Season 5: Episode 122: Stepping into Grace: My Commencement Story

📍 Welcome back to No Silver Spoons. Today's episode is going to be a little bit different than my normal content, and honestly, I've loved bringing a more candid and personal side to the podcast, especially for this special moment I'm about to share with you all. If this is your first time listening, welcome. No Silver Spoons is typically a very business, leadership, mentorship, coaching-focused podcast where I talk all about entrepreneurship, growth, resilience, building a life and career with intention.

I don't usually include personal life moments or video content in these episodes, which is exactly why this one feels so special to share with you. In episode one twenty-one, I share how this incredible opportunity came to fruition and announced that I had been selected to deliver the commencement speech at Grace Christian University during graduation weekend while also receiving my MBA. I promised then that I would bring you all along for the experience once it happened. Because you've all been so faithful in listening every week and you've been supporting me in this journey, I wanted to make sure I made this happen.

Truly, I'm so grateful for the community that we've built here. So many of you have followed along through the highs, the hard seasons, the Keep Going series, the rebuilding lessons, the business growth, my faith journey, all of it. Your encouragement, your messages, your prayers, and your support have meant more to me than you probably realize. And it felt so important to share this milestone with you in a more personal way.

Just a couple days ago, my daughter flew with me from Colorado to Michigan for the graduation at Grace Christian University. And from the moment we arrived, the university created an experience I will absolutely never forget. We were welcomed with an incredible half day of events that included on-campus tours, tours of the townhomes, coffee gatherings, gifts, merchandise, and an opportunity to attend the renaming ceremony for the university library. The entire atmosphere felt so intentional, so honoring, so celebratory.

That evening, we attended a beautiful banquet where I was unknowingly presented with the Delta Epsilon Chi Award through the ABHE Which is the Association for Biblical Higher Education. That recognition was incredibly humbling because the award itself represents academic excellence, leadership, and Christian character. To receive that honor in a room filled with educators, doctors, leaders, graduates, some family, it was something that I don't take lightly. I also want to make sure I share with you that only seven percent of all graduates nationwide are able to be awarded with the Delta Epsilon Chi Award.

It was incredible, and I'm so proud that my daughter got to be there with me. The next morning before graduation even began, they invited me to participate in a professional photo shoot on campus, and let me just say, Michigan in the spring is apparently still winter for this girl here because it was freezing outside. But honestly, it made the whole experience even more memorable. Every part of the trip felt thoughtful, meaningful, and incredibly special.

And getting to experience it all alongside my family made it even more emotional for me. One of my favorite moments of the entire ceremony happened while I was being hooded for my MBA. You will actually be able to listen to this part and see it if you decide to watch what's coming here in just a few minutes. But out of nowhere, my daughter shouted, "That's my mom," and everybody cheered, and it was really cool.

So anyways, I'm telling you right now, it was one of the best moments I've ever experienced in my entire life, and I want you guys to go check it out. It was just one of those moments that instantly reminds you why all the late nights matter, all the meetings, the sacrifices, the hard seasons, the papers, the making sure your stuff gets handed in on time, the working while going to school, the pursuing of purpose no matter what season of life we're in. Now, the full graduation ceremony was about two hours long, and I've edited it down to around twenty-eight minutes for today's episode, so you can experience the heart of it without needing to sit through the entire ceremony.

If you'd like the full visual experience, I would absolutely love for you to check it out on YouTube. You can actually go to Grace Christian University's website and watch the entire two hours, or you can check out our page at No Silver Spoons, and we have the condensed version there. So but anyways, being able to capture these moments on video made it even more meaningful for me, and I'm excited to share that side of things with you too. Thank you so much for allowing me to share something a little more personal today.

Sometimes we spend so much time building and leading and teaching and pouring into others that we tend to forget to pause and celebrate the moments that shaped us along the way. So with that, let's move on to the graduation ceremony and my commencement speech. I hope that it encourages you, challenges you, and reminds you that your story is still unfolding. Enjoy.

So our three young ladies who will communicate today, in your program you can see, will be Stephanie Mendal, and then Elizabeth Coie, , and then our last graduate, who was a graduate from our, Master of Business Administration program, Sarah Beth Herman, will also come up and give a speech. What a gift it is to be here today. I am Sarah Beth Herman, and after today, Sarah Beth Herman, MBA. If you told me years ago that I would be standing here graduating with my master's degree and speaking, I probably would have laughed a little and said, "Are you sure you have the right girl?"

Because my story didn't start in a place that looked anything like this. That's why I've always been drawn to the story of Esther, because I see pieces of my own life in that very story. It's a story about being placed in moments that you did not choose and still being called to step forward. I've experienced loss in ways that shaped me, and I've been in seasons where I didn't know where I was gonna live.

I have looked at my bank account and seen negative numbers. I have been fired. I have been misunderstood. I've been lied about.

I've been hurt, and if I'm being honest, I've hurt others, too. And one of the most defining seasons of my life is when I was 37 years old. I was walking with my mom through the final days of her life here on Earth. 17 days.

