From Crossroads to Clarity: Navigating Life's Journey with Divine Empowerment

Have you ever stood at the crossroads of your spiritual journey and your worldly ambitions, feeling a pull in both directions? I'm Stacey Camille, and I've walked that tightrope, balancing achievements like my double master's and my role as a UN peace ambassador with my identity in Christ. In this series, we're unlocking the potential within ourselves and across the globe, beginning with how divine guidance shapes the empowerment of women. Whether it's navigating the challenges of global conflicts or redefining your personal calling, we're tapping into the source that transforms and aligns us with a higher purpose.

We're not just talking about personal growth here; we're embracing the collective success that blossoms from spiritual fruitfulness. Plus, I'll share a slice of my journey, revealing how a crushing career rejection eventually became a testament to the unexpected ways God can bless our paths. Together, we're learning to seek God's roadmap before setting out, and to savor the sweetness of patience and trust in His timing.

As kingdom citizens, it's our duty to raise our gaze beyond our borders, educating ourselves on the vast tapestry of global matters. We're called to action, to put on the lens of compassion and see the world with divine clarity. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to you, my listeners, for joining me on this enlightening path. Your support through likes and subscriptions fuels our shared mission. So, let's move forward, empowered and educated, ready to make a difference in His name.

Transcript

Stacey: 0:02

Hi everyone, welcome back to the podcast. I am your host, stacey Camille, and I know that you guys miss me. I miss you too. I haven't been on for quite some time. I was busy doing what? Getting my master's degree. So I just received my master's actually a double master's. I just received my master's actually a double master's in management, leadership and diplomacy.

Stacey: 0:31

I love international politics and just world events and just international situations and events that are going on with, especially, women and children. So that is what I have been focused on since February, what I have been focused on since February. But of course, you all know I never, never, never, never, ever want to leave my first love, which is being a kingdom citizen and ambassador for Christ. Speaking of ambassador, I have also obtained my I don't know if you would call it certification, but I am now a United Nations peace ambassador. So that is where my heart lies.

Stacey: 1:10

I know that this world is in a lot of turmoil and some people kind of feed off of that to, you know, gain a bigger audience. All the news shows and commentators. They, you know, use all the bad things that are going on in the world to get our emotions riled up and to separate us so we can choose a side. And for us Christians, you know, I was starting to become concerned because I was like, well, you know, I know we live here in this world and we have to be involved with the things that are going on, but we also have to remember that we are citizens of the kingdom of God and these things even Jesus said it himself that when we see these things, he predicted, he prophesied that we are going to see all these things, that we should not be troubled. We should just focus on him and doing the work that he called us to do. So that's what I'm here to do. So, moving forward, I'm going to be doing a couple of series on just seeing the world and seeing the work that we do through God's vision, through the eyes of God, as being a kingdom citizen. Trust me, I have been looking into this and it has given me a brand new perspective and I was just like, really, really excited to share that with you guys.

Stacey: 2:31

So I want to make sure that I get feedback from you, like what do you think of the episodes? What do you want to hear? I am open to all of it. So, without further ado, we are going to be going into a three-part series and before I do that, the name of the podcast may change. So if you see, oh, there's a brand new name for the podcast, because before we know it was Faith Amplified. So I'm doing a little bit of rebranding, so please just bear with me as I do that, but it's still going to be the same feed. You know, nothing's going to change. We're going to continue on where we left off.

Stacey: 3:17

So today we are going to start the three-part series and I'm going to be talking about vision and God's vision for us, for us women, for those of us who are talented, who are strong, who are educated, whether it's by traditional education or home education. We are going to talk about our work and how we can contribute and how we can excel. And the reason why I chose this topic just a little background is because I see I'm hurt by a lot of the ways that women all over the world, especially in third world countries, let's just say outside of America, the Middle East, let's just say outside of America, the Middle East, african countries, where the role of the woman is diminished to serving always serving the man, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with serving, it's just, I believe, that the service is being abused, right, so it's, yes, we want to have children. Well, some of us want to have children, some of us want to build families, some of us want to educate our children at home, some of us love to cook, some of us love to clean all those traditional roles. There is joy in that, I think. Where the anger comes up is because those roles and the service that we do, the contribution that we put in, is abused by some, and that leads to us feeling dejected, abused and all of that. So I really want us to refocus our mind on what we're really here to do and move past that, look past that and have a goal.

