Listen in as I, Jess, along with my dear friend and office manager Grace, navigate the rollercoaster that is life and its myriad of lessons on the Jesus Fix It podcast. Grappling with the irony of my past as a chatty school kid to now making a living through speaking, I recount the struggle of losing my voice to illness and the joy of its return. Our conversation takes a turn into the cautionary world of TikTok fame, as we dissect the viral saga of a TikToker and her whirlwind pandemic marriage gone wrong. It's a tale that serves as a warning, yet somehow, her trials have turned into a platform of millions of followers and unexpected opportunities, raising questions about the true nature of blessings and the internal tussle between rejoicing for others and craving personal victories.
This episode isn't just about cautionary tales; it's also a heart-to-heart on the perplexities of influencer culture and its impact on traditional views of work and morality. Grace and I ponder the intricacies of earning a living in the age of social media, and what it means when everyday antics transform into lucrative careers. We touch upon the support and personal growth that comes from celebrating others' successes, addressing the bitterness of comparison, and embracing the role of faith in finding contentment with our own paths. Join us for this heartfelt and thought-provoking discussion, where the complexities of life are met with a simple truth: Jesus can handle it all.
Listen in as I, Jess, along with my dear friend and office manager Grace, navigate the rollercoaster that is life and its myriad of lessons on the Jesus Fix It podcast. Grappling with the irony of my past as a chatty school kid to now making a living through speaking, I recount the struggle of losing my voice to illness and the joy of its return. Our conversation takes a turn into the cautionary world of TikTok fame, as we dissect the viral saga of a TikToker and her whirlwind pandemic marriage gone wrong. It's a tale that serves as a warning, yet somehow, her trials have turned into a platform of millions of followers and unexpected opportunities, raising questions about the true nature of blessings and the internal tussle between rejoicing for others and craving personal victories.
This episode isn't just about cautionary tales; it's also a heart-to-heart on the perplexities of influencer culture and its impact on traditional views of work and morality. Grace and I ponder the intricacies of earning a living in the age of social media, and what it means when everyday antics transform into lucrative careers. We touch upon the support and personal growth that comes from celebrating others' successes, addressing the bitterness of comparison, and embracing the role of faith in finding contentment with our own paths. Join us for this heartfelt and thought-provoking discussion, where the complexities of life are met with a simple truth: Jesus can handle it all.
0:00:03 - Jess
If you're new here, welcome! And if you came back, oh, God bless ya! Thank you for coming back. This is the Jesus Fix It Podcast with Jess. We talk about everything: life, its craziness, it's ups and downs. ‘Cause you know what, Jesus can fix it and He can handle it all. Thank y'all so much for listening to Jesus Fix it.
I am literally finding my voice again. I have not had a voice in a week or so, getting over these allergies and bronchitis, and I'm so thankful just to be able to speak. You know, it's one thing, when I was growing up and I was in school, to be told, okay, stop talking, but then to not be able to talk. You know you're laughing. Oh well, first of all let me tell you about my guest, Grace.
You've been on Jesus Fix it before, hi y'all, just so you know I'm just not talking to myself this time. So Grace is our office manager and my friend here at Spirit FM and she was so nice to just not have me talk to myself today. Anytime, thank you. But yeah, growing up in school I was always told Jess, stop talking, Jess, you're talking too much. I was sent to the office so much for talking and it's like hey, joke's on you. Look what I do for a living now. Ha ha ha. But then last week I was sick and I actually lost my voice for a while and couldn't talk and it was like miserable. So I'm just so thankful to be able to talk again. And, Grace, thank you again for joining me and just having some conversation today.
0:01:46 - Grace
Oh, I'm glad to be here, Jess. We've missed your voice too, really, you were kind of like the voice within the station, so we, yeah, oh my goodness, okay, but now that I do have my voice back, I'm kind of checking my heart though.
