The easiest person to deceive is the person in the mirror. How many times have you told yourself to face your truth and admit something is not true? How many times have you sold yourselves on the worst ideas and decisions you’ve ever made? Why do we do this? And is there anything we can do about it?
In this episode, Wanda Davis shares how she received her personal revelation about her truth. She breaks down how you can learn the truth about your existence, purpose, and identity in life based on how God sees you to be. Tune in now and learn how to gain a deep and personal revelation about your own truth!
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Face Your Truth! Understanding The Bigger Purpose Of Your Existence With Wanda Davis
We have started a new series about the truth about you, facing your truth. I have a phenomenal guest that’s here with us that’s going to share her truth and hopefully, she’s going to be able to give you some tidbits and nuggets on how you can face your truth and tell your truth. The fact is this, the easiest person to deceive is the person in the mirror no ifs, ands, or butts about it. I’ve said it time and time again. You guys know it. It will always be the person in the mirror.
How many times have you told yourself something that’s not true? How many times have you sold yourself on the worst idea and decision that you ever made? Here’s another fact. During those bad decisions and idea times, you were there for them all. We have all done more to undermine our own success, prosperity, and progress more than anyone else on this Earth. We did it. We deceive ourselves by lying to ourselves.
“What’s wrong with us?” is the question. “What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with me?” We do it all the time, “Why do we do this? Is there anything we can do about it?” Yes. That’s why we’re here. We’re here to talk about the truth about you facing your truth. What I want to do first is I want to jump in and give a definition about wisdom because that’s going to play a key to our discussion. Allow me to give a definition behind the word wisdom.
The book of Proverbs is in the Bible for those Bible readers and for those who are not, there’s a book of Proverbs in the Bible. The word wisdom is defined throughout the Bible, but the book of Proverbs in the Bible also gives a good definition. We’re going to focus on this one and take it from there. The one that I want to talk about what’s in the Bible is Proverbs 3:13 to 18. This is the ESV.
It says, “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels. Nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all of her paths are peace.”
There’s a famous pastor that I watch. He said, “Wisdom is insight informed by the knowledge that life is connected. What happened yesterday impacts today, and what happens today impacts tomorrow. Therefore, the decision you made, I made, we made yesterday, impact today. The decisions you make today will impact tomorrow.” Life is connected because today impacts tomorrow and yesterday impacts today.
When we make decisions, they’re not done in isolation. It’s not in the vacuum. We make decisions every day and every single decision we make in some way or form is going to show up in the future. Wisdom surfaces. When we ask ourselves, “How is my decision going to impact me tomorrow?” Today shapes tomorrow, and one thing leads to another. Our past shows up in the future. With that in mind, I’m inviting you, our reader, to have a conversation. Let’s talk about this. Let’s talk about facing your truth, the truth, and the truth about you. Not running from your truth, but facing your truth.
The easiest person to deceive is the person in the mirror. When I look in the mirror, I see myself. Therefore, my ask is this, “Tell yourself the truth.” More specifically, tell yourself the truth about you, “I have to tell myself the truth about me. I have to face my truth and tell myself the truth about me.” That’s what I’m saying to you.
Tell yourself the truth about why you do what you do and why you don’t do what you do or ought to do. Tell yourself the truth about why you won’t stop doing, what’s hurting you, or why you won’t stop lying to yourself. What about telling yourself the truth about why you keep making excuses or why you keep going back? Tell yourself the truth about why won’t you leave.
What I’ve learned is that when I lie to someone, it damages that relationship. When I lie to myself, what do you think happens? When you lie to yourself, you’re damaging the relationship with you. You may not know that you’re lying to yourself, but here’s the thing, you’re no longer true to yourself. You’re no longer you instead you are a lie. The question is, “Are you the truth or lie?” You can’t be both. This is the conversation that we’re going to have. Before we jump into this conversation, I would be remiss if I do not introduce you to this phenomenal guest that I have on.
I’m excited to introduce you to her. Before I do that, I need to share a little bit about her. I also want to remind you that when we select a topic, remember we select a topic and we bring in multiple guests to speak about that topic. We’re not going to have one episode on a topic and move on. We’re going to have multiple episodes on a topic because we like diversity and we know our readers are diverse. We want to be able to touch and reach everyone. That’s why we do what we’re doing about having multiple guests come on. Let me introduce you to our guest. I’m excited. I am honored to know this woman.
