August 26, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode, Michelle sits down with actress and author Edwina Findley Dickerson who opens up about faith, resilience, and embracing the calling on your life. Edwina has built a powerful career in television and film—yet it’s her prayer life and unshakable faith that have truly sustained her. She shares the inspiration behind her new book, The World Is Waiting for You, and the lessons she’s learned about surrender, comparison, and walking boldly into God’s dream for her life. CHECK IN to this episode for a reminder that your gifts, your purpose, and your story matter—and the world is waiting to experience them.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Y'all listen, welcome to Checking In.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
This season has been absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Just the diversity of.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
People that I've gotten to talk to, from doctors to
actresses to toy designers. I think it's absolutely amazing. Today's
episode is with Edwina Findley Dickerson, who has been on
our TV screens for a long time, not only in
(00:47):
TV but in film, currently starring in the Residents. She's
been in Power, Chicago, Mad, Black Lighting, If Loving You
Is Wrong, Tremy Law and Order, Come On, all the
way Back to the Wire, in One Life to Live.
(01:08):
She's everywhere and has an amazing new book coming out
that we get to talk about. I'm so excited y'all
to host Edwinn and Finley on this episode of Checking In. Hey, everybody,
(01:31):
welcome to another episode of Checking In. What I get
excited about the episodes and the guest. It seems like
every week it goes higher and higher and higher. Not
only higher, but it goes deeper as well. I am
so excited about this particular guest. I met her through
(01:57):
doctor Holly Carter. I believe years years ago. I think
this was from what I'm recalling at the Merge summit.
You and she was on a panel, and I believe
they asked her to pray, or she just felt led
to pray.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It was something.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And y'all, let me tell you, I really believe this woman.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Is here today.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Her life is fruit because of her faith and her prayers.
Now we know her as acting on some of the
most amazing television shows. Do we have to go through
her resume? We absolutely do. She also has a new
book coming out, but we know her from The Residents currently.
(02:47):
If Loving You is Wrong, just so many things, a
classically trained artist in theater. I've got some other things
to share, but I want to get into why I'm
really excited to have her here from the wire from
TREMAE If Loving You Is Wrong? So many amazing things.
(03:10):
But I'm excited about her faith and her prayer life
and just just as.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And her new.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Book, and that is I can't wait to get my
hands on her book as well. So y'all you're probably wondering, well,
who is it, girl? Who is it? It's Edwena Finley Dickerson. Y'all,
come on, give us a little clap.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello, Michelle. It is so wonderful to
be reunited with you. Yeah, that beautiful introduction. I love
you and love what you're doing, and I'm so honored
to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Listen, I am so excited, and I was not surprised
about the title of your book.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The world is waiting for you.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I respect everything that you've done as an artist, as
an actress, but I get excited because I don't feel
alone as being the church girl or the person of faith.
Just tell me, how do you feel about all this
that I've just said.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Right now, I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Feeling so full already and we're on like minute too, Okay,
my conversation. You know, you know, I'm curious how it
was for you as far as like before Hollywood and
before huge stages, right and let me tell you actually,
now I'm having the flashback of me being I think
I had just come out of college and I had
(04:38):
your gospel, your gospel album, and I would just play
it over and over, and I remember feeling the same
way about you. I felt like, Wow, she is really
unashamed about her faith. And I feel like when you
get to that point, it's because God has rooted something
so deeply in you that you know, if you separate
(05:01):
from that, it's actually an offense, right, Like that comes
together with the calling. If I'm going to exalt you,
if I'm going to allow the world to know your name,
if I'm going to allow you to be on television
or movies or you know, Broadway shows, all these things,
I just need you to know what comes along with that,
(05:21):
and what comes along with that calling is staying true
to that first relationship, right, And so a lot of
times what we find, I think, unfortunately, is that people
are ushered into their greatness and then decide, thank you
very much, God, we appreciate your partnership up to now
(05:42):
I've got it.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
I've now got it.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
And I think that's the biggest temptation, right, because we
want to appeal to a mass audience. We want to
be accepted, we want to be validated, we want to
be celebrated, and so sometimes we feel like we have
to leave God at the door or in order to
do that. But if we really think about it, it's
his power.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
That caused us to be where we are.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So so so yeah, I mean, you know, you talked
about prayer life earlier, and I feel like that's what
keeps us rooted right and grounded and kind of remembering
who we are and whose we are and why we are.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Thank you for sharing that, because as I was prepping
and just looking over everything, I was also looking at
your career, and I could be wrong. Now, we are
always privy to some people might say, you know, this
was hard, was a this was a struggle, this was
a difficult this has been a difficult journey.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
But it seems like you haven't stopped working, you know what.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It's always funny when people say that's because people say
that an interview is a lot. They're like, you haven't
stop working. You started wearing, you haven't stop working. And
I think as an actor like you yourself are.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Aware of when you stop working.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
But maybe the fact that I guess God just set
it up that way. I don't know, like I've just
kind of always had projects coming out and coming out
and coming out, and so maybe it seems like, oh, yeah,
it's just been one big upward trajectory.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But people don't.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Speak behind the scenes of like, oh, it could have
been a year in between this project and that project.
It could have been two years between that project and
this project or true you know, or doing maybe and
you've done this as far as maybe doing theater while
you're recording, while you're whatever, you know. And so I
have definitely been blessed in those various seasons where I
(07:36):
might be doing two or three projects at the same time,
and you know, because they come out, you know, sort
of in this staff.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You know what. I didn't think of that because we
see the we'll see three projects of yours come out
the same year. But don't realize you could have recorded,
you could have filmed these two and three, four five
years ago, and.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Things could have been stagnant.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
But it just seems like du bam, it's like this
this this, this is like no, y'all, she filmed this
two or three years ago. It takes a while to
edit the marketing, just like your new book. Yes, people
don't realize you probably started writing this a long time ago.
I didn't know until I wrote my book that they
(08:23):
were like, yeah, this ain't gonna come out for about
two years. What it's not yourself published. It could come
out tomorrow, right, Oh, So so I get it. So
it's like you have your new book that's it's not
out yet, but on the on the grounds of being
in the residence all of this, and it's like, how
(08:45):
are you doing it all? You just mentioned to me
your children, Okay, right.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
You know it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I feel like a lot of us, a lot of
us really lean into the promise, right, Like we all
have a promise over our lives. You know, we all
have a dream in what I call in the book
a God dream, right, And sometimes we think, oh, our
dream starts with us, right. I want to be married,
I want a home, I want a successful career, I
(09:14):
want money.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I want you know, children, whatever it is, right.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
But sometimes you don't also realize, oh wait, God wants
that for me. God has a dream that's over my life.
And so a lot of this book, the world is
waiting for you, embrace your calling and manifest the God
dream that's over your life. It's leaning into that, right,
Like what is God saying about me? And what is
(09:40):
God saying about my life? And for me, I've just
been I don't know audacious enough to believe that, Okay,
if I'm believing God for all these things. And then
they actually come. The husband comes, and the children come,
and the book comes, and the dooman comes and the
finances come or whatever it is, that he has also
(10:01):
given me the strength to sustain it all, right, it all.
