of the CIA and spying and serving in a foreign, uncomfortable field, and really and truly using that as a paradigm for where we find ourselves so often in life. It's a brilliant idea. So I think we have to start with breaking down the definition of what it means to get off the X. What does that mean if I'm learning tradecraft, what does that mean if I'm now recruited and serving in the CIA and they tell me, you got to get off your X, what does that mean?

So get off the X is a phrase they teach us when we're going through, when we finish tradecraft training. And we're going to go through paramilitary training, especially people going to the war zone. And it's how to survive an ambush. So the way the instructors explain it is that X is literally the site of the attack. So this is the area that the terrorists or the criminals have chosen because it concedes some sort of advantage for them. So if you're going to maximize your chances for survival, you have to break through the freeze response, which is a very normal human response to massive stress. And you have to push through that fear and you've got to get off the X literally. And they say, hey, if you can drive off the X, your car is operable. That's what you do. But if your tires are shot out or an RPG has shot out your engine compartment, then you've got to get out of your car and you've got to run. So whatever it takes to get off the X, that's what you do.

Wow. Wow. It seems to me, based on how you define that, that this doesn't happen automatically, that this has to be volitional and there has to be a certain amount of training to do it. Because I heard you say freeze, and I heard you say fear. And just as you were describing that, I thought that's where most of us would be. So to break through that seems to me you have to create some kind of lethal, either willful choice to do that or a kind of muscle memory where it becomes automatic. Now you're hearing the music. Can you explain that to me when we come back? Because this is woven, by the way, throughout your conversation in the book about all of that. What are the deterrents? What are the things we need to do to practice to get off the X? I'm so thrilled I get to spend the entire hour. I could spend days with Michelle, but I'm so glad we have this hour and it gets me excited to tell you about her brand new book. Don't forget. Her first one is called Breaking Cover. If you haven't read it and you really want to know the story and it's not streaming on a platform, it's a real sister in the Lord serving in the CIA. You got to read that book. But now her second book, and I think destined to be also spectacular, is called Get Off the Ex CIA secrets for Conquering Obstacles and Achieving Your Life's Mission. Much more with Michelle right after this. What makes Jesus so different? Is the Bible reliable? Who would die for a lie? Those questions are why I have chosen more than a carpenter as this month's truth tool. Get answers to tough questions so that you can share the good news about Jesus without hesitation. As for your copy of More Than a Carpenter, when you give a gift of any amount to in the market, call 877858. That's 877858 or go to. In the market with Janet parshall.org. We get to spend the hour with Michelle. I say that because it's such a special treat. By the way she's now an international corporate advisor and keynote speaker. But she has served this nation admirably and honorably for ten years as an agent in the CIA. She was an operative in the Middle East. And again, if you want to get the part of her backstory in serving. Go read her book Breaking Cover. But in her new book, Get Off the X, it is just saturated with stories about situations to exemplify the techniques of learning how to get out of trouble's way and move on. So the subtitle of the book is called secrets for Conquering Obstacles and Achieving Your Life's Mission. And you write in such order and such form, and it really helps you walk through the various aspects of learning how to get off the X. But I was thinking, as I was reading your book, which is now currently underlined and dog eared terribly, I thought to myself, well, let me go to step number one, which is who decides to grow up and say, you know, I think I'm going to be an agent for the CIA. So somewhere way back there, even before you knew what it meant to get off the X, you had to get off the X and decide this was going to be a career path. How did that happen for you?