Stacey: 5:08

So today's topic we're going to talk about cultivating competence, god's work in our vision. Okay, so we have a vision, but you know we always have to keep God in everything. So let's talk about why I'm going to, what topics we're going to cover here. So we're going to be talking about world events as it relates to women, the challenges that we face today and the good work that we're doing and how we can help. Practically everything coming from a Christian perspective. Remember that I'm always coming from a Christian perspective.

Stacey: 5:53

So I always start with a scripture, as always, so, so, okay. So today's uh discussion will help you, especially young women, understand and embrace the role of divine guidance and achieving your vision. Right, so we can have vision, we can have dreams, we can have goals, but when it's under divine guidance, like that's what propels us and that's what sustains us, okay, so we can be propelled by our own efforts, our own wisdom, our own education, our own skillset, but will that sustain you? Not always. We always end up with burnout, bitterness, dejection, rejection and just feeling totally out of it when we rely on ourselves. But when we rely on divine guidance, then it's during those downtimes is where that the Holy Spirit helps us, lifts us up and keeps pushing us and keeps sustaining us and keeps us going towards God's goal. Right, so we want to do everything under divine guidance. So we always start with scripture because we know there's no shifting with scripture. We can trust God because he does not change with the wind, and we also have to keep everything in perspective with all that's going on, you know, in the world. We really have to be diligent in where we choose to focus our attention. So let's start with um, philippines 213 and that says for it is god who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose Right, isn't that beautiful? Philippians 2.13,. For it is God who works. He's doing the work in you to will, okay and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. So, when we on, when we are under divine guidance, it is the holy spirit, it is god that is doing that work.

Stacey: 8:14

Now, when we move away from divine guidance, what happens is we either I see personally, and let me just say that we either tend to focus on other people number one, right. So what is she doing over there? How did she get her information? How did she get her degree? How did she get on the stage? How did she get the mic? How did she she, she, she, she.

Stacey: 8:42

And then we start comparing ourselves. So we either copy the other person so now there is no um, no evidence of being genuine, right, because we're just copying the next person who copied the other person who copied and copied, and copied. So now you're just like the seventh copy, um. Or we start putting ourselves down because we don't necessarily compare to the other person, so we quit, we drop out. I'm guilty of that a lot. You know I'll start something and then see somebody else way ahead of me and start comparing myself and then just drop what I'm doing, which is terrible. It really really sucks. So you know we do that, which is terrible. It really really sucks. So you know we do that. Or we get to the point where we will just and listen.

Stacey: 9:29

If this is you, I'm going to tell you the truth. You are not going to get far by doing this, which is stepping on other women to get ahead and stepping on looks like you gossip about the person. You're always trying to dig up dirt. Every opportunity you have to bring up that person's name in a conversation in a negative way. When they're not in the room, you do that. Or even when they're in the room, you always try to demean. And there's also a subtle way that we do this thing where we get into cliques and if you are not like us, you are other right.

Stacey: 10:11

So if you don't look like us, if you especially us in church circles, okay, if you were not born into a certain family or you didn't grow up in a certain circle, or you didn't, you are not married to a minister or something like that then your other than your other, and I've experienced that myself plenty of times. Um, the church could be great, the people could be nice, but only to a certain degree, right, um, it and, and sometimes it's, it's what we would call. You know, just this bias that we have, and not only in church circles that happens, but also in corporate circles, in the boardroom. Okay, it's like this crabs in the barrel, there's no room for anybody else. It happens in schools, education, all kind of spheres. So that's what happens when, when we're not under divine guidance.

Stacey: 11:02

So let's look at what this passage looks like to us. So, first of all, it looks like transformation and renewal. Okay, we cannot get where we want to go if we refuse to change. You cannot get where you want to go or where you want to be if you refuse to change. Trust me, sis, the world will pass you by.

Stacey: 11:34

If you are stuck in your ways, because you're right, everybody else is wrong. You're not open to discussion. You're not open to discussion. You're not open to constructive criticism, you're not open to being held accountable for your actions, you're not self-aware enough to know that there's a need for a change. You're not going to go anywhere. The world is going to pass you by, you know, because God's work in us is often seen as transformative, and it's a transformative process, okay, and that changes us from the inside out. So you can look wonderful on the outside and be rotten on the inside. And I'm going to be real with you.