0:02:00 - Jess
Okay, so I don't know if you've heard the Risa Tisa, I don't even know if I'm saying her name right, but that's her TikTok candle, Risa Tisa, and I have to warn you a lot of if you've heard of her or if you've seen her TikTok story, some of the language she uses it's not such good language. Okay, I'm not saying that I support her language, I'm just talking about her story. But her name is Risa Tisa, that's just her handle, her TikTok handle. Well, she has this 50-some story about this bad relationship she was in. So she took to TikTok. Does that even sound right? Took to TikTok, took to TikTok. I mean, that's the thing, mm-hmm. Well, she went on TikTok to share her story about marrying this guy she met during-.
0:02:49 - Grace
Oh she married him.
0:02:50 - Jess
She married this dude during the pandemic and she went on TikTok to share her story about not knowing him and not paying attention to the red flags and how awful it was marrying somebody she didn't really know. And she's a Christian woman, mm-hmm and she just wanted to share her story as a be careful, a precautionary tale, and her story has blown up. She's gotten millions I'm talking millions of followers. She's been on so many TV shows because of her stories on TikTok. Are they called stories on TikTok?
0:03:37 - Grace
I'm so out of touch. I am too Girl. I live under a rock bottom.
0:03:40 - Jess
I'm not really a TikToker, but I'll admit I've gotten sucked into her stories. There are so many of these because I guess when you do a TikTok is it a real or video or whatever it's about what a minute and a half or a minute long. Well, she had like 50 of these to share her whole story. When she went on to share these there's so many of them somebody had to do like a sum it up, like they just sum the whole thing up because there are so many of these. It was so popular. One day I was in the Walmart parking lot and I heard somebody listening to her story in their car through their Apple CarPlay.
0:04:23 - Grace
They had their windows down, they were blasting it. Yes, that's how popular this is.
0:04:27 - Jess
But she's been on Good Morning America, she's been on the Today Show, Kelly Clarkson it's so popular. She has a deal with Netflix, she's working with a talent agency, she's gotten a free car, she's gotten a home, because this guy that she ended up marrying, he was pretty evil, I got to say. And I don't know, of course he has his side of the story, but according to her story, there was like a false identity. He was supposedly married to somebody else. When he married her, it was really really bad. He supposedly bought a house that really wasn't paid for. There was so, so much. But my point is out of this whole situation, this whole cautionary tale, she's gotten all of this stuff.
0:05:25 - Grace
So a shame.
0:05:26 - Jess
yeah, jokes on him, yeah, but then also, I really had to check my heart and a whole lot of people felt the same way I did, because I was like, okay, so yeah, okay, this happened to you, but you met this man. You barely knew him for what. I think she knew him for maybe a month, and then they moved in together right when COVID happened, and then they got engaged and they got married I think it was less than maybe three months and then all of this bad stuff happened and so I had to check my heart because I'm like now I'm not saying she deserved any of that, I'm not saying that but I'm like you share your story and all of a sudden you've been blessed with all of this stuff and I'm like, Lord, some of us have been praying for breakthroughs, Lord, some of us have been on our knees meet me halfway, please, lord.
0:06:27 - Grace
Just meet me halfway, not even where I'm at. Just meet me halfway, Right? You see where I'm going with this.
0:06:34 - Jess
Like Lord, okay, Lord, all she had to do is get on TikTok. Now she is telling their 50 parts and over like a course of a month or two, and she's telling some of her story in the car. She's telling some of the story on the way to work and she's telling some of the story before she goes to bed. You know how they do on TikTok. They're telling their stories at different times and I'm like, oh, she's doing a share in her story and how she's talking about how she didn't pay attention to red flags and stuff.
I'm like all she's doing is making TikTok videos, and overnight she's a millionaire now. She's a millionaire now and I'm like. Overnight, all of her dreams have come true and I'm like Lord. What do I have to do? I've been faithful, I've been brand, and you blessed her, and so that calls me to immediately check my heart. Well, okay, that was a lie, not immediately. Okay, let me back up. Look at me checking my heart again, because that just shows the bitter and jealousy in my heart.
0:07:36 - Grace
We all have it, we all have it.