And there was a time, and y'all will tell you
I was afraid of having children as an entertainer. I
was like, oh my gosh, what what what will that
even look like? Will I have to stop working? And
(10:21):
so I was very afraid. And strangers started coming up
to be prophesying that I was about to have a baby.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
Like you know, you are like like this is witchcraft.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Get away from that, okay.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And actually the funny thing, the first person that approached
me was Terry Crews's wife, Rebecca Cruz.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Who was she got she she she know Jesus, yes
she does.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I had to come.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I had to come into that that revelation that, oh,
you know the father.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
She was the first one.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
She grabbed my hand and she said, God is saying
you're about to have a baby, you know. And I
snatched my hand away and she said, but it's not
going to stop your life. And there's gonna be an
acceleration after that. And very soon after that, multiple people,
you know, even strangers, started prophesying the same things to
me and then people started calling with dreams, and then
that's when I surrendered. It was like, oh, God, am
(11:22):
I being disobedient by not surrendering to your God dream
that's over my life? I did as soon as I
literally said a prayer of surrender. I chose to not
take my birth control that particular week, and I got
pregnant immediately, immediately, and motherhood has been the most beautiful
(11:43):
thing in the whole We're like the most beautiful thing
in my life. But I realized that I could have
missed it had I not been listening and surrender Yeah, yeah,
the voice right. And so I feel like when you
have a God dream over your life, that surrendering is
so important because then you're partnering with God right in
(12:07):
the direction in which he's leading you, versus well, this
is what I want, this is what I want. I
don't want this, I don't want that, and having a
little ala carte menu of which your life's going to be,
and then maybe coming to realize like, wow, you know what,
if I would have surrendered to the voice, this could
have looked a lot different. But it's never too late.
(12:27):
And that's the beautiful thing about God, right, He already
knows the choices that we're gonna make. So he's already.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Ahead of us.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
He's all, here's ahead of us, right, and like he's
already accommodating the fact that Okay, that may not have
been the best choice. So oh, that wasn't the road
I was trying to take you down.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
You went on that road. But let's let's are we
gonna partner again?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
You're coming back, okay? You holding my hand? All right,
I'm going to lead you into this abundant life. Don't
have to worry about it. But it does require surrender.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Listen, I'm just envisioning you partnering with God, right, But
I know me. I'm imagining me partery with God saying
I surrender, but I'm kicking and screaming, maybe complaining a
little bit.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
But look, you go though, you.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Go, even if you have to drag you. It's not
like your hand away.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
You let them.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
It's kind of like your parents would tell you something
to do. You do it, but you murmuring under your breath,
you know, but you do it. You go, and there's
a positive outcome from obeying. I've seen you just have
(13:49):
such a full life being overseas with your family doing this,
doing that. It is a joy to see because it
just makes me smile. I am to the point where
I'm like, where I'm I didn't think I wanted children,
(14:10):
then now all of a sudden, I would want children,
but I'm not married. And I'm like, did I wait
too late? You should have had this glow up in
your womb twenty years ago. Now all of a sudden
you're talking about you want children.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And I just tell you a little testimony on that, Yes,
a little testimony in that. So I have a girlfriend
who's an actress who has wanted to be a mom
for many years, but saying she was not married, she
didn't you know all of that, And then she was
in a relationship with the wrong person, and.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I was like, for a long time.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
They got out the relationship, she was like, oh God,
I gave that man my whole baby making years was
with the wrong person. And she was like, and I
asked her about the relationship. I said, to God, give
you any converslation, you.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Know, revelation about the relationship from the beginning. She was like, yeah,
he told me. He told me I wasn't supposed to
a relationship.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
But she kept going because you know, as women, we
have hope, we have expectation, We just we see the
potential for however many years, eight years or whatever, you know,
she spent with him and it.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Just never happened.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
And so once they once they parted, she was really
devastated because now will I even be able to have
a child, Will I ever get married? You know, all
these things. And she started doing fertility work and supporting
other women in their fertility journeys, even while she herself,
you know, had had concerns herself. One day, the Lord
(15:51):
gave me a dream and I saw her so specifically pregnant.
I saw her on a talk show. I saw her pregnant,
and it came so strongly that I had to reach
out to her. And you know, you don't want to
get people's hopes up by saying like, well, God told
me God, but I just felt this.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
So strongly anyway, do you know?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
And she would see that, and I saw the scripture
about Sarah right and the Angel coming to Sarah, and
it was a miracle.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Do you know that she is now turning fifty and
this girl is pregnant in three I mean, she's she
is due in three weeks fully wow fully pregnant, just
had a fabulous baby shower that I.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Just went to go for it, and I said, look
at God.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
God does not his promises. Iyay nay.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
If he promised, oh yeah, you can think that it's
too late.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You can think that you missed it.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You can think that old my mistakes made it impossible
for this to happen, or whatever the case.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
But yes, I've seen too much. I've seen him.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yes, And that's why I really wrote this book like
manifest the godging over your life. I don't be afraid,
don't don't don't feel like God has forsaking you or
forgotten about you, or that it being delayed means that
it's denied.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's denied. It's not.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
And that's what I was segueing to to to your book,
But before I got there, you just remind me of
so many people in my.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Life who have it all.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Who where you thought, well, if you're a woman, you
have to choose between work and family. But it's like
it's probably I can imagine it being exhausting at times.
Your mother, a wife, you work, and you have you
have your tentacles in so many places. And now you're
(17:49):
adding author to your schedule, to your resume. The book
is called The World Is Waiting for You, y'all. While
she's currently starring in the Residence on Netflix, she's now
author of the World.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Is Waiting for You.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
The book is described as a faithful and laugh out
like guide to manifesting your God dream and creating the
life you've always wanted. Two things, How did you come
up with the World Is Waiting for You? And your
God dream too?
Speaker 4 (18:28):
H Wow, that's good.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You know. The World Is Waiting for You is in
some ways a double entendre. It's like there are special
things right like like in the book, I talk about
leaning into your superpower, right, like, what is your superpower
for the gifts that you were born with? What is
this you know, grand vision that's been over your life
(18:53):
that's just been waiting for you to fully fully tap
into it? And I believe, especially now that I'm a mom,
I see with children, they they when they come out,
they have certain gifts already inside already yeah, already like
a personality and gifts and talents and you know, and strengths,
(19:13):
and so becoming a mama became just really sensitive of that, Like, wow,
when we come into this world, we are already wrapped
as a gift. And a lot of times it's us
discovering what our gift is and allowing the world to
experience it. And so one part of that title, the
world is waiting for You, is you being able to
(19:34):
press past your self doubt, press past your insecurity, your
you know, your fears, to allow the world to experience
the fullness of who you are. The other part of
it is that the world is a gift to you.
So as you said, you know, followed my journey filming
in London and different you know places. I'm on my
(19:55):
way to Africa now to launch the book. Like these
things right, the world is is your inheritance, is your promise,
and that as you step out and become you know,
who you were meant to be, that there is a
lot of blessing that awaits you on the other side,
a lot you know that that that piece of it
(20:17):
and I and really there's kind of a third piece
to that, to that title too, which is that people
in the world are waiting for you. So, for instance,
when I was so good out of college and I
was praying about my first TV show and okay, God,
are you said to be there? Like, I just want
to start out my career knowing that that we're partnered
up right, Like do you want me to take this role?
