January 5, 2025 • 39 mins
The Black Effect Presents... Woman Evolve!
Chhiiillleee, W.E. made it to the finish line! SJR is wrapping up the year with a solo episode to dish out the deets on what’s been going on in her world, how she’s prepping for the holidays, and what the life of Jesus means to her. Meanwhile, the Delegation came through with testimonies from 2024 — and let's just say, the girlies are standing ten toes down on what God is doing in their lives. And just like that, Sis, the 2024 Podcast SZN has come to an end!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I had to wait for God to give me a
vision for my life. The finished outcome is not the
plan at all. The finished outcome is who I will
be on the other side of the plan.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
In the moments this year where.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You may have not felt powerful, I promise you that
God's not finished developing and growing you in those areas.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Guess what It's okay.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
In twenty twenty five, we flow in power again. Merry Christmas, Mary,
you hear my chair speaking, I don't know if you
hear my Merry Christmas and Happy Holodays Mary. First of all,
in sinc or Backstreet Boys, let's go on and break
up right now. Let's go on and settle it right now.
(00:45):
Are we about to be friends in twenty twenty five
or not? Were you an en Sync gurly or were
you at Backstreet Boys Girly. I'm going to keep it
honest and just say that in sync it was InSync
for me. Do what you will with that information. Does
that mean I didn't know any Backstreet Boy songs? No,
that's not what that meant at all. But you know
(01:08):
when Insing said pop bye bye and they and they
in the arm was swinging and like it just I
don't even know what I was going to say bye to.
But let's not act like ensynctic. Okay, Merry Christmas. How
I won't even get started because I did get started,
but I'm gonna real it back.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
This is the last episode of the Women Evall podcast
for the year, and I want to say that I
am so sad, but the truth is I need a break.
I am in the end of the year's slump. I
am feeling myself slowly but surely falling apart, which is fine, Like,
don't pray for me.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I need to fall apart.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Sometimes we be praying that people won't fall apart, and
we need to actually pray the opposite. We need to
pray that people will just let the things fall apart
so that they can have a minute from not from
just like trying to hold everything together and just let
it fall apart. I'm in my fall apart season and
I feel oh so good about it. I'm so grateful
for the ways that we have journeyed with one another
(02:08):
throughout the year. You all have been with me through
some high, some low, some anxiety, some excitement, some depression,
some graduations. Well, I guess I shouldn't say graduations. I
graduated from Fear and enrolled in college, so that was
a graduation. And so yeah, I'm just grateful that we
have been able to spend this time together. Let me see,
(02:32):
you know, I always have a little update, tell you what's.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Happening in my world.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And last time I recorded this podcast, I did it
from my car. I have you know, not only am
I recording this early? So this is today's Thursday podcast
comes out next Wednesday. I'm am I like efficient and
excellent because I'm recording on Thursday and is due next week.
I'll leave that up to you to decide. But the
answer is yes, like it's on you to decide. But
(02:58):
the answers also yes. I am sitting at home. My
daughter is home sick, and she is now my coworker
in my office. She's been with me two days in
a row. I look up and she's laying on my couch.
She's turning the corner. There's a little butt going around.
My friend Jason's daughter was sick too. She had a
stepfy nose, sore throat fever, which is exactly what my
(03:21):
Ellabella had. But God is faithful. She is turning the
corner being healed, and she will be at school tomorrow.
I And let me tell you how my life has changed.
When I was raising my children, my like as a
single mother. Maybe you're going to school. Do you understand
what I'm saying, Like you'll be okay, you're going to school.
(03:44):
Put some VIGs vapor up in your socks and like
that's gonna help build your immune system. And now that
I am, you know, parenting at a different stage in
my life, all of my children are seven years apart.
You know, I didn't have it in me to say
she probably we could have gone to school today like yesterday.
She definitely could have gone to school today. I could
have probably gave person some orange juice and she could
(04:06):
have gone to school today. But look at me softening
up in my old age. Could you have gone to
school today? No, you don't think so, not even a
little bit. She got a big old smile on her face.
She's saying no, But she got a old a big
old smile on her face. So okay. So that's what's
(04:26):
happening in my world. Christmas shopping. I'm just grateful that
we're going to have some family time. I'm excited about
some of the random gifts that I was able to
get for my children, and I'm just looking forward to nothingness.
I'm praying the same for you, while also recognizing that
(04:48):
the holiday season can be complicated for so many reasons,
and I am praying that above all that you will
experience the peace of God in the midst of whatever
you're facing. If you are having one of those moments
where you need to fall apart, I hope that you
take some time and fall apart. Jesus is the reason
(05:09):
for the season, right, So we got to keep in
mind while it can be very exciting to get the
Christmas presents and to do, if you're like me, I
love givings, so I get more excited about giving the
gifts and receiving them. I also have to challenge myself
to make sure that I am not commercializing my Jesus' birthday,
which I know we don't necessarily know that he was
(05:31):
born on December twenty fifth, but that I'm really turning
my heart towards Jesus and discovering what the life of
Jesus means to me in this season of my life.
And when I reflect on that, man, I feel so
much gratitude. I feel like I've gotten closer to Jesus
more this year than in any other year of my life,
(05:53):
and that proximity is a result of me receiving the
I want to say that like the being of Jesus
and not to the power of Jesus. It is the
same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead that
(06:14):
is alive inside of us, and that power has given
us authority and dominion and the ability to overcome whatever
warfare or obstacle may stand in our way. But this year,
I feel like I have been more intentional about turning
that power inside of me. If you have been raised
(06:35):
like I have been raised, there is a temptation to
constantly pour out, pour out, pour out, and use that
power in the direction of whatever standing in your way.
But this year, I feel that I have turned that
power inside and allowed the power that has raised Jesus
from the grave to go to work on my need
(06:58):
to produce, my inability to rest, my need to hear
and receive. I'm going to call it criticism, but I
think they're just honest perspectives of where I have opportunity
to grow, and I have allowed the life of Jesus
(07:18):
to guide me in releasing the need to be accepted.
I've allowed the life of Jesus to show me that
you can be settled without clear direction. Right now, I
am probably more settled than I have ever been in
(07:39):
my life, and yet I don't have direction on quite
a few things in my world. And for someone who
was a planner, I loved the plan. It is difficult
to not have that level of direction. But I've been
able to be present in the moments each day that
has been in front of me without necessarily needing those answers,
(08:03):
and to understand what's happening next. I don't know if
it's because I went on vacation or because i've It's
probably both. But I've had a few things happen in
the last few weeks or the I guess last couple
of weeks since I've been home that did not go
as plan. Many of you know about my father's health issue,
and then there are just a few other things that
(08:26):
have happened personally that would have literally tapped me out,
wiped me out. But I really trust God, Like I'm
just like, all right, God, let's do it, you know,
all right, God, this one's on you, and I've had
peace in the trusting not as stretch.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Sometimes it's a stretch for me to trust.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And I think one of the signs that I'm in
a space where I need rest, and not just physical rest,
but I think mental rest, emotional, spiritual rest is when
an obstacle brings me so much anxiety that I can
no longer trust God. But there's something to be said
about being in a space of not having the absence
(09:03):
of struggle, but being able to trust God in the
midst of struggle without anxiety.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
And right now, on.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
This day, December twelfth, at three eighteen pm, that is
my truth. We'll check in in twenty twenty five to see,
you know if I've been able to maintain it. I
really pray that I will. I'm protecting I'm trying to
protect it. Okay, so that's my business. Let me mind yours.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Hello, good evening, Sarah.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
My name is Beja.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I wanted to ask a quick question.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
But first I want to stages thank you because your podcast,
your work, your spirit, the things that God poured into
you has definitely helped me along my new journey.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I feel like I used to be a babe in
Christ but.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Now we getting up there.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Now we're in a marathon now, you know. But my
question kind of comes down to because I.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
Know you've had like a a different experience versus you know,
the other Christians that you may know earth have grew
up around, and your past.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Kind of it kind of resembles mine.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
I was working in clubs as a bottle girl, things
that nature, and now that I have given my life to.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
God, now that I don't drink anywhere.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Because I know it it led me to what kind
of lifestyle led me to Now It's like.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I'm scared to plan out my life, and God forgive
me for a thing. I'm scared, but I'm speaking the truth.