Oh, yeah. You're not kidding. That's that's not a normal thing to choose. You know, I dedicated my life to Christ very young. And I told God, I will do whatever you want me to me to do. Literally, I didn't put any conditions on that. And what's fascinating is he took me up on it. And, um, he's good like that. And a series of cumulative steps out of my comfort zone to study abroad, to get a master's in Arab in a contemporary Arab studies at Georgetown eventually led me into the CIA, which is certainly not even. I didn't even know that was a job. Janet, like, I had no idea growing up in a small town that people really spied for a living. But God literally opened up one door to me out of Georgetown. I put in resumes to, you know, hundreds and hundreds of places. The only response I got was from the CIA. So it was pretty clear to me this was the door that God had clearly opened. And interestingly, both Joseph, my husband, who's a persecuted Christian from Egypt and myself, walked through that door terrified, uh, for me, definitely intimidated because you have no idea what you're actually walking into even after training, but you just say, okay, Lord, this is a little bit scary. I don't know if I can do it, but you must know better than I do what I'm capable of.

Well, you know I love your story because a it's not only a picture of obedience, you know. Here am I, Lord. Send me. And you don't know what the future holds, right? You're just called to go and you're in obedience. You put one step in front of the other, but it's a reminder of how good and great our God is. He puts his people everywhere, even in the CIA. And I know there are people listening to us who draw their own arbitrary circles around life saying, well, surely God isn't there and surely God doesn't care about this and he isn't involved there. And your story is a testimony to the fact that, yes, he calls his people even into the CIA. You and Joseph came in at the same time, which I think is absolutely fascinating. That creates, from my vantage point as an old married woman, interesting perspectives. Did you think, what if we get called to separate fields? Are we going to be able to serve together? What are they going to do with us as a husband and wife? Did you think that might have any forbearance on only training, but placement.

Oh, yeah. But in our case, we were pretty lucky in that we were both Arabists. So we figured, like, they're probably going to they've got to put us together because it's not like one is a Chinese expert and the other is Russian. So we have the same expertise and passions. And for the CIA, it worked out really well. It was kind of two for one, and they were able to send us to places no one else wanted to go so they could fill two slots. And that was great for them and obviously really good for us. But what that meant was it was a really difficult ten years in very dangerous places, locations that other people would rather not go to. And so you think, wow, I've really I've really stepped out of my little town and now I'm living on the edge of the earth, um, looking over my shoulder, always looking for hostile surveillance, doing a terribly difficult job. But, um, there was a purpose to all of it.

Wow, wow. Well, so let me linger on the idea. And this is the joy of talking to a to a sister in the Lord, not just having a secular conversation with someone who has decided to serve through the CIA. As precious as that is. But there's a depth here because we both serve and love the Lord. So were there ever times when you and Joseph were serving, when you looked at each other and said, I don't know. Wow. I made a mistake. Maybe it'd be nice to just download a movie and order a pizza and watch TV and kind of chill out a little bit. It's constantly watching our back, and I. I asked that as a question because literally my heart was pounding in the introduction of the book. Were you and Joseph are in the Middle East, and Joseph suddenly realizes, like a scene out of a movie he sees in the rear view mirror, that clearly he is being followed? And you write what that experience was like. I want you to go back to that experience in a second. But just this constant, the pressure doesn't really let up. You always have to play on the balls of your feet. You have to be situationally aware all the time. It was for ten years. Did you ever think maybe there was a mistake here? Maybe we should have gotten out of Dodge earlier?

Oh, all the time. Um, after. after every tour, we were like, okay, God, this is so hard. We can't believe you've put us here. We had really bad bosses. We served in really toxic environments. We were living in dangerous places where there was a lot of kidnapping and carjacking, and I am. I am not kidding. Every at the end of every tour, we said, God, can we go? And he would just say, no, not no, I need you to stay in. I know it's hard. I need you to remain there. And he really every year for ten years. And then finally at the end, he said, yep, it's time to go. But I think it's important to say, to point out to everyone that was such obedience without knowing what God would do with all of that for ten years.