Stacey: 12:20

I have dealt with family members. I have members, family members now that, um, super duper Christian, super duper churchy I would call it. Let me not say Christian, because, uh, if you say you're a Christian, you should be a disciple of Christ and you should display certain fruit, um and and of Christ, and you should display certain fruit and the fruit is not being displayed. Let me just say it like that. So, super duper churchy on the outside, but the inside needs some work, it needs some work. So there's no real transformation there, okay.

Stacey: 12:55

So this includes the transformation, includes the renewal of your mind, your emotions, all of that. All of that is mentioned, and here's a scripture in Romans 12 too, okay, where all of us, all of us, are urged not to conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This transformation will help you understand the will of God if you don't allow the Holy Spirit to change your mind, you're going to end up like these people that we see on the news that are not just protesting because there's nothing wrong with protesting, right, and I'm and I'm talking about the whole Israel and Palestine conflict that's going on right now. For the life of me I've been trying to understand what, all the details of it, to really educate myself on the deeper issue, and I've been trying to avoid the commentary on the news and all of that, because everybody kind of takes this side and they put blinders on to the other side, so no one's listening to each other. But what I do know is when I see protesters not just out there protesting but destroying property, physically harming other people, like that's where I say well, what?

Stacey: 14:23

What is the real goal here? Is the goal to make yourself look like the enemy, look like the wrong one, or is the goal to help people who are actually hurting in Palestine? Because you hurting a security guard or destroying property or spewing off information that is not factual in a public forum does not help the people who are actually suffering. So I relate that back to this topic by saying there is no transformation there, because if there's a transformation. Your motive would be to actually be productive and do activities and actions that will help people who are actually hurting. Okay, what some people are doing is by destroying and hurting, you're just bringing attention to yourself, so you're actually taking away attention from the situation that really needs the attention, and that's all I'll say about that. I can go in all day, but that's all I'll say about that.

Stacey: 15:32

So when your mind is renewed, when you are open to change, then you will start seeing situations, people, your life, others' lives. You will see it through God's eyes and through the godly lens, and it will be a totally different perspective, totally different. So, number two then you have empowerment for action. Okay, so Philippians 2.13 emphasizes that. You know, god not only inspires the desire, right? Remember, we talked about two will. He not only inspires the desire to do his good pleasure, but he also empowers you to action.

Stacey: 16:17

So, as a woman, if you find yourself and I am totally guilty of this right, I will get a wonderful idea. I will participate in political forums or speaking engagements and all of those things, just to come back and start over the process over and over and over again, because I either did one little thing wrong, I said something wrong. I don't feel like it was perfect. So I'll just constantly be on this hamster wheel of starting over and over and over and over again, because really, the deeper issue is my insecurity. So the deeper issue may be your insecurity. You don't feel like you are enough, you don't feel like you are empowered, you don't. You look at others and see them doing it and, without any context of how they got where they are, you take that to mean that they're successful and you're a failure. So you do no action at all. And I'm here to tell you that that is not God. Right, because the Holy Spirit empowers you to take action, okay, and that means that he is providing you the strength, the resources and the opportunities needed to carry out the task that he's called you to do.

Stacey: 17:34

Look at what is going on in, I want to say it is Somalia, ethiopia, eastern Africa. Now we all look at them and say, oh my gosh, they are hungry, they're starving, there's no jobs, there's no food, there's embargoes, there's no resources coming into those countries, there's constant war going on over there, and that's what they show us on the media, but what we don't see are the resilient women who are working in these regions to make a change. Right, even despite the fact, despite the fact that the task seems so big. Right, yes, there's war, yes, there's hunger, yes, people are starving. Yes, there's raping of women, kidnapping of children, all of it, all the things that are going wrong. But there are some people out there who are saying, despite that, god has called me to do something and I'm going to do it and even if it makes a small dent in what is happening, I am going to do it anyway. And that's the mindset that we should have as women. And these people yeah, there's some men out there that are doing some things, but these people are mostly women. These women are out there and they are organizing and protesting and they're on the UN. I mean, look into it, sis. There are some women out there that are doing some really wonderful things and we, as a collective should educate ourselves on what they're doing, what these leaders, what these courageous women are doing, and support them.