I love this woman and I love the fact that she is a part of my life. Let me tell you about it. Wanda Davis has served as a Chaplain at AdventHealth East Orlando, which was previously Florida Hospital East Orlando. She served for 21 years prior to retiring in July 2021. Her ministry included patient care, staff support, community outreach, mentoring, and leadership. She served 38 years total in Portland, Oregon, Memphis, Tennessee, and Fairfax, Virginia.
She is a Commission Minister with the Florida Conference of SDA and is credentialed with Adventist. She is a graduate of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Welfare, and Andrews University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology. She also has five units of Clinical Pastoral Education from Kettering Hospital in Kettering Ohio, which prepared her for her life work as a chaplain.
Besides hospital ministry, she has taught at the Memphis School of Religion, training pastors to provide crisis ministry in hospitals. She facilitated several ongoing small groups in the community. For many years, she has facilitated grief support groups and is a certified resolve through sharing counselor. The text that governs her life is Psalms 37:5. It says, “Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.”
Please help me to welcome a woman of God who is authentic and real. She talks the talk and walks the walk. Please help me welcome Wanda Davis. Wanda, welcome. It’s such an honor to have you here. Thank you much for saying yes, for being you, and for loving me the way you do. Please share with me how we met.
You are my sister-in-law. I’ve seen you at my mother’s house. We hang together when we go on cruises and on all kinds of adventures. You are a delight. The introduction delights me because you always have so much passion. It’s been wonderful knowing you all these marvelous years and being in love with my sweet, beautiful brother.
I wanted our readers to know the connection that we have. This is one of the five sisters-in-law that I have. I’ve shared before that my husband and I both have 5 sisters and 2 brothers. Wanda Davis is 1 of the 5. Thank you for being such a phenomenal woman and touching my life all these years. Let’s jump into the discussion. One of the things that I ask all of our guests that comes on because the name of the show is You Are YOU, Unapologetically is to please share with our guests what does it mean to you to be you unapologetically.
My background, I’m a pastor. I’m a retired chaplain, but I continue to be a pastor. My foundation is biblical. To be unapologetically me has to do with who our God is. When you talk about being truthful, I love that the Word says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He’s my truth. One of our fallacies or problems is that we lie to ourselves. There’s only one who tells the truth and will not go back on that truth or His promises. We will lie to ourselves. Why do we do that? It’s because we’ve heard it, “The TV tells me a lie and I believe it.” Friends, family and enemies will tell us a lie. We will believe it, take it, put it on and wear it truthfully.
We’ll believe the lies as the truth. What does it mean for me to be unapologetically me? I’m going to believe what my Heavenly Father tells me. Not my earthly father necessarily, although I had a good earthly father. It’s one of the most difficult things for us to believe what God says. God said, “You are bought with a price. You are complete in me. You are without a flaw. You are born again. You are healed. You’re redeemed.” We say, “I don’t think you mean me,” because of all the other chatter and all the lies that others, the TV, Twitter or anybody else have said. Even kind people can say things that will break our hearts.
Even kind people can say things that will break our hearts. Share on XI can tell you a story. My beautiful daughter came in and say, “I want to apply to get a special award.” I looked at all the paperwork and I said, “You don’t have that many volunteer hours. You don’t have this. You cannot because you lack these.” That girl went and applied for it. She got it without my permission because here’s one who is the truth who will give you something to do that everybody will say, “You cannot,” but he is the truth.
To be unapologetically who I am is to trust that I am loved, blessed, overcome victorious, healed, helped, and deliver. Even though the circumstances say, “You are old, fat, crap, terrible mother, and an awful wife,” you’ll say, “This is my baby.” The thing about parenting has been such a blessing for me. When you get a baby, you don’t care if it has a cleft palate or it has no hair. That can’t do anything. You look at that baby and say, “You’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.” You dare somebody to say that baby isn’t because out of my eyes, that’s the prettiest baby.
