You said something that struck me that maybe I could just fit within myself.
Maybe I can just embrace myself.
Instead of seeking a sense of belonging,
a sense of okayness from other people,
If I could find a way to be okay with myself, then I can wrap my arms around who I am.
I had to sit with myself until I no longer cringed.
I had to sit with myself until I no longer felt shame.
I had to sit with myself until I could experience compassion where I once felt guilt.
And from that place of compassion, I learned to love who I am.
And like, yes, this is my story.
And no, it may not be perfect, but I'm going to stick beside me.
Every single one of us has stuff that we've done in the past,
things that we have done to ourselves or other people,
mistakes that we think that we've made, how do you begin the process of sitting with yourself?
How do you learn how to forgive yourself?
It starts with intention.
I will say those 10 years I was sitting with myself, but I was sitting sitting with myself punting How could you be so stupid?
You made the biggest mistake.
No one's ever going to want you.
Sometimes we are sitting with ourselves, but how we are sitting with ourselves is why we can't heal.
You can't want to heal and punish yourself at the same time to repeat the words that other people
have spoken over you that were negative.
Having it replay in your mind over and over again, why you sit with yourself will never bring you to a place of healing.
with the pursuit of compassion,
with the pursuit of love and acceptance,
that is when we start sitting with ourselves and experience some discomfort and some,
dysregulation because sitting with myself and trying to be compassionate requires me to stretch to love myself in a way that I don't think it's possible.
And as long as you don't think it's possible to sit with yourself and love yourself every day.
It doesn't matter who you love, it doesn't matter what you achieve until you can really sit with yourself.
None of those things are going to make you feel better either.
absolute greatest gift that you can give yourself to allow love to flood the place where you want felt in emptiness.
I just want to make sure that as you're taking your walk or you're washing your dishes,
or you are driving in your car, that you caught the actual magic that just came through the speakers or the headphones.
I have never heard anybody somebody say something as profound as you just said, you cannot heal while you are still punishing yourself.
And we don't do ourselves any favors by committing to punishing ourselves over and over again for what we did,
for what we allowed to happen.
This is what we say though.
I'm going to keep this from happening again by constantly living with it right
and And if I can live with it right in front of me,
if I can beat myself up, if I can punish myself, then I will keep this from happening again.
I will prepare myself for further rejection from other people.
If I constantly remember how unworthy I am, how little value I possess.
And so in many ways we think this is me protecting myself by constantly keeping it in front of my face.
We long for an existence where we want to believe that I am not just this one moment,
but we will never be more than that one moment if we constantly replay that moment in our head.
And so to invite into our atmosphere, what other moments do I want to have?
What other things do I want to define me?
I spent so long not wanting to be defined as a teen mom instead of saying,
I will be defined as being a teen mom,
but also I'm gonna be an incredible person,
but also I'm gonna love myself, but also I'm gonna dream and I'm gonna be an author and a teen mom.
I'm not trying to disconnect from her.
I'm trying to bring all of who I am into the fullness of where I am.
Sarah Jakes Roberts just gave you a gift, but also, but also, but also, I'm this and that.
I'm like I am all of these things and I thought that because I was this one thing I had no permission to be anything else
So yeah, the truth is yeah, I'm a teen mom.
Yes, I've gone through divorce I've got a laundry list of things that I never wanted to be that I've had to step boldly in and in addition to that
That had all of those things are true.
All of these things are true.
And I don't want to be all of my achievements.
Gosh, can you imagine what that would be?
The pressure and the arrogance connected to that.
I want to be this beautiful mixture, this beautiful tapestry of a girl on a journey and a woman owning her power.
A girl on her journey and a woman on her power.
Somebody to write a song.
Do you when you're speaking?
Have this experience of just things flowing through you like I've I don't even feel Like it's a conversation hmm.
I feel this energy and this truth that comes through you.
Like it just gets me so choked up to be in the presence of somebody that has such a gift.
Oh, it's, I believe that I'm anointed for this.
I believe that anything that I've done in the earth is not a reflection of my skills or my talents or something you pick up.
This is a full submission to my belief that I am made in the image of God,
and that I have this incredible opportunity to reflect God's glory everywhere I go.
And if I can get past my nerves,
if I can get past my insecurity,
if I can get past my second guessing and rest in that truth, there is a flow that just happens.
And it doesn't just happen like in this, like I'm in this flow when I'm raising my children.
They're opening up to me.
You know, don't let me be worried Don't let me overreact You know what I mean?
Let me reflect your glory in their vulnerability
Let me reflect your glory when I go into this meeting
I I really do want to be a light in this world and
After experiencing as much of darkness as I have gone through to offer just a flicker to another person
Like maybe I can't be this big brilliant light for everyone
But if today in this moment you're listening and I get to be a journey,
just know that there are other flames connected that are going to build this inferno of who you're going to be.
But got to gather every flicker, right?
And think that's the part of life that many of us miss is that we're waiting for
these big moments that are going to shine a huge light on us.
And when I have that huge light, then.
I'm going to feel better.
I'm going to be confident.
I'm going to be powerful,
but I am beginning to believe that it's all about us gathering those little moments,
those little like Christmas light size moments where things are just a little bit better.
And we look up and things have become brilliant.
You know, millions of people do.
Tune in to your every word, and having watched and listened to your sermons and experienced what a force you are, I'm curious.
To hear your thoughts on what you believe most of us need to hear and be reminded of
most people underestimate how necessary their existence is in the world.
And as a result assume a posture.
that leaves the world less than what it could be.
Our lives are not random.
They are not coincidences.
There is nothing more special about year.
We were all given these lives to make the world better.
And feel like most people underestimate how necessary they are.
And as a result, they don't take their healing seriously.
They don't take their thoughts seriously.
We put ourselves on discount and give ourselves a way to like the lowest bidder because we have these aikings inside of us.
But if we truly ever tell you high value of our breath.
It would change what we speak.
It would change how we show up in the world.
And it would quite literally make the world a better place.
Like, if you can just make your world, your friends, your family, your sisters, your coworkers, if
you can take seriously the impact you have in your world.
and then I take seriously the impact that I have with my influence in my corner of the world,
those incremental commitments are how we begin to change the narrative of what it means to be humans surviving together.
I feel this energy and this truth that comes through you.
Like it just gets me so choked up to be in the presence of somebody that has such a gift.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on what you believe most of us need to hear and be reminded of.