“A Journey Rooted in Love, Not Shame”

My Johns Hopkins Medicine Feature

Yes, you read that right. I, Joval M. Webbe, was recently featured by Johns Hopkins Medicine!!!

More on how I got here later*. For now, I just need to let this settle in.

Who am I kidding?? I AM SO STINKING GRATEFUL!!!

And not only excited, I’m amazed. The first draft of the story was so terrible I asked a friend who’s had several articles written about her how to kindly say “This doesn’t align with who I am. Please, either revise it or discard it.”

It took me nearly a week to respond to them. It was so misaligned. One text convo, seeeveral deep breaths, and a prayer or five later, I responded with, “How would you like feedback?”

Comments in a Word document, you say?! Say less!

About two hours and 20 comments later, I responded.

And then, I waited. For a whole week I waited without a response. Nothing. Not even a “received” or “thank you.”

Did I say too much? But I knew I couldn’t let someone else share my story and not share the very essence of me. I waited. I breathed. I wondered. I doubted.

But above all, I knew I said what needed to be said. I knew I was bold and courageous. I led with not only my voice, but my power. I led knowing that I couldn’t let an article on me center “diet and exercise”, that it needed to center fun, joy, and above all, my spirituality.

With God, all things are possible. With God, I now know that all things includes the very thing that I not only thought but downright knew was impossible.

After making my first impossible possible with God, I began to make more of my impossibles possible, too.

And that’s it. That’s the lesson. That’s the takeaway!

I became a nurse because at one point I thought it was impossible. And I didn’t do it alone, I did it the same way I succeeded the first time around. With God!

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that we’re spiritual beings having a physical experience. And oftentimes, our physical hunger and thirst are actually spiritual that show up in the physical. 12 Step programs call that a God-sized hole. Others call it humanity.

Whatever you call it, I hope you come to know God– as you understand God!– as your own.

Who you are is good. And who you are with the God of all, transforming your impossibles into endless possibilities, will elevate you to even higher heights.

Here’s to reimagining success, endless possibilities, and making your visions a reality.

With love,

*PS– It turns out “later” is now because I ended up saying more here than expected. Ha! But also, if you’re new here, welcome! My name is Joval and brevity?! Yeah, Ion really know her lol