Season 2 (Episode 12) From Prison to Prosperity & Purpose

Welcome to Pain, Passion, and Purpose.

I am your host, Shakeeta Torres, where I share mental health education, biblical teachings, and tips to help you to heal on purpose so you can walk boldly in your God-given purpose. This podcast is sponsored by Empowered Purpose Academy, a certified online Christian academy where where we provide services such as certification for Christian life coaches, mentorship for master's level aspiring and existing Christian therapists, mentorship for Christians, and continued education courses for the body of Christ.

You can visit www.empoweredpurposeacademy.com to learn more and to download your free guide. If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave us a raving review so that others can tap into the knowledge and wisdom that will be shared on this podcast. Thank you so much for being here. Hey, so before I get started on today's episode, if you have not subscribed to the paid membership of my podcast community, please do. It is going to bless your life. Listen, my episodes are already like therapy slash coaching sessions where I give you strategy and insight and all that good stuff. But the community, you're going to get a lot more. You're going to get more resources, more tools, and be able to ask more questions where I can create episodes around your questions. And you will be able to get discounts on some of my, my products and my events. So what are you waiting for? The price is very affordable. This is for those who are not quite ready to invest in one-on-one coaching with me or into the Pain, Passion, and Purpose mentorship program, which is also low, by the way, but that one is a lot more in-depth. You get access to courses, you get access to the Facebook community, and all that good stuff. But this is for those who just need to just listen and just gain some tools along the way. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, subscribe. You won't regret it. It'll bless your life. We'll have topics around mental health and faith, biblical teachings, prayer, um, boundaries, communication, anxiety, depression, purpose, and so much more. I have had experience in mental health since actually about 2008 when I first finished my bachelor's program, and then from that point all the way up today and moving forward, I have gained so much knowledge, so much experience, so much wisdom, and I am anointed for it. So go ahead, hit that button, and I hope to see you in the community.

Miss Johnetta is a bold speaker and gifted prayer warrior with a heart for Christ and an eye for beauty. Not only is she an ordained minister who spends a lot of time edifying God's people, but she's also a professional makeup artist who gives women a confidence boost with her decades worth of industry experience. Even though perfecting outward beauty may be her profession, as the founder of Johnetta Prendergast Ministries, Johnetta fully understands the importance of knowing your identity in Christ above all else. In 2010, Johnetta heard the Lord tell her to relocate to Killian, Texas, and that move has proved monumental because it afforded her the opportunity to strengthen her relationship with Christ on a deeper level. In 2012, Johnetta was ordained as an evangelist by True Deliverance Ministries. As an evangelist, Johnetta traveled the country preaching and sharing her gift of intercession with others. She was even invited as the main speaker to several deliverance services. Janetta discovered that she has a rare and unique gifting at a very young age, but it wasn't until later in life that she was able to properly attach prophetess to her name. In 2019, she officially accepted her true calling and was ordained as Prophetess Janetta Prendergast. Wow, welcome, welcome, welcome! Thank you again so much for being here. I look forward to hear more about your story and more about your journey and everything that you have going on for the body of Christ. So I'm going to give you the floor, and the first question I want to ask you is to please share a particular pain point in your life that changed you forever.

Um, I guess I can start as being, um, being an adolescent. I'm a sexual assault survivor. I don't say victim, I say a survivor because it didn't take me out. And at a young age, I was exposed to a lot of things that a child shouldn't have been exposed to. And through that, I went through a season, a long, long, long season as an adolescent, even up into my teenage, into my early 20s, where I my relationship with God was blocked by those experiences because in my mind the enemy had me thinking, how could, how could God love me and allow somebody to harm me and to take something from me? So I didn't have the— I didn't get to, to give it to somebody, it was taken from me. Um, and so through that, um, it, it made me view men a certain way. It even affected my, uh, my relationship with my own father. And up until I got saved, every relationship that I had with a man, it was an exchange. I'll give you something, you give me something, we go about our way. And it was very, very unhealthy and, uh, and very toxic. So that definitely shaped, uh, my life, uh, forever. And, um, now that I am saved, my relationship with my father has been restored. And because when God ministered to me about why, why that was able to happen to me, I was able to forgive them that done it to me, and I was, I was able to forgive myself for holding on for it for so long and using it as an excuse to act crazy.

