Blooming into God's Plan - Dr. Jewel Williams
[00:00:00] Matt Potter: no matter the depth of our struggles or the weight of our uncertainties, we can transform them in a fertile ground for growth and purpose, blooming, beautiful through faith, resilience, and the understanding that we are cherished in God's underlying love. Today, we are privileged to hear an inspiring story of resilience and transformation.
[00:00:24] Our guest jewel takes us on a profound journey from a painful past. To a place of healing and restoration through God's unyielding love. Jewel's life was burdened with countless ifs. What if I had run? What if it's my fault? Those questions haunted her as she faced the unimaginable traumas of her childhood and young adulthood.
[00:00:44] But it was in her darkest moments that God began his extraordinary work in her life. Yet in her brokenness, God revealed a powerful message. Don't mine the dirt. You will bloom. He showed her that every challenge, every trial, and every if could be transformed into fertile ground for growth and purpose.
[00:01:07] This week in Relentless Hope, Dr. Jewel Williams teaches us how throughout her life, God's unconditional love has brought forth beauty from ashes. Despite the pain of her past, Jewel emerged as a beacon of hope, a testament to the power of faith and the resilience of the human spirit. Today she stands firm, knowing that she is not an orphan, but a cherished child of God.
[00:01:30] Destined to make a difference and leave a legacy in the lives of others. So I invite you to join us as we listen to Jewel's remarkable story of transformation, redemption, and relentless hope. Let her journey inspire and remind us all that no matter the depth of our struggles or the weight of our ifs, God's love and purpose can bring forth a life of blooming beauty.
[00:01:51] Let's begin today's episode of Relentless Hope with Dr. Jewel Williams.
[00:01:58] Dr. Jewel recounts the pivotal moment in her life when God initiated their healing process through an unconventional method. Reflecting on their academic achievements and the positive feedback from instructors, they confronted the truth about their self perception, leading to a transformative turning point guided by faith.
[00:02:18] Dr. Jewel Williams: He used an unusual way to begin my healing process. He did it by sending me back to school to get my bachelor's degree. And so at the end of that first year, he told me to look at my grades and the comments that I had received from my instructors. Well at the time, I had all A's. And all of the comments that I had gotten over that year from my instructor were positive.
[00:02:41] In fact, some of them I still have to this day, which are years and years later, um, in a fold or somewhere in a file. And so then God asked me an unusual question. He said, Jewel, What is the truth? Is what you believe about yourself true, or what your instructors? Is that? So it made me think, and I really thought about that.
[00:03:06] So I said to myself, well, why would these instructors lie about that? They have no reason to tell me something if it were not true. So therefore, I had to come to the conclusion that what I was thinking was not true, but what they were saying. Satan was true. And it was at that point, this became the defining point in my life.
[00:03:28] Thank you, Jesus, where God turned me around and began my healing process.
[00:03:35] Matt Potter: On part one of this three part series, we follow Dr. Jewel's journey of healing and self discovery from facing a painful past filled with trauma and rejection to finding solace in the unconditional love of God. Dr. Jewel shares her experience with resilience and faith. This poignant narrative reveals how she navigates the challenges of life, transforming the dirt and hardships into fertile ground for growing and blooming into her true purpose.
[00:04:09] Dr. Jewel Williams: Life. What do you do with the ifs in life? As a child, things seemed great. My mom and dad were in the house and it felt like a normal family. Whatever that feels like. And I am the sixth child of seven. In fact, I'm the youngest girl with the brother just a few years younger than I am. So everything seemed perfect until my parents divorced.
[00:04:39] Truthfully, Things weren't perfect, but as a child, I did really understand that. I was first molested as a child at about the age of six by an older boy at my aunt's house. I didn't know how to stop it, so I tried to pretend it didn't happen. I remember at the time that I was eating a peanut butter sandwich, and so, for years I couldn't stand the smell of peanut butter.
[00:05:11] And in fact, if I tried to eat a peanut butter sandwich, it made me physically sick. I was fondled by a man who lived in the neighborhood. Didn't know him, don't know where he came from, but he told me he would hurt me if I told my family. And I believed him. So anytime I had to throw out the trash, I would wait for my brother and make him go out with me because I didn't want to see this man again.
[00:05:39] I thought that he was lurking and waiting for me. I felt defenseless and too afraid to tell anyone what was happening. Besides, who would believe me? That's what the man told me. He said, no one will believe me. I was sexually attacked again as a young teen about the age of 14 by a young man. My father allowed to move into our house after he and my mother divorced.
[00:06:12] What was devastating. My dad believed his girlfriend, this was her nephew, when she said I was a liar. And I remember that day, I, I was sitting outside of the bedroom door waiting for him to go and tell her what happened. She said I was a liar. It didn't happen. It wasn't true. So I waited with my ear pressed against the door for what seemed like an eternity for him to speak up for me and to say no, she wouldn't lie.
[00:06:45] But I didn't hear him say anything. He didn't say anything. He said nothing. So I sat there. I got up and I remember sitting at our dining room table at the time and I just sat there. So eventually he came out of his bedroom. He looked at me. He was dressed and ready to go and he didn't say anything. He just walked out of the door and went to work.
[00:07:10] So you can imagine, I felt totally rejected by my own father. So I didn't know what else to do. So I called my mom and I told her to come to get me. So I moved to live with my mother after that, but it didn't get any better. By this time, my mother had become an alcoholic. She drank all the time. My stepfather, he made it his job daily.
[00:07:38] He me that I wasn't going to be anything and that no one would want to listen to me about anything. He told me I was dumb, I was stupid. He told me that I would be nothing but a woman on welfare with a bunch of kids. He even tried to sell me to the old men in the neighborhood. And when I refused, then the joke became that I was gay.
[00:08:01] And to be honest, I would prefer him to do that than to try to You push me off on these old gross being in the neighborhood. And so in the midst of all of this, we went to court for the sexual assault that took place when I was still living with my dad. So how horrific it was to have my dad standing with the accused and not standing with me.
[00:08:29] I felt such shame having to tell what happened to me. It was degrading and I just wanted to run out of there and just forget that any of it happened. This wasn't the last attack on my life. I was later raped when I went to college and because of all of the things that happened before that, I believe that It was my fault.
[00:08:53] I, I shouldn't have gotten in the car with this, this guy. I shouldn't have talked to him. I shouldn't have gone to his apartment. I shouldn't, I shouldn't have done all of these things. So it was my fault. And so I didn't say anything. And so by this time, I really believe that everything that happened to me, it was because I had done something wrong.
[00:09:12] There was something wrong with me. So after I was married, my sister's husband tried to sexually attack me. This time I was so angry and I was tired of people trying to do things to me and try to take things from me. And so I really wanted to kill him. I mean, so much so that I've. I, there was this a rage that rose up in me that I didn't even realize could be on the inside of me.
[00:09:39] And the feelings scared me. But this event also scarred my relationship with my sister for years because she didn't want to believe it. So what was I supposed to do with all these ifs? What was I supposed to me and that didn't make sense and that hurt me and scarred me and made me doubt myself? I found myself for years trying to suppress every event.
[00:10:09] I would tell myself that they didn't happen. And I remember even with the event when I was raped in college and, and I told it to my friend and I just told her it didn't, it didn't count is how I would say it. I know she laughed, I laughed with her, but it really was just my way of saying, um, I couldn't, I couldn't deal with it.
[00:10:31] I couldn't, I couldn't handle it. You know, so even though I suppressed these events to some degree, I also couldn't stop in my mind the thoughts that were constantly going on about the what ifs. What if you would run? What if it's your fault? What did you do to cause this? Maybe if you were a good girl, lovable and obedient, if you were that kind of girl, maybe your daddy would have loved you enough to stand up for you.
[00:11:04] Maybe this all happened to you because you are unlovable and worthless. And as time passed, those what ifs began to be rooted in my heart. I carried with me for years the feeling of being dropped. I didn't want to go to new places because I didn't know what I would find there. In fact, I had to be in places where I was in control.
[00:11:30] My, my emotional response to things were just not rational. And for example, if we were driving and you realized that we needed to make a sudden turn, you know, at the, at the corner and we would just maybe, you know, feet away from it or whatever. I would almost just go into this emotional rant. Why are you waiting till the last minute?
[00:11:52] And I didn't realize that all of that came from this place of not being able to handle the unexpected. I realized I lived a fearful life. So, to combat not knowing, I tried to control everything. I tried to make sure that I could handle everything. But I later also realized that, that feeling of being dropped.
[00:12:18] Of not being loved, being an orphan, was also how I viewed God. I viewed and thought that He would drop me at times. Especially the times when I would need Him the most. That He wouldn't be there for me. I realized I had an orphan spirit. I didn't believe that I was important to God because all of the things that happened to me.
[00:12:39] Now I want you to understand something. I was a Christian at this time. I got saved when I was young. And I remember even... The time when I found this track on the street, it was of a homeless boy and on this track it was like a pencil drawing and this little boy lived in a box. Nobody wanted him. He went from place to place trying to get someone to accept him, but no one would.
[00:13:04] And so he lived in this, he lived in this box on the street. And eventually he died in that box on the street. But in the end of the track, God came and Jesus came and took him and said, I have a home for you. Well, I felt like that orphan boy that nobody wanted. That was a throwaway. And so for me, that track said, Jewel you can get to heaven.
[00:13:28] Nobody may want you down here. You may be worthless down here But just know there's gonna come a time when God is going to let you be with him And so for me as a Christian, I was excited that God at least was going to let me come and be with him, but all of the really great things Happening now and to happen to someone in the current.
[00:13:49] Oh that was for someone else Like I said, I was just happy to know that I could go to heaven. I didn't believe that there was anything great or special in me or about me. And I lived like this for years. Well into my adult years for years, for years, I lived like this, but God in his mercy, he intervened because he had a plan for me.
[00:14:16] He had something different for me. That I had yet to acknowledge and see. So God began to unravel my distorted life view and to deal with those ifs that I carried around in my heart. And I love the fact that God does not always heal and deliver in The same way. I mean, even when you read scripture, he healed.
[00:14:38] He didn't always heal the same way. He didn't always deal with each person the same. Because he's unusual and he does, he meets us in those unique ways. So, that's what he did for me. He used an unusual way to begin my healing process. He did it by sending me back to school to get my bachelor's degree. And so at the end of that first year, he told me to look at my grades and the comments that I had received from my instructors.
[00:15:05] Well at the time, I had all A's. And all of the comments that I had gotten over that year from my instructor were positive. In fact, some of them I still have to this day, which are years and years later, um, in a folder somewhere, in a file. And so some of the comments were things like, you have been a delight to teach.
[00:15:25] Um, one professor said, if this were a horse race, you are leagues ahead. So then God asked me an unusual question. He said, Jewel, what is the truth? Is what you believe about yourself true? Or what your instructors, is that the truth? So it made me think, and I really thought about that. So I said to myself, well, why would these instructors lie about this?
[00:15:54] They have no reason to tell me something if it were not true. So therefore, I had to come to the conclusion, that what I was thinking was not true, but what they were saying was true. And it was at that point, this became the defining point in my life. Thank you. Jesus, where God turned me around and began my healing process.
[00:16:16] So in that very moment, I felt the love of God. Like I had never felt it before. He revealed that all these things I had been believing and that, and that I told myself they weren't true. I didn't do anything wrong. The enemy of my soul wanted to kill, steal and destroy my destiny, but Christ, my savior.
[00:16:39] Thank you, Jesus. Jesus wanted to release the abundance that he had died for. He had died for me. He died to give me the abundance of what God has in store for me. He wanted me to receive that. And it took me many more years for me to get to the full healing from that broken place. But I learned that day, my life wasn't an accident and all the horrible things that happened were going to be used by God to make a difference.
[00:17:08] In the lives of those he had called me to touch. I had some assignments on my life. They were gonna need to hear from me. They were gonna need to hear my story. They were gonna need to know. That just like I made it, they could make it, too. And so, over the years, you know, God has allowed me to face those things that continue to reveal the residue of those drop feelings, those orphan feelings.
[00:17:34] Because I don't care how long we live, God heals us, He delivers, He sets us free. But the enemy of our soul always constantly tries to take us back to those old places. And one of the most recent times that God used to show me That there was still some residue was related to us starting the church that my husband and I pastor, Abundant Life Worship Center.
[00:17:56] We did all that the Lord had told us to do. We were in accordance and, and to what the requirements were for our particular denomination. We, we didn't just start a church out of division or frustration or anything like that. We, we prayed about it. We went to our state pastor, we spoke with him and got permission to do some things.
