SHOW NOTES:
Voice Talent: Mary West
Mary West is the youngest of four siblings, a proud mother of two grown children, and “Mimi” to three amazing grandchildren. Her life is a powerful testimony of God’s redeeming grace. After overcoming a 15-year battle with drugs and alcohol, Mary has now walked in freedom and sobriety for more than 20 years through the transforming power of Jesus Christ.
A passionate servant leader, Mary works full-time while faithfully serving her church as Director of the Women’s Ministry and leader of the Usher and Greeter Ministry. On May 16, 2026, she will be licensed as a minister—another milestone in the incredible story God continues to write through her life.
Mary brings authenticity, encouragement, and hope wherever she goes, inspiring others to believe that no life is beyond the reach of God’s grace.
Key Thoughts and Scriptures:
- It’s important to have voices that call us back to truth.
- The principles of justice, dignity, and freedom are not merely human ideas, but are rooted in the character of God.
Micah 6:8 NIV He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Proverbs 31:8-9 NIV Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
- Freedom must be joined to righteousness.
- A nation flourishes when it aligns itself with God.
- Sojourner Truth encouraged a nation to more fully live out the principles it professed.
- “I didn’t have book learning, but I had a heart that cried. And I believe He (God) heard.”
Acts 10:34 KJ21 …Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons…
Psalm 145:18 NKJV The Lord is near to all who call upon Him…
- Sojourner walked away from slavery knowing that she must not remain where truth had been denied.
- She left in daylight because she believed she had the right to go.
- God led her, not by sight, but by a quiet assurance that she was not alone.
- When a family helped her, it was a new experience to be helped by someone who saw her humanity more than her usefulness.
- For a woman who had been owned by men to hear a man say only God was Massa, that was no small thing.
- It helped her understand freedom in a deeper way. That her life belonged to God.
- The Lord helped her walk in the freedom He had given her.
Sojourner’s life shifted from simply being free to being called.
- When the Lord gets hold of you, you know it.
- The Lord told her to travel and speak, not stay in one place.
- So she left behind Isabella Baumfree and took the name Sojourner Truth—Sojourner because she would journey from place to place, and Truth because that was the message she was sent to share.
- She trusted that if God had called her, He would also provide.
- Where she went, she told what she lived of bondage, of freedom, and of the God who brings both deliverance and healing.
- As the war came on, the matter only grew more serious. The whole nation was shaken and the questions of freedom could no longer be put aside.
- The truth does not need fine words to carry it. It only needs a willing voice.
- You can’t have faith without justice or justice without faith.
- When she came to know the Lord, she understood that God does care, that He sees, and that He is just.
- “Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.”
- Right is right, and God can uphold it.
- If you love God, you must love people. If you follow Jesus, you must walk in justice.
- Sojourner met Abraham Lincoln and felt that he was a man sent there by the Lord for that time. The work was hard and the path was not easy, but she believed God had raised him up to do it.
- She left that meeting believing that the Lord was working even through war to bring freedom.
Sojourner lived long enough to see the Lord bringing a nation through fire toward freedom. But freedom did not remain.
- After the war, many people came out of slavery needing homes, work, food, clothing, teaching, and protection.
- She reminded them that God had not brought them this far to leave them.
- Sojourner knew freedom must be tended.
- A free person still needs a place to stand.
- They needed the opportunity to build lives, raise family, and worship God in peace.
- What gave her hope was seeing people who had been counted as property began to stand as men and women before God.
- The end of slavery was a beginning, not the end.
- When God opens a door, his people must walk through it with righteousness, courage, and care for one another.
- Freedom is precious, but it must be built into daily life, or it remains unfinished.
- Sojourner learned that if you carry hatred in your heart, it will weigh your soul down heavier than chains.
- The Lord does not bring us out of bondage to make us slaves to bitterness.
- Truth is stronger than fear.
- Life is not easy, but God is faithful.
- Hold fast to Truth.
- What has been gained can be lost if it’s not tended.
- Many knew what was right but hesitated because it cost too much. Yet truth does not change because it’s costly.
- A nation shows its strength not only in what it builds, but how it treats the least among it.
- People may have laws and freedoms, but without truth and righteousness, they cannot stand long.
- It is not enough to speak of justice. You must walk in it.
The Woman with the Issue of Blood
- The woman didn’t wait to be called, she believed and she reached.
- There were times for Sojourner when no one was opening the way, but she believed the Lord saw her.
- She said yes to God before she knew what it would cost her.
- Sojourner trusted when she could not see and went when the Lord said go.
- Because when He calls, you don’t need the whole road. You just need the next step. And if you take that step with Him, He will meet you there.
- Sojourner’s courage was not her own, it was rooted in faith.
- Because true freedom is not just in circumstances; it’s found in Christ.
Galatians 5:13 NLT For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
Philippians 4:7 NKJV And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Historical References on Sojourner Truth
- The Narrative of Sojourner Truth — dictated by Sojourner Truth to Olive Gilbert, first published in 1850. This is the key primary source for her early life, enslavement in New York, spiritual experiences, escape to freedom, and calling.
- Sojourner Truth — National Park Service Biography. Helpful for a concise overview of her birth as Isabella Baumfree, enslavement in Ulster County, Dutch-speaking childhood, escape to freedom, name change, abolition work, women’s rights advocacy, and later life.
- Sojourner Truth — Women’s Rights National Historical Park, National Park Service. Useful for details on her forced marriage to Thomas, her children, her 1827 walk to freedom, religious conversion, and 1843 name change.
- National Women’s History Museum: Sojourner Truth. Strong secondary source for her life story, faith, women’s rights work, Civil War activity, meeting with Abraham Lincoln, and the caution that some popular quotes attributed to her are historically inaccurate.
- Marius Robinson’s 1851 account of Sojourner Truth’s women’s rights speech, published in the Anti-Slavery Bugle. This is generally considered the earlier and more historically reliable version of the speech later remembered as “Ain’t I a Woman?”
- The Sojourner Truth Project. Helpful for comparing the 1851 Marius Robinson version with the later Frances Dana Gage version and for understanding why Truth’s authentic voice likely reflected her Afro-Dutch New York background rather than a Southern dialect.
- Britannica: Sojourner Truth. A concise, fact-checked overview of Truth as an evangelist, abolitionist, and social reformer.
- Associated Press report on the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza in Akron, Ohio. Useful for modern context on the historic site of her 1851 women’s rights speech and the continuing public recognition of her legacy.
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