Finding Purpose in Dark Seasons

Welcome And Guest Spotlight

SPEAKER_01 0:05

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Unline Podcast. This is your host, Jaquita, and we are back for another episode of the second act. This is the place where we reflect on where we've been so that we can rewrite where we're going. Listen, friends, I have been so excited this season that I have been able to bring you some bangers, okay? Because I am bringing kingdom impactful people who are really, really, really giving God all that they have so that they can produce all that God has put in them to do. And let me tell y'all something. My girl and my girl Ebony Green, okay, she is she is the quintessential that girl, okay. Like I'm about to read all of her official things because, you know, we need to establish credibility before we get in here. But I want you guys to know that since I have known Ebony from our Ridgeview high school days, okay, in Columbia, the South Carolina, since I have known Ebony, she has been that girl. And it has been such an absolute joy watching her just really continue to allow God to push and progress her. Okay, so let me read her official bio and then I'm gonna let y'all hear from the woman herself, okay? Dr. Ebony D. Green is a dynamic force at the intersection of education, law, and social justice. As a professor and juror, she is transforming how underrepresented students access and succeed in legal careers. Beyond academia, Dr. Green is the founder and CEO of Business and Books, LLC, a publishing and consulting company, and the visionary behind the partner and faith model, a nonprofit empowering communities through mentorship, education, and faith-based leadership. My Lord, a son after speaker and legal media commentator. Okay, Dr. Green has been featured on WIS10, WLTX, Watch, Watch Fox, and 97.3 FM, delivering insightful commentary on topics ranging from affirmative action to the role of faith in the law. Dr. Green's contributions have earned her recognition on six boards, including the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights appointee under two presidential administrations. The Nickelodeon, y'all remember Nickelodeon? The Nickelodeon Board of Director, right? Just to name a few. She's been the uh Watch Fox Local Heroes Award, 40 under 40s honorees. She's that girl. Whether as clergy in the classroom, behind the podium, or in the community, she is driven by one mission to prepare the next generation of leaders to rise with purpose, confidence, and always with faith. I introduced to you guys the lawyer, the businesswoman, the clergywoman, the minister, okay, the preacher and the prayer warrior. Okay, my friend, Dr. Ebony Green.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Hey, Ebony. Hey, Jaquita, what an introduction. Yeah, girl, it's yours. It's all yours. You put some sauce on it. I appreciate it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Listen, listen, it's it's it's not hard to do, girl, when you out here killing it like you have been.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Listen, you know, I think so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Of course. I am so excited to have you on here, Ebony, because I, you know, when I think about the second act and the purpose of this podcast, it's really to talk about what God can do with our yes. Right. And as I think about your journey, I know that there are moments where you have really set with God and God has given you dreams, He's given you vision, He's giving you things to go after. You know, Ebony called me one random, what year was that? Ebony called and had me on a board, on a committee. We having regular meetings because she was trying to get a co-op off the ground, you know. But listen and did. Okay. She didn't, she don't just try, she do, you know. But I I have watched, you know, I've watched as you have allowed God not to just tell you something, but you then ask God how. And then when God tells you how, you then, you then move, you know, and it's a lot of us who have heard God telling us to do things, but we haven't moved, whether it's because of fear, whether it's because of unbelief, whether it's because, you know, feeling like we don't have everything that

The First Act That Formed Faith

SPEAKER_01 4:42

we need. And so I think I can't start this conversation without asking about the first act that what gave you the foundation to be able to give God a ready yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Oh, now that's a deep question. Um, thank you. Um, again, it's just a privilege to be here. I don't take it lightly, um, sharing our stories. And I, as I was kind of mentioning to you before, I believe we need to do this way more. Um the word says we're gonna start with the word, end with the word, the word gonna be all in between. But the word tells us that we overcame him, meaning the enemy by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. So when you really began to just speak about um the second act and what it means, it just reminded me that a lot of times we don't tell our stories. And so therefore, a lot of people are not overcoming because they don't have what's in your mouth, they don't have your story, they don't have what you've been through. And so I would definitely have to accredit um my relationship with God to my family. Um, so early on, you know, my dad's a preacher, you know, my family, they love God, period. Um, so they brought me up in the church like everybody else. So I have that story, but the relationship, God began speaking to me at a very, very young age. I can always remember hearing his voice, knowing things before they cast it, seeing the death before it occurred, seeing the pregnancy before it occurred. That's just oh, you one of them. Yeah, it's just kind of in my life. And so, um, you know, very early on, I don't know if you know this, Jaquita, but my grandmother was murdered. Um, and so she was murdered when I was about seven years old. Um, and so came up. This is my maternal grandmother. So came up um very close with her, seeing her every weekend. Um, she was also an educator, and we owned um a family store. And so I'm going somewhere with this.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

No, no, girl, now I'm tuned in.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yeah, so um she it was actually supposed to be her last day um working in the store, and so she was staying late to meet someone that never came. And so in the process, um, she was a teacher. Two of the three men um that murdered her were her prior students. Um, we are pretty sure that there's a huge backstory behind that. But anyway, the three men came in, stabbed her 12 times, the 12 stabbed killed her. Um, and so to say the least, that set the trajectory for my life. So let me tell you um what ended up happening. I always desired to teach, right? Um, but that actually shifted my interest in a lot, right? Seeing what my family went through. My grandfather was um over county counsel at the time. So we had cameras constantly file following us. Um, my mother, um, this was her mother, so just the level of what we now know is depression and different things that she was going through, having to um, you know, help her through that. And you know, so prayer life started early. It started early. Um you said you were seven. Yes, I was going on seven. Um, and so a few months shy, I believe. But um, so to say the least, um, it just really started in me early a prayer life. Um, because when you anyone that has that level of trauma, and that wasn't the only trauma that happened at the time, that was the first one. Um, but when any and when any family experiences a death that close, it's gonna be a different level of shaking. So many things come in. So what I saw um was although my family went through what they went through, my mom often talks about how a year before her mother passed, she felt the urgency or was murdered, she felt the urgency to go to church um to the morning prayer every single morning at 6 a.m. And so she said her child actually built, right? And so I just saw how prayer carried her through and how that relationship carried her through. So even though she was going through the ebbs and flows and the things that she was going through and still trying to show up for her family, just trying to show up mentally, just all those things and work that instilled something in me, um, that there's something greater. And so that the faith is my foundation. That's what ended up happening. So it just really um set the trajectory for me professionally um and prophetically, right? And personally, um, to make sure that I had that relationship with God. So talking to him came early, asking him about every decision that I made came early, all those things. It started with that. That was my pivot. That was my first pivot. That was the first act.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Girl, what a pivot. Yeah, what a pivot. I okay. See, uh, y'all, Ebony wouldn't tell me none of the little story before we got here. She wanted me to have the shock and the awe, and she succeeded, okay? Because I'm not grandma, not grandma.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