(20:38):
Do you not want me to take this role? And
he said to me there are people there waiting to
hear from you, and sure enough, and I first God
on set. You know, it was like Wow, God started
moving from the first day. And a lot of times
people don't realize and entertainment that that the full story
is not just what you see, like not just what's
(20:59):
on TV or that's just what you know you're hearing
on an album. It's like some of it's behind the scenes.
And so from day one in my career, God started
showing me that I've set up people that are.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Waiting to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Yeah, And so so I think all of that really
fueled the title of that book. And then God Dream
was the idea that you know, Oprah has this quote,
God can dream a bigger dream for you, and I
really leaned into that, you know, the idea that I
(21:34):
have a dream, but what does it look like that
God has for me that's so much bigger than my own?
And while we can get scared right to like, oh,
surrender's a render, like I'm giving up something. It's actually
I'm opening myself up to the biggest dream that could
ever be dream for me. And that's what that phrase
(21:59):
is really about.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
People in the world are waiting for you. Did you
ever suppress who you were?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yes, I still fight that. I'm still tempted. Oh yeah,
oh big time. You seem surprised. You look surprised.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Very good, y'all, I promise y'all.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I don't know it was either sometimes as I had
a pastor that he would say, sometimes God super comes
over your natural But I'm telling y'all, the first day
I saw her in that room on a panel, she
had this authority and she had this boldness.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
That's what so.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, so I'm just wandering in those moments in entertainment
because it's like, oh, Lord, here, come to Jesus girl.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
You know, all, Lord here comes up.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
She's gonna have some positive to say today. You know,
did you ever have to feel well, no, I'm not
even fel I'm not even gonna try to sweepen it up.
Did you ever suppress that?
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Well, I know I've certainly I have certainly been tempted to.
I've certainly felt insecure about that. I have certainly felt like,
oh gosh, what are people gonna think about me saying
this or doing that or or like you said, like
I didn't remember that that's where we met, and I
didn't know that you were in the audience as I
(23:28):
was praying, right, I didn't.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, I'm trying because I don't. I probably have seen
you around. I don't know, but that was my first
Like it.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Might have been wild, So that might have been one
of the.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
And how we ended up exchanging numbers. I don't know.
I don't.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
One of those events, but yeah, it was, like it
is this.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It's a constant battle of I think, especially as an
entertainer or performer, right, Like you want to be accepted,
you want to be received well, and sometimes you can
second guess yourself of oh if I do this, or
if I say this, or you know, if I'm too
(24:10):
much of this, will I be accepted?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But you know, I think it's beautiful. What uh what?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Denzel recently said that when viral, you know, he was
talking about followers and whatever. He was like, you know,
being canceled and.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
All these things.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
I can't be canceled about don't sign up, and he's like,
I'm God's child. You take that up with the father?
What do you say, I don't follow nobody. I follow Jesus.
Like he's so unapologetically. You know, Well, when you want
to talk about the world is waiting for you, that
(24:46):
you have to be everything that encompasses you.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
And that was the revelation that I got while writing
the book. Wow, see that's in the book. You know
when you I'm sure you probably experienced it when you
wrote your book. It's like you're writing and these things
are coming out of you, but they're also coming to you.
The confrontation also with you. You know, I'm talk in the
book how important that authenticity is, but I too have
(25:15):
to keep leaning into that.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Right. Oh, you're gonna pick up this book in a
couple of years. You're gonna look at the You're gonna
have to look at the cover sometimes and be like,
wait a minute, don't shrink, don't shrink, don't shrink. And
even the subtitle embrace your calling.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
You.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
You wrote this, you said these words.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Or there are times I found myself having having a
bunch of anxiety and it was like, go.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Back to that book, go to that page. Don't.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
But it also lets people know you are human and
yes we can have these a moment, these amazing revelations.
Yes God is walking with us, Yes he's allowing us
to be vessels for him. But we are human, and
sometimes you just want to shrink and hide and say
I don't want the world to wait for me.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
Go on, world, somebody else, and then we know all ourselves,
we compare and how do you So that's that's anti
embracing your calling if when you're comparing yourself as they
say it was not, there was no conference call when
God called you. Absolutely absolutely, And I think especially now
(26:26):
that we're in this era of social media and like
everybody can see what everyone else is doing, and you know,
and and then there's follower counts, and there's likes, and
there's views, and you know, it's like set up.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
For you to constantly be reminded of, well, to what
extent do people care? To what extent do people want
to hear from you? To what extent right? And but
but that's a false metric, that is a false metric
or scrolling, scrolling and seeing someone else.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Do this that maybe you want to do oh, you know,
and then and.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Then some how it's designed to make you feel like
you are smaller, to make you feel like you are
less than not realizing that, no, the unique power that
you have. People are waiting for people are waiting.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And not only do we do that, not only do
we compare ourselves while we're sitting watching and look at
what other people are doing. How many of us have
been guilty of trying to even curate whoo, what we're
to do based on even the optics of what someone
else is doing.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
Good night, good night, good night, and good luck.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Like, oh, man, I guess I should well when I
do my event, I should have the pink balloons too. No,
now that sounds kind of like shallow, but you know
what I'm saying. It's like you have something unique to do,
and then you see somebody else doing something and it
takes off and before you know what, you're trying.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
To do what they do.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
You're even trying to work with the people they worked
with in and it's like, no, God already got your tribe,
He's already got the people for you when he told
you to, when he gave your calling, he already knew
that there were going to be people that he needed
on this journey, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Say something else.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Well, So in the book, I talk about the curse
of comparison, and I really spend some time with that
because I do feel that a lot of people are
allowing comparison to make them shrink and to make.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I'm taking a note, so you know, that's good.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
That's good, you know, and just that with that curse
of comparison, that's what it is.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Like.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
There's this phrase that I share in the book that
says the way to get people to stop manifesting their
powers to believe that they don't have any. And so
if we believe that we don't have any power, we
will not fully step into it. So if the enemy
can convince us, in turn that we are not as
(29:01):
valuable as we are, that we are not as powerful
as we we're not as talented as we are, then
we'll cease to show up in this world in the
way that we were called to. But we are called
to take up space. We are called to step into
our purpose and the grandeur of.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
What we've been called to.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
And I'll say another thing, us receiving what other people
have to say about us, that is contrary to what
God has had to say about us. Okay, I just
need to put that out there now. Talk about that
in the book too. I lived in New York for
a long time. A part of why I stayed in
New York is because my agents told me you will
never make it in Hollywood. Hollywood is for beautiful people, okay,
(29:50):
of which you are not. You'll never make it there.
You need to stay in what. They said that for years.
So once I received a prophetic word, God is about
to transition you to Hollywood, there was a tension because
I've been told over and over I'll never make it there.
It's for beautiful people. I'm not pretty enough, I'm not
(30:13):
this enough, I'm not that enough. That kept me in
a place, and I've noticed that many times, many stages
where I've been told, Oh, I was told I'll never
write a book. I'll never get a book deal, I'll
never get a book agent, I'll never have a published book.
I was told that multiple times. But that's what I mean.
