Serita & Sarah Jakes: Empowering Women for the Kingdom
CBN.com-BENT, NOT BROKEN
Serita and daughter Sarah have linked arms and are ministering to thousands of woman across the country. After giving her heart to the Lord, Serita met the love of her life, T.D. Jakes, through a series of secret pal cards. He was a pastor and she was a new convert. When Bishop Jakes came to her church for revival, Serita’s pastor’s wife introduced them.
Serita has been involved in Christian ministry all of her adult life and has served alongside Bishop Jakes throughout their entire marriage of over 30 years. Together they have touched millions around the globe through humanitarian projects, relief efforts, community service initiatives and record-breaking attended conferences. She is affectionately known as “First Lady Jakes.” “Healing is an on-going process,” says Serita. “Every day we might get a new boo boo, but some of the injuries land you in critical care.” She says that we have to return to the source of our pain to be healed and move forward. “By pouring into other women I have encountered, I feel that is one of the ways I have healed,” she says.
COLLIDING WITH DESTINY
When Sarah was 14, she gave birth to her son out . “That was the one thing I was prepared to have hanging over my head,” says Sara. Sara was 19 when she married a linebacker. They had a child together and after four years, Sarah, now 25, now divorced.
She believes there is something about identifying the pain. “We get in a mode where we feel like we have to keep it together and we don’t allow our grief, shame or disappointment to live,” she says. “We can’t identify the beauty of the blessing without looking at what caused the struggle.” She says no one talks about the trouble along the way to the blessing. “It’s a collision with destiny,” she says. “The first thing in a collision is that there are shattered pieces. But if we don’t recognize that we collided, we won’t recognize that we collided with destiny.”
T.D. Jakes' MegaFest is August 29-31, 2013. “We are taking over downtown Dallas,” says Serita. They have partnered with Autism Speaks and will feature moms of autistic children. “The whole gala is going to be red carpet,” she says. “We just want to make people aware of autism.” MegaFest speakers include Joel and Victoria Osteen and Creflo Dollar. The festival combines major Jakes' Brand conferences like Manpower, Woman Thou Art Loosed, MegaYouth and MegaKidz.