I got you knew that.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

I girl, no, no, I never knew. You know, Ebony, you were always, you know, looking back because, you know, our high school was pretty big. You know, we didn't have, yeah, we had, I think we had about 440 people in our graduating class. Yeah. And so Ebony was somebody that I was familiar with, but I never really got the opportunity to get super close to. And I think that you are somebody that I I look back and I'm like, man, I wish I had had more time with Ebony in high school. Like, I think you're on like my short list. Yeah, you know, we make we're making up for it now 20 years later. But but you know, and so I but you're all you have always been someone that I've held in high regard and that had a great deal of respect for. And so hearing that, because the other thing that I I really love about you, Ebony, y'all, Ebony save, save. Okay, then I love, I love me a good save, save, really know the Lord, really can get down in the trenches and pray the saints through. I love it. I love it, right? But Ebony has also always been cool with everybody, right? Like it has not kept you from building relationships across many divides and many different people and allowing your light to shine, you know, in the darkest of places. And I think that that speaks, you know, in the moment of what you're sharing about your grandmother and what happened. I I know that even her light, a life was taken, but her light could not be put out. And I think that that's what's was carrying down, that's the legacy of her that's carrying down through the generations. So you didn't become a teacher, but you carried the torch. And I think that that's something that's so significant when we think about where you started, right? And your mom finding, you know, going deeper in her prayer life before that even happened, you know, and saying yes to something that she may not have understood at the time, right? But it but it building a foundation that not only carried your mom through, but look at what it did for you, right? Like it carried your mom through and it built a foundation for you. And so I love that, you know, I think when we talk about the scripture, all things work together for the good of them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. You know, I think when we think about that, all things, sometimes the traumatic things, it is hard. It is difficult to see the to see that working for our good, right? Right. But but even from the most traumatic event, you know, when your family in the darkest moment trusted God, God still worked it for the good. And I think that that built not just a work ethic and a prayer ethic and a and a um and a and a path forward for you, I think it built a temperament where you were allowed to see, okay, I can see God working in hard situations, I can see God doing hard things. Yes, and so because when we talk about going to law school, I went to divinity school, okay. We was out here studying, you know, I was out here studying the prophets and stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

You you said what?

SPEAKER_02 13:34

I said okay, PhD.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Um, that's now, okay. And we praying, I finished, okay. But but talk to me about because I know I know high school ebony, y'all. High school Ebony, she was so cute, you know, she was always b bobbing around, right?

Nonjudgmental Witness In Real Life

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Uh talk to me about um about, you know what, before we get to to college, talk to me about what social your social world, because you know, Ebony has been saved since I've known her. All right. She does she been trusted and knowing the Lord, right? Talk to me about what building that social world in high school, what was that like? And I'm because I'm interested because I might have a different story.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Right. You definitely have a different story. I was definitely living a ratchet life, probably. Um, in high school, from what I can remember. Now, not too ratchet. Um, so I wanted to hit on something that you said though, when you were just talking about just the ability to touch different people. Um, I remember at a very, very young age again, um, so probably before high school, being judgmental, right? Um, and it was just somebody in particular that I had chosen that I was just judging their life, right? And so I remember speaking verbally aloud, you know, about some things that they were doing. And then I found myself doing those same things. I'm telling you. My God, today 24 hours. It happened like by the third time I caught the lesson. And so I remember from a young age asking God to help me not to be judgmental. And so people tell me that all the time, like, oh, you're so not judgmental. Now I stand on the word, the word is the word, right? Um same today, yesterday, today, and forevermore. And so it does not ebb and flow um according to you know our issues um that we're constantly working through. However, um, that's how I'm able to talk to so many different people from different backgrounds because I know where I came from. Um, you know, I just look at it as I'm humbling myself before the Lord. And then ultimately, if they don't know Christ, um, because just because they're different from me doesn't mean that they don't, but if they don't know, that's my mentality, right? So we're planting on waters. And so my mentality is that even if I never say the name Jesus, that their experience with me, their takeaway experience with me, they are still getting a level of impartation from him. And so I love to talk about the book of Esther because although God is never specifically named, his providence talk about it. Yeah, his providence is all over the word, and so that's what I pray. May your providence always be upon me because I'm at so many different tables. And so I say all the time, whatever table I'm at, Lord, I'm bringing you with me. And so that's my mentality. Now, socially, um, in high school, I don't really remember. I guess it was just, you know, regular stuff. Um, but that that kind of mentality of being able to talk to anybody, whether they, you know, look like me, whether they came from my type of, you know, same type of background, I always was intentional for that very reason because I want to make sure that I'm giving them Christ, even if I never even say it.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

No, I love that. And you know, what's interesting is, and again, I would uh Ebony and I were talking about this before we hit record. Uh, I credit my high school experience, especially the Ridgeview Gospel Choir. Shout out to y'all. Um, I credit that as a huge part of my salvation story. And I didn't join the gospel choir until my senior year, right? But I was introduced, you know, I grew up in church a little bit, but not fully.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

A little bit.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

And um, and it was really my high school experience and and bumping into people like you and uh Kristen Baker from the Gospel Choir and my friends Andre. Hey Andre, uh, he was a former uh guest on the podcast and Damon Bailey, right? Like it was it was my relationships with people that introduced me to a deeper level of God. And I remember being at the very last gospel choir before I went to college. That was when I gave my life to the Lord. And if the moment I stepped into that concert, I knew I had just told my friends like the week before, I was like, Y'all, am I saved? What does it mean to be saved? How do you get saved? And they were like, Jacula, we think you saved. I was like, I ain't never went to that little altar call that they do at the end though. I ain't never did that before. So I don't know if I'm saved for real. Right. And we got to that, the moment I stepped foot in that venue, the hand of God was on me so heavy, I cried the entire night. And when they said, when they said, who wanna be saved? I was the first one down at the altar. I was the first one, and that was right before I went to Furman, right before I went to undergrad. And it changed the tra changed the trajectory of my life, right? And so I but I was introduced to God by people like you who were just living their life and and and mentioning God and saying, Y'all, let's pray before we do this. Uh, you know, it wasn't we weren't super spiritual in high school, right? You know, but it was it was just the mention of God, it was the inclusion of God in who they were and as a part of their story. And singing the songs about God, I wanted to be serious about what I was singing, you know, and it it set me on a trajectory. And so I just wanted to let you know that I know your testimony touched more than you know, and your your walk um touched more than you know, and so I'm interested because friendships is a huge thing in my world. Um, and you know, listen, me and Ebony, you know, I think Ebony said her birthday, your birthday's in November. Yes, yes, her birthday's in November. You said November what?

SPEAKER_02 19:39

November 12th.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

November 12th, I'm December 11th. Um, and listen, we don't, we hit we're about to hit a big year, okay?