What you said about relationship with men and always having to have an exchange with them, to me, was just so powerful. Because I know of so many women who feel like they have to do that in order to feel love or to feel wanted or appreciated. And I can definitely relate to your story, like, okay, I'm, you know, I'm not good enough because, you know, I've been through this, I went through that. So can you share with the women who may be listening, like, some of that process for you and trying to undo that type of thinking when it comes to the exchange between you and the opposite sex?

Well, I have to say that it was definitely God that was leading me in prayer because I remember one day I asked God, I said, God, what is it about me that you love me so much? And even when I tell women that, you know, that I talk to, I said, you have to read the word of God as if it's a personal love letter written to you. It's not just a history book. It's not just something that just happened and then we on to something else. It is something that God orchestrated divinely and he set things in motion. And he sent and allowed Jesus to go to the cross knowing that we would do all the things that we would do, knowing that we would experience all the things that we experienced, but also that reconciliation could be there so that healing could be there so that deliverance can be there. And so I can remember asking God, why, why do you love me so much? And, and why did you allow this stuff to happen to me? And why I'm still here? And he took me to Jeremiah 29:11. He said, Jonetta, I have an expecting in for you. You might not understand it right now, but everything that you have experienced, every hurt, every pain, every disappointment, you're going to be able to— he said, I'm going to strengthen you and empower you to walk other women through these difficult seasons of their life. And I said, okay. A lot of times, and, and at this age, when I was young, I didn't even pray the prayer that we pray, God, use me. I wasn't even there yet. But a lot of times we pray and we ask God, God, use me, not knowing how God is gonna do it. Many of us think that, oh, well, he's gonna use me to teach a class or host a seminar or conference or preach or pray. But God might want to use a trial in your life or tribulation, or he might want to use your suffering for his glory. And so he said, because you can go through this, he said, I need— I was able to use you to go through this because women was going to need somebody that was going to be relatable. Everybody doesn't have the picture-perfect story. That's not my case. I wasn't, you know, a virgin all the way into marriage and this, this, this and that. I went through a whole, whole heap of ups and downs. When you think about it, every great man and woman of God that was used, uh, in the, in the Bible, they had a skewed past. It was very, very, very shaky. They didn't come from, you know, these great, great, great homes. Both parents were really, really, really present, and it was a lot of things that was going on even amongst sibling. And so I was able to shake back from that because God let me know that he was with me and because I asked him. A lot of times we don't get clarity, not because God doesn't want to give it to us, we don't ask. And I asked because I know that God has a purpose behind everything that he does. And so I was like, God, I just need to know why am I going through this? And when he told me it had nothing to do with With me, that was deliverance in itself because I was thinking maybe I did something to make them do that to me. Maybe I said something I shouldn't have said, or maybe I wore something I shouldn't have wore. I was 9 years old. I was a baby, you know? So that's what helped me.

One of the things that really stood out for me, I've been following you on Instagram for a while now, and I love your content. I love your brand. And let me tell you now, if you don't want to talk about this area, that's fine. That's fine. I'm fine with that. But what stood out to me the most is I was watching one of your lives, I was going through, and you were sharing with your audience how you had been to prison. Oh yeah, I was like, wow, I'm okay, guys, she got a story. Okay, she got a story. All right, so if you don't mind sharing, because I know sometimes, as you were saying before, we count ourselves out because of our past, and the enemy tries to condemn you over and over and over again so you can forfeit what it is that God has for you. Do you mind sharing a little bit about that story?

Oh, absolutely, girl.

Yes.

