You know you’re evolving when you use to fight to hold on and now you’re surrendering it to God in prayer. In a moment where Amber felt like she lost the very thing she prayed for, she still trusted that God’s plans were better than hers. Let this be a reminder that when what you see doesn’t look like what you want, you can still leave your hope in God’s hands. ___________________________________ REGISTER for Woman Evolve Conference: www.womanevolveconference.com Stay plugged into the Woman Evolve community: www.womanevolve.com www.womanevolve.tv download the app from any mobile device’s app store, first 7 days are FREE! Want to support this ministry? Text WEGIVE to (833) 611-9066 FOLLOW US ON THE SOCIALS: Instagram: Woman Evolve and Sarah Jakes Roberts Twitter: Woman Evolve and SJakesRoberts Facebook: Woman Evolve and Sarah Jakes Roberts
it really took God doing a work within
me because I would internalize
everything that people would tell me
um and so it it shot down my self-esteem
it it took a toll on my mental health
and so like I’m so thankful that God
just did a work within me to where he
brought me to a point to where like I’m
now believing what he wrote about me
because I take scripture very personally
so he’s not talking to the apostles he’s
not he’s not talking to anyone else but
me and so it took it took a lot of inner
work and it took a lot of time with God
for me to be like you know what hey like
this is how you accept feedback and this
is what’s yours to take on your plate
and this is what’s not for you to take
on your plate and so it really took me
spending some detail time with God for
him to expose different areas where hey
I need to take that in different areas
where I need to release that because we
all know that like if people don’t know
the full version of you I think that
sometimes people think that they have a
grasp of who you are just based on like
little interactions that they have but
until someone has really spent true time
with anyone I don’t think that they
truly know them you just know like just
that one few moments or little piece of
them that you’ve been able to see and so
I’m just thankful that God really
exposed that to me like hey everything
is not yours to internalize and take and
like this is how you can now deal deal
with all the feedback and this is how
you can calm the noise and this is how
you can just focus on me and listen to
my voice
foreign
if you really knew me then you would
know that I am a lover I am someone who
has a big heart I also have an equally
big personality
um I’m someone who goes into a room and
not in times out of 10 I’m going to make
a friend or two I’m someone who works
hard I’m someone who takes pride in my
career I take pride in my friendships I
take pride in my family and so I give
every single one of those areas of my
life attention love and care
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to being an open person it took a lot it
took a lot of prayer and meditation with
God it took going to therapy
it took trial and error throughout my
life I can think of all of the different
mistakes that I’ve made all of the
relationships that I it probably didn’t
do the best with and I think all of
those mistakes really compounded to make
me who I am now it took facing who I am
in the mirror and just accepting who I
am for face value and learning to love
who I am unapologetically it also took
spending some extra time with God it
took God exposing some things to me it
took him really doing a work within my
life and exposing different areas where
I needed to tighten up and do better and
I think all of those things really
compounded to make me open
foreign
I feel like I live authentically now and
I want to say that’s why I’m not going
to say I want to say I know that’s why I
think that’s why I I resonate so deeply
with Pastor Sarah is because she
literally walks in who she is
um and I it took a lot um I was bullied
as a child even up into high school I
was criticized and ridiculed behind my
natural hair and that might come as a
shocker to some because a lot of people
are like oh my God you’re so confident
like you’ve you there’s no way you’ve
experienced these things like I’ve been
called fat I’ve been called ugly I’ve
been called nappy-headed so like dealing
with all of those things I had to
realize that again that’s not mine to
take and sometimes it was projection and
hey maybe my hair was a little nappy but
it’s still beautiful so it really it
really took like I said that at a time
with God to just get comfortable with
who with who I am and so I feel like I
do show up authentically I was just
telling my phone a manager I was like I
can’t turn my personality off sometimes
I wish I could sometimes I wish I could
be this person who crawls into a shell
and who shrinks like sometimes I really
wish I could be that person and just
exist but when God calls you to do more
than just existing when you know who he
is and and what he means to you and how
he values you and when I learned how God
values me
as a person
imperfect in awe that gave me the
confidence to show up as my authentic
self so that’s why I can even do
something like this and talk to you
today because I have made peace with the
fact that I am grossly imperfect but God
still loves me
foreign
[Music]
mental health has been on a roller
coaster I think mental health is
something that should be at the
Forefront of everyone’s mind especially
with us still coming out of a pandemic
there’s rumors of us going back into
another so I’m really passionate about
mental health and so I was recently laid
off from my dream job and that caused my
mental health to take a nose dive so as
a Christian when there were rumors of
layoffs happening instantly I’m praying
I’m quoting scripture I’m I’m trying to
build myself up in the word and build
myself up in God and so the one thing I
didn’t want to happen it happened like
God allowed that thing to happen and so
as a result my mental health started to
decline I was like God I believed in you
wholeheartedly I gave you a thousand and
ten percent I did not stop going to
church before my layoff I didn’t stop
going to church after my layoff I was
reading my Bible before I still read my
Bible now so I’m just like oh my God I
had all of this faith in you and still
have faith in you don’t want to get it
[Music]
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thing is and I know this sounds cliche
but learn to trust God right now right
now like learn to trust God right now
holy fully completely master that right
now
um as a young lady I had so many dreams
and aspirations I had this very Ironclad
timeline and it was wonderful to have it
because I felt like it was a motivation