SPEAKER_02 19:48

It's something another decade.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Yeah, Ebony still wants to be a young adult, so I won't uh say her age out loud on the on the podcast. Um but but we're hitting a big age, and um I'm what I have found because my journey has not always been what I expected it to be, but the things when I look at what has sustained me, what God has used to sustain me, it's been my community. And so just as much as I'm a part of a community and I'm giving, there are people and things and places that give to me and my community. When you think about what has sustained you these so many years, what what would what do you point at as the things that God is? We know the Lord, right? We know the Lord then held you down, but what has God used to to hold you in a way that sometimes your achievements couldn't?

SPEAKER_02 20:50

That's great. Um, quite a few different things

Mentorship That Shifts Your Future

SPEAKER_02 20:54

there. Um, I would want to begin with mentorship.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

Um, so mentorship is huge, huge, huge in my life.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Um and so I believe, of course, we can, you know, I always say, um, show me your mentor, I'll show you your future. Um, my Lord. So you get the right mentor in your life, it will shift your life, right? In a positive way. So, yes, we can do, you know, life without one, but you can go so much further with one. And so at some point, I realized um that God's hands were on me. I didn't have like a you know verbiage for it, um, but I knew that I needed a level of someone to walk with me um on what I was experiencing. So I just kind of talked to you about, you know, seeing the dream or you know, having the dream and knowing the deaths before it comes, seeing the pregnancies before it comes. Like I would, you know, just see profit, just all these things would, you know, just come. And so I was just like, oh, you know, and so then I Started talking to other people and realizing that this was not everyone's experience. So I realized that this was a specific type of gift that I needed someone to help me with. So me being the type of person I was, I watched um two ladies for three years. Um and so I won't say who the other lady is, but um I remember um Dr. Gisha Becton is my mentor. And so I remember asking her um to, you know, walk with me um and you know, or mentor me is what I asked her to do. And so didn't really have a framework. I was her first um mentee. She didn't really, you know, I just wanted to, you know, talk with her. And that's just really how it ended up happening, you know, just talking. But that relationship has birthed so many things, right? She was able to see things in me that I didn't see to in myself. So, you know, her just speaking these things, you know, and I'm like, is she just trying to be nice? You know what I mean? Is she is she just, you know, saying this to try to boost my confidence? But I'm telling you, the majority of what she has spoken, all these things that you see, um, you know, I was just looking at the books, the curricula, the manuals, the programs um that are in, you know, books now, prof professionally um and faith-based. And there are 33 of them. And I don't say that to Hold on, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, because I don't think you said it right.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

When you said there are 33 of them, these are 33 things that you have produced. Yes. Okay, you see how you didn't say that right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, these are 33 that the Lord has helped you to produce. Okay, thank you. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

So my first three published books, um, you know, she helped me to publish them. You know, there's I did a chapter and a book that they now use it at, you know, or as curriculum at USC. And so it's just kind of like these opportunities they came through my mentor, but she was seeing things in myself that I didn't even think of. I wasn't thinking about being an author, you know. Um, I was just, you know, writing. You know, um, I wasn't thinking about, so everything was just advanced in different ways. Some of my lowest points with Dr. Becton being there, there's this been quite a few that I really think about it. Um, but what the reality is, just wrapping up that point, is that she really spoke life um to my situation. She was it was given Ezekiel 37, Candy's Bones Live, right? Um, and so you know, but a lot of those things that she spoke at the time I'm seeing today. And so when I think of mentorship, that's what I think of the ability um to see the end from the beginning, which is also the definition of wisdom. And so despite the fact that today it might not look like it, but they need to have such a vantage point, you know, of whomever that they're mentoring to be able to speak that thing, to call those things that be not as though they were. And the only way that a true mentor can do that is that level of insight must come from God. And so, um, so you know, I'm I'm very mindful. That's why I watched her for three years. I'm very mindful um of who I allow to speak over me. I was young, but I still knew that, you know, what um that words have power. The power of life and death is in the tongue, and so I needed someone with a specific anointing. Now, being careful who you choose, um, because nobody in my family gray before 50, and it's definitely streaks of gray in my hair that I put on her because she had a full head around this age. But you know, I just believe that impartation of wisdom, I cannot, I have to up um the mentorship definitely shifting the trajectory um in my life positively.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

I love that. I uh so mentorship is one of my huge like core tenets of both my what I see as being part of my purpose and also what I would credit as part of my own uh journey and and part of who I am is my own mentorship experiences and the ways that I've mentored. Um one thing that I realize is that people don't know a lot of people see the glory of the mentor and they want to be connected to that, but they don't know kind of what it what mentorship really looks like, right? Like, because I tell people that mentors cultivate potential, they are called to get into the into the grit and into the into the into the lowest and the dirtiest of your places, right? And to and to pull you out, you know, and a lot of people will credit people who sponsor them, who speak well of their greatness, right? But mentors and sponsors often often uh operate in different ways, right? Mentors will get down with you and raise you up, whereas a sponsor will see where you are and bring you in. And so I think mentorship can get um it can get very personal. It's intended to. There are times where it's uncomfortable. There are times when they are telling you stuff that everything ain't, you got so much good in you, and you just got, you know. And so tell me about, and you don't have to give a specific instance, but a moment where you had to hear something difficult.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Um, I've heard a lot of difficult things.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

So how did you how did you receive it? What what caused you to receive it, and what did you do with what you heard?

SPEAKER_02 28:16

Okay. Um so one thing that I can say, for me, you can talk tell me almost everything if you deliver it correctly. Um, and so I believe that um although she would tell me about myself or you know, just the I I set my life up that way, honestly, where I don't want to be, I don't want people to be on eggshells around me um that are called to speak in my life or just let me know my slip's hanging, as they say. Um You're so churchy. I know, I know. I can't help it. Oh my God, not your slip hanging. My God, I'm sorry. Go ahead, girl. Go ahead. You know, everything, Team Jesus. I see God in everything. It is what it is. I'm like, and you know what? Pause on that, because the world culture is not unashamed about what they do, right? Come on here, preacher. I it's fast. Come on here, preacher. So I carry him in everything. If it's law, don't be ashamed, baby. If it's business, if it's education, if it's my relationship, my man, whatever. Um, he is intertwined in some type of way. So it is what it is, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Oh, I want you to put a pen, I want you to put a pen in that, my man. We're coming back to that. Go ahead.

unknown 29:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

But yeah, so um I would, I I do want to um share this.

