Woman Evolve with Sarah Jakes Roberts - The Power to Step Into Purpose w/ Nona Jones

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

W.E. hope our listeners are enjoying this summer podcast series as much as W.E are! This week, we're throwing it back to that one time Power Player, Nona Jones met up with SJR in the DMV area to discuss the power it takes to step into our purpose. They say you gotta pay the cost to be the boss, but is vulnerability the price you're willing to pay? Press PLAY and big step your way to surrender, Sis! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back in 96, Atlanta was booming with excitement around hosting the Centennial Olympic Games. And then, a deranged zealot willing to kill for a cause lit a fuse that would change my life and so many others forever. Rippling out for generations. Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to another exciting episode of the Trap Nerds podcast. This is not an episode. I'm pretty sure this is a promo.

You know what it is. We in this piece. Trap Nerds, Trap Nerds, real n****s like you never heard. We giving you reliable gaming news. With the best movie and TV reviews from a Blur perspective. All things inside and out of Blur culture. Listen to the Trap Nerds podcast on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast There and Gone.

It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished. A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. But which victim was the intended target and why? Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you think writing a book is hard, let me tell you something. Talking about the book is harder than writing the book. For me, if you truly believe in what you're offering, you can withstand those high and low seasons of building a business. The Lord said, you build a profession. You surrender to purpose.

My sisters, I need all of you to understand that no matter who's left you out, God knows where you are. And he has not forgotten you. We back at it like we never left another day, another podcast, another week, another podcast, another opportunity to give back. I am still just reeling from the conversation with Crystal Renee Hazlett. First of all, I love that she has one.

I feel like my name should be one of those names where you have to say all of my names. Sarah Jakes Roberts, Crystal Renee Hazlett. Let me tell you something, a gift. If you did not hear last week's episode, pause this, throw it back and go on and check out that wisdom. You don't want to miss it. You know who she is. Even if you don't know who she is, I'm telling you that when it's all said and done, you're

going to be like, man, I feel like I just had a conversation that I needed with a woman on a journey just like I am who was discovering all that she can be in the Lord. And it's going to bless your life. I'm so excited that throughout this month, we are highlighting some of the talks from the Power Moves Tour. You may have seen a clip of me going around on Instagram saying that we had a revival disguised as a book tour, and I truly believe that that was the experience for myself and other women in the room.

Every stop on this tour was a unique experience, each with a different theme that focused on the spiritual burdens felt in that region. I prayed, I'm like, God, what do we need to say in Houston? What do we need to do in Atlanta, in Chicago, in the DMV? Like God, make it clear, in Los Angeles, in New York, and God gave me specific messages for each of those cities. And I'm just excited to share those with you. There were so many women who lent their voices to the conversations.

It was special. It was handpicked to uplift the women in the room. But now I believe that it has an opportunity to impact what God is doing in your life. And so I'm excited to share them with you. But you already know, we don't just jump into the conversation. I got to check in with you. I got to let you know how I'm doing. You gotta let me know how you're doing.

I already told you this is my birthday month. I'm thinking about what 36 is gonna look like, feel like. And can I tell you something? One of the things that I've had to surrender this year, I really thought that 35 was gonna be my six pack year. Let me testify. I thought that 35 was gonna be the year that I really had my

get right. I can tell you that that did not happen fully, you know, but it is also the year where I'm like, I am still really loving the skin that I am and it you know, the skin may be a little bit more stretched than it was, you know, the skin may be up 15 maybe 20. I haven't stepped on the scale because I don't need that negativity in my life, but I still put on my clothes out looking in the mirror and I'm like, God, I see what you're doing in my life and I thank you for it. I can see things are growing and I do not care. There is something to be said about really reconciling the fact that I'm honestly, truly

doing the best that I can in every area. As I have capacity, I will focus more intently on ways that I can improve. But at the, in these moments where I haven't had much capacity or I am restoring and recalibrating, I have not been hard on myself and that has been liberating. So it's summer and you know, I have my summer body. I got my summer body. I got my summer wig.