[00:18:16] Um, so we thought we were doing everything in the right way, but. We were rejected immediately. Um, and the, and the attack really wasn't against my husband. It was really for me, but immediately we relied on, and I mean, things were said that I was stealing money from, cause we at the time we were holding services in our home and we were.
[00:18:36] They were being said that I was stealing money from the church. Um, it was said that I was trying to break up someone's marriage, that I was giving false prophecies and, um, just doing all kinds of things that were not true at all. To the point, the lies grew so big that even though we went to all of the meetings to try to, Reconcile and handle these things.
[00:19:00] Eventually my credentials were stripped and we were put out of the affiliation. So you can imagine this, this girl who had dealt with rejection and feeling like an orphan. I was devastated. And those old feelings of rejections, that old abandoned feeling, that old orphan feeling tried to rise again on the inside of me.
[00:19:21] I was heartbroken and I couldn't understand why God wouldn't stop the attacks. I actually became quite angry and I began to feel dropped because I said to God, Hey, I didn't do this on my own. You know, I didn't even want to be a pastor. This wasn't my idea. Why would you let this happen? And so I began to struggle a little bit, but the loving father, we served, thank you, Jesus.
[00:19:46] I'm so grateful. He turned that hurt and that brokenness around, like he has done in every situation of my life. And he is using it and showing that he can use it for his glory. And this is the lesson that he gave me. And he used the scripture in Mark four and eight. And I want to read that for you. It's in the new living translation.
[00:20:07] This is how it reads. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil and they sprouted and grew and produced a crop that was 30 and 60 and even 100 times as much as had been planted. So this is what God said to me as it relates to the ifs in my life. He said, Jewel, don't mind the dirt. You will bloom. Let me say that again.
[00:20:34] He said, Jewel, don't mind the dirt. You will bloom. And he said this, he said, all the things that that have come up against you from your childhood with the affiliation, with people, you know, ridiculing you, people talking about you, people lying on you, all of that dirt in the past. He said, and guess what?
[00:20:54] There's going to be some dirt in the future. People are going to say you shouldn't do this. People are going to talk about you. You're a woman. You shouldn't preach. You're going to hear all kind of dirt that's going to come up against you. Now and even in the future. And we know, he said, you know that this is the devil's way of trying to throw dirt on you.
[00:21:12] He said, so he throws the dirt of rejection, of fear, and doubt. And so many other things. To do what? To try to kill us. However, our loving father, he says, I turn that dirt That the devil threw on you. I turn it into fertile soil. So that when I plant you, you become the seed. The destiny that I've spoken over you is that seed that I'm going to plant.
[00:21:37] So that it can grow. Yes. Guess what? Before a seed grows, the, the, it has to endure the pressure as something that when a seed is planted, something, it reacts to the soil that, that causes a reaction. So the, the, the seed says, I'm finally going to die and I'm going to release what's on the inside of me so that that fruit can grow.
[00:22:00] See, I didn't realize that every attack, the lies, the things that came from my youth, All were ways God would use to release something on the inside of me to create the fruit he desires for my life. See, even just a few years ago when he sent me back to school for my doctorate degree, he said, jewel, I'm gonna send you to school to help you learn how to be a leader.
[00:22:27] He's, because I want you to realize, That you're going to learn how to live from the inside out. I'm going to create a whole servant leader out of you. And so it's easy to look at the things that have happened in my past and I can make a choice to be bitter. I can stay in a place of brokenness. I can say, why me?
[00:22:50] Why me? My, why me? I can keep listening to all of the ifs that the enemy gave me, but then I miss becoming. The fruit, that seed that's planted and then bringing forth the fruit. So life, life, what do you do with the ifs in it? Well, this is what I had to learn. You give them to God and watch him create something beautiful from it.
[00:23:18] See, God takes the ashes of our lives and he brings beauty from it. He brings beauty from ashes. All of the abuse, all of the hurt. All of the rejection, the neglect, all the ugliness, cause that stuff is ugly. All of the ugliness. Only God can bring something beautiful from it. So we have to learn to bloom.
[00:23:42] In the midst of the dirt that the devil throws on us. So what? He's gonna try to throw dirt. Cause he wants to kill us. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to kill your purpose. He wants to destroy who you are in God. He doesn't want us to be people that know who we are and to acknowledge our sonship with God.
[00:24:04] He wants us to stay in that place of an orphan. Because if you're an orphan, then you don't take access to the gifts that you have from the Father. So we learn how to bloom in the midst of the dirt He said he meant it to kill us, but God makes it fertile ground to grow us. So... What's the last thing I want to say?
[00:24:26] Remind you of what God said to me. Don't mind the dirt. You're going to bloom. The dirt now. The dirt of the future. Whatever the devil tries to throw at you in life. Whatever the ifs are that he tries to throw at you. Say like I did. I Bloom.
[00:24:53] I owe God myself because of what he sacrificed through Christ to give to me. And so that's my liability. I owe God something. Now what I owe him is myself. And so I offer myself to him so that he can now love through me. And so the way that I pay forward, so to speak, is by loving others. It's very simple.
[00:25:18] We see it. Scripture, John 3, 16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And so that's, that's how I receive. That's how you receive. That's how we as leaders receive, because Christ died. And so now we have access to this living.
[00:25:37] And why does he do it? He gives it to us so that we can now give. First John 3, 16 says, Hereby perceive we the love of God. Because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brother. So the leader therefore loves those that he or she leads with this unlimited liability of love.
[00:25:59] You love those you lead, not because they deserve it, not because they can afford it, not even if they're because they're thankful for. And you don't limit it in any way, because if you limit it, then it's no longer unlimited. See, you limit, you limit your love if you tell people they have to, they have to do something to receive your love.
[00:26:19] Cause God didn't tell us to do something to receive His love, He just gave it to us.
[00:26:27] Matt Potter: On part two of this three part series, Dr. Jewel shares her journey of discovery, her calling as a leader and how God led her to embrace the concept of being a whole servant leader. She emphasizes the significance of understanding one's identity in Christ and allowing God to heal broken areas. To lead from a place of love, transparency, and humility.
[00:26:49] Dr. Jewel's vision for leadership is centered on being a vessel of God's love and serving others without limitation. Illustrating the essence of an unlimited liability of love. As the foundation of true leadership. I
[00:27:04] Dr. Jewel Williams: never thought much about leadership. That was my husband's area. I was gifted as a teacher, and I was just happy being in that place of teaching.
[00:27:20] However, one day the Lord woke me from my sleep and said, Jewel, get ready to go back to school for your doctorate degree. And I said to myself, surely I must be having a delusion. This can't be God. So I pulled the cover up over my head and tried to go back to sleep. But God wasn't having it. I couldn't shake the Lord's voice speaking to me.
[00:27:45] And he said, Jewel, I need you to go back to school so I can teach you how to lead. And he told me, he said, many of my children start this journey of leadership well. But some don't finish because they never allow me to deal with the brokenness within their hearts. He said, when they don't, they become either dictators instead of servants.
[00:28:08] It's about you doing everything the way I want you to. Why? Because there's this personal satisfaction that I need to receive out of leading you. He said, or they lead seeking ministry to validate them For their personhood when that really only comes from God, he said, or others begin to build the kingdom to this false Trinity.
[00:28:34] And I call that the Trinity of me, myself, and I, and I've often, even in when I've preached and talk to people, I said, how you know you are in this false Trinity of me, myself, and I is because everything is about you. You talk about you all the time, what you want, what you need, who did for me. And so God said, you begin to build this kingdom on this false trinity of me, myself and I, instead of my kingdom.
[00:28:59] So this is what happens when you don't let me heal those broken areas. And so he said, I want to teach you how to lead from the inside out. So being obedient, I wrote in Bethel seminary to begin my journey to understanding what it means to be a leader. Again, I didn't see myself as a leader and I think that was partly because of the types of leaders that I saw.
[00:29:26] I saw leaders who were controlling or manipulative or who weren't willing to build others. It didn't matter if you had gifts, it didn't matter if God wanted something to be manifested in and developed in your, in someone else's life. These leaders were focused on themselves. So when I began to read about serving leadership, I was excited because I realized I found myself.
[00:29:55] This was who I was and who I wanted to be. So I grabbed hold early on in my time of study to a phrase that was originally coined first by Robert Greenleaf and then used later in her work by Dr. Kathleen Patterson. And it's the phrase called unlimited liability of love. It's unlimited liability of love.
[00:30:18] And so for me, this is true leadership. This is what the leader, uh, this is what leadership is all about. And so what does this mean? Well, first it starts with us understanding our foundation as a Christian leader, whether I'm in the church or in my own business, I own a publishing company, whether I'm in my business, in my home, wherever I'm leading.
[00:30:43] So this isn't just a leadership theory for the church. This is for us as Christian leaders, wherever we find ourselves, even in So it starts first with us understanding that Christ died for us. So that we could be what I state as a whole servant leader. Now this is a phrase that I defined in my doctoral work, and this is the definition of it.
[00:31:08] This is a leader that allows God access to their soul issues, so that God can produce a healthy heart for the leader. And when God produces this healthy heart within the leader, he or she is, is able and equipped to now lead God's people God's way. And what God will do is he will put his attributes on display in us So that the virtues that come out of us Will help us lead others?
[00:31:39] Lemme just say that again. This whole servant leader is one that allows God to deal with their soulish with the brokenness. So this means we, we take our anxieties, our depressions, our fears, our doubts, all of those things. As I, as I've said, those ifs in life. He. He takes those ifs in life, those, those places where we've been hurt and abused and we give them to God and we give them to him.
[00:32:09] He will then show us how he wants to heal us in those areas. What's our part? What process do we have to play? Because part of our process may be to forgive some part of our process may be to release or. Or to step out of agreement with some things but God will bring us to the place So that he can heal us and that we can be whole in those areas And now this is key.
[00:32:34] We can't receive help for things. We aren't willing to acknowledge and face. So there's just Amount of transparency that we must have before God so that we can then receive his healing. We can receive that wholeness that he wants for us. Because God wants us to discover those blind sides, those blind areas in our lives.
[00:32:53] And often those are the places that we, that are there, those issues, those things that need to be healed. But we're fueling them, we're feeding them. And because we're fueling the wrong things, you know, God told it to me once like this. He said, Jewel, stop feeding the dead. What I've killed or what I want us to, to destroy on the inside of you, don't go back and feed it.
[00:33:15] It's dead. And so God doesn't want us to fuel and feed those blindsided areas, those dead things in us, because when we feed it or feed those areas, it keeps us from walking in our complete wholeness. So let me just state this here as I go on, that this isn't a one and done kind of process. Isn't a one time thing.
[00:33:37] This is a lifelong process. I know, honestly, I have to rely on this all the time. And, you know, one of the most recent times that I had to really rely on God dealing with some very broken places was when we started our church. And at the same time we were starting a church and I was in the process of working on getting my doctorate degree.
[00:34:02] And I had such an attack come against me that I was ready to quit everything. I was ready to quit school. I was ready to just say, okay, Lord, this church thing is maybe, maybe I didn't hear you right. I just, let's just call it a day and I'll quit. But I had to ask God for help. I had to be willing to say, God, this is something I can't do.
[00:34:22] It's too great for me. And so through a time of prayer and fasting and meditating on the word, I'm talking about chewing that word over and over and over and over again. There was times I read it. It didn't make sense and didn't seem like it was going to happen, but I had to keep meditating on it and seeking his face until I was able to see what was still in me.
[00:34:43] See I was still dealing with some residue of rejections and feelings of not being enough. And once I knew that was causing my response to the attacks, I knew how to seek God's healing. And I just want to insert right here for a moment. We can have attacks that have come against us as leaders. And the attacks are wrong by no means.
[00:35:05] Are they right? And no means is God trying to attack us in these areas, but what God wants us to do is I can't necessarily stop someone attacking me. I may not necessarily be able to stop what someone says negative. But I am responsible to God on how I respond. And so it is in this place where you are a whole servant leader, that you're able to respond to your attacks from a place of healthy, uh, from a healthy soul.
[00:35:36] And that's really what God wants to do in his lead. He wants to build us so that even if attacks come, we're in a healthy place and a healthy mindset when we deal with. And so in leadership, it's also, Important for us to understand that it's not our job to make everybody happy. It's not our job for every, to try to make everybody agree with us.
[00:36:00] There's going to be conflict. You're not going to be a leader and be without some conflict, without some body being discontent. And so that's not your job to worry about making this age take totally non existence of stress. That's in heaven. That's not going to happen here on earth. But it is our job as leaders to be obedient to what we were called to do.