Learning To Finish What Matters

SPEAKER_02 29:42

So I struggled um with completion.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

Shut up. Not the girl who wrote 33 books, manuals, workshops, and started five million businesses, 3,000 degrees on 4 million.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

It's actually not that many businesses. It's it's a lot. So, you know, I struggle, I struggle with completion. And so, um, and honestly, it would, you know, so the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came that we may have lack and life more abundantly. So the enemy just looks for opportunities to steal. And so it's just like it can happen with words, it can happen with disappointments, it can happen, you know, so many different ways. So I have been through quite a few disappointments, quite a few, whether be it relationships, be it um, you know, professionally, um, just not the way that I thought that it would go, not the timing that I thought that it would go, which I'm pretty sure a lot of people could, you know, can identify with. And so I realized that the enemy was fighting me on in my time, um, with my time. And so, um, so with that said, I remember her just having, you know, a conversation with me about being intentional with my time, you know, taking, um, taking that back, being timely. Father help me. Um, you know, being timely, um, you know, in so many ways, just setting my life up where I'm combating the narrative of the enemy, right? Um, and so I'm very intentional about how I give my time, um, who I'm giving it to, who I allow in, you know, with my time and what I'm doing. So keeping that focus. Matthew 6 and 33 tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything else will be added. And so I often pray and ask, Lord, what is the priority for this season? Right? What is the priority for this season? Because, you know, as gifted people, God gives us gifts and talents. There's so many different ways that we could go. But I'm like, Father, I'll write these things down, you know, these things that you're saying, but what's the focus right now? And so that has helped me um, you know, bring things to a conclusion, um, and making sure that I'm finishing, but also finishing well. And so he gives those nudges um

Divine Setups And Practical Wisdom

SPEAKER_02 32:10

along the way. You talked about um partnering faith is what you sat on. So that is an LLC, it's um it's it's doing what it does, right? Um and it's also a model. Um, but I intentionally you all came to me in a dream, that's why I called you. Um, so everybody on there I have not spoken to in years. And so the Lord told me to get an ad hoc board to tell you all the things that I told you all, and so then um you all helped me to develop and write out what is now partner in faith. Wow. Um, and so but I remember at that time, and I don't know if you remember this meeting, and I'm gonna say his name um on here, I'm gonna send it to him too, um, just in case. But um at the time, I was writing letters to different people um of influence in our city. And so one of them was the mayor. Um, and so I told you all that I was gonna write a letter. I had already written it. I had written the letter to the mayor. I was like, based off of what you all say, because I want to get his advice and counsel on this area. I had that conversation with you all on Monday. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna find his number and I'm gonna call him tomorrow. So the next day came and a friend, a colleague invited me to lunch. I was like, I don't have time for lunch. I need to do this, that, and the next. Walking the um, I forgot that state place downtown, but walked in the door, the first person I saw was the mayor. So the rest was history because I knew that it was a divine setup, right? So I was just like, now I ain't gonna ask them in this very moment, but I'm gonna make sure that I get this advice or whatever was necessary for that time. And he did some of the advice that he ended up giving me. I used it, and I still use it today. Um, so but everything in prayer. So you were joking, you know, about like, oh, you so churchy, but I you God is in everything, he's in all the details, right? He is omniscient, he knows the end from the beginning, as we talked about, and his counsel shall stand. And so at the I don't plan without him, you know, it's his business that I am about, and so therefore, um he gives me those downloads and that revelation, and I take it, and he hasn't failed me and he won't.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

But you realize, friend, that your journey is not regular. Like you realize somebody saying, you know what? I'm gonna ask the mayor, I'm gonna make sure, I'm gonna call him up, I'm gonna find his number. All right, I'm gonna go talk to him about what the Lord has showed me, and and I'm gonna, and then to run into the mayor at a restaurant, you realize, right? I understand you saying, you know, prayer, and you know, I stay before the Lord, and but you realize, right, that like you're that what God put in you is not regular, and what God has called you to is not common. You you realize that.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

I realize that what he puts in all of us is not gonna be common.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

No, no, no, no, no. And this is I am not a person. I believe in the giftedness of everyone. I believe, you know, every if you ask my friends, one of my favorite verses, rejoice with them that rejoice, right? I I am, I will be everyone's biggest cheerleader, right? I will, I will, I will hype you up, right? It is part of who I am and part of my giftedness. But I think that it's as as we're talking about your journey, because I want to talk about an intermission moment in a second, but I think a part of the journey is realizing that, okay, I tell you what, I've come to a point in my life where I was just talking to the Lord. I was uh having you we discussed before recording how Ebony is a morning person, right? So she has her her time with God, you know, in the morning. I am an evening night time, I'm a night owl, right? I have my time with God sporadically, right? So like I was doing my makeup, getting ready to get uh to get on the podcast. And I was like, oh, I got 30 minutes. Let me just kneel before the Lord and see what he talks about. You know, let me let me see what the Lord got to say real quick. And the Lord, one thing the Lord has been really working with me on is trusting myself. And I had I struggled with that because I was like, no, Lord, I trust you. And the Lord said, you can trust yourself because you trust the me that's in you. And it is a it sounds so simple, but I kept running into instances where I felt like, Lord, they're not gonna understand me. Lord, I'm gonna, I'm having to say things and do things that are not, that are not popular. I'm having to say and to do things, Lord, that people will question. And I'm not talking about people outside the faith. I'm talking about people in the faith. I'm having, I'm having to be the one that says, the Lord told me, and so we need to change the plan. The Lord told me, so we gotta, we gotta shift how we were gonna do something because the Lord said this to me, we're gonna do it differently. And I there was a moment, a particular moment, I went to my pastor and I told her, I was like, this is what the Lord said. And she was like, it that's what it is then. And I was and she said, I trust you. I said, You trust me because I don't trust you. And I, but it it it caused me to come, it caused me to come to a place where I had to say, Okay, Lord, I I don't trust me. I don't trust how you operate in me. I don't trust, I trust it in in big moments. I trust it when I'm in front of a crowd and when I done worked on my sermon for three weeks and I notice is the word of the Lord, but in my in in the places where I now have to uh demonstrate and and other people have to view my relationship with you and how you lead and guide me in a private way, now it's becoming public. And so having to trust, having to trust myself and trust the God in me in this new season is a completely different, elevated challenge. Um, but God said that I can trust me because I trust, I trust him. And if he made me, if he created me, and if he put these things in me, as long as I stay connected to him, I can trust who he's creating me to be. Um but that's a journey, right?

SPEAKER_02 38:42

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

That's a journey.