I got my summer attitude and I'm, I'm, I got my summer attitude, and I'm going to let summer do what summer's trying to do. I have been really enjoying my rest, my break. I've done some exciting traveling with the kids, and that has filled my cup. All in all, I have to tell you, God is doing this big one, and I am just sitting back watching. How are you doing? I feel like whenever I think about working again and I think about like going as hard as I just did in releasing power moves that I feel PTSD and it makes

me want to crawl up underneath my desk. But little by little I am inching my way back into my rhythm and you know, deep breaths honoring my capacity. That is the mission. That is the goal. How are you doing? Do you need a feelings wheel? Did you download the feelings wheel? Like I see this one I'm talking about. I've been trying to tell you how to download the feelings wheel and y'all don't do what I ask you.

Did you down some of your idea? I can see you nodding your head, but the rest of you get your feelings well so that when I ask you how you're doing, you're not talking about I'm good and I'm fine. I want a feelings word. What feeling are you currently possessing? Let's dig into that. How did you arrive there? How are you honoring it? Is there anyone in your world who could benefit from you expressing this emotion and feeling? If you are unable to share that with them, can you benefit from at least honoring it

within yourself? Answer those questions so I can mind your business. Stop playing with me. Stop playing in my face. I'm trying to take care of you. I'm going to need you to help me take care of you, but also take care of yourself a little bit. All right?

Okay. So last week's podcast question was from our girl who was struggling in a relationship situation that was not ideal. And let's see, I am going to see, let me see if I can pick someone good for this week. Let me see. Okay. All right, here we go. It's fancy.

Okay. I have been married for go. It's fancy. Okay. I have been married for three years to my husband and we recently moved into luxury apartments in March. Before we moved here, we were living with my mother for about three months and when she was ready to move out of her apartment, she told us to figure it out on our own. A couple days before we had to move out of my mother's home, we were on the brink of being homeless because she gave us notice at the last minute. But God graced us by giving us approval

to move into these luxury units. Now to speed up to my question, I am low key a writer and low key sewing enthusiast that I am trying to create a business out of both talents, but I no longer have the finances to do so since I'm trying to keep this new place. We both are super happy with the new level God has put her on, but we don't want to squander it

by being discouraged. My question is, how can I build a business, self-publish a book or start a clothing line, while also trying to make sure I don't lose the progress in our current new life? Oh, sis. Okay, so I know that this is a struggle that many people can relate to.

I've got a gift, I've got a talent, I want to invest in that gift and talent, but I also, I got bills and these bills are not an investment. These bills are a real life, real deal factual situation. Okay. So let me think, what is my suggestion to you? The first thing that I would say is that like, if you're talking about, I think you have to delineate what your actual goals are as it relates to these businesses.

Because growing a business to a point where it is self-sustaining enough for you to no longer invest, but actually receive profit takes a lot of time. You can have some moments where maybe you have some virality, maybe you have a good day, and then you can have some low days where you don't get any traction at all. I would say that the first thing you have to do is really believe in what you are offering. If you truly believe in what you are offering, you can withstand those high and low seasons of building a business. I would say on a practical side that you want to start building your audience for both of these

things. The reason why is because you can put the work into creating the book. You can put the work into making, I don't know what you would be doing as a sewing enthusiast. Is it clothing? I think you told me it's clothing, clothing line. But without a customer base, your investment literally has no profitability even connected to it. And so you want to know who your customers are. You want to begin having conversations with them. You want to begin to get them to believe in what it is that is happening in your life to the point that they are willing to make that investment.