Wow. And trust Michelle. I mean, it isn't just boy, I trust that I'm going to be able to pay my rent. It's I trust I'm going to be alive tomorrow. And so you're constantly having to trust him is just it's it's dramaticized given the work that God called you to. But it's absolutely, remarkably universal for the believer to say we don't know what our circumstances are. God does. We're still called to trust him. Whether we're serving in a war zone in the Middle East, or whether or not we're trying to figure out whether I stay at my job or I move. So I thank you for the drama. If I can put it that way of life in the CIA, to really underscore the truths of God's Word that apply to everybody. So because I left people hanging, just talk to me about that car chase with you and Joseph, because that was really a story of having to say, we have to get off the X now. Explain that. Oh my.

Goodness. Yeah. So we're driving home from work at the end of the day and the the roads are just very congested. But as we were driving along, Joseph said, we're being followed. And I'm like, oh no. Joseph has a sixth sense for whether we're being surveilled or not. And so he started driving more and more aggressively through the streets of this capital city, um, pulling up to and trying to drive through red lights and trying to go up on the side on the pavement.

And, Michelle, let me stop you. This is terribly rude on my part. Please forgive me. I got a hard break here. We're going to leave people in the middle of that car chase and pick it up on the other side of the break. I don't want you to have to rush, and I want them to hear the story. Michelle Assad is with us, author of Get Off the X more after this. Michele Rigby Assad served in the CIA as an operative in the field in the Middle East for ten years. She didn't just serve her country. She stood in the gap for you and me. And I'm so glad you're hearing Michelle. And may this be a reminder, as I said before, to pray for those nameless men and women who willingly put their lives on the line for us all the time. And they're not just some subject of a streaming platform movie. These are real people who are called to service, to protect us, and we thank God for them. And even if we don't know their names, God does. So please lift them and their And their families up in prayer on a regular basis. Michelle is now an international corporate advisor and a keynote speaker and a superb author. Breaking cover is her first book, tells her story of the life in the CIA, but then taking all of the information that she's experienced and was taught and trained to do in the CIA. She's now written the book Get Off the Ex CIA secrets for for Conquering Obstacles in Achieving Your Life's Mission. And I did a bad, terrible thing. I asked you to tell a story just before we came up to a break, and I had to interrupt you. Michelle, I am so sorry. So when last we met, you and Joseph were in the car. Joseph knew he was being tailed, and you had to quite literally get off the X, so the cars were going everywhere. Please pick up your story from there.

Oh, yeah. So Joseph was just trying to create space from this person who's following us. And maybe if they're not following us, it'll be very obvious, but this car is just careening after us. And Joseph was, you know, driving in between other people and driving through red lights. And we're praying. I mean, I'm just praying this whole time, Lord, help, like I don't. We don't know what's going on. Is this a terrorist? Is this a carjacking? What is this? Because we knew the capital city had was swarming with Al-Qaeda. So that's a very real possibility. Um, and so eventually, Joseph had to stop for a red light because cars were crossing, and that individual ended up hitting the the back of our car. And we spun around and it felt like we were in this Hollywood serious movie as we were, like, literally spinning in the middle of the intersection. And finally both cars stopped moving and just was like, look for weapons, look for weapons, because this is a place of wash and weapons and AK 47 and, um, thankfully we were just swarmed with hundreds of men from the street before anything further could happen. So, uh, you know, we didn't have to get any further off that X, but it was just a reminder how quickly things can devolve when you're in places like, you know, these kind of war zones.

Exactly. Right. And for you, at that point in your life, you were trained and it was now just almost involuntary. You knew that you need to get out and off the X, and so you moved, but you spend the rest of your book after you open it up and you explain to us what the X is, you really teach us the things we need to do so that in our own personal lives, we can do exactly what the subtitle says achieving our life's mission. And of course, as believers, we understand what God has called us to do. So you you looked at the various ways in which we can either be deterred or be encouraged and things that prevent us from moving. And I asked earlier about whether or not it has to become volitional before it becomes an automatic reflex. So I want to touch on a word that you did use before, because you talk about it in the second part of the book, and that is fear. If people are stuck in a spot and they realize and by the way, you take the first part of the book to help us understand whether or not we might be stuck, and you ask a series of very probing questions for us to do a personal inventory about whether or not we might be stuck. And it's time for us to get off the X. We can't figure out where we're supposed to go yet, but we're afraid because even a comfort zone oftentimes is uncomfortable. But it's still a comfort zone nonetheless. I immediately before I even open the cover of the book, I thought, fear has got to be an issue that has to be eradicated here. Because the old adage the devil you know versus the devil you don't know comes into play here. I don't know what the future holds. I do know who holds the future, but I don't know what the future holds. How do we learn to deal with the subject of fear, which will be a motivator to, if we don't take care of it, will keep us to the X as opposed to get us off the X.