I'm scared to plan out my life because I feel
like what if I do it wrong? And what if
it's not in God's live? So I kind of just
if you can give me some insight on.
Speaker 6 (10:38):
How how were you able to turn your life around?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And did you actually plan to have these things that
you have now?
Speaker 6 (10:46):
Did you plan to have a podcast, did you plan
to have a business? Did you plan you know, because
going into the new year, it's like we wanted to
plan ahead of time, but what if our plans doesn't
reflect God.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
And how do we know if they do or don't.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
You know, You've just give me some insight on that.
It will be very helpful. I'm still young, I'm in
my twenties, so anything you say can help me. Thank you,
Sarah girl.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
We love you, bless you by.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I overstand this question and I can't wait to dig
into it. But first of all, I just want to
thank you for the words you said about me in
the beginning. I'm really grateful for the way that I
am able to connect with you all and share what
God is showing me and teaching me and how I'm learning,
(11:33):
growing and developing. And I appreciate you kicking it with me.
So thank you for listening to this podcast and hearing
my heart and allowing it to You know, I think
water the seeds of your destiny in certain moments, So
thank you. Okay, so this is a great question. As
I mentioned earlier, I am very much so a planner,
(11:55):
but because my life has moved in a direction that
I could have never planned, I too found myself hesitant,
hesitant to plan. So let me tell you, I didn't know,
didn't never imagine having a podcast, definitely didn't anticipate starting
a ministry, having other businesses, you know, even you know,
(12:19):
a social media platform like I even you know, I
think early on I would just kind of like celebrate
when I reached a certain moulestone with followers. But then
I stopped because it was like, I, I'm not planning
any of that. There's nothing wrong with people do that.
Don't like please, you know, take this with a grain
of salt. I don't have a word from the Lord
on this, but it just wasn't the kind of thing
(12:41):
that I felt like, I don't know, I'm weird. Don't
worry about me, just pray about me. So I didn't
plan it, but it happened, and as it happened, I
felt like I needed to be a steward, not a planner.
And so I would challenge you to maybe think of
it from this lens.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
How can I.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Be a good steward of what God is allowing to
happen in my life and to allow it to show
up in all the things that I do in my
gifts and talents.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And so part of being a good steward.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Is planning, right, So I will tell you how the
podcast started. So one I got a revelation from God
about Eve that I felt like every woman should know.
Up until then, I was just sharing my story, and
I wasn't really convinced that every woman should know my
story because I've heard enough of your stories to be like,
my story is not any different than the stories of
(13:37):
a lot of women that I have heard. But when
I saw this revelation about Eve, I felt like, now,
this is a story that every woman should know, not
just her journey of like eating the fruit, she ruined
it for us all, but the way that God responded
to her in this moment of knowing better and not
doing better. And so I wanted to host a conference.
(13:58):
This is the I was like, I'm going to host
am diference, and I want to talk about what it
means to be a woman evolving from her pain, from
her shame, her last victory. What does it mean to
be a woman who's constantly evolving. And it felt like
a conference was the best way to do that, because
I wanted to gather the stories of other women and
for them to talk about how they evolved in the
(14:18):
area of finance, how they evolved in the area of skincare,
how they evolved in the area of fitness, like how
can a woman look at the totality of who she
is and begin to evolve? And so I also was
then like okay, but it's kind of corny to just
be like come to a conference, right. I was like,
how can I begin connecting with these women before the conference?
(14:39):
And so that's when I started the podcast because I
felt like, I don't want to just wait until I
see you on I think the first conference stations were
like July thirteenth through the fourteenth. I think that's true.
I might be lying, somebody will correct me, but July
thirteenth through the fourteenth in twenty eighteen, I want to
start talking to you now about this concept about what's
happening in the world then how it impacts you. So
(15:02):
started that. Then the clothing line, like everything just kind
of and then I got rid of the clothing line.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Right because it's like, Okay, I don't.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Mind creating merch that is a reflection of the messages
and the movement, but I don't know if I just
want to be out here as selling clothes for the
sake of selling clothes. So you have to be willing
to allow yourself to have trial and error as it
relates to your plan, and then you also have to
understand how your plan is tying into what God is
(15:32):
doing in your life and how it can help and
serve other people. So I wish I could give you.
I hope that's a good answer. I wish I could
give you more details. It feels like I'm missing something.
Oh that's relevant to my journey. I had to wait
for God to give me a vision for my life.
(15:53):
There were a lot of people who were projecting their
vision for my life onto me, a book age and
my parents.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
People who heard.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Me speak like you should do this, you should do that,
you should do this, but none of it resonated with me.
I had to wait until God gave me something that
made their suggestions make sense. And you are cultivating You
said you weren't quite a babe in Christ, which helps
me to understand that you have cultivated our relationship with
(16:25):
God and now your life seeks to give God glory.
And as a result of that, you want to plan
something that will be a reflection of that heart posture,
and you want to plan something that will continue to
draw you closer into being more like Jesus. So if
you're going to plan plan without pressure. For me, when
(16:49):
I planned previously, the plan was going to be in
some way a reflection of my identity, a reflection of
my value and my worth, and so I put a
lot of pressure on the plan. You don't have to
have pressure on the plan when you recognize that this
plan is just a tool that God's going to use
to build and develop my knowledge of who he is
(17:11):
and what He can pull out of me and bring
out of me in any given moment. It will not
be about the outcome. It will be who I become
in the process. And So if you can master planning
without pressure, if you can then really choose to plan
with intentionality, how does this awaken more of what God
is doing in my life? How does this connect my
(17:34):
gifts and talents? You know, you as a bottle girl, heard, felt,
seen okay, you know, which means you've had to build
rapport with people. Like Lord, If I have this gift
where I can build rapport with people and you're doing
something in my life, is there anything that is connected
to my ability to connect with people? But now I'm
(17:54):
connecting with them to ultimately share the goodness of God
or to create and byevironments where they are receiving the
social services that they need, where they're receiving tools on
finances like look at the full inventory and audit of
what God has given you, and be willing to say, Lord,
what do you want me to do with it? Be
willing to wait, but just trust that all things are
(18:16):
going to work together.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So I hope that helps evolve.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So we took the time to reflect a little bit
about my experiences this year. Now I want to hear
about yours. We had a few of our listeners send
in their own reflections on twenty twenty four, and I
want to share them with you. Some of them are
literally miraculous and nature and others are just inspiring. And
(18:53):
so let's kick it off. We have a testimony from
Tony Riley. For the past eight months. In twenty twenty four,
I was battling stomach cancer. I was the youngest patient
they've ever seen with stomach cancer and they don't know
how I got it, even after doing so many genetic
tests to understand why I got him. I'm very grateful
that God held my hand through the whole thing. There
(19:13):
were many times when I felt like giving up, but
God kept encouraging me and giving me strength to stand.
I'm also very grateful that he had a deacon who
was at the hospital visiting his family member pray for me.