That’s what God sees in Wanda. He says, “Did you see my baby? She got up there.” Other folks say, “You messed that up.” He’ll say, “Did you see she went out and did those things in My Name?” I will believe what they will say over what He is saying. He is saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant. It’s not because your eyebrows are arched, you got good hair, or you got fine clothes. It’s because you are Mine.” When those parents put that little baby that still got meconium on him and it’s all wrinkle and everything, he’ll look at that baby and say, “That’s mine. Look how beautiful that baby is.”
Let me tell you a story. I was in Memphis, Tennessee. I was called to see a patient, a new mother because her baby was dying. Her baby was pitiful. I went to see that baby and that was the ugliest baby I’d ever seen in my life. It looked like ET. The skin was transparent. There was a strange anomaly she didn’t have but one layer of skin. She was almost transparent and it was awful. I went to see this mama and I wanted to be sad with his mother. I went up and brought her down to see her little baby. She looked into that incubator and said, “ Look, chaplain. She has hair.”
When that mama looked at that baby, she saw the hair. I saw that baby clinically and she saw the beauty of that child. I said, “That’s me. Lord, when You look at me, help me to believe that when I look in the mirror, You are saying, ‘Look at My baby. Look how beautiful she looks.’” Don’t believe the lie that somebody said you are too short, fat, skinny, black, white, or whatever because when He looks at you, He says, “Look at My baby. She got hair. She is looking good. Everybody, look.” You better not talk ugly about it. That means you don’t have permission to talk ugly about you.
He does not want you to.
It hurts Him when you call something ugly that he called beautifully. Authentically me is that I’m going to follow the King and I’m going to walk like it. That means I will take the mess. I want to put anything in this. I’m a temple because the Holy Spirit is in this body. That’s what it means to me. Whether I have a used car, new car, a house, or whatever isn’t irrelevant because I am a child of the king. That means I am royalty. I carry myself that’s authentically Wanda.
One more part of that. I have learned in my years that when people call you a name, they’re calling you their name. It’s not your name. We are a child of the king. We’re beautiful, strong, wonderful, born again, and healed with health. They will come and say, “You are so dumb.” What you do is you look at him, “I’m sorry, that’s what you think about yourself.”
Whatever you say, all you do is tell me your name. I take that name and put it on like it’s mine, but it was never mine. My beautiful, strong overcomer is Michael Jordan. “You can’t play basketball. You can’t be on the team. You’re not good enough.” That’s what they told him. He said, “That’s not my name. That’s somebody else’s name. I’m going to do all kinds because that’s not my name. That’s your name. What I’ve been called is different.”
I have told Wanda many times that I can sit and listen to her for hours I know where she got it from. She got it from her dad or my father-in-law because he was great at telling stories. Wanda is amazing when it comes to telling stories. Wanda, share, if you can, an incident or a circumstance that occurred in your life that caused you to not be true to yourself and may have impacted you and also those around you because of that circumstance or that situation.
There is a battle going on all around you. You are an epistle. You are a story in a great big, wonderful battle at the cosmos. It’s a battle between God and Satan. You’re part of the story of God’s grace, power, and victory. Voices must come to get you off track. Whenever you are, there’s always going to be a win that will blow you. There will always be something that tries to trip you up. Which one came to me?
I’ll tell you one that’s recent and personal. I have three beautiful and wonderful children. When my oldest child becomes got a home and this home was paid for, he woke up one morning and realized that I was an awful mother. That I was overbearing, mean, controlling, and all those things. He gave me these words. When somebody gives me a word, I will look at it and pray about it. Dad will say, “That’s not your word.” He gave me a bunch of words and I wept. How does that affect you? It’s stealing my joy and taking my energy. All the years that I have poured into my children are being questioned. You question, “Am I?”
All of those things tend to take your energy away. They take your energy from everything and it can lead to your bitterness, sorrow, and all kinds of negative emotions and hormones go into your system. In fact, it’s everybody around you. The husband blames the other children. Be suspicious of all the other love from the other children like, “I know you’re going to turn on me later,” those kinds of things. The gift of God is eternal life. The Bible is rich with healing. Ezekiel 16 talks about how God loved His child, blessed Israel, loved on them and then they took one morning and said, “You never did anything for me. They gave all the gifts to the world.”