SPEAKER_02 38:43

It's not definitely.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

That's something that I've had to learn, right? It doesn't make me any less great, it doesn't make me any less uh effective or productive, or it doesn't, it doesn't mean that anything that I've done has not been of of consequence, but it does mean that this is a growth area for me that the Lord is going to uh put me on um on a fast track with. Because when you serve God at the level that we serve God, things start happening quickly. You don't get to learn your lessons slow, okay? You know what I'm saying? You're fish. Yeah, when you know the the idea of being churchy oftentimes means that there's a higher, not churchy, but the of being committed, of being dedicated, not just to your personal faith, but to that faith being used in a public way, right? Your lessons come and and they're strong, right? And they will they will push you to move further faster, right? Because there is a greater deal of responsibility on you because God has entrusted you with his people. Tell me about and we're talking about before you ask me this.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

I do I want to interject real quick. Go ahead. I do want to say when I saw the mayor, I didn't go up to him and say the. It don't matter, you saw the mayor. It don't matter. No, I want I want to say that because some people, I I think it's you gotta use wisdom, right? So the Lord had um obviously he ordered my footsteps. Yes, you know what I mean. Like I told you all in the meeting, and then the next day, you know, um, and even then, even when my friend, you know, um called me to go to lunch, I was like, father, I really need to work. And it was like go, you know, I just I felt like I needed to go. I was like, I guess I need to eat, you know. So, but I I was not, I didn't say, you know, the state. He he never even heard this story. He doesn't even know, you know. So, like I said, I'm gonna share this podcast um whenever it airs. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, I just needed the wisdom that he had. There was something that he needed to tell me to carry me where, you know, what we were building and whatever year that was, it may have been 21, um, that it would still be sustainable in 2026. That's amazing. So, you know, so it wasn't I it he didn't need all my words, I needed his wisdom. And so wait a minute.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

That's a that's a key. That's the key that you just gave right there. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

Yeah, it's true, you know, and so it's just like you have to understand um what what God is doing, and just like you said, it's a journey, just getting in the flow of that. And

The 21 Day Shutout Practice

SPEAKER_02 41:33

I do want to say, too, for people that are trying to learn God's voice, because we're talking about, oh, I heard God say this and that and that. And there's people that's been in church all their lives and they don't know, right? Um, and so number one, you're not gonna go wrong with the Bible. That's the first place, right? But even for some people, that's intimidating, um, even though it's written on an eighth-grade level, but a lot of people struggle. You want to know why? Because it's a Holy Spirit-breathed book, okay? And so, so at the end of the day, um, we need his help um and understanding the heart and the mind of God. So inviting him in in prayer when you are in the word, as well as you know, doing your studies on your own. But one of the books that I wrote, 21-day shutout, I talk about um how at different points in my year, different points in my life, I just shut everything out. So I'm not on social media. Um, I only do calls, texts, and emails that I absolutely have to do. I don't watch TV, I don't listen to music, um, absolutely nothing. Um, I don't have conversations out of have to, and I give my ear to the Lord. And so I normally do it at the end of the year. Um, and you know, sometimes I extend it into the beginning of the year. And the purpose is that, you know, we give our attention to so much. You'll be surprised, so much stuff carries spirits. It's not like back in the day where people would kind of hide and be like, oh, you know, you had to dig in and they had all this, this, you know, the truth behind hip-hop. The hip-hop will tell you what they're doing, you know, and it's not just hip-hop, yeah, it's not just hip-hop, it's the gospel artists. You know, people are telling you that, you know, they're into witchcraft, they're speaking certain things in these songs, and you know, you wonder why people are dealing with depression and you know, so many thoughts that they didn't have before and different things because there are spirits that are within it. So, and I'm not just picking on one genre of music because it's in many of them. So we have to do it. So, anyway, there are times that I intentionally, just like I'm giving my ear and we're having this conversation now, I'm intentional about giving extended time to God, right? Because I need to hear him. And so, guaranteed, if you give that level of focus to God without distraction, you're gonna hear them. And there would be times that I'm telling you, I didn't there were moments where I would have reprieves and I didn't work. I think the longest I didn't work was for four years, four years straight. Wait, what? Four years straight in my adulthood, in my adulthood with uh with degrees. And so um I remember that guy, I must have in one particular month, I applied for like, I think it was like, I don't know, some 200 jobs, right? Things I qualified for, things I didn't, all in between. All and so I remember I ended up getting a hookup. I was on, you know how you do the training, you ain't even on a job yet. The second day, they were like, Oh, we don't think we need you. Like, literally, that's what the man tells me. And so I was just like, Oh, well, what did I do? Because I'm like, we didn't start. You know, we didn't start ran training. He was just like, Oh, I don't know. Literally, those were his words back to me. And so I remember praying, and God was like, I'm going to speak to you during this time. I'm gonna provide for you. I was in a home, all the bills were paid. Um, you know, now I didn't, you know, uh, there were some rough moments, but you know, I always had lights, food, water, I had what I needed. During that time, there would be times that I would just spend time with the Lord. I would just teach me your voice. I would be in his word, I would do different things. And some of you all can't take four-year reprieves, but you can give an hour or so to your day. Time that you would give the social media, that you would do this, you would do that. What am I saying? Programs and different things that I wrote during that time of not working, I ended up using years later at the institutions that I'm at now, and they're still sustaining. And so I did not know that, you know, I'm so sometimes we're just like, oh, you know, I need to do this. I need and God told me one day, you are working. You are working, you're working with me. And so when Luke 2 and 49, I love that Jesus was speaking, he said, Didn't you? I have to be about my father's business. Okay. We have to work the works of him that sent us while as a day. And so the world will make you think, or you know, maybe some of your family members, friends, you know, it was unorthodox. You you got this degree, that degree, this, that, next. You got all these smarts. Why are you doing it this way? Why, why this, why that? Because this is the way that the Lord told me to go. Okay, so there were some difficult days, but I'm literally eating off of that time, right? Um, the prayers, the worship, the you know, learning of God, just being able to quickly, you know, hear him know, discern this, discern that it came because of those seeds. I know that time um just birthed so many things professionally, prophetically, so many um different areas. And so, yeah, that's that's where it comes from. Four years.

SPEAKER_01 46:48

One, thank you, thank you so much for sharing that. That was amazing. Um, I I and you just took us right into where I was trying to go, which is your intermission. And and intermission is where God really takes you backstage and you turn off the stage lights and the curtain has fallen, and you're back in a place where it's just you and God and receiving what you need from him in order to understand where he's taking you. Um, you you have a uh a look. That's not the intermission for you, or you had another intermission.

SPEAKER_02 47:23

Oh no, I'm listening. I'm just listening to what you're thinking.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

No, but I I I think I and but you know, uh when you were talking about that 21 days girl, I'm intrigued, honey. I'm intrigued, right? You said the 21 day shut shutdown, shut off.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