So yes, fear is such a powerful motivator, and that causes us to impose all kinds of limitations on what we'll do and where we'll go and what we'll consider. And I know this for myself. Like you write what you know. So I know that I am a person who has a lot of intimidation and fear about what's going to happen on the other side of that effort. And if you think to think to yourself, I can't do anything truly interesting with my life because I am a fearful person or I am easily intimidated. That's wrong. Thinking and what you have, what you learn over time, is that you look fear in the face and you step forward. Despite that fear. And what you find on the other side of that is most of the stuff that we think is going to happen to us. All those bad things we worry about never happen. So fear stops us in our tracks. And what you just have to say is, look, I'm not different than anyone else. I just am really good at pushing through fear. And I think it's important for people to hear that, because I think I was just spectacular spy. And I'm a different kind of person. I'm actually not. I'm just like all of your listeners. So if you can use my life as an example, this is something you can train yourself to do by. I always say like, if you're not scaring yourself, you're not trying hard enough.

That's good. That's very good. Well, and that's why I find that the Lord has given you such a powerful testimony. Because if a CIA operative can tell me that she has to learn to conquer her fear, I really think that some people think, well, they hand it out at Langley when you decide to join up, you know. No, that's a personal decision, a personal exercise for you as a believer. Were there multiple times you talked about praying in the car when you were being tracked with Joseph? Were there times? And it's a rhetorical question. I know, because it's all over your books, but you literally had to say, Lord, I'm afraid I have to trust you, because whether it was gunfire or al Qaeda or a myriad of other real and present dangers, you were immersed in a world of fear. Did that keep your prayer life active?

Oh, for sure it did. Yeah. Because you had nothing else. All you had was God.

