Woman Evolve with Sarah Jakes Roberts - Before The Next Command

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Sis, this one goes straight to the heart. A Mind Your Business question about career rejection sends Sarah into a real talk moment about how we handle the "no" we didn't see coming. Because yes, rejection can be redirection… but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. SJR gets honest about waiting on God when He feels quiet, the pressure to have it all figured out, and how easily we turn our relationship with God into a performance review instead of a place of refuge. In true Woman Evolve fashion, Sarah brings scripture, life, laughter, and love into a reminder we all need: before you get the next command, God wants you in His presence. Not rushed. Not perfect. Not pretending. Just present. This episode is for every woman navigating transition, healing from disappointment, or learning to trust God in the in-between. Tap in and let your heart catch the breath your mind has been begging for.

What's up family? It's your girl, Sarah Jakes Roberts, and you are listening to another episode of the Wominee Ball podcast. And you are listening around the time of Thanksgiving. So I hope you know that I am grateful for you. I wanted to share with you some things that have been on my heart. So this episode is going to be a little bit different. I actually listen to the mind your business question first. And then once I listen to the mind your business question, there was something that I wanted to. to share about just practicing being in the presence of God and the idea of rejection, being redirection, and how that can sometimes be a hard pill to swallow. So I'm going to let you listen to the mind your business question.

But first, I want you to mind my business. And I just got back from vacation. My husband and I went to Wyoming to celebrate 11 years of marriage. 11, 11. We celebrated 11 years. So we had our golden anniversary. We had a great time. I'd never been to Wyoming before.

It was so picturesque, so beautiful. I had never experienced altitude sickness, even though I lived in Denver for over a year, but I got sick while I was there. And then even when I came back, I guess my sinuses got in flames. I had a sinus that you grew up and on a struggle bus. But I got a bus pass.

I'm getting off the struggle bus because I got a good old antibiotic and some probiotics and some herbs and the sinus rins. And I'm fighting back in Jesus' name. But I feel rested. At first I was a little discouraged because I'm like, dang, I can't catch a break. But I am feeling better, feeling rested. And I'm looking forward to spending this week with my kids are home from school. I am hosting Thanksgiving this year.

And I feel like I'm cheating, though, because some of my family members are doing some of the heavy lifting. I'm doing, I want to try and smoke a turkey. I'll probably smoke a turkey and do a baked turkey or a roasted turkey because we have a big family. and then I'm also going to fry chicken, do the greens, do the green beans, do the candy yams. I want to try peach cobbler pound cake and I do corncaster. Oh, I got to do the dressing. I got some stuff to cook. But I love you guys.

I know the holiday season's looking a little different for many people, especially as the world has changed. We're giving away 3,000 turkeys tomorrow at the Potter South. By the time you hear this, it would have already been done. at the potter's house. But no matter where you are, if you have a Thanksgiving and you have a full belly, that's one thing.

And if it's full off of turkey and all that stuff, that's one thing. But you know it's even better than a full belly of turkey or whatever else is a full heart. And I pray that this episode adds a little bit of love to your heart. Okay?

And before we listen to your mind your business question, we have a random special guest who wants to say, The Thanksgiving drive that we will be handing out turkeys is at the potterhouse in the parking lot and it's Saturday the 22nd. That's right. Period. Now you know. Hi, this is Sharia and I've seen this come on the Women Evolve Instagram to ask a question. Any questions? For me recently, I am advancing in my career, my nursing career, and I am getting a degree in, like, helping administration. And I went for a interview to be manager because I thought, like, that was the next step.

And everyone had said how great I did and everything, but they would feel like, you know, but you're still not the right pick. And it really hurt me. Even I know it was just an interview and just a job. So I think my question is, like, how do you know, like, what's next? How do you know, like, you know, God's path and then the whole, like, no, it's just redirection. It's going to touch a little bit on that and how to handle the know, like, what's, what do you do next? Because it's obviously something better out there.

But, you know, how do you navigate that? I think it's my question. So hopefully you're able to answer it. It's nice. Okay. Hope you have a good day. Thank you. Bye.

Thank you so much for sending your question. The first thing I want to say is that your voice just sounds so pleasant. I cannot believe that they do not want to listen to that voice every day because I enjoyed listening to even your voicemail. I am sorry. I understand the disappointment and rejection. And then it's just kind of like, Lord, I'm doing everything I can and the doors aren't opening up. What am I supposed to do? So I have certainly been there.

