September 19, 2025 • 40 mins
In this episode, I sit down with actor, author, and speaker Edwina Findley Dickerson to talk about her new book, The World Is Waiting for You. Edwina shares her journey of listening for God’s voice, navigating seasons of waiting, and discovering a deeper purpose beyond achievement. Together, we explore the tension between intentional planning and radical surrender, how to overcome fear and step into our God-given dreams, and why true purpose is found not only in what we do, but in who we are becoming. This is a conversation for anyone longing to live with clarity, courage, and faith in a noisy world.
Edwina Findley is an award-winning film, television, and theatre actress, celebrated by critics as "a marvel to watch." Known to global audiences as the hilarious 'Sheila' in Shonda Rhimes' hit Netflix series "The Residence," Edwina first captured hearts as 'Tosha' on HBO's groundbreaking series "The Wire,” and garnered critical attention for her role as Rosie in Ava DuVernay's Sundance award-winning feature "Middle of Nowhere.” She then earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female for her "skin-prickling performance" in "Free In Deed.” A vibrant and versatile actress, Edwina starred opposite Toni Collette in Amazon’s global thriller ”The Power,” as Kevin Hart's wife, Rita, in Warner Bros' hit comedy "Get Hard" with Will Ferrell, "Fear The Walking Dead," Tyler Perry’s “If Loving You is Wrong,” HBO’s “Veep,” “Rogue Agent,” “Black Lightning,” ”Chicago Med," HBO's "Treme," and "Shots Fired” from “Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood.
Edwina is a native of Washington, DC, where she attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts then studied drama at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Edwina continued her studies at UCLA, Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), and with Yale Drama’s Gregory Berger-Sorbeck. Theatrically, Edwina has performed around the world and at some of the nation’s finest theaters, including The Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Juilliard, Atlantic Theatre Company, Center Theatre Group, Baltimore Centerstage, and Cleveland Playhouse. Edwina received a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for the historical drama Gee’s Bend, and an NAACP Theatre Award nomination for Eclipsed, set during the Liberian war.
Proclaimed in the New York Times as a “life force,” Edwina is a global speaker, mentor, and CEO of Abundant Life University. Edwina’s most cherished blessings are her loving husband Kelvin Dickerson and their bright and beautiful little girls, Victoria and London. Connect with Edwina at www.edwinafindley.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (00:00):
I didn't know, oh, God's gonna
(00:02):
open the door back up again. Andhe did, you know, and he did in
a big way. But sometimes we justhave to have that faith to allow
ourselves to go and grow throughour waiting season so that he
can get us to our Promised Land.
You Joshua,
Joshua Johnson (00:30):
hello and welcome to the shifting culture
podcast in which we haveconversations about the culture
we create and the impact we canmake. We long to see the body of
Christ look like Jesus. I'm yourhost. Joshua Johnson, today we
step into a conversation aboutdreams, about purpose and faith
with actor, author and speaker,Edwina Finley Dickerson, from
her early days at the DukeEllington School of the Arts to
(00:52):
the challenges and breakthroughsof Hollywood, Edwina has learned
what it means to listen forGod's voice. Navigate seasons of
waiting and step boldly into hercalling her new book The world
is waiting for you, blendsspiritual insight with practical
steps, helping us discern ourGod given dreams and live them
out with courage andintentionality. In this
conversation, we talk abouthearing God in the middle of
(01:14):
crossroads, surrendering ourambitions while still planning
with vision and finding purposethat runs deeper than
achievement, whether you're in aseason of momentum or in this
quiet stretch of waiting, Edwinastory will encourage you to keep
pressing into the larger Goddream of your life. So join us.
Here is my conversation withEdwina. Finley, Dickerson,
(01:38):
Edwina, welcome to shiftingculture. Thank you so much for
joining me.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (01:42):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm
Joshua Johnson (01:45):
excited to dive into the world is waiting for
you. You're really talking todreamers. You're talking to
people that's looking for theirgod dream, to find their purpose
and to live that out in theworld. So I want to you to take
me back into Washington, DC, theDuke Ellington School of Arts in
high school. What waspercolating for you? What was,
(02:07):
what was your dream? What wereyou starting to dream of?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (02:10):
Yeah, well, you know, if anyone's seen
the movie Fame, you'll get alittle bit of a taste of what it
was to grow up at DukeEllington. It was singing,
dancing, acting all the time. Wewere unbridled, artistic
children doing grande throughthe halls and singing, you know,
(02:34):
operettas in the bathroom, andyou know, coral was singing on
the bus, that was just who wewere, tap dancing on the
sidewalks. You know, we justcould not be contained as far as
our artistic energy. And I'mstill just so grateful for the
staff and the teachers and, youknow, just the even it's a DC
(02:58):
public school, it was a publicschool at the time, I believe
now is the charter school, youknow, but the fact that they had
a vision, they had a vision forthese, you know, young inner
city youth that they believedhad gifting and had talent and
had purpose, you know, enough toreally invest in us and invest
(03:19):
in Our education and to see usflourish. And so every chance I
get, I go back. In fact, I mightjust be there two weeks from
now. I just got a text from themlast night. I saw your over
interview. We want you to comeback again. I know you just
spoke at the commencement, butcan you come back again? You
know, but, but that means a lotto me, because I know where I
(03:40):
was right as a as a young girl,with the dream of being in the
arts. And, you know, it'sbeautiful to have a dream
manifested.
Joshua Johnson (03:48):
You dreamed of a life in the arts. It's not an
easy thing to start to walk thatout and to say, I'm going to do
this. I'm going to actually getpaid for this. I'm going to make
a living at it. How did it movefrom a dream of Edwina as a
young, as a child, intosomething of this is finding my
(04:09):
purpose, and this is my goddream. What does that look like
for you?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (04:13):
Yeah, you know, when I was 16 years
old, that was the first memorythat I have of hearing God's
voice. And it was at a timewhere I was really seeking God
about what my life was going tolook like and become. I was in
that crossroads of coming outof, you know, about to come out
(04:34):
of high school, and about tostart, you know, applying for
colleges and, oh, what does thatlook like? Am I going to go a
route of becoming a doctor or alawyer, or am I going to just
step out on faith and take thishuge risk with my life and
pursue the arts and go tocollege for that? And so I was
really at a crossroads. I wasgetting a lot of different
(04:57):
advice from the adults in mylife that were. Very
conflicting. And so in the midstof that, I said, God, I just
need to hear you. You know,where should I go to school and
what should I study? And I heardhim say to me that he was going
to send me to school in New Yorkand that I was to go to go into
the arts as a career. And sothat's what gave me as a young
(05:19):
person, that assurance thatokay, if I step out on faith,
because it's a huge faith, movethat God is going to be there to
back me up.
Joshua Johnson (05:30):
You talked about two different things in your
book there that you just talkedabout. One is hearing God's
voice and the importance of ofGod's voice, and two is is
taking huge, bold faith movesright? And so both of those
things are important. You know,one of the things that I say my
life, my quote is, I like tosay, is, listen to Jesus and DO
what He says, like that. If youcould just do that, I think
(05:53):
you're gonna be set in life,right? Hear God's voice. You
step out. I think a lot ofpeople, they're either confused
that this is God speaking, orthey hear God and they don't
want to take a bold faith move.
They just want to just staywhere they're at. How do we
start to discern God's voice inour life? How do we start to
know that this is God speakingto us?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (06:15):
Well, to To be honest, a lot of the
times when I've heard God'svoice the strongest is when I
have been willing to give up themost, when I've been at the end
of myself, when I have fullysurrendered and said, You know
what God like? There wereseasons where I was like, God,
do you want me to give upacting? You know, there are
(06:37):
people that said you should be aminister. You should go into the
ministry. You know, I know thisacting thing is nice, but
really, you should be a pastor.
And I just remember just cryingout to God, like, God, I thought
you told me entertainment, butif you didn't, I'm willing to go
whatever way you would have mego like, I'm really, literally
(06:58):
willing to lay it all down. AndI find that when we get into
that heart posture of reallyseeking God and getting to a
place where you know what, yes,I have my own desires. Yes, I
have my own dream, but I am, I'mwilling to submit it under your
(07:20):
dream, if you just reveal thatto me, there's something about
that heart posture that keeps usopen to actually hearing what he
has to say and not getting it soconfused as far as what we have
to say. And then there's timestoo where he may give
instructions that look like theopposite of what you want to do,
(07:42):
of where you want to go. Youknow, I've experienced that many
times, where the instruction I'mbeing given seems so opposite
from like where I want to go.