And so there's the practical side of like, how do I publish the book? How do I start the clothing line? And then there's a reality side of like, who do I need to get these clothes, these books into the hands of and how do I really do this in a way that is sustainable? And so I would say you can build the audience for free. That doesn't require much of an investment, like figuring out where are people who like the clothes that you make already shopping? How do I begin to, maybe not where they're already shopping, but like who are they? Identifying your customer and where your customer is and beginning to show sketches of your

previous work or just samples of your previous work. I mean, sometimes we think it's spam, but to be able to send a message like, hey, I noticed that you like this particular style. I just made it dress just like this. I'd like to show it to you. I can take a one-on-one order for it. And then that way I'm making small exchanges instead of creating a full clothing line that requires a lot of investment. Having individual customers can be better than like

launching a website and then having all of this inventory that you're trying to convert. And so I would say find your customer, begin to have conversations with them. Sometimes there are markets, there are vendor opportunities in which you can begin to just show off your skillset and begin to take on orders in a way that

allows you to cover the cost of making one particular item while also being profitable enough to sell back into your business and to get other customers. As it relates to building the audience for the book, I say that you basically have to give the book. I won't say you give the book away for free, but people need to understand what it is you have to say. And for that, you got to give that away. You got to be on Instagram.

Maybe there are some community groups that you can be in, some Facebook groups, but you want to maximize all possible touch points in which you can begin to share the message that God has given you with as many people as possible. And so sometimes, which was the hardest part for me with Power Moves, is like, God gives us these ideas for the book. And we're like, if I write the idea, that's enough, but it's not enough if people don't know what the book is about and how this book is going to touch them and change them.

And that's where you have to begin to tell people you have to mark it. You have to get behind this book that God has given you. If you think writing a book is hard, let me tell you something. Talking about the book is harder than writing the book. For me, everybody's different, but for me, it's hard. If I could just write the book and put it on the bookshelf and never talk about it, I would prefer that. But the idea of now I got to write it and convince you that you need it to help you understand exactly who this target audience

is for. And really believing in the concept enough for you to make an investment of your time and your resources is hard work. But I hope that I've helped you expand your perspective on the gifts and talents that God has given you and the marathon of a race that it's gonna be and not a sprint. And so it sounds like y'all just moving into this place. You haven't even been in there a year. So I say really get a good feel for your bills,

for your income, but also do those things that are low level, low hanging fruit, so that you can begin to build the audience at no cost, begin to make the inroads at no cost or minimal cost, and then think about scaling from there. I feel like that was pretty good advice. Y'all should ask me more like business questions, because as an entrepreneur,

I've had a very interesting journey and I will be glad to share anything that I know. So keep those questions. You can send me your questions podcast at woman evolve comm I will answer anything that I can you know what I mean and the multitude of counsel there is wisdom and if there's anything That I can share with you. I most certainly will feel me It started with a backpack at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. A backpack that contained a bomb. While the authorities focused on the wrong suspect, a serial bomber planned his next attacks.

Two abortion clinics and a lesbian bar. But this isn't his story. It's a human story. One that I've become entangled with. I saw as soon as I turned the corner basically someone bleeding out. The victims of these brutal attacks were left to pick up the pieces.

Forced to explore the gray areas between right and wrong. Life and death. Their once ordinary lives, and mine, changed forever. It kind of gave me a feeling of pending doom. And all the while, our country found itself facing down a long and ugly reckoning with a growing threat. Far right, homegrown, religious terrorism.

Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. season 3 of Scandal. Unpredictable, you don't see it coming, it's a wild, wild ride that twists and turns in season 3. Mesmerizing. But also we get to hang out with all of our old Scandal friends like Bellamy Young, Scott Foley, Tony Goldwyn, Debbie Allen, Kerry Washington. So many people! Even more shocking assassinations from Papa and Mama Pope. And yes, Katie and I's famous teeth pulling scene that kicks off a romance.

And it was peak TV. This is new scandal content for your eyes, for your ears, for your hearts, for your minds. Well, suit up gladiators, grab your big old glass of wine and prepare yourselves for even more behind the scenes. Listen to Unpacking the Toolbox on the iHeart radio app Apple Podcast Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Meet the real woman behind the tabloid headlines in a personal podcast that delves into the life of the notorious Tori Spelling as she takes us through the ups and downs of her sometimes glamorous, sometimes chaotic life and marriage. I don't think he knew how big it would be, how big the life I was given and live is. I think he was like, oh yeah, things come and go, but with me it never came and went. Is she Donna Martin or a down and out divorcee?

