Blooming into God's Plan - Dr. Jewel Williams

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This week in Relentless Hope, Dr Jewel Williams teaches us how throughout her life, God's unconditional love has brought forth beauty from ashes. Despite the pain of her past, Jewel emerged as a beacon of hope, a testament to the power of faith and the resilience of the human spirit. Today, she stands firm, knowing that she is not an orphan but a cherished child of God, destined to make a difference and leave a legacy in the lives of others.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him and
his righteousness, unto his children's children Psalm one O three seventeen.
My Father and my God, thank you for your mercies
and steadfast love. You have carried me through every storm

(00:22):
and offered me protection in your arms. Allow your grace
and mercy to shine through me so that I may
always receive your love and protection. Help me to stay
rooted in your words so that I may find strength
and comfort when faced with difficult situations. Grant me with
your wisdom so that I may always be at peace

(00:45):
and find joy in every moment. Amen, thank you for
joining us in prayer. Now for the Relentless Hope Podcast,
where we bring you true stories and personal testimonies that
will help you love your life, lead with purpose, and
leave a legacy of helping others.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
No matter the depth of our struggles or the weight
of our uncertainties, we can transform them into fertile ground
for growth and purpose, blooming beautiful through faith, resilience, and
the understanding that we are cherished in God's underlying love. Today,
we are privileged to hear an inspiring story of resilience
and transformation. Our guest, Jewel, takes us on a profound

(01:34):
journey from a painful past to a place of healing
and restoration through God's unyielding love. Jul's life was burden
with countless ifs. What if I had run, what if
it's my fault? Those questions haunted her as she faced
the unimaginable traumas of her childhood and young adulthood. But
it was in her darkest moments that God began his

(01:55):
extraordinary work in her life. Yet in her brokenness, God
revealed a powerful message, don't mind the dirt, you will bloom.
He showed her that every challenge, every trial, and every
if could be transformed into fertile ground for growth and purpose.

(02:15):
This week in Relentless Hope, doctor Jewel Williams teaches us
how throughout her life, God's unconditional love has brought forth
beauty from ashes. Despite the pain of her past, Jewel
emerged as a beacon of hope, a testament to the
power of faith and the resilience of the human spirit. Today,
she stands firm knowing that she is not an orphan,

(02:35):
but a cherished child of God destined to make a
difference and leave a legacy in the lives of others.
So I invite you to join us as we listen
to Jewel's remarkable story of transformation, redemption and relentless hope.
Let her journey inspire and remind us all that no
matter the depth of our struggles or the weight of
our ifs, God's love and purpose can bring forth a

(02:57):
life of blooming beauty. Let's begin today's episode of Relentless
Hope with Doctor Jewel Williams. Doctor Jewel recounts the pivotal
moment in her life when God initiated their healing process
through an unconventional method. Reflecting on their academic achievements and
the positive feedback from instructors, they confronted the truth about

(03:20):
their self perception, leading to a transformative turning point. Guided
by faith.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
He used an unusual way to begin my healing process.
He did it by sending me back to school to
get my bachelor's degree. And so by the end of
that first year, he told me to look at my
grades and the comments that I had received from my instructors. Well,
at the time, I had all a's and all of
the comments that I'd gotten over that year for my

(03:47):
instructor were positive. In fact, some of them I still
have to this day, which are years and years later
in a fold or somewhere in a file. And so
then God asked me an unusual question. He said, Jewel,
what is the truth? Is what you believe about yourself true?

(04:07):
Or what your instructors? Is that the truth? So it
made me think, and I really thought about that. So
I said to myself, well, why would these instructors lie
about this? They have no reason to tell me something
if it were not true. So therefore I had to
come to the conclusion that what I was thinking was
not true, but what they were saying was true. And

(04:31):
it was at that point this became the defining point
in my life, Thank you Jesus, where God turned me
around and began my healing process.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
On part one of this three part series, we followed
doctor Joel's journey of healing and self discovery, from facing
a painful past filled with trauma and rejection, to finding
solace and the unconditional love of God. Doctor Jewel shares
her experience with resilience and faith. Narrative reveals how she
navigates the challenges of life transforming the dirt and hardships

(05:05):
into fertile ground for growing and blooming into her true
purpose and destiny.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Life. What do you do with the ifs in life?
As the child, things seemed great. My mom and dad
were in the house, and it felt like a normal family,
whatever that feels like. And I am the sixth child
of seven. In fact, i'm the youngest girl, with the

(05:38):
brother just a few years younger than I am, And
so everything seemed perfect until my parents divorced. Truthfully, things
weren't perfect, but as a child, I did really understand that.
I was first molested as a child at about the
age of six by an older boy at my aunt's house.

(06:03):
I didn't know how to stop it, so I tried
to pretend it didn't happen. I remember at the time
that I was eating a peanut butter sandwich, and so
for years I couldn't stand the smell of peanut butter.
And in fact, if I tried to eat a peanut
butter sandwich, it made me physically sick. I was fondled

(06:25):
by a man who lived in the neighborhood. Didn't know him,
don't know where he came from, but he told me
he would hurt me if I told my family, and
I believed him, so anytime I had to throw out
the trash, I wouldn't wait for my brother and make
him go out with me because I didn't want to
see this man again. I thought that he was lurking

(06:49):
and waiting for me. I felt defenseless and too afraid
to tell anyone what was happening. Besides, who would believe me?
That's what the man told me. He said, no one
would believe me. I was sexually attacked again as a
young teen, about the age of fourteen, by a young

(07:12):
man my father allowed to move into our house after
he and my mother divorced. What was devastating for me
was my dad believed his girlfriend this was her nephew,
when she said I was a liar. And I remember
that day. I was sitting outside of the bedroom door

(07:34):
waiting for him to go and tell her what happened,
and she said I was a liar. It didn't happen,
it wasn't true. So I waited with my ear pressed
against the door for what seemed like an eternity for
him to speak up for me and to say no.
She wouldn't lie, but I didn't hear him say anything.

