3. What was the pivotal moment for you in recognizing that you were put here to "affect" people?
I received a phone call one day on my way home from work from the coordinator of a youth organization that I volunteered with. She was reaching out to me because she suspected that one of the young girls was being sexually abused. Listening to her describe the girl and certain incidents and thinking about what that child was going through impacted me. Following the phone call and after putting a plan in place for how I would counsel the girl, I broke down right there in my car on the road. I literally asked God, “Why Me?” I couldn’t for the life of me understand why he continued to place me in situations which forced me to remember my own trials. I didn’t know for certain how I could actually help other people when in fact I still felt so broken from my own experiences. Then my mother-in-law called. I told her what had happened and she asked the question, “Why NOT you? Who better to understand what these children are going through other than someone who has actually been in that position?” I thought about it and she was right. I realized then that he purposed my life to be a light for others and there’s nothing I can do to escape that truth. So, instead of running from it, I embrace it and do the work I’ve been destined to do because in the course of helping others, I find myself healing continuously.
4. What empowers you?
When I was younger my father use to tell me all the time that I’d be nothing, no one wants me, and I wasn’t smart enough to do anything. As an adult I often hear a lot of people tell me what I can and can’t do, what I should and shouldn’t do, or even go so far as to tell me that others hold these negative opinions about my life. Strangely, that empowers me. It doesn’t necessarily propel me to try to impress them or show them they are wrong. It motivates me to show myself, to prove to myself that I’m bigger than any limitations others try to hold me to.
Seeing my children grow up watching their mom “do it all” as they say empowers me. Long ago I jokingly told them that I was a superhero with super powers. To this day, they still believe that. They ask me when will they get their super powers and I tell them that over time their power—their gift—will be revealed to them and then they must be dedicated to it. THAT empowers me; knowing that my children see what I’m doing and view my works as great to the point where they are ready to go out and conquer the world with their own greatness. It doesn’t get any better than that.