But by practicing that obedienceof following the instruction,
turns out, who knew that it wasgoing right in the direction
(08:03):
that I was hoping to go thewhole time. But sometimes he'll
put these steps in front of you,you know, as he did with the
children of Israel, to test yourheart to see whether you're
willing to keep my commands andand normally it's it's as a
prerequisite for that promisedland, right? And so we don't
realize, like, there's anincredible promise led us in
front of us, but it does requireinstructions, and adherence to
(08:27):
the instructions.
Joshua Johnson (08:28):
Give me an example in your life. So as you
moved one way, you said, Okay, Iheard God's voice. We're moving
this direction. This is my goddream. These are the steps I
think that we're supposed totake. I put my vision down. I
have my vision board. I have allmy goals written down, and then
God gives you differentinstructions, and you follow
that. What did that look likefor you? What's an example like
(08:51):
that for you?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (08:51):
Yeah, so in the book, I talk about the
waiting season, right? Anddifferent things can trigger you
into a waiting season. For me,it was I had, I had already
created my vision book. I hadalready created my my companion
goals book. You know, I wasfeeling very excited about the
(09:11):
world, and I was just coming outof NYU, and, you know, had big
dreams as an actress. And thenthis, this opportunity came,
this acting opportunity thatcame with a lot of money, a lot
of prestige, you know, flew mefirst class to Hollywood stretch
limousine. It was just like, soopulent. It was amazing. It was
it beyond anything that I hadexperienced to that day, but it
(09:35):
came with a nudity clauseattached to it, and I didn't
expect that, and I grieved that,because I was like, I don't, you
know, I feel like that's goingagainst my convictions. God, how
could you take me all the way tothe Promised Land, you know? But
then have this caveat rightpresented to me, and it was very
difficult. It was difficult. Idid not have a lot of money. I
(09:58):
did not have any press. Ease orclout, you know, and and here
I'm being offered all thesethings, but it came, you know,
with with, with this attachmentthat I just felt to My Spirit
that God was not leading me inthat direction. So by not
signing, by not signing that, itkind of triggered me into this
waiting season all over again.
But the beauty of it was meseeing and discerning. Oh,
(10:24):
that's what this is. Like, we'regoing into a season. It became
clear to me that I was not tofight against the season. I was
not to try and, like, make awhole lot of things happen.
Like, Okay, that didn't happen,but let me try to get all these
other things, you know, andthat's my natural tempo. I'm I'm
ambitious, I'm a go getter. Andso it really took the Holy
(10:44):
Spirit to say, this is a timewhere I need you to sit down.
You're going into a winterseason. I know you've been
afraid of that because you'vehad spring, you've had summer,
you know, you have enjoyed beingoutside. And now I'm calling you
to hibernate, and now I'mcalling you closer, and now I'm
calling you into a more intimaterelationship. You know that's
not that's not marked byexternal success. And so I had
(11:08):
to even reframe my ownperspective of my identity,
like, what does that look liketo be worthy, but but not
active, right or not what Iwould feel productive, but it
was more so receiving and so,you know, when I write it in the
book about the waiting season, alot of times God gives us that
(11:28):
time to hear from Him, torecalibrate to, you know, in
that season, so many things,spiritual things and personal
things happened. I learned mypurpose. God gave me revelation
about the Hollywood industrythat I was entering into. So
many prophetic words andrevelation. I met my husband
during that time, started anorganization during that time,
(11:50):
and really became passionateabout service. And so service
really became the bedrock of ofeverything you know, and and
frankly, so many of therevelations in the book came
during that, during that waitingseason. And so, you know, I
didn't know, oh, God's gonnaopen the door back up again. And
(12:12):
he did, you know, and he did ina big way. But sometimes we just
have to have that faith to allowourselves to go and grow through
our waiting season so that hecan get us to our Promised Land.
Joshua Johnson (12:27):
A lot of us hate that waiting season because,
right, you're an achiever,you're a go getter, you're gonna
actually, you're a mover andshaker. So you want to actually
make this happen for you. Ithink a lot of people, you know,
when I'm looking at, you know,I'm manifesting my own dreams.
I'm doing something is I'm theone that is going to get me
(12:47):
there. But you're trying. You'reactually reframing some things
for us and saying that you'redoing this with God and as and
one of the things I really likeabout your book is that you're
talking about your purpose isnot just your next initiative or
the the actual thing that youdo, but there is a a deeper
(13:08):
purpose to your life, that nomatter what initiative or work
that you're doing, you'reactually living that purpose.
How have you reframe that andfound the purpose that you're
living and not just the workthat you're doing.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (13:26):
Yes, that's such an excellent
question. Joshua, you know, forme, it was in that waiting
season that that revelation cameto me, because I realized that,
okay, this season is not markedby all of the, you know, kind of
big goals that I have, theprofessional goals and the
financial goals and, you know,like that type of, as you would
(13:49):
say, achievement, right? But it,what it did was, was get me
closer to the heart of God andrealize that the heart of God is
way more than achievement, youknow that and and, and, and then
it also allowed me to see andunderstand that purpose
transcends a job, purposetranscends an initiative,
(14:12):
purpose transcends, you know, anoccupation, or, in my case, a
show or a movie, right? Theseare all individual expressions,
hopefully, of your divinepurpose. But I always say to
aspiring actors and artists andcreatives, I always say, you
know, who are you when you're inbetween jobs, right? Like in our
(14:37):
occupation, it's not a nine tofive, it's not, you know, you
you you come, and then you workfor 40 years, and then you get
your pension, and then youleave. It doesn't work like
that. We're going from show toshow, project to project, movie
to movie, Stage to Stage, youknow? And so there's, there's
all kinds of time in between.
And so does that mean that youare simply not operating in
(14:57):
purpose? Because. You're not ina show currently, no, your life
is much more valuable than that.
And so when I began to lean intowhat is the you know, as an
actor, we a part of our processof identifying characters is
identifying their superobjective, right? And so there's
(15:18):
these acting techniques that,interestingly, I think really do
apply to life, and evenspiritual life. You know, when
you're when you're creating acharacter, you look at, okay,
what is the character superobjective that that that flows
throughout this entire movie orshow, right? And then each scene
is its own individual objective,right? And so I began to see
(15:41):
that, oh, you know what, inlife, I believe, even our lives
with God, that we're giving asuper objective, that there's
this god dream that covers ourentire life. But each of these,
you know, we have chapters, andwe have scenes, and we have
moments right in between. And Ithink the hope is that we can
continue to make our momentsreflections of the grander God
(16:05):
dream.
Joshua Johnson (16:05):
We want to say that grander God dream is there.
How did you start to to find itlike? What? What does that look
like for us? Like I, I have lotsof different dreams. What you're
talking about is greater purposeand identity more than just a
specific goal that we have,yeah, how do we find it? Like, I
(16:27):
think we're all looking for it,
Edwina Findley Dickerson (16:29):
yeah, help us out. Yeah, sure. You
know, in the book, I talk aboutunlocking your calling, right?
And, and, and discover, like inthe book, it kind of takes you
through some very practicalsteps, some questions that you
ask yourself, questions that youask God, that you really take
(16:49):
out time and carve out time todo some some soul searching,
right? And you know, a part ofthat is really identifying the
giftings that you have, thethings that you may take for
granted that you may just do allthe time and you don't even
realize you're doing it becauseyou're doing it all the time,
(17:10):
but sometimes it's not until yousee yourself you know in
conjunction with someone else,or even be able, like in the
book, I suggest that people haveconversations with The other
people in their lives, like inyour eyes, what makes me
special? In your eyes, whatmakes me different? Because we
don't always see it inourselves. And so like, for
instance, I had an aunt who allshe did was bake, bake, bake,
(17:33):
bake, bake, bake from scratch,you know? And and in her eyes,
that's just so normal. That wasso normal for her, right? And
for me, who never makes I'mlike, Oh my gosh, Aunt Muriel.