(30:35):
There is a defiance, a hole science that must come
up in you when you realize that there is a
God dream that supersedes anybody else, that there is a
word over your life that supersedes anybody else's word.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Well, yeah, not only does she have a book deal.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Matter of fact, me and you have shared share the
same publishers, HarperCollins. Yeah, but y'all, the ForWord is by
Viola Davis.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
There are gems in the book as well that you
share from Oprah Wintrey. So I'm like, I love that
they said you ain't gonna ever write a book and
that you'll never be in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
So I hope that that is.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Inspiring, But it's still hurtful to hear those words, those
that people said to you. I can identify with some
of that, and I just got the revelation a lot
of people won't embrace our calling due to those negative
words that somebody that you loved and trusted spoke over you.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Now, I ain't gonna hold you too long.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
But that's why I'm like, this book gotta come out now.
It's not supposed to come out until September, y'all and.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Somber night, but you can pre order it right now.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
So that September ninth. Once you pre order it today
September ninth, the book will be at your door. May
I ask about the forward written by also, if I'm
not mistaken.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
She was a former roommate.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Of yours, Queen Viola Davis and Queen Viola Davis.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
So so here's the amazing thing, going back to the
book deal and going back to even you know you're saying, Hey,
we share the same publisher. Right when I met with
the publishing company, they said to me, we are the
team behind Viola Davis's book Finding Me, and we read
(32:54):
what she had to say about you in her book,
and we would be so honored to publish your book
as well. The divinity of that, that full circle nature
of that, and what Viola was saying about me in
(33:15):
her book had to do with my spiritual impact in
her life and how that has manifested over the years.
And sometimes you just don't know that while simply serving,
while simply allowing yourself to be a vessel in someone
(33:37):
else's life, that God can turn around and bless you too,
and bless you with even more than what you expected.
And so when she said, oh, I will absolutely write
the ForWord for your book, it was the most beautiful
(33:57):
full circle moment. Now somewhere on the internet, someone I
gotta find get this corrected. Someone said, oh, we're we
were roommates. No, let me correct that. Okay, as a
young actress, Viola was already she was you know, when
I was in college, I was doing plays that I
would see her name.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
She was the one who originated the roles.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
So by the time I got to Hollywood as a
young actress, she was already you know Oscar name.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Okay, she was already Viola in Yeah, she was, she
was at that point.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
And she and her husband said, come live with us,
Come live with us. They took me under their wing.
They mentored me, they poured into me, they took me
with them everywhere, and and so I lived with them
for months, and you know, our relationship just deepened and grew.
(34:54):
I helped them start their production company. And I'm the godmother.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Now for their daughter. You know.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
But what I realize again, when you move by faith,
When you move by faith, God sets up every body.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
And everything that you need.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
I had no idea where, you know, I got cast
in a show on Hollywood. All my housing fell through.
I'm like, God, you prophesied to me that you were
sending me there and now a.
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Place to live.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
And just like that, my phone rang and they were like, oh,
you can live with us, and it literally changed the
trajectory of my life. And now here we are with
this book and we're doing an event together.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Viola and I are doing an event together at the Grove.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
If any of you want to join us on September eighteenth,
get your tickets on Barnes and Noble website or on
my website at Weenafinley dot com. Forward Slash Book, Viola
and I will be doing a wonderful event there at
Barnes and Noble at the Grove. I would love for
you all to come, you know, but it's just a
(36:01):
lot of full circle moments that are happening right now.
But they all started from a place of service and
of being open to God's possibilities absolutely.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
And doing to thank you so much before you leave,
Can you just share something with a listener who is
just who They probably don't even know what to call it,
but they're like, I feel like I'm supposed to be
doing something and I don't know what it is, or
just my family and my circumstances just got to do
(36:36):
what everybody else is doing.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
What will you say to them?
Speaker 3 (36:41):
I will say, first, I believe that I believe that
God had them in mind when calling me to write
the book. So one thing about a calling is that
it's seldom simply about you. A lot of times we
look at our purpose as far as us and we
(37:02):
don't realize again that demand of the world. No, it's
that the world needs you. It's that there are people
that are waiting for you. And so for me to
have had these like prophecies, write the book, write the book,
wrote the book, I think it was because of that
person that is wondering how do I move from where
(37:26):
I am right now to where I'm feeling led to go?
So this writing of this road map, this guide is
for you. So that's number one. Number two is do
not discredit the power of prayer. And I am not
trying to say that as any kind of like pat
(37:46):
answer or time that you actually spend with God. The
more you get to hear his voice, the more you
recognize his voice. Most of us are on social media
way more often than spending time in the presence. Right,
presence is where we have life, is where we actually
(38:09):
have life, but we're busy trying to figure out our
lives on our own. And so I would say, like
connect to the source. Connect connect connect connection right really,
and then I would say, you know, I'm a big
proponent of journaling and like writing down what has been
spoken over you to now, what's been revealed to you
(38:34):
to this point, what have you felt called to begin
that you have not started yet, Because a lot of
times it's it's not that that that that you don't
have any revelation about where you're going.
Speaker 4 (38:49):
Sometimes it's steps that you haven't taken the step.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
And you don't realize by you taking one step, it
then opens it up for the next stepping, for the
next step, and then suddenly you've a arrived at the summit,
but you're waiting for the summit from the beginning, and
God saying, take the steps, take the step. So I'm
gonna challenge you, oh listener, take the step, because that's
(39:16):
it is what is going to begin to open up
the world for you. One of my absolute favorite scriptures
is Joshua one three, whersoever the soul of your footshell tread,
I will give unto you, which means that you have
to start treading. You can't sit. You can't sit there,
(39:36):
you have to start treading. Put your foot on it.
I do that all the time. I did that at Shondaland.
I did that at Oprah Winfrey Network. I did that
at Tyler Perry Studios. I pit physically went and put
my foot on it and declared that scripture.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
And each one of those places opened up to me.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
She said, you gotta tread. You gotta have some motion. Folks.
These young people are saying motion.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
You gotta have some emotion, and yes, and the rest
will fall into place.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Thank you so much. Congratulations on your book.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I saw the joy on the post that you posted
when you got the actual final book in the cover
you're unboxing, so that yes, there it is.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
It's beautiful. The purple and the gold leafing. It's beautiful. Absolutely,
it's purple, your favorite color.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
You know what it was like, I have this journal
that's purple and gold. I didn't even put it all together,
but I think it's that royalty. Like I really wanted
people to feel that sense of royalty. That's who you are,
that is.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
Your real calling for real. Wow, you are royalty, and.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
I want to go and feel that when.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
They get this book.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Well, it is absolutely beautiful. You are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Thank you so much for checking in with us today.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Wasn't this conversation everything you needed?
Speaker 1 (41:04):
I know? Okay, let me just say this conversation was
everything that I needed.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
I get so inspired by people who.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Who don't quit, especially when things have been throwing your away.
Did y'all hear when she said someone told her like
she ain't pretty enough, or like she's not like what?
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Who in the world?
Speaker 3 (41:31):
What?
Speaker 2 (41:32):
What's the saying?
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Are you?
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Are you okay? People are absolutely nuts?
