Raising Godly Women
Raising Godly Women
The Women of the Soils
Season 1 – Episode 2: The Women of the Soils
Show Notes
In this episode, Charnae Leonce joins Sebra Ferrell, as they share how each of the four soils in the Parable of the Sower and the Seed became the four women of the soils: Wayside Wendy, Rocky Raquel, Thorny Theresa, and Good Ground Gabrielle (GiGi).
In this episode:
· Intro
· Preview of today’s episode (01:20)
· Welcome to Charnae (02:07)
· “What has been your greatest challenge with the Parable of the Sower and the Seed?” (02:30)
· “How did naming the soils help you?” (04:18)
· How naming the soils impacted starting the podcast (07:00)
· How naming the soils helps with not judging others (08:01)
· “What is the one thing that helps you recognize where you are in the soils at any given time?” (11:00)
· Brief summary of each of the women (12:32)
· “What is the one pearl about the women of the soils that you would like to share with those listening?” (13:29)
· Connection between the Parable of the Sower and the Seed and the Garden of Eden (14:08)
· Understanding how our heart can be in different places at different times (15:52)
· Studying the parable for yourself (18:38)
· Tips while studying (19:50)
· Charnae’s final thoughts (20:47)
· The final pearl of wisdom for this episode (21:02)
Previous Episodes in this Series:
· The Parable of the Sower and the Seed: The Journey Begins: https://raisinggodlywomen.buzzsprout.com/1792483/9148694-the-journey-begins.
NOTE: For a full description of the women, click here to access the transcript from Season 1, Episode 2, “The Journey Begins” located on our website.
Scriptures references:
- The Parable of the Sower and the Seed:
- Matthew 13:1-23
- Mark 4:1-20
- Luke 8:1-15
- Additional Scriptures:
- Genesis 2:8-9,
- Matthew 22:37,
- Matthew 25:21-23
- John 1:1-2, 14
- John 15:1-11
Website: https://raisinggodlywomen.buzzsprout.com/.
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Season 1 - Episode 2 - The Women of the Soils
Sebra: [00:00:00] Hi, my name is Sebra Ferrell, and I would like to welcome you to the Raising Godly Women podcast. I know. Why another podcast? Well, Raising Godly Women is about empowering a generation of women to empower the generation behind. But what exactly does empowerment look like? Our goal is to help you become stronger to help you become more confident in your everyday life, especially as it relates to your relationship with the Lord.
As daughters of God, I'm sure you've heard about the Proverbs 31 Woman, and many of us, including me, we strive to be her, but what about the Titus 2 woman? She's that woman who shares what she's learned on her journey. She freely shares the tools God has given her with other women, especially those who are younger, maybe in age, or maybe even in faith to help them also become stronger and more confident.
The [00:01:00] Titus 2 woman, she's what Raising Godly Women is all about. Our goal is to share some of our tools with you in the hopes that whatever God does for you here, that you will freely share it with someone else. So, again, welcome to Raising Godly Women. We sure hope you enjoy your journey with us.
Today, our journey continues with a look at how the four soils in the Parable of the Sower and the Seed described in Matthew Chapter 13, Mark Chapter 4, and Luke Chapter 8 became the four women I introduced in the last episode.
These women are Wayside Wendy, Rocky Raquel, Thorny Theresa, and Good Ground Gabrielle, affectionately known as GiGi. Information for where you can find the full description for each of these women is in the Show Notes. Today's guest Charnae. Leonce helped bring these women to life. And she's the one who nicknamed Gabrielle, GiGi.
And today [00:02:00] we're going to share more of our story with you about how these women came to be. So, welcome Charnae!
Charnae: Thank you. It's nice to be here.
Sebra: And it's good to have you here and thank you so much for taking this journey with me. It really means a lot, because you know, this was not an easy journey for me to take and your support- it's beyond description. I really, really appreciate all that you've done to help get this going, but also all that you're doing now that it is going. So, thank you. And welcome again.
So let's get to the first question that I have for you. What has been your greatest challenge with the Parable of the Sower and the Seed?
Charnae: Well, first thing Is that I have heard this taught in many churches in the past: Catholic, Methodists, Baptists, AME, Non-denominational. I have heard it taught in so many different ways and so many different angles.
And typically, I'll be honest with you that I had a level of understanding as to the message that was being conveyed, but I was disconnected. And a lot of [00:03:00] times I felt condemned, not necessarily convicted, but condemned that yes, it, as I heard it, I felt more condemned that, you know, as I listened and maybe identified with where I was, I just kind of felt defeated already.