[00:36:23] So even if there's conflict, we will call. To go in and be peacemakers. If there's issues where people are broken and hurt, if we're the cause of it, it's our job to go in and to repent and to mend and to replace and to build back up. So we may not do it all the time. Perfect. But it is our job to make sure we show up and be obedient.
[00:36:45] to doing our best for God. And so this means, as I said, we're going to continually face difficulties. But until we learn how to become whole servant leaders, we will continually become depressed, feel worthless, or even, God forbid, forget what our purpose was in the first place. I love a scripture in Galatians 1 and 1 and Paul writes this.
[00:37:10] Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God, the father who raised him from the dead. Now, this verse is one that can easily be overlooked because we're trying to get to the. What we consider the meat of the script. But I believe this one verse is vital for every leader to grasp.
[00:37:32] Paul in this statement is letting you know he is sure of his personhood. He knew his calling. He knew it was an apostle. And he knew that it was not by the hand of men. He knew who called him. It was Jesus himself. And the whole servant leader has to understand their person. And what I appreciate is, yes, Paul is an apostle, but even greater than that is he understands where it came from.
[00:37:58] It was Jesus Christ through the way of the Father because of Christ's sacrifice. And we have to understand our calling. But yes, even greater than understanding our calling is that we understand our sonship. Being leaders isn't the first thing we, we should pursue. It's being a son or it's being a door and I think the greatest thing we can do as leaders Is to first make sure our sonship Is in order that we understand who we belong to.
[00:38:29] And once we extend who we belong to that, even if my calling is a possible today, that if my calling is to be mentored tomorrow, or if my calling is to be quiet for a season, whatever my calling may be, I'm fine with the calling and the shift, because that doesn't change my sonship. Once the leader understands who he is or she is.
[00:38:50] Then we can live out the attributes of God, such as love and mercy and wisdom and faithfulness and grace. These are the things that God wants to build on the inside of us, and he wants to do that, but they can't coexist. I can't have love in me the way God wants me to love if there's bitterness. And so that's why God wants to do this work on the inside.
[00:39:13] And when we allow him. To, to, to do the work on the inside, then the virtues will come out and others will see them. They'll see the love. They'll see the mercy. They'll see the wisdom, the faithfulness, and the grace. They'll see that in us because it's coming out of us. And so I can, I can love you. Why?
[00:39:33] Because God loves me first. I received his love. So now I'm equipped to love somebody else. And so leaders, we, we have to continually walk with the understanding that we didn't purchase God's love. God, Christ purchased it for us and his, and by his life. And then he freely gave it to us. And so there's really nothing I can do to deserve it.
[00:39:53] I can't be good enough. I can't work enough. I can't do anything to deserve his love. But this is, this is what I think is key and this is why I go back to the phrase that I talked about at the beginning, unlimited liability. And this is what that phrase means. I owe God myself because of what he sacrificed through Christ to give to me.
[00:40:21] And so that's my liability. I owe God something. Now what I owe him is myself. And so I offer myself to him so that he can now love through me. So the way that I pay forward, so to speak, is by loving others. It's very simple. We see it scripture John 3 16 says for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
[00:40:48] And so that's that's how I receive That's how you receive that's how we as leaders receive because christ died So now we have access to this love and why does he do it. He gives it to us so that we can now give. 1 John 3 16 says, hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives.
[00:41:12] So the leader therefore loves those that he or she leads with this unlimited livelihood. You love those you leave, not because they deserve. Not because they can afford it. Not even if they're, because they're thankful for it. And you don't limit it in any way, because if you limit it, then it's no longer unlimited.
[00:41:33] See, you limit, you limit your love. If you tell people they have to, they have to do something to receive your love. Cause God didn't tell us to do something to receive His love. He just gave it to us. And so we have to love like that. And so we have to lead from this altruistic perspective that you do what's right, because it's the right thing to do.
[00:41:54] Not because you're going to be rewarded for it. Not because somebody is going to see you do it. You simply do it because it's the right thing, but guess what? None of this can happen. If we haven't taken the brokenness of our lives to God. So I had to learn that those I lead are God's people. I'm his hands, but I don't own them.
[00:42:16] I don't own his people. They aren't there to make me feel better about myself. They aren't there to validate our purpose. That's gotta come from God. And the way we lead requires us to have a vision for others. We have to be willing to empower them to become the best they can be and to be willing to trust them with the future, not only the future of the church, but we have to be willing to tell people, let me help you so that I can show you how to be trustworthy, even with your future, even with the vision that God has for your future.
[00:42:49] Our church, our Abundant Life Worship Center is It's in an area, uh, our church is in Chicago and it's an area called and known as terror town. And because of the violence and the things that goes on there, there's prostitution, it's drug addiction, there's homelessness and mental, um, people that have a lot of mental issues.
[00:43:10] There's a lot of lack. And these are some of the main things that you see from day to day, just a lot of hopelessness. And I remember when we first planted the church, we've been now in this location for two years. And I remember asking God, What do you want us to do? How do we, how do we break through these barriers?
[00:43:29] What, what is it that you want us to do here? And his answer was very simple. He said, be loved. So we've been doing that for the last two years. And I've been trying to teach our leaders and those that come into our church, this phrase, we are saved to serve. And it's Not just a catchy phrase, but it's a, it's a way of life.
[00:43:49] Even Jesus said, I didn't come to be served, but to serve. And so we were saved by Christ to serve. That means serving the needs of others, serving God's purpose. And so this ministry is as I, I, my ministry and the, those that are raising the leadership and for those of the list, your ministry or whatever you're doing, your leading isn't about how many sermons you can, or even how popular you are.
[00:44:16] That's personal kingdom. Remember the me, myself, and I, leaders in God's kingdom are concerned about building his kingdom. And we've done that building in our area by listening to the needs of the community. Good servant leaders, good whole leaders must be listening. Listening not only to what is said, but what is implied.
[00:44:40] Listen. You have to listen kind of with your whole being. What's, what are they saying, but what are they not saying? What's the stuff that they've given up hope on so they won't even voice it. You have to ask God for discernment so that you can hear the full story. Even the parts that they're not telling.
[00:44:55] And after we heard from the community, the community, we fasted and we prayed to get direction from them. A good leader, a whole sermon leader has to see God's direction for the vision that he has. For your life and for the work that he wants to come from your hand and don't move until you get it.
[00:45:15] Sometimes I know I can be quite impatient. I wanted it to happen yesterday, but I can't move until God has shown me now is the time to move. And that's what we had to do. And then he began to give us the things to do in our area. He shows us. You know, how to love, he shows us how to do the things in the community.
[00:45:39] And one thing he showed us is that you're going to have to be consistent in your love walk because this community has been so hurt, so hurt. And they've had their share of church because what they viewed church was that they only want them for their numbers or for their money. And I've heard more times than I can say people telling us we've never had any of the churches in the air would do this before.
[00:46:04] I mean, we were doing things like we would just, you know, do random lunches where we would give away lunches. And, um, and I remember the first time we did it, everybody kept saying, well, how much is what we have to pay? And they were like, it's got to be something. I said, okay, surely there is. One person kind of almost thought, aha, got you.
[00:46:21] And I said, well, you have to let me pray for you. You don't know how many faces I've watched where people have just realized we didn't want anything from them. We were there really to give. So we've given away back to school supplies. We've done that kind of thing. We've taken food to neighbors just because we had extra food and we wanted them to be able to enjoy a dinner.
[00:46:44] We had a yard sale where actually everything was giveaway. We've watched women come out of prostitution and drug addiction because... Someone for the first time had a vision for their life and good leaders, good whole servant leaders have to be bold and willing to speak vision over people that at the time when you speak in it, they may not even look like what you're speaking.
[00:47:11] But the truth is, did we look like what we look like now before God spoke over us? Absolutely not. I was a broken woman. I didn't see any good thing in me at all. It wasn't until God sent some people willing to see vision for me so that I was able to finally see vision for myself and whole servant leaders have to be willing to be transparent.
[00:47:37] Now, while I might not share every hardship I faced in my life, I realized that some of the greatest victories for someone else are depending on my willingness to share how God has brought me through some of my difficult. And so as leaders, we must be willing to share our good and our bad to help others.
[00:47:55] When you're whole. When you're that whole servant leader, you don't have a need to appear perfect before people. You're secure in your relationship with God. I love it. Even Paul says, you know, when he talks in that scripture, when he says, You know, I know to do good, but I don't always do it. He was willing to be transparent.
[00:48:12] We have to be willing to be transparent because we help those in need. So what resulted from my dissertation work was the creation of a model that I used. And some of those things that really were key for leaders was to one, understand there's a need. To have a mentor and I believe all leaders need to have someone willing to invest in a leader to behold You also need to be self aware and open for self development You have to be transparent and we have to teach leaders how to create a healthy environment that it's okay The conflict may arise but you don't give up you go in and willing to stand in those places So that you can help others So it's vital as leaders that we're intentional about developing not only ourselves, but those that are emerging leaders that are coming behind leadership.
[00:49:07] I didn't see myself as one, but I was willing to allow God to develop me into his to develop the whole servant leader in me so that I can love with this unlimited library of love towards those that I am called. The struggles would leave in a legacy is will what I'm doing matter or will those behind me really carry it forward?
[00:49:35] But what I'm happy about is as quickly as that doubt might come or those thoughts might come. Do I matter? I'm reminded that what's done for Christ will last. That's what that's that's the word. So my challenge then isn't so much will it matter. My challenge is to make sure that my legacy isn't all about me, but leaving something that continues to point the next generation to Christ.
[00:49:59] It's about that consistency that I just spoke about. I got to do it now. Even if it seems foolish, I have to keep going at it. I have to keep pressing, even if it doesn't seem like I'm going to see fruit from it, but in due season, that fruit is going to come. And legacy isn't something we often think about as it relates to our calling or leadership or even our church.
[00:50:23] We see legacy, as I said, it's really about leaving something for our children.
[00:50:32] Matt Potter: On part three of this three part series, Dr. Jewell reflects on the struggles of leaving a lasting legacy and the importance of carrying forward their work for Christ. Dr. Jewell emphasizes the significance of consistency, preparing the next generation to lead and serve, and leaving a tangible impact through property, Ministry and business, the ultimate goal is not to be remembered for personal achievements, but to be seen as a woman passionately in love with God, leaving a legacy of love, encouragement, and a hunger for more of him.
[00:51:02] In the hearts of those they inspire.
[00:51:09] Dr. Jewel Williams: What do I want to leave behind? I want to create men and women that are equipped to carry the vision and mission of God for it. In fact, uh, stepping into the position of pastor of abundant life worship center, for me, that's not a lifelong one. That's a temporary. I feel like I'm holding it until God raises up the person he desires to replace me and to replace my husband.
[00:51:40] So I'm, I'm secure in my personhood. So I don't have to view my role as the pastor, as something that I have to hold on to forever, that I can hold it loosely. It's not mine. It's not my position. I, I've been called by God for the season and this time, but I'm not tied to this position to validate. So I want to raise up pastors, prophets, evangelists, and leaders that are equipped and ready to move into their destiny, even if that means replacing me.
[00:52:15] And I think for leaders, especially whole leaders, we have to be comfortable of, of, of replacing ourselves. Equipping people to do better than us. I'm fine with realizing that I may not be the best at everything. In fact, I want God to send me people that are better than me. And that I can train and help.
[00:52:38] And at some point when he's ready, maybe they will become the ones that will carry the vision. And why do I want to do this is because I want to do this because I believe it's the calling God has on my life. That's why from, from my beginning, the devil tried to get me to believe the message that I don't matter and no one will listen to me.
[00:53:02] He did it to try to keep me silent and guess what? It almost worked, but I have purpose and that is to be God's voice to others that have yet to learn that they even have a voice. That I can speak and I can, and, and plant in, and my words matter to somebody, that my words can be what will equip or water or plants or be part of the process, however God wants it to be.
[00:53:29] And so for me, I'm passionate about that. That's what legacy is. I want to leave behind men and women that are equipped to move forward, to do greater things that I've ever done. And so I think that's really key. And the way that I want people to remember me is as a woman that loved God. Yes, I've done some things.
[00:53:53] What makes all that matter is the why I did it. I did it because I love God. It's really that. Simple. I'm the kind of wife I am because I love God. I'm the kind of mother I am because I love God. I've been willing to do the hard inner work, not because I'm strong. In fact, sometimes people say to me, I've had someone tell me, you're the strongest woman I've met.
[00:54:16] And I think, boy, you've not, you don't know a lot of people because I don't see myself as this strong, tough woman. I've seen myself as fragile. And I'm okay with saying I've been fragile, but even with being fragile, I've been willing to not be a quitter and to do the hard work because I love God and I trust him with my future.