(07:55):
He didn't say anything. He said nothing. So I said
that I got up and remember sitting at our dining
room table at the time, and I just sat there.
And so eventually he came out of his bedroom. He
looked at me. He was dressed and ready to go,
and he didn't say anything. He just walked out of

(08:16):
the door and went to work. So you can imagine
I felt totally rejected by my own father. So I
didn't know what else to do. So I called my
mom and I told her to come to get me.
So I moved to live with my mother after that,
but it didn't get any better. By this time, my

(08:37):
mother had become an alcoholic. She drank all the time.
My stepfather, he made it his job daily to tell
me that I wasn't going to be anything and that
no one would want to listen to me about anything.
He told me I was dumb, I was stupid. He
told me that I would be nothing but a woman

(08:58):
on welfare with a bunch of kids. He even tried
to sell me to the old man in the neighborhood,
and when I refused, then the joke became that I
was gay to be honest, I would prefer him to
do that then to try to push me off on
these old gross being in the neighborhood. And so in

(09:20):
the midst of all of this, we went to court
for the sexual assault that took place when I was
still living with my dad. So how horrific it was
to have my dad standing with the accused and not
standing with me. I felt such shame having to tell
what happened to me. It was degrading, and I just

(09:43):
wanted to run out of there and just forget that
any of it happened. This wasn't the last attack on
my life. I was later raped when I went to college,
and because of all of the things that happened before that,
I believed that it was my fault. I shouldn't have
gotten in the car with this guy, I shouldn't have

(10:04):
talked to him, I shouldn't have gone to his apartment.
I shouldn't I shouldn't have done all of these things.
So it was my fault, and so I didn't say anything.
And so by this time I really believed that everything
that happened to me it was because I had done
something wrong. There was something wrong with me. So after

(10:24):
I was married, my sister's husband tried to sexually attack me.
This time. I was so angry and I was tired
of people trying to do things to me and try
to take things to me, and so I really wanted
to kill him. I mean so much so that there
was a rage that rolls up in me that I

(10:45):
didn't even realize could be on the inside of me.
And the feelings scared me. But this event also scarred
my relationship with my sister for years because she didn't
want to believe it. So what was I supposed to
do with all these ifs? What was this was do
with all of the IFFs that life had given to me?

(11:06):
And that didn't make sense, and that hurt me and
scarred me and made me doubt myself. I found myself
for years trying to suppress every event. I would tell
myself that they didn't happen. And I remember even with
the event when I was raped in college and I
told it to my friend and I just told her

(11:28):
it didn't it didn't count as how I would say it.
I know she laughed, I laughed with her, but it
really was just my way of saying I couldn't I
couldn't deal with it. I couldn't. I couldn't handle it,
you know. So even though I suppressed these events to
some degree, I also couldn't stop in my mind the

(11:49):
thoughts that were constantly going on about the what ifs.
What if you had run? What if it's your fault?
What did you do? The calls this Maybe if you
were a good girl, lovable and obedient, If you were
that kind of girl, maybe your daddy would have loved
you enough to stand up for you. Maybe this all

(12:13):
happened to you because you are unlovable and worthless. And
as time passed, those what ifs began to be rooted
in my heart. I carried with me for years the
feeling of being dropped. I didn't want to go to
new places because I didn't know what I would find there.
In fact, I had to be in places where I

(12:36):
was in control. My emotional response to things were just
not rational. For example, if we were driving and you
realized that we needed to make a sudden turn, you know,
at the at the corner, and we would just maybe
you know, feed away from it or whatever. I would
almost just go into this emotional rant, why do you

(12:58):
wait the last minute? And I didn't realize that all
of that came from this place of not being able
to handle the unexpected. I realized I lived a fearful life.
So to combat not knowing, I tried to control everything.
I tried to make sure that I could handle everything.

(13:21):
But I later also realized that that feeling of being dropped,
of not being loved, being orphaned, was also how I
viewed God. I viewed and thought that he would drop
me at times, especially the times when I would need
him the most, that he wouldn't be there for me.
I realized I had an orphaned spirit. I didn't believe

(13:44):
that I was important to God because all of the
things that happened to me. Now, I want you to
understand something. I was a Christian at this time. I
got saved when I was young, and I remember even
the time when I found this track on the street.
It was of a homeless boy, and on this track
it was like a pencil drawing. And this little boy

(14:05):
lived in a box. Nobody wanted him. He went from
place to place trying to get someone to accept him,
but no one would, and so he lived in this
He lived in this box on the street, and eventually
he died in that box on the street. But in
the end of the track, God came and Jesus came
and took him and said, I have a home for you. Well,

(14:26):
I felt like that orphaned boy that nobody wanted, that
was a throwaway. And so for me, that track said, Joel,
you can get to heaven. Nobody may want you down here,
you may be worthless down here, but just know there's
going to come a time when God is going to
let you be with him. And so for me, as
a Christian, I was excited that that God at least

(14:49):
was going to let me come and be with him.
But all of the really great things happening now and
to happen to someone in the current, oh that was
for someone else, like I said, And I was just
happy to know that I could go to heaven. I
didn't believe that there was anything great or special in
me or about me, and I lived like this for years,

(15:12):
well into my adult years. For years, for years I
lived like this. But God, in his mercy, he intervened
because he had a plan for me. He had something
different for me that I had yet to acknowledge and see.
So God began to unravel my distorted life view and

(15:34):
to deal with those ifs that I carried around in
my heart. And I love the fact that God does
not always heal and deliver in the same way. I mean,
even when you read scripture he healed, he didn't always
heal the same way. He didn't always deal with each
person the same because He's unusual and he does. He
meets us in those unique ways. And so that's what

(15:56):
he did for me. He used an unusual way to
begin my yearly process. He did it by sending me
back to school to get my bachelor's degree. And so
at the end of that first year, he told me
to look at my grades and the comments that I
had received from my instructors. Well, at the time, I
had all a's, and all of the comments that I

(16:17):
had gotten over that year for my instructor were positive.
In fact, some of them I still have to this day,
which you're years and years later in a fold or
somewhere in a file. And so some of the comments
were things like, you have been a delight to teach.
One professor said, if this were a horse race, you

(16:37):
are leagues ahead. So then God asked me an unusual question.
He said, Juel, what is the truth is what you
believe about yourself truth or what your instructors is that
the truth. So it made me think, and I really
thought about that. So I said to myself, well, why

(16:59):
would these instruction just lie about this. They have no
reason to tell me something if it were not true.
So therefore I had to come to the conclusion that
what I was thinking was not true, but what they
were saying was true. And it was at that point
this became the defining point in my life, Thank you Jesus,

(17:20):
where God turned me around and began my healing process.
So in that very moment, I felt the love of
God like I had never felt it before. He revealed
that all these things I had been believing and that
I had told myself they weren't true. I didn't do
anything wrong. The enemy of my soul wanted to kill, steal,

(17:42):
and destroy my destiny. But Christ, my saviors, thank you Jesus,
wanted to release the abundance that he had died for.
He had died for me. He died to give me
the abundance of what God has in store for me.
He wanted me to receive that, and it took me
many more years for me to get to the full

(18:04):
healing from that broken place. But I learned that day
my life was in an accident, and all the horrible
things that happened were going to be used by God
to make a difference in the lives of those he
had called me to touch. I had some assignments on
my life. They were gonna need to hear from me.