Wow. Amazing. All right, when we come back, can you believe we're halfway through this conversation? Let me just tell you, I am nowhere near getting through this entire book. But that's okay. This isn't a book report. My job is to kind of stir the interest and get you so hungry to hear what Michelle has to say in her new book, Get Off the X, that you get the book and read it for yourself. I'm telling you, I couldn't put it down. I thought it was absolutely fabulous. Here's the full title. Get Off the Ex CIA secrets for Conquering Obstacles and Achieving Your Life's Mission. I've got a link on my website on the information page. I also have a link to Michelle's website so you can learn about the fabulous work that she is still doing. Now and again, I want you to pray for her and Joseph. Yes, they're done serving in the CIA, but they're still serving the King back after this. Tired of the endless, biased spin you hear on mainstream media and in the market, we're using God's Word as our guide as we examine today's events, and we want you to be informed and bold about his truth. This is a listener supported program, so if you value what you hear and you want us to continue on your station, become a partial partner with your monthly support, call eight 7758. That's 877 Janet 58, or go online to in the market with Janet parshall.org. If you are just joining us the warmest of welcomes, but you absolutely want to catch my conversation with Michelle from the very beginning. Easy peasy. Just go to wherever you get your favorite podcasts and download in the market. With Janet Parshall, you can get This hour and its entirety. In fact, future usage. We do this two hours every day and we archive our songs, our sound going back one full year, so one full year back from whatever today's date is. You can go and you can get the audio back one full year. And that way, particularly this hour, you will not have missed anything that Michelle Assad has said. And you definitely want to get it from the beginning. But let me formally reintroduce her to explain why you're going to want to hear all of this. Michelle Assad worked in the CIA for ten years as an operative in the field in the Middle East. Just amazing. In her first book called Breaking Cover, she describes what her experience was as a follower of Christ and what it was like to work in dangerous territory in the CIA. Absolutely gripping book. Well, brilliantly. Now serving ten years. She herself had to get off the X, and she decided to step out of the CIA along with her husband, Joseph. And now Michelle is an international corporate advisor and a keynote speaker. And so she's written the book Get Off the X CIA secrets for Conquering Obstacles in Achieving Your Life's Mission. And that's good for anybody, because, you know, going to work like the first part of the movie, Joe Versus the Volcano, where it's in gray and then it becomes black and white in the beginning, but it's all color at the end of the film when he finds what his real mission is. Well, for a lot of people there in that first part of the movie, Joe Versus the Volcano, and it's just a lot of grays, and you don't have that passion. You're not fulfilling what you think God has created you to do, or stepping into his good and perfect will for your life. And so you're stuck in that spot. And what Michelle wants you to do is learn to get out off the X, and she writes in CIA stories and terms how we can do that. And if she can do it, we can do it. So her life is both an example, and she's a fabulous teacher through her book, to be able to teach us to do just that. So and again, I'm not going to be able to get through all of this. I want to touch on some spots. I love the section called tradecraft because this is really where a lot of people, I think, get stuck. And one of the first things you address in that part of the book is mission. For a whole lot of people. You know, it's do I take a Briggs Myers test? Do I have to take some kind of assessment to figure out who I am? What do you do? And you hinted at this a little bit in the beginning, when you really decided what kind of degrees you were going to get and how God just clearly opened the doors. And I love the way he does that. I'm in the bottom half of his graduating class. I have never had to have multiple choice. It has been so clear. You'd have to be deaf and dumb. Not dumb not to know where you're supposed to go. And I'm I've been so appreciative of his tenderness toward me in the way he directs me. But for a lot of people, it's like, I don't know what my mission is. So how does one find what their mission is? Because you're not going to get off the X if you don't think that God has got a mission for your life.

Well, first of.

All, it doesn't just land in your lap. And a lot of people, I think, hope and pray that it will. You literally have to put yourself out there over and over and over again until you figure out what your passion is, because that clue is kind of buried within us. And when that passion starts to grow, you're like, I am fascinated by foreign affairs. I'm fascinated by the Middle East. Until you find what you're fascinated by. You have to literally keep opening doors, trying different jobs, looking at different projects. And you don't give up. So I think, Janet, it is really important, especially for the younger generation, to realize that the muscle of perseverance has to be worked really hard to find that path. And I think that social media has told people that they've got to find a hack or and make it quick, or it's not worth doing, when in fact it's the opposite that that road is long, it is difficult, it is littered with obstacles. And you have to be so strong minded in that pursuit of what your mission is, that you won't give up until you find it.

Amen and amen. I was riveted to the story that you told about your sister. Can you share that with your friends? Because you talk about not knowing what the future holds? I just the first thing I thought was if I ever get a chance to shake her hand and meet her, I just know that she's a woman overflowing with not a not a ladylike term, but guts. She just really had the boldness to be able to say, I don't know where I'm going, but I'm going to take that next step. And she certainly did that again and again and again. Talk about her life.

Oh, yeah. So my sister Julie is a year and a half younger than me, and we're from a very small town in Central Florida. And my sister Julie got pregnant at the age of 15 and then gave birth at 16. So that's not generally like the path for an amazing profession, right? Especially in the 90s. But really now to and everyone told her your life is over. You've got to take care of this child. You'll never be able to do anything meaningful or big. And my sister just said, nope, I am. This is not my identity. Being a teenage mom. This is not who I am forever as a person. And so I'm going to work really hard and I'm going to push myself off this x. And so she ended up getting her master's and PhD before I even finished my master's degree. Um, she applied for several jobs and she ended up getting one, a great one in Florida. And then she said, like, you know what? I'm going to apply to the most impressive company in America, Google. Well, what if you don't get it? Well, you don't know if you don't try. So my sister basically got a job at Google because she just shot high and said, like, why not? And then she parlayed that. I mean, she just didn't stop. Like, you're not kidding, that Julie has guts. And she worked for a finance company in New York City. And then this young lady who started her life with a baby on her hip at the age of 16, was a senior executive at Chanel.