0:07:38 - Jess
You know, because sometimes I believe that's why God won't open doors for us, because of how our hearts are. Well, I can only speak for myself. What my actual feeling should be is if God did it for her, he can do it for me, he can do it for me but I mean just pray that I would just be probably thankful in that moment.
0:08:03 - Grace
You know what God thank you for the relationship I have with somebody that I'm in love with. You know that I didn't have to go through all this heartbreak and everything. So I guess there's just kind of like different areas in your life to be thankful for in that type of situation. But I had a friend who experienced the same catfish issue I guess is what they call it catfish. She met him online and he was part of the military. A lot of red flags she was giving me and you know I kind of I wanted to be there for her and I wanted to sport her and be happy for her, because I didn't know the whole story but because I know she's been looking for somebody for so long and she seemed happy. I could tell she was happy, I supported her, but I was still keeping my eye open about the situation and then, unfortunately, months came down the road.
She started sending him money and never they've tried to meet and it never happened. He always came up with some excuse on why they couldn't meet and eventually, you know, everything resurfaced. God, you know, made the truth surface and she was left heartbroken. She was left feeling very just used and, you know, felt like she could have done more on her end and not let her heart get in the way of so much of what she needed to do. But the whole TikTok thing honestly gets me gagged, like how you can put something online.
Here are people who are working hours and hours, day and night, praying on their knees, looking for an answer which you know what? God's not gonna give you something if you're not able to handle it you know, he's not gonna bless you.
So, like you asking God to let you win the lottery, okay, he lets you win the lottery. You ain't gonna ever be in church again. So I don't understand how the whole social media platform works as far as how people are able to succeed so much in it. I don't fully, truly believe in it, believe that that is something that you are able to make such a profit If you wanna sit there and make a name or bring something up that can help somebody in life, but to make a profit off of it, I don't fully believe in that, so you don't fully.
I don't knock it. I don't knock it If it's part of your business, if you know. If it's part of your business.
0:10:20 - Jess
Now, I will admit, there are some influencers, like some fashion influencers and things that I follow, who have made quite a profit by influencing us to buy things. But I've even wondered, okay, do you even believe in what you're selling us? Is this just a money thing for you, or are you doing it just to get you know? Are you just selling us the journey that you can get your coin? I know exactly, so that's always behind.
0:10:49 - Grace
I mean that's basically they go to sleep just fine at night. I mean cause, yeah, but I mean I guess you know you gotta do what you gotta do.
0:10:56 - Jess
Like I don't know, I guess I'm torn about the whole making your money on social media thing. I'm not gonna say a hundred percent knock it, but I don't know. I'm with you too. I'm kind of torn.
0:11:11 - Grace
I feel like if it's for a better good or you are doing something to promote something of your sort of business area, like sitting there and showing me what you eat in a day, I don't care. Yeah, that's the thing, and they get so many followers and get so many views off of do in that daily and they're making thousands a month and it's like to me that's not fair. That's not honestly earned money in my opinion, and I feel like God is not gonna bless something that is not honestly earned. Yeah, that's just my true feeling, like I could sit there and go to, which I would never do. I could sit there and go to a casino club and I went. I went to a casino club and I went to a casino club. You know like ten thousand dollars and I'm like, oh my god, god bless me. I would not feel like god blessed me with that right that is not honestly earned money right.
and to me there is a certain degree in a certain line where it's considered just If you're promoting your business and you're selling a product, versus you don't want to get out there and work, so you just want to make a video what you eat a day, and there's a line. And if they make money, good for you. But do I believe in it?
0:12:18 - Jess
No, but people are watching it, I know and it's like so if I go right now over to Walmart next door and get a whole thing full of Reese's Peanut butter eggs and I say you know what, I'm gonna videotape myself eating all one hundred of these, and you say just, there is no way you can eat one hundred of them, and I'm like, watch me, I'm gonna put it on TikTok right now and you watch me do it. And I put on TikTok and I'm making a live video, and people are like there's no way she's gonna finish it. And people are just watching me devour these. Yeah, are you knocking me for doing it? People are watching it. No, I'm not knocking people are watching yeah, like who told them to watch?