[00:54:40] And I want others to know my motive has always been to be pleasing to my father and to be able to bring impact into his kingdom. That's it. It's not because I want anybody to know me. I may be obscure. I may leave this world and people may, many, many people won't know me. It'll be a few, but many won't know me and I'll be okay with that.
[00:55:03] But I want to make an impact where God plants me. And so that those that have met me or those that have my life has touched theirs, that they will remember that I was a woman passionately in love with God. And that everything I did at every effort I made was to be pleasing to my father. And what I'm doing, um, that's why I prepare for my legacy is by purposely investing myself in others.
[00:55:33] I freely give myself, I do it in church, I do it even with my publishing company, Tri Production Publishing Incorporated. So even with my business, I asked God, how do I create legacy in every area of my life? And he said, make sure you present me first and everything. So as I said, even in my company, I try to help authors understand that your writing is not simply so you can be known and get successful and have money and be famous, but you do it because God is calling you to succeed.
[00:56:05] something. He has a calling on your life that he wants you to be a scribe for him in a sense. And he wants you to be his voice in the earth. And so for me, I then look at my company not only as a way to make money, but I look at it as a legacy builder. I'm showing others how what you're doing is you're preparing a future for somebody else.
[00:56:29] Somebody is going to come read your book. So don't write it just so you can get paid, write it. So that whoever reads it can find victory in their life. And so I actively try to help others understand nothing we do is overlooked by God. Everything, in every area of our lives, He wants to touch and bring His glory through those areas.
[00:56:51] And so what does legacy mean for me? One meaning of legacy is something, definition is something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. But I also like this other meaning. It says a gift by will, especially of money or other personal property. And this is what legacy means to me.
[00:57:15] I create something of value that is passed on to those coming behind. Some of it is, is, is wisdom, but some of it is tangible, like gifts, such as property or ministries or businesses that we can use to help the next generation, further God's agenda in the world. And so I see my role. It's not only someone that equips others, but also one that's called to provide them with something, some substance to begin their journey with.
[00:57:49] And I believe we understand this as it relates to like our family perspective, for example. So as a parent, you know, I want to leave something for my kids. I want to create, you know, if you, some people, you're a small child and you think in future, you want to. So what do you do? You start a college fund.
[00:58:06] Some say, you know, and in the future, my, my son or my daughter's going to get married. So I'm going to put away some starter money for them to get their first home to get a start in life. So we understand this thing of legacy when it comes to our children. Why? Because we want to make life a little easier for them than maybe it was for us.
[00:58:29] But I believe this same principle needs to be just as important for us as we prepare the generations to come behind us in ministry. And, and as I talked about leadership before, you can be a leader in anything, whether it's in the, in the church, whether it's in, in your own. Private business, but I still look at everything we do as a ministry.
[00:58:48] I've told people before my job as a wife, that was my first ministry. And if I couldn't do that ministry, right? Why would I think God would open up another ministry for? So I look at life as ministry. Where's God calling you to? And so where does he want you to leave a legacy? So we need to give the next generation of leaders some tools to build on.
[00:59:09] We take them as far as God requires and then we release them with some supplies for battle so that they go in and they can possess new lands, do new. Adventures and do great exploits for God. I believe the those that own the land can make the decision. So we want to give them some tangible legacy.
[00:59:30] That's why I like both of those definitions. So it's not just me passing on wisdom, which is good, but I want to pass on some property. I want to pass on some, some things that they can use as a starter. And so, you know, my view of people. Has changed over time in a good way. It's changed with my acceptance that we're all flawed.
[00:59:53] Most of my greatest disappointments in life have been because of my expectations in people. And I'm not saying we shouldn't pray for and hope for the best in people. But we have to find this balance. We have to have this balance of just having a healthy expectation in people. And then we just have to make sure we're not putting them on a pedestal.
[01:00:13] We're not making them idols. Because too many... Of my idols have fallen or either God just threw them down to let me know he's the only one perfect. And you know, we have to be willing to realize that not only are people not perfect, but we're not always going to get it right. And so guess what? If somebody had an expectation for me to be perfect at all time, I'm going to disappoint them.
[01:00:38] So it's this place of coming to finally acknowledge that people are flawed. We have our quirks. We have our issues. We're in, we're in process. Some of us. We're not all in this process at the same time, but we kind of accept that we're human. That's really it. We're accepting that we're human. I think that helps us even as we prepare legacy, because we don't have these unrealistic expectations that people will do everything right all the time, perfect, perfect, perfect.
[01:01:08] We're not perfect people, but we're people seeking to let God perfect us. We're not perfect people, but we're letting God perfect us. So, I'm learning to keep loving people, even those that disappoint, keep loving them and keep moving forward. I had a teacher when I was in school, going to school for my bachelor's degree, and her name was Deanne Mowry, and everyone called her Mama D.
[01:01:39] She wasn't perfect by any means. She had her ups and her downs in her life, sometimes that Some of her downs in life. Sometimes you would, I would find her and she would be in bouts of depression, but what always impressed me about Mama D Is she let you know you were important and she believed in you. In fact, a lot of what I have accomplished in my life has been because of Mama D.
[01:02:08] She wouldn't let me quit. I'm almost in tears. She would not let me quit. I would want to give up and I could hear her voice or I would call and talk to her. And she would just say, she would say to me, daughter, God made you to do great things. So get to it. And she would just kind of snap at me and then we'd go on and talk about something else when she passed away last year and I felt, and I still feel that void that I don't get to talk to her like I used to, but this is the great thing about legacy and relationship with people is I still feel the effects.
[01:02:43] of her words on my life. That's the kind of legacy I want to leave. I want my words, my encouragement, my prayers to be with those around me long after I'm gone. I expect people and I desire and hope that people will be still watching my videos on my YouTube channel that, you know, in fact, it's kind of funny.
[01:03:05] I, I, I've been doing these videos for several years. I think maybe I started in the early 2000 and I wasn't getting very many watches on my YouTube channel and, but I kept doing them and I kept staying faithful and I kept doing them and, and sometimes I go, why am I taping these things? Nobody's listening to them.
[01:03:25] And recently for some reason, one of my videos about the prophet Jeremiah just seemed to Took off and I mean, you know, I've got the negative comments, but many people are watching it and saying how that's been a blessing to them. And it reminds me of what, what we're talking about right now is that I did that years ago, those video, that particular video, maybe.
[01:03:48] It's got to be a good, maybe almost 10 years old, but it's blessing somebody now and legacy is producing and doing things that are going to make a difference even years later in ways that you don't know. And there's a consistency. See, that's the key. There's a consistency that we have to have. We do it now, even though it doesn't seem like it's going to benefit because you know that there's going to be some result by faith.
[01:04:16] You believe that God is going to bring something out of what you're doing. And so I have people now that call me Mama J or Mama Jewel and I actually take it as an honor. And some of them, I'm not that much older than them, but it doesn't matter. It's not about the age. It's about the respect. What they're saying to me is I see you love me like a mother and that's what I need in my life.
[01:04:40] So I take it as an honor because these are people that need to know they are special. So that's what's important. And that's, that's the kind of. Legacy that Mama D gave to me. I want to emulate that so that those that call me Mama J or Mama Jewel, eventually they'll become Mama somebody or Daddy somebody, because they'll pass that on to the next generation.
[01:05:09] The struggles with leaving a legacy is, will what I'm doing matter? Or will those behind me really carry it forward? But what I'm happy about is as quickly as That doubt might come, or those thoughts might come, do I matter? I'm reminded that what's done for Christ will last. That's what, that's, that's the word.
[01:05:31] So my challenge then isn't so much, will it matter? My challenge is to make sure that my legacy isn't all about me. But leaving something that continues to point the next generation to Christ. It's about that consistency that I just spoke about. I gotta do it now. Even if it seems foolish, I have to keep going at it.
[01:05:52] I have to keep pressing. Even if it doesn't seem like I'm gonna see fruit from it. But in due season, that fruit is going to come. And legacy isn't something we often think about as it relates to us. to our calling or leadership, or even our churches. We see legacy, as I said, it's really about leaving something for our children.
[01:06:13] But I do think we need to begin to rethink legacy, to think about legacy and who we are as people of God and how we're leaving a legacy. In the last month, our small church began to see quite a bit of numerical growth. And when I saw in the faces of those 14 year old to 20 year old young men and women was hunger.
[01:06:39] And it's unfortunate that some of us have looked at our younger adults and our youth that are coming behind us and we've only seen what's wrong with them and not what's good in them. I get tired sometimes of all of the. bashing of our young people as though they have the market on being a mess up or messing things up.
[01:07:04] Um, I think my generation messed some stuff up because I know I've messed some things up. So, you know, we've all had some good and bad, but what I saw and what I see when I do the altar calls or when we see the young people come up for prayer is I see a hunger in them. I see a desire and this is key and I hope you get this.
[01:07:26] I can't provide these individuals with legacy unless they see something in me they want. I'm a hungry person. I'm a person that desires more of God. I want more of Jesus every day. What I experienced yesterday was good for yesterday, but I've pressed forward toward the mark because I have not obtained at all that as long as I'm on this earth, I am always seeking to go higher, to go deeper, to have a greater understanding, greater revelation in the spirit.
[01:08:01] So when these young people came, They saw this. This is what they saw and they were attracted to it and they find it unusual and they want to know more about what is it? Why are you this woman? That's just kind of crazy about Christ And they wanted to know more. So in other words, I want us to understand if we want to leave legacy, we have to first make sure that the fire in us burns bright enough to attract the ones we want to invest in for the future.
[01:08:34] I don't know how this is going to turn out. I have faith that what God wants to bring from life will come forth. I'm going to continue to show up. I'm going to continue to be hungry for the future. Because as soon as I lose my fire, there's a possibility that my legacy building can be stalled. Let me just think about that for a minute.
[01:08:57] If you let your passion for the things of God to begin to diminish, it's gonna almost be hard to create a legacy because you have to have that desire to invest in it. Because it's not always an easy process. So I want to leave you with this, this thought, don't limit the size of your legacy big. I want to take over entire blocks in the community where I pass.
[01:09:26] Not so that our church can have a big building, but I want to create community for those that are around us. I want to create homes for women and men that are coming out of prison and need a fresh start. I want to create clean and sober living homes. I want to create daycares and areas where people can go to learn job skills and how to write resumes and how to do interviews and to be mentored.
[01:09:53] Yes, this is bigger than me. In fact, you know, if your vision and your legacy plan is all within your current reach, it's not big enough. It's just not big enough. Your legacy plan should be far bigger than what you can even do right now in your own hands. And this is the key. Make it bigger because it's impossible for me.
[01:10:16] But the guy we serve says it's not impossible for him. And so the answer is we're going to continue to press. And if everything isn't done in my lifetime, that's okay. I hope to gather enough people around the fire of my vision. I allow them to warm themselves as we sit around this vision, this fired up vision.
[01:10:40] As we sit around and they learn and they intake it and it begins to warm them. I want it. Continue to keep fueling that fire so that in the due season, in due time, when it's time for them to run with the vision that they've grabbed hold of, they've grasped it, and now they're ready to run and to do what God has called them to do.
[01:11:05] So what is legacy? Why is it important to me? Well, legacy is the desire to create in others, fire, so that they can run with the vision that they have. But more than just giving them the vision, I want to pass them some tools that they can use. to get there.
[01:11:34] Matt Potter: Life's journey is often filled with unexpected challenges, but it is in these moments that our true strength is revealed from the depths of despair to the heights of triumph.
[01:11:43] Dr. Jewel Williams has shown us the unyielding capacity of the human heart. to embrace hope and rise above any circumstance. We have learned that healing comes in different forms, from pursuing education to rediscovering one's self worth, from finding solace in faith to embracing the power of forgiveness.
[01:12:02] It is in these moments of healing that we realize how much we can grow and inspire others by sharing our stories. As Dr. Jewell reminds us, one of the best ways to serve God is to answer the call to serve others. To give unconditionally and to find purpose in making a difference in the lives of those around us.
[01:12:21] We have been reminded that service is not only about helping others, but it is also about allowing the goodness within us to flow freely, creating legacies that impact generations to come. Dr. Jewell also taught us that life may present us with countless ifs, but it is how we navigate through them that defines our destiny.
[01:12:42] Whether it's finding the strength to forgive, embracing the scars of the past, or blooming in the midst of adversity. Remember, as we face the uncertainties of life, we do not journey alone. Just as we are called to help others, there will be people who will support us in our times of need. Together, we can build a community of compassion, love, and relentless hope.
[01:13:05] Thank you for joining us on this episode of Relentless Hope Podcast. I'm your host, Matthew Potter, and I'd like to remind you to give hope. A voice.