Is she living in Beverly Hills or a trailer park? In a town where the lines are blurred, Tory is finally going to clear the air in the podcast Misspelling. When a woman has nothing to lose, she has everything to gain. I just filed for divorce. Whoa! I said the words that I've said like in my head for like 16 years. Wild. Listen to Miss Spelling on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There is a woman that I find very interesting. I had her in the DMV and I wanted her to be the DMV

because there was something about her trajectory that I have seen from afar that I felt like every woman should be exposed to. She is a corporate baddie in every sense of the word who has moved into a space of entrepreneurship. And as someone who has gone from the corporate structure into entrepreneurship, she quite literally knows what it's like to have different expressions of power. She's a minister of the gospel. She's a woman of power. She's a minister of the gospel. She's a woman of faith.

She's a wife. Her name is Nona Jones. And I'm excited to have this conversation with her because there are so many of us who are trying to discover what purpose looks like for our lives. How do we step into it? How do we protect it? How do we allow it to evolve?

And how do we do so without allowing our identity to be connected to our success or our failures? And I don't think there's anyone more appropriate to have this conversation when she is not a stranger to the woman evolve podcast. And she's got a new book coming out that I believe is really going to bless people. It's called the gift of rejection, which who even knew that rejection was out here wrapping things up in bows, but evidently there's a gift connected to it. Check out our conversation from the DMV. You're going to love it.

So Nona. Yes, ma'am. First of all, we're so excited you're here. Thank you so much. I'm honored. For going out of your way. Truly honored. To be your part.

I wanted to talk to you about the cost of stepping into purpose, the vulnerability connected to it. And I gave you a particular section of the book to read. We'll get into that in a minute. But I want you to talk about how expensive it is to step into purpose when it requires vulnerability and not just confidence. Lord, I just told Pastor Sarah when I walked on the stage, I've been paying attention and I was backstage listening

and I'm literally holding back tears because this moment, as I was backstage, it's like I felt like the Lord orchestrated this moment. To give you some backstory, anybody have the Bible app? Okay. So, I spent a year leading the content and partnerships team at U-Version, which owns the Bible app,

and you know, global team scaling the apps, like 715 million downloads, and it was a great job, powerful job, many people would say. And then at the end of last year, I heard the Lord say, I've called you to be a light in dark places. You version is a light in lit places. The reason why I share that is because I remember when I stepped on the team, like in January of last year,

I remember feeling like I don't fit here. Like immediately, I felt I don't fit here. But it was like the natural progression because I spent six years in an executive role at Metta and I was like, this makes a whole lot of sense. And for me, it was a power move, in that I was bringing my power from the tech sector to the kingdom.

But I immediately knew, I'm not supposed to be here. But it was safe, right? It made sense. People were like, oh my gosh, I can't believe you have this job. But when I heard the Lord say that, my heart dropped. Because I knew what he was saying is, I'm calling you away from 17 years of a career.

Building global teams, working in corporate spaces, I'm calling you away into the dark unknown of a future that I'm preparing for you. And the first question that popped into my mind was if I'm not an executive, who am I? If I'm not wearing this title, if I'm not leading this global team, if I don't have this big budget, who am I?

And the Lord said in that moment, I'm leading this global team. If I don't have this big budget, who am I? And the Lord said in that moment, I'm calling you to surrender. And I told you backstage, but I'm gonna go ahead and jump into it now because there's a section in the book. It's on page 80. Okay. Just wanna make sure we're having a book tour.

Yeah. You gotta tell them. Uh. On page 80, you said, I just want to make sure we're having a book tour. You got to tell them. On page 80, you said, like the vehicle at the bottom, you are well on your way to becoming an agent of power that represents heaven on earth. You started surrendering to a process long before you picked up this book.

But if you've committed to doing this work, then you are moving from the realm of preparation to activation. The reason why that blessed me is because when I read it, I heard the Lord say, and I wrote it down, the Lord said, you build a profession, you surrender to purpose. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. And I realized in that moment that although I had the accolades and the resume and all these things, I built it on an insecure foundation.