It wasn't so much of encouragement. It was almost like a scolding, you know, is your heart here, you know? And if it is, get it together and it's kind of like, man you feel condemning. And so, you know, I would get maybe a little bit of something, but I would walk away, not necessarily thinking, oh, this is something I'm going to study and apply to my life.
Because I mean, you know, realistically, if, you know, when you feel condemned, you tend to not want to go back and be condemned more. And so that's how it has always come across to me that it was one of those things that were used to spank you to just remind you of how you are failing. That was the challenge, just wasn't real. I was disconnected.
Sebra: I totally understand that [00:04:00] feeling of disconnect because I remember when I used to hear it before, I was like, yeah. Okay. I get what you're saying, but now what. So, there was nothing to inspire or help me to be able to say, okay, yes, this is where I am, but how do I get to this next place?
So, with that understanding of just feeling disconnected and not really knowing how to go forward, how did naming the soils help you?
Charnae: You introduced it in the form of a game, and you began to read the Scriptures, and we read it together. And then, we just decided to just talk about it, and then that you showed those pictures. And I think for me, the pictures just jumped off of the page. And as we talked and looked at each picture of each person, it just brought it to life. It brought it to life, and I didn't feel condemnation.
Sebra: Okay.
Charnae: I didn't feel like I was being condemned by reading it. I felt like I was connecting with that woman; that she's in that place, [00:05:00] and maybe that's how she is receiving God's Word, and it wasn't the end for her, or that there was some growth that can happen, that there was life to it. So, naming the women was fun.
Sebra: Yes. Yes.
Charnae: We had a good evening as we discussed each and every soil, and it was fun. And we also shed tears.
Sebra: We did.
Charnae: Because we looked at ourselves when we were in that place, you know, Rocky Raquel, you know. We saw how we were when we were living as Rocky Raquel, and so we had tears. We cried, but then there was joy in being able to look back and see the comedy, you know, even in the things that were apparent when dealing in those areas. So, I just think that it came to life. It came to life because the Word says that, you know, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, and He took on flesh. And so that's what happened when it comes this parable. [00:06:00] And as we've come to coin it, "The Women of the Soil" is that they put on flesh, and as they put on flesh, they became more real. They walked off the page, and they walked into my heart, as they walked into yours, and they helped me to understand my heart now.
Sebra: I absolutely love that! They walked off the page and walked into your heart. And I remember how we were able to, like you said, just reflect back when I was acting like Wayside Wendy, this is what it looked like. When I was acting like Rocky Raquel, this is what it looked like. Okay. Right now I am sitting right on the bench right next to Theresa, and this is what it looks like. So, it did, even for me, and I've been studying these soils at least since 2009, even for me, naming them, helped me see me better. [00:07:00]
And I think that being able to do that on a different level has really helped me in this process with this podcast, because one of the things that we discussed about Wendy, and we'll hear more about each of these soils in future episodes, but Wendy is the first one, and understanding was the thing that we said that she needs.
Well, I needed understanding to be able to pull this podcast together. And even though it's not exactly perfect, or GiGi level, you know, in its full bloom, full mature level, I started somewhere. And I started with understanding, and I started doing what I understood and obeying those things that I knew how to do so that now we are able to come, and we are able to do this together and we are able to hopefully help somebody else connect to these soils, so that they will walk off the [00:08:00] page and into her heart.
Charnae: And I like what you said about help someone else, because understanding these women has also helped me not to judge.
Sebra: Yes.
Charnae: It has helped me not to judge others that are in different places. And the thing is, is that Raising Godly Women is about helping someone else. And so sometimes we may speak the Word of God, or we may speak wisdom into someone else's life and their, their soil may not be in the place to receive it.
As a mentor, it can be frustrating. It can be sometimes disheartening. Let's bring it home, as a mother, it can be frustrating. It can be disheartening. Let's take it somewhere else as a wife, because [00:09:00] you may be saying something that is the Word of God, saying God's truth into someone's life and not understanding why they're not receiving it.
Sebra: Yes.
Charnae: They're not understanding it. With naming the women, it helps to recognize when you are planting the seed of God into someone else, and maybe they're receiving it with a Thorny Theresa place, that the cares of the world is choking it out. It's not that they don't want to, but there's so much else going on with them that is being choked out.
And I literally just had this conversation with someone and was speaking something into her life and was identifying that her circumstances was choking out the Word that I was saying to her and was able to understand that and able to help her to come to the place where she began to recognize it. And she was like, yes, it is the circumstance. And I'm not hearing what you're saying because I am so focused on the circumstances, and it was a win.