Blooming into God's Plan - Dr. Jewel Williams
[00:00:00] Matt Potter: no matter the depth of our struggles or the weight of our uncertainties, we can transform them in a fertile ground for growth and purpose, blooming, beautiful through faith, resilience, and the understanding that we are cherished in God's underlying love. Today, we are privileged to hear an inspiring story of resilience and transformation.
[00:00:24] Our guest jewel takes us on a profound journey from a painful past. To a place of healing and restoration through God's unyielding love. Jewel's life was burdened with countless ifs. What if I had run? What if it's my fault? Those questions haunted her as she faced the unimaginable traumas of her childhood and young adulthood.
[00:00:44] But it was in her darkest moments that God began his extraordinary work in her life. Yet in her brokenness, God revealed a powerful message. Don't mine the dirt. You will bloom. He showed her that every challenge, every trial, and every if could be transformed into fertile ground for growth and purpose.
[00:01:07] This week in Relentless Hope, Dr. Jewel Williams teaches us how throughout her life, God's unconditional love has brought forth beauty from ashes. Despite the pain of her past, Jewel emerged as a beacon of hope, a testament to the power of faith and the resilience of the human spirit. Today she stands firm, knowing that she is not an orphan, but a cherished child of God.
[00:01:30] Destined to make a difference and leave a legacy in the lives of others. So I invite you to join us as we listen to Jewel's remarkable story of transformation, redemption, and relentless hope. Let her journey inspire and remind us all that no matter the depth of our struggles or the weight of our ifs, God's love and purpose can bring forth a life of blooming beauty.
[00:01:51] Let's begin today's episode of Relentless Hope with Dr. Jewel Williams.
[00:01:58] Dr. Jewel recounts the pivotal moment in her life when God initiated their healing process through an unconventional method. Reflecting on their academic achievements and the positive feedback from instructors, they confronted the truth about their self perception, leading to a transformative turning point guided by faith.
[00:02:18] Dr. Jewel Williams: He used an unusual way to begin my healing process. He did it by sending me back to school to get my bachelor's degree. And so at the end of that first year, he told me to look at my grades and the comments that I had received from my instructors. Well at the time, I had all A's. And all of the comments that I had gotten over that year from my instructor were positive.
[00:02:41] In fact, some of them I still have to this day, which are years and years later, um, in a fold or somewhere in a file. And so then God asked me an unusual question. He said, Jewel, What is the truth? Is what you believe about yourself true, or what your instructors? Is that? So it made me think, and I really thought about that.
[00:03:06] So I said to myself, well, why would these instructors lie about that? They have no reason to tell me something if it were not true. So therefore, I had to come to the conclusion that what I was thinking was not true, but what they were saying. Satan was true. And it was at that point, this became the defining point in my life.
[00:03:28] Thank you, Jesus, where God turned me around and began my healing process.
[00:03:35] Matt Potter: On part one of this three part series, we follow Dr. Jewel's journey of healing and self discovery from facing a painful past filled with trauma and rejection to finding solace in the unconditional love of God. Dr. Jewel shares her experience with resilience and faith. This poignant narrative reveals how she navigates the challenges of life, transforming the dirt and hardships into fertile ground for growing and blooming into her true purpose.
[00:04:09] Dr. Jewel Williams: Life. What do you do with the ifs in life? As a child, things seemed great. My mom and dad were in the house and it felt like a normal family. Whatever that feels like. And I am the sixth child of seven. In fact, I'm the youngest girl with the brother just a few years younger than I am. So everything seemed perfect until my parents divorced.
[00:04:39] Truthfully, Things weren't perfect, but as a child, I did really understand that. I was first molested as a child at about the age of six by an older boy at my aunt's house. I didn't know how to stop it, so I tried to pretend it didn't happen. I remember at the time that I was eating a peanut butter sandwich, and so, for years I couldn't stand the smell of peanut butter.
[00:05:11] And in fact, if I tried to eat a peanut butter sandwich, it made me physically sick. I was fondled by a man who lived in the neighborhood. Didn't know him, don't know where he came from, but he told me he would hurt me if I told my family. And I believed him. So anytime I had to throw out the trash, I would wait for my brother and make him go out with me because I didn't want to see this man again.
[00:05:39] I thought that he was lurking and waiting for me. I felt defenseless and too afraid to tell anyone what was happening. Besides, who would believe me? That's what the man told me. He said, no one will believe me. I was sexually attacked again as a young teen about the age of 14 by a young man. My father allowed to move into our house after he and my mother divorced.
[00:06:12] What was devastating. My dad believed his girlfriend, this was her nephew, when she said I was a liar. And I remember that day, I, I was sitting outside of the bedroom door waiting for him to go and tell her what happened. She said I was a liar. It didn't happen. It wasn't true. So I waited with my ear pressed against the door for what seemed like an eternity for him to speak up for me and to say no, she wouldn't lie.
[00:06:45] But I didn't hear him say anything. He didn't say anything. He said nothing. So I sat there. I got up and I remember sitting at our dining room table at the time and I just sat there. So eventually he came out of his bedroom. He looked at me. He was dressed and ready to go and he didn't say anything. He just walked out of the door and went to work.
[00:07:10] So you can imagine, I felt totally rejected by my own father. So I didn't know what else to do. So I called my mom and I told her to come to get me. So I moved to live with my mother after that, but it didn't get any better. By this time, my mother had become an alcoholic. She drank all the time. My stepfather, he made it his job daily.
[00:07:38] He me that I wasn't going to be anything and that no one would want to listen to me about anything. He told me I was dumb, I was stupid. He told me that I would be nothing but a woman on welfare with a bunch of kids. He even tried to sell me to the old men in the neighborhood. And when I refused, then the joke became that I was gay.
[00:08:01] And to be honest, I would prefer him to do that than to try to You push me off on these old gross being in the neighborhood. And so in the midst of all of this, we went to court for the sexual assault that took place when I was still living with my dad. So how horrific it was to have my dad standing with the accused and not standing with me.
[00:08:29] I felt such shame having to tell what happened to me. It was degrading and I just wanted to run out of there and just forget that any of it happened. This wasn't the last attack on my life. I was later raped when I went to college and because of all of the things that happened before that, I believe that It was my fault.
[00:08:53] I, I shouldn't have gotten in the car with this, this guy. I shouldn't have talked to him. I shouldn't have gone to his apartment. I shouldn't, I shouldn't have done all of these things. So it was my fault. And so I didn't say anything. And so by this time, I really believe that everything that happened to me, it was because I had done something wrong.
[00:09:12] There was something wrong with me. So after I was married, my sister's husband tried to sexually attack me. This time I was so angry and I was tired of people trying to do things to me and try to take things from me. And so I really wanted to kill him. I mean, so much so that I've. I, there was this a rage that rose up in me that I didn't even realize could be on the inside of me.
[00:09:39] And the feelings scared me. But this event also scarred my relationship with my sister for years because she didn't want to believe it. So what was I supposed to do with all these ifs? What was I supposed to me and that didn't make sense and that hurt me and scarred me and made me doubt myself? I found myself for years trying to suppress every event.
[00:10:09] I would tell myself that they didn't happen. And I remember even with the event when I was raped in college and, and I told it to my friend and I just told her it didn't, it didn't count is how I would say it. I know she laughed, I laughed with her, but it really was just my way of saying, um, I couldn't, I couldn't deal with it.
[00:10:31] I couldn't, I couldn't handle it. You know, so even though I suppressed these events to some degree, I also couldn't stop in my mind the thoughts that were constantly going on about the what ifs. What if you would run? What if it's your fault? What did you do to cause this? Maybe if you were a good girl, lovable and obedient, if you were that kind of girl, maybe your daddy would have loved you enough to stand up for you.
[00:11:04] Maybe this all happened to you because you are unlovable and worthless. And as time passed, those what ifs began to be rooted in my heart. I carried with me for years the feeling of being dropped. I didn't want to go to new places because I didn't know what I would find there. In fact, I had to be in places where I was in control.
[00:11:30] My, my emotional response to things were just not rational. And for example, if we were driving and you realized that we needed to make a sudden turn, you know, at the, at the corner and we would just maybe, you know, feet away from it or whatever. I would almost just go into this emotional rant. Why are you waiting till the last minute?
[00:11:52] And I didn't realize that all of that came from this place of not being able to handle the unexpected. I realized I lived a fearful life. So, to combat not knowing, I tried to control everything. I tried to make sure that I could handle everything. But I later also realized that, that feeling of being dropped.
[00:12:18] Of not being loved, being an orphan, was also how I viewed God. I viewed and thought that He would drop me at times. Especially the times when I would need Him the most. That He wouldn't be there for me. I realized I had an orphan spirit. I didn't believe that I was important to God because all of the things that happened to me.
[00:12:39] Now I want you to understand something. I was a Christian at this time. I got saved when I was young. And I remember even... The time when I found this track on the street, it was of a homeless boy and on this track it was like a pencil drawing and this little boy lived in a box. Nobody wanted him. He went from place to place trying to get someone to accept him, but no one would.
[00:13:04] And so he lived in this, he lived in this box on the street. And eventually he died in that box on the street. But in the end of the track, God came and Jesus came and took him and said, I have a home for you. Well, I felt like that orphan boy that nobody wanted. That was a throwaway. And so for me, that track said, Jewel you can get to heaven.
[00:13:28] Nobody may want you down here. You may be worthless down here But just know there's gonna come a time when God is going to let you be with him And so for me as a Christian, I was excited that God at least was going to let me come and be with him, but all of the really great things Happening now and to happen to someone in the current.
[00:13:49] Oh that was for someone else Like I said, I was just happy to know that I could go to heaven. I didn't believe that there was anything great or special in me or about me. And I lived like this for years. Well into my adult years for years, for years, I lived like this, but God in his mercy, he intervened because he had a plan for me.
[00:14:16] He had something different for me. That I had yet to acknowledge and see. So God began to unravel my distorted life view and to deal with those ifs that I carried around in my heart. And I love the fact that God does not always heal and deliver in The same way. I mean, even when you read scripture, he healed.
[00:14:38] He didn't always heal the same way. He didn't always deal with each person the same. Because he's unusual and he does, he meets us in those unique ways. So, that's what he did for me. He used an unusual way to begin my healing process. He did it by sending me back to school to get my bachelor's degree. And so at the end of that first year, he told me to look at my grades and the comments that I had received from my instructors.
[00:15:05] Well at the time, I had all A's. And all of the comments that I had gotten over that year from my instructor were positive. In fact, some of them I still have to this day, which are years and years later, um, in a folder somewhere, in a file. And so some of the comments were things like, you have been a delight to teach.
[00:15:25] Um, one professor said, if this were a horse race, you are leagues ahead. So then God asked me an unusual question. He said, Jewel, what is the truth? Is what you believe about yourself true? Or what your instructors, is that the truth? So it made me think, and I really thought about that. So I said to myself, well, why would these instructors lie about this?
[00:15:54] They have no reason to tell me something if it were not true. So therefore, I had to come to the conclusion, that what I was thinking was not true, but what they were saying was true. And it was at that point, this became the defining point in my life. Thank you. Jesus, where God turned me around and began my healing process.
[00:16:16] So in that very moment, I felt the love of God. Like I had never felt it before. He revealed that all these things I had been believing and that, and that I told myself they weren't true. I didn't do anything wrong. The enemy of my soul wanted to kill, steal and destroy my destiny, but Christ, my savior.
[00:16:39] Thank you, Jesus. Jesus wanted to release the abundance that he had died for. He had died for me. He died to give me the abundance of what God has in store for me. He wanted me to receive that. And it took me many more years for me to get to the full healing from that broken place. But I learned that day, my life wasn't an accident and all the horrible things that happened were going to be used by God to make a difference.
[00:17:08] In the lives of those he had called me to touch. I had some assignments on my life. They were gonna need to hear from me. They were gonna need to hear my story. They were gonna need to know. That just like I made it, they could make it, too. And so, over the years, you know, God has allowed me to face those things that continue to reveal the residue of those drop feelings, those orphan feelings.
[00:17:34] Because I don't care how long we live, God heals us, He delivers, He sets us free. But the enemy of our soul always constantly tries to take us back to those old places. And one of the most recent times that God used to show me That there was still some residue was related to us starting the church that my husband and I pastor, Abundant Life Worship Center.
[00:17:56] We did all that the Lord had told us to do. We were in accordance and, and to what the requirements were for our particular denomination. We, we didn't just start a church out of division or frustration or anything like that. We, we prayed about it. We went to our state pastor, we spoke with him and got permission to do some things.