Oh, I love her cooking. Oh,every time she comes around, she
just warms our hearts, you know,with her delectable delights,
(17:55):
right? And so she didn't reallyrealize, like, the incredible,
like the the the grand, this wasa wonderful, grand dream day. I
mean, can go in so manydirections, as far as our baking
and pow pies and cookies andcakes and, you know, all these
things, right? But, but it wasjust so normal for her. And so I
(18:18):
think all of us have thesespecial you know, what I call in
the book your superpower, right,that you can lean into once
you've really identified that,and then being able to explore
what else? Right? What else canI do with this? Where else can I
go with that? You know? And Ithink also that that that we
have to lean into our why?
Right, like I write in the bookabout your holy discontent, you
(18:41):
know. And part of that is whatkeeps you up at night, what
makes you angry, what gives youjoy, what is affecting your
emotions in a way that you'rebeing drawn to it. And so I find
that even when people complain alot about one particular thing,
you know, it's like all youhear, they'll do is complain,
complain, complain, complainabout this one thing. Now I say
(19:03):
I need you to lean into that,because it's very possible that
your calling is directlyconnected to that one thing. And
it's very possible that that onething is a part of your holy
discontent, right? And when Isay that, I mean, it's, it's a
righteous indignation. It's arighteous feeling of unsettled,
you know, I'm, I'm unsettledwith this, and I wish someone
(19:27):
would do something about it,right? But sometimes that
someone is you
Joshua Johnson (19:35):
Exactly, exactly, you know, one of the
things that I love your stories,of what you say in your book.
And then, you know, interviewsthat you you've given just the
way that you walk in the world,you really receive prophetic
words. You give prophetic words.
Prophecy is is a big thing inyour life. One of the training
sessions I do for for people isto figure out how to hear from
(19:57):
God. And then to actually saywhat he's saying to other people
is we do, you know, we havepeople sitting in chairs, their
eyes are closed, and webasically do, like a musical
chairs type thing. And then Ihave them pray, ask God to hear
something for the person infront of them. They have no idea
who it is. And then they opentheir eyes and they share it. So
(20:18):
it's just starting to train themto hear from God. And I've had
so many people in tears cryinglike we're like these words
resonate like people arestarting to hear from God. What
is the role then, of propheticwords and prophecy for you and
your life? How do we, like,receive them and give them
without being so fearful thatwe're this is coming from us,
(20:42):
we're not hearing God, right?
Yeah, don't follow his, his wordvery well, yeah,
Edwina Findley Dickerson (20:51):
um, I mean, obviously that's a big
question, right? You know, andit's not really a one, one size
fits all answer, but I do think,I think maybe having disclaimers
may be good, right? Like, I'mfeeling this really strongly. If
this resonates with you, youknow, take it. If it doesn't, I
(21:12):
also understand. But I'm just,you know, I'm feeling led to
tell you, x, right? And givingthe other person that
opportunity to say, like, okay,that resonates with me or
doesn't resonate with me or, or,you know what, okay, thank you,
right? Thank you. Like, there'sbeen times in my life where
immediately I know what a personhas shared with me is absolute
(21:37):
confirmation, because Godalready sent five people before
them to tell me that message,and he was already telling me
that message in the shower thatmorning, right? So it's like
just confirmation, and somepeople feel that that's what
prophetic words are, juststrictly confirmation. But I
will say that there have beenwords that I've received where I
was like, no, no, no, absolutelynot. That is not me. That's not
(22:00):
what I want. That's not what Godtold me, that's not what God
showed me. And then suddenly,you know, he'll send five other
people with that message, like,wait, no, get away from me. What
are you talking about? That isnot confirmation. Not only is it
not confirmation, I don't wantit, you know, but for me, it's
(22:20):
the repetition, right? It's therepetition of the word or the
sign, you know, or therevelation that makes me say,
Okay, God, especially if it'ssomething I hadn't been paying
attention to before, that makesme begin to surrender and and
just go to God directly, becausethat's another thing. It's like
God can use each of us to speakto one another, but ultimately
(22:43):
he wants to be the person thatwe go to, right? And so and so,
yeah, there. There have beensome things like that, where
when I surrendered and actuallyinvited those things in my life,
changed my life in the mostwonderful way, but I just
wouldn't have known, had I notsurrendered, right? Had I not
(23:03):
surrendered to the word, even ifit was something that I didn't
think I wanted, right? And it'slike, by surrendering to God's
plan, like, Okay, God, you'remaking it so clear that this is
your plan. But that's not theway I want to go. And then, and
then I finally go that way, andit's like, oh my gosh, I could
have missed this. This is soamazing. I can't believe I could
(23:26):
have missed it. So, you know,you asked about the role of
prophecy in my life has reallybeen a major guide. You know,
there's, there's decisions thatI've made that I would not have
known to make had I not had aword in advance about it. So by
the time it happened, it waslike, Oh, this is the direction
I'm supposed to say yes to this.
I don't necessarily personallyunderstand it all, but I know
(23:48):
that's what God said, so let memove in that direction. And each
time I've done that, it's comewith tremendous blessing on the
other side,
Joshua Johnson (24:01):
I think that's sometimes really hard for
people, is to actually noticethat this is happening and
notice the signs that God isspeaking to you to move you in a
specific direction. And I thinkwe're in our attention age that
we live in, and everything isvying for our attention. We're
pretty bad at at focusing onsomething like, like the signs
(24:25):
God is giving us. How can weslow down to to actually see the
signs, to pay attention to thesigns, to know where God is
leading?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (24:35):
Yeah, you know, one thing for me, you
know, I talk about this in thebook chapter five is the secret
power of hearing God's voice.
And I really start encouragingpeople, no matter how busy you
are, even me, you know, I haveto apply these same principles
on a regular basis, and I do notalways do a great job of it, you
know, like these. I'm in aseason right now that is
(24:57):
incredibly busy. Been on a worldtour. As far as the book, I have
multiple interviews right afterthis, you know, and started six
o'clock in the morning, but thenhave two little children, and
they had to get to school andhave a husband, you know,
there's a lot happening. And so,you know, one of the things that
I say for myself, and that Ialso encourage in the book, it's
(25:19):
like really discipliningyourself to spend time with God
and and carving out, carving outthat time, because it's not just
gonna happen. It's just not, youknow, it's not just gonna
happen. You have to be sointentional. You have to be so
into this, as intentional as youare about going to work, as
(25:41):
intentional as you are aboutchecking your email, as
intentional you are replying toyour text messages, you know, is
as intentional as we have to beto carve out time and say, God,
you know what? In the midst ofall of this, actually, your
voice is, is the most valuableone to hear and and sometimes it
(26:03):
can feel like we have, we haveso many things to do that we
don't have time to carve out.
But if we, if we just kind ofreposition that in the
understanding, like in the book,I talk about the Pareto
Principle, 8020 the 8020 rule,which essentially is, of the
(26:25):
100% of the things in your life,only 20% of the things that you
do are actually moving theneedle for the other 80% a lot
of times the other 80% is awhole bunch of busyness. That is
not actually what's moving, youknow, the needle. It's really
that, that sliver, that 20% andwhat I found when I when I take
(26:46):
time to carve out with God thathe'll show me the 20% he'll show
me what are the fewer things todo that actually amount to the
the bigger picture. And I sayalso, like, one thing I do is go
on prayer walks, right?
Sometimes I have to just put itall down, shut off the computer,
turn off the phone. In fact,leave, leave the phone, right?
Because if I take it, then I'llbe on it, leave the phone, and
(27:09):
literally, just go on a prayerwalk. And my husband has started
doing that too, you know? Andthere's something about that
that's just saying, like, God,this time is for you. I give it
to you, and also I ask that youwill, that you will also give me
your time, right, like actuallyspeak to me in this time that
I'm dedicating to you.
Joshua Johnson (27:33):
It all boils down to simple things, being
intentional, spending the timeand listening to God. Everything
that you're doing in this book,you have these, these two
threads that come together. Oneis your intentionality. Like,
you're going to put, you know,your vision book together.