Wow. Because I wasn't living in purpose. I was seeking approval. And when you talk about power moving, you talked about how you can move your power and you can give it to other people. Like you can delegate your power to other people. And I realized as I was reading your book

that God has been calling me to move my power back into purpose. And that's scary, but he's worthy and he's faithful. Can you tell us, because how many can relate to that already? Sometimes all Marie's say, hey girl, she's in the book club. Okay, listen, stay focused, this is a book tour. You can't just be off track like that. My pastor's Pastor John Jenkins, by the way.

So I just had to shout him out. First Lady Trina, I don't know where she is. There she is! Okay, since we give him a shout out, all right. Can we talk a little bit about what is scary about it? Because I feel like there are people who can relate, who know that it's time for them to reclaim their power so that it can be thrown in the direction

of who they are supposed to be in the Lord. But they don't even know why they're afraid to do it. What do you think they're afraid of? Lord help me. I will share why I experienced fear. And that is because I had a very traumatic childhood, one where my mother regularly reminded me she didn't want to have me,

and that created a very primitive crack in the foundation of my identity. And so I pursued accolades and achievement and all of these things to try to kind of repair that crack when all it did was kind of fill the crack, it didn't repair it. And so it was scary because all I knew was what I had been doing, the thing that had rewarded me, the thing that people looked to as a definition of power.

I mean, you even talked about how people call you a powerhouse, and you're like, what? I would hear people say that about me, and I'm like, really, I don't think I'm a powerhouse, but it was because of those things that I achieved. And so what became scary was it was like, okay, if I don't do those things, will people still approve of me?

Will I matter at all, or will I fade away? And I had to be honest and recognize that I was deriving my identity from things outside of me instead of who God called me to be, which is something that has nothing to do with what you accumulate on the outside. But I didn't recognize that, so that's what made it scary, is it's like, well, if I'm not doing the things that receive the applause,

can I actually survive in the silence? And I wasn't sure. So I love what you said because it reminds me of how power, especially in our culture, in our society, sometimes within our family, has one specific definition. This is how you're going to be powerful, whether it's trust nobody or get the degree. And we are often uncomfortable defining power for ourselves in the context of our relationship

with God because it means that we are going to have to disappoint the people's definition of power in which we are connected. Does that resonate? That resonates at a very deep level, because one of the people who I actually had to disappoint was my husband. And I'm gonna tell you why. My husband went into full-time ministry back in, I think it was 2015, I think it was 2015.

At the time, he was making really good money working in corporate America, but in order to serve our church, he had to take like a 50% salary cut, which was okay because my salary was able to absorb it. But when the Lord called me away from a job that was essentially funding our lifestyle, But when the Lord called me away from a job that was essentially funding our lifestyle, you know, my husband was kinda like,

okay, are the bills resigning too? You know, like, what are we doing? But I had to, in faith and in prayer with him, I had to get to that place where it was like, look, this is a God thing. This is a God thing. And I even remember telling him, honey, I really need you to fill the confidence void

I have right now. So we can't both doubt, right? I need you to come and fill the void. And he got to the place where he was able to activate a level of faith that I needed. Where he was able to speak into that void of confidence and be like, you know what? God has done it before.

He's always proven to be faithful. And if he's calling you to leave this job, that's because he has something better and we're gonna be okay. And that's what I needed. I wanna unpack this because there's a chapter in the book called Joining Forces, which is all about our ability to be a force amongst other forces. And sometimes we do not allow our power to come out of us

because we're trying to protect our power from other people instead of doing what you did, which is teaching the people you're in relationship with how you need to protect this new formed power that's taken root in you. And I love this because we live in a world where oftentimes people say, like, if they can't get with the program, leave them behind. But like, some of us, like, we want to,

our kids don't get with the program, but we don't want to leave them behind, you know what I mean? We have friends and we have marriages that we can't just throw away. And so it's easier for us to, like, kind of play it small and pretend like changes in happening as opposed to telling someone,

this is what's happening inside of me and I need your help to protect it. Yeah, I think that requires a level of power too. Like there is so much power in vulnerability and I think we tend to minimize it. We're just like, well I can't be vulnerable because that then gives somebody the opportunity to hurt me.