[00:18:16] Um, so we thought we were doing everything in the right way, but. We were rejected immediately. Um, and the, and the attack really wasn't against my husband. It was really for me, but immediately we relied on, and I mean, things were said that I was stealing money from, cause we at the time we were holding services in our home and we were.
[00:18:36] They were being said that I was stealing money from the church. Um, it was said that I was trying to break up someone's marriage, that I was giving false prophecies and, um, just doing all kinds of things that were not true at all. To the point, the lies grew so big that even though we went to all of the meetings to try to, Reconcile and handle these things.
[00:19:00] Eventually my credentials were stripped and we were put out of the affiliation. So you can imagine this, this girl who had dealt with rejection and feeling like an orphan. I was devastated. And those old feelings of rejections, that old abandoned feeling, that old orphan feeling tried to rise again on the inside of me.
[00:19:21] I was heartbroken and I couldn't understand why God wouldn't stop the attacks. I actually became quite angry and I began to feel dropped because I said to God, Hey, I didn't do this on my own. You know, I didn't even want to be a pastor. This wasn't my idea. Why would you let this happen? And so I began to struggle a little bit, but the loving father, we served, thank you, Jesus.
[00:19:46] I'm so grateful. He turned that hurt and that brokenness around, like he has done in every situation of my life. And he is using it and showing that he can use it for his glory. And this is the lesson that he gave me. And he used the scripture in Mark four and eight. And I want to read that for you. It's in the new living translation.
[00:20:07] This is how it reads. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil and they sprouted and grew and produced a crop that was 30 and 60 and even 100 times as much as had been planted. So this is what God said to me as it relates to the ifs in my life. He said, Jewel, don't mind the dirt. You will bloom. Let me say that again.
[00:20:34] He said, Jewel, don't mind the dirt. You will bloom. And he said this, he said, all the things that that have come up against you from your childhood with the affiliation, with people, you know, ridiculing you, people talking about you, people lying on you, all of that dirt in the past. He said, and guess what?
[00:20:54] There's going to be some dirt in the future. People are going to say you shouldn't do this. People are going to talk about you. You're a woman. You shouldn't preach. You're going to hear all kind of dirt that's going to come up against you. Now and even in the future. And we know, he said, you know that this is the devil's way of trying to throw dirt on you.
[00:21:12] He said, so he throws the dirt of rejection, of fear, and doubt. And so many other things. To do what? To try to kill us. However, our loving father, he says, I turn that dirt That the devil threw on you. I turn it into fertile soil. So that when I plant you, you become the seed. The destiny that I've spoken over you is that seed that I'm going to plant.
[00:21:37] So that it can grow. Yes. Guess what? Before a seed grows, the, the, it has to endure the pressure as something that when a seed is planted, something, it reacts to the soil that, that causes a reaction. So the, the, the seed says, I'm finally going to die and I'm going to release what's on the inside of me so that that fruit can grow.
[00:22:00] See, I didn't realize that every attack, the lies, the things that came from my youth, All were ways God would use to release something on the inside of me to create the fruit he desires for my life. See, even just a few years ago when he sent me back to school for my doctorate degree, he said, jewel, I'm gonna send you to school to help you learn how to be a leader.
[00:22:27] He's, because I want you to realize, That you're going to learn how to live from the inside out. I'm going to create a whole servant leader out of you. And so it's easy to look at the things that have happened in my past and I can make a choice to be bitter. I can stay in a place of brokenness. I can say, why me?
[00:22:50] Why me? My, why me? I can keep listening to all of the ifs that the enemy gave me, but then I miss becoming. The fruit, that seed that's planted and then bringing forth the fruit. So life, life, what do you do with the ifs in it? Well, this is what I had to learn. You give them to God and watch him create something beautiful from it.
[00:23:18] See, God takes the ashes of our lives and he brings beauty from it. He brings beauty from ashes. All of the abuse, all of the hurt. All of the rejection, the neglect, all the ugliness, cause that stuff is ugly. All of the ugliness. Only God can bring something beautiful from it. So we have to learn to bloom.
[00:23:42] In the midst of the dirt that the devil throws on us. So what? He's gonna try to throw dirt. Cause he wants to kill us. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to kill your purpose. He wants to destroy who you are in God. He doesn't want us to be people that know who we are and to acknowledge our sonship with God.
[00:24:04] He wants us to stay in that place of an orphan. Because if you're an orphan, then you don't take access to the gifts that you have from the Father. So we learn how to bloom in the midst of the dirt He said he meant it to kill us, but God makes it fertile ground to grow us. So... What's the last thing I want to say?
[00:24:26] Remind you of what God said to me. Don't mind the dirt. You're going to bloom. The dirt now. The dirt of the future. Whatever the devil tries to throw at you in life. Whatever the ifs are that he tries to throw at you. Say like I did. I Bloom.
[00:24:53] I owe God myself because of what he sacrificed through Christ to give to me. And so that's my liability. I owe God something. Now what I owe him is myself. And so I offer myself to him so that he can now love through me. And so the way that I pay forward, so to speak, is by loving others. It's very simple.
[00:25:18] We see it. Scripture, John 3, 16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And so that's, that's how I receive. That's how you receive. That's how we as leaders receive, because Christ died. And so now we have access to this living.
[00:25:37] And why does he do it? He gives it to us so that we can now give. First John 3, 16 says, Hereby perceive we the love of God. Because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brother. So the leader therefore loves those that he or she leads with this unlimited liability of love.
[00:25:59] You love those you lead, not because they deserve it, not because they can afford it, not even if they're because they're thankful for. And you don't limit it in any way, because if you limit it, then it's no longer unlimited. See, you limit, you limit your love if you tell people they have to, they have to do something to receive your love.
[00:26:19] Cause God didn't tell us to do something to receive His love, He just gave it to us.
[00:26:27] Matt Potter: On part two of this three part series, Dr. Jewel shares her journey of discovery, her calling as a leader and how God led her to embrace the concept of being a whole servant leader. She emphasizes the significance of understanding one's identity in Christ and allowing God to heal broken areas. To lead from a place of love, transparency, and humility.
[00:26:49] Dr. Jewel's vision for leadership is centered on being a vessel of God's love and serving others without limitation. Illustrating the essence of an unlimited liability of love. As the foundation of true leadership. I
[00:27:04] Dr. Jewel Williams: never thought much about leadership. That was my husband's area. I was gifted as a teacher, and I was just happy being in that place of teaching.
[00:27:20] However, one day the Lord woke me from my sleep and said, Jewel, get ready to go back to school for your doctorate degree. And I said to myself, surely I must be having a delusion. This can't be God. So I pulled the cover up over my head and tried to go back to sleep. But God wasn't having it. I couldn't shake the Lord's voice speaking to me.
[00:27:45] And he said, Jewel, I need you to go back to school so I can teach you how to lead. And he told me, he said, many of my children start this journey of leadership well. But some don't finish because they never allow me to deal with the brokenness within their hearts. He said, when they don't, they become either dictators instead of servants.
[00:28:08] It's about you doing everything the way I want you to. Why? Because there's this personal satisfaction that I need to receive out of leading you. He said, or they lead seeking ministry to validate them For their personhood when that really only comes from God, he said, or others begin to build the kingdom to this false Trinity.
[00:28:34] And I call that the Trinity of me, myself, and I, and I've often, even in when I've preached and talk to people, I said, how you know you are in this false Trinity of me, myself, and I is because everything is about you. You talk about you all the time, what you want, what you need, who did for me. And so God said, you begin to build this kingdom on this false trinity of me, myself and I, instead of my kingdom.
[00:28:59] So this is what happens when you don't let me heal those broken areas. And so he said, I want to teach you how to lead from the inside out. So being obedient, I wrote in Bethel seminary to begin my journey to understanding what it means to be a leader. Again, I didn't see myself as a leader and I think that was partly because of the types of leaders that I saw.
[00:29:26] I saw leaders who were controlling or manipulative or who weren't willing to build others. It didn't matter if you had gifts, it didn't matter if God wanted something to be manifested in and developed in your, in someone else's life. These leaders were focused on themselves. So when I began to read about serving leadership, I was excited because I realized I found myself.
[00:29:55] This was who I was and who I wanted to be. So I grabbed hold early on in my time of study to a phrase that was originally coined first by Robert Greenleaf and then used later in her work by Dr. Kathleen Patterson. And it's the phrase called unlimited liability of love. It's unlimited liability of love.
[00:30:18] And so for me, this is true leadership. This is what the leader, uh, this is what leadership is all about. And so what does this mean? Well, first it starts with us understanding our foundation as a Christian leader, whether I'm in the church or in my own business, I own a publishing company, whether I'm in my business, in my home, wherever I'm leading.
[00:30:43] So this isn't just a leadership theory for the church. This is for us as Christian leaders, wherever we find ourselves, even in So it starts first with us understanding that Christ died for us. So that we could be what I state as a whole servant leader. Now this is a phrase that I defined in my doctoral work, and this is the definition of it.
[00:31:08] This is a leader that allows God access to their soul issues, so that God can produce a healthy heart for the leader. And when God produces this healthy heart within the leader, he or she is, is able and equipped to now lead God's people God's way. And what God will do is he will put his attributes on display in us So that the virtues that come out of us Will help us lead others?
[00:31:39] Lemme just say that again. This whole servant leader is one that allows God to deal with their soulish with the brokenness. So this means we, we take our anxieties, our depressions, our fears, our doubts, all of those things. As I, as I've said, those ifs in life. He. He takes those ifs in life, those, those places where we've been hurt and abused and we give them to God and we give them to him.
[00:32:09] He will then show us how he wants to heal us in those areas. What's our part? What process do we have to play? Because part of our process may be to forgive some part of our process may be to release or. Or to step out of agreement with some things but God will bring us to the place So that he can heal us and that we can be whole in those areas And now this is key.
[00:32:34] We can't receive help for things. We aren't willing to acknowledge and face. So there's just Amount of transparency that we must have before God so that we can then receive his healing. We can receive that wholeness that he wants for us. Because God wants us to discover those blind sides, those blind areas in our lives.
[00:32:53] And often those are the places that we, that are there, those issues, those things that need to be healed. But we're fueling them, we're feeding them. And because we're fueling the wrong things, you know, God told it to me once like this. He said, Jewel, stop feeding the dead. What I've killed or what I want us to, to destroy on the inside of you, don't go back and feed it.
[00:33:15] It's dead. And so God doesn't want us to fuel and feed those blindsided areas, those dead things in us, because when we feed it or feed those areas, it keeps us from walking in our complete wholeness. So let me just state this here as I go on, that this isn't a one and done kind of process. Isn't a one time thing.
[00:33:37] This is a lifelong process. I know, honestly, I have to rely on this all the time. And, you know, one of the most recent times that I had to really rely on God dealing with some very broken places was when we started our church. And at the same time we were starting a church and I was in the process of working on getting my doctorate degree.
[00:34:02] And I had such an attack come against me that I was ready to quit everything. I was ready to quit school. I was ready to just say, okay, Lord, this church thing is maybe, maybe I didn't hear you right. I just, let's just call it a day and I'll quit. But I had to ask God for help. I had to be willing to say, God, this is something I can't do.
[00:34:22] It's too great for me. And so through a time of prayer and fasting and meditating on the word, I'm talking about chewing that word over and over and over and over again. There was times I read it. It didn't make sense and didn't seem like it was going to happen, but I had to keep meditating on it and seeking his face until I was able to see what was still in me.
[00:34:43] See I was still dealing with some residue of rejections and feelings of not being enough. And once I knew that was causing my response to the attacks, I knew how to seek God's healing. And I just want to insert right here for a moment. We can have attacks that have come against us as leaders. And the attacks are wrong by no means.
[00:35:05] Are they right? And no means is God trying to attack us in these areas, but what God wants us to do is I can't necessarily stop someone attacking me. I may not necessarily be able to stop what someone says negative. But I am responsible to God on how I respond. And so it is in this place where you are a whole servant leader, that you're able to respond to your attacks from a place of healthy, uh, from a healthy soul.
[00:35:36] And that's really what God wants to do in his lead. He wants to build us so that even if attacks come, we're in a healthy place and a healthy mindset when we deal with. And so in leadership, it's also, Important for us to understand that it's not our job to make everybody happy. It's not our job for every, to try to make everybody agree with us.
[00:36:00] There's going to be conflict. You're not going to be a leader and be without some conflict, without some body being discontent. And so that's not your job to worry about making this age take totally non existence of stress. That's in heaven. That's not going to happen here on earth. But it is our job as leaders to be obedient to what we were called to do.