(18:24):
They were gonna need to hear my story. They were
gonna need to know that just like I made it,
they could make it too. And so over the years,
you know, God has allowed me to face those things
that continue to reveal the residue of those drop feelings,
those orphan feelings. Because I don't care how long we live.
God heals us, he delivers, He sets us free. But

(18:46):
the enemy of our soul always constantly tries to take
us back to those old places. And one of the
most recent times that God used to show me that
there was still some residue was related to us starting church.
That my husband and I pastor of Under Life Worship Center.
We did all that the Lord had told us to do.
We were in accordance and to what the requirements were

(19:10):
for our particular denomination. We didn't just start a church
out of division or frustration or anything like that. We
prayed about it, we went to our state pastor, we
spoke with him and got permission to do some things.
So we thought we were doing everything in the right way.
But we were rejected immediately, and the attack really wasn't

(19:33):
against my husband, it was really for me. But immediately
we relied on and I mean, things were said that
I was still in money from because we had the
time we were holding services in our home and they
were being said that I was still in money from
the church. It was said that I was trying to
break up someone's marriage, that I was given false prophecies,

(19:54):
and just doing all kinds of things that were not
true at all, to the point the lies grew so
big that even though we went to all of the
meetings to try to reconcile and handle these things, eventually
my credentials were stripped and we were put out of
the affiliation. So you can imagine this girl who had

(20:17):
dealt with rejection and feeling like an orphaned. I was devastated,
and those old feelings of rejections that all abandoned feeling,
that old orphan feeling tried to rise again on the
inside of me. I was heartbroken, and I couldn't understand
why God wouldn't stop the attacks. I actually became quite angry,
and I began to feel dropped because I said to God, Hey,

(20:39):
I didn't do this on my own. You know, I
didn't even want to be a pastor. This wasn't my idea.
Why would you let this happen? And so I began
to struggle a little bit. But the Loving Father we served.
Thank you Jesus. I'm so grateful. He turned that hurt
and that brokenness around like he has done in every

(21:00):
situation of my life. And he is using it and
showing that he can use it for his glory. And
this is the lesson that he gave me. And he
used the scripture in Mark four and eight, and I
want to read that for you. It's in the New
Living Translation, and this is how it reads. Still, other
seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted and grew

(21:22):
and produced a crop that was thirty and sixty and
even one hundred times as much as had been planted.
So this is what God said to me as it
relates to the ifs in my life. He said, Jewel,
don't mind the dirt, you will bloom. Let me say
that again, he said, Jewel, don't mind the dirt, you

(21:45):
will bloom. And he said this, He said, all the
things that have come up against you from your childhood,
with the affiliation with people, you know, ridiculing you, people
talking about you, people lying on all of that dirt
in the past, he said, I guess well, there's gonna
be some dirt in the future. People are gonna say
you shouldn't do this. People are gonna talk about you,

(22:07):
you're a woman, you shouldn't preach. You're gonna hear all
kind of dirt. It's gonna come up against you now
and even in the future. And we know, he said,
you know that this is the devil's way of trying
to throw dirt on you. He said, So he throws
the dirt of rejection, of fear and doubt and so
many other things to do what to try to kill us. However,

(22:30):
a loving father, he says, I turn that dirt that
the devils threw on you. I turn it into fertile soil,
so that when I plant you, you become the seed.
The destiny that I've spoken over you is that seed
that I'm going to plant so that it can do
and yes, guess what. Before a seed grows, it has

(22:50):
to endure the pressure as something that when a seed
is planted and something it reacts to the soil that
causes the reaction. So the seed says, I'm finally going
to die and I'm going to release what's on the
inside of me so that that fruit can grow. See,
I didn't realize that every attack, the lies, the things

(23:13):
that came from my youth, all were ways God would
use to release something on the inside of me to
create the fruit he desires for my life. See, even
just a few years ago, when he sent me back
to school for my doctorate degree, he said, Juel, I'm
going to send you to school to help you learn

(23:33):
how to be a leader. He's because I want you
to realize that you're going to learn how to live
from the inside out. I'm going to create a whole
servant leader out of you. And so it's easy to
look at the things that have happened in my past
and I can make a choice to be bitter. I

(23:54):
can stay in a place of brokenness. I can say
why me, why me? Why me? I can keep listening
to all of the ifs that the enemy gave me.
But then I miss becoming the fruit, that seed that's
planted and in bringing forth the fruit. So life, life,

(24:15):
What do you do with the ifs in it? Well,
this is what I had to learn. You give them
to God and watch him create something beautiful from it. See,
God takes the ashes of our lives and he brings
beauty from it. He brings beauty from ashes, all of
the abuse, all the hurt, all of the rejection, the neglect,

(24:38):
all the ugliness, because that stuff is ugly, all of
the ugliness, only God could bring something beautiful from it.
So we have to learn to bloom in the midst
of the dirt that the devil throws on us.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
So what he's gonna try to throw dirt because he
wants to kill us. He wants to steal, kill, destroy,
He wants to kill your purpose. He wants to destroy
who you are in God.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
He doesn't want us to be people that know who
we are and to acknowledge our sonship with God. He
wants to stay in that place of an orphan, because
if you're an orphan, then you don't take access to
the gifts that you have from the Father. So we
learn how to bloom in the midst of the dirt
that the devil throws us. He said, he meant it

(25:26):
to kill us, but God makes it fertile ground to
grow us. So what's the last thing I want to say.
I want to remind you of what God says to me.
Don't mind the dirt. You're gonna bloom. The dirt now,
the dirt of the future. Whatever the devil tries to
throw at you in life, whatever the ifs are that

(25:49):
he tries to throw it at you, say like I did,
I bloomed. I owe God myself because of what He
sacrificed through Christ to give to me, and so that's

(26:09):
my liability. I owe God something. Now, what I owe
him is myself, and so I offer myself to him
so that He can now love through me. And so
the way that I pay forward, so to speak, is
by loving others. It's very simple. We see it. The
scripture John three sixteen says, for God so loved the

(26:30):
world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
but believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasted life.
And so that's how I receive, That's how you receive.
That's how we as leaders received because Christ died, and
so now we have access to this Lord. And why
does he do it? He gives it to us so
that we can now give first. John three point sixteen says,

(26:51):
hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid
down his life for us, and we all to lay
down our lives for the brother. So the leader therefore
loves those that he or she leads with this unlimited
liability of love. You love those you lead, not because
they deserve it, not because they can afford it, not

(27:13):
even if they're because they're thankful for it. And you
don't limit it in any way, because if you limit it,
it is no longer unlimited. See, you limit your love
if you tell people they have to they have to
do something to receive your love. Because God didn't tell
us to do something to receive or his love, He
just gave it to us.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
On part two of this three part series, doctor Jewels
shares her journey of discovery, her calling as a leader,
and how God led her to embrace the concept of
being a whole servant leader. She emphasizes the significance of
understanding one's identity in Christ and allowing God to heal
broken areas to lead from a place of love, transparency,