You can hear His pain when He said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. You’ve taken every gift and give it away.“ All that experience with my son was to teach me how can I reject him and the gifts he gives me or gives him the way that I am causing him the horrendous pain that I received. All of it was an object lesson so I could tell you a story. That’s all. I could preach the story that He has my son. He’ll take care of him and the deceptions that are holding him back from complete joy. I don’t stay in those and my other children every day call me, “We love you. You are the best.” What I need is, “Well done,” from him.
Remember everybody has forsaken Jesus. If my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will take me up. The “well done” will always come from him. He is the way, truth, and life. I get to understand that his truth for me is, “I will die for Kim Grimes.” If there was nobody else in the world, I died and put your name in there. “For God so loved,” and put your name in it, “that He gave His begotten Son,” and put your name in it. He did that for you. If God who is the creator will do all of that for me, for you to come along and tell me, “You are nothing,” that doesn’t mean a thing to me.
God did all of this and gave me every good and perfect gift. I’m saying it because I have learned and I’ve grown. Everybody is not at the same spiritual age. You still have those same voices that the mommies and daddies that you love, the teachers that you trusted, and the pastor who may have hurt your feelings. All of those voices are in the back of your head. They weigh you down. That’s the purpose of them, to block you from being able to see the glory, the goodness, and the power that is you.
That’s why they attack me because the power is already there. You know the story of the young man that was born with no arms and legs. What a wasted life he thought he had. His mama left him in the bathtub. He said, “All I have to do is turn over and I can drown,” but a voice said, “You are bought with a price.” Before long, he is married and traveling around the world, and many people have been delivered because of this man with no arms and no legs. He always had it even though he had no arms and no legs because the definition the world says is that you have to have 2 arms and 2 legs to be great. It’s a lie.
“To be great, you got to have this kind of hair, nose, and lips.” To be great, God will send somebody who has none of those and say, “Now go do what I called you to do.” They go and you say, “How can you do that and you have no legs? How can you do that when you have no voice? How can you do that when you cannot see?” When we stop believing the stories and the lies and start believing that God loves us and he uses foolish things, He doesn’t use the best or the grandest. He will use the least of those. That’s me. That’s my authentic truth. You know my parents.
My name was Wanda which means wanderer. I was the one that was always running away. I was the one that was always getting a whooping every morning because it took me three times whippings to get it right. My God said, “Because that girl got many weeds, that must mean there’s some good dirt growing there.” He made me of all of the eight grandchildren, a pastor. How do you see beyond my faults to my needs? That’s my authentic self.
You answered all of the questions that I have, and that’s what I love about you. You always give. You’re always serving and helping. You’re always pouring. In watching you and knowing you, I know how you get filled. You are a true role model role for me and have always been. I love when she tells stories and speaks. I love being in her presence. You can be in the presence of some people and they steal your joy and peace, but not Wanda. She will fill you when you are low.
She will empower you when you feel like your energy is sapped because she is who she is and she’s walking in whom God created her to be. She has given us so many nuggets and techniques. She already said, “These are stories that people are telling you when they call you names. When they call me names, I have to look at what they’re saying and say, ‘That’s their story. That’s not my story.’” Don’t put it on you. You recognize that’s not your story and you toss it away. You have been phenomenal in giving us and feeding us because that’s what this is all about. I want you guys to know her nickname is We and I’m struggling here not calling the We.
Wanda, I would love for you to give some closing remarks but in a way where when you look at people and you have shared, there are people who are struggling now in being authentic, still lying to themselves, not being honest with themselves, and walking out of integrity. There are people who are or are finding it challenging to face their truth. After you give your closing remarks, please share how people can get in contact with you as well.
Share something for our readers who have been drinking from your fountain in this episode. Share something for whose straw is not long enough to dip in and they’re not getting what they need to get. What are the 1, 2, or 3 things that you can say that will help that person who still feel challenged, who is looking and allowing the world to define them and still not facing their truth?
I would encourage that person to not the whole Bible but just one scripture that they make their own. I have two. One of them is Colossians 2:10 which says, “You are complete in Me.” When things are going bad, when I made a mistake or said something wrong or even something untrue to somebody that hurt their feelings, I will go back to what God said about me, “You are 100% in Me. You are complete in Me.”
My other one is 1 John 3:20 which says, “If your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart and knows all things.” “Wanda, you are complete in me. Sometimes your heart tells you that you’re a hot mess. You can never make it. You will never get out of this pit. You won’t ever stop chasing these men. You won’t stop giving up this. You won’t stop drinking. If your heart condemns you and tells you that you are a mess, God is greater than your heart.