And I want to thank you for asking me this question. I would like to take this opportunity to offer you something that I have been navigating in my own relationship with God as it relates to the way that I frame my relationship with him as a commander and not a companion because I have noticed that I am constantly waiting for another command from God. and in the process of not having a command from God, I feel like I may not be close to God. But I recognize that part of the duality in being in relationship with God

is that he can both command and order our steps, but also be our companion. And I think in moments where the command is unclear that we lean into the companion of God, thinking about Paul saying, I can do all things through Christ, right? If we look in Philippians 4 and we look at the context of that scripture, it really is powerful because what he's saying prior to that is, I've got my Bible here. So if you hear my page is flipping open. But what he's saying is like, I can be rich, I can be poor, I can have, I can not have, I can do all

things through Christ who strengthens me. And when we begin to see, I'm pulling that up. So if you look in Philippians 4, start at verse 11. And at verse 11, it says, not that I speak in regard to need for I have learned in whatever state I am in to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And I just want to offer you that as you are, seeking out your next step, that understanding the will of God is not just understanding the next move, but also the companionship of God. You know, you're frustrated, you're disappointed.

God, where are you in the midst of this? Through companionship and experiencing God's presence, we're able to allow him to just meet and minister to where we are without necessarily having to provide us with the next step. And in his presence, we can experience peace and comfort. even if it's just for a moment. And as we're navigating uncertainty, unpredictable economies and job markets to just put our trust in the proximity of God. And then for me, as it relates to my next step,

my next step then is like, what is the thing where I feel the presence of God more strongly? Or, you know, the opportunity comes at a time where I'm in the presence of God. And I want to, maybe that's what I'll do. I'm recording this before I actually do like my little Bible study. But maybe I will, yeah, that's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to make this about practicing the presence. Because what does it mean to like live in the presence of God, be in the presence of God? Hopefully I can provide some practical tools for that. But from that place of who you become in the presence of God, we're able to more adequately look at our world and say, okay, this is where I have experienced. these are my needs, here's some opportunity.

I believe that being in the presence of God gives us a God perspective on our world. And when we have a God perspective of our world, we show up differently and we see opportunities and possibilities differently. So it's not just being in the presence of God as a comfort, though, that is part of it. It's also an expansion and magnification of our perspective and our expectations. And so that is what I would offer you in this moment. And I guess in a minute, that's what I'm going to offer everyone as an opportunity in practicing the presence.

So thank you for this. I hope it's helpful for you as you navigate this crazy, crazy world that we're living in. One of the things that Shai's said in her voicemail that I feel like is something that we use quite often when experiencing rejection. And though it is true, I think it can be very deep. difficult to jump from experiencing rejection to trusting that it was redirection. Because in the moment of rejection, I mean, if it's maybe not a big deal, we're like, oh, I, you know, I'm just trusting that God's got something next for me.

But I do think it's possible for us to hold two truths at the same time. And that first truth is that rejection sucks, right? When we want a role, we want to get into a certain school, we want a certain position, we want a certain relationship and we don't get the outcome we want. Yes, it is true that if it is for us, it cannot reject us. And that means that rejection is a blessing. However, it doesn't take this sting out of rejection. And so if you are experiencing rejection right now,

I want to remind you that it's okay to feel wounded about that. It's okay to feel disappointed by that. Most of the time we find out that rejection is redirection after the fact. But until that next step is clear, we just have to sit in that space of rejection. And that's why I wanted to be clear about really drawing that distinction between waiting for a command from God, as opposed to experiencing the companionship of God, because we can experience God's companionship in the moment of our rejection. I am thinking about Peter, and when Jesus told Peter that he was going to deny him three times, and he was going to deny him three times. and he was standing in that moment of being rejected and denied the identity that he thought he thought he would have as a disciple. And yet Jesus didn't turn his back on him.

Even when he walked out that prophecy, Jesus went back to get him. Oh my gosh, I'm thinking even as I'm sharing this with you all, when Jesus goes to get Peter, Peter had gone back fishing, right? What a perfect. This God's so good to me. So Jesus went back, or Jesus went to go get Peter. This is after he has died on the cross and he's been ascended. And he asked for all of his disciples to gather and he says, get the disciples and Peter. That lets us know that there was something about Peter's moments before Jesus went to the cross

that made him feel disqualified from being a disciple. And so Jesus makes it clear that I still want to claim you. You may have experienced rejection, whether it was your child, your fault or someone else's fault, you may feel rejected from being a disciple. But I still want to claim you because man's rejection doesn't have anything to do with God's connection to you. And a lot of times when we experience rejection from different people, we think that we've been rejected by God, but really making sure that we're keeping those things separate, that I am going to experience rejection in life, but my rejection in life doesn't have anything to do with the

finalized adoption I have with being a child of God through Jesus. And so when Jesus goes to have this encounter with Peter, he's talking to him and he's trying to restore him from that place of rejection. But in the meantime, Peter's just waiting. He's waiting for that next moment. He's waiting for, you know, what am I supposed to do? He goes back to doing what he's always done. He's fishing. And what I find interesting is that when Jesus comes to him and he's in this moment of rejection before Jesus restores him. And if you look towards, let me stab my Bible open from going to Philippians. So let's go to the Gospels. And I think this is in the back of, I think it's in the back of Luke.