Sebra: So, she was [00:10:00] able, because you were able to take what you had learned, she was able to receive that and then be able to figure out where she was.
Charnae: Right. Here's the key, having not studied the Women of the Soil.
Sebra: Wow.
Charnae: Or heard it, but it has just become so a part of me now,
Sebra: Okay.
Charnae: That I'm able to identify in myself sometimes, sometimes, sometimes, I say sometimes because sometimes you just can't recognize where you are.
Sebra: Sometime that plane does a fly by and you're waiting on it to circle back around and finally land.
Charnae: Right. But when I can recognize it in other people and be able to help to mentor and guide them from recognizing it. And from also understanding when I have been in that place, it helps me to mentor. It helps me to help hold someone else's hand up, help them to see.
Sebra: I really like that because you talked about being able to recognize where you are. [00:11:00] So what is the thing that helps you recognize where you are in the soils at any given time?
Charnae: I think for me, I do a lot of reflection on myself.
Sebra: Okay.
Charnae: And I think for me, it helps for other people. Their response to me sometimes can tell me where my heart is. So, if someone is trying to speak something to me.
Sebra: Okay.
Charnae: And where my heart is, is not in that place. I'm just like instantly rejecting it. And I can hear someone say you're getting defensive. I'm not. So, then that's like a red flag for me.
Sebra: Okay.
Charnae: That it's like, okay. Rather than me continuing being on the defense and trying to build a wall, it's now a red flag, like, oh, I'm getting defensive. Why am I getting defensive? This has got to be something that maybe I need to hear that I don't want to hear, because let's be honest, everything in the Word of God is not something you want to hear.
Sebra: Preach that! Preach that!
Charnae: It just gives me the opportunity to stop and say, "Wait a minute. Am I rejecting this cause [00:12:00] I don't want to hear it, because I'm thinking of leaning into my own understanding, or is it that I'm just in a place where, you know, it's being choked out?" Or, you know, it just gives me the opportunity to examine, just to examine me doing my own self-reflection and also paying attention to others in my communication with others how I'm coming across to them and what they're saying, because oftentimes people may see something in you that you don't even identify, and you can't see.
Sebra: Exactly. Exactly. So, I think if I had to kind of encapsulate that it would be your response that lets you know where you are in the soils.
Charnae: Exactly.
Sebra: So, taking it back a little bit to the brief description of each one of them. So, if you don't understand, what's being said, you're hanging out with Wendy in that moment. If you're rejecting what was said, you're hanging out with Rocky in that moment. If the cares of life are [00:13:00] choking out what was said, you and Teresa are best buddies right now. And so that one word or one phrase for each one of the soils that I was able to pull out has really helped me. And I know that for other people, they may come up with a different word or a different phrase, but it sounds like you've encapsulated that so that you know the response based on the woman, and that's how you know where you are.
Charnae: Exactly. Exactly.
Sebra: I love it. I love it. So, what is the one pearl about the Women of the Soils that you would like to share with those listening?
Charnae: The first thing that in Mark 4, Jesus is talking about this parable, that in verse 13, He says, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand all of the parables?" And so then he begins to explain, and for me that just was like a neon sign, because he's saying this is very important.
Sebra: [00:14:00] Yes.
Charnae: This is very important because if you don't understand this, how are you going to understand the rest? And so I go back and I think of God, in his creation, that He placed man and a woman in a garden. A garden has what? Soil! He placed them in good soil.
It is very important for us to know the soil of our heart because He placed us, as seeds, in His soil. And so it is important that we are to know this parable, being able to understand God who I have now said, and my thing is, He is the Master Gardener.
Sebra: Yes!
Charnae: He is the Master Gardener. And as His seed, He says that we are to bear good [00:15:00] fruit. You know, that the soil has to be good in order for the seed to grow and to give you the fruit of what it is, and that's our life, that's our life. So it is important. For us to understand this parable because it is the reflection of the heart of God.
And so the condition of our heart is important because our heart is that wellspring of life. Jesus is that living water. He's the one who waters us. He is the vine that we are to be grafted into and connected to.
And so when you read all of these, and you begin to put it together and you begin to understand, and you begin to go back and read the Word from the Old Testament to the New, it becomes alive. It becomes alive. The Garden of Eden becomes alive. Our hearts become alive.
I would encourage every woman listening to take the time and to study it. Your heart is in there. [00:16:00] And the thing is, is that our hearts can be in different places at different times, concerning different things.