[00:36:23] So even if there's conflict, we will call. To go in and be peacemakers. If there's issues where people are broken and hurt, if we're the cause of it, it's our job to go in and to repent and to mend and to replace and to build back up. So we may not do it all the time. Perfect. But it is our job to make sure we show up and be obedient.
[00:36:45] to doing our best for God. And so this means, as I said, we're going to continually face difficulties. But until we learn how to become whole servant leaders, we will continually become depressed, feel worthless, or even, God forbid, forget what our purpose was in the first place. I love a scripture in Galatians 1 and 1 and Paul writes this.
[00:37:10] Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God, the father who raised him from the dead. Now, this verse is one that can easily be overlooked because we're trying to get to the. What we consider the meat of the script. But I believe this one verse is vital for every leader to grasp.
[00:37:32] Paul in this statement is letting you know he is sure of his personhood. He knew his calling. He knew it was an apostle. And he knew that it was not by the hand of men. He knew who called him. It was Jesus himself. And the whole servant leader has to understand their person. And what I appreciate is, yes, Paul is an apostle, but even greater than that is he understands where it came from.
[00:37:58] It was Jesus Christ through the way of the Father because of Christ's sacrifice. And we have to understand our calling. But yes, even greater than understanding our calling is that we understand our sonship. Being leaders isn't the first thing we, we should pursue. It's being a son or it's being a door and I think the greatest thing we can do as leaders Is to first make sure our sonship Is in order that we understand who we belong to.
[00:38:29] And once we extend who we belong to that, even if my calling is a possible today, that if my calling is to be mentored tomorrow, or if my calling is to be quiet for a season, whatever my calling may be, I'm fine with the calling and the shift, because that doesn't change my sonship. Once the leader understands who he is or she is.
[00:38:50] Then we can live out the attributes of God, such as love and mercy and wisdom and faithfulness and grace. These are the things that God wants to build on the inside of us, and he wants to do that, but they can't coexist. I can't have love in me the way God wants me to love if there's bitterness. And so that's why God wants to do this work on the inside.
[00:39:13] And when we allow him. To, to, to do the work on the inside, then the virtues will come out and others will see them. They'll see the love. They'll see the mercy. They'll see the wisdom, the faithfulness, and the grace. They'll see that in us because it's coming out of us. And so I can, I can love you. Why?
[00:39:33] Because God loves me first. I received his love. So now I'm equipped to love somebody else. And so leaders, we, we have to continually walk with the understanding that we didn't purchase God's love. God, Christ purchased it for us and his, and by his life. And then he freely gave it to us. And so there's really nothing I can do to deserve it.
[00:39:53] I can't be good enough. I can't work enough. I can't do anything to deserve his love. But this is, this is what I think is key and this is why I go back to the phrase that I talked about at the beginning, unlimited liability. And this is what that phrase means. I owe God myself because of what he sacrificed through Christ to give to me.
[00:40:21] And so that's my liability. I owe God something. Now what I owe him is myself. And so I offer myself to him so that he can now love through me. So the way that I pay forward, so to speak, is by loving others. It's very simple. We see it scripture John 3 16 says for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
[00:40:48] And so that's that's how I receive That's how you receive that's how we as leaders receive because christ died So now we have access to this love and why does he do it. He gives it to us so that we can now give. 1 John 3 16 says, hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives.
[00:41:12] So the leader therefore loves those that he or she leads with this unlimited livelihood. You love those you leave, not because they deserve. Not because they can afford it. Not even if they're, because they're thankful for it. And you don't limit it in any way, because if you limit it, then it's no longer unlimited.
[00:41:33] See, you limit, you limit your love. If you tell people they have to, they have to do something to receive your love. Cause God didn't tell us to do something to receive His love. He just gave it to us. And so we have to love like that. And so we have to lead from this altruistic perspective that you do what's right, because it's the right thing to do.
[00:41:54] Not because you're going to be rewarded for it. Not because somebody is going to see you do it. You simply do it because it's the right thing, but guess what? None of this can happen. If we haven't taken the brokenness of our lives to God. So I had to learn that those I lead are God's people. I'm his hands, but I don't own them.
[00:42:16] I don't own his people. They aren't there to make me feel better about myself. They aren't there to validate our purpose. That's gotta come from God. And the way we lead requires us to have a vision for others. We have to be willing to empower them to become the best they can be and to be willing to trust them with the future, not only the future of the church, but we have to be willing to tell people, let me help you so that I can show you how to be trustworthy, even with your future, even with the vision that God has for your future.
[00:42:49] Our church, our Abundant Life Worship Center is It's in an area, uh, our church is in Chicago and it's an area called and known as terror town. And because of the violence and the things that goes on there, there's prostitution, it's drug addiction, there's homelessness and mental, um, people that have a lot of mental issues.
[00:43:10] There's a lot of lack. And these are some of the main things that you see from day to day, just a lot of hopelessness. And I remember when we first planted the church, we've been now in this location for two years. And I remember asking God, What do you want us to do? How do we, how do we break through these barriers?
[00:43:29] What, what is it that you want us to do here? And his answer was very simple. He said, be loved. So we've been doing that for the last two years. And I've been trying to teach our leaders and those that come into our church, this phrase, we are saved to serve. And it's Not just a catchy phrase, but it's a, it's a way of life.
[00:43:49] Even Jesus said, I didn't come to be served, but to serve. And so we were saved by Christ to serve. That means serving the needs of others, serving God's purpose. And so this ministry is as I, I, my ministry and the, those that are raising the leadership and for those of the list, your ministry or whatever you're doing, your leading isn't about how many sermons you can, or even how popular you are.
[00:44:16] That's personal kingdom. Remember the me, myself, and I, leaders in God's kingdom are concerned about building his kingdom. And we've done that building in our area by listening to the needs of the community. Good servant leaders, good whole leaders must be listening. Listening not only to what is said, but what is implied.
[00:44:40] Listen. You have to listen kind of with your whole being. What's, what are they saying, but what are they not saying? What's the stuff that they've given up hope on so they won't even voice it. You have to ask God for discernment so that you can hear the full story. Even the parts that they're not telling.
[00:44:55] And after we heard from the community, the community, we fasted and we prayed to get direction from them. A good leader, a whole sermon leader has to see God's direction for the vision that he has. For your life and for the work that he wants to come from your hand and don't move until you get it.
[00:45:15] Sometimes I know I can be quite impatient. I wanted it to happen yesterday, but I can't move until God has shown me now is the time to move. And that's what we had to do. And then he began to give us the things to do in our area. He shows us. You know, how to love, he shows us how to do the things in the community.
[00:45:39] And one thing he showed us is that you're going to have to be consistent in your love walk because this community has been so hurt, so hurt. And they've had their share of church because what they viewed church was that they only want them for their numbers or for their money. And I've heard more times than I can say people telling us we've never had any of the churches in the air would do this before.
[00:46:04] I mean, we were doing things like we would just, you know, do random lunches where we would give away lunches. And, um, and I remember the first time we did it, everybody kept saying, well, how much is what we have to pay? And they were like, it's got to be something. I said, okay, surely there is. One person kind of almost thought, aha, got you.
[00:46:21] And I said, well, you have to let me pray for you. You don't know how many faces I've watched where people have just realized we didn't want anything from them. We were there really to give. So we've given away back to school supplies. We've done that kind of thing. We've taken food to neighbors just because we had extra food and we wanted them to be able to enjoy a dinner.
[00:46:44] We had a yard sale where actually everything was giveaway. We've watched women come out of prostitution and drug addiction because... Someone for the first time had a vision for their life and good leaders, good whole servant leaders have to be bold and willing to speak vision over people that at the time when you speak in it, they may not even look like what you're speaking.
[00:47:11] But the truth is, did we look like what we look like now before God spoke over us? Absolutely not. I was a broken woman. I didn't see any good thing in me at all. It wasn't until God sent some people willing to see vision for me so that I was able to finally see vision for myself and whole servant leaders have to be willing to be transparent.
[00:47:37] Now, while I might not share every hardship I faced in my life, I realized that some of the greatest victories for someone else are depending on my willingness to share how God has brought me through some of my difficult. And so as leaders, we must be willing to share our good and our bad to help others.
[00:47:55] When you're whole. When you're that whole servant leader, you don't have a need to appear perfect before people. You're secure in your relationship with God. I love it. Even Paul says, you know, when he talks in that scripture, when he says, You know, I know to do good, but I don't always do it. He was willing to be transparent.
[00:48:12] We have to be willing to be transparent because we help those in need. So what resulted from my dissertation work was the creation of a model that I used. And some of those things that really were key for leaders was to one, understand there's a need. To have a mentor and I believe all leaders need to have someone willing to invest in a leader to behold You also need to be self aware and open for self development You have to be transparent and we have to teach leaders how to create a healthy environment that it's okay The conflict may arise but you don't give up you go in and willing to stand in those places So that you can help others So it's vital as leaders that we're intentional about developing not only ourselves, but those that are emerging leaders that are coming behind leadership.
[00:49:07] I didn't see myself as one, but I was willing to allow God to develop me into his to develop the whole servant leader in me so that I can love with this unlimited library of love towards those that I am called. The struggles would leave in a legacy is will what I'm doing matter or will those behind me really carry it forward?
[00:49:35] But what I'm happy about is as quickly as that doubt might come or those thoughts might come. Do I matter? I'm reminded that what's done for Christ will last. That's what that's that's the word. So my challenge then isn't so much will it matter. My challenge is to make sure that my legacy isn't all about me, but leaving something that continues to point the next generation to Christ.
[00:49:59] It's about that consistency that I just spoke about. I got to do it now. Even if it seems foolish, I have to keep going at it. I have to keep pressing, even if it doesn't seem like I'm going to see fruit from it, but in due season, that fruit is going to come. And legacy isn't something we often think about as it relates to our calling or leadership or even our church.
[00:50:23] We see legacy, as I said, it's really about leaving something for our children.
[00:50:32] Matt Potter: On part three of this three part series, Dr. Jewell reflects on the struggles of leaving a lasting legacy and the importance of carrying forward their work for Christ. Dr. Jewell emphasizes the significance of consistency, preparing the next generation to lead and serve, and leaving a tangible impact through property, Ministry and business, the ultimate goal is not to be remembered for personal achievements, but to be seen as a woman passionately in love with God, leaving a legacy of love, encouragement, and a hunger for more of him.
[00:51:02] In the hearts of those they inspire.
[00:51:09] Dr. Jewel Williams: What do I want to leave behind? I want to create men and women that are equipped to carry the vision and mission of God for it. In fact, uh, stepping into the position of pastor of abundant life worship center, for me, that's not a lifelong one. That's a temporary. I feel like I'm holding it until God raises up the person he desires to replace me and to replace my husband.
[00:51:40] So I'm, I'm secure in my personhood. So I don't have to view my role as the pastor, as something that I have to hold on to forever, that I can hold it loosely. It's not mine. It's not my position. I, I've been called by God for the season and this time, but I'm not tied to this position to validate. So I want to raise up pastors, prophets, evangelists, and leaders that are equipped and ready to move into their destiny, even if that means replacing me.
[00:52:15] And I think for leaders, especially whole leaders, we have to be comfortable of, of, of replacing ourselves. Equipping people to do better than us. I'm fine with realizing that I may not be the best at everything. In fact, I want God to send me people that are better than me. And that I can train and help.
[00:52:38] And at some point when he's ready, maybe they will become the ones that will carry the vision. And why do I want to do this is because I want to do this because I believe it's the calling God has on my life. That's why from, from my beginning, the devil tried to get me to believe the message that I don't matter and no one will listen to me.
[00:53:02] He did it to try to keep me silent and guess what? It almost worked, but I have purpose and that is to be God's voice to others that have yet to learn that they even have a voice. That I can speak and I can, and, and plant in, and my words matter to somebody, that my words can be what will equip or water or plants or be part of the process, however God wants it to be.
[00:53:29] And so for me, I'm passionate about that. That's what legacy is. I want to leave behind men and women that are equipped to move forward, to do greater things that I've ever done. And so I think that's really key. And the way that I want people to remember me is as a woman that loved God. Yes, I've done some things.
[00:53:53] What makes all that matter is the why I did it. I did it because I love God. It's really that. Simple. I'm the kind of wife I am because I love God. I'm the kind of mother I am because I love God. I've been willing to do the hard inner work, not because I'm strong. In fact, sometimes people say to me, I've had someone tell me, you're the strongest woman I've met.
[00:54:16] And I think, boy, you've not, you don't know a lot of people because I don't see myself as this strong, tough woman. I've seen myself as fragile. And I'm okay with saying I've been fragile, but even with being fragile, I've been willing to not be a quitter and to do the hard work because I love God and I trust him with my future.