You're going to put yourquarterly goals, your weekly
goals, you're gonna like, theseare the steps that I need to get
(27:56):
to. You know, whatever dreamthat God has put in my heart
like, this is where we're going,and I'm gonna get there. But
then you also are like, hey, butwe also have to surrender and
trust God. We have to listen toHis voice and actually go where
he goes. How do we merge thosethings of the intentionality and
the vision that we have and thetrust and surrender to God's
(28:18):
plan?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (28:19):
We get the world is waiting for you,
and we go through each chapter,that's what we do. I mean,
honestly, like so much of thatquestion, is what was poured
into this book? Because I knowmany, many, many people who are
so strong in faith, are justincredibly strong in faith, and
(28:41):
who are prophetic and who spenda lot of time with God, and who
I just really believe have havea gift of faith. But
unfortunately, I've seen manypeople with a gift of faith
that, you know, it's been yearsand years and years and years
and years, and have not seensignificant movement in their
(29:01):
life in that direction. And thenthere's people that I know that
are like, go getters, gogetters, go getters, go getters,
go getters, you know, who arevery productive and very, you
know, and and and hypersuccessful and have lots of
money and all of that. But thenthey have this other place that,
like, I feel lost and I don'tknow where I am in life, and I'm
(29:21):
not sure what my purpose is.
And, you know, there's theseother parts of life that I've
been wanting, and I don't knowwhy they haven't shown up. And
so I just really felt like, youknow what? And in some ways, I'm
both right, and I've had to comeon a journey as a person of
faith, who also, you know, hasvery strong goals, you know, as
far as success and all thosesuccess principles, and it's
(29:43):
like, how do you meld that faithand success together? And that's
really what a lot of what thisbook is, right? It's spiritual
principles and it's practicalprinciples. So even you know, in
that chapter, this time nextyear, chapter 10. Yeah. And, and
in that chapter, plan like arock star, right? There's people
that say, oh, you know, if youwant to make God laugh, show
(30:06):
them your plans, right? And soit's kind of like an idea of,
like, I don't need to plananything, because my plans
aren't going to work out anyway,because God has another plan,
you know? But I sort ofchallenge that notion in the
book, I say, well, didn't Godhave a plan when he created this
universe? You know, wasn't it sospecific? Right? He had a he had
(30:26):
a project plan for each andevery day. I'm going to create
this on this day, this on thisday, I'm going to wrap it all up
on the sixth day, and then I'mgoing to rest on the seventh
day. You know, it was veryspecific. And even the times and
seasons in our world, or even ifyou look at plants and
agriculture or a woman's body,right where it's all operating
(30:47):
according to time and seasonsand a very specific recurring
plan. So when you begin to lookat God as a master planner, then
it doesn't get you off the hookof not planning because I have
faith. I faith so I don't haveto plan. No, you, you, you make
your plans by faith and infaith, right? And so they come
(31:11):
together. And especially, youknow, for those who may be
listening, who are prophetic,right? Like what I do when I get
a prophetic word and I receiveit, the next thing I want to
know is, Okay, God, what are thesteps? Right? What are the steps
that you need me to take in thedirection of like I said, what I
call a god dream, you may callit prophetic word. You may call
(31:33):
it a promise. You may call itjust the word of the Lord.
However you call it, what doesit require of you to partner
with God, to see the fruition ofit, to see the manifestation of
it? Yeah, so, so it's reallythat, that journey, and so
that's what I really encouragepeople who feel that tension
right now, to get the book, gothrough it, you know, really
(31:57):
lean into it, and there's a lotof questions that the that the
book invites you to ask yourselfand ask God and you know, and
the expectation is that when yougo through that process, that
things are going to become muchmore clear.
Joshua Johnson (32:15):
Take me through just a couple of things that are
holding people back fromactually then planning and
taking those steps. What arepeople afraid of? Yeah.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (32:25):
So, yeah. So there's a whole chapter
in the book about confrontwhat's holding you back, because
that's something that I've, youknow, again, experienced and
also seen, you know, over these20 years of traveling around the
world and having lots ofspeaking engagements and
workshops and, you know, andjust connecting with hundreds of
(32:45):
1000s of people, right? There'sbeen patterns that I've seen as
far as what holds us back forreally manifesting the godliness
over our life, fear, I think, isprobably number one. And then I,
you know, in the book, I breakdown different types of fear,
fear fear of failure, fear ofsuccess, fear of man. You know,
essentially, fear of man is,what are people going to think
(33:07):
of me if I do this, right? Fearof failure. Well, if I really
step out and I fail, then youknow, maybe that, maybe that'll
be worse than just not trying,because if I don't try, or if I
don't put it out there, thatthis is what I want, then I'll
never fail, right? And so I've,I've experienced many of those
things. You know, also a lot ofpeople, unfortunately, what
(33:29):
thwarts them can berelationships, right,
relationships that perhaps theyshould not be in. And I've
unfortunately seen that manytimes, especially with a lot of
women, I've seen how the enemyhas come in and and distracted
them away from the actual Goddream that they were called to
manifest. But you know, there'sthese detours that we can start
(33:53):
to take in life. And so, youknow, one of the things that in
that chapter I really encourageis building up our wisdom and
discernment about each of thesedifferent areas, so that we
don't invite into our livessomething that's going to be a
stumbling block. You know,there's things like depression,
right? That's that's real, youknow, depression and mental
health, that's very real, andthat can really hold, you know,
(34:16):
hold a person back from fullyembracing the calling that God
has. And so, you know,everything that's holding us
back is not necessarilyexternal. You know, sometimes
it's internal. Sometimes it'sthings that we may not have a
tremendous amount of controlover in our own strength, but,
but, you know, I encouragepeople even in the book, like if
(34:38):
you need to have a therapist, ifyou need to have a counselor, if
you need to go through a programyou know, lean into the
resources that are around youthat can help you to move beyond
this block, right? This, thisthing that's holding you back so
that you can flourish, right?
Like God is, God is designed forus to flourish, and God's
designed for us to live inabundance.
Joshua Johnson (35:00):
Life Amen.
What's your big hope for theworld is waiting for you? What
would you hope the readers wouldget from the book?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (35:06):
Yeah, you know, ultimately, I love
seeing lives transformed. I loveseeing radical shifts in
people's lives, right? I lovewhen people have those aha
moments of wow, you know thisthis resonate with me deeply, or
(35:27):
this has caused me to now makeanother choice, and by making
that other choice, suddenly, youopen up yourself to a whole new
level of life that you didn'teven realize was a part of your
reward and a part of yourinheritance. So, you know, I
have an organization, abundantlife, university and, and
(35:48):
that's, you know, kind of ourgoal, right for to see everybody
around the world live in theirabundant life.
Joshua Johnson (35:55):
That's beautiful. That's beautiful. A
couple really quick questions atthe end. One, Edwina, if you go
back to your 21 year old self,what advice would you
Edwina Findley Dickerson (36:02):
give?
I would you give? I think Iwould tell her that the end is
good. The end is good that thereare some things that you have to
contend with now, but just knowthat the promise that you're
believing for on the other sidewill come to pass
Joshua Johnson (36:22):
that's good.
Anything you've been reading orwatching lately, you could
recommend.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (36:26):
There are certain pastors that I
really love, like I love Dr ARBernard. I was recently at his
church last Sunday with thebook. Quite a few people are in
transition now. You know, as faras ministries and age and, you
know, are kind of passing thebaton. And so, you know, I talk
about him, actually, quite a bitin the book. So he, I would say
(36:51):
he and Dr miles Monroe, youknow, I think are just great
examples of people who've beenable to kind of bring together
faith and, you know, prosperityor success or achievement, you
know, those kinds of things in away that still honors God, you
know, but but encourages us tolean into our purpose. So, you
(37:13):
know, those are just a few ofthe people that I would
recommend, excellent.
Joshua Johnson (37:17):
Well, the world is waiting for you. Is out now,
anywhere books are sold, so youcould go and get this fantastic
book. Edwina, I loved it. A lotof fun. I just enjoyed being
inspired to be able to actuallylive out the God dreams that he
has actually put in my heart.
That may I have, may have beenheld back from one thing or
another and saying, Okay, theseare the steps that I need to
(37:40):
take, and I need to start doingsome planning. So thank you for
for this in my own life, and Iknow that it'll actually impact
a lot of people. So hopefully goand get that book The world is
waiting for you. Is thereanywhere that you'd like to
point people to to connect withyou? Any upcoming projects you
want to look out for?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (38:00):
Yeah, they can. They can go to the
world is waiting.org The worldis waiting.org. Has resources.