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Or when they tell you you're not gonna be able to
write a book, no one's gonna publish your your work.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
We just gotta pray. We just gotta pray.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
So no, no matter what has been said to you,
if you're an adult listening, I'm sure there are things
that were said to you as a child that probably.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Still it'll stick with you to this day.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
And I hope that we can turn it into fuel
to keep going and to manifest the absolute life that
God has designed for us to live. Thank y'all for
checking in. Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production
of iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(42:25):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Y'all listen, welcome to Checking In.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
This season has been absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Just the diversity of.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
People that I've gotten to talk to, from doctors to
actresses to toy designers. I think it's absolutely amazing. Today's
episode is with Edwina Findley Dickerson, who has been on
our TV screens for a long time, not only in
(00:47):
TV but in film, currently starring in the Residents. She's
been in Power, Chicago, Mad, Black Lighting, If Loving You
Is Wrong, Tremy Law and Order, Come On, all the
way Back to the Wire, in One Life to Live.
(01:08):
She's everywhere and has an amazing new book coming out
that we get to talk about. I'm so excited y'all
to host Edwinn and Finley on this episode of Checking In. Hey, everybody,
(01:31):
welcome to another episode of Checking In. What I get
excited about the episodes and the guest. It seems like
every week it goes higher and higher and higher. Not
only higher, but it goes deeper as well. I am
so excited about this particular guest. I met her through
(01:57):
doctor Holly Carter. I believe years years ago. I think
this was from what I'm recalling at the Merge summit.
You and she was on a panel, and I believe
they asked her to pray, or she just felt led
to pray.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It was something.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And y'all, let me tell you, I really believe this woman.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Is here today.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Her life is fruit because of her faith and her prayers.
Now we know her as acting on some of the
most amazing television shows. Do we have to go through
her resume? We absolutely do. She also has a new
book coming out, but we know her from The Residents currently.
(02:47):
If Loving You is Wrong, just so many things, a
classically trained artist in theater. I've got some other things
to share, but I want to get into why I'm
really excited to have her here from the wire from
TREMAE If Loving You Is Wrong? So many amazing things.
(03:10):
But I'm excited about her faith and her prayer life
and just just as.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And her new.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Book, and that is I can't wait to get my
hands on her book as well. So y'all you're probably wondering, well,
who is it, girl? Who is it? It's Edwena Finley Dickerson. Y'all,
come on, give us a little clap.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello, Michelle. It is so wonderful to
be reunited with you. Yeah, that beautiful introduction. I love
you and love what you're doing, and I'm so honored
to be here with you.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Listen, I am so excited, and I was not surprised
about the title of your book.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The world is waiting for you.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I respect everything that you've done as an artist, as
an actress, but I get excited because I don't feel
alone as being the church girl or the person of faith.
Just tell me, how do you feel about all this
that I've just said.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Right now, I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Feeling so full already and we're on like minute too, Okay,
my conversation. You know, you know, I'm curious how it
was for you as far as like before Hollywood and
before huge stages, right and let me tell you actually,
now I'm having the flashback of me being I think
I had just come out of college and I had
(04:38):
your gospel, your gospel album, and I would just play
it over and over, and I remember feeling the same
way about you. I felt like, Wow, she is really
unashamed about her faith. And I feel like when you
get to that point, it's because God has rooted something
so deeply in you that you know, if you separate
(05:01):
from that, it's actually an offense, right, Like that comes
together with the calling. If I'm going to exalt you,
if I'm going to allow the world to know your name,
if I'm going to allow you to be on television
or movies or you know, Broadway shows, all these things,
I just need you to know what comes along with that,
(05:21):
and what comes along with that calling is staying true
to that first relationship, right, And so a lot of
times what we find, I think, unfortunately, is that people
are ushered into their greatness and then decide, thank you
very much, God, we appreciate your partnership up to now
(05:42):
I've got it.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
I've now got it.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
And I think that's the biggest temptation, right, because we
want to appeal to a mass audience. We want to
be accepted, we want to be validated, we want to
be celebrated, and so sometimes we feel like we have
to leave God at the door or in order to
do that. But if we really think about it, it's
his power.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
That caused us to be where we are.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So so so yeah, I mean, you know, you talked
about prayer life earlier, and I feel like that's what
keeps us rooted right and grounded and kind of remembering
who we are and whose we are and why we are.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Thank you for sharing that, because as I was prepping
and just looking over everything, I was also looking at
your career, and I could be wrong. Now, we are
always privy to some people might say, you know, this
was hard, was a this was a struggle, this was
a difficult this has been a difficult journey.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
But it seems like you haven't stopped working, you know what.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It's always funny when people say that's because people say
that an interview is a lot. They're like, you haven't
stop working. You started wearing, you haven't stop working. And
I think as an actor like you yourself are.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Aware of when you stop working.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
But maybe the fact that I guess God just set
it up that way. I don't know, like I've just
kind of always had projects coming out and coming out
and coming out, and so maybe it seems like, oh, yeah,
it's just been one big upward trajectory.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
But people don't.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Speak behind the scenes of like, oh, it could have
been a year in between this project and that project.
It could have been two years between that project and
this project or true you know, or doing maybe and
you've done this as far as maybe doing theater while
you're recording, while you're whatever, you know. And so I
have definitely been blessed in those various seasons where I
(07:36):
might be doing two or three projects at the same time,
and you know, because they come out, you know, sort
of in this staff.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You know what. I didn't think of that because we
see the we'll see three projects of yours come out
the same year. But don't realize you could have recorded,
you could have filmed these two and three, four five
years ago, and.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Things could have been stagnant.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
But it just seems like du bam, it's like this
this this, this is like no, y'all, she filmed this
two or three years ago. It takes a while to
edit the marketing, just like your new book. Yes, people
don't realize you probably started writing this a long time ago.
I didn't know until I wrote my book that they
(08:23):
were like, yeah, this ain't gonna come out for about
two years. What it's not yourself published. It could come
out tomorrow, right, Oh, So so I get it. So
it's like you have your new book that's it's not
out yet, but on the on the grounds of being
in the residence all of this, and it's like, how
(08:45):
are you doing it all? You just mentioned to me
your children, Okay, right.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
You know it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I feel like a lot of us, a lot of
us really lean into the promise, right, Like we all
have a promise over our lives. You know, we all
have a dream in what I call in the book
a God dream, right, And sometimes we think, oh, our
dream starts with us, right. I want to be married,
I want a home, I want a successful career, I
(09:14):
want money.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I want you know, children, whatever it is, right.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
But sometimes you don't also realize, oh wait, God wants
that for me. God has a dream that's over my life.
And so a lot of this book, the world is
waiting for you, embrace your calling and manifest the God
dream that's over your life. It's leaning into that, right,
Like what is God saying about me? And what is
(09:40):
God saying about my life? And for me, I've just
been I don't know audacious enough to believe that, Okay,
if I'm believing God for all these things. And then
they actually come. The husband comes, and the children come,
and the book comes, and the dooman comes and the
finances come or whatever it is, that he has also
(10:01):
given me the strength to sustain it all, right, it all.