They're watching on their own accord. I mean, that's what it is and I get what you're saying. If people are watching, then who?
0:13:10 - Grace
like I think I was trying and this is something I probably need to do on my own time and research when entertaining on social media or posting on social media became a way of earning an income and because I mean me, I'm guilty myself I will sit there and watch reality stuff and get into reels. I spent 30 minutes on Facebook reels and I'm like, okay, lord, no need to find something else to do, as if we don't already have enough going on in our own lives and enough drama. We have to be entertained and be pulled in by other people.
0:13:42 - Jess
Well, I think I'm no expert, but I think it's a popularity thing. You know, people get popular by. For example, like I said, there are influencers I follow I love. There's this one lady in Arkansas. She's a Christian lady. Her husband is a worship leader at this church in Arkansas. I like them. I don't know why. They just seem like nice people.
I love their pictures and stuff and she has a really huge following and, of course, people see that she has a huge following. She has like, I think, two million followers and so, of course, advertisers see that she's popular. So they're like hey, put on my clothes, and so I want all of your followers to see you wearing my brand. So that's what happens. Walmart says, oh, you have a huge following. When you're in your kitchen, hey, I would like my Walmart product to be sitting on your countertop so all of your followers can say oh, when you're in your bathroom talking to your kids, are combing your little girls hair, I would like your followers to see you using my hair products. So that's what happened and I want to throw you some dollars to you know what I'm saying. So that's what happens. That's how they start making their money.
Yeah, the, the promotions. Yeah, because if they're going to be online anyway and you know, sharing their live, that's what happens. They develop this following their online, sharing their lives. They have all of these followers and then advertiser see that and they're like, hey, the next time you do this, why don't you use my product while you do, it will pay you for your advertising and that's how they start making that money. I mean, if I'm online, if I had the following and I love shoes and perfume, and if I post a selfie and I had two million followers and Nike or Dior said, hey, if you're going to be posting a video, can you just put on my shoes? You went with Dior? You guys.
0:15:50 - Grace
I mean, I'm saying, I love your perfume.
0:15:52 - Jess
I'm just saying, if they said, hey, the next time you post a picture could you hold a bottle of my perfume when you do it? Sure that's for five hundred dollars, sure? I mean, I'm not saying I wouldn't.
0:16:02 - Grace
Right. No, yeah, you know, and it's entertainment and it's right. And if it's, there's an influential or a purpose behind the video. And I think what was her name again Of the lady I follow? Her name is Rochelle, Rochelle, Rochelle or no, the one lady with a oh Risa.
0:16:18 - Jess
Tisa, Risa Tisa, yeah, we're all over the place, as always, it's okay.
0:16:22 - Grace
It's okay, but it is, I know she had originally came out to give red flags, to give her experience and to yes. It was like a warning.
A warning, but now look, yeah, and it's like being fed on to so much that I feel like, instead of it being a red flag, it's becoming entertainment for some people it did Now, I don't think Drama, more drama, that people already know they have enough in their lives but they just need to feed off of somebody else's drama. I think so and I'm wondering is that bad? And I'm like I know I'm guilty of it too, but my 90 Day Fiancé, I love my 90. See, that's what I'm saying.
0:16:57 - Jess
Is it bad, though? I don't know, because I'll admit I was not interested before. I knew how big Risa Tisa was, how big this story was, I was not interested. I would scroll through social media and I would see people post about it. I just didn't know what it was and so I'd keep it scrolling.
And then my sister and my son we all have this little group text, and I saw my sister and my son talking about it and I was like I don't wanna be left out, and so I started researching it. And then, the next thing I know, I saw her on the Today Show, I saw her on Good Morning America, and so I was like oh, let me go watch some of these episodes. The next thing I know I am like 30 TikToks in and it's like I don't know, I just got sucked into it. It was entertaining and I just couldn't help myself. And so I honestly don't think she knew it was gonna be this. I really don't think she did. But now that it is, I just feel like she's just like well, I'm not gonna not take the free car.