There's aspects in the book thatthey can tap into. There's also
a God dreamers Academy that'sstarting for people who are
going through this book and justreally want, you know, to go the
next step of the journey. Right,as far as implementing a lot of
(38:22):
these things, I would encouragethem to join the god dreamers
Academy. There's a Connect pageright there on that page, and
they can fill out theirinformation and connect with me.
And then also, you know, I'mvery active on social media,
especially on Instagram. I'm atEdwina Finley, so folks can
definitely stay in touch. Great.
Joshua Johnson (38:43):
Well, I love following you on Instagram. Saw
that we you went to a littleSafari place in South Africa. My
family went a couple years agoto the same place. Saw the
little cheetah run. Yeah, wewere there. I don't know. Did
they have the crazy ostrich comeout for you.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (39:02):
Oh, that was definitely an ostrich.
Ostriches. Oh, gosh, that wasfun. Oh, that what a small
world.
Joshua Johnson (39:09):
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. So go, yeah, follow
Edwina and see those incrediblethings. So, Edwina, this was
fantastic. Really loved ourconversation. So thank you me
too.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (39:20):
Thanks so much, Joshua, Have a blessed
day. You.
I didn't know, oh, God's gonna
(00:02):
open the door back up again. Andhe did, you know, and he did in
a big way. But sometimes we justhave to have that faith to allow
ourselves to go and grow throughour waiting season so that he
can get us to our Promised Land.
You Joshua,
Joshua Johnson (00:30):
hello and welcome to the shifting culture
podcast in which we haveconversations about the culture
we create and the impact we canmake. We long to see the body of
Christ look like Jesus. I'm yourhost. Joshua Johnson, today we
step into a conversation aboutdreams, about purpose and faith
with actor, author and speaker,Edwina Finley Dickerson, from
her early days at the DukeEllington School of the Arts to
(00:52):
the challenges and breakthroughsof Hollywood, Edwina has learned
what it means to listen forGod's voice. Navigate seasons of
waiting and step boldly into hercalling her new book The world
is waiting for you, blendsspiritual insight with practical
steps, helping us discern ourGod given dreams and live them
out with courage andintentionality. In this
conversation, we talk abouthearing God in the middle of
(01:14):
crossroads, surrendering ourambitions while still planning
with vision and finding purposethat runs deeper than
achievement, whether you're in aseason of momentum or in this
quiet stretch of waiting, Edwinastory will encourage you to keep
pressing into the larger Goddream of your life. So join us.
Here is my conversation withEdwina. Finley, Dickerson,
(01:38):
Edwina, welcome to shiftingculture. Thank you so much for
joining me.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (01:42):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm
Joshua Johnson (01:45):
excited to dive into the world is waiting for
you. You're really talking todreamers. You're talking to
people that's looking for theirgod dream, to find their purpose
and to live that out in theworld. So I want to you to take
me back into Washington, DC, theDuke Ellington School of Arts in
high school. What waspercolating for you? What was,
(02:07):
what was your dream? What wereyou starting to dream of?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (02:10):
Yeah, well, you know, if anyone's seen
the movie Fame, you'll get alittle bit of a taste of what it
was to grow up at DukeEllington. It was singing,
dancing, acting all the time. Wewere unbridled, artistic
children doing grande throughthe halls and singing, you know,
(02:34):
operettas in the bathroom, andyou know, coral was singing on
the bus, that was just who wewere, tap dancing on the
sidewalks. You know, we justcould not be contained as far as
our artistic energy. And I'mstill just so grateful for the
staff and the teachers and, youknow, just the even it's a DC
(02:58):
public school, it was a publicschool at the time, I believe
now is the charter school, youknow, but the fact that they had
a vision, they had a vision forthese, you know, young inner
city youth that they believedhad gifting and had talent and
had purpose, you know, enough toreally invest in us and invest
(03:19):
in Our education and to see usflourish. And so every chance I
get, I go back. In fact, I mightjust be there two weeks from
now. I just got a text from themlast night. I saw your over
interview. We want you to comeback again. I know you just
spoke at the commencement, butcan you come back again? You
know, but, but that means a lotto me, because I know where I
(03:40):
was right as a as a young girl,with the dream of being in the
arts. And, you know, it'sbeautiful to have a dream
manifested.
Joshua Johnson (03:48):
You dreamed of a life in the arts. It's not an
easy thing to start to walk thatout and to say, I'm going to do
this. I'm going to actually getpaid for this. I'm going to make
a living at it. How did it movefrom a dream of Edwina as a
young, as a child, intosomething of this is finding my
(04:09):
purpose, and this is my goddream. What does that look like
for you?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (04:13):
Yeah, you know, when I was 16 years
old, that was the first memorythat I have of hearing God's
voice. And it was at a timewhere I was really seeking God
about what my life was going tolook like and become. I was in
that crossroads of coming outof, you know, about to come out
(04:34):
of high school, and about tostart, you know, applying for
colleges and, oh, what does thatlook like? Am I going to go a
route of becoming a doctor or alawyer, or am I going to just
step out on faith and take thishuge risk with my life and
pursue the arts and go tocollege for that? And so I was
really at a crossroads. I wasgetting a lot of different
(04:57):
advice from the adults in mylife that were. Very
conflicting. And so in the midstof that, I said, God, I just
need to hear you. You know,where should I go to school and
what should I study? And I heardhim say to me that he was going
to send me to school in New Yorkand that I was to go to go into
the arts as a career. And sothat's what gave me as a young
(05:19):
person, that assurance thatokay, if I step out on faith,
because it's a huge faith, movethat God is going to be there to
back me up.
Joshua Johnson (05:30):
You talked about two different things in your
book there that you just talkedabout. One is hearing God's
voice and the importance of ofGod's voice, and two is is
taking huge, bold faith movesright? And so both of those
things are important. You know,one of the things that I say my
life, my quote is, I like tosay, is, listen to Jesus and DO
what He says, like that. If youcould just do that, I think
(05:53):
you're gonna be set in life,right? Hear God's voice. You
step out. I think a lot ofpeople, they're either confused
that this is God speaking, orthey hear God and they don't
want to take a bold faith move.
They just want to just staywhere they're at. How do we
start to discern God's voice inour life? How do we start to
know that this is God speakingto us?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (06:15):
Well, to To be honest, a lot of the
times when I've heard God'svoice the strongest is when I
have been willing to give up themost, when I've been at the end
of myself, when I have fullysurrendered and said, You know
what God like? There wereseasons where I was like, God,
do you want me to give upacting? You know, there are
(06:37):
people that said you should be aminister. You should go into the
ministry. You know, I know thisacting thing is nice, but
really, you should be a pastor.
And I just remember just cryingout to God, like, God, I thought
you told me entertainment, butif you didn't, I'm willing to go
whatever way you would have mego like, I'm really, literally
(06:58):
willing to lay it all down. AndI find that when we get into
that heart posture of reallyseeking God and getting to a
place where you know what, yes,I have my own desires. Yes, I
have my own dream, but I am, I'mwilling to submit it under your
(07:20):
dream, if you just reveal thatto me, there's something about
that heart posture that keeps usopen to actually hearing what he
has to say and not getting it soconfused as far as what we have
to say. And then there's timestoo where he may give
instructions that look like theopposite of what you want to do,
(07:42):
of where you want to go. Youknow, I've experienced that many
times, where the instruction I'mbeing given seems so opposite
from like where I want to go.
But by practicing that obedienceof following the instruction,
turns out, who knew that it wasgoing right in the direction
(08:03):
that I was hoping to go thewhole time. But sometimes he'll
put these steps in front of you,you know, as he did with the
children of Israel, to test yourheart to see whether you're
willing to keep my commands andand normally it's it's as a
prerequisite for that promisedland, right? And so we don't
realize, like, there's anincredible promise led us in
front of us, but it does requireinstructions, and adherence to
(08:27):
the instructions.