(27:56):
and humility. Doctor Jewle's vision for leadership is centered on
being in a vessel of God's love and serving others
without limitation, illustrating the essence of an unlimited liability of
love as the foundation of true leadership.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Oh, I never thought much about leadership. That was my
husband's area. I was gifted as a teacher, and I
was just happy being in that place of teaching. However,
one day, the Lord woke me from my sleep and said, Jewel,

(28:32):
get ready to go back to school for your doctorate degree.
And I said to myself, truly, I must be having
a delusion. This can't be God's So I pulled the
cover up over my head and tried to go back
to sleep, But God wasn't heaven. I couldn't shake the
Lord's voice speaking to me. He said, Jewel, I need

(28:54):
you to go back to school so I can teach
you how to leave. He told me, He said, many
of my children start this journey of leadership well, but
some don't finish because they never allow me to deal
with the brokenness within their hearts. He said, when they
don't they become either dictators instead of servants. It's about

(29:17):
you doing everything the way I want you to. Why
because there's this personal satisfaction that I need to receive
out of leading you, he said. Or they lead seeking
ministry to validate them for their personhood, when that really
only comes from God, he said. Or others begin to

(29:39):
build the kingdom to this false trinity. And I call
that the trinity of me, myself and I. And I've
often even when I've preached and talked to people, I said,
how you know you are in this false trinity of me,
myself and I is because everything is about you. You
talk about you all the time, what you want, what
you need? Who did for me? And so God said,

(30:00):
you begin to build this kingdom on this false trinity
of me, myself and I instead of my kingdom. So
this is what happens when you don't let me heal
those broken areas. And so he said, I want to
teach you how to lead from the inside out. So,
being obedient, I rolled in Bethel Seminary to begin my

(30:22):
journey to understanding what it means to be a leader. Again,
I didn't see myself as a leader, and I think
that was partly because of the types of leaders that
I saw. I saw leaders who were controlling or manipulative,
or who weren't willing to build others. It didn't matter
if you had gifts, it didn't matter if God wanted

(30:44):
something to be manifested and developed in someone else's life.
These leaders were focused on themselves. So when I began
to read about serving leadership, I was excited because I
realized I found myself. This was who I was and

(31:05):
who I wanted to be. So I grabbed hold early
on in my time of study to a phrase that
was originally coined first by Robert Greenleaf and then used
later in her work by doctor Kathleen Patterson. And it's
a phrase called unlimited liability of love. It's unlimited liability

(31:25):
of love. And so for me, this is true leadership.
This is what the leader, this is what leadership is
all about. And so what does this mean? Well, first,
it starts with us understanding our foundation as a Christian leader,
whether I'm in the church or in my own business.

(31:45):
I own a publishing company, whether I'm in my business,
in my home, wherever I'm leading. So this isn't just
a leadership theory for the church. This is for us
as Christian leaders wherever we find ourselves the corporate So
it starts first with us understanding that Christ died for
us so that we could be what I state as

(32:08):
a whole servant leader. Now, this is a phrase that
I defined in my doctor work, and this is the
definition of it. This is a leader that allows God
access to their sole issues so that God can produce
a healthy heart for the leader. And when God produces
this healthy heart within the leader, he or she is

(32:31):
able and equipped to now lead God's people God's way.
And what God will do is he will put his
attributes on display in us so that the virtues that
come out of us will help us lead others. Let
me just say that again. This whole servant leader is

(32:51):
one that allows God to deal with their soul issues,
with the brokenness. So this means we take our anxiety, ease,
our depressions, our fears, our doubts, all of those things.
As I've said, those ifs in life. He takes those
ifs in life, those places where we've been heard and abused,

(33:12):
that we give them to God, and we give them
to him. He will then show us how he wants
to heal us in those areas. What's our part? What
process do we have to play? Because part of our
process may be to forgive some part of our process
may be to release or to step out of agreement
with some things. But God will bring us to the

(33:34):
place so that He can heal us and that we
can behold in those areas. And now this is key.
We can't receive helpful things we aren't willing to acknowledge
in faith. So there's this amount of transparency that we
must have before God so that we can then receive
his healing. We can receive that wholeness that he wants

(33:55):
from us. Because God wants us to discover those blind sides,
those blind areas in our lives, and often those are
the places that we that are there, those issues, those
things that need to be healed, but we're fueling them,
we're feeding them. And because we're fueling the wrong things.
You know, God told it to me once like this,
He said, Jewell, stop feeding the dead what I've killed

(34:17):
or what I want us to destroy on the inside.
If you don't go back and feed it, it's dead.
And so God doesn't want us to fuel and feed
those blind sided areas, those dead things in us, because
when we feed it, or feed those areas, it keeps
us from walking in our complete wholeness. So let me

(34:38):
just state this here as I go on, that this
isn't a one and done kind of process, isn't a
one time thing. This is a lifelong process. I know, honestly,
I have to rely on this all the time. And
you know, one of the most recent times that I
had to really rely on God dealing with some very

(34:59):
broken place. This was when we started our church. And
at the same time we were starting a church, and
I was in the process of working on getting my
doctor's degree, and I had such an attack come against
me that I was ready to quit everything. I was
ready to quit school. I was ready to just say, okay, Lord,
this church thing is maybe I didn't hear you, right,

(35:20):
I just let's just call it a day and I'll quit.
But I had to ask God for help. I had
to be willing to say, God, this is something I
can't do. It's too great for me. And so through
a time of prayer and fasting and meditating on the
word I'm talking about, chewing that word over and over
and over and over again. And times I read it,

(35:41):
it didn't make sense and it didn't seem like it
was going to happen. But I had to keep meditating
on it and seeking his face until I was able
to see what was still in me. See I was
still dealing with some residual rejections and feelings of not
being enough. And once I knew that was causing my
response to the attacks, I knew how to see God's healing.

(36:03):
And I just want to insert right here for a moment.
We can have attacks that are come against us as leaders,
and the attacks are wrong by no means are they right?
Or no means is God trying to attack us in
these areas. But what God wants us to do is
I can't necessarily stop someone attacking me. I may not

(36:25):
necessarily be able to stop when someone says negative, but
I am responsible to God on how I respond. And
so it is in this place, when you're a whole
servant leader, that you're able to respond to your attacks
from a place of healthy from a healthy soul. And
that's really what God wants to do in his leader.