Sebra: Absolutely.
Charnae: And that was one thing that I did not understand. So, as I sat and I heard these teachings, I felt condemnation, because I thought, "Well, that's my whole heart. That is just where I am. I'm stuck." But now I'm learning like, okay, I can receive a Word from a thorny place, or I can receive a Word from good ground, and it's okay.
It's okay, because the one thing that I love about GiGi and that good soil is that, that doesn't mean that her life is easy. That does not mean that she doesn't have cares. That does not mean she does not have trials. But what GiGi has is that her heart is grafted into the vine of Christ, and that as she goes through difficulties, as she goes through trials, she still has faith that the Master Gardener is the one who tends her [00:17:00] tree.
He is the one who tends her heart, and that He sees her in that garden and that she is not alone. And so it gives me encouragement that even though she faces trials and difficulty, she has hope. Learn this. This is important, because Jesus Himself said, if you don't understand this one, how will you understand everything else?
My desire is that when my time here on this short journey is over that God will say to me, "Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into my rest." Because I would have fruit. I would have lived a life that bears fruit, and that not just bears fruit, just to bear fruit, but to bear fruit that other women can pick off [00:18:00] of and gain and get nourished and fed, so that they too can bear fruit and help another woman struggling to reach back.
This is just even for the teenager listening.
Sebra: Yes.
Charnae: And she's in school, and she's trying to do the right thing, and she's living her life, and her parents are teaching her the right way, and she's surrounded with so much confusion. But she sees hurt, and she sees other girls who need help. And because the seed of her soil is like GiGi, of her heart, that she can take the wisdom, and she can also turn around and share her fruit with someone else.
Sebra: Women helping women basically. And I liked that you did bring out the fact that study it for yourself. So, as we kind of bring this to a close, I think that will be the one place to just really hit a little bit harder, because what you learn may not be what we learned.
Charnae: Right.
Sebra: And so in studying it for yourself, [00:19:00] as we start going into these future episodes, where we look more intently at each woman, then each person listening will be able to say, okay, I see what they're saying, but that's not what I learned. And that's okay. Because how God speaks to this person may not be how God speaks to that person. And because each of our hearts is an individual heart, then how He plants in each soil might be a little bit different, but the thing is, know it. Know it for yourself, so that you can actually see yourself in each of these women based on how you're responding, because one of the things that I said in the original episode is I don't know of anything more empowering than to be able to see ourselves in Scripture.
So as we come to a close, I do recommend that when you're studying it, read the whole thing. Read that whole section where Jesus is first, introducing the parable, and [00:20:00] then all the way through to where he interprets the parable, because there's so many nuggets that you can glean from that.
And in addition to that, when he gives the interpretation, I also encourage people to look for that one word or that one phrase that's going to help you to remember each one of these soils, what each one of these women look like, because at the end of the day, this whole parable is about how we respond to God's Word.
So, thank you, Charnae for being my first guest, as we take this journey to help other women understand the Parable of the Sower and the Seed, but especially in terms of being able to relate to the Women of the Soils.
Charnae: Thank you for having me. And my hope is that for those who may be feeling stuck, that this lesson, this teaching would just be part of their journey to their fruit.
Sebra: Amen to that. So [00:21:00] until we meet again, I would like to leave you with my pearl of wisdom: every journey starts somewhere. So, think of each of these soils, each of these women, as a stage in your journey towards getting stronger and more confident, especially as it relates to your walk with the Lord. That's something to ponder.
Khara: Thank you for listening to the Raising Godly Women podcast and taking this journey with us to be the Titus 2 women. We pray that the seeds of God's Word shared today fell on great soil, and that soil is in your heart. Now, we hope that through these pearls of wisdom that you have gained the tools to help you become stronger, to help you become more confident and in your everyday life, most especially, as it relates to your walk with the Lord. We also hope that you will share your tools with those who are younger in age, or even maybe younger in [00:22:00] faith to help them become stronger and confident as well, so that they can help share with other women, passing the baton to the generation behind them.
Just imagine the ripple effect our sharing can have not only in our generation, but also the generations to come to build and strengthen the body of Christ, as we all come together to empower each other. So, until we meet again, feel free to join the Raising Godly Women community. Let's talk about your connection with this episode on social media in the comment section. You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at Raising Godly Women. Be sure to tag us, because we love to have you connect and be a part of the family. And on that note, may the Lord hear from you and keep you. May He make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord shine his face towards you and give you peace. Shalom daughters of God Shalom.