And there was a time, and y'all will tell you
I was afraid of having children as an entertainer. I
was like, oh my gosh, what what what will that
even look like? Will I have to stop working? And
(10:21):
so I was very afraid. And strangers started coming up
to be prophesying that I was about to have a baby.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
Like you know, you are like like this is witchcraft.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Get away from that, okay.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And actually the funny thing, the first person that approached
me was Terry Crews's wife, Rebecca Cruz.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Who was she got she she she know Jesus, yes
she does.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I had to come.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I had to come into that that revelation that, oh,
you know the father.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
She was the first one.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
She grabbed my hand and she said, God is saying
you're about to have a baby, you know. And I
snatched my hand away and she said, but it's not
going to stop your life. And there's gonna be an
acceleration after that. And very soon after that, multiple people,
you know, even strangers, started prophesying the same things to
me and then people started calling with dreams, and then
that's when I surrendered. It was like, oh, God, am
(11:22):
I being disobedient by not surrendering to your God dream
that's over my life? I did as soon as I
literally said a prayer of surrender. I chose to not
take my birth control that particular week, and I got
pregnant immediately, immediately, and motherhood has been the most beautiful
(11:43):
thing in the whole We're like the most beautiful thing
in my life. But I realized that I could have
missed it had I not been listening and surrender Yeah, yeah,
the voice right. And so I feel like when you
have a God dream over your life, that surrendering is
so important because then you're partnering with God right in
(12:07):
the direction in which he's leading you, versus well, this
is what I want, this is what I want. I
don't want this, I don't want that, and having a
little ala carte menu of which your life's going to be,
and then maybe coming to realize like, wow, you know what,
if I would have surrendered to the voice, this could
have looked a lot different. But it's never too late.
(12:27):
And that's the beautiful thing about God, right, He already
knows the choices that we're gonna make. So he's already.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Ahead of us.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
He's all, here's ahead of us, right, and like he's
already accommodating the fact that Okay, that may not have
been the best choice. So oh, that wasn't the road
I was trying to take you down.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
You went on that road. But let's let's are we
gonna partner again?
Speaker 3 (12:46):
You're coming back, okay? You holding my hand? All right,
I'm going to lead you into this abundant life. Don't
have to worry about it. But it does require surrender.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Listen, I'm just envisioning you partnering with God, right, But
I know me. I'm imagining me partery with God saying
I surrender, but I'm kicking and screaming, maybe complaining a
little bit.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
But look, you go though, you.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Go, even if you have to drag you. It's not
like your hand away.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
You let them.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
It's kind of like your parents would tell you something
to do. You do it, but you murmuring under your breath,
you know, but you do it. You go, and there's
a positive outcome from obeying. I've seen you just have
(13:49):
such a full life being overseas with your family doing this,
doing that. It is a joy to see because it
just makes me smile. I am to the point where
I'm like, where I'm I didn't think I wanted children,
(14:10):
then now all of a sudden, I would want children,
but I'm not married. And I'm like, did I wait
too late? You should have had this glow up in
your womb twenty years ago. Now all of a sudden
you're talking about you want children.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And I just tell you a little testimony on that, Yes,
a little testimony in that. So I have a girlfriend
who's an actress who has wanted to be a mom
for many years, but saying she was not married, she
didn't you know all of that, And then she was
in a relationship with the wrong person, and.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I was like, for a long time.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
They got out the relationship, she was like, oh God,
I gave that man my whole baby making years was
with the wrong person. And she was like, and I
asked her about the relationship. I said, to God, give
you any converslation, you.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Know, revelation about the relationship from the beginning. She was like, yeah,
he told me. He told me I wasn't supposed to
a relationship.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
But she kept going because you know, as women, we
have hope, we have expectation, We just we see the
potential for however many years, eight years or whatever, you know,
she spent with him and it.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Just never happened.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
And so once they once they parted, she was really
devastated because now will I even be able to have
a child, Will I ever get married? You know, all
these things. And she started doing fertility work and supporting
other women in their fertility journeys, even while she herself,
you know, had had concerns herself. One day, the Lord
(15:51):
gave me a dream and I saw her so specifically pregnant.
I saw her on a talk show. I saw her pregnant,
and it came so strongly that I had to reach
out to her. And you know, you don't want to
get people's hopes up by saying like, well, God told
me God, but I just felt this.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
So strongly anyway, do you know?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
And she would see that, and I saw the scripture
about Sarah right and the Angel coming to Sarah, and
it was a miracle.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Do you know that she is now turning fifty and
this girl is pregnant in three I mean, she's she
is due in three weeks fully wow fully pregnant, just
had a fabulous baby shower that I.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Just went to go for it, and I said, look
at God.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
God does not his promises. Iyay nay.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
If he promised, oh yeah, you can think that it's
too late.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You can think that you missed it.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You can think that old my mistakes made it impossible
for this to happen, or whatever the case.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
But yes, I've seen too much. I've seen him.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yes, And that's why I really wrote this book like
manifest the godging over your life. I don't be afraid,
don't don't don't feel like God has forsaking you or
forgotten about you, or that it being delayed means that
it's denied.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's denied. It's not.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
And that's what I was segueing to to to your book,
But before I got there, you just remind me of
so many people in my.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Life who have it all.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Who where you thought, well, if you're a woman, you
have to choose between work and family. But it's like
it's probably I can imagine it being exhausting at times.
Your mother, a wife, you work, and you have you
have your tentacles in so many places. And now you're
(17:49):
adding author to your schedule, to your resume. The book
is called The World Is Waiting for You, y'all. While
she's currently starring in the Residence on Netflix, she's now
author of the World.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Is Waiting for You.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
The book is described as a faithful and laugh out
like guide to manifesting your God dream and creating the
life you've always wanted. Two things, How did you come
up with the World Is Waiting for You? And your
God dream too?
Speaker 4 (18:28):
H Wow, that's good.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
You know. The World Is Waiting for You is in
some ways a double entendre. It's like there are special
things right like like in the book, I talk about
leaning into your superpower, right, like, what is your superpower
for the gifts that you were born with? What is
this you know, grand vision that's been over your life
(18:53):
that's just been waiting for you to fully fully tap
into it? And I believe, especially now that I'm a mom,
I see with children, they they when they come out,
they have certain gifts already inside already yeah, already like
a personality and gifts and talents and you know, and strengths,
(19:13):
and so becoming a mama became just really sensitive of that, Like, wow,
when we come into this world, we are already wrapped
as a gift. And a lot of times it's us
discovering what our gift is and allowing the world to
experience it. And so one part of that title, the
world is waiting for You, is you being able to
(19:34):
press past your self doubt, press past your insecurity, your
you know, your fears, to allow the world to experience
the fullness of who you are. The other part of
it is that the world is a gift to you.
So as you said, you know, followed my journey filming
in London and different you know places. I'm on my
(19:55):
way to Africa now to launch the book. Like these
things right, the world is is your inheritance, is your promise,
and that as you step out and become you know,
who you were meant to be, that there is a
lot of blessing that awaits you on the other side,
a lot you know that that that piece of it
(20:17):
and I and really there's kind of a third piece
to that, to that title too, which is that people
in the world are waiting for you. So, for instance,
when I was so good out of college and I
was praying about my first TV show and okay, God,
are you said to be there? Like, I just want
to start out my career knowing that that we're partnered
up right, Like do you want me to take this role?
(20:38):
Do you not want me to take this role? And
he said to me there are people there waiting to
hear from you, and sure enough, and I first God
on set. You know, it was like Wow, God started
moving from the first day. And a lot of times
people don't realize and entertainment that that the full story
is not just what you see, like not just what's
(20:59):
on TV or that's just what you know you're hearing
on an album. It's like some of it's behind the scenes.