If I'm vulnerable then I give them ammunition and it's like no, vulnerability is actually powerful because now you have literally drawn a line in the sand where you give someone the opportunity to step across and join you or stay on their side. Now, if somebody decides not to step over the line and join you on the side of vulnerability where you need them, that is information.

It's like, okay, I've told you what I need and you are not joining me on this side of my vulnerability. But if they're willing to join you, now you have gained a partner, and we know that a three-stranded chord, like, that's not easily broken, like, that's what we need. We have to be willing to give people a chance to accommodate how power is moving in our life.

Okay, so I wanna know, how did you define power in your 20s versus how you define power now? Oh, so let me first say, you know, what's so funny is as I was reading the book, I realized we have so much in common because I never imagined that I would be doing what I'm doing. Like, my vision for my life was corporate track. I'm gonna be CEO of a large corporation

and that's gonna be my life. Never imagined speaking, writing books, traveling, none of that. As a matter of fact, my husband's a pastor. My vision for my life was to sit on the front row with my big old hat and my lap cloth and be like, preach, pastor, preach. Like that was my vision and now he'll be on the front row with my big old hat and my lap cloth and be like, preach pastor preach.

That was my vision and now he'll be on the front row, preach baby preach and I never envisioned that. So my vision in my 20s was corporate track. I'm gonna be vice president, C-suite, CEO and I was heading down that path. As a matter of fact, I've essentially been bivocational all of my career but I was primarily focused on the corporate track because I thought

that my title gave me power like I thought that my position on the org chart gave me power the number of people reporting to me that's what gives me power my notoriety in my industry that's what gives me power but then the Lord gave me a revelation one day and it it was like, there's nine billion people on Earth. I don't care if you lead a company that has 80,000 employees. That is literally insignificant, in the grand scheme of things.

But you couldn't have told me that in my 20s. In my 20s, oh, make me a director. I'm all powerful. But then Joshua 1-8, you reference Joshua 1-6 through 7 in an earlier chapter, Joshua 1-8 is my life verse, where the Lord says to Joshua, he says, observe to do all that I have written. And he says, then you will make your way prosperous

and have good success. When I discovered that verse, I was like, I thought success was good by definition. Like I thought achieving the awards is good. Why would God qualify success in his will as good? And I realized it's because you can achieve a level of success that leaves you overwhelmed, fatigued, depleted, unfulfilled. and there are many people making a lot of money with a very big name on this earth

who are taking their lives every day because they're empty. That's not good success. And so I wanted success, but it wasn't until I was older that I realized what good success was. That is so good. I realized what good success was.

That is so good. It started with a backpack at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, a backpack that contained a bomb. While the authorities focused on the wrong suspect, a serial bomber planned his next attacks, two abortion clinics, and a lesbian bar. But this isn't his story. It's a human story. One that I've become entangled with.

I saw as soon as I turned the corner, basically someone bleeding out. The victims of these brutal attacks were left to pick up the pieces, forced to explore the gray areas between right and wrong, life and death. Their once ordinary lives, and mine, change forever. It kind of gave me a feeling of pending doom. And all the while, our country found itself facing down a long and ugly reckoning with a growing threat. Far right, homegrown, religious terrorism. Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Katie Lowe's and I'm Guillermo Diaz. And now we're back with another season of our podcast, Unpacking the Toolbox, where Guillermo and I will be rewatching the show to officially unpack season three of Scandal. Unpredictable. You don't see it coming. It's a wild, wild ride that twists and turns in season 3. Mesmerizing. But also we get to hang out with all of our old scandal friends like Bellamy Young, Scott Foley, Tony Goldwyn, Debbie Allen, Kerry Washington. So many people!

