Faith…like a MOTHA
Stephanie
If you gon talk about a woman with faith you HAVEEE to talk about STEPH! I mean the queen of "I trust God"...like she has the GIFT of faith. She’s just "its gon be alright" 99.9% of the time meanwhile I'm over here trying to build this muscle for dear life. It's truly hard to know Steph and not know faith. You see one, you see the other. She's admitted that throughout her motherhood journey, her faith has stretched in many ways. From selling a house in the middle of a pandemic, believing for a homebirth (enter how we met), navigating single motherhood, quitting her job in the midst of Covid, launching ‘See Me Well ‘ (a faith-based foundation for young women) and trusting God through an unexpected health challenge with her son.
If there’s a woman qualified to talk about how faith and identity intersect it’s Stephanie.
Just always been and the GIFT- Doula-Friend-Sister. That’s the short version of me and Steph’s relationship. And for the 3 years that I've known her, Steph has ALWAYS been full of faith, and I mean even over the smallest things. It's always giving "lalalala this will all be alright some way somehow". It's infectious. You simply CAN NOT be around her and your faith not rise. But the thing is, sis has the GIFT ! Not just her measure but it's literally ON HER. I'm over here struggling to be a woman full of faith, at times still falling apart at the slightest sign of inconvenience, and she’s thriving in it. So I wanted to know-what's the difference? Between "Oh I have faith for that..." and being one of the elite who’s gifting IS faith.
Faith as a Woman- A theme here is how Steph has always been a glass-half-full kind of person, even before she started this walk with Christ. Here she talks a little about having faith in herself and ways her faith for her as a woman is sometimes different from her faith as a mother.
Faith and mental health- Steph is not someone who gets in her feelings. I can NOT relate cause one thing about it...my heart is on my sleeve. I'm always interested in how women like her manage their mental health, like how does faith play a part in all of that? As I rediscover my identity I've found that my faith in Christ has really helped me stay level-headed. Turns out I'm onto something. Listen to what she had to say about how her faith has helped her mental health.
Faith like a MOTHA- A simple question I ask everyone at the end of our conversation...for my sis it was what does it mean to YOU to have like a MOTHA.
Faith for each of us is going to look different. It’s not a linear experiece. Some of us have the gift and some of us have to work the muscle. Both are fine. What I’ve learned on this journey and from my convo with Steph is that I have to remember to look at the facts when my faith drops. The fact is: having Faith like a MOTHA ain’t always easy yet in its hardships I’m not alone, and neither are you.
I love you, mean it. Ja’Nelle
To learn more about Stephanie and her foundation follow her at @stephanieswilliams and @seemewellfoundation. Visit her website at See Me Well Foundation.