Joshua Johnson (08:28):
Give me an example in your life. So as you
moved one way, you said, Okay, Iheard God's voice. We're moving
this direction. This is my goddream. These are the steps I
think that we're supposed totake. I put my vision down. I
have my vision board. I have allmy goals written down, and then
God gives you differentinstructions, and you follow
that. What did that look likefor you? What's an example like
(08:51):
that for you?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (08:51):
Yeah, so in the book, I talk about the
waiting season, right? Anddifferent things can trigger you
into a waiting season. For me,it was I had, I had already
created my vision book. I hadalready created my my companion
goals book. You know, I wasfeeling very excited about the
(09:11):
world, and I was just coming outof NYU, and, you know, had big
dreams as an actress. And thenthis, this opportunity came,
this acting opportunity thatcame with a lot of money, a lot
of prestige, you know, flew mefirst class to Hollywood stretch
limousine. It was just like, soopulent. It was amazing. It was
it beyond anything that I hadexperienced to that day, but it
(09:35):
came with a nudity clauseattached to it, and I didn't
expect that, and I grieved that,because I was like, I don't, you
know, I feel like that's goingagainst my convictions. God, how
could you take me all the way tothe Promised Land, you know? But
then have this caveat rightpresented to me, and it was very
difficult. It was difficult. Idid not have a lot of money. I
(09:58):
did not have any press. Ease orclout, you know, and and here
I'm being offered all thesethings, but it came, you know,
with with, with this attachmentthat I just felt to My Spirit
that God was not leading me inthat direction. So by not
signing, by not signing that, itkind of triggered me into this
waiting season all over again.
But the beauty of it was meseeing and discerning. Oh,
(10:24):
that's what this is. Like, we'regoing into a season. It became
clear to me that I was not tofight against the season. I was
not to try and, like, make awhole lot of things happen.
Like, Okay, that didn't happen,but let me try to get all these
other things, you know, andthat's my natural tempo. I'm I'm
ambitious, I'm a go getter. Andso it really took the Holy
(10:44):
Spirit to say, this is a timewhere I need you to sit down.
You're going into a winterseason. I know you've been
afraid of that because you'vehad spring, you've had summer,
you know, you have enjoyed beingoutside. And now I'm calling you
to hibernate, and now I'mcalling you closer, and now I'm
calling you into a more intimaterelationship. You know that's
not that's not marked byexternal success. And so I had
(11:08):
to even reframe my ownperspective of my identity,
like, what does that look liketo be worthy, but but not
active, right or not what Iwould feel productive, but it
was more so receiving and so,you know, when I write it in the
book about the waiting season, alot of times God gives us that
(11:28):
time to hear from Him, torecalibrate to, you know, in
that season, so many things,spiritual things and personal
things happened. I learned mypurpose. God gave me revelation
about the Hollywood industrythat I was entering into. So
many prophetic words andrevelation. I met my husband
during that time, started anorganization during that time,
(11:50):
and really became passionateabout service. And so service
really became the bedrock of ofeverything you know, and and
frankly, so many of therevelations in the book came
during that, during that waitingseason. And so, you know, I
didn't know, oh, God's gonnaopen the door back up again. And
(12:12):
he did, you know, and he did ina big way. But sometimes we just
have to have that faith to allowourselves to go and grow through
our waiting season so that hecan get us to our Promised Land.
Joshua Johnson (12:27):
A lot of us hate that waiting season because,
right, you're an achiever,you're a go getter, you're gonna
actually, you're a mover andshaker. So you want to actually
make this happen for you. Ithink a lot of people, you know,
when I'm looking at, you know,I'm manifesting my own dreams.
I'm doing something is I'm theone that is going to get me
(12:47):
there. But you're trying. You'reactually reframing some things
for us and saying that you'redoing this with God and as and
one of the things I really likeabout your book is that you're
talking about your purpose isnot just your next initiative or
the the actual thing that youdo, but there is a a deeper
(13:08):
purpose to your life, that nomatter what initiative or work
that you're doing, you'reactually living that purpose.
How have you reframe that andfound the purpose that you're
living and not just the workthat you're doing.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (13:26):
Yes, that's such an excellent
question. Joshua, you know, forme, it was in that waiting
season that that revelation cameto me, because I realized that,
okay, this season is not markedby all of the, you know, kind of
big goals that I have, theprofessional goals and the
financial goals and, you know,like that type of, as you would
(13:49):
say, achievement, right? But it,what it did was, was get me
closer to the heart of God andrealize that the heart of God is
way more than achievement, youknow that and and, and, and then
it also allowed me to see andunderstand that purpose
transcends a job, purposetranscends an initiative,
(14:12):
purpose transcends, you know, anoccupation, or, in my case, a
show or a movie, right? Theseare all individual expressions,
hopefully, of your divinepurpose. But I always say to
aspiring actors and artists andcreatives, I always say, you
know, who are you when you're inbetween jobs, right? Like in our
(14:37):
occupation, it's not a nine tofive, it's not, you know, you
you you come, and then you workfor 40 years, and then you get
your pension, and then youleave. It doesn't work like
that. We're going from show toshow, project to project, movie
to movie, Stage to Stage, youknow? And so there's, there's
all kinds of time in between.
And so does that mean that youare simply not operating in
(14:57):
purpose? Because. You're not ina show currently, no, your life
is much more valuable than that.
And so when I began to lean intowhat is the you know, as an
actor, we a part of our processof identifying characters is
identifying their superobjective, right? And so there's
(15:18):
these acting techniques that,interestingly, I think really do
apply to life, and evenspiritual life. You know, when
you're when you're creating acharacter, you look at, okay,
what is the character superobjective that that that flows
throughout this entire movie orshow, right? And then each scene
is its own individual objective,right? And so I began to see
(15:41):
that, oh, you know what, inlife, I believe, even our lives
with God, that we're giving asuper objective, that there's
this god dream that covers ourentire life. But each of these,
you know, we have chapters, andwe have scenes, and we have
moments right in between. And Ithink the hope is that we can
continue to make our momentsreflections of the grander God
(16:05):
dream.
Joshua Johnson (16:05):
We want to say that grander God dream is there.
How did you start to to find itlike? What? What does that look
like for us? Like I, I have lotsof different dreams. What you're
talking about is greater purposeand identity more than just a
specific goal that we have,yeah, how do we find it? Like, I
(16:27):
think we're all looking for it,
Edwina Findley Dickerson (16:29):
yeah, help us out. Yeah, sure. You
know, in the book, I talk aboutunlocking your calling, right?
And, and, and discover, like inthe book, it kind of takes you
through some very practicalsteps, some questions that you
ask yourself, questions that youask God, that you really take
(16:49):
out time and carve out time todo some some soul searching,
right? And you know, a part ofthat is really identifying the
giftings that you have, thethings that you may take for
granted that you may just do allthe time and you don't even
realize you're doing it becauseyou're doing it all the time,
(17:10):
but sometimes it's not until yousee yourself you know in
conjunction with someone else,or even be able, like in the
book, I suggest that people haveconversations with The other
people in their lives, like inyour eyes, what makes me
special? In your eyes, whatmakes me different? Because we
don't always see it inourselves. And so like, for
instance, I had an aunt who allshe did was bake, bake, bake,
(17:33):
bake, bake, bake from scratch,you know? And and in her eyes,
that's just so normal. That wasso normal for her, right? And
for me, who never makes I'mlike, Oh my gosh, Aunt Muriel.
Oh, I love her cooking. Oh,every time she comes around, she
just warms our hearts, you know,with her delectable delights,
(17:55):
right? And so she didn't reallyrealize, like, the incredible,
like the the the grand, this wasa wonderful, grand dream day. I
mean, can go in so manydirections, as far as our baking
and pow pies and cookies andcakes and, you know, all these
things, right? But, but it wasjust so normal for her. And so I
(18:18):
think all of us have thesespecial you know, what I call in
the book your superpower, right,that you can lean into once
you've really identified that,and then being able to explore
what else? Right? What else canI do with this? Where else can I
go with that? You know? And Ithink also that that that we
have to lean into our why?
Right, like I write in the bookabout your holy discontent, you
(18:41):
know. And part of that is whatkeeps you up at night, what
makes you angry, what gives youjoy, what is affecting your
emotions in a way that you'rebeing drawn to it. And so I find
that even when people complain alot about one particular thing,
you know, it's like all youhear, they'll do is complain,
complain, complain, complainabout this one thing. Now I say
(19:03):
I need you to lean into that,because it's very possible that
your calling is directlyconnected to that one thing. And
it's very possible that that onething is a part of your holy
discontent, right? And when Isay that, I mean, it's, it's a
righteous indignation. It's arighteous feeling of unsettled,
you know, I'm, I'm unsettledwith this, and I wish someone
(19:27):
would do something about it,right? But sometimes that
someone is you
Joshua Johnson (19:35):
Exactly, exactly, you know, one of the
things that I love your stories,of what you say in your book.
