Which celebrity would you love to meet, and what would you talk about?

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Who Would I Love to Meet?

When I first saw this question, I was torn between Barbra Streisand and Vanessa Williams—for completely different reasons.

But the more I thought about it, I realized there is someone else I would choose.

Sarah Jakes Roberts.

And if I ever had the opportunity to sit across from her, my first words probably wouldn’t be about her success, her platform, or even her ministry.

I would simply say:

“Thank you.”

I would thank her for helping my daughter through one of the darkest periods of her young life.

My daughter lost her high school sweetheart.

As her mother, there were plenty of things I could say to her—and believe me, I said them.

Because that’s what mothers do.

We search for the right words when there really aren’t any.

We tell our children they’re going to be okay.

We remind them that life will keep moving, even when they can’t imagine moving with it.

We pray.

We encourage.

We sit beside them.

We hold them while they hurt.

And sometimes we quietly wish we could carry the pain for them.

But I learned something during that season.

Sometimes the words your child needs to hear don’t come from you.

Sometimes God allows another voice to reach a place that yours simply cannot.

For my daughter, one of those voices was Sarah Jakes Roberts.

And the message was simple:

“Girl, get up.”

Something about those words reached her.

They became more than a message.

They became a reminder that she could grieve and still live.

That she could miss someone and still move forward.

That heartbreak could be part of her story without becoming the end of it.

Grief did not get to write her final chapter.

We actually thought we were going to attend Woman Evolve one year, but my daughter was graduating around that time, life started life-ing , and somehow we never made it.

Maybe one day we will.

And if I ever get the opportunity to meet Sarah, I imagine I’ll spend the first few minutes telling her about my daughter.

I’ll tell her what those words meant.

I’ll thank her for being willing to use her voice.

And I’ll tell her something I hope every writer, speaker, teacher, preacher—or anyone who has ever wondered whether their words matter—remembers:

You may never know how far your words travel.

You may speak to a room full of women and never meet the woman who needed what you said.

You may write something and never know who saved it.

You may encourage someone and never see what happened afterward.

You may speak into one woman’s life…

and somewhere, she carries those words home to her daughter.

And sometimes—

a girl gets up.

Thinking out loud…

You never know who needs the words God gave you to say.

So keep saying them.

Keep writing them.

Keep sharing them.

Because somewhere, someone may be standing today because you had the courage to speak.