Yeah, 21 days shut out. Um so that may have been that was let me tell you about that. So that was towards the end of the intermission um that you are mentioning. Um, and I've I've had I've had some intermissions, Jaquita, um in these 40 years. And remind me to talk about 40. But I've had some intermissions um in these 40 years, but I I was coming to the end of it, and um the Lord was speaking to me about school, right? I had written I am next college program for women, um, which is a mentorship program that are on different college campuses now. And but I wrote it during that four-year time. And so um I was just like, I'm gonna shut out. And I was talking to a friend about it, and she was like, What you do? And so I just explained to her, you know, what I did. And so it's a devotion for each 21 days and a time of reflection. And so um I ended up doing it publicly. I normally would not open it up. I have a blog, Heart Space blog. Um, and so I opened it up, but I made people sign up and so they would get these notifications every single day. And everyone was like, you should turn it into a book. And I was like, you know what? I will. Um, and so that's how it was birthed because people need to know um to be intentional, when you look at Daniel and the level of discipline that he had, he was consistent in his time, in his place that he met God. Okay, he met him in the same at the same time, I think it was three times a day, um, in the same place. And so I talk about sanctifying your space, right? Sanctifying that space um that you're in and being intentional. So you're not eating there, you're not having certain conversations there. That place is hollowed out, meaning made holy for the Lord. And so, and you meet him there consistently, and guarantee if you do these things, he is going to meet you. And it's something about the space as well. I was reading um with uh Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham, when Abraham was interceding um because he didn't want Lot um to, you know, he wanted to make sure that his nephew was okay. But what stood out to me, he did all that interceding in a chapter before, right? He came to the same place that he had prayed before, and he didn't say anything, he just looked out over and saw that you know the place is going up, you know, in planes. But God's the message said that he stood where he spoke to the Lord, and it's something about being in place. If we look at Jehovah Jireh, people love to say that Jyrah, you know, he's the provider, but Jehovah Jireh is the place, so it's something about getting in position, right? Getting in position, getting in your position, um, getting in place with God that shifts you to where you need to be. So during that time, God gave different downloads during those four years. Like I said, books were written, a lot of those 33. I had time. Um, so programs, you know, different things. And uh just imagine how that was messing with me mentally, how I had to come combat a lot of things. Because, you know, a family didn't understand, you know, some friends didn't understand. I didn't go around advertising it. Um, but you know, um, I and I didn't have a lot of words, I didn't have a lot of, you know, uh, it was just I had God's word. There was some confirmation um that came a couple of times, someone I didn't know of, you know, preacher or bishop. And so he spoke and he was just like, listen, don't worry about the money, keep writing. And so, and God, I didn't have to worry about the money, I kept writing, right? And so, um, and I can honestly say, you know, having um just the level of covering that I've had, I'm not lacking in love. Um, but it did not make logical sense, right? Um, but a lot of things, God's sense is not common, right? Um if we're reading through the you know, Bible and reading through different accounts, or you can look through your own life, it's not common. And so, and it's also not to be advertised when you're trying to figure things out. I don't think that's wise. So, anywho, he showed me that I was supposed to be working at a college and that Miss Black, you know, my best friend Candace. Um, I saw yes, hi Candace. Um, I saw Miss Black helping me. Um, it was just in a dream, and so I was in a conversation with my mom, and I was just like, you know what? I need to call Miss Black. And I looked down at my phone and she was calling me. So I was like, whatever she says, it's gonna be yes.

SPEAKER_01 52:18

That's the same as the mayor. I just want to say that.

SPEAKER_02 52:22

Right. So I answered the phone. I answered the phone, and so she was like, Listen, someone can come with me to the um Congressman Clyburn's lunch on um this Saturday, and I want you to come with me. I went, um, that was 8-1 um of that year, and so that ended up spinning me beginning to work at colleges. I met, you know, the person that ended up hiring me. Um and so that that was just the rest was history. And so, as um, I don't know if you read that, but you know, the Lord enabled the team and I to build the first HBCU pre-law center in the state. These things are not by happenstance, right? Um, it's because of those private things that no one didn't know about, right? Um, before and just kind of working those things, being in a state of prayer, um, ignoring um what people think I should be doing. You you can do this, you can do that. Well, I've tried to up for the jobs, I can't operate in disobedience. Like I've disobeyed a couple of times and it did not work out well when he's told me to walk off jobs and different things of that nature. And so, and it's normally at highs. I'm normally at an apex, you know, it's not always like, oh, stuff is hitting the fans, like these are going.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

Everything's terrible, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

The money is flowing, you know. We're in a good place, Lloyd. Okay, bills are being paid, and he's like, Oh, time to go. And I'm like, why? So, you know, um, but listen, the unorthodox, you know, it just is what it is.

Intermission Seasons And Obedience

SPEAKER_02 54:00

And so during that, you know, that intermission, he talked to me about my home. Um, you know, the Lord's blessed me with a 3,000 square foot home, right? And I tell I tell all the square feet, I tell all the things, and so, you know, even that, and I share it not to be braggadocious because listen, I could not afford that house. Okay. He told me years prior that I'm going to before you move into the home, no one's gonna be there because I'm gonna sanctify the space for you. That was one thing. Wow, he said, I'm gonna bring the price down to where you can afford it. So yes, so he told me years before I haven't written, you can see my journal. And so during this time, during these. Did he tell you anything about me?

SPEAKER_03 54:47

I'll tell you at the end.

SPEAKER_02 54:50

Oh my God. But you know, no, not years ago, but you know, so I was uh, you know, I was just taking it all in. And so when it was time, he gave me the realtor as well. Um, and so and I was living in New York at the time, and he was talking about a realtor that was in South Carolina, so I knew that I was gonna end up coming back at some point. So, anywho, um, when it was time for me to move into the home, you know, if you you own a home, so you're supposed to have like two years worth of income, da-da-da, all that stuff, all these I didn't have none of that. Okay, barely had a credit score. Um, so none of that, you know. Now I did have, you know, money saved and different things of that nature, but um not you know significant enough. But listen, by the time um I ended up moving into that home, the owner had come down $80,000 um dollars. Girl, what? He came down $80,000. It was 66 pages worth of repairs. He did every single one, including a new roof and a brand new HVAC, right?

SPEAKER_01 55:55

Um, you said 66 pages of repairs?

SPEAKER_02 55:59

66 pages of repairs because no one had lived in the home for uh two years.

SPEAKER_01 56:06

So just like the Lord has sanctified it for you.

SPEAKER_02 56:09

He said that he had cleared it out, and so I just remember reading because the man was mad, and so because I I kept going back and just asking for different things because I was like, no, it has to be right. And so he was just like, you know, I came down $80,000. I did this, I did that, and I was just like, Look at God, look at God. So he was just all in the story, and so that's how life goes. And so that that's just how life goes. But I I like moments like these to tell the intermission, because they're you, you know, to tell those moments, to tell those low to bars, those low points. Um, because if you had told me that I would be living in a 4,000 square feet home, oh, and let's talk about why why 3,000 square feet, right? Because I wasn't going for that, I was going for three bedrooms and a bonus, you know, a smaller home. And I was looking for a home. I was riding out in Spring Valley, and um God said, You've been looking at this home, but you need to look big. So guess what happened? My phone rings. Um, and so Miss Annalise Eason from Buffalo, New York calls me and she says, Ebony, I was just talking to my sister and she was praying, and she said, Tell Ebony that God said her house isn't small, it's big. And so he just directed from there, but I asked him why. And so he said that the house is for ministry, it's for his business um to go forth. So I have had countless meetings. I allow people to use the house for different things. Um, so much ministry um has taken forth in my home. Um, and so therefore, you know, it had to be big because I have to entertain, um, because it wasn't just about a place for me to stay. And so again, everything is intentional and that's just how it works out. But it it started from somewhere, it started from me giving over myself to God. So it might not look like me, right? Um, in terms of, you know, God is sending phone calls and text messages, you know, dreams and different things, but it will look like what it needs to for you if you give up that time um with him and be intentional with it.