I'm not only grateful, but I'm thankful. If it had
not been for God, I would have died this year
at the age of twenty four. As of September twenty
twenty four, I'm happy to say that I am officially
(19:35):
cancer free, and I thank God for what he did
for me. Oh my goodness. We have to keep telling
our stories. Who knows who may be listening right now,
who may be in their own health battle, or they're
standing in the gap for someone they love. And there
is nothing like being reminded that God is still doing
miracles in twenty twenty four. He is still going ahead
(19:59):
of us, even in complicated situations, and creating not just
the way of escape, but a way of bearing and
coping with those challenging circumstances. And so we thank God
for Jesus, and we thank God for the deacons, and
we thank God for you.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Tony.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
So grateful that you made it to the other side.
This next one is from Erica. Erica says, I am
a party promoter MC so with that comes free drink Scalore.
I also was a huge weed smoker. I'm talking daily.
When I wake up, I smoke on my way to work.
I'd smoke on my break. I'd smoke traveling home. I'd
smoke hanging with my friends. I'd smoke when I was troubled.
(20:34):
I'd smoke reading my Bible and listening to the sermons.
I'd smoke through good times. I'd smoke and through bad times. Baby,
no judgment. Okay, marijuana was good for my anxiety because
it relaxed me. But it was becoming my god. Because
I put the weed first. Alcohol wasn't a problem until
it was a problem this year. On January first, I
put both of them down, and God willing, if I
(20:56):
see January first, twenty twenty five, I'll be one year
free from marijuana and alcohol. I remember one day, Holy
Spirit saying, how you asked me to order your steps,
and you won't follow. He was talking about the smoking
and drinking. When I heard that, I threw out my grinder,
my weed holder, and my wraps. I thank God that
I can hear him, But I also thank God for
my that part, thank God for my obedience. Erica, let
(21:19):
me tell you about your testimony. Things that are blessing
me in this testimony. First of all, when my girl
said I used to smoke, she says, I want you
all to understand that it wasn't puff puff pass. I
was puff puff passing to myself. And every season, in
every part of the day, I was bringing it on
home to me. I was the rotation. Okay, as a
(21:40):
former indulger of the Devil's lettuce myself, I must tell
you felt heard and understood. I just remember waking up
one day and being like, I am higher than I
have ever been, and I don't want to be this
high anymore. I don't want to be walking through life high.
And I put it down as well, and thank God
(22:01):
for Jesus on the other side. So I appreciate you,
like really breaking it down that this was not just like, no,
just a little bit to knock the edge off for
my anxiety. Know this was the way that I was
making it through the day. Second thing I want to
say is this, and also you got to really know
about know about a life of just living where all
(22:23):
you're doing is smoking. To even understanding the grinder, the
weed holder in my wraps, that's a lifestyle committed to it.
But what I really love the most is that you
heard the voice of God. She says, I thank God
I can hear him. If we could just take a
minute and cue the shouting music and thank God that
we can hear his voice. Oh Lord, my biggest fear
(22:44):
is that I would no longer hear the voice of God. Lord,
Please don't just tell me anything that I want to hear,
like Lord, even if it's the hard things. Please, please,
please go out of your way. I want to constantly
be one who hears you. And in addition to that, Lord,
I also want to be one who obeys you, because
what good is hearing the voice of God if you're
(23:05):
not going to obey what you hear. I thank God
for your obedience, and I thank God that you are
acknowledging the role that you played in your deliverance. I
thank God that I can hear them, but I also
thank God for my obedience. Go off, Queen. Our next
testimony is from Ruthi Bennett. Ruthie says this was one
of the most greatest experiences in my life. I am
(23:28):
a sixty year old woman who thought my dreams was over,
but woman evol woke up the old bones in me.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I still have fight left.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
God is still going to complete his mission in my life,
and for that I am so grateful. I'm going back
home today and I'm ready to awake and manifest and
break every curse that has been in my family for generations.
It has come to an end. Everything that God has
placed in my life. I have surrendered to His will,
not mine. Thank you so much, Ruthie for your example
(23:56):
and your inspiration that even our queen who are in
their sixties are still out here surrendering, evolving, growing and
bringing a generation alongside them. Last testimony, this one is
from Zabrina. It says I started with Homecoming of Women
that Aren't Loose. From there I have done a woman
(24:17):
Evolved twice. The theme this year was too impacting. I
was on a surrendered journey before I got there. So
much has happened. But when you said you have to
grieve and believe, I lost it. About two weeks ago.
I began to embrace two years of grief, from deaths
to losses, so much hurt and pain. But God had
you on target. Then I had the opportunity to bring
(24:39):
my daughters. I have so many testimonies from the evolution
that I just can't tell at all. I was one
step from being checked in. I was one Hallelujah away
from throwing in the towel. But God he heard me.
He answered what we had talked about. So when people
started texting me from back home and at the conference
saying I was on the video and Instagram and YouTube,
(24:59):
I looked at screenshots and saw the ugly cry and
Bishop Jake spoke on how people want to post what's
cute child? I promise I wanted to be cute, but
I had to surrender the ugly, the hurt and the
pain and let the Holy Spirit have his way. When
I look at everything I've been through and what it
took to get there, I can appreciate the posting. I
wanted to be somewhat embarrassed, but in that moment it
(25:20):
became another surrender. Thank you just isn't enough, but I
gotta say it as abundantly as I can. Thank you,
Thank you God, thank you delegation, thank you media team
for holding me accountable. To the surrender. I challenge this
all to be accountable. God bless a man Zabrina. I
love this testimony so much and that you experienced so
(25:41):
much breakthrough. It kind of made me feel like, I'm
sorry that we put you out there like that. But
also the fact that you said that there was this
element of accountability to what you experienced and you wanted
to really show up in a space of authenticity that
made me feel like maybe God worked it out for
the better. But now I'm like, media team, we need
to be more sensitive. Lord, tell me what to do.