Oh, unbelievable.

Yes.

It's like a movie script. I just I'm telling you, it's absolutely amazing.

So it couldn't be done.

And she proved otherwise.

No kidding. And yet, what I loved. And maybe this is another takeaway. As we're thinking through that, we have to be careful, do we not as believers, not to let our circumstances define us? I'm defined in him. Paul reminded me of that in acts 17. He said, in him we live and move and have our being. So my circumstances don't define me. Your sister said, I'm not going to be defined as a single 16 year old mom. There's more to my life than that. But again, that has to come from a place of being able to understand that if you let our circumstances define us, you'll be stuck in your circumstances the rest of your life. How do we get over that hurdle?

We have to be willing to work really hard. I mean, she she got a four year degree in two years because she's like, I, I have to I have to put in the time. I have to work my butt off. I've got this baby. I can't keep paying for childcare. I mean, she was she barely had any money. She barely was able to put food on the table, but she understood that the the pain right now would not last forever. So again, these circumstances, this is not going to be your forever circumstances. Put in the pain now productively so that later on you can have a good life.

Wow.

Excellent. So when I'm trying to get off the X, I know that there's it seems to me there are both internal and external forces that have to be contended with in order for me to get off the X. We just talked about one of the externals with your precious sister, which is she did not let circumstances define who she was, and it took the courage for her to say, I'm going to take that next step. What are some other externals that we have to become aware of and deal with if we're going to get off the X?

Yeah.

So there are so many self-imposed limitations that we have, and there are things that are absolutely outside of our control. I mean, think about Covid and how that disrupted our lives and threw us all on the X worldwide. Uh, divorce, disease, a death in the family there, A loss of a job, a difficult economy. There are so many circumstances that can get us stuck in our lives thinking, I don't know what comes next. Retirement. Empty nesters, men, women, old and young. It doesn't matter. We are often thrown on the X by things completely out of our control. But you have to say, okay, what can I then control and what can I do to move myself forward? As hard as that is.

Wow. So let me, if I may, use you as an example, because again, you had this ten year experience in the CIA with a job that it's the stuff that books and movies are made of. But you decided to get off the X from the CIA and graduate now into where you are international corporate advisor and keynote speaker. Literally, you and Joseph go around the world. That cannot have been an easy five minute conversation. Walk me through your experience, because I think we learned so often by observing somebody else. As an example, how did you get off the X first. Where did the tugs come? Because you tell us to start first to see. We find out whether or not we're on the X and we need to move. How did God begin to stir in your life to say, okay, time to go. We're going to think of something else here.

Yeah. So we were exhausted after those ten years of living abroad and dodging rockets and all these things. So exhaustion was one. Uh, Joseph lost a parent, and the CIA was saying that he was going to have a hard time traveling back to Egypt to take care of his parent. And, you know, and if it's a choice between you, your your family or the CIA, your family comes first. So for us, it was no choice at all. But it was absolutely terrifying because we had no resume. We couldn't tell anyone what we'd done for ten years. We don't know what we can do on the outside. We don't know what we're worth. You literally have nothing and you've been off. You haven't been on social media. You have no public platform. I mean, we knew like ten people outside of the CIA. Um, and thankfully we had to trust God with this because we knew he was leading us out. So if he is, then he's got a bigger plan. Thankfully, we were introduced to a person who understood who had been a contractor for the CIA, who understood our careers there and said, you know what? You guys would be really good corporate advisers. And I've got a bunch of projects I can throw your way. And that's what helped us get out of that big government boat. And, uh, and we didn't know if it would work. You know, Janet, all of these exes we got off of, we were never assured of the outcome. But that's what faith is. It literally is. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to push through anyway. And here we are 12 years later, super successful. Thank you Lord. Um, and doing doing things of such meaning, taking all those lessons, putting it into books and helping other people, you know, get unstuck in their lives. It just feels so good.