And then, you know, interviewsthat you you've given just the
way that you walk in the world,you really receive prophetic
words. You give prophetic words.
Prophecy is is a big thing inyour life. One of the training
sessions I do for for people isto figure out how to hear from
(19:57):
God. And then to actually saywhat he's saying to other people
is we do, you know, we havepeople sitting in chairs, their
eyes are closed, and webasically do, like a musical
chairs type thing. And then Ihave them pray, ask God to hear
something for the person infront of them. They have no idea
who it is. And then they opentheir eyes and they share it. So
(20:18):
it's just starting to train themto hear from God. And I've had
so many people in tears cryinglike we're like these words
resonate like people arestarting to hear from God. What
is the role then, of propheticwords and prophecy for you and
your life? How do we, like,receive them and give them
without being so fearful thatwe're this is coming from us,
(20:42):
we're not hearing God, right?
Yeah, don't follow his, his wordvery well, yeah,
Edwina Findley Dickerson (20:51):
um, I mean, obviously that's a big
question, right? You know, andit's not really a one, one size
fits all answer, but I do think,I think maybe having disclaimers
may be good, right? Like, I'mfeeling this really strongly. If
this resonates with you, youknow, take it. If it doesn't, I
(21:12):
also understand. But I'm just,you know, I'm feeling led to
tell you, x, right? And givingthe other person that
opportunity to say, like, okay,that resonates with me or
doesn't resonate with me or, or,you know what, okay, thank you,
right? Thank you. Like, there'sbeen times in my life where
immediately I know what a personhas shared with me is absolute
(21:37):
confirmation, because Godalready sent five people before
them to tell me that message,and he was already telling me
that message in the shower thatmorning, right? So it's like
just confirmation, and somepeople feel that that's what
prophetic words are, juststrictly confirmation. But I
will say that there have beenwords that I've received where I
was like, no, no, no, absolutelynot. That is not me. That's not
(22:00):
what I want. That's not what Godtold me, that's not what God
showed me. And then suddenly,you know, he'll send five other
people with that message, like,wait, no, get away from me. What
are you talking about? That isnot confirmation. Not only is it
not confirmation, I don't wantit, you know, but for me, it's
(22:20):
the repetition, right? It's therepetition of the word or the
sign, you know, or therevelation that makes me say,
Okay, God, especially if it'ssomething I hadn't been paying
attention to before, that makesme begin to surrender and and
just go to God directly, becausethat's another thing. It's like
God can use each of us to speakto one another, but ultimately
(22:43):
he wants to be the person thatwe go to, right? And so and so,
yeah, there. There have beensome things like that, where
when I surrendered and actuallyinvited those things in my life,
changed my life in the mostwonderful way, but I just
wouldn't have known, had I notsurrendered, right? Had I not
(23:03):
surrendered to the word, even ifit was something that I didn't
think I wanted, right? And it'slike, by surrendering to God's
plan, like, Okay, God, you'remaking it so clear that this is
your plan. But that's not theway I want to go. And then, and
then I finally go that way, andit's like, oh my gosh, I could
have missed this. This is soamazing. I can't believe I could
(23:26):
have missed it. So, you know,you asked about the role of
prophecy in my life has reallybeen a major guide. You know,
there's, there's decisions thatI've made that I would not have
known to make had I not had aword in advance about it. So by
the time it happened, it waslike, Oh, this is the direction
I'm supposed to say yes to this.
I don't necessarily personallyunderstand it all, but I know
(23:48):
that's what God said, so let memove in that direction. And each
time I've done that, it's comewith tremendous blessing on the
other side,
Joshua Johnson (24:01):
I think that's sometimes really hard for
people, is to actually noticethat this is happening and
notice the signs that God isspeaking to you to move you in a
specific direction. And I thinkwe're in our attention age that
we live in, and everything isvying for our attention. We're
pretty bad at at focusing onsomething like, like the signs
(24:25):
God is giving us. How can weslow down to to actually see the
signs, to pay attention to thesigns, to know where God is
leading?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (24:35):
Yeah, you know, one thing for me, you
know, I talk about this in thebook chapter five is the secret
power of hearing God's voice.
And I really start encouragingpeople, no matter how busy you
are, even me, you know, I haveto apply these same principles
on a regular basis, and I do notalways do a great job of it, you
know, like these. I'm in aseason right now that is
(24:57):
incredibly busy. Been on a worldtour. As far as the book, I have
multiple interviews right afterthis, you know, and started six
o'clock in the morning, but thenhave two little children, and
they had to get to school andhave a husband, you know,
there's a lot happening. And so,you know, one of the things that
I say for myself, and that Ialso encourage in the book, it's
(25:19):
like really discipliningyourself to spend time with God
and and carving out, carving outthat time, because it's not just
gonna happen. It's just not, youknow, it's not just gonna
happen. You have to be sointentional. You have to be so
into this, as intentional as youare about going to work, as
(25:41):
intentional as you are aboutchecking your email, as
intentional you are replying toyour text messages, you know, is
as intentional as we have to beto carve out time and say, God,
you know what? In the midst ofall of this, actually, your
voice is, is the most valuableone to hear and and sometimes it
(26:03):
can feel like we have, we haveso many things to do that we
don't have time to carve out.
But if we, if we just kind ofreposition that in the
understanding, like in the book,I talk about the Pareto
Principle, 8020 the 8020 rule,which essentially is, of the
(26:25):
100% of the things in your life,only 20% of the things that you
do are actually moving theneedle for the other 80% a lot
of times the other 80% is awhole bunch of busyness. That is
not actually what's moving, youknow, the needle. It's really
that, that sliver, that 20% andwhat I found when I when I take
(26:46):
time to carve out with God thathe'll show me the 20% he'll show
me what are the fewer things todo that actually amount to the
the bigger picture. And I sayalso, like, one thing I do is go
on prayer walks, right?
Sometimes I have to just put itall down, shut off the computer,
turn off the phone. In fact,leave, leave the phone, right?
Because if I take it, then I'llbe on it, leave the phone, and
(27:09):
literally, just go on a prayerwalk. And my husband has started
doing that too, you know? Andthere's something about that
that's just saying, like, God,this time is for you. I give it
to you, and also I ask that youwill, that you will also give me
your time, right, like actuallyspeak to me in this time that
I'm dedicating to you.
Joshua Johnson (27:33):
It all boils down to simple things, being
intentional, spending the timeand listening to God. Everything
that you're doing in this book,you have these, these two
threads that come together. Oneis your intentionality. Like,
you're going to put, you know,your vision book together.
You're going to put yourquarterly goals, your weekly
goals, you're gonna like, theseare the steps that I need to get
(27:56):
to. You know, whatever dreamthat God has put in my heart
like, this is where we're going,and I'm gonna get there. But
then you also are like, hey, butwe also have to surrender and
trust God. We have to listen toHis voice and actually go where
he goes. How do we merge thosethings of the intentionality and
the vision that we have and thetrust and surrender to God's
(28:18):
plan?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (28:19):
We get the world is waiting for you,
and we go through each chapter,that's what we do. I mean,
honestly, like so much of thatquestion, is what was poured
into this book? Because I knowmany, many, many people who are
so strong in faith, are justincredibly strong in faith, and
(28:41):
who are prophetic and who spenda lot of time with God, and who
I just really believe have havea gift of faith. But
unfortunately, I've seen manypeople with a gift of faith
that, you know, it's been yearsand years and years and years
and years, and have not seensignificant movement in their
(29:01):
life in that direction. And thenthere's people that I know that
are like, go getters, gogetters, go getters, go getters,
go getters, you know, who arevery productive and very, you
know, and and and hypersuccessful and have lots of
money and all of that. But thenthey have this other place that,
like, I feel lost and I don'tknow where I am in life, and I'm
(29:21):
not sure what my purpose is.