Stacey: 19:19

Now you're saying, well, I don't know what to do, I don't know how to support. Well, you could pray. You can pray, and if you believe in prayer, then pray. If you have the resources, then send the resources. If you have the time, then give your time. Everyone can contribute. You just have to prioritize, okay. So he empowers us to do, to do the task that he's called us to do and he enables us All. Right three.

Stacey: 19:47

There's also guidance and direction. God will never leave us out there, confused and not knowing what to do. What happens is we confuse ourselves. Right, because we don't like the direction that God is giving us. We don't like where he's taking us, because it's scary. What we do is we start talking ourselves out of what God has called us to do, which causes confusion, and now we say, okay, god is confusing me. No, you confuse yourself. He was very clear as to what he wanted you to do.

Stacey: 20:18

So God's workings often involve guiding our decisions and directing our paths. Okay, so Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 speaks to trusting in the Lord with all our hearts not leaning on our own understanding and acknowledge him in all our ways and he will direct our path. So we have to trust. I know we we talk about these um scriptures and they're popular and and we hear them and it kind of just goes in one ear and out the other, but we really uh, take some time to sit down and really, uh, pick out those key words right. So, trust, understanding, direction, those key words. Just write those and highlight those, because that's a really, really good scripture there. So you know, the guidance that God gives us is crucial in making decisions that align with the overarching plan, god's overarching plan for our lives. Then we have spiritual growth, of course. You know, our brother James, in James 1, 2, and 4, talks about facing trials, and with joy, because they produce perseverance leading to maturity in faith.

Stacey: 21:37

We don't like struggle, ladies, anybody that is listening, we don't like it, we don't like to struggle, we don't like pain, and that is natural and that is okay. But I will tell you that, um, shortcuts ain't going to do it. The most successful people in the world have failed more than once and I will say and be confident in what I'm saying is fail multiple times. Right now, we're kind of in this fast paced age where most young people and I'll tell you, when I talk to some young people in some of my speaking engagements that have to do with work, a lot of them are like listen, I want to make beats. Ok, I'm going to make music beats and I'm going to be rich. I'm going to make YouTube videos and I'm going to be rich. I'm going to do this. I'm going to be rich.

Stacey: 22:30

Now I'm not saying that that is not completely out of their scope or out of their skill set or just impossible. There are some people that will be successful doing those things, but most people did you know that most millionaires are dentists, doctors, plumbers, those who are business owners? So those people were diligent in managing their resources well and they were able to invest their resources into money-making ventures that allowed them to be wealthy. So it wasn't just an overnight thing, and that's how most of you will become wealthy. That's how most of you will be successful is diligence and perseverance. And I'm not just preaching from you know, my pulpit or whatever. I'm telling you that I've had to learn that the hard way.

Stacey: 23:47

Okay, and after making mistake and shortcuts and shortcuts and shortcuts, you just have to. You end up coming back around to the starting point and saying, okay, I'm just going to have to put in the work right, so perseverance will get you where you need to be in the kingdom of God. And then there's also fruitfulness. After you've persevered, after we've put in the work, after we've um upskilled I call it in my industry. There's gonna be fruit, be fruit.

Stacey: 24:20

If you don't see fruit, if you don't see progress, then something is wrong. You got to go back to the drawing table, right? And if we're in the kingdom of God, there's specific fruit that we need to be cultivating, that needs to be produced and that, of course, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are contradictory to what the secular world wants to see. They are the outcomes that look very different from what the world says. Your outcome should be, because the world, the secular world and when I say the world I mean, like you know, systems, politics, banking what the world indicates what success is, it's rich money, lots and lots of money. Nice clothes, nice cars, material things, everything that I can see. Now you could be the most rotten person in the world, but if I see you with a lot of material things, then you're way up here.