Wow.

Can I just say personally, you know, between the work that you and Joseph do drew traveling the globe and helping corporations understand geopolitics. People very often don't understand the linkage there. You have to know what the geopolitical situation is when you step into business. What are some of the risks you're doing? Risk analysis all the time. So the fact that in the midst of all of that, Michel, you would write get off the X so that we, your readers could be encouraged and you could teach us by example and in the most creative way, through CIA techniques, how to do just that. I can't thank you enough. You could have so easily said, I don't need to be bothered with the book. I got to catch my next flight. But you took the time and I know it was in obedience, because I'm sure you were prompted by the Holy Spirit to write the book, and I think lives will be changed as a result of that. The book is called Get Off the X. Michelle Assad, our guest back after this. Michelle Assad is with us. She is the author of Get Off the X CIA secrets for Conquering obstacles and achieving your life's mission. So you say to yourself, well, why CIA secrets? Well, that's because Michelle served our country in the capacity as a CIA, CIA field agent in the Middle East for ten years. And she couldn't tell a lot of people about that. And you didn't know that this sister in the Lord was doing what God had called her to do. And yet she and her dear husband, Joseph did that for ten years before God opened the door. And now they've stepped into the role where they advise corporations about geopolitics, making decisions, risk analysis. ET cetera. And she very often gives keynote addresses, which are fabulous, but so thankful that she's taken the time to write Breaking Cover, which is her story in the CIA. And now this latest book, Get Off the X, which is really a stirring challenge for us to really get excited about our life and to be keenly sensitive to God's leading in our lives so that we can step into the mission he has planned for us. Okay, two questions. First, inquiring minds want to know when your sister worked at Chanel, did she get a discount?

Oh, yeah.

It was a good one and I benefited from that too. It was great.

I wondered if that was a corporate perk. Wow. That's.

Tell your sister she was brilliant. I'll bet you did. And now you.

Can sell her bags on resale again if you want to. Wow, that's absolutely fabulous. Okay, the second part is we have such a heart on this program for the persecuted church. And I would be so out of line if I didn't ask to explain how you and Joseph worked together to help Christian refugees flee persecution in the Middle East again. Another movie script, for goodness sakes. Tell my friends how this happened.

Yeah, so? Well, Joseph is a persecuted Christian from Egypt who is so proud that this country opened its arms and accepted him in. And so obviously, when we got the opportunity to work with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey to try to find a place to take internally displaced, persecuted Iraqi Christians during the summer of 2015, we jumped on that opportunity, and it was the worst possible time to try to find a country willing to take refugees when thousands of them were literally spilling across the land borders and the sea from the Mediterranean. Um, but you know what, God, it was God's project from beginning to end. And I tell you, it reads like a Hollywood movie in my book because it felt like that as we were going through it. But despite so many obstacles, so many roadblocks, so many difficulties, in only three and a half months, we were able to find a group of people to work with, gather their identity documents, vet them, uh, go and visit various governments, pitch it, find one government willing to take them, which was Slovakia, and then arrange for this incredibly miraculous airlift out of northeastern Iraq on December 10th, 2015. And so we were able to give 149 Iraqi Christians a new life in Europe. And it was, you know, there were so many. It was beautiful because it was like how the Lord brought in this strange set of skills that we have for, you know, things that we could do that other people were like, would have no idea how to set up an operation in a dangerous place. And we knew how to work with them and just, of course, had the linguistic skills. I had half the linguistic skills. And God brought to bear all of these unique, um, this unique knowledge to make this happen and to watch the hand of God move in when this was happening, when it shouldn't have happened, it should have fallen apart and it didn't. By the grace of God. And then to see these people given a chance at a new life, it was very fulfilling. And we're like, wow, that's probably one of the reasons why God called us out of the CIA, because we could have never done that inside. So it was him showing us I called you out. You were terrified, but you were obedient. And now look what you were able to do outside the CIA. Wow. Even when people told you told you you'll never have meaning outside of this job. Well, God has so much work for us to do. There is meaning and purpose and fulfillment everywhere we look if we're willing to do hard things.