SPEAKER_01 58:26

Now, listen, okay. Uh you the 21, the 21-day show. Okay, because I do something similar, but not I one, I don't do it consistently, but there are times when I will tell my friends, hey, I'm taking a week, I'm out, okay. And and but I've always described it as, you know, I'm a very extroverted person, but I need time to like reconnect with myself sometimes, right? But but what you are describing is actually what I need to be doing. Like, and and and for all of the reasons that you described it, like that is that is really good wisdom for the people who will receive it, right? Is is and when you look at all that you have produced, it's so funny, you know, because we don't think of the intermission as being a productive place. You don't think about what's happening backstage as being a place that produces, but what God was doing, he wrote your second act while the curtain was drawn.

SPEAKER_03 59:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 59:34

He was writing, as you were writing, he was setting the stage for what he was gonna do next. And he was building the foundation and he was building the set, and he was introducing you to the new characters and introducing you to the new plot and getting you ready and getting you in position and telling you, hey, when this curtain raises, you're gonna be ready. I know it seemed like you've been back here for a long time, but I promise you, I'm building something back here. Um, and I think that that's such a critical point for people who are where we are right now in these middle adult years. Okay. I know, I know, but the it's middle adult, not middle aged. Okay. Our listeners know. Give it the differentiation.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:18

Give me the differentiation.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

It's a it's an important differentiation because I feel like when you think about middle age, it it gives a connotation that we have um gotten to a slower pace in life, or that we have gotten to a place that is less desirable, right? Like, oh, you're middle age, you don't have, you know, the spunk, or you don't have the, you don't have the gusto. But I when you talk about being a middle adult, it is a growth point. It is a point of it's it's like moving from elementary to middle school, right? Like it is, I'm I've I've matured. God has given me wisdom in areas, God has given me access. I've I've experienced enough of God to where I can operate at a different capacity with God and operate with a different understanding than I did in my 20s, right? And it is a it is a glorious place, these middle adult years, but it is also a middle space. Um, and God does a lot of work in the middle of it. In the middle. He does a lot of good work in the middle of it. And I think that we are at a point um where, and again, I I wish I could just screenshot her bio so you all could see it because you need to read the whole thing. You know, I told her, I was like, girl, I'm gonna have to, you know, pick and choose out of here, girl, because listen, you is successful. You know, and I I'll say this, it's not about successful. You have produced and you have allowed God to whatever was in your soul, you allowed him to water it. And when we think about, you know, the Bible talks about the tares and the wheat and how the enemy went out and sold tares, and you know, they asked the, they asked the groundskeeper, they asked the farmer, head of household, hey, what do we do? There's tares growing up with the wheat. And he said, let them all grow together and we'll we'll uh we'll parcel it out at the end, right? We'll put we'll put it in the wind and see what blows away and see what sticks. And so throughout your life, God has been watering your soil and you've been standing in the light of God, and there were some things that grew that maybe weren't his intention for your life, but you allowed him to take you through the process to say, hey, here's what stands. Here's what you keep, here's what here's what I intended. And so you keep seeing the intention of God for your life. You keep running into the plan. Like you said, like, oh, I need to call the mayor, ran into the mayor. Oh, I need to call Ms. Black. Remember Ms. Black calling you. You keep running into the intention of God because you stay open to the process of God. And I think that there's a lot of us who know that there's more, there's a yearning for God to do more, for God to show up, for God to show us, for us to hear God, for us to understand God, right? But even in you talking about the 21-day shutout, that is an intentional process of you saying, Lord, I'm going to allow you to separate the wheat and the tear. God, I'm going to allow you to show me what I was listening to that was you and what wasn't. I'm going to allow you to show me what was your intention and what I just kind of was carrying that wasn't mine, right? The things that are happening in your 21 days is allowing God to move you forward faster. And it's because of your sacrifice, it's because you allow God to take you into a moment of solitude. You draw yourself backstage. It's too many of us thinking because I have this responsibility and I have this responsibility and I mentor this person and I oversee this operation. And God, I have, I'm over too much. I can't take 21 days. It's too many of us who are staying out on the stage when God is calling us behind the scenes. When God is calling us and He's saying, Hey, all of that's gonna be fine. All of that's gonna be good. I need you back here with me. I need you to give me 21 days. I need you to give me a week. I need you to give me an hour of every day, right? Whatever it is God is calling for you to give him, you have to believe that the return is gonna be greater than what you're sowing, right? And the the the farmer, I can't remember what he's called in that in that parable, but the farmer knew what I sowed, what I put into the field is gonna give a greater harvest than what's trying to come against it. And you have to believe in your own harvest. You have to believe that whatever God put inside of me and whatever God is calling me to, it's worth my time. It's worth my sacrifice because it's gonna be, it's gonna, it's gonna produce such a greater, such a greater reward, such a greater product than anything that the enemy could have done against it. And so when you talk about, you know, when we go back to your bio and we read all your things, right? It all makes sense, not because you're so good, not because you're so diligent, not because, but it's because you make the sacrifice. You give, you give enough of yourself that God can say, I can work with that. I can, I can fill her up because she's constantly emptying herself out. I can pour back into her because I know she's gonna pour out where I tell her to. I know she's gonna take that 3,000 square foot and she's gonna open the doors of it and let everybody that needs to come in come in. That she's gonna keep the space sanctified.

unknown 1:05:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

Gonna keep it like I kept it, that she's gonna hold it like I held it, that she's gonna do with it what I did with it, and so I can trust her with it. And there's a lot of people, and and and you know, I don't say that because it's necessary to build you up in this moment, I say that because it's a lot of people asking God, God, what can you trust me with? God, what can I what can I do? What can I produce? What can I give? And your life, your testimony is an example of how to do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:34

Amen. Amen. Thank you. And you know, when you were just speaking though, I just it's God is willing. I've been I've been hearing that so much lately. God is willing, God is willing, and we just need to view him that way. So just like he did it for me, you know, he'll do it for whomever, whoever he is willing. He's willing, he's willing, he's willing. I just keep hearing that over and over again. And so giving up that time, you know, giving up that focus, he wants communion, that's what it's all about. He wants relationship with us, right? Um, and it's just something about the power of silence, but not just any type of silence in the presence of God. God doesn't say he'll always speak, but he does say that he will never leave nor forsake us. And the scripture talks about, you know, not being so quick coming before the Almighty God with all these words and different things of that nature. Isaiah 41, I believe, verse one or two, it talks about coming silently before him that we may gain strength. And so a lot of times we just need to hush our mouths, right? The holy hush, this study to be quick. The holy hush? Yes. No, I can't take credit for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:53