Like, my life— when I tell you, like, my life is an open book. And because I'm just at a space that God has allowed me, that anything that he has forgiven and put under the blood, nobody can take that and use it because I've told my own story. And so, yeah, there was like a season in my life, you know, and it all started, like I said before, um, was my childhood when those things happened to me. It completely, um, it messed up my mind. I was nowhere. Of course, I grew up in the church. I grew up to know church. I didn't grow up to know God, so there was no change in my life. I could live, I can do whatever I wanted to do, but I knew how to do church. I knew how to get up there and sing. I knew how to praise dance. I was a part of the drill team. I could, I can quote scriptures to you left and right. I can quote the Bible, the books of the Bible, forwards and backwards. Like, like that, because I was taught church, I wasn't taught kingdom. Um, and because I was never introduced to Jesus, just introduced to church, I still was able to do whatever I wanted to do without no real conviction. And when you live a life of sin, um, sin don't travel alone. I always tell people, sin go bring a couple of cousins with it, you know, so you can have a big family reunion. And so I began to drink very, very heavily because I was trying to block out the pain, I was trying to numb all of the pain that I was feeling from, you know, being raped, being molested. And then I'm feeling like, oh well, I can't tell anybody about it because it's going to break up my family, or somebody might say that I'm lying. If they think I'm lying, then I'm gonna really be mad. And, um, I, I had a real rage, uh, against men. So I would fight all the time. I would fight not girls, I would fight boys. I just will fight if I felt like they was gonna try to do something to me. I will fight them. So I started, uh, drinking alcohol very heavily. I was going to the clubs, um, I came— I became very promiscuous, um, and then, um, I made some decisions, uh, um, I was working at my job. Where was I working at? I was working at Walmart. And so what I would do is I would allow people to come through my line and take stuff without them scanning it because they would give me the money for it. So that's how ultimately I got arrested. When I did like almost a year, and I went to jail first, then I did like almost a year, um, in prison. And so, um, when I came home, I came home in 2008. That next year, in 2009, I said, God, if you don't do something— it's almost like I was— it was either do or I was going to take my life. I said, God, if you don't come in and do something, I don't have anything else to live. I was like, I've been through the worst. I've been raped, been molested, been in abusive relationships, had a a child as a teenager, been to prison. If you don't do something, they saying that you're such a great and an amazing God, but if you don't do something, this is it. Like, I'm out. And literally, like, um, like the next year when I got out of prison, that's when I got saved.

That is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing your story.

Oh, absolutely.

Listen, you put a mandate on God. Like, look, God, I need for you to show up and show out. If you don't, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And you can't tell me that people say don't test God, don't ask God questions. That is a lie.

If you don't ask, how will you know? Because the Bible tells us in Proverbs, you know, 3 and 5, it says, you know, to trust in the Lord with all your faith and all our— acknowledge him. And all the way we can acknowledge, we have to ask God, okay God, what am I going left to the right, forward, back, what are we doing today? So in order, in order to acknowledge God in anything we that we do, we have to inquire. And when you inquire of the Lord, that means questions have to be asked. So I don't know why people say this, but I ask questions, especially if you don't know something. Wisdom says to seek God, to, to ask God. Don't just go out here and do something.

Exactly, that's so true. So what would you say to the little girl then, now?

I would say, girl, keep living. It is, it is not your fault. You are— you were so great and so powerful as a child that the enemy tried to rob you of your life even as a kid, even before you knew who you were. The enemy saw something that God placed in you and he tried to take you out, but because the mandate on your life was so great, God wasn't going to allow it to happen.

In the past, I've counseled a lot of, um, you know, young women especially who've been abused by their father sexually or family member, and they're like 4 and 5 and 6, 7 years old, and it's so common. Yeah, it's very common. It's like they blame themselves. I'm like, you were very young, you couldn't protect yourself, so how is it your fault? You didn't seduce your father or seduce the person who harmed you. Like, don't let the enemy keep lying to you to make you think that it's your fault. And all this shoulda, coulda, woulda— which, what do you mean shoulda, coulda, woulda? Like, you were a little girl. Even as an adult, it's the same thing. Like, shoulda, coulda, woulda does not exist when it comes to sexual abuse.

That's right.

Because it's not— no one has put anything in anybody's mind to do something that's so just, ah, this, ah, just utter, just— yeah, yeah, yeah. So I thank God for your story. I know that you empower and impact so many women with your powerful story. So this is why I love my podcast. I'm able to hear stories from different women and men of God who is just like, ah, I see you on social media, but they actually hear it from you, it's just a lot more powerful to me. So thank you for sharing that.

I mean, if that's what I can do, and I told God, uh, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. If you want me to tell it, I'll tell it. And, and I do. And, um, just me sharing just different, you know, portions that God allows me, I see that it is freeing to so many women. I say, you know what, God, what I went through, it really wasn't that bad, because if I'm one person able to go through something and, and to deliver and help heal a multitude of women It was worth it. It was definitely worth it.

And I also— our healing is tied to our children. You have 5 beautiful kids.

Yes, and I'm very protective of them. Very.

