Enlightenment Issue MADE Magazine | Page 39

5 tips MADEXXXX ON NOT SETTLING FOR SAFE MADE BY ASHLEY WHITE Sarah Jakes Roberts is not your typical First Lady. She’s real, relatable and undeniably confident in who she is. With the arrival of her new book, Don’t Settle For Safe , Sarah opens up about how the uncomfortable seasons of her life helped shape her to become unstoppable. Here, she shares insight on how to navigate those tough moments in life, love and relationships so that we don’t settle for safe. MADE: How do you stretch your faith in a season where you’re barely hanging on? SJR: I don’t think your faith has to be stretched in those seasons. I think that when you’re barely hanging on, your faith is organically being stretched in those seasons. It’s important that we don’t put more pressure on ourselves than necessary. Sometimes hanging on is the act of faith. Watching videos on YouTube, tuning into podcasts or doing whatever it is that feeds your soul in those seasons is important. I personally believe that you don’t realize that your faith has been stretched until after the fact. MADE: Oftentimes, you’ll see women thriving in their careers, but they’ll have a hard time PHOTO CREDIT Michael Rowe navigating relationships. Why are we willing to compromise when it comes to matters of the heart? SJR: I think we want to be intimate. Most women at their core are nurturers and we long to be able to show that side of ourselves to someone who cherishes it. I think that we end up settling because we believe that if I can give you the love that’s down on the inside of me, receiving your love in return will validate me. So, we end up settling even though a person hasn’t really demonstrated the values we would like to see. We think that they can grow into the person who can love us the way we want to be loved. I always say that’s falling in love with potential and putting yourself on clearance because when you do that, you don’t really leave room for people to grow because you’ve already given them all of yourself at that level. But, it’s hard. We don’t want to be alone. The clock is ticking and you don’t want to feel like you’ve aged out of the game, but I really do believe that God brings the right people in your made-magazine.com | 39