A car accident that could have ended her life ended up saving Cora Jakes Coleman’s ability to birth a new life as a mother. The experience grew her relationship with God, which she in the new book Faithing It. See how being the daughter of Bishop T.D. Jakes has not spared her from life’s storms and her tips for growing your faith.
Name: Cora Jakes Coleman
Age: 30s
Title: Author of Faithing It and Director of the Children’s Ministry at The Potter’s House of Dallas
Location: Dallas, TX
Twitter: @cjakescoleman
Instagram: @cjakescoleman
Her journey: I believe that God can, so He does. When I was 22, a truck going 40 mph hit my car. The fireman came running up to the car saying, “She has to be dead.” Before the vehicle hit me, I saw it coming and said, “God, I don’t want to die tonight.” I got out of that accident without a bruise and I was able to go home. I went to the hospital the next day. Had that truck not hit me, I would not have discovered that my reproductive system was in such bad shape that if I didn’t have surgery immediately I could never carry a child. I’ve seen God turn what the enemy plans for evil into something better than I imagined. If He did it for me, then He can do it for you. If He did it centuries ago, He can do it today.
Facing life: Life happens, and we have to acknowledge our journey. The first step to having a strong connection to God is to address the pain in our heart. Hone in on the emotional turmoil that you’ve gone through and the emotional relationship that you have with yourself and with God. Address your issues so that you can develop a relationship that leaves you vulnerable to God. Learn from each trial and storm. We sometimes go through the same thing over and over because we are not embracing the lesson and standing in our faith. Accept what God has ordered for you.
Forgiving hurts: We often feel that the people who harmed us do not deserve to be excused. Forgiveness is for us, not them. What helped me to be lenient is not wanting to give anyone else control of my emotions. If you look at forgiveness as an opportunity to regain power, then it makes it easier for you to leap out of bitterness and into kindness. Often we put God in a situation where He is to blame for the hard things that we have endured. Some of us have to let go and say, “God, I forgive you for the process that I had to go through, and I love you in spite of it.” We have to be open with God and be able to forgive ourselves, and one another.
Discover your purpose: Whatever God has placed on your heart that you do well, and that you would do for free, go for it. The sky can be the limit. Think supernaturally: If we dream big for ourselves, God will do bigger than that.
Reclaim your power: We have spent our lives listening to people give the enemy more recognition than he deserves. Many who grew up in church have heard awful stories. Now we have formulated this huge enemy and made him bigger than our power. We’re not able to defeat him because we give him too much credit. When you are looking at your storms, look at them as something that God has already completed. And look gat all the storms you’ve already overcome in your life.