Yeah.

Amen to that. So when you're in again, and I love your testimony because it's so revealing of who God is based on where he called you to work and the work that he called you to do. So when God took you off the X and he moved you out of the CIA into the position that you've got right now, um, I'm wondering, did you and Joseph ever say to each other, okay, well, we were defending our country. We were defending our fellow man. We were defending soldiers and sources on the ground. How am I going to serve God if I go tell a corporation what risk analysis is? If they're going to set up a business in the Middle East? What is God going to do in that? How can he find how in the world does God play out in that kind of a situation? I know there's an answer to that, because you wouldn't be doing what you're doing if you didn't think that God had called you there. So just like people who people who think, ah, God doesn't put his people in the CIA, what are God's people doing in the world that you work in now?

Oh, gosh. God is creative. He is. I love telling him like, you're so good at this. And pre-positioning people to do really amazing things. Well, you know, Janet, I think one of the biggest things was that I knew God was calling me to write this book. I never had an interest in being an author. I will tell you right now, I've got two books behind me. It wasn't fun. I didn't enjoy the process. It was extremely difficult. So I find that really ironic. Like, God's got such a sense of humor. I'm not even really a book writer, but here we are. But he said, I need you to share what you have learned, because this is going to inspire people. And I knew I was going to have to do it in true name versus pseudonym for it to have any kind of an impact. So that was part of the calling out. So we we had this incredible, uh, airlift of these Iraqis. We have these two books. Joseph and I all the time are asked to help out with persecuted Christians in various parts of the world. We also even help locally, like we help train law enforcement on what to look for in terms of Chinese intelligence operations in Florida. So we do all kinds of interesting things that are very fulfilling on the outside of the CIA.

Wow, that's so important to hear. So talk now to every person whose heart has been stirred as a result of what you've had to share. And they're saying, okay, maybe that that tugging that I've been feeling in my heart, that purposeful restlessness that our great king sometimes puts in our heart because he's calling us to someplace else, to somewhere else, and we don't know where it is yet, and we're just afraid to get out of that comfort zone. Encourage that person right now. And what's the first step that they should take?

Don't ignore that feeling, honor that feeling, and then turn to family and friends who will encourage you to do the hard things, to take the steps to see what's next, and to just put yourself out there in the in the world.

Michelle. Thank you. I have a thousand questions. There's. I bet I covered less than 10% of the book, and I. I want my friends to know that. Because if you've enjoyed what you've heard so far, there is so much more. And get off the X again, the verbiage of the spy world to be a CIA operative. But to turn that around and to apply it to your walk with Christ brilliant, fabulous and unique. Not a lot of books out there like this. And so you can hear Michelle's heart out of the overflow of the heart. The mouth speaks. She loves the Lord. She got off the X many times in her own life, and as a result, she and Joseph have been changed. And she's changed the world of the people that she's intersected with. If he can do that for Michelle and Joseph, he can do it for you as well. So let me strongly recommend this become required reading for you, will you? Again, it's called Get Off the X CIA secrets for Conquering Obstacles and Achieving Your Life's Mission. All that info on my information page. God bless and protect you. Michelle. Thank you so much for the time that you gave us today. See you next time, friends.

In the Market with Janet Parshall

In the Market with Janet Parshall, challenges listeners to examine major news stories and issues bei 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 3,182 clip(s)