That's gonna be my prayer for twenty twenty five. I
want you to always have a safe space, and I
(26:03):
want you to also stand ten toes down for what
God is doing in your life. So thank you so
much for taking the time to tell us about your
testimony from Woman Evove twenty four. I just feel like
all of these testimonies are just a sign of transformation
and what happens when we are willing to trust God,
even in seasons that feel challenging to trust God and
(26:25):
new experiences to trust God as we step out on
water and say, you know what, by faith, I believe
that You're going to keep me afloat and so more grace,
more love, more anointing, more surrender, more peace, more trust,
more faith for those of you who are still navigating
twenty twenty four and trying to find who you are
(26:49):
on the other side of what you've laid down. And
just like that, the twenty twenty fourth season is coming
to an end. Before we close out this podcast, let's
just take a minute and talk about all the ways
that you can spend the next few weeks reflecting on
(27:10):
what it means to really have experienced God's power throughout
this year and your power. What I love so much
about the testimony that we received from Erica when she says,
I thank God that I can hear him, but I
also thank God for my obedience, is that it is
a perfect example of how power moves. We once had
(27:31):
so much power over her that she felt like she
couldn't make it throughout the day, But then that power
moved into a space of obedience, into a space of
being able to hear God's voice, and she is reaping
the harvest of what it means to really tap into
power moving. Power Moves is a book that I wrote
(27:51):
this year that now that I am experiencing all the
many ways that power moves, I believe that it is
more necessary now than when I released it. Of course,
I knew that we had a presidential election coming up,
but I could not have anticipated how polarizing it would be,
how we would see power moving from one group of
(28:12):
people to another group of people, how that loss of
power would make people feel isolated and dejected, and how
the reception of power would make other people feel confident
and affirmed in ways that we couldn't have anticipated. And
(28:34):
now we are dealing with the reality that we're moving
into twenty twenty five and there's going to be many
different shifts of power. We're going to see power moving
from good to evil, from evil to good. But the
question remains for ourselves is not how we see power move,
but how power is moving inside of us. I want
to encourage those of you who are starting the new
(28:56):
year with this type of reflection and heart posture, consider
getting the Power Moves Bible Study. The Power Moves Book
was everything that God told me about the way that
power moves. The Power Moves Journal is all about you
unpacking what you heard from God when you were listening
to the book. But the Power Moves Bible Study is
(29:17):
all about what the Word says. What the Bible says
with literally scriptures, chapters and verses for you to connect
to your journey of reclaiming and redefining what power looks
like for you in any given season. And I just
wanted to give you all a little sample because as
(29:38):
we're reflecting for twenty twenty five, I believe that this
sample can be helpful for you in documenting the way
that you experience power or lost power, but most importantly,
how you can redefine it after that loss, after those gains. Okay,
with that being said, I want you to grab a
journal and maybe some pen and paper and ask yourself
(30:02):
some of these questions. I want you to list one
to five areas where you have felt powerless this year,
and then I want you to consider areas where you
felt powerful. And then for the area where you felt powerless,
(30:25):
I want you to consider what would change if you
gained power. This is content directly from the Power Moves
Bible study, but I'm using it as the twenty twenty
five end of year recap for you because I believe
it's important that we take a moment to assess the
areas where we felt strong and also the areas where
(30:45):
we feel like there's some room for development. It's so
important I'm going to read this group question. Okay, that's
I should have told you all this. The Power Moves
Bible study is something that you can do as a group,
and so there's group discussion questions for each lesson. There's
like six lessons. So if you and your friends said,
you know what, we're going to take the first six
weeks and really understand, you know, the areas where God
(31:07):
can change and develop us, what we need to understand
about the Lord in order for us to go deeper
in our relationship. But then how do I let what's
happening inside of me show up outside of me and
so that I am moving in power. This Bible City
is going to be great for you. But okay, it's
important to again state up front that true power in
your life comes from God. I wanted to really ground
(31:32):
this concept and us recognizing how I said this earlier,
the same power that raised Jesus from the grave, it
lives inside of us. I'm talking about the power of
God in your life. I'm not talking about culture's definition
of power. I'm not talking about getting the bag and
that being powerful, or having the body and that making
you powerful. This is about you recognizing the power of
(31:54):
God showing up in your life Romans five, verse six,
through a sis, for when we were still without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, for scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for
a good man, someone would even dare to die. But
God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while
(32:16):
we were still sinners, Christ died for us much more
than having now been justified by his blood, we shall
be saved from wrath through him. What I love so much, Oh,
I gave you a bonus scripture. That's all right, it's
six through eight. But what I love so much about
this particular text is that it goes to show that
there was a moment when we were without strength, when
(32:38):
we were without power, and yet God, recognizing that we
were without power, allowed for his son Jesus to die
so that we could have strength, so that we could
have power. And what's crazy about this is like, the
idea of someone dying for a good man is one thing,
But let's talk about someone dying for someone who don't
have their stuff together, someone who was out here just
(33:00):
doing whoever, whenever, whyever, why would anyone die? Oh, there's
a song I want y'all listen to. It's called Sure
Been Good by Elevation Worship. Let me tell you it
about midway through it turns into like I wish I
could sing because I would tear that song up. But anyways,
in the midst of us still struggling, God allows for
his son Jesus to die not because of who we were,
(33:24):
but because of who he is and who we have
the potential to become when we allow His perfect strength
to meet our weakness. For when we were still without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. So
I just want you all to remember that it was
the demonstration of God's love towards us when we didn't
(33:45):
have our lives together that allows us to have access
to power. That means when you're looking at that area
where you feel powerless for whatever reason, I want to
remind you that you feeling powerless is an illusion. If
you say to yourself, you know what, I believe in Jesus,
or you know what I at least just want to
try to believe in Jesus, because I feel like sometimes
(34:06):
it's too hard of the ass to ask someone who
has never known Jesus, who has some questions about church,
some skepticism about faith, to go from nothing into full
fledged believing. But I am telling you if you would
just become suspicious about what your life could look like
with Jesus, if you could just become curious about what
people are talking about, I want you to understand that
(34:28):
that journey of curiosity that must see, that little small
speck of faith of what could happen, is all that
the Lord needs in order to start allowing power to
move in your direction. When we are reconciled with our
Father through Jesus, we have an unlimited access to power.
(34:49):
Not power for our own purposes, not power for our
own lust and desires, but power to survive, power to withstand,
power to grow, power to rest, power to have, power
to have peace in difficult circumstances. You know that if
you need power to have any of those things, it's
(35:10):
because the environment or experiences that you're currently standing in
or dealing with have the ability to rob you of power.
But through Jesus, you have power for every season. He
may have not felt powerful this year. You may have
had some moments where you felt lost, where you felt defeated,
where you felt like God I wonder if you hear
(35:31):
me at all. I am telling you that even in
those moments, that power was flowing in your direction. Sometimes
it doesn't mean that you did anything wrong. Sometimes it
means that we just missed it because we thought power
would look one way, but turns out it actually came
in another package. The Lord will restore the years. He
(35:53):
will restore what the locusts have eaten. In the moments
this year where you may have not felt powerful, I
promise you that God's not finished developing and growing you.
In those areas, you may have felt like you lost
out on relationships, that you lost out on resources and
time as a result of not showing up in full power.
(36:13):
Guess what, it's okay if the Lord say the same
in twenty twenty five, we flow in power again. What
are some of the lessons from those moments where you
felt powerless? What would have in power allowed you God's power,
not just any power. What would having God's power have
done for you in those instances? Would you have said
(36:36):
goodbye sooner? Would you have grieved more efficiently? Would you
have asked for help? I want you to start considering
what would have in God's power have done? Would you
have been okay being alone. Would you have worshiped differently?
Would you have allowed yourself to be more involved in
your church and community with regular attendance. I don't know
(36:57):
the answer for you, but I'm telling you that the
best way that you can spend these last few weeks
of seeing the areas where power stop flowing to then
allow yourself to kind of look at what clamped that
power down and instead say, you know what, God, I
want you to release this hold of pride, this spirit
of LUs this fear of rejection and abandonment, so that power,
(37:19):
your power can flow through me again. And when power flows, baby,
you gonna grow like never before. I'm grateful for my
ability to serve you. You've certainly been with me throughout
this year. Where the girl needed power to be still,
(37:39):
power was moving and moving. I'm like, power, can you
be still for a minute? Your definition keeps changing. One
moment power is surrendered, the next moment power is fighting,
the next power is rest. I just needed power to
be still. I am resting in the stillness of this
season's power. I'm leaning into God's God's knowledge, God's wisdom
(38:02):
as it relates to my life, and I pray and
hope that you will do the same. Thank you for
spending twenty twenty four with me. I think we're like fifty.
I think we did fifty episodes this year. It's only
fifty two weeks in the year we go together. I
want to pray for you as we close out this year. Lord,
I thank you for every heart, every listener, every story,
(38:28):
every scar, every question, every guest, every letter that we
have read throughout this year. God, I thank you for
creating community amongst strangers. Community in the pursuit of becoming
everything that you've known about us. God, I ask that
you would just plant within us a deeper, a deeper
(38:51):
sensitivity to what it means to hear from you, a
deeper sensitivity of what it means to respond with obedience
and strength. God, I pray that as we lean into
your voice and lean into your wisdom, that we will
realize that we're not missing a thing.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Thank you for bringing us through this year.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
Lord.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
It was the moments where we didn't know what the
end was going to be, but now we know that
the end is just another beginning. Thank you God for
allowing us to begin again in You. May we take
advantage of the access we have and share it with
everyone in our world. In Jesus name, I pray and
then evolve.