Stacey: 25:44

Right, and that's very evident with all these people that are being exposed, especially in the entertainment industry. They're being exposed for all the rotten things that they have done to other people to get where they are. Look at the situation with Sean Combs, right All through the 90s, and I can say, for people who are my age, in their 40s and they kind of grew up around that music. Oh, it was all entertaining, it was, you know, bibbidi-bopping and all of that stuff to his music. And even though people back then I believe in the 90s were saying you know, there's something wrong with this guy, he's full of himself, he's da-da-da-da-da and all he would do is sue the people and make another song. Okay, you say something crazy about him, he will bring you to court and then get back in the studio and make another song.

Stacey: 26:39

And now it's coming out that this guy is, you know, or allegedly, just just. He just did some things that were not well. The video shows he's just did some things that just produced bad fruit produced. He produced bad fruit and just a rotten character. So so everybody else was putting him on a pedestal, inviting him to the parties, giving, investing in him, making him rich. He was looking real successful and I'm sure some of these young people were looking at him and he's the reason why a lot of young people may say that, oh, I could just make a beat and I could be rich. But then look what ends up happening when you don't have integrity, right, so you have to produce. These are basic fruit. You have to produce these fruit and then God will add all the extra stuff, because then you show that you're able to handle the extra material things, you're able to handle the responsibilities that God has given you.

Stacey: 27:43

If you look at a lot of leaders in the world who are not the best leaders presidents, prime ministers you'll see they have some you know basic fruit, that rotten fruit that they produce, and it's very, very similar. But what do we do? We keep voting them back into power. We keep putting these people back on a pedestal, and so I never understand it. I never understand it. But us kingdom citizens we we are, it is our responsibility to produce this fruit, and God will bless us when you produce this fruit. So got a couple of minutes left in this episode and we are gonna just go to the next segment really quick, all right. So when we are planning, cultivating our vision, writing things down, being inspired by God all throughout the process, we should really be taking the time to recognize God's hand in our preparation. Right, we need to focus on who's really pushing us to the goal.

Stacey: 28:58

For myself, I remember when I first wanted to transition, and I was in my 20s. At this time I first wanted to transition into investigations. At the time, you know, I was working for the New York City Law Department and I said you know, I don't really want to do this. I kind of want to. You know I wanted to. I wanted to get some action. But I didn't want to be a police officer at the time because it wasn't, like you know, the best paying career at the time. So I transitioned into investigations and I took the test and I prepared for the interview and I did all the things that I was supposed to do and what ended up happening was I went on the interview and there were a lot of people there with me interviewing. I did very well on the interview and I was confident oh, I got this, I'm going to get this offer. And I actually got an offer that day.

Stacey: 30:03

So I think I remember, as I was gathering my things and I was getting ready to leave, the recruiter at the time called me back and said oh, you know we apologize, but we kind of miscalculated how many positions we had open, so they rescinded my offer. So I got an offer within five minutes. I didn't have anything and let me tell you I was distraught because I was waiting two years for that position. I was preparing, not just waiting. I was preparing two years for two years for that position. And I remember walking outside I was in the Wall Street area and I felt like crying. I felt like, oh my goodness, you know, I just wasted two years of my life. And for some reason, just like a rush of peace came over me and I remember standing on that New York City sidewalk, looking up to the sky and saying something to the effect of you know, I thank you anyway. You know, god, I thank you anyway, you'll always provide. And that was it. I didn't think about it again, I moved on and I I kind of internally, was thinking to myself I'm not going to get upset about this, you know, god is going to open a door. If it's for me, it's for me. And usually and that's very unusual for me at the time, because usually I would just get straight into my pity party and, you know, start crying and complaining and making all kind of excuses as to why they didn't choose me all the things. They didn't choose me all the things About two weeks after that, I got a call where they offered me the job and I was so elated, I just was thanking God.

Stacey: 31:43

I was like, oh my goodness, you know, thank you, jesus. And they told me that someone that was offered the job they didn't pass the background check. So I went back and I talked to God about that. I was like you know what happened. I, you know, I thought that just position wasn't for me. And literally the Holy Spirit told me, and I'm, and I'm telling you, I speak to God and he speaks back to me, yes, this is going to be that type of channel, so this is not for you. Then you know, you're going to have to click on like and move on to the next video, but this is that type of channel where we're going to talk about God. So, yes, I spoke to God and he spoke back to me and he said it was because of your gratitude in the moment of rejection. And I said, oh my, you know, I, I put everything in God's hands. I recognize that he prepared me for that. And even when I didn't get that immediate decision, I was still thankful. And God said it's because of that gratefulness in that rejection that I'm going to keep blessing your career. And since then it's been 20 plus years. He's always blessed my career and I'll always be thankful for that.