for me to work a little bit harder to
achieve my goals but it also didn’t
prepare me for what if God didn’t answer
the prayer that I was praying so I think
that if I could tell any young lady
anything is to learn to trust God
literally right now learn it right now
know that he is in control of everything
know that anything he brings your way he
brought you to because it was in his
plan to bring you through it
but just got
trust godfully trust him with everything
even the smallest thing if if it’s
passing a test trust that he’s going to
give you the wherewithal all to study
trust that he is going to bring that
information back to your remembrance as
you do every single test
trust him to to allow you to make it
home every day trust him with your love
life trust him with your career trust
him with even your dreams even your
dreams like I feel like sometimes we can
get really bogged down with what’s going
on and our plan is not going how we
wanted them to but learn to trust God
even when the role doesn’t go in the
direction that you think the road should
go in
[Music]
thank you
my younger self today girl it’s gonna be
okay
it’s gonna be it is going to be okay I
want to hug my younger self so bad
because my younger self was filled with
so much anxiety my younger self was very
was very worried how was how was this
going to to come together
um how am I going to piece together this
plan and I want to hug my younger self
and tell her curl
gonna be okay it’s going to be okay God
has a master plan for us and even when
we can’t see it even when we don’t feel
it even when we don’t know it even when
it doesn’t feel like it that God is
still in control and that he has a
master plan and that he didn’t put us on
this Earth just to exist and that if he
brought it to you he is definitely going
to bring you through it
[Music]
so when I look in the mirror I
definitely see someone who’s full of
life I see someone who loves very hard I
see someone who has persevered I see
someone who’s imperfect I see someone
who’s still working on being worried and
working on how to how to get through
that but I’m also seeing someone who’s
growing someone who’s accepting anything
that has come their way someone who is
really striving to become the best
version of themselves and to make the
world a little bit greater because I
existed
[Music]
so I have the strength of connecting
with others and so with connecting with
connecting with others it’s often like
this looking in a mirror foreign
sometimes I’m blown away when I’m
talking to others because
God is putting things in my mouth
that I needed to hear
so I hear how I stutter sometimes or how
my thoughts are trying to process and
sometimes I hear the nervousness but
I understand that those imperfections
are what make me human and I feel like
that’s what I’m able to give to others
is just that Honesty of hey I’m not
perfect but I’m trying and I see that
you’re imperfect but you’re trying and
so I think all of my little
imperfections like like my speech and
trying to make sure I’m saying things
eloquently like I know that all of those
of all those things that God has in his
control and that he’s still going to
make sure that whatever message he has
to get across it’s going to get across
and so my imperfections are made perfect
within him
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to anyone who is uh who has like very
ambitious career aspirations like any
young women who are out there I’m still
in the game right with you of who who
are wanting to like expand their um
their skill sets and they want to climb
to all these new heights within their
career I recently made a we’ll have
recently um like a year and a half ago I
made a transition to to my dream company
so I started out my career fresh out of
college and
I was confused because I was like God I
haven’t been able to land a job within
my career field but then God gave me a
really great job but it wasn’t within my
direct career path so I began to
challenge God directly God I know you
led me to this place but how can I get
to where I want to go how can this plan
still sync up and how can I still get
there so um after I work that job for
almost four years and I hated it I hated
it but my obedience to God would not
allow me to leave he did not tell me to
go but when God tells you to go oh my
God
the path that is created for you I can’t
even begin to speak on it so um so I
went from my very first job worked it
almost four years um and then I ended up
transferring to
a subsidiary or basically a company
underneath that company
um and so after I made that transition
to the company underneath the company I
was finally in my dream role so while I
was there it was a completely new well
not completely new but pretty new
territory of considering what I just
came from and I was like God I’m
overwhelmed because I’m creating all of
these things and I know you’ve equipped
me to do it but I am overwhelmed and
then I’m the only African-American face
in the space and so
um so I was nervous and so I was like
God how can you help me to do what I
need to do in this assignment
and God was with me and so he made the
path open to where I could go to my
dream company and so I worked at my
dream company for a year and a half I
was doing excellent there I was thriving
for the first time in my career I
actually loved all of my teammates I
loved all of the strategy that I got to
touch I loved getting up in the morning
and I went to the office when I didn’t
even have to I was excited to be there
and I was excited for the lives that I
was able to touch while I was in that
role and so while I’m basking in the
joys of having my dream role and making
impact and doing all of these wonderful
things there were rumors of layoffs and
so instantly I’m praying I’m like God
come on not me not me I love it here I
finally got it to this space of I’m
finally where I want to be I feel like
I’m finally making strides that I feel
like I should have been making right out
of college but you delayed me and I’m
here and I’m excited to be here and I’m
thankful to be here don’t do this and
God took that job away from me and so it
was one of the hardest things that I’ve
gone through and I’m currently still
trying to find my next opportunity and
I’m still waiting on God to open that
door but when I say that I know God has
something awesome in store for me
oh okay
come on come on
I know that God has something so great
in store for me
so please if you can hear anything that
I’ve said today
please know that if God takes something
from you he’s doing nothing but
preparing you for something greater
even when you don’t see it
even when you don’t feel like it the God
is still doing it for you