Even more shocking assassinations from Papa and Mama Pope. And yes, Katie and I's famous teeth pulling scene that kicks off a romance. And it was Peak TV! Yes, Katie and I's famous teeth pulling scene that kicks off a romance. Well suit up gladiators, grab your big old glass of wine and prepare yourselves for even more behind the scenes. Listen to Unpacking the Toolbox on the iHeartRadioApp Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Meet the real woman behind the tabloid headlines in a personal podcast that delves into the life of the notorious Tori Spelling,

as she takes us through the ups and downs of her sometimes glamorous, sometimes chaotic life and marriage. I don't think he knew how big it would be, how big the life I was given and live is. I think he was like, oh yeah things come and go, but with me it never came and went. Is she Donna Martin or a down-and-out divorcee? Is she living in Beverly Hills or a trailer park? In a town where the lines

are blurred, Tori is finally going to clear the air in the podcast Misspelling. When a woman has nothing to lose, she has everything to gain. I just filed for divorce. Whoa. I said the words that I've said like in my head for like 16 years. Wild. Listen to Misspelling on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. One of the things that I gave you in this section to read,

there's a statement in there that says, well, do you remember what page it was? Page 81, to be precise. It is paragraph two, I think. Okay. It says that many people want to be used by God, but few people want to be prepared by God. Oh.

Yeah. Period, that's the whole thing. That's the whole question right there. Can we talk a little bit about how we're constantly like, God, use me, use me, use me, but then resenting where we are presently placed, not seeing the connection between the two. Amen.

Yes. I once saw a quote that says, every overnight success required 10 years in obscurity. And I think what happens is we see the overnight success required 10 years in obscurity. And I think what happens is we see the overnight success and we're like, I want that. I want the platform, I want the brand deals, I want the following, but what you don't see are all the doors that were closed.

You don't see the tears that were shed. You don't see the disappointments that were weighted through. And so there is a process to it. You don't see the tears that were shed. You don't see the disappointments that were waded through. And so there is a process to it. And God is so good, I thank God. God is so good that when you are faithful to him, he requires process. Wow.

Like the thing about, yes, you can technically make yourself successful, right? Like people do it every day. But good, godly success requires process. It requires stripping away. It requires building character. It requires building resilience. And I'm sorry, you cannot get resilience at Walmart.

Like you have to go through some stuff and you have to build some grit and you have to build your faith. And so yeah, you have to, don't despise the preparation. And sometimes the preparation looks like abandonment. Wow. Like sometimes the preparation looks like being fired. Sometimes preparation looks like being humiliated.

But in all of those situations, God is good and he's faithful and he makes a promise that he will work all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So nothing is wasted. It's truly preparation in his hands. Can you do me a favor before we close this section anyway?

Can you speak to someone who was getting weary in the preparation process? If that's you, would you stand up for a second? I just want to see you. You're weary, you're in the preparation process, and you're starting to get weary. Would you speak to them? Yeah, so.

Child, okay, everybody. Baby, we all tired. I'm going to, I'm going to. Truth is, where's Tamela Mayen? Can she? Truth is, I'm tired. I'm going to try to, I'm going to do this real quick. I'm going to do this real quick. Everybody knows about the story of David and Goliath, right? Stand up, Chow. You might as well go on and there you go. Okay. Thank you, sis. You know the story of David and Goliath? right? Stand up, child, you might as well go on and there you go. Okay, thank you, sis. You know the story of David and Goliath?

And that's the story that gets all the headlines, right? Like this young shepherd boy, he goes out on this battlefield and he takes this swing shot and this smooth stone and he kills this Philistine giant. Everybody knows that story, right? But there's something that David says that's very peculiar and I want to read it.

Let's see, it's in, all right, First Samuel chapter 17, verse 32. So David is the son of this man named Jesse. Jesse sends David to a battle because his brothers are in the army fighting the Philistines, okay? David happens to get close to a battle because his brothers are in the army fighting the Philistines, okay? David happens to get close to the battle line and he overhears Goliath taunting the Israelites.

And so David is like, who is this uncircumcised Philistine to taunt the people of God? Well, in verse 32 it says, David said to Saul, let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him. Saul said, but you're not lose heart on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him. Saul said, but you're not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him.

You're only a young man. He has been a warrior from his youth. But David said to Saul, your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it. I struck it and I rescued the sheep from the flock. I went after it, I struck it, and I rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair,

struck it, and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the armies of the living God. Listen, he said, the Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine. Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you.