But let's see, let's play Bible trivia. I like flipping through my Bible. I could certainly do a Google search, but I have felt like I've become too relying on technology as it relates to using my Bible or reading the Bible. So I've tried to go out of my way to actually pull out my Bible

and search through the scriptures so that I can remember. In vacation Bible school, I used to be that girly in remembering the books of the Bible. So let me see. Let's go to John. John is the only gospel

that is not a synonymous. synoptic gospel. That means that Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell a pretty parallel story, but John offers us a distinct vantage point of Jesus. And this is where we find in John 21, where Jesus goes to Peter, before Jesus has a conversation to restore him and says that, so when they had eaten breakfast, so like everything in the Bible, if you like take your time to read, it can really speak to you. He says, so when they had eaten breakfast, that means he went and he saw Peter. And Peter, you got to read all of John 21, but Peter realizes it's Jesus. He takes off running towards Jesus. And he's like, oh, my gosh, you know, I'm so grateful to be back in your presence. And Jesus says to them,

come and eat breakfast. And then, this third time he was right. So when they'd eaten breakfast, Jesus says to, so when they'd eaten breakfast, what this speaks to me is this, before Jesus has this dialogue with Peter where he's like, you know, do you love me, feed my sheep? Do you love me, feed my sheep? He eats breakfast with him. There's this huge elephant in the room, I am assuming, right? So Peter has rejected Jesus. Jesus gone to the cross. Peter's the one who's like, if you're going to the cross, I'm going to the cross with you. Peter ain't got no nails in his hands. You know what I mean? Peter very much so was not the person he thought he was going to. to be. And Jesus is in here having breakfast with him because before he takes the moment to

restore him, to give him direction, first he has a moment to fellowship with him. And so when we talk about practicing the presence, I want us to do more than going to the presence looking for another command. I think, I wonder sometimes is it cultural for us to look for a command from God? to look for a task from God as opposed to experiencing relationship and companionship with God. And so I wonder how that would change our experience with faith, with our spirituality, with our religion. If we looked beyond just having these moments of what do you want me to do next and did I do it well, and if I didn't do it well, it's very productivity-based, very performance-based. but what does it look like to have a present-centered relationship with God?

And so for me, I can say one, that's a reframing. Like, I'm not just coming to God to get a report card on my performance, and I'm not just coming to God to figure out the next command. For me, I just want to experience your presence. So how do we liken this to relationships? I can give you a great example. Right now, I am recording this podcast and my daughter is sitting in the chair in my office. And I can only imagine it's not because she's waiting on me to tell her something to do.

She's not waiting on us to necessarily do anything together. There's just something about us being in one another's presence that I can assume, I can tell you for me, it makes me feel loved. It makes me feel cared for. It makes me feel desired. it makes me feel whole and complete because this part of my heart is so close to me. And hopefully it makes her feel something similar. And so when we talk about practicing presence, it's like how can I experience the presence of God? So one, you got to believe that God is here with you, navigating this season with you,

that God was in the process with you when you applied for the job, you were liking that person and it didn't work out. You got to believe that you weren't in it by yourself that God was there too. And because God was there too in Hebrews, it talks about us not having a high priest who cannot sympathize with us, that when we experience disappointment that Jesus was like, oh, I know that broke their heart. He knows what it's like to experience disappointment. He knows what it's like to experience rejection.

He knows all of those feelings. And so when we accept Jesus into our lives as our Savior in those moments, of course, we've been saved from sin, but we're also saved in those moments where we could drown in disappointment, drown in rejection. We have someone who survived it who tells us, hey, you know what? Keep your head up. You can get through this. And so the first thing in practicing their presence is believing the presence is everywhere all the time. God's presence is with you right now. The presence of God that is loving, that is kind, that is comforting is with you in every single moment. Not to control necessarily what's happening in your world, but to experience what's happening in the world with you. And when you tap into having that presence available to you, there's a path that the presence of God realized.

is going to lead not just to what's best for you, but the better will of everything and everyone involved. And the presence also knows the plans of the enemy. And the presence also knows where there will be moments of heartbreak, where there will be moments of discouragement, but the presence can also restore. And so how do we walk out that presence? So one, I think it's reframing how we experience God.