17 days is all I had left with her. We had been estranged for nearly 15 years because of her addiction, and when I found out she was on hospice, I took the next flight out with my husband just to be by her side. And when I walked in the room, she looked up toward heaven with tears running down her face, and she said, "This must be amazing grace that my daughter would come be with me now." And I didn't even realize it then, but I was stepping into grace in a way I had never understood before.

And in those days, I sat with her. I held her hands. I painted her nails. I played her favorite music, and I listened as people she loved and people that loved her called to say goodbye.

I loved her the best way I knew how as she was preparing to leave her earthly body and be present with the Lord. Scripture tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:8, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord," and I believe she is with the Lord with everything in me. But those 17 days were still the hardest days of my life. Watching her suffer through addiction and walking her through those final days, it changed me.

And in those moments, I was saying yes. Yes to being present, yes to loving her well, yes to showing up. And looking back now, I realize that that was my send me. And I had to decide what was going to define me, because my story is not only one of loss.

I have built multiple six, seven, and eight-figure businesses with my husband. And for those who know me, you might think that that's the win that I would stand here and talk about today. But those who are closest to me know that my greatest win happened long before any of that. When I was 19 years old, I met the man who would become my husband, and this year we celebrate 20 years.

20 years of choosing each other, loving each other, and building a life together. But just wait, because not long after that, the biggest win of my life, I met a two-year-old little girl who would become my daughter, and I said yes. Yes to loving her and stepping into a role that I did not fully understand. And today, that two-year-old little girl is all grown up, and she's 23, and she's here with me today, and many of you have met her.

And now she has a baby of her own, which means for the first time, I am a nana. And what I didn't realize then is that my life was being shaped by moments like Esther's, moments I did not choose, but moments where I was still being asked to step forward. And looking back now, I can see it clearly. My life has been a series of moments where God was asking, "Who will go?"

And each time, I was learning how to respond, "Here I am." Stephanie reminded us that our lives are not about chasing extraordinary moments, but about faithfulness in what God has placed in front of us. And Elizabeth reminded us that even in the waiting, the wondering, and the working, we can glorify God, and I wanna carry that forward. Because stepping into what God has for you is not just about what you do, it is about how you respond when He calls you.

One of the most important things I've learned is that not every thought is true. Some come from fear and pain and even survival. But scripture calls us to something higher. Romans 12:2 says, "Be transformed by the renewal of your mind."

That means we don't just accept every thought. We bring it before God and we ask, "Is this true? Is this aligned with who Jesus says I am?" Because if we don't, we will miss the very moments God is calling us to step into.

There were many moments in my life where everything felt uncertain, moments where I felt alone, where I was questioning everything. "Is this how my life is really going to be?" That maybe I just wasn't enough, but God never agreed with any of those thoughts, and slowly I began to understand that I didn't have to agree with them either. Second Corinthians 10:5 says, "We take every thought captive," and I had to decide what would have the final word in my life.

And for me, it was going to be truth. When I started thinking about going back to school, I didn't know if it was even close to realistic. I was thirty-three, I didn't come from money, and we didn't have any. I didn't understand how it worked to go back to school at thirty-three.

And when I called Grace Christian University, I felt toward a purpose, but they weren't my first call. I didn't even get to them till several calls down my list, actually. As we were wrapping up that call, the admissions counselor asked, "Can I pray over you?" I remember sitting in my car.

I was on my lunch break. I was thinking, " Are you serious? No one's ever asked if they could pray over me before." And I said yes.

In that moment, something shifted, a peace I didn't know I could have. Philippians 4:7, it says that, "The peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds." And I just knew, I knew this is where I was supposed to be because Grace Christian University is not just a university. It is a place where Christ is at the center, where people are seen, where people are prayed over, where people are called forward.

You see, for me, success was never the goal. Faithfulness was. And that brings me back to something that my mom used to say. She would say, "Leave everything better than you found it."

When I went back to school, it wasn't about a title. It wasn't about achievement. It was about becoming someone who could show up differently, someone who could grow, someone who could serve, someone who could leave things better, because that's what Jesus does. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."

He meets us where we are, and he transforms us. And if we are going to live like him, we leave people better. When I look back at my life, I realize I've been living Esther's story because it is a send me story, a moment where she had to decide if she would step forward when it mattered most. Esther 4:14 in summary says, "You were created for such a time as this."

And that moment required a response, and we see that response in Isaiah 6:8, "Here I am. Send me." Not just once, but over and over again. So graduates, pay attention to your thoughts.

Do not let fear decide your future. Do not let your past determine how you step forward. And wherever you go, leave people better than you found them. And even in the waiting, the wondering, the working, God is using every moment to shape something eternal in you.

And I think back to those 17 days with my mom, and I see it now. God was still writing a story. And every moment, God kept asking, "Who will go?" And my life kept answering, "Here I am."

And that is the same invitation in front of you today. Every one of you will walk through moments you did not choose, moments that stretched and shape you, and in those moments, you will have the opportunity to respond. You were created for such a time as this. When God calls you, say it boldly, "Here I am.

Send me." Congratulations, class of 2026.