(36:46):
He wants to build us so that even if attacks come,
we're in a healthy place and a healthy mindset when
we deal with and so in leadership, it's also important
for us to understand that it's not our job to
make everybody happy. It's not our job for every to
try to make everybody agree with us. There's going to

(37:08):
be conflict. You're not going to be a leader and
be without some conflict, without some body being discontent. And
so that's not your job to worry about making this
age tay totally non existence of stress. That's in heaven,
that's not gonna happen here on earth. But it is
our job as leaders to be obedient to what we

(37:29):
were called to do. So even if there's conflict, we
were call to go in and be peacemakers. If there's
issues where people are broken and heard, if we are
the cause of it, it's our job to go in
and to repent and to mend and to replace and
to build back up. So we may not do it
all the time perfect, but it is our job to

(37:50):
make sure we show up and be obedient to doing
our best for God. And so this means, as I said,
we're gonna continually face difficulties. But until we learn how
to become whole servant leaders, we will continually become depressed,
feel worthless, or even God forbid, forget what our purpose
was in the first place. I love a scripture in

(38:13):
Galatians one in one and Paul writes this, Paul an apostle,
not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ
and God, the Father who raised him from the dead.
Now this verse is one that can easily be overlooked
because we're trying to get to what we consider the
meat of the scripture. But I believe this one verse

(38:36):
is vital for every leader to grasp. Paul in this
statement is letting you know he is sure of his personhood.
He knew his calling, he knew was an apostle, and
he knew that it was not by the hand of men.
He knew who called him, It was Jesus himself. And
the whole servant. Leader has to understand their person And

(39:00):
what I appreciate is, yes, Paul is an apostle. But
even greater than that is he understands where it came from.
It was Jesus Christ through the way of the Father.
Because of christis sacrifice. And we have to understand our calling.
But yes, even greater than understanding our calling is that
we understand our sonship. Being leaders isn't the first thing

(39:22):
we should pursue. It's being a son or it's being
a doer. And I think the greatest thing we can
do as leaders is to first make sure our sonship
is in order, that we understand who we belong to.
And once we understand who we belong to, that even
if my calling is apostle today, that if my calling

(39:43):
is to be mentored tomorrow, or if my calling is
to be quiet for a season, whatever my calling may be,
I'm fine with the calling and the shift because that
doesn't change my sonship. Once the leader understands who he
is or she is, then we can live out the
attributes of God, such as love and mercy and wisdom

(40:03):
and faithfulness and grace. These are the things that God
wants to build on the inside of us, and he
wants to do that, but they can't coexist. I can't
have love in me the way God wants me to
love if there's bitterness. And so that's why God wants
to do this work on the inside. And when we
allow him to do the work on the inside, then

(40:25):
the virtues will come out and others will see them.
They'll see the love, They'll see the mercy, they'll see
the wisdom, the faithfulness, and the grace. They'll see that
in us because it's coming out of us. And so
I can love you. Why because God loves me. First,
I received his love, so now I'm equipped to love
somebody else. And so leaders we have to continually walk

(40:48):
with the understanding that we didn't purchase God's love. God
Christ purchased it for us and by his life, and
then he freely gave it to us. And so there's
really nothing I can do to deserve it. I can't
be good enough, I can't work enough, I can't do
anything to deserve his love. But this is what I

(41:11):
think is key, and this is why I go back
to the phrase that I talked about at the beginning,
unlimited liability of love. And this is what that phrase means.
I owe God myself because of what He sacrificed through
Christ to give to me, and so that's my liability.
I owe God. Soon now what I owe him is myself,

(41:35):
and so I offer myself to him so that He
can now love through me. So the way that I
pay forward, so to speak, is by loving others it's
very simple. We see it. Scripture John three sixteen says,
for God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him should not paris,
but have ever lasted life. And so that's how I receive.

(41:58):
That's how you receive. That's how we as leaders received,
because Christ died, and so now we have access to
this love. And why does he do it? He gives
it to us so that we can now give one.
John three sixteen says, hereby perceive we the love of God,
because He laid down his life for us, and we
all to lay down our lives with the brother. So

(42:20):
the leader therefore loves those that he or she leads
with this unlimited library. You love those you lead not
because they deserve, not because they can afford it, not
even if they're because they're thankful for it. And you
don't limit it in any way, because if you limit it,
then it's no longer unlimited. See, you limit, you limit

(42:42):
your love if you tell people they have to they
have to do something to receive your love. Because God
didn't tell us to do something to receive or his love.
He just gave it to us. And so we have
to love like that. And so we have to lead
from this altruistic perspective that you do what's right because
it's the right thing to do, not because you're going

(43:02):
to be rewarded for it, not because somebody's going to
see you do it. You simply do it because it's
the right thing to do. But guess what, none of
this can happen if we haven't taken the brokenness of
our lives to God. So I had to learn that
those I lead are God's people. I'm his hands, but
I don't own them. I don't own his people. They

(43:25):
aren't there to make me feel better about myself. They
aren't there to validate our purpose. That's got to come
from God. And the way we relieve requires us to
have a vision for others. We have to be willing
to empower them to become the best they can be,
and to be willing to trust them with the future.
Not only the future of the church, but we have

(43:48):
to be willing to tell people, let me help you
so that I can show you how to be trustworthy
even with your future, even with the vision that God
has for your future. Our church, which our abundant life
worship Center is in an area our churches in Chicago,
and it's an area called and known as Terror Town.

(44:08):
It's because of the violence and the things that goes
on there. There's prostitution, there's drug addiction, there's homelessness and
mental people that have a lot of mental issues. There's
a lot of lack and these are some of the
main things that you see from day to day. Just
a lot of hopelessness. And I remember when we first

(44:28):
planned at the church. We've been now in this location
for two years, and I remember asking God, what do
you want us to do? How do we how do
we break through these barriers? What is it that you
want us to do here? And his answer was very simple,
he said, be love. So we've been doing that for
the last two years, and I've been trying to teach
our leaders and those that come into our church this phrase.

(44:50):
We are saved to serve. And it's not just to
catch you phrase, but it's a way of life. Even
Jesus said I didn't come to be but to serve,
and so we were saved by Christ. To serve. That
means serving the needs of others, serving God's purpose. And
so this ministry as if my ministry and those that

(45:14):
are raising the leadership, and for those of the listen
your ministry or whatever you're doing. Your leading isn't about
how many sermons you could preach or even how popular
you are. That's personal kingdom. Remember to me, myself and
I leaders in God's kingdom are concerned about building His kingdom,
and we've done that building in our area by listening

(45:37):
to the needs of the community. Good servant leaders, good
hole leaders, must be listeners, listening not only to what
is said, but what is implied. Listen, you have to
listen kind of with your whole being. What are they saying,
but what are they not saying? What's the stuff that
they've given up hope on so they won't even voice it.