And the second thing is I think it's spending time experiencing that. When do you feel the most close to God? Is there a worship song that makes you feel love? I will tell you for me, I will tell you for me, experiencing the presence of God has really come down to this feeling of overwhelming love. And I think one has a lot to do with me having a better perspective on who God is. I used to be afraid to get into the presence of God because I thought like, oh my gosh, I have so much wrong with me. I'm going to get into the presence of God and it's going to be like reading me for filth. And not to say that the presence of God don't read me for filth, but it does it with such love that I don't even feel like I'm being rare for filth.

And so getting into the presence of God, for me, it feels like extreme love coming my way. anytime I experience even my children's love or my husband's love or anything good that happens to me, I always attribute it to God's love showing up and flowing in me and through me or towards me from others. And so understanding who God is and what his presence feels like, I look at scripture a lot. What does it look like when people talk about being in the presence of God? You know, it talks about people just falling down to their ground. What is it that they're experiencing in that moment when they're in the presence of God? That so much honor, if we liken it to, liking it to royalty.

We're royalty when you're in the presence of royalty, you just bow down. I can imagine that there's so much honor, so much respect. And then to realize that I am not experiencing royalty. If I say this right, it's going to be beautiful. The only time that most of us, any of us, I've never experienced a royalty. but go with me. We'll experience royalty is if we walk into the palace of someone who is royal, right? Like royalty is not just knocking on our door. So that means we have to go out of our way. We got to be special. We got to be aligned with something that allows us this incredible opportunity to be

in the presence of kings and queens, right? But God is so good that he brings his kingdom to you. Isn't that amazing? Like you may never do anything worthy enough to be brought into some kingdoms, but the kingdom of heaven will come to you. And what kind of privilege is that where you get to experience the royal, the king of kings being available to you in whatever situation, and what type of honor and care and humility comes out of. of you when you realize that God has gone out of his way to dwell, not just with you, but in you.

So now I've accepted Jesus into my heart. And so what kind of heart am I offering Jesus? I want my heart to be your home. I want it to be a comfortable place for you. I don't want there to be deceit. I don't want there to be lies. I don't want there to be jealousy. And I don't have to pretend that it's not there when I welcome you into my home because you'll help me clean it up. that's what it means to practice the presence of God, is to allow the presence to not just be about your finished product, but to be in the process. Maybe that's still in my heart that message about process.

So I want to encourage you to practice the presence of God. It's life-changing. And I cannot think of any better time of the year to do that than now as we begin to see the season shift. and we reconcile what this year has been and with expectation and perhaps trepidation look into 2026, what would it look like to be anchored in the presence of God to practice the presence of God as we move into this next?

It's my hope that as you begin to do that, that you will feel more settled, that you will feel less afraid, less nervous, less like you need to be in control of any and everything because you realize that it's going to be a step-by-step journey. And I believe that we're going to have to be more sensitive than ever. As the world continues to change, if we don't practice the presence of God,

we're going to get stuck in our rhythm, our pattern, our routine, and we won't be able to hear those moments where God shifts things and we need to shift with God. And I do believe there are going to be moments. moments where we have to go rogue. And I want us to be open and sensitive enough to pivot when that time comes. We're definitely going rogue in 2026. Like that's, that's just it. We're breaking out of our patterns. We're breaking out of what has controlled us. And we are moving with power and courage and intentionality into everything that God has for us. Mary went rogue child. Martha went rogue child. I

I'm thinking about Hannah went rogue, Sarah went rogue, thinking about Aunt Miriam went rogue. I'm thinking about all of these women who went rogue who had to go rogue in order to be a part of the rehab went rogue. There's plenty of times where women made a decision to not be controlled by the culture, controlled by the times, and instead to follow the presence of God, even if it meant going against what was custom for, their generation and for their station in life. And so that's my prayer for what you're going to do this year too. Can I just say before I leave that I am thankful for you? I think the world of you that when I think about all of the moments in my life where I've had an opportunity to practice the presence, gratitude comes up. I am so stressed when I'm waiting on the next command

because I'm a doer. I get things done. But when I have a moment, moment to really practice the presence. Gratitude comes to my heart. And so in this Thanksgiving season, I hope that you have a moment to practice the presence and to share what you're grateful for because God knows that I will be thanking him for you. I pray that you have an incredible time reflecting and experiencing the presence of God, allowing him to comfort you if you have experienced grief, allowing the presence to celebrate you. If you have experienced success, because sometimes the hardest people to celebrate are ourselves. And I pray that you'll be back here next week to hear how we close out this year. I love you. I love you big. I love you deep. I love you

forever. In Jesus' name. Evolve.