great coaching and teaching tool.
Jessica: It is. It will help mothers to have
those tough conversations.
HimPower: Your song, Better, really resonated
with a lot of people. It was as if you poured
yourself into the essence of the song and then
allowed everyone who has ever felt pain to
feel yours. Did you write it, and was there a
single event or many experiences in your life
that led you to sing with such intensity?
Jessica: I co-wrote it with a young woman
named Angel. It was a blessing to me. It was
what God wanted for me, and I needed to
vent. I wanted to cry without feeling pity for
myself. I wanted to cry out loud and give an
expression of pain. I needed to cry out loud
to let God know--I know that a lot of people
have said they could identify with the song,
but I didn’t think of one person. It was just for
me—I just wanted to be free.
HimPower: What is the greatest lesson you’ve
learned from your experiences in life?
Jessica: One of the most important is that
God is real. He is not a figment of your imagination and not to be toyed with. He wants
what he wants. Sometimes he has to force
his hand. Once he knows you’ve messed up,
he’s like, “You told me you trust me.” And now,
you become a child and he becomes the great
Father. It was a very difficult task for me to
give up control of my own self and the control that I wanted over others. I did not know
how much I like to control. I’ve been like, “Let
me do what’s best for you.” It’s been draining
me, a pain to my spirit, soul, and body. He
has been tearing them away from me as if to
say, “You need to see what you’re doing”. If
you’re not doing it right, let it go. When we
read Psalms 23, everyone reads it with a smile,
he’s making you to lie down--we say it like
it’s comforting. The truth is when he puts his
foot on your chest and say” Lay down”, you
don’t feel like smiling. But we have to realize
it’s just Jesus’ way of saying, “I love you.” He
has such a beautiful way of just making you
feel powerless. Because God made man in his
image, men like to boast. They got that from
their Father. God loves to show up like, “I did
that for you. Don’t you worry about anything.”
God is beautiful, more beautiful than anything else. What is my greatest lesson from
my experiences? I will be honest, when I think
about who I was as a child, I’m still the same
way. I’ve always been the one who watches
and said that doesn’t make any sense or I’m
going to try it. I’ve always been that kind of
person. Now, I realize I’m more immature than
I’ve ever been in my life. And I’m okay with me
being immature. My floor keeps rising, every
day I am more mature.
HimPower: I understand you experienced
some challenges in a relationship before your
child was born. What did you learn from that
experience and what advice do you have for
other women who have had to pick up the
pieces after a broken relationship?
Jessica: Don’t quit. Everyone is going to tell
you to quit. At some point, God breaks you
apart from their opinion. You have to be in
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