And so from day one in my career, God started
showing me that I've set up people that are.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
Waiting to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Yeah, And so so I think all of that really
fueled the title of that book. And then God Dream
was the idea that you know, Oprah has this quote,
God can dream a bigger dream for you, and I
really leaned into that, you know, the idea that I
(21:34):
have a dream, but what does it look like that
God has for me that's so much bigger than my own?
And while we can get scared right to like, oh,
surrender's a render, like I'm giving up something. It's actually
I'm opening myself up to the biggest dream that could
ever be dream for me. And that's what that phrase
(21:59):
is really about.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
People in the world are waiting for you. Did you
ever suppress who you were?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yes, I still fight that. I'm still tempted. Oh yeah,
oh big time. You seem surprised. You look surprised.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Very good, y'all, I promise y'all.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I don't know it was either sometimes as I had
a pastor that he would say, sometimes God super comes
over your natural But I'm telling y'all, the first day
I saw her in that room on a panel, she
had this authority and she had this boldness.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
That's what so.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Yeah, so I'm just wandering in those moments in entertainment
because it's like, oh, Lord, here, come to Jesus girl.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
You know, all, Lord here comes up.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
She's gonna have some positive to say today. You know,
did you ever have to feel well, no, I'm not
even fel I'm not even gonna try to sweepen it up.
Did you ever suppress that?
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Well, I know I've certainly I have certainly been tempted to.
I've certainly felt insecure about that. I have certainly felt like,
oh gosh, what are people gonna think about me saying
this or doing that or or like you said, like
I didn't remember that that's where we met, and I
didn't know that you were in the audience as I
(23:28):
was praying, right, I didn't.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, I'm trying because I don't. I probably have seen
you around. I don't know, but that was my first
Like it.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Might have been wild, So that might have been one
of the.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
And how we ended up exchanging numbers. I don't know.
I don't.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
One of those events, but yeah, it was, like it
is this.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
It's a constant battle of I think, especially as an
entertainer or performer, right, Like you want to be accepted,
you want to be received well, and sometimes you can
second guess yourself of oh if I do this, or
if I say this, or you know, if I'm too
(24:10):
much of this, will I be accepted?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (24:13):
But you know, I think it's beautiful. What uh what?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Denzel recently said that when viral, you know, he was
talking about followers and whatever. He was like, you know,
being canceled and.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
All these things.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
I can't be canceled about don't sign up, and he's like,
I'm God's child. You take that up with the father?
What do you say, I don't follow nobody. I follow Jesus.
Like he's so unapologetically. You know, Well, when you want
to talk about the world is waiting for you, that
(24:46):
you have to be everything that encompasses you.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
And that was the revelation that I got while writing
the book. Wow, see that's in the book. You know
when you I'm sure you probably experienced it when you
wrote your book. It's like you're writing and these things
are coming out of you, but they're also coming to you.
The confrontation also with you. You know, I'm talk in the
book how important that authenticity is, but I too have
(25:15):
to keep leaning into that.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Right. Oh, you're gonna pick up this book in a
couple of years. You're gonna look at the You're gonna
have to look at the cover sometimes and be like,
wait a minute, don't shrink, don't shrink, don't shrink. And
even the subtitle embrace your calling.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
You.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
You wrote this, you said these words.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Or there are times I found myself having having a
bunch of anxiety and it was like, go.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Back to that book, go to that page. Don't.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
But it also lets people know you are human and
yes we can have these a moment, these amazing revelations.
Yes God is walking with us, Yes he's allowing us
to be vessels for him. But we are human, and
sometimes you just want to shrink and hide and say
I don't want the world to wait for me.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
Go on, world, somebody else, and then we know all ourselves,
we compare and how do you So that's that's anti
embracing your calling if when you're comparing yourself as they
say it was not, there was no conference call when
God called you. Absolutely absolutely, And I think especially now
(26:26):
that we're in this era of social media and like
everybody can see what everyone else is doing, and you know,
and and then there's follower counts, and there's likes, and
there's views, and you know, it's like set up.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
For you to constantly be reminded of, well, to what
extent do people care? To what extent do people want
to hear from you? To what extent right? And but
but that's a false metric, that is a false metric
or scrolling, scrolling and seeing someone else.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Do this that maybe you want to do oh, you know,
and then and.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Then some how it's designed to make you feel like
you are smaller, to make you feel like you are
less than not realizing that, no, the unique power that
you have. People are waiting for people are waiting.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And not only do we do that, not only do
we compare ourselves while we're sitting watching and look at
what other people are doing. How many of us have
been guilty of trying to even curate whoo, what we're
to do based on even the optics of what someone
else is doing.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
Good night, good night, good night, and good luck.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Like, oh, man, I guess I should well when I
do my event, I should have the pink balloons too. No,
now that sounds kind of like shallow, but you know
what I'm saying. It's like you have something unique to do,
and then you see somebody else doing something and it
takes off and before you know what, you're trying.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
To do what they do.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
You're even trying to work with the people they worked
with in and it's like, no, God already got your tribe,
He's already got the people for you when he told
you to, when he gave your calling, he already knew
that there were going to be people that he needed
on this journey, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Say something else.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Well, So in the book, I talk about the curse
of comparison, and I really spend some time with that
because I do feel that a lot of people are
allowing comparison to make them shrink and to make.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I'm taking a note, so you know, that's good.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
That's good, you know, and just that with that curse
of comparison, that's what it is.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Like.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
There's this phrase that I share in the book that
says the way to get people to stop manifesting their
powers to believe that they don't have any. And so
if we believe that we don't have any power, we
will not fully step into it. So if the enemy
can convince us, in turn that we are not as
(29:01):
valuable as we are, that we are not as powerful
as we we're not as talented as we are, then
we'll cease to show up in this world in the
way that we were called to. But we are called
to take up space. We are called to step into
our purpose and the grandeur of.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
What we've been called to.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
And I'll say another thing, us receiving what other people
have to say about us, that is contrary to what
God has had to say about us. Okay, I just
need to put that out there now. Talk about that
in the book too. I lived in New York for
a long time. A part of why I stayed in
New York is because my agents told me you will
never make it in Hollywood. Hollywood is for beautiful people, okay,
(29:50):
of which you are not. You'll never make it there.
You need to stay in what. They said that for years.
So once I received a prophetic word, God is about
to transition you to Hollywood, there was a tension because
I've been told over and over I'll never make it there.
It's for beautiful people. I'm not pretty enough, I'm not
(30:13):
this enough, I'm not that enough. That kept me in
a place, and I've noticed that many times, many stages
where I've been told, Oh, I was told I'll never
write a book. I'll never get a book deal, I'll
never get a book agent, I'll never have a published book.
I was told that multiple times. But that's what I mean.