And, you know, there's theseother parts of life that I've
been wanting, and I don't knowwhy they haven't shown up. And
so I just really felt like, youknow what? And in some ways, I'm
both right, and I've had to comeon a journey as a person of
faith, who also, you know, hasvery strong goals, you know, as
far as success and all thosesuccess principles, and it's
(29:43):
like, how do you meld that faithand success together? And that's
really what a lot of what thisbook is, right? It's spiritual
principles and it's practicalprinciples. So even you know, in
that chapter, this time nextyear, chapter 10. Yeah. And, and
in that chapter, plan like arock star, right? There's people
that say, oh, you know, if youwant to make God laugh, show
(30:06):
them your plans, right? And soit's kind of like an idea of,
like, I don't need to plananything, because my plans
aren't going to work out anyway,because God has another plan,
you know? But I sort ofchallenge that notion in the
book, I say, well, didn't Godhave a plan when he created this
universe? You know, wasn't it sospecific? Right? He had a he had
(30:26):
a project plan for each andevery day. I'm going to create
this on this day, this on thisday, I'm going to wrap it all up
on the sixth day, and then I'mgoing to rest on the seventh
day. You know, it was veryspecific. And even the times and
seasons in our world, or even ifyou look at plants and
agriculture or a woman's body,right where it's all operating
(30:47):
according to time and seasonsand a very specific recurring
plan. So when you begin to lookat God as a master planner, then
it doesn't get you off the hookof not planning because I have
faith. I faith so I don't haveto plan. No, you, you, you make
your plans by faith and infaith, right? And so they come
(31:11):
together. And especially, youknow, for those who may be
listening, who are prophetic,right? Like what I do when I get
a prophetic word and I receiveit, the next thing I want to
know is, Okay, God, what are thesteps? Right? What are the steps
that you need me to take in thedirection of like I said, what I
call a god dream, you may callit prophetic word. You may call
(31:33):
it a promise. You may call itjust the word of the Lord.
However you call it, what doesit require of you to partner
with God, to see the fruition ofit, to see the manifestation of
it? Yeah, so, so it's reallythat, that journey, and so
that's what I really encouragepeople who feel that tension
right now, to get the book, gothrough it, you know, really
(31:57):
lean into it, and there's a lotof questions that the that the
book invites you to ask yourselfand ask God and you know, and
the expectation is that when yougo through that process, that
things are going to become muchmore clear.
Joshua Johnson (32:15):
Take me through just a couple of things that are
holding people back fromactually then planning and
taking those steps. What arepeople afraid of? Yeah.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (32:25):
So, yeah. So there's a whole chapter
in the book about confrontwhat's holding you back, because
that's something that I've, youknow, again, experienced and
also seen, you know, over these20 years of traveling around the
world and having lots ofspeaking engagements and
workshops and, you know, andjust connecting with hundreds of
(32:45):
1000s of people, right? There'sbeen patterns that I've seen as
far as what holds us back forreally manifesting the godliness
over our life, fear, I think, isprobably number one. And then I,
you know, in the book, I breakdown different types of fear,
fear fear of failure, fear ofsuccess, fear of man. You know,
essentially, fear of man is,what are people going to think
(33:07):
of me if I do this, right? Fearof failure. Well, if I really
step out and I fail, then youknow, maybe that, maybe that'll
be worse than just not trying,because if I don't try, or if I
don't put it out there, thatthis is what I want, then I'll
never fail, right? And so I've,I've experienced many of those
things. You know, also a lot ofpeople, unfortunately, what
(33:29):
thwarts them can berelationships, right,
relationships that perhaps theyshould not be in. And I've
unfortunately seen that manytimes, especially with a lot of
women, I've seen how the enemyhas come in and and distracted
them away from the actual Goddream that they were called to
manifest. But you know, there'sthese detours that we can start
(33:53):
to take in life. And so, youknow, one of the things that in
that chapter I really encourageis building up our wisdom and
discernment about each of thesedifferent areas, so that we
don't invite into our livessomething that's going to be a
stumbling block. You know,there's things like depression,
right? That's that's real, youknow, depression and mental
health, that's very real, andthat can really hold, you know,
(34:16):
hold a person back from fullyembracing the calling that God
has. And so, you know,everything that's holding us
back is not necessarilyexternal. You know, sometimes
it's internal. Sometimes it'sthings that we may not have a
tremendous amount of controlover in our own strength, but,
but, you know, I encouragepeople even in the book, like if
(34:38):
you need to have a therapist, ifyou need to have a counselor, if
you need to go through a programyou know, lean into the
resources that are around youthat can help you to move beyond
this block, right? This, thisthing that's holding you back so
that you can flourish, right?
Like God is, God is designed forus to flourish, and God's
designed for us to live inabundance.
Joshua Johnson (35:00):
Life Amen.
What's your big hope for theworld is waiting for you? What
would you hope the readers wouldget from the book?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (35:06):
Yeah, you know, ultimately, I love
seeing lives transformed. I loveseeing radical shifts in
people's lives, right? I lovewhen people have those aha
moments of wow, you know thisthis resonate with me deeply, or
(35:27):
this has caused me to now makeanother choice, and by making
that other choice, suddenly, youopen up yourself to a whole new
level of life that you didn'teven realize was a part of your
reward and a part of yourinheritance. So, you know, I
have an organization, abundantlife, university and, and
(35:48):
that's, you know, kind of ourgoal, right for to see everybody
around the world live in theirabundant life.
Joshua Johnson (35:55):
That's beautiful. That's beautiful. A
couple really quick questions atthe end. One, Edwina, if you go
back to your 21 year old self,what advice would you
Edwina Findley Dickerson (36:02):
give?
I would you give? I think Iwould tell her that the end is
good. The end is good that thereare some things that you have to
contend with now, but just knowthat the promise that you're
believing for on the other sidewill come to pass
Joshua Johnson (36:22):
that's good.
Anything you've been reading orwatching lately, you could
recommend.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (36:26):
There are certain pastors that I
really love, like I love Dr ARBernard. I was recently at his
church last Sunday with thebook. Quite a few people are in
transition now. You know, as faras ministries and age and, you
know, are kind of passing thebaton. And so, you know, I talk
about him, actually, quite a bitin the book. So he, I would say
(36:51):
he and Dr miles Monroe, youknow, I think are just great
examples of people who've beenable to kind of bring together
faith and, you know, prosperityor success or achievement, you
know, those kinds of things in away that still honors God, you
know, but but encourages us tolean into our purpose. So, you
(37:13):
know, those are just a few ofthe people that I would
recommend, excellent.
Joshua Johnson (37:17):
Well, the world is waiting for you. Is out now,
anywhere books are sold, so youcould go and get this fantastic
book. Edwina, I loved it. A lotof fun. I just enjoyed being
inspired to be able to actuallylive out the God dreams that he
has actually put in my heart.
That may I have, may have beenheld back from one thing or
another and saying, Okay, theseare the steps that I need to
(37:40):
take, and I need to start doingsome planning. So thank you for
for this in my own life, and Iknow that it'll actually impact
a lot of people. So hopefully goand get that book The world is
waiting for you. Is thereanywhere that you'd like to
point people to to connect withyou? Any upcoming projects you
want to look out for?
Edwina Findley Dickerson (38:00):
Yeah, they can. They can go to the
world is waiting.org The worldis waiting.org. Has resources.
There's aspects in the book thatthey can tap into. There's also
a God dreamers Academy that'sstarting for people who are
going through this book and justreally want, you know, to go the
next step of the journey. Right,as far as implementing a lot of
(38:22):
these things, I would encouragethem to join the god dreamers
Academy. There's a Connect pageright there on that page, and
they can fill out theirinformation and connect with me.
And then also, you know, I'mvery active on social media,
especially on Instagram. I'm atEdwina Finley, so folks can
definitely stay in touch. Great.
Joshua Johnson (38:43):
Well, I love following you on Instagram. Saw
that we you went to a littleSafari place in South Africa. My
family went a couple years agoto the same place. Saw the
little cheetah run. Yeah, wewere there. I don't know. Did
they have the crazy ostrich comeout for you.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (39:02):
Oh, that was definitely an ostrich.
Ostriches. Oh, gosh, that wasfun. Oh, that what a small
world.
Joshua Johnson (39:09):
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. So go, yeah, follow
Edwina and see those incrediblethings. So, Edwina, this was
fantastic. Really loved ourconversation. So thank you me
too.
Edwina Findley Dickerson (39:20):
Thanks so much, Joshua, Have a blessed
day. You.
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