Stacey: 32:58

So in our preparation, there's going to be times of rejection. You think that you're gonna get everything, or there's gonna always be a yes because of your effort, because of your effort. But there are going to be times where God is going to say no and it may be a test. It may be a test. So Proverbs 16, 9 says in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps and he does do that. So we have to make sure that we're balancing our personal efforts with God's guidance. That that's the sum of everything here Balancing your personal efforts with God's guidance. So as we're moving towards our goals and taking those steps to move towards our goals or our passions, make sure that we are checking in with God so that we know that we are on the right path. Because, listen, you don't want to waste all the time right. You don't want to waste years doing something that God did not confirm. And the last part is we want to make sure that we're aligning our vision with God's purpose. So you're aligning your efforts and then you're aligning your vision. Actually, you should be aligning your vision first, but we want to make sure that we are aligning both.

Stacey: 34:19

And you have Ephesians 2.10. And I love this one. It says for we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Wow, so you were created to do good work, you're created to do good work. You are created, you don't have to work to do good work, you're created to do good work. And this work, this effort, this plan, this vision was already prepared for you in advance. So all we have to do is ask isn't that great, isn't that great? And that is so. That relieves all the tension, all the pressure.

Stacey: 35:06

The problem comes in when we want to take control of our own destiny and take it out of God's hands, of our own destiny and take it out of God's hands. And that's where the struggle comes in. We don't want the work that God prepared for us in advance. As a matter of fact, we don't even ask what God has prepared for us in advance. We just do what we feel is right. Or we take a personality test or a career advisement test, and that test is going to tell us what we're supposed to do. And then we, we, we go ahead and do that and it turns out to be wrong. Or we go to school for four or six to ten years and just keep on going to school, trying to find our way, never taking the time to stop and ask God what, what work have you prepared for me to do? Where do you want me to go? Who should I be? Talking to All of those questions. And then, when you ask, actually waiting, being patient, Remember that fruit being patient for the answer.

Stacey: 36:09

So if you lack wisdom, james says, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously. He gives generously to all, without finding fault. So when you ask for wisdom, he's not going to ask you why you asking me, don't you? You have common sense. I gave you all you need and all of that. Yes, he gives you all you need, but it's OK. He invites us to the table and all of that. Yes, he gives you all you need, but it's okay. He invites us to the table, he invites us to the throne, he invites us to ask him for wisdom and it will be given to us. So here's a couple of scriptures that you're going to have in your own time, you know Proverbs 16.3, proverbs 22.29, and Proverbs 24.27. Let me read that last one for you. 24.27 says prepare your work outside, get everything ready for yourself in the field and after that, build the house. So, so I hope you get what that scripture is saying, because there's a lot of wisdom in that.

Stacey: 37:22

Relying on let me say this carefully being over spiritual with everything. Yes, we are to ask for guidance. Yes, we are pray and I'm talking to my kingdom sisters out there yes, you are to do all those things, but that does not mean that you should put aside educating yourself, whether it's traditional education or going on and taking an online course or learning a new skill. It is our responsibility to increase our skill sets. However, we do that right so we can be prepared to stand before kings, to stand before those in authority, to stand before those in authority to speak words of wisdom, to give advice to those in leadership, to lead others. Yes, we are called also to lead others. Okay, but we cannot do that if we don't know what we're talking about. Okay, we cannot do that when we rely on the evening news. We cannot do that relying on CNN or Fox and just regurgitating what they're telling us.

Stacey: 38:43

Preparation for your local commitments for me, whether it's my United Nations commitments, international commitments requires that we educate ourselves and really know what is behind what's really going on here. That's what we need to be doing. So, you know, let's burst the bubble that we live in and see the world the way God sees the world and perform the duties we were called to perform. You know, I welcome you to come on this journey with me. I'm glad that you're back with me and I hope to see you in the next episode as we continue this series. If you like this video, this podcast, please like and subscribe. All right, have a good one.