IBOGIRLLIVING

I may be late to the party but Woman Evolve written by Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts is the new book I'm reading as I continue my journey to Becoming the woman I know I was created and called to be. With only just a few chapters in, the need for me to evolve into the woman I know I can be from the woman I once was is more urgent now than ever before.

Always armed with a pen or pencil in hand to underline points I need to meditate on and internalize, the above image presents two of such points in the book worthy of note. Evolving requires Vulnerability which used to be an unfamiliar and foreign concept to me because I equated being vulnerable with being weak and would never allow myself believe that this was a necessary part of my growth. The woman I once was saw herself as a failure; a failure in every area where she ought to have thrived or been thriving. I won't bore you by listing all the ways I saw myself as this but one of those places was with my first marriage.

I felt like this was the one place where I should not have failed especially seeing as all my friends were still in their marriages working things out and growing together as couples intent on working towards achieving the same goals. The woman I am becoming has been steadily and gradually evolving into one who knows now that she is not to be defined by those failures but views them as learning experiences to become better for what I hope will be my last marriage to the man God hand picks for me.

In the first few chapters of the book, Pastor Sarah demystifies the biblical character of Eve and presents her as a woman who is present in all of us in one way or another. Much like Eve, we are guilty of making mistakes that sometimes greatly alter the course of our lives, like me choosing to marry the man I did even after being specifically told not to by the Spirit of God. Like Eve, Pastor Sarah wants us to extend grace to ourselves for those mistakes then to boldly step away from making these past failures influence how and who we show up as today. Reminding us that we are 'God's harvest and He won't let us stay in the ground'.

Are you giving yourself permission to evolve as a woman or are you unwilling to do so because you think your mistakes and past shortcomings are too grave and offer no hope for growth and change? I submit to you that the devil is a liar and the only power he has over you is the one you give him. You have permission to evolve beyond the woman you once were so show grace to yourself on your journey as you gradually become the woman God has called you to be. I am right there journeying alongside you!

XOXO

Ibogirl