(45:58):
You have to ask God for discernments of the you
can hear the full story, even the parts that they're
not telling. And after we heard from the community the community,
we fasted and we prayed to get direction from God.
A good leader, a whole servant leader, has to see
God's direction for the vision that he has for your
life and for the work that he wants to come

(46:19):
from your hand, and don't move until you get it.
Sometimes I know I can be quite impatient. I wanted
it to happen yesterday, but I can't move until God
has shown me now is the time to move. And
that's what we had to do. And He began to
give us the things to do in our area. He
shows us, you know, how to love, He shows us

(46:44):
how to do the things in the community. And one
thing he showed us is that you're going to have
to be consistent in your love walk because this community
has been so hurting, so hurt, and they've had their
share of church because what they have viewed church was
that they only want them for their numbers or for
their money. And I've heard more times than I can

(47:07):
say people telling us we've never had any of the
churches and they ever do this before. I mean, we
were doing things like we would just you know, do
random lunches. We would give away lunches, and I remember
the first time we did it, everybody kept saying, well,
how much is what we have to pay? And they
were like, it's got to be something. I said, okay,
surely there is. And one person kind of almost thought of,

(47:28):
ho got you, And I said, well, you have to
let me pray for you. You don't know how many
faces I've watched where people have just realized we didn't
want anything from them, We were there really to give.
So we've given away back to school supplies. We've done
that kind of thing. We've taken food to neighbors just
because we had extra food and we wanted them to

(47:50):
be able to enjoy a dinner. We had a yard
sale where actually everything was giveaway. We've watched women come
out of prostitution and addiction because someone for the first
time had a vision for their lives. And good leaders,
good whole servant leaders have to be bold and willing

(48:11):
to speak vision over people that at the time when
you speak in it, they may not even look like
what you're speaking. But the truth is, did we look
like what we look like now before God spoke over us?
Absolutely not. I was a broken woman. I didn't see
any good thing in me at all. It wasn't until

(48:33):
God sent some people willing to see vision for me
so that I was able to finally see vision for myself.
And whole servant leaders have to be willing to be transparent. Now,
while I might not share every hardship I faced in
my life, I realized that some of the greatest victories
for someone else are depending on my willingness to share

(48:54):
how God has brought me through some of my difficulties.
And so as leaders, we must be willing to share
our good and are bad to help others when you're whole.
When you're that whole servant leader, you don't have a
need to appear perfectly for people. You're secure in your
relationship with God. I love it. Even Paul says, you
know when he talks in that scripture, when he says,

(49:16):
you know, I know to do good, but I don't
always do it, he was willing to be transparent. We
have to be willing to be transparent because we help
those in need. So what resulted from my dissertation work
was the creation of a model that I used and
some of those things that really were key for leaders
was to one understand there's a need to have a mentor,

(49:39):
and I believe all leaders need to have someone willing
to invest in them a leader. To be whole, you
also need to be self aware and open for self development.
You have to be transparent, and we have to teach
leaders how to create a healthy environment that it's okay
that conflict may arise, but you don't give up. You
going and willing to stand in those places so that

(50:03):
you can help others. So as bios leaders that we're
intentional about developing not only ourselves, but those that are
emerging leaders that are coming behind us leadership. I didn't
see myself as one, but I was willing to allow
God to develop me and to his need to develop
the whole servant leader in me, so that I can

(50:25):
love with this unlimited library of love towards those that
I am called to lead. The struggles would leave in
the legacy is will what I'm doing matter? Or will
those behind me really carry it forward? But what I'm
happy about is as quickly as that doubt might come,

(50:46):
or those thoughts might come to our matter, I'm reminded
that what's done for Christ will last. That's the word.
So my challenge then isn't so much will it matter.
My challenge is to make sure that my legacy isn't
all about me, but leaving something that continues to point
the next generation to Christ. It's about that consistency that

(51:09):
I just spoke about. I gotta do it now, even
if it seems foolish. I have to keep going in
I have to keep pressing even if it doesn't seem
like I'm going to see fruit from it. But in
due season that fruit is going to come. And legacy
isn't something we often think about as it relates to
our calling, or leadership or even our churches. We see legacy,

(51:32):
as I said, it's really about leaving something for our children.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
On part three of this three part series, Doctor Jewel
reflects on the struggles of leaving a lasting legacy and
the importance of carrying forward their work for Christ. Doctor
Jewel emphasizes the significance of consistency, preparing the next generation
to lead and serve, and leaving a tangible impact through property,
ministry and business. My goal is not to be remembered

(52:01):
for personal achievements, but to be seen as a woman
passionately in love with God, leaving a legacy of love, encouragement,
and a hunger for more of Him in the hearts
of those they inspire.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
What do I want to leave behind? I want to
create men and women that are equipped to carry the
vision and mission of God for in fact, stepping into
the position of pastor of Abundant Life Worship Center. For me,
that's not a lifelong one that's a temporary one. I

(52:39):
feel like I'm holding it until God raises up the
person he desires to replace me and to replace my husband.
So I'm secure in my personhood, so I don't have
to view my role as the pastor as something that
I have to hold on to forever. That I can

(53:01):
hold it loosely because it's not mine. It's not my position.
I have been called by God for this season and
this time, but I'm not tried to this position to validate.
So I want to raise up pastors, profits, vangelists and
leaders that are equipped and ready to move into their destiny,
even if that means replacing me. And I think for leaders,

(53:25):
especially whole leaders, we have to be comfortable of replacing ourselves,
of equipting people to do better than us. I'm fine
with realizing that I may not be the best at everything.
In fact, I want God to send me people that
are better than me and that I can train and help,

(53:46):
and at some point, when He's ready, maybe they will
become the ones that will carry the vision for And
why do I want to do this is because I
want to do this because I believe it's the calling
God has all my life. That's why from my beginning,
the devil tried to get me to believe the message

(54:06):
that I don't matter and no one will listen to me.
He did it to try to keep me silent, and
guess what, it almost worked. But I have purpose, and
that is to be God's voice to others that have
yet to learn that they even have a voice. That
I can speak, and I can and plant in and
my words matter to somebody, that my words can be

(54:30):
what will equipped or water or plants or be part
of the process however God wants it to be. And
so for me, I'm passionate about that. That's what legacy is.
I want to leave behind men and women that are
equipped to move forward to do greater things that I've
ever done. And so I think that's really key. And

(54:52):
the way that I want people to remember me is
as a woman that loved God. Yes, I've done some things,
but what makes all that matter is the why I
did it. I did it because I love God. It's
really that simple. I'm the kind of WiFi I am
because I love God. I'm the kind of mother I

(55:13):
am because I love God. I've been willing to do
the hard inner work, not because I'm strong. In fact,
sometimes people say to me. I've had someone tell me
you're the strongest woman I've met, and I think, boy,
you don't know a lot of people because I don't
see myself as this strong, tough woman. I've seen myself
as fragile, and I'm okay with saying I've been fragile.