0:18:07 - Grace
Right? No, I mean honestly, if I was in that position, I would have done this.
0:18:12 - Jess
And just a little bit of backstory. The reason she got a free car is because that's one of the things that he promised her was this car. I think he fake bought a car and it turned out he really didn't get a car or something. He fake put a deposit on them a house and it turns out he really didn't or something. So somebody donated a house to her, like it was like all kinds of craziness. I'm not gonna sit here and go through it with you because you can take all the TikTok hours yourself, yeah, but I'm just saying I don't think, and I guess the point I was trying to make is you know, we've made so many points, I guess because one Is it fair to just because you decided to post as a way, and maybe her true intentions were to just give warning and to be there and be a supporter of people who have fell victim to the same thing?
0:19:04 - Grace
Is it still fair that she received all of this stuff Just cause she wanted to put her personal life out there? Yeah, that was actually.
0:19:13 - Jess
Yeah, that was the point I had, and it's kind of like you know the verse that says you reap what you sow, and we often look at that verse. I think somebody else on Instagram actually said this I can't think of her name but we actually think of that as like a bad thing. You reap what you sow, but it's not always like that. You actually reap kindness and you reap support. So if we support each other and we reap kindness too, all of that comes back to you as well. So instead of you know me feeling oh bitter and jealousy because, oh, she's getting all of these things, I still go back to the original thing. Instead of saying, oh, all she did was go on TikTok and talk about her bad relationship, I got plenty of them.
I could have easily just said God, I see what you did for her. I know you can do it for me. God, I see what you did for other people. I know you can do it for me, god, I know you've created so many breakthroughs for other people. I know you can do it for me. It doesn't matter the means. I know you are a God of how. I know you are a God of when it's on your timing. I just don't need to be better. Exactly, you know.
0:20:25 - Grace
Yeah, yeah, oh well, just putting that all aside, what we just discussed many different things we just discussed that is the true, meaningful message of it all is that just because God does it for somebody in this shape or form or fashion doesn't mean he's not going to do it for you and bringing up the people take it as a negative connotation.
As far as the verse you weep what you sow, that's not the way. It's true. Maybe she did so so many kind and loving characteristics and had many of those moments that she had reaped in her life, and maybe this was just the opportunity that God was leading for her to be able to sow back what she had given wholeheartedly throughout her whole life to somebody. So our situations are not comparable to somebody else's situations as far as how God is going to bless us. So this might be a way that God has blessed her and it is up with us, looking within our own hearts, being able to receive that and be thankful for her and be supportive in her, rather than just kind of bittering our own souls and being like, well, why can I have this, when all she had to do was this and this and this? You know, just put her social life on social media.
So that's a whole message right there, Well no, you kind of brought that out of me a little bit because I had to check myself a little bit there, because I don't find anything wrong with people gaining followers and being influential and being supporters to their listeners and helping them along the way, because God knows we all need them. It's just being able to receive the message that they are giving out and being able to know that God is our author and our writer, our finisher and everything. So just bitterness is that will kill your soul instantly. I can't deal with no bitterness, though I'm happy for anybody who gets a little ticket in life sometimes. You know we all need it.
0:22:19 - Jess
I just want to see everybody win.
0:22:21 - Grace
I know I can't wait, but you know that's just how life is it's okay, all right. What would you like Jesus to fix? A lot of things, but that's okay. I think what's one.
What's one, I think, just within my own mind, knowing that I am doing the best that I can for my family, my daughter, and sharing his goodness and sharing his love, and knowing how to share that amongst other people, showing her how to be able to be that light for people in their lives. Just, I'm giving that all to God, him giving me the peace of mind that I'm doing the best that I can for my daughter and letting her be able to be a loving light to others for his kingdom. Amen. Yeah.
0:23:03 - Announcer
Life's not perfect. That's why God gave us friends like Melody and Candi. Check out QuirksBumpsandBruises.com or search Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises wherever you listen to podcasts.