When you experience sexual abuse, it does make your radar a lot higher, especially, especially whenever you healed from it. Because I noticed that even with my girls, like, I'm more alert than their father is. Yeah, no, no, no, they ain't going over there. Yeah, what you— I'm like, no.

Yeah, I don't let my kids spend the night. They don't get to spend the night at friends or even family because it was, it was family that, that abused me. It wasn't nobody I didn't know. It was somebody that I knew and that my parents entrusted to babysit and watch me. And so I'll let my children go visit their cousins, but can't nobody spend the night, can't nobody do none of that. And I— we taught our children the, the proper name of the body parts when they were young. We did not— not the nicknames and all that. No, this This is what that is, and nobody's to be touching you here unless you're at the doctor and me or your father is present. It's only for a physical examination, and nobody should be taking you in the bathroom or off in a room. Or somebody tries, if I'm not there, scream, come tell me. Don't ever think you can't tell me. I'm not going to blame you. I know it's not your fault. And so I'm very, very candid, uh, with my children, because what we don't— what we fail to teach them, or if they don't feel like we are a safe place they'll go look for it in somebody else.

That is so true. I often tell people, you know, especially my— I had a guest last time who's doing a nonprofit for women, and she now was talking about how if our parents or our loved ones would have talked to us about sexual abuse, about our body, what's appropriate, what's inappropriate, we would have spoken a lot sooner. I know my last set for about 3 years, age 8 to 11.

Same.

My mom like never taught me, like it was never a conversation, never, never. My mom went through the same thing when she was little, you know. So all these secrets and all this covering up stuff, it does not benefit the next generation. No, you know, if I had known that it's okay to tell your mom what happened to you, I would have told her years ago.

Yeah, I would have told her probably the day after it happened. Mom, they did, they did this to me. But I— because nobody never talked about it, and no, I never heard nobody else, any of my cousins or even my siblings experience it. It was, no, don't, don't say nothing. Even like, if you say something, you're gonna break your family up and they're gonna be mad at you. Nobody gonna believe you. And I sat with that for almost 20 years. It was almost 20 years before I told anybody. Wow. Yeah.

Oh, that's a long time. And no wonder you had so much build up. Because it's almost like, do y'all see me? Do you guys see me suffering? Anybody know?

And all they— all my mom would say is, I don't know why you're so bad. And so me, because— and I— and again, nothing against my mom, she did the best she could with what she knew. And on top of that, she wasn't where she was supposed to be in the Lord either, so I couldn't blame her. But I'm grateful for the experience because my parenting looks completely opposite from my parents. Like, I, I get to the root. I don't just say my children are bad, or if they start acting a certain way, hey, what happened? What transpired? Where you been? What was you watching on TV? What were you listening to? Instantly I'm trying to get to the root of why their behavior changed all of a sudden. I'm not saying that you bad, that you know something happened, something shifted.

I like what you said, getting to the root and then asking what happened. Yes, because oftentimes we see people who may be angry or with an attitude problem, and my instant response mentally, I'm like, what happened to them? It's not like, oh, she crazy, or he crazy. What happened? I want to know what happened.

Something happened. Yeah, yeah. I say that, I was like, nobody wakes up and says, I'm gonna be a crackhead today, or I'm gonna be a whore, I'm gonna be a prostitute, I'm gonna be a murderer today, or even I'm gonna be a child molester. Something happened to them. To make them act out in the way that they're acting out. I know I can say it because that's what happened to me. I didn't wake up promiscuous. I didn't wake up, you know, want to do drugs, drink alcohol, go to the club recklessly. Like, no, something happened to me, and because it never got addressed, it got worse before it got better.

So we'll take a break right now and we'll come back to part 2 to hear more about her passion and her purpose. Hey, hey, hey!

I hope you are enjoying this episode so far. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a raving review. I also want to share with you more about Little Warriors in a Bottle. This is healing anointing oil that God instructed me to prepare back in 2015. I have received so many testimonies since 2015 about this oil. It is powerful. It has changed my life and others. So be sure to go visit www.empoweredpurposeacademy/shop to learn more about the oil. And while you're there, you can check out the new book that I co-authored called Just Say No, a number one international bestseller, where I share my story called What Trauma Stole from Me. It is amazing. It will inspire you and encourage you. And there are also 13 other authors who share their story about setting healthy boundaries. So that's it for our little break. Let's get back into part 2 of this episode.