Now we all get excited about that part, right? Because we know what happens next. We know that David defeats Goliath. But back in 1 Samuel 16, when the prophet Samuel showed up at Jesse's house, and he asked Jesse to bring all of his sons to a sacrifice because he was going to anoint one of them as the next king. The Bible tells us that Jesse brought all of his sons, but he left one of them in a field by himself to tend sheep.

but he left one of them in a field by himself to tend sheep. We find out later that the young man who was not invited, the young man who was left out, the young man who was overlooked, was a shepherd boy named David. And what we find out is that he was left in that field by himself day after day, week after week, defending the sheep from lions and bears.

But what we now know when we read 1 Samuel 17 is that he wasn't just left out in that field by himself to tend sheep He was left in that field to get prepared for Goliath And some of you have been left out in your own field by yourself And you feel like you have been discarded and overlooked you haven't been invited you feel like God doesn't see you But I need you to understand That Samuel had them all wait until David showed up. And the Bible says that he anointed David

in the presence of his brothers. Just like in Psalm 23, five, it says that he prepares a table in the presence of your enemies. in the presence of your enemies. My sisters, I need all of you to understand that no matter who's left you out, God knows where you are, and he has not forgotten you. Be encouraged.

Be encouraged. Can you help me thank God for Nona Jones? I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but there is just something about them DMV girlies that are going to do it for me every single time. Anytime I go to the DMV, it is undoubtedly a sign from God that he just goes ahead of us. He makes our crooked path straight. He sees what's in us even when we are asleep on ourselves. I have told them this story so many times that I know

they're tired of hearing it, but let me tell you, I got history in the DMV and I had destiny in the DMV and they were living there at the same time and I didn't even know it. This conversation with Nona Jones is such a reminder to me of what happens when God's plan for our lives collide with our vulnerability, our transparency, and how radical change takes place. I hope that you enjoyed it just as much as I did. Purpose is a serious thing. And when we do not function within our God-given purpose, we are unfulfilled. We are powerless, we are stagnant

in ways that God never destined for us to be. But when we do step into our power, step into our purpose as an identity, not as a moment, as a part of our spiritual DNA, radical things take place. Nona Jones is evidence of this and so are you. You too are evidence of this and so are you. You too are evidence of this and so I want you to lean into it, embrace it and never ever let it go.

God, I thank you for every person connected to this podcast, for the plans that you have, for them plans to prosper them and not to harm them, to give them a future and a hope. God, I pray that they would be as serious about their destiny as you are. I pray that you would give them the sensitivity for recognizing when a pivot is necessary, that you would give them the courage to give it language to those who will partner with them as they transition. And God, I just speak against the spirit of fear, the spirit of inadequacy, the spirit of avoidance, God, that you would remind them that they are fearfully

and wonderfully made, that you put good stuff in them, God. And their mission, their job, their purpose on the earth is to pull out everything that you've placed inside of them. And so I just pray God that they would get their shovels out and they would begin digging and digging and digging until they strike the gold that you place inside of them. And when they do that, God, I pray that they never let up. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. I told you how these conversations were going to bless your life. I told you all these conversations were going to bless your life. Thank me later, like next week, okay, with a podcast question if you can, because that

would be the ultimate thank you. I love you. God bless you. Good night. Evolve. Back in 96, Atlanta was booming with excitement around hosting the Centennial Olympic Games. And then, a deranged zealot willing to kill for a cause lit a fuse that would change my life and so many others forever. Rippling out for generations.

Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to another exciting episode of the Trap Nerds podcast. This is not an episode. I'm pretty sure this is a promo. You know what it is. We in this piece.

Trap Nerds, Trap Nerds, real n****s like you never heard. We giving you reliable gaming news. With the best movie and TV reviews from a Blurred perspective. All things inside and out of Blurred culture. Listen to the Trap Nerds podcast on the Black Effect podcast network, iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast,

or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished. A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. But which victim was the intended target and why? Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.