[00:54:40] And I want others to know my motive has always been to be pleasing to my father and to be able to bring impact into his kingdom. That's it. It's not because I want anybody to know me. I may be obscure. I may leave this world and people may, many, many people won't know me. It'll be a few, but many won't know me and I'll be okay with that.
[00:55:03] But I want to make an impact where God plants me. And so that those that have met me or those that have my life has touched theirs, that they will remember that I was a woman passionately in love with God. And that everything I did at every effort I made was to be pleasing to my father. And what I'm doing, um, that's why I prepare for my legacy is by purposely investing myself in others.
[00:55:33] I freely give myself, I do it in church, I do it even with my publishing company, Tri Production Publishing Incorporated. So even with my business, I asked God, how do I create legacy in every area of my life? And he said, make sure you present me first and everything. So as I said, even in my company, I try to help authors understand that your writing is not simply so you can be known and get successful and have money and be famous, but you do it because God is calling you to succeed.
[00:56:05] something. He has a calling on your life that he wants you to be a scribe for him in a sense. And he wants you to be his voice in the earth. And so for me, I then look at my company not only as a way to make money, but I look at it as a legacy builder. I'm showing others how what you're doing is you're preparing a future for somebody else.
[00:56:29] Somebody is going to come read your book. So don't write it just so you can get paid, write it. So that whoever reads it can find victory in their life. And so I actively try to help others understand nothing we do is overlooked by God. Everything, in every area of our lives, He wants to touch and bring His glory through those areas.
[00:56:51] And so what does legacy mean for me? One meaning of legacy is something, definition is something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. But I also like this other meaning. It says a gift by will, especially of money or other personal property. And this is what legacy means to me.
[00:57:15] I create something of value that is passed on to those coming behind. Some of it is, is, is wisdom, but some of it is tangible, like gifts, such as property or ministries or businesses that we can use to help the next generation, further God's agenda in the world. And so I see my role. It's not only someone that equips others, but also one that's called to provide them with something, some substance to begin their journey with.
[00:57:49] And I believe we understand this as it relates to like our family perspective, for example. So as a parent, you know, I want to leave something for my kids. I want to create, you know, if you, some people, you're a small child and you think in future, you want to. So what do you do? You start a college fund.
[00:58:06] Some say, you know, and in the future, my, my son or my daughter's going to get married. So I'm going to put away some starter money for them to get their first home to get a start in life. So we understand this thing of legacy when it comes to our children. Why? Because we want to make life a little easier for them than maybe it was for us.
[00:58:29] But I believe this same principle needs to be just as important for us as we prepare the generations to come behind us in ministry. And, and as I talked about leadership before, you can be a leader in anything, whether it's in the, in the church, whether it's in, in your own. Private business, but I still look at everything we do as a ministry.
[00:58:48] I've told people before my job as a wife, that was my first ministry. And if I couldn't do that ministry, right? Why would I think God would open up another ministry for? So I look at life as ministry. Where's God calling you to? And so where does he want you to leave a legacy? So we need to give the next generation of leaders some tools to build on.
[00:59:09] We take them as far as God requires and then we release them with some supplies for battle so that they go in and they can possess new lands, do new. Adventures and do great exploits for God. I believe the those that own the land can make the decision. So we want to give them some tangible legacy.
[00:59:30] That's why I like both of those definitions. So it's not just me passing on wisdom, which is good, but I want to pass on some property. I want to pass on some, some things that they can use as a starter. And so, you know, my view of people. Has changed over time in a good way. It's changed with my acceptance that we're all flawed.
[00:59:53] Most of my greatest disappointments in life have been because of my expectations in people. And I'm not saying we shouldn't pray for and hope for the best in people. But we have to find this balance. We have to have this balance of just having a healthy expectation in people. And then we just have to make sure we're not putting them on a pedestal.
[01:00:13] We're not making them idols. Because too many... Of my idols have fallen or either God just threw them down to let me know he's the only one perfect. And you know, we have to be willing to realize that not only are people not perfect, but we're not always going to get it right. And so guess what? If somebody had an expectation for me to be perfect at all time, I'm going to disappoint them.
[01:00:38] So it's this place of coming to finally acknowledge that people are flawed. We have our quirks. We have our issues. We're in, we're in process. Some of us. We're not all in this process at the same time, but we kind of accept that we're human. That's really it. We're accepting that we're human. I think that helps us even as we prepare legacy, because we don't have these unrealistic expectations that people will do everything right all the time, perfect, perfect, perfect.
[01:01:08] We're not perfect people, but we're people seeking to let God perfect us. We're not perfect people, but we're letting God perfect us. So, I'm learning to keep loving people, even those that disappoint, keep loving them and keep moving forward. I had a teacher when I was in school, going to school for my bachelor's degree, and her name was Deanne Mowry, and everyone called her Mama D.
[01:01:39] She wasn't perfect by any means. She had her ups and her downs in her life, sometimes that Some of her downs in life. Sometimes you would, I would find her and she would be in bouts of depression, but what always impressed me about Mama D Is she let you know you were important and she believed in you. In fact, a lot of what I have accomplished in my life has been because of Mama D.
[01:02:08] She wouldn't let me quit. I'm almost in tears. She would not let me quit. I would want to give up and I could hear her voice or I would call and talk to her. And she would just say, she would say to me, daughter, God made you to do great things. So get to it. And she would just kind of snap at me and then we'd go on and talk about something else when she passed away last year and I felt, and I still feel that void that I don't get to talk to her like I used to, but this is the great thing about legacy and relationship with people is I still feel the effects.
[01:02:43] of her words on my life. That's the kind of legacy I want to leave. I want my words, my encouragement, my prayers to be with those around me long after I'm gone. I expect people and I desire and hope that people will be still watching my videos on my YouTube channel that, you know, in fact, it's kind of funny.
[01:03:05] I, I, I've been doing these videos for several years. I think maybe I started in the early 2000 and I wasn't getting very many watches on my YouTube channel and, but I kept doing them and I kept staying faithful and I kept doing them and, and sometimes I go, why am I taping these things? Nobody's listening to them.
[01:03:25] And recently for some reason, one of my videos about the prophet Jeremiah just seemed to Took off and I mean, you know, I've got the negative comments, but many people are watching it and saying how that's been a blessing to them. And it reminds me of what, what we're talking about right now is that I did that years ago, those video, that particular video, maybe.
[01:03:48] It's got to be a good, maybe almost 10 years old, but it's blessing somebody now and legacy is producing and doing things that are going to make a difference even years later in ways that you don't know. And there's a consistency. See, that's the key. There's a consistency that we have to have. We do it now, even though it doesn't seem like it's going to benefit because you know that there's going to be some result by faith.
[01:04:16] You believe that God is going to bring something out of what you're doing. And so I have people now that call me Mama J or Mama Jewel and I actually take it as an honor. And some of them, I'm not that much older than them, but it doesn't matter. It's not about the age. It's about the respect. What they're saying to me is I see you love me like a mother and that's what I need in my life.
[01:04:40] So I take it as an honor because these are people that need to know they are special. So that's what's important. And that's, that's the kind of. Legacy that Mama D gave to me. I want to emulate that so that those that call me Mama J or Mama Jewel, eventually they'll become Mama somebody or Daddy somebody, because they'll pass that on to the next generation.
[01:05:09] The struggles with leaving a legacy is, will what I'm doing matter? Or will those behind me really carry it forward? But what I'm happy about is as quickly as That doubt might come, or those thoughts might come, do I matter? I'm reminded that what's done for Christ will last. That's what, that's, that's the word.
[01:05:31] So my challenge then isn't so much, will it matter? My challenge is to make sure that my legacy isn't all about me. But leaving something that continues to point the next generation to Christ. It's about that consistency that I just spoke about. I gotta do it now. Even if it seems foolish, I have to keep going at it.
[01:05:52] I have to keep pressing. Even if it doesn't seem like I'm gonna see fruit from it. But in due season, that fruit is going to come. And legacy isn't something we often think about as it relates to us. to our calling or leadership, or even our churches. We see legacy, as I said, it's really about leaving something for our children.
[01:06:13] But I do think we need to begin to rethink legacy, to think about legacy and who we are as people of God and how we're leaving a legacy. In the last month, our small church began to see quite a bit of numerical growth. And when I saw in the faces of those 14 year old to 20 year old young men and women was hunger.
[01:06:39] And it's unfortunate that some of us have looked at our younger adults and our youth that are coming behind us and we've only seen what's wrong with them and not what's good in them. I get tired sometimes of all of the. bashing of our young people as though they have the market on being a mess up or messing things up.
[01:07:04] Um, I think my generation messed some stuff up because I know I've messed some things up. So, you know, we've all had some good and bad, but what I saw and what I see when I do the altar calls or when we see the young people come up for prayer is I see a hunger in them. I see a desire and this is key and I hope you get this.
[01:07:26] I can't provide these individuals with legacy unless they see something in me they want. I'm a hungry person. I'm a person that desires more of God. I want more of Jesus every day. What I experienced yesterday was good for yesterday, but I've pressed forward toward the mark because I have not obtained at all that as long as I'm on this earth, I am always seeking to go higher, to go deeper, to have a greater understanding, greater revelation in the spirit.
[01:08:01] So when these young people came, They saw this. This is what they saw and they were attracted to it and they find it unusual and they want to know more about what is it? Why are you this woman? That's just kind of crazy about Christ And they wanted to know more. So in other words, I want us to understand if we want to leave legacy, we have to first make sure that the fire in us burns bright enough to attract the ones we want to invest in for the future.
[01:08:34] I don't know how this is going to turn out. I have faith that what God wants to bring from life will come forth. I'm going to continue to show up. I'm going to continue to be hungry for the future. Because as soon as I lose my fire, there's a possibility that my legacy building can be stalled. Let me just think about that for a minute.
[01:08:57] If you let your passion for the things of God to begin to diminish, it's gonna almost be hard to create a legacy because you have to have that desire to invest in it. Because it's not always an easy process. So I want to leave you with this, this thought, don't limit the size of your legacy big. I want to take over entire blocks in the community where I pass.
[01:09:26] Not so that our church can have a big building, but I want to create community for those that are around us. I want to create homes for women and men that are coming out of prison and need a fresh start. I want to create clean and sober living homes. I want to create daycares and areas where people can go to learn job skills and how to write resumes and how to do interviews and to be mentored.
[01:09:53] Yes, this is bigger than me. In fact, you know, if your vision and your legacy plan is all within your current reach, it's not big enough. It's just not big enough. Your legacy plan should be far bigger than what you can even do right now in your own hands. And this is the key. Make it bigger because it's impossible for me.
[01:10:16] But the guy we serve says it's not impossible for him. And so the answer is we're going to continue to press. And if everything isn't done in my lifetime, that's okay. I hope to gather enough people around the fire of my vision. I allow them to warm themselves as we sit around this vision, this fired up vision.
[01:10:40] As we sit around and they learn and they intake it and it begins to warm them. I want it. Continue to keep fueling that fire so that in the due season, in due time, when it's time for them to run with the vision that they've grabbed hold of, they've grasped it, and now they're ready to run and to do what God has called them to do.
[01:11:05] So what is legacy? Why is it important to me? Well, legacy is the desire to create in others, fire, so that they can run with the vision that they have. But more than just giving them the vision, I want to pass them some tools that they can use. to get there.
[01:11:34] Matt Potter: Life's journey is often filled with unexpected challenges, but it is in these moments that our true strength is revealed from the depths of despair to the heights of triumph.
[01:11:43] Dr. Jewel Williams has shown us the unyielding capacity of the human heart. to embrace hope and rise above any circumstance. We have learned that healing comes in different forms, from pursuing education to rediscovering one's self worth, from finding solace in faith to embracing the power of forgiveness.
[01:12:02] It is in these moments of healing that we realize how much we can grow and inspire others by sharing our stories. As Dr. Jewell reminds us, one of the best ways to serve God is to answer the call to serve others. To give unconditionally and to find purpose in making a difference in the lives of those around us.
[01:12:21] We have been reminded that service is not only about helping others, but it is also about allowing the goodness within us to flow freely, creating legacies that impact generations to come. Dr. Jewell also taught us that life may present us with countless ifs, but it is how we navigate through them that defines our destiny.
[01:12:42] Whether it's finding the strength to forgive, embracing the scars of the past, or blooming in the midst of adversity. Remember, as we face the uncertainties of life, we do not journey alone. Just as we are called to help others, there will be people who will support us in our times of need. Together, we can build a community of compassion, love, and relentless hope.
[01:13:05] Thank you for joining us on this episode of Relentless Hope Podcast. I'm your host, Matthew Potter, and I'd like to remind you to give hope. A voice.
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