Transcript: Finding Balance Between Expectations and Authenticity with Stella Ramola

You come from a lineage of ministers, right? From your granddad, you have a big name behind you that sets you apart in terms of the expectations that are laid upon you. You also have, being part of Jesus Calls International Ministries, there are standards that are set upon you. So when you look at the fact that you have to meet those expectations and live up to those standards, At the same time, you as an individual have a specific purpose and identity and a calling. So how do you balance between meeting those requirements, meeting those standards, at the same time not compromising on your true identity? Why I'm asking this question is a lot of people are under the cover of maybe a church, a ministry or some family expectations. But at the same time, they need to know how to balance between that and their divine purpose. yeah I can really resonate with that because even from a young age right at the point of like maybe being born people would have put a label on me or have an expectation on me saying oh she is going she's born in this family a family of minister she's also going to grow up to be a minister But even from a young age I was never really interested in preaching because I mean I didn have any experience in it I didn have like a passion for it and things like that So even when like people would come up to me and say oh you going to follow your grandfather First your dad did it. Now it's going to be you. You know, when people say that, it's like I know in my heart, oh, no, that's not the calling that God has given me. So as I said, in my personal life, He has been a really great friend leading me through each and every step of my life, whether it be in my schooling, whether it be in my friendships, whether it be my relationships with my family. God has been teaching me and really molding me into the person that he intended me to be. So in the process of that, he had given me a passion for music. and even through that as I gave my life to Christ I made a commitment to do music to glorify his name to share the gospel through that avenue so it's not just preaching that is considered ministry you know just sharing the gospel in unique ways is considered ministry and I am very blessed to have that platform to be able to share the gospel through these different ways through music through blogs through blogs and things like that so that's how God had set me given me that identity she's a singer she and all those things that I do so just sharing my personal experiences gave me that identity and obviously all our experiences are different So even in our own family we all are different. Even my brother, my sister, and I, my grandfather, my grandmother, my mom, even people would used to tell my mom, or she even had that desire to be so bold like my grandfather to be so strong and powerful and pray with a bold spirit. But her voice used to be very low and she's a very shy person as well. And like it would be so timid when she would speak. But then when she would pray, just that voice, that same voice would bring tears in the eyes of people, would make the demons shriek in the meetings. So you should never aspire to be someone else. You should aspire to be what God created you to be. You have individuality. That's how you've been brought up through the experiences that mold you. And you should never give that up and say, no, I want to be like this person. I want to be like that person because they're already taken. So you should be yourself, the one that God had created you to be. That's absolutely true. I recently released my second book called Unveil Your Purpose, where I want actually your dad is the one who gave the forward to it. And that book is something where I talk about this important aspect because I realized like only when you walk in your purpose you actually fulfill your you know you able to live to the highest potential You able to make the impact for god kingdom not being a copy of somebody else and uh i always say this you know what really makes the difference is what is different about you you know if we try to put everybody in a mold and say okay your dad was like this your granddad was like this so you be like that so that kind of puts you in a pressure and a mold that you're not really called to be right so even as a preacher Like, for example, like you said, a lot of people put a pressure on me saying, you know, you have to be a preacher like this. You have to do like this. And but my gift is, like I said, encouraging and storytelling. So one of the gifts I do have is like I bring out messages from the random things that you could ever imagine, like lessons from Scooby-Doo, lessons from Hannah Montana or Snake Island. So the Christian world kind of puts me in a bad spot. They're like, oh, this is not the traditional approach. It's not the way it's supposed to be. So they kind of put you in a mold and expect you to, you know, work out things in a certain direction or a certain way. But as I realized, you know, because of the way I present the content, because of the way I am, you know, reaching out the way I'm gifted. You know, a lot of people tell me all the time, you know, I don't like anything to do with God, but I watch your Scooby-Doo videos. And then I bring the gospel to them. You know, so many people I've heard who say this, you know, who don't want anything to do with God, but they follow. So if you really want to make a difference and impact in this world, you have to embrace what is different about you and act upon it. And that's where you really see the difference. So you've pointed out in a really beautiful way.