Welcome back to part 2 of Pain, Passion, and Purpose. I have a guest, a very special guest, Prophetess Jonetta Prender Gassed. And part 1, we shared more about her story, how she experienced sexual abuse and trauma, and how she went from— I would say from prison to prosperity.

Okay, that's what I see.

And prison to me is just not being in prison, but just, you know, being a prison of your trauma, being a prison of the things that you've gone through, being a prisoner of trying to come out of, you know, battling with addiction, though. To me, those are different types of prison. You came out of that thing, okay?

Yeah.

So can you share with us today more about your passions and how that connects to your purpose today?

My passion is definitely— I know I'm called to, uh, women. Um, that's why God gave me the brand For Her By Her, um, because I have went through so many things as a woman from a child up to to even now. And I didn't have a woman to help me walk through these different transitions, or even to be an example, um, because I went through them, I overcame them. God has allowed me to help other women, uh, go— if a woman who's been sexually assaulted, I can walk her through that. Who's been to prison, I can walk her through that. Who's been a teenage mother, I can walk her through that. You know, already having a child and blending the family, like, I could— and having your own baby, then going to have babies with another, I can walk her through that. Even women who've had abortions, I can walk them through all these different things because I've actually lived it, and God has graced me to, uh, to be delivered from these situations and to capitalize on it and not stay stuck, uh, in those places. And I can say that honestly, that I'm called to the unsung woman, the one— the women who are unheard, the ones who are unseen, the ones who feel like they're unworthy, because that's the woman that I used to be before God, uh, he healed me.

You are so right. Your story, I mean, I can just see, I just see it like as you were speaking, I had this, oh, like a lineup of women just still waiting, waiting to be served by you because, you know, that condemnation is very real.

It is. I just did a, um, I do a Bible study in my Facebook group on, on the first and third Thursdays of the month, and so the one I did last week that's— it was those women. I could feel them, and I started calling them out, uh, and I would just begin to pray for them, like, right after Bible study. And then they all were, like, inboxing me, like, oh my God, how did you know? I was like, I didn't know anything. I said, that's the— that's the thing of being in tune with Holy Spirit. He'll let you know, uh, what's in the room, whether you're there physically or it's virtually, because there's no distance in the spirit. And so that's a lot of things with a lot of women in the body of Christ, or just women in general, that keep stuck. And we're stuck with the trauma, you know, wherever the trauma is, we're still stuck there even though we've grown up and we still do the day-to-day. Mentally, we're stuck with wherever that trauma happened. We're stuck there.

You're so right. I was reading, um, John Eckhart's book, probably— oh really, I've been reading this book all year since last year, um, Healing from the Spirit of Rejection. And he had a little, a little segment in there about how trauma can cause you to stay stuck in the same mentality, you know, when the trauma happened to you. And I'm like, that is so, so, so, so true.

It is.

And it takes Holy Spirit, it takes, you know, having someone to intercede for you, someone who's able to counsel you and coach you through that. Yeah, out of that mindset so you can move forward and not be stuck in that, in that mindset.

Absolutely.

So of course, the next question I had was, how did you discover your purpose? But I think it's a very— I think so far we kind of already explained that, but if you want to share a little bit more again, I'm open to that.