He knows all your history, where you got it from, and that part of your DNA was your daddy that drank too much and your mama that was chasing men. He knows when your heart is telling you that you’re a mess. Don’t even trust that. God knows your heart. He knows you. I put those together. You’re complete in him. If your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart and knows all things. When I’m feeling low, I have a scripture. There are so many.
If your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart and knows all things. Share on X“I can do all things to Christ, which strengthens me. I am without a flaw or wrinkle.” There are hundreds of promises. Pick one. Your attack will come along those lines. The evil one will try to steal that promise from you. “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want,” is my promise. “Surely goodness and mercy follow me.” Whatever your promise is, own it. Even if you, a righteous can fall seven times and keeps getting up. God began a got good work in you. He will finish it, not you.
“Behold, I’ve written you on the palms of My hands.” It’s all through there. Find one and put it on your mirror. In the morning, you walk up and say, “I’m complete.” By the end of the day, you come back sad. Next, you go back to the mirror, “I’m complete.” Start off again. It’ll get easier because you’re not in the battle by yourself. This is victory. It’s this new you that He’s always seen in you. It is his job to bring it out because as you let Him come into your life, He’s changing you from the inside.
Folks will start saying, “You don’t act like you used to do,” because he’s doing something new for you. How can you contact me? Wanda.Davis@me.com is my email. I’m also on Instagram at @SpiritWoman2. I love you. I’m here for you. I’m retired, but you don’t retire from Jesus. I’m always here and my job is to help you become your authentic self in Him so that you could be free, big, and strong.
I want to say thank you to Chaplain Wanda Davis, who is my sister-in-law. She is phenomenal. I told you guys at the beginning that I had a guest here who is phenomenal and she has much to offer. I know that we did not leave you hungry. Your belly should be full of all of this juiciness that took place here on this episode.
I thank you for continually being a part of the show where we know it’s easy to lose yourself in clashing ideas, conflicting beliefs, and the flood of information with society’s rigid expectations and endless opinions. Self-expression and self-appreciation can feel challenging and daunting. Most of the time, this pushes you to dumb down and to hide who you are. You just go with the flow. I want to remind you, you are you, unapologetically. That means being true to how you were created, not apologizing and not allowing people’s opinions to affect how you show up in life.
We’re going to let people talk. When they say whatever they say, look at those words. Don’t put them on you, toss them away because you have no time to be intimidated by the presence of others and think little of yourself. Stop lying to yourself. Tell your truth. Face your truth. You are you, unapologetically. When you show up being you, without the pretense and the hesitation, the world can’t dump them or dull your light. They can’t steal your glamor. Most importantly, you’ll be inspired to shine your light, to share it, and to help others to tap into their own brilliance.
In this show, we’re putting into this barraging mindset and beginning to own our own authentic selves. Join me here on every episode where I create a safe space where we will initiate influential conversations about being you because you are you unapologetically and no one is better at being you than you. Thank you much for reading and for all of your support. We truly appreciate you. We can’t do it without you. Continue to show up and read because, without you, we can’t do it. Thank you. Take care.
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About Wanda Davis
Wanda Davis has served as chaplain at AdventHealth East Orlando (previously Florida Hospital East Orlando) for twenty-one years prior to retirement in July 2021. Her ministry included patient care, staff support, community outreach, mentoring and leadership.
She served 38 years total in Portland, Oregon, Memphis, Tennessee, and Fairfax, Virginia. She is a commissioned minister with the Florida Conference of SDA and is credentialed with Adventist Chaplaincy.
Chaplain Davis is a graduate of Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD with a BA in Social Welfare and Andrews University with a MA in Theology. She also has five (5) units of Clinical Pastoral Education from Kettering Hospital in Kettering, Ohio which prepared her for her life’s work as chaplain.
Besides hospital ministry, Chaplain Davis has taught at the Memphis School of Religion training pastors to provide crisis ministry in hospitals and facilitated several on-going small groups in the community. For fifteen (15) years she has facilitated grief support groups and is a certified Resolved Through Sharing Counselor.
The text that governs her life is Psalm 37:5: “Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him; and he shall bring it to pass.”