(55:38):
But even with being fragile, I've been willing to not
be a quitter and to do the hard work because
I love God and I trust him with my future,
and I want others to know. My motive has always
been to be pleasing to my Father and to be
able to bring impact into his kingdom. That's it. It's

(55:59):
not because I want everybody to know me. I may
be obscure him. I may leave this world and people
may many many people won't know me. It'll be a few,
but many won't know me, and I'll be okay with that.
But I want to make an impact where God plants me,
and so that those that have met me, or those
that have my life has touched theirs, that they will

(56:20):
remember that I was a woman passionately in love with
God and that everything I did, at every effort, I
made was to be pleasing to my father. And what
I'm doing, that's why I prepare for my legacy, is
by purposely investing myself in others. I freely give myself.

(56:42):
I do it in church. I do it even with
my publishing company, Try Production Publishing Incorporated. So even with
my business, I ask God, how do I create legacy
in every area of my life? And he said, make
sure you present me first and everything. So, as I said,
even in my company, I try to help authors understand it.

(57:03):
Your writing is not simply so you can be known
and get successful and have money and be famous. But
you do it because God is calling you to something.
He has a calling on your life that he wants
you to be ascribed for him in a sense, and
he wants you to be his voice in the earth.
And so for me, I then look at my company

(57:26):
not only as a way to make money, but I
look at it as a legacy builder. I'm showing others
how what you're doing is you're preparing a future for
somebody else. Somebody's gonna come read your book, So don't
write it just so you can get paid. Write it
so that whoever reads it can find victory. In their lives,
and so I actively try to help others understand nothing

(57:48):
we do is overlooked by God. Everything in every area
of our lives. He wants to touch and bring His
glory through those areas. And so what does legacy mean
for me? One meaning of legacy is something definition is
something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor

(58:10):
or from the past. But I also like this other meaning.
It says a gift by will, especially of money or
other personal property. And this is what legacy means to me.
I create something of value that is passed on to
those coming behind me. Some of it is wisdom, but

(58:32):
some of it is tangible, like gifts such as property
or ministries or businesses that we can use to help
the next generation further God's agenda in the world. And
so I see my role as not only someone that
equips others, but also one that's called to provide them

(58:53):
with something, some substance to begin their journey with. And
I believe we understand this as it relates to it
like our family perspective. For example, so as a parent,
you know, I want to leave something for my kids.
I want to create. You know, some people you have
a small child and you think in future you want
to send them to college. So what do you do.

(59:13):
You start a college fund. Some say, you know and
in the future, my son or my daughter's gonna get married,
So I'm going to put away some starter money for
them to get their first home, to get a start
in life. So we understand this thing of legacy when
it comes to our children. Why because we want to
make life a little easier for them than maybe it

(59:35):
was for us. But I believe the same principle needs
to be just as important for us as we prepare
the generations to come behind us in ministry and as
I talked about leadership before, you could be a leader
in anything, whether it's in the in the church, whether
it's in your own private business. But I still look
at everything we do as a ministry. I've told people

(59:57):
before my job as a wife, that was my first ministry.
And if I couldn't do that ministry right, why would
I think God would open up another ministry for So
I look at life as ministry. Where's God calling you
to and so where does he want you to leave
a legacy? So we need to give the next generation
of leaders some tools to build on. We take them

(01:00:18):
as far as God requires, and then we release them
with some supplies for battle, so that they go in
and they can possess new lands, do new adventures, and
do great exploits for God. I believe those that own
the land can make the decision, so we want to
give them some tangible legacy. That's why I like both

(01:00:39):
of those definitions. It's not just me passing on wisdom,
which is good, but I want to pass on some property.
I want to pass on some things that they can
use as a starter. And so, you know, my view
of people has changed over time in a good way.
It's changed with my acceptance that we're all flawed. Most

(01:01:01):
of my greatest disappointments in life have been because of
my expectations and people. And I'm not saying we shouldn't
pray for and hope for the best in people, but
we have to find this balance. We have to have
this balance of just having a healthy expectation in people,
and then we just have to make sure we're not
putting them on a pedestal, we're not making them idols,

(01:01:23):
because too many of my idols have fallen or either
God just threw them down to let me know he's
the only one perfect. And you know, we have to
be willing to realize that not only are people not perfect,
but we're not always going to get it right. And
so guess what if somebody had an expectation for me
to be perfect at all time, I'm going to disappoint them.

(01:01:46):
So it's this place of coming to finally acknowledge that
people are flawed. We have our quirks, we have our issues.
We're in process some of us, we're not all in
this process the same time. But when we kind of
accept that we're human, that's really it. We're accepting that
we're human. I think that helps us even as we

(01:02:08):
prepare legacy, because we don't have these unrealistic expectations that
people will do everything right all the time, perfect, perfect, perfect.
We're not perfect people, but we're people seeking to let
God perfect us. We're not perfect people, but we're letting
God perfect us. So I'm learning to keep loving people,

(01:02:30):
even those that disappointment, keep loving them and keep moving forward.
I had a teacher when I was in school going
to school for my bachelor's degree, and name is Diane
Maury and everyone called her Mama d She wasn't perfect
by any means. She had her ups and her downs

(01:02:52):
in her life. Sometimes that some of her downs in life,
sometimes you would I would find her and she would
be in bouts of depression. But what always impressed me
about Mama D is she let you know you were
important and she believed in you. In fact, a lot
of what I have accomplished in my life has been

(01:03:14):
because of Mama D. She wouldn't let me quit. I'm
almost in tear. She would not let me quit. I
would want to give up, and I could hear her
voice or I would call and talk to her and
she would just say. She would say to me, daughter,
God made you to do great things, so get to it.
And she would just kind of snap at me, and
then we'd go on and talk about something else. When

(01:03:35):
she passed away last year, and I felt and I
still feel that void that I don't get to talk
to her like I used to. But this is the
great thing about legacy and relationship with people, is I
still feel the effects of her words on my life.
That's the kind of legacy I want to leave. I

(01:03:56):
want my words, my encouragement, my prayers to be with
those around me long after I'm gone, I expect people
and I desire and hope that people will be still
watching my videos on my YouTube channel that you know,
in fact, it's kind of funny. I've been doing these
videos for several years. I think maybe I started in

(01:04:19):
the early two thousand and I wasn't getting very many
watches on my YouTube channel, but I kept doing them,
and I kept staying faithful, and I kept doing them,
and sometimes like, why am I taping these things? Nobody's
listening to them. And recently, for some reason, one of
my videos about the prophet Jeremiah just seemed to took off.