Well, you know, I always say, even when, um, when people— even when I coach people and they ask me, well, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, I was like, really don't? I said, you don't really have to focus on trying to figure something out. I always tell people that your purpose is connected to your passion. So whatever you're passionate about, you're going to find purpose in it. And so because I saw an issue within the church, or just women in general, um, because women always say, well, I can't— well, not every woman, but most women— I can't get along with other women, and I can't do that because they're full of drama. And I'm like, no, you need to be healed. Some, some girl made you feel some type of way, maybe about a man, or maybe she said something about you, talked about you, and now you stuck with that. But I'm like, you could be with a man, the man that cheated on you, went upside your head, and you married him. You can go be friends with other women. And that's the analogy that I always give women. And so I saw that issue even in the church, even once I got saved and I was, you know, a part of, you know, sisterhood and women's ministry. You know, different ministries call it different things or whatever, but there still was a disconnect, especially between the younger generations and the older generations, because the older generations want everything to be the way that it was when they were. And I'm like, no, things are different. I say, even the way y'all was doing it, it's not right because y'all are still kind of stuck in a certain space. But with us, with the younger generation, we want truth. We want to operate and be authentic in who we are. We want to be whole. We really want to be healed. We want to get to the root of it because we seeing how this stuff is trickled down generationally and it continues to wax worse and worse. And so I seen the disconnect within women leadership, or even what they thought— what they thought women leadership or women's sisterhood was about. It was like just talking about getting yourself— be single until you get married. I'm like, there's more to being a woman than being a wife and being single. Women need to know how to cultivate relationships, how to care of their self as women, how to have, uh, conversations that are going to be edifying Some women need to know how to keep a house up. They don't know how to cook or how to clean or how to tend to their children or how to even— how to— especially if you're a single mom, how to balance being a mom, you know, working, and then fulfilling your obligations in the church. There's so many things and so many hats that women wear. And then the church focused on either being single— they divided up with the marriage and the singles. I said, but there's so much more to womanhood than that. And even me being married and being single, I could learn something from a single woman. I can learn something from her. So we can't say, oh well, you got to be over there. And, and before I got married, it made me feel a type of way. Oh, I can't— I don't— I can't say nothing about this. Oh, I'm not good enough because I don't have a husband yet. And it makes single women, oh well, I'm not going to be really valued or honored until I got a man. And so I saw the disconnect even with that. I'm like, no, God, I— there has to be a more excellent way to to, uh, build community to where there is no division. Yeah, you can have some stuff for singles and have some stuff for married women, but there shouldn't be a split. It should be one. And so I saw that, and even what God had given me for her, by her, with the online community that I have— it's not just single or married. Some women that are part of my group on Facebook, they are nowhere near a church. They won't even walk in the church because they've been so hurt and so bruised. But because I've created a space where we're just talking as women. We're going over, you know, we're reading the word of God, we posting inspirational post every single day, and we're mentally checking on each other. Hey sis, you good today? What city you in? What city you in today? Let's meet up. You need something? I, I, I can go get this for you. Really, really, really building an authentic sisterhood, cuz some women have not been taught how to build organic relationships with other women.

Yes. The word I keep hearing is communication. Communication. It all boils down to the communication with each other because most of the time we have more in common with the woman that we don't want to talk to than we do. That's true.

That's true.

And what I need, she may have. And what she need, I might need it, you know.

Yes. Yeah, yeah. My prayer has been God sent me sit me around women where I can learn and glean from them. And that's just a space that I'm in, and that's just the space, the season that God, he granted my request. And every woman that I'm connected to, I learn from them. They single, young, married, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home moms— I learn from every woman that I'm connected to. And that's the thing, communication and to remain teachable, because you don't know everything.

I totally agree. And what you earlier, God, I thank God for the older generation. They do have a lot of wisdom. But I also find, you know, in dealing with sometimes— not all of them, but some of them— they try to make the younger generation feel like, oh, you don't know anything, or you don't know enough, or you just— oh my, I've been through that most of my, my journey as a, as a Christian, even a baby in Christ. Or, oh, you, you know, you got too much shape, you shouldn't wear that skirt. It's always Oh my—

oh God, listen, all the time they're like, I don't think— they're like, I can see your hips. I was like, how do you hide hips? Yeah, I can wear— I could have on sweatpants, you still go see them. Like, I, I don't know what you want me to do. And you know, I remember I went to my apostle and I was like, I was like, they always getting on to me about what I got on. He was like, who? And I was like, if I don't say nothing to you about how you dress And if God hasn't convicted you, you're okay. And, and that's what I had to have a conversation with older women. I said, y'all were taught that outer clothing, you know, equated to your salvation or how holy you were. I said, God is weighing my heart. I'm a new babe in Christ. I don't have no church clothes. All I did was go to work and go to the club, so I wore what I had. So I was like, if y'all don't like what I wear, y'all can go buy me some clothes, but if not, I'm aware of what I have. I'm aware what I got in my closet. And of course, as I, you know, got more mature, certain things I tried to wear, Holy Spirit was like, nope. You see how you twisting and turning, looking at yourself? Nope, take that off. You're not wearing that to church. But that comes by relationship. I was like, we have to focus on the inner man. When you could build up the inner man, how you look outwardly, it would change. You don't have to say this, this, this, and that. But the older generation, that's how they were taught. They have to wear, you know, skirts down to the ground and they have to have on, you know, have on a, you know, have on a slip and have on stockings, and they couldn't do this, they couldn't do that, couldn't wear makeup, couldn't have your hair, you know. But I was like, that has nothing to do with relationship with God. That has nothing— me wearing weave, wearing makeup is not gonna keep me from getting in. That's not— God is not concerned about that.