I had to wait for God to give me a
vision for my life. The finished outcome is not the
plan at all. The finished outcome is who I will
be on the other side of the plan.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
In the moments this year where.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You may have not felt powerful, I promise you that
God's not finished developing and growing you in those areas.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Guess what It's okay.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
In twenty twenty five, we flow in power again. Merry Christmas, Mary,
you hear my chair speaking, I don't know if you
hear my Merry Christmas and Happy Holodays Mary. First of all,
in sinc or Backstreet Boys, let's go on and break
up right now. Let's go on and settle it right now.
(00:45):
Are we about to be friends in twenty twenty five
or not? Were you an en Sync gurly or were
you at Backstreet Boys Girly. I'm going to keep it
honest and just say that in sync it was InSync
for me. Do what you will with that information. Does
that mean I didn't know any Backstreet Boy songs? No,
that's not what that meant at all. But you know
(01:08):
when Insing said pop bye bye and they and they
in the arm was swinging and like it just I
don't even know what I was going to say bye to.
But let's not act like ensynctic. Okay, Merry Christmas. How
I won't even get started because I did get started,
but I'm gonna real it back.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
This is the last episode of the Women Evall podcast
for the year, and I want to say that I
am so sad, but the truth is I need a break.
I am in the end of the year's slump. I
am feeling myself slowly but surely falling apart, which is fine, Like,
don't pray for me.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I need to fall apart.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Sometimes we be praying that people won't fall apart, and
we need to actually pray the opposite. We need to
pray that people will just let the things fall apart
so that they can have a minute from not from
just like trying to hold everything together and just let
it fall apart. I'm in my fall apart season and
I feel oh so good about it. I'm so grateful
for the ways that we have journeyed with one another
(02:08):
throughout the year. You all have been with me through
some high, some low, some anxiety, some excitement, some depression,
some graduations. Well, I guess I shouldn't say graduations. I
graduated from Fear and enrolled in college, so that was
a graduation. And so yeah, I'm just grateful that we
have been able to spend this time together. Let me see,
(02:32):
you know, I always have a little update, tell you what's.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Happening in my world.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And last time I recorded this podcast, I did it
from my car. I have you know, not only am
I recording this early? So this is today's Thursday podcast
comes out next Wednesday. I'm am I like efficient and
excellent because I'm recording on Thursday and is due next week.
I'll leave that up to you to decide. But the
answer is yes, like it's on you to decide. But
(02:58):
the answers also yes. I am sitting at home. My
daughter is home sick, and she is now my coworker
in my office. She's been with me two days in
a row. I look up and she's laying on my couch.
She's turning the corner. There's a little butt going around.
My friend Jason's daughter was sick too. She had a
stepfy nose, sore throat fever, which is exactly what my
(03:21):
Ellabella had. But God is faithful. She is turning the
corner being healed, and she will be at school tomorrow.
I And let me tell you how my life has changed.
When I was raising my children, my like as a
single mother. Maybe you're going to school. Do you understand
what I'm saying, Like you'll be okay, you're going to school.
(03:44):
Put some VIGs vapor up in your socks and like
that's gonna help build your immune system. And now that
I am, you know, parenting at a different stage in
my life, all of my children are seven years apart.
You know, I didn't have it in me to say
she probably we could have gone to school today like yesterday.
She definitely could have gone to school today. I could
have probably gave person some orange juice and she could
(04:06):
have gone to school today. But look at me softening
up in my old age. Could you have gone to
school today? No, you don't think so, not even a
little bit. She got a big old smile on her face.
She's saying no, But she got a old a big
old smile on her face. So okay. So that's what's
(04:26):
happening in my world. Christmas shopping. I'm just grateful that
we're going to have some family time. I'm excited about
some of the random gifts that I was able to
get for my children, and I'm just looking forward to nothingness.
I'm praying the same for you, while also recognizing that
(04:48):
the holiday season can be complicated for so many reasons,
and I am praying that above all that you will
experience the peace of God in the midst of whatever
you're facing. If you are having one of those moments
where you need to fall apart, I hope that you
take some time and fall apart. Jesus is the reason
(05:09):
for the season, right, So we got to keep in
mind while it can be very exciting to get the
Christmas presents and to do, if you're like me, I
love givings, so I get more excited about giving the
gifts and receiving them. I also have to challenge myself
to make sure that I am not commercializing my Jesus' birthday,
which I know we don't necessarily know that he was
(05:31):
born on December twenty fifth, but that I'm really turning
my heart towards Jesus and discovering what the life of
Jesus means to me in this season of my life.
And when I reflect on that, man, I feel so
much gratitude. I feel like I've gotten closer to Jesus
more this year than in any other year of my life,
(05:53):
and that proximity is a result of me receiving the
I want to say that like the being of Jesus
and not to the power of Jesus. It is the
same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead that
(06:14):
is alive inside of us, and that power has given
us authority and dominion and the ability to overcome whatever
warfare or obstacle may stand in our way. But this year,
I feel like I have been more intentional about turning
that power inside of me. If you have been raised
(06:35):
like I have been raised, there is a temptation to
constantly pour out, pour out, pour out, and use that
power in the direction of whatever standing in your way.
But this year, I feel that I have turned that
power inside and allowed the power that has raised Jesus
from the grave to go to work on my need
(06:58):
to produce, my inability to rest, my need to hear
and receive. I'm going to call it criticism, but I
think they're just honest perspectives of where I have opportunity
to grow, and I have allowed the life of Jesus
(07:18):
to guide me in releasing the need to be accepted.
I've allowed the life of Jesus to show me that
you can be settled without clear direction. Right now, I
am probably more settled than I have ever been in
(07:39):
my life, and yet I don't have direction on quite
a few things in my world. And for someone who
was a planner, I loved the plan. It is difficult
to not have that level of direction. But I've been
able to be present in the moments each day that
has been in front of me without necessarily needing those answers,
(08:03):
and to understand what's happening next. I don't know if
it's because I went on vacation or because i've It's
probably both. But I've had a few things happen in
the last few weeks or the I guess last couple
of weeks since I've been home that did not go
as plan. Many of you know about my father's health issue,
and then there are just a few other things that
(08:26):
have happened personally that would have literally tapped me out,
wiped me out. But I really trust God, Like I'm
just like, all right, God, let's do it, you know,
all right, God, this one's on you, and I've had
peace in the trusting not as stretch.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Sometimes it's a stretch for me to trust.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And I think one of the signs that I'm in
a space where I need rest, and not just physical rest,
but I think mental rest, emotional, spiritual rest is when
an obstacle brings me so much anxiety that I can
no longer trust God. But there's something to be said
about being in a space of not having the absence
(09:03):
of struggle, but being able to trust God in the
midst of struggle without anxiety.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
And right now, on.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
This day, December twelfth, at three eighteen pm, that is
my truth. We'll check in in twenty twenty five to see,
you know if I've been able to maintain it. I
really pray that I will. I'm protecting I'm trying to
protect it. Okay, so that's my business. Let me mind yours.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Hello, good evening, Sarah.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
My name is Beja.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I wanted to ask a quick question.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
But first I want to stages thank you because your podcast,
your work, your spirit, the things that God poured into
you has definitely helped me along my new journey.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I feel like I used to be a babe in
Christ but.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Now we getting up there.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Now we're in a marathon now, you know. But my
question kind of comes down to because I.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
Know you've had like a a different experience versus you know,
the other Christians that you may know earth have grew
up around, and your past.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Kind of it kind of resembles mine.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
I was working in clubs as a bottle girl, things
that nature, and now that I have given my life to.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
God, now that I don't drink anywhere.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Because I know it it led me to what kind
of lifestyle led me to Now It's like.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I'm scared to plan out my life, and God forgive
me for a thing. I'm scared, but I'm speaking the truth.