(01:04:39):
And I mean, you know, I've got the negative comments,
but many people are watching it and saying how that's
been a blessing to them. And it reminds me of
what we're talking about right now, is that I did
that years ago, those videos, that particular video, maybe it's
got to be a good maybe almost ten years old,

(01:04:59):
but it's blessed somebody now. And Legacy is producing and
doing things that are going to make a difference even
years later in ways that you don't know. And there's
a consistency. See that's the key. There's a consistency that
we have to have. We do it now, even though
it doesn't seem like it's gonna benefit, because you know

(01:05:21):
that there's going to be some result. By faith, you
believe that God is going to bring something out of
what you're doing. And so I have people now that
call me Mama Jay or Mama Jewel, and I actually
take it as an honor. And some of them I'm
not that much older than them, but it doesn't matter.
It's not about the age, it's about the respect. What

(01:05:42):
they're saying to me is I see you love me
like a mother, and that's what I need in my life.
So I take it as an honor because these are
people that need to know they are special. So that's
what's important, and that's that's the kind of legacy that
Mama d gave to me. I want to emulate that

(01:06:06):
so that those that call me Mama Jay or Mama Jewel,
eventually they will become Mama somebody or Daddy somebody because
they'll pass that on to the next generation. The struggles
would leave in the legacy is will what I'm doing
matter or will those behind me really carry it forward?

(01:06:27):
But what I'm happy about is as quickly as that
doubt might come, or those thoughts might come to our matter.
I'm reminded that what's done for Christ will last. That's
the word. So my challenge then isn't so much will
it matter. My challenge is to make sure that my
legacy isn't all about me, but leaving something that continues

(01:06:49):
to point the next generation to Christ. It's about that
consistency that I just spoke about. I gotta do it now,
even if it seems foolish. I have to keep going.
I have to keep pressing, even if it doesn't seem
like I'm going to see fruit from it. But in
due season, that fruit is going to come. And legacy

(01:07:09):
isn't something we often think about as it relates to
our calling or leadership or even our churches. We see legacy,
as I said, it's really about leaving something for our children.
But I do think we need to begin to rethink legacy,
to think about legacy and who we are as people
of God and how we're leaving a legacy. In the

(01:07:32):
last month, our small church began to see quite a
bit of numerical growth. And when I saw in the
faces of those fourteen year old to twenty year old
young men and women with hunger. And it's unfortunate that
some of us have looked at our younger adults in

(01:07:53):
our youth that are coming behind us, and we've only
seen what's wrong with them and not what's good in them.
I get tired sometimes of all of the bashing of
our young people, as though they have the market on
being a mess up or messing things up. I think
my generation mess some stuff up because I know I'm

(01:08:16):
messing things up. So you know, we've all had some
good and bad. But what I saw and what I
see when I do the altar calls when we see
the young people come up for prayer, is I see
a hunger in them. I see a desire. And this
is key, and I hope you get this. I can't
provide these individuals with legacy unless they see something in

(01:08:40):
me they want. I'm a hungry person. I'm a person
that desires more of God. I want more of Jesus
every day. What I experienced yesterday was good for yesterday,
But I press forward towards the mark because I have
not obtained at all. That is, long long as I'm
on this earth, I am always seeking to go higher,

(01:09:04):
to go deeper, to have a greater understanding, greater revelation
in the spirit. So when these young people came, they
saw this. This is what they saw, and they were
attracted to it, and they find it unusual and they
want to know more about what is it? Why are
you this woman that's just kind of crazy about Christ?

(01:09:27):
And they wanted to know more. And so, in other words,
I want us to understand if we want to leave legacy,
we have to first make sure that the fire on
us burns bright enough to attract the ones we want
to invest in for the future. I don't know how
long this is going to turn out. I have failed
that what God wants to bring from life will come forth.

(01:09:51):
I'm going to continue to show up. I'm going to
continue to be hungry for the future, because as soon
as I lose my fire, there's a possibility that my
legacy building can be stalled. Let me just think about
that for a minute. If you let your passion for
the things of God to begin to diminish, it's going
to almost be hard to create a legacy because you

(01:10:15):
have to have that desire to invest in it, because
it's not always an easy process. So I want to
leave you with this thought, don't limit the size of
your legacy they big. I want to take over entire
blocks in the community where I pass, not so that
I church can have a big building, but I want

(01:10:37):
to create community for those that are around us. I
want to create homes for women and men that are
coming out of prison and need a fresh start. I
want to create clean and sober living homes. I want
to create daycares and areas where people can go to
learn job skills and how to write resumes and how

(01:10:58):
to do interviews and to be mentored. Yes, this is
bigger than me. In fact, you know, if your vision
and your legacy plan is all within your current reach,
it's not big enough. It's just not big enough. Your
legacy plan should be far bigger than what you can
even do right now in your own hands. And this

(01:11:19):
is the key. Make it bigger. Because it's impossible for me,
but the God we serve says it's not impossible for him.
And so the answer is we're going to continue to press.
And if everything isn't done in my lifetime, that's okay.
I hope to gather enough people around the fire of

(01:11:41):
my vision allow them to warm themselves as we sit
around this vision, this fired up visions. As we sit
around and they learn and they take it and it
begins to warm them. I want to continue to keep
fueling that fire so that in the dew season, in
due time, when it's time for them to run with

(01:12:03):
the vision, that they've grabbed hold of it. They've grasped
it and now they're ready to run and to do
what God has called it. So what is legacy Why
is important to me? Well, legacy is the desire to
create in others of fire so that they can run

(01:12:27):
with the vision that they heed. But more than just
giving them the vision, I want to pass them some
tools that they can use to get there.

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
Life's journey is often filled with unexpected challenges, but it
is in these moments that our true strength is revealed.
From the depths of despair to the heights of triumph,
Doctor Jewel Williams has shown us the unyielding capacity of
the human heart to embrace hope and rise above any circumstance.
We have learned that healing comes in different forms, from

(01:13:03):
pursuing education to rediscovering one's self worth, from finding solace
in faith to embracing the power of forgiveness. It is
in these moments of healing that we realize how much
we can grow and inspire others by sharing our stories.
As doctor Jewel reminds us, one of the best ways
to serve God is to answer the call to serve others,

(01:13:24):
to give unconditionally, and define purpose in making a difference
in the lives of those around us. We have been
reminded that service is not only about helping others, but
it is also about allowing the goodness within us to
flow freely, creating legacies that impact generations to come. Doctor
Jewel also taught us that life may present us with

(01:13:44):
countless ifs, but it is how we navigate through them
that defines our destiny, whether it's finding the strength to forgive,
embracing the scars of the past, or blooming in the
midst of adversity. Remember, as we face the uncertainties of life,
if we do not journey alone, just as we are
called to help others, there will be people who will

(01:14:05):
support us in our times of need. Together, we can
build a community of compassion, love, and relentless hope. Thank
you for joining us on this episode of Relentless Hope podcast.
I'm Your host Matthew Potter, and I'd like to remind
you to give Hope a voice.