Hold on, the holy hush.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:55

I can't take credit for that one. No, um uh it's small fires, small fires, I believe. Candace sent it to me and is that the little comedian? No, she's definitely a comedian.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:08

No, okay, never mind. Um a Christian comedian named Small Fires.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:13

Oh, okay. No. Um, but she was talking about the holy hush, right? And yeah, God speaks this scripture to me often. James 1:19, verse 1, 19 and 20. And so it talks about being swift to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, because anger does not produce the righteousness of God. And so it's just something about being quiet before the Lord, it's a level of humility. God, I don't know, but you know everything, but God is willing. And what do I mean by that? Jeremiah 33, verse 3 says, Call unto me, and I will show you great and mighty things that you do not know. And so you don't just get this relationship all willy-nilly. You don't get it without sacrifice, and then more importantly, you don't get it without obedience. Saul is one of those cautionary tales, right? The entire kingdom was ripped from him because he listened to people and he did not obey. And so that's a lot of the compromise is out here. But he was the first king, but he's being jealous of somebody that he was supposed to be bringing up, right? He's competing with somebody that hasn't even achieved where he is, right? No one was gonna take first from him, but because he was distracted, because he was looking at so many other things, the kingdom was literally ripped from him. So it wasn't the Lord's intention, but because of the disobedience, because of putting other people's words above God's, he ended up where he were, you know, getting the kingdom taken from him. And so we have to be careful of that. You know, a lot of times we like to put bowls on stuff and lilies here, but the reality is obedience truly is greater than sacrificing. It may be God's intention. Of course, Jesus came that we may have life and life more abundantly. Of course, he wants all these things for you, but you don't get it just living a reckless life all the time, right? And so that's not how it's gonna go. Certain things in God, you have to be in what place you have to be in position. Solomon, he was what the wisest to have ever lived, but we see the way that his life went. But he had the warning ahead of time. His father told him, Hey, stay away from them foreign women, okay? At the end of the day, it's gonna cause you to get away. And it didn't happen quickly, it was a slow kill, right? Um, in regards to him getting away from his God, and so we have to be careful about those little small foxes, those subtle things, you know, just being okay um with not listening to God, not obeying him. So sometimes, especially in a time when there's so much chaos, so much opinions, so many things that are going on, so many things that that are not rooted in the word that we are getting, God. I'm giving my ear to you, I'm giving the one that knows everything. I'm gonna be in this word, I'm asking you to speak to me. Your servant is listening. He's gonna do it, he's gonna guide, he's gonna direct. You cannot have that level of investment and expect the Lord not to draw close to you. It's not even biblical.

Forty As Fulfillment And Legacy

SPEAKER_01 1:11:18

My God, today. Okay, listen, you said you were gonna mention something about 40, and so I want you to talk about 40, and that's gonna close us out.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:26

Okay, yeah, so we're both approaching year 40, and it's my god today. Yeah, you were mentioning um just you know, making the shift. That's kind of what I've been focusing on. Making the shift. It's it's a lot of shifts, it's a lot of transitions, it's some intermissions, it's a quite a few things that are going on um that is new. But when you look at the number 40, 40 is the number of fulfillment um in the Bible. Um, and so whenever you see that number, whether it was 40 days or 40 years, there was a level of fulfillment that happened. And so also, you know, coming out of wilderness, you know, coming out of some things. But when you look at 40s, even biologically, they say is your it's your wisest years. Like biologically, um, you know, your brain, it just has a different level of wisdom. It settles in. A lot of people come in to see your positions and different things in this particular age, it's something that happens in us biologically. But 40 also, I believe biblically, we see this, it really sets the trajectory for the rest of your life, it's building legacy. Okay, and so when I see you, speaking of legacy, you um were speaking um about me, but what God has anointed you for is presence, right? Um, you have a strong presence, but in a positive way, and then it's no not by happenstance that you have this podcast because he's giving you his voice. That's I just hear he's giving you his voice and he's speaking through you. And so, even as you, you know, are getting this podcast started and this second act and different things that are going on, but I just saw let the anointing fall, let the anointing fall. And so I just believe, just like I was talking about that speaking to me um type of thing, I just see him open up your ears in so many different ways. And so I'm excited. I'm excited about this second act, I'm excited about the movement. That's another thing that he said. I've anointed you for movement, I've anointed you for change, and so we're just grateful um for what God is doing. And I just speak over that year 40. I speak over that year 40, even when you were talking about, you know, the plans for shifting um once you finish out this PhD in the coming year. Um, I'm just believing God for the books that are going, the wonders that are coming, the miracles that are coming as a result of your yes. So thank you for allowing me to come today.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:01

Okay, I wasn't expecting that. My God, today. I listen, I'm so glad this is recorded because I'm gonna go back and listen to that a few times. I appreciate it. I appreciate it so much. Yes, but Ebony, how can the people find you that want to know more about

How To Find Ebony And Closing

SPEAKER_01 1:14:21

you?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:21

Yes, okay. So on social media is God's Business Woman. So that's Facebook, Instagram, Instagram primarily, TikTok, um, YouTube is Ebony D Green. Um, my website, which carries my Hurst Space blog, my calendar, um, just many things. If you want to find out about the books, if you can't find them on Amazon, you can go to my site. So that's www.ebony ebony, the letter D for Dominique green like the color.com, um, as well as I'm sure she'll put my um email address um in the whenever this is posted. So if you all want to collaborate on anything, I am passionate about partnering in the faith, keeping faith at the center of what we do. And so I do, I am a professor, but I also work as an educational consultant. I'm a director um for lawyers and training for middle and high school students. So I'm my hands are in several pots, but I I believe that education is ministry. Um, people perish due to a lack of knowledge, and so I believe that getting the right knowledge out there is necessary, and so I'm doing that from K to college, okay, from cradle um to career. And so cradle to career, shut up.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:39

That's another business.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:41

No, that's Dr. Beckman. Um, but you know, thank you for having me. And I look forward to those that I will partner and collaborate with in the future.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:50

Listen, y'all, I'm a little shook up right now, okay, because it ain't often that somebody catch me off guard with a word. Okay, so I'm I'm I'm gonna take my moment, but I also want all of you to make sure that you are taking your moment. You do not have to stay stuck in your intermission. You can raise the curtain to your second act. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ebony, for joining us today. Phenomenal word, phenomenal woman of God. Y'all make sure y'all go follow her on everything. We'll see y'all on the next episode. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:29

Thank you once again for listening to the Unlearned Podcast. We would love to hear your comments and your feedback about the episode. Feel free to follow us on Facebook and Instagram and to let us know what you think. We're looking forward to the next time when we are able to unlearn together to move forward towards freedom. See you then.