(30:35):
There is a defiance, a hole science that must come
up in you when you realize that there is a
God dream that supersedes anybody else, that there is a
word over your life that supersedes anybody else's word.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Well, yeah, not only does she have a book deal.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Matter of fact, me and you have shared share the
same publishers, HarperCollins. Yeah, but y'all, the ForWord is by
Viola Davis.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
There are gems in the book as well that you
share from Oprah Wintrey. So I'm like, I love that
they said you ain't gonna ever write a book and
that you'll never be in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
So I hope that that is.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Inspiring, But it's still hurtful to hear those words, those
that people said to you. I can identify with some
of that, and I just got the revelation a lot
of people won't embrace our calling due to those negative
words that somebody that you loved and trusted spoke over you.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Now, I ain't gonna hold you too long.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
But that's why I'm like, this book gotta come out now.
It's not supposed to come out until September, y'all and.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Somber night, but you can pre order it right now.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
So that September ninth. Once you pre order it today
September ninth, the book will be at your door. May
I ask about the forward written by also, if I'm
not mistaken.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
She was a former roommate.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Of yours, Queen Viola Davis and Queen Viola Davis.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
So so here's the amazing thing, going back to the
book deal and going back to even you know you're saying, Hey,
we share the same publisher. Right when I met with
the publishing company, they said to me, we are the
team behind Viola Davis's book Finding Me, and we read
(32:54):
what she had to say about you in her book,
and we would be so honored to publish your book
as well. The divinity of that, that full circle nature
of that, and what Viola was saying about me in
(33:15):
her book had to do with my spiritual impact in
her life and how that has manifested over the years.
And sometimes you just don't know that while simply serving,
while simply allowing yourself to be a vessel in someone
(33:37):
else's life, that God can turn around and bless you too,
and bless you with even more than what you expected.
And so when she said, oh, I will absolutely write
the ForWord for your book, it was the most beautiful
(33:57):
full circle moment. Now somewhere on the internet, someone I
gotta find get this corrected. Someone said, oh, we're we
were roommates. No, let me correct that. Okay, as a
young actress, Viola was already she was you know, when
I was in college, I was doing plays that I
would see her name.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
She was the one who originated the roles.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
So by the time I got to Hollywood as a
young actress, she was already you know Oscar name.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Okay, she was already Viola in Yeah, she was, she
was at that point.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
And she and her husband said, come live with us,
Come live with us. They took me under their wing.
They mentored me, they poured into me, they took me
with them everywhere, and and so I lived with them
for months, and you know, our relationship just deepened and grew.
(34:54):
I helped them start their production company. And I'm the godmother.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Now for their daughter. You know.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
But what I realize again, when you move by faith,
When you move by faith, God sets up every body.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
And everything that you need.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
I had no idea where, you know, I got cast
in a show on Hollywood. All my housing fell through.
I'm like, God, you prophesied to me that you were
sending me there and now a.
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Place to live.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
And just like that, my phone rang and they were like, oh,
you can live with us, and it literally changed the
trajectory of my life. And now here we are with
this book and we're doing an event together.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Viola and I are doing an event together at the Grove.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
If any of you want to join us on September eighteenth,
get your tickets on Barnes and Noble website or on
my website at Weenafinley dot com. Forward Slash Book, Viola
and I will be doing a wonderful event there at
Barnes and Noble at the Grove. I would love for
you all to come, you know, but it's just a
(36:01):
lot of full circle moments that are happening right now.
But they all started from a place of service and
of being open to God's possibilities absolutely.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
And doing to thank you so much before you leave,
Can you just share something with a listener who is
just who They probably don't even know what to call it,
but they're like, I feel like I'm supposed to be
doing something and I don't know what it is, or
just my family and my circumstances just got to do
(36:36):
what everybody else is doing.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
What will you say to them?
Speaker 3 (36:41):
I will say, first, I believe that I believe that
God had them in mind when calling me to write
the book. So one thing about a calling is that
it's seldom simply about you. A lot of times we
look at our purpose as far as us and we
(37:02):
don't realize again that demand of the world. No, it's
that the world needs you. It's that there are people
that are waiting for you. And so for me to
have had these like prophecies, write the book, write the book,
wrote the book, I think it was because of that
person that is wondering how do I move from where
(37:26):
I am right now to where I'm feeling led to go?
So this writing of this road map, this guide is
for you. So that's number one. Number two is do
not discredit the power of prayer. And I am not
trying to say that as any kind of like pat
(37:46):
answer or time that you actually spend with God. The
more you get to hear his voice, the more you
recognize his voice. Most of us are on social media
way more often than spending time in the presence. Right,
presence is where we have life, is where we actually
(38:09):
have life, but we're busy trying to figure out our
lives on our own. And so I would say, like
connect to the source. Connect connect connect connection right really,
and then I would say, you know, I'm a big
proponent of journaling and like writing down what has been
spoken over you to now, what's been revealed to you
(38:34):
to this point, what have you felt called to begin
that you have not started yet, Because a lot of
times it's it's not that that that that you don't
have any revelation about where you're going.
Speaker 4 (38:49):
Sometimes it's steps that you haven't taken the step.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
And you don't realize by you taking one step, it
then opens it up for the next stepping, for the
next step, and then suddenly you've a arrived at the summit,
but you're waiting for the summit from the beginning, and
God saying, take the steps, take the step. So I'm
gonna challenge you, oh listener, take the step, because that's
(39:16):
it is what is going to begin to open up
the world for you. One of my absolute favorite scriptures
is Joshua one three, whersoever the soul of your footshell tread,
I will give unto you, which means that you have
to start treading. You can't sit. You can't sit there,
(39:36):
you have to start treading. Put your foot on it.
I do that all the time. I did that at Shondaland.
I did that at Oprah Winfrey Network. I did that
at Tyler Perry Studios. I pit physically went and put
my foot on it and declared that scripture.
Speaker 4 (39:51):
And each one of those places opened up to me.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
She said, you gotta tread. You gotta have some motion. Folks.
These young people are saying motion.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
You gotta have some emotion, and yes, and the rest
will fall into place.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Thank you so much. Congratulations on your book.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I saw the joy on the post that you posted
when you got the actual final book in the cover
you're unboxing, so that yes, there it is.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
It's beautiful. The purple and the gold leafing. It's beautiful. Absolutely,
it's purple, your favorite color.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
You know what it was like, I have this journal
that's purple and gold. I didn't even put it all together,
but I think it's that royalty. Like I really wanted
people to feel that sense of royalty. That's who you are,
that is.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
Your real calling for real. Wow, you are royalty, and.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
I want to go and feel that when.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
They get this book.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Well, it is absolutely beautiful. You are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Thank you so much for checking in with us today.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Wasn't this conversation everything you needed?
Speaker 1 (41:04):
I know? Okay, let me just say this conversation was
everything that I needed.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
I get so inspired by people who.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Who don't quit, especially when things have been throwing your away.
Did y'all hear when she said someone told her like
she ain't pretty enough, or like she's not like what?
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Who in the world?
Speaker 3 (41:31):
What?
Speaker 2 (41:32):
What's the saying?
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Are you?
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Are you okay? People are absolutely nuts?
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Or when they tell you you're not gonna be able to
write a book, no one's gonna publish your your work.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
We just gotta pray. We just gotta pray.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
So no, no matter what has been said to you,
if you're an adult listening, I'm sure there are things
that were said to you as a child that probably.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Still it'll stick with you to this day.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
And I hope that we can turn it into fuel
to keep going and to manifest the absolute life that
God has designed for us to live. Thank y'all for
checking in. Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production
of iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(42:25):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
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