I'm scared to plan out my life because I feel
like what if I do it wrong? And what if
it's not in God's live? So I kind of just
if you can give me some insight on.
Speaker 6 (10:38):
How how were you able to turn your life around?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And did you actually plan to have these things that
you have now?
Speaker 6 (10:46):
Did you plan to have a podcast, did you plan
to have a business? Did you plan you know, because
going into the new year, it's like we wanted to
plan ahead of time, but what if our plans doesn't
reflect God.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
And how do we know if they do or don't.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
You know, You've just give me some insight on that.
It will be very helpful. I'm still young, I'm in
my twenties, so anything you say can help me. Thank you,
Sarah girl.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
We love you, bless you by.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I overstand this question and I can't wait to dig
into it. But first of all, I just want to
thank you for the words you said about me in
the beginning. I'm really grateful for the way that I
am able to connect with you all and share what
God is showing me and teaching me and how I'm learning,
(11:33):
growing and developing. And I appreciate you kicking it with me.
So thank you for listening to this podcast and hearing
my heart and allowing it to You know, I think
water the seeds of your destiny in certain moments, So
thank you. Okay, so this is a great question. As
I mentioned earlier, I am very much so a planner,
(11:55):
but because my life has moved in a direction that
I could have never planned, I too found myself hesitant,
hesitant to plan. So let me tell you, I didn't know,
didn't never imagine having a podcast, definitely didn't anticipate starting
a ministry, having other businesses, you know, even you know,
(12:19):
a social media platform like I even you know, I
think early on I would just kind of like celebrate
when I reached a certain moulestone with followers. But then
I stopped because it was like, I, I'm not planning
any of that. There's nothing wrong with people do that.
Don't like please, you know, take this with a grain
of salt. I don't have a word from the Lord
on this, but it just wasn't the kind of thing
(12:41):
that I felt like, I don't know, I'm weird. Don't
worry about me, just pray about me. So I didn't
plan it, but it happened, and as it happened, I
felt like I needed to be a steward, not a planner.
And so I would challenge you to maybe think of
it from this lens.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
How can I.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Be a good steward of what God is allowing to
happen in my life and to allow it to show
up in all the things that I do in my
gifts and talents.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And so part of being a good steward.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Is planning, right, So I will tell you how the
podcast started. So one I got a revelation from God
about Eve that I felt like every woman should know.
Up until then, I was just sharing my story, and
I wasn't really convinced that every woman should know my
story because I've heard enough of your stories to be like,
my story is not any different than the stories of
(13:37):
a lot of women that I have heard. But when
I saw this revelation about Eve, I felt like, now,
this is a story that every woman should know, not
just her journey of like eating the fruit, she ruined
it for us all, but the way that God responded
to her in this moment of knowing better and not
doing better. And so I wanted to host a conference.
(13:58):
This is the I was like, I'm going to host
am diference, and I want to talk about what it
means to be a woman evolving from her pain, from
her shame, her last victory. What does it mean to
be a woman who's constantly evolving. And it felt like
a conference was the best way to do that, because
I wanted to gather the stories of other women and
for them to talk about how they evolved in the
(14:18):
area of finance, how they evolved in the area of skincare,
how they evolved in the area of fitness, like how
can a woman look at the totality of who she
is and begin to evolve? And so I also was
then like okay, but it's kind of corny to just
be like come to a conference, right. I was like,
how can I begin connecting with these women before the conference?
(14:39):
And so that's when I started the podcast because I
felt like, I don't want to just wait until I
see you on I think the first conference stations were
like July thirteenth through the fourteenth. I think that's true.
I might be lying, somebody will correct me, but July
thirteenth through the fourteenth in twenty eighteen, I want to
start talking to you now about this concept about what's
happening in the world then how it impacts you. So
(15:02):
started that. Then the clothing line, like everything just kind
of and then I got rid of the clothing line.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Right because it's like, Okay, I don't.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Mind creating merch that is a reflection of the messages
and the movement, but I don't know if I just
want to be out here as selling clothes for the
sake of selling clothes. So you have to be willing
to allow yourself to have trial and error as it
relates to your plan, and then you also have to
understand how your plan is tying into what God is
(15:32):
doing in your life and how it can help and
serve other people. So I wish I could give you.
I hope that's a good answer. I wish I could
give you more details. It feels like I'm missing something.
Oh that's relevant to my journey. I had to wait
for God to give me a vision for my life.
(15:53):
There were a lot of people who were projecting their
vision for my life onto me, a book age and
my parents.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
People who heard.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Me speak like you should do this, you should do that,
you should do this, but none of it resonated with me.
I had to wait until God gave me something that
made their suggestions make sense. And you are cultivating You
said you weren't quite a babe in Christ, which helps
me to understand that you have cultivated our relationship with
(16:25):
God and now your life seeks to give God glory.
And as a result of that, you want to plan
something that will be a reflection of that heart posture,
and you want to plan something that will continue to
draw you closer into being more like Jesus. So if
you're going to plan plan without pressure. For me, when
(16:49):
I planned previously, the plan was going to be in
some way a reflection of my identity, a reflection of
my value and my worth, and so I put a
lot of pressure on the plan. You don't have to
have pressure on the plan when you recognize that this
plan is just a tool that God's going to use
to build and develop my knowledge of who he is
(17:11):
and what He can pull out of me and bring
out of me in any given moment. It will not
be about the outcome. It will be who I become
in the process. And So if you can master planning
without pressure, if you can then really choose to plan
with intentionality, how does this awaken more of what God
is doing in my life? How does this connect my
(17:34):
gifts and talents? You know, you as a bottle girl, heard, felt,
seen okay, you know, which means you've had to build
rapport with people. Like Lord, If I have this gift
where I can build rapport with people and you're doing
something in my life, is there anything that is connected
to my ability to connect with people? But now I'm
(17:54):
connecting with them to ultimately share the goodness of God
or to create and byevironments where they are receiving the
social services that they need, where they're receiving tools on
finances like look at the full inventory and audit of
what God has given you, and be willing to say, Lord,
what do you want me to do with it? Be
willing to wait, but just trust that all things are
(18:16):
going to work together.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So I hope that helps evolve.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
So we took the time to reflect a little bit
about my experiences this year. Now I want to hear
about yours. We had a few of our listeners send
in their own reflections on twenty twenty four, and I
want to share them with you. Some of them are
literally miraculous and nature and others are just inspiring. And
(18:53):
so let's kick it off. We have a testimony from
Tony Riley. For the past eight months. In twenty twenty four,
I was battling stomach cancer. I was the youngest patient
they've ever seen with stomach cancer and they don't know
how I got it, even after doing so many genetic
tests to understand why I got him. I'm very grateful
that God held my hand through the whole thing. There
(19:13):
were many times when I felt like giving up, but
God kept encouraging me and giving me strength to stand.
I'm also very grateful that he had a deacon who
was at the hospital visiting his family member pray for me.