So thank God for your ministry. You guys hear that? If you guys feel drawn to her, definitely check out her Facebook group. Her link and everything will be in the show notes for you to go check out and learn more about her. And so Season 2, the Lord gave me 'Your words carry weight, speak life.' So what do you want to contribute to that topic as far as speaking life and understanding that your words carry weight?

Um, our words definitely do, um, carry weight. And so each and every day, this is what I would tell a woman who is on her journey, who— whether you're just starting off or if you've been— you've seasoned and you've been in this for a while. Every day when I get up and pray, I say, Lord, I fall out of agreement with Satan and his devices, and I come into agreement with everything that you have for me. When I wake up, I come into agreement with the will of God for my life, and I make myself readily available to be used by him in whatever capacity he wants to use me, whether he wants me to just sit in silence, make intercession, call somebody, give them an encouraging word, make an encouraging post on the internet, or just spend time with him, whether that is. And so, um, that's what I would do.

I—

in anything that you speak, make sure that it is giving life to the right things. There is power in the tongue. And so sometimes we can give life to something that God want to stay dead. And so you have to come into agreement with God because there is power in agreement. How can two walk together except they be agreed?

It.

And because we are spiritual beings inhabiting a fleshly body, we have to understand that there's some things that we have to die to every single day. I don't care how many tongues you speak in, how many scriptures you know, there's just some things every day you just know it's something in you like, oh God, let me just get this to you, let me just lay this on the altar because I know if I don't, I'ma be crazy today. So definitely every— each and every day, make it, make it, uh, make it— make the decision, conscious decision to come into agreement with the will of God and fall out of agreement with anything that would try to rob you, uh, of your purpose and of, of, of the anointing and the oil that you carry.

And as you said earlier, ask God questions. Okay, God, is this what I should be praying for? Should I be seeking after this? And he'll, he'll let you know if you listen.

He sure will. Because that's the thing about heaven, that's an awesome thing about God. Uh, when you take his word at face value, when you truly, truly love him and you belong to him and you desire to do what he called you to do. If you ask God to do something, it's either yes, no, or not yet. That's it. And then I would rather hear a no than to do something and have to start all, you know, have to start all the way back over from ground zero and then rework it. So I'd rather just hear a no or not yet than just to go out here on my own and then have to work extra hard to make it come to pass because God didn't give me the okay to do it.

Exactly.

Wow, y'all, you guys hear that? Ask questions.

Yeah, don't, don't be like me. Don't keep making the same mistake over.

Oh, I've been there too. Oh my God, check in with you.

I didn't even ask you.

I didn't even see you.

Well, I finally asked. Sometimes it's just subconsciously. We're not trying to be disobedient. Just like, oh, I just need to get this done, let me do it. But we ain't even ask God, okay, do I got the green light to do this, right?

There have been times when God has said, I'll wait for you to ask me.

Yeah, so now I'll be asking questions, and then when I don't get an answer, I find myself getting frustrated. I'm like, God, but I'm asking you, you're not saying nothing.

Yeah, trust me, I understand. So thank you so much for joining me on this, on today's episode. Can you please share with the audience where can we find you?

Uh, you can find me on Instagram at For Her By Her Brand. That's the handle for that. I took down my personal Instagram because I was posting the same content on both, so I just merged them together. Um, my website is jonettaprendergas.com where you can find everything that I have doing, everything that I got going on. Um, I have some new projects that I'm doing, so y'all can be on the lookout for that. And if you guys are on TikTok, it's For Her By Her Brand. Or if you care to follow my group on, uh, Facebook, it's For Her By Her, uh, Brand as well.

I love it.

Her community is amazing. So thank you again so much for joining me, and I look forward to everyone hearing what you have to say.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. Our prayer is that this podcast episode has blessed you. Don't forget to go and subscribe and leave us a raving review. If you would like to sow into this ministry or to this podcast, Pain, Passion, and Purpose, you can do so at anchor.fm/painpassionandpurpose or Cash App $shakeetatorres. Shakeeta Torres. Thank you so much, and I will talk to you next time.