I'm not only grateful, but I'm thankful. If it had
not been for God, I would have died this year
at the age of twenty four. As of September twenty
twenty four, I'm happy to say that I am officially
(19:35):
cancer free, and I thank God for what he did
for me. Oh my goodness. We have to keep telling
our stories. Who knows who may be listening right now,
who may be in their own health battle, or they're
standing in the gap for someone they love. And there
is nothing like being reminded that God is still doing
miracles in twenty twenty four. He is still going ahead
(19:59):
of us, even in complicated situations, and creating not just
the way of escape, but a way of bearing and
coping with those challenging circumstances. And so we thank God
for Jesus, and we thank God for the deacons, and
we thank God for you.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Tony.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
So grateful that you made it to the other side.
This next one is from Erica. Erica says, I am
a party promoter MC so with that comes free drink Scalore.
I also was a huge weed smoker. I'm talking daily.
When I wake up, I smoke on my way to work.
I'd smoke on my break. I'd smoke traveling home. I'd
smoke hanging with my friends. I'd smoke when I was troubled.
(20:34):
I'd smoke reading my Bible and listening to the sermons.
I'd smoke through good times. I'd smoke and through bad times. Baby,
no judgment. Okay, marijuana was good for my anxiety because
it relaxed me. But it was becoming my god. Because
I put the weed first. Alcohol wasn't a problem until
it was a problem this year. On January first, I
put both of them down, and God willing, if I
(20:56):
see January first, twenty twenty five, I'll be one year
free from marijuana and alcohol. I remember one day, Holy
Spirit saying, how you asked me to order your steps,
and you won't follow. He was talking about the smoking
and drinking. When I heard that, I threw out my grinder,
my weed holder, and my wraps. I thank God that
I can hear him, But I also thank God for
my that part, thank God for my obedience. Erica, let
(21:19):
me tell you about your testimony. Things that are blessing
me in this testimony. First of all, when my girl
said I used to smoke, she says, I want you
all to understand that it wasn't puff puff pass. I
was puff puff passing to myself. And every season, in
every part of the day, I was bringing it on
home to me. I was the rotation. Okay, as a
(21:40):
former indulger of the Devil's lettuce myself, I must tell
you felt heard and understood. I just remember waking up
one day and being like, I am higher than I
have ever been, and I don't want to be this
high anymore. I don't want to be walking through life high.
And I put it down as well, and thank God
(22:01):
for Jesus on the other side. So I appreciate you,
like really breaking it down that this was not just like, no,
just a little bit to knock the edge off for
my anxiety. Know this was the way that I was
making it through the day. Second thing I want to
say is this, and also you got to really know
about know about a life of just living where all
(22:23):
you're doing is smoking. To even understanding the grinder, the
weed holder in my wraps, that's a lifestyle committed to it.
But what I really love the most is that you
heard the voice of God. She says, I thank God
I can hear him. If we could just take a
minute and cue the shouting music and thank God that
we can hear his voice. Oh Lord, my biggest fear
(22:44):
is that I would no longer hear the voice of God. Lord,
Please don't just tell me anything that I want to hear,
like Lord, even if it's the hard things. Please, please,
please go out of your way. I want to constantly
be one who hears you. And in addition to that, Lord,
I also want to be one who obeys you, because
what good is hearing the voice of God if you're
(23:05):
not going to obey what you hear. I thank God
for your obedience, and I thank God that you are
acknowledging the role that you played in your deliverance. I
thank God that I can hear them, but I also
thank God for my obedience. Go off, Queen. Our next
testimony is from Ruthi Bennett. Ruthie says this was one
of the most greatest experiences in my life. I am
(23:28):
a sixty year old woman who thought my dreams was over,
but woman evol woke up the old bones in me.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I still have fight left.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
God is still going to complete his mission in my life,
and for that I am so grateful. I'm going back
home today and I'm ready to awake and manifest and
break every curse that has been in my family for generations.
It has come to an end. Everything that God has
placed in my life. I have surrendered to His will,
not mine. Thank you so much, Ruthie for your example
(23:56):
and your inspiration that even our queen who are in
their sixties are still out here surrendering, evolving, growing and
bringing a generation alongside them. Last testimony, this one is
from Zabrina. It says I started with Homecoming of Women
that Aren't Loose. From there I have done a woman
(24:17):
Evolved twice. The theme this year was too impacting. I
was on a surrendered journey before I got there. So
much has happened. But when you said you have to
grieve and believe, I lost it. About two weeks ago.
I began to embrace two years of grief, from deaths
to losses, so much hurt and pain. But God had
you on target. Then I had the opportunity to bring
(24:39):
my daughters. I have so many testimonies from the evolution
that I just can't tell at all. I was one
step from being checked in. I was one Hallelujah away
from throwing in the towel. But God he heard me.
He answered what we had talked about. So when people
started texting me from back home and at the conference
saying I was on the video and Instagram and YouTube,
(24:59):
I looked at screenshots and saw the ugly cry and
Bishop Jake spoke on how people want to post what's
cute child? I promise I wanted to be cute, but
I had to surrender the ugly, the hurt and the
pain and let the Holy Spirit have his way. When
I look at everything I've been through and what it
took to get there, I can appreciate the posting. I
wanted to be somewhat embarrassed, but in that moment it
(25:20):
became another surrender. Thank you just isn't enough, but I
gotta say it as abundantly as I can. Thank you,
Thank you God, thank you delegation, thank you media team
for holding me accountable. To the surrender. I challenge this
all to be accountable. God bless a man Zabrina. I
love this testimony so much and that you experienced so
(25:41):
much breakthrough. It kind of made me feel like, I'm
sorry that we put you out there like that. But
also the fact that you said that there was this
element of accountability to what you experienced and you wanted
to really show up in a space of authenticity that
made me feel like maybe God worked it out for
the better. But now I'm like, media team, we need
to be more sensitive. Lord, tell me what to do.
That's gonna be my prayer for twenty twenty five. I
want you to always have a safe space, and I
(26:03):
want you to also stand ten toes down for what
God is doing in your life. So thank you so
much for taking the time to tell us about your
testimony from Woman Evove twenty four. I just feel like
all of these testimonies are just a sign of transformation
and what happens when we are willing to trust God,
even in seasons that feel challenging to trust God and
(26:25):
new experiences to trust God as we step out on
water and say, you know what, by faith, I believe
that You're going to keep me afloat and so more grace,
more love, more anointing, more surrender, more peace, more trust,
more faith for those of you who are still navigating
twenty twenty four and trying to find who you are
(26:49):
on the other side of what you've laid down. And
just like that, the twenty twenty fourth season is coming
to an end. Before we close out this podcast, let's
just take a minute and talk about all the ways
that you can spend the next few weeks reflecting on
(27:10):
what it means to really have experienced God's power throughout
this year and your power. What I love so much
about the testimony that we received from Erica when she says,
I thank God that I can hear him, but I
also thank God for my obedience, is that it is
a perfect example of how power moves. We once had
(27:31):
so much power over her that she felt like she
couldn't make it throughout the day, But then that power
moved into a space of obedience, into a space of
being able to hear God's voice, and she is reaping
the harvest of what it means to really tap into
power moving. Power Moves is a book that I wrote
(27:51):
this year that now that I am experiencing all the
many ways that power moves, I believe that it is
more necessary now than when I released it. Of course,
I knew that we had a presidential election coming up,
but I could not have anticipated how polarizing it would be,
how we would see power moving from one group of
(28:12):
people to another group of people, how that loss of
power would make people feel isolated and dejected, and how
the reception of power would make other people feel confident
and affirmed in ways that we couldn't have anticipated. And
(28:34):
now we are dealing with the reality that we're moving
into twenty twenty five and there's going to be many
different shifts of power. We're going to see power moving
from good to evil, from evil to good. But the
question remains for ourselves is not how we see power move,
but how power is moving inside of us. I want
to encourage those of you who are starting the new
(28:56):
year with this type of reflection and heart posture, consider
getting the Power Moves Bible Study. The Power Moves Book
was everything that God told me about the way that
power moves. The Power Moves Journal is all about you
unpacking what you heard from God when you were listening
to the book. But the Power Moves Bible Study is
(29:17):
all about what the Word says. What the Bible says
with literally scriptures, chapters and verses for you to connect
to your journey of reclaiming and redefining what power looks
like for you in any given season. And I just
wanted to give you all a little sample because as
(29:38):
we're reflecting for twenty twenty five, I believe that this
sample can be helpful for you in documenting the way
that you experience power or lost power, but most importantly,
how you can redefine it after that loss, after those gains. Okay,
with that being said, I want you to grab a
journal and maybe some pen and paper and ask yourself
(30:02):
some of these questions. I want you to list one
to five areas where you have felt powerless this year,
and then I want you to consider areas where you
felt powerful. And then for the area where you felt powerless,
(30:25):
I want you to consider what would change if you
gained power. This is content directly from the Power Moves
Bible study, but I'm using it as the twenty twenty
five end of year recap for you because I believe
it's important that we take a moment to assess the
areas where we felt strong and also the areas where
(30:45):
we feel like there's some room for development. It's so
important I'm going to read this group question. Okay, that's
I should have told you all this. The Power Moves
Bible study is something that you can do as a group,
and so there's group discussion questions for each lesson. There's
like six lessons. So if you and your friends said,
you know what, we're going to take the first six
weeks and really understand, you know, the areas where God
(31:07):
can change and develop us, what we need to understand
about the Lord in order for us to go deeper
in our relationship. But then how do I let what's
happening inside of me show up outside of me and
so that I am moving in power. This Bible City
is going to be great for you. But okay, it's
important to again state up front that true power in
your life comes from God. I wanted to really ground
(31:32):
this concept and us recognizing how I said this earlier,
the same power that raised Jesus from the grave, it
lives inside of us. I'm talking about the power of
God in your life. I'm not talking about culture's definition
of power. I'm not talking about getting the bag and
that being powerful, or having the body and that making
you powerful. This is about you recognizing the power of
(31:54):
God showing up in your life Romans five, verse six,
through a sis, for when we were still without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, for scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for
a good man, someone would even dare to die. But
God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while
(32:16):
we were still sinners, Christ died for us much more
than having now been justified by his blood, we shall
be saved from wrath through him. What I love so much, Oh,
I gave you a bonus scripture. That's all right, it's
six through eight. But what I love so much about
this particular text is that it goes to show that
there was a moment when we were without strength, when
(32:38):
we were without power, and yet God, recognizing that we
were without power, allowed for his son Jesus to die
so that we could have strength, so that we could
have power. And what's crazy about this is like, the
idea of someone dying for a good man is one thing,
But let's talk about someone dying for someone who don't
have their stuff together, someone who was out here just
(33:00):
doing whoever, whenever, whyever, why would anyone die? Oh, there's
a song I want y'all listen to. It's called Sure
Been Good by Elevation Worship. Let me tell you it
about midway through it turns into like I wish I
could sing because I would tear that song up. But anyways,
in the midst of us still struggling, God allows for
his son Jesus to die not because of who we were,
(33:24):
but because of who he is and who we have
the potential to become when we allow His perfect strength
to meet our weakness. For when we were still without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. So
I just want you all to remember that it was
the demonstration of God's love towards us when we didn't
(33:45):
have our lives together that allows us to have access
to power. That means when you're looking at that area
where you feel powerless for whatever reason, I want to
remind you that you feeling powerless is an illusion. If
you say to yourself, you know what, I believe in Jesus,
or you know what I at least just want to
try to believe in Jesus, because I feel like sometimes
(34:06):
it's too hard of the ass to ask someone who
has never known Jesus, who has some questions about church,
some skepticism about faith, to go from nothing into full
fledged believing. But I am telling you if you would
just become suspicious about what your life could look like
with Jesus, if you could just become curious about what
people are talking about, I want you to understand that
(34:28):
that journey of curiosity that must see, that little small
speck of faith of what could happen, is all that
the Lord needs in order to start allowing power to
move in your direction. When we are reconciled with our
Father through Jesus, we have an unlimited access to power.
(34:49):
Not power for our own purposes, not power for our
own lust and desires, but power to survive, power to withstand,
power to grow, power to rest, power to have, power
to have peace in difficult circumstances. You know that if
you need power to have any of those things, it's
(35:10):
because the environment or experiences that you're currently standing in
or dealing with have the ability to rob you of power.
But through Jesus, you have power for every season. He
may have not felt powerful this year. You may have
had some moments where you felt lost, where you felt defeated,
where you felt like God I wonder if you hear
(35:31):
me at all. I am telling you that even in
those moments, that power was flowing in your direction. Sometimes
it doesn't mean that you did anything wrong. Sometimes it
means that we just missed it because we thought power
would look one way, but turns out it actually came
in another package. The Lord will restore the years. He
(35:53):
will restore what the locusts have eaten. In the moments
this year where you may have not felt powerful, I
promise you that God's not finished developing and growing you.
In those areas, you may have felt like you lost
out on relationships, that you lost out on resources and
time as a result of not showing up in full power.
(36:13):
Guess what, it's okay if the Lord say the same
in twenty twenty five, we flow in power again. What
are some of the lessons from those moments where you
felt powerless? What would have in power allowed you God's power,
not just any power. What would having God's power have
done for you in those instances? Would you have said
(36:36):
goodbye sooner? Would you have grieved more efficiently? Would you
have asked for help? I want you to start considering
what would have in God's power have done? Would you
have been okay being alone. Would you have worshiped differently?
Would you have allowed yourself to be more involved in
your church and community with regular attendance. I don't know
(36:57):
the answer for you, but I'm telling you that the
best way that you can spend these last few weeks
of seeing the areas where power stop flowing to then
allow yourself to kind of look at what clamped that
power down and instead say, you know what, God, I
want you to release this hold of pride, this spirit
of LUs this fear of rejection and abandonment, so that power,
(37:19):
your power can flow through me again. And when power flows, baby,
you gonna grow like never before. I'm grateful for my
ability to serve you. You've certainly been with me throughout
this year. Where the girl needed power to be still,
(37:39):
power was moving and moving. I'm like, power, can you
be still for a minute? Your definition keeps changing. One
moment power is surrendered, the next moment power is fighting,
the next power is rest. I just needed power to
be still. I am resting in the stillness of this
season's power. I'm leaning into God's God's knowledge, God's wisdom
(38:02):
as it relates to my life, and I pray and
hope that you will do the same. Thank you for
spending twenty twenty four with me. I think we're like fifty.
I think we did fifty episodes this year. It's only
fifty two weeks in the year we go together. I
want to pray for you as we close out this year. Lord,
I thank you for every heart, every listener, every story,
(38:28):
every scar, every question, every guest, every letter that we
have read throughout this year. God, I thank you for
creating community amongst strangers. Community in the pursuit of becoming
everything that you've known about us. God, I ask that
you would just plant within us a deeper, a deeper
(38:51):
sensitivity to what it means to hear from you, a
deeper sensitivity of what it means to respond with obedience
and strength. God, I pray that as we lean into
your voice and lean into your wisdom, that we will
realize that we're not missing a thing.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Thank you for bringing us through this year.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
Lord.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
It was the moments where we didn't know what the
end was going to be, but now we know that
the end is just another beginning. Thank you God for
allowing us to begin again in You. May we take
advantage of the access we have and share it with
everyone in our world. In Jesus name, I pray and
then evolve.
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