Today we’d like to introduce you to Larissa Jean
Larissa, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Hello, Shout Out Atlanta! Thank you for the opportunity to share about WAIT Training Ministries! The acronym WAIT stands for Willingly Accepting Immanuel’s Timing. This ministry is dedicated to empowering Christian single to willingly accept Immanuel’s Timing for relationships, love, marriage, and sex. WAIT Training empowers single women to walk in Kingdom purpose, embrace their identity in Christ, and prepare for a godly marriage as they wait on God.
When God gave me the vision to birth WAIT Training as an organization to serve single women, I was a junior in college at the University of Georgia. At that time of my life, there were very few resources to empower, edify, and encourage single women in my community to steward their season of waiting well. Everyone around me was rushing to get into a relationship for fear of being left out or being lonely. I wanted to create a community to reach single women in this season of life to use their waiting season well because they are worth the wait!
In May of 2025, WAIT Training Ministries will celebrate it’s 20th Year Anniversary! This the platform that houses my books in my Lessons Learned Book Series! In 2012, I published my first book for single women entitled, Lessons Learned As a Bridesmaid: what every single woman should know before becoming a bride. In 2024, I released my second book in the series, Lessons Learned as a Daughter of the King. WAIT Training Ministries provides books for single women, workshops, curriculum for small group Bible studies, college campus ministries, and our signature single women’s conference: WAIT Training BootCamp! Our inaugural conference was in 2018 where we ministered to single women in the Metro Atlanta area. During the pandemic, we hosted our first ever virtual WAIT Training BootCamp Singles Conference. 10 years ago, JR WAIT Training was launched to minister to the needs of middle school aged girls through empowerment, mentorship, and curriculum tailored to the needs of young girls in this generation.
I am so pleased to announce that we will be hosting our signature single women’s conference on March 22, 2025 in Lawrenceville, GA! Single women can register at https://www.waittrain.com/bootcamp. As Founder of WAIT Training Ministries, my heart is for all single women to know how valuable they are, and that their waiting time is never wasted time!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Waiting is HARD! As a woman of faith, my approach towards relationships has always been through the lenses of my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I live by His standard for navigating the journey from friendship, dating, and marriage. As a teenage girl, the messages that I received about marriage was that it was somehow a badge of honor, the coveted “gold star” of approval, and a huge identity marker for women in my community. In my first book, Lessons Learned as a Bridesmaid, I candidly share how the messages I received about marriage subconsciously made me believe that there was perhaps an imaginary “expiration date” on a young woman if she was not married by a certain age. Many women in my family and community married very early in life. So, when it became evident that this was not part of the unique story God had written for my life, I did have to learn how to navigate the many questions about “Why aren’t you married yet?” along with the plethora of questions, and at times, painful comments that are targeted to young women who are not married by a certain time frame. When God gave me the vision for WAIT Training, I wanted to provide a platform and safe space for young women, who like me, have a different story line from the traditional time frame for love, family, and marriage.
Birthed in May 2005, WAIT Training Ministries is designed to minister to the emotional, spiritual, and holistic development of single women. WAIT Training seeks to empower unmarried women to know their identity in Jesus Christ, to fully live out their Kingdom purpose and destiny as daughters of the King, and to prepare them for a kingdom marriage and a kingdom family. Waiting time as single women is not wasted time! Therefore, WAIT Training ministries will teach and equip single women to discover their purpose, cultivate healthy self-esteem, learn how to Willingly Accept Immanuel’s Timing as it pertains to God-honoring relationships, love, sex, and marriage. It is worth waiting on God’s BEST!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
From the time I was a little girl, I have always loved to read and to write. I am an avid reader today because of the love of books that my mother instilled in me as a child. God has always graced me in the area of words and written communication. I have fond memories of writing my own stories and the joy that comes with putting an original story on paper. God put a dream in my heart to write books since I was little.
In 2009, when I was seeking God for direction concerning His unique plans for my life, He reminded me of the dream that He placed in my heart from childhood about writing books. It was on that same night that I began writing the manuscript for my first book, Lessons Learned as a Bridesmaid. The Lesson Learned Series was birthed that night! After I had graduated from college, I was grateful for prophetic confirmation that part of God’s plans for my life was to write and publish multiple books for the Kingdom as resources, especially for God’s daughters. I wrote and published my sophomore project, Lessons Learned as a Daughter of the King, on December 27, 2024. I am beyond humbled by the testimonies of how God has used my second book to impact the lives of women from all ages groups and walks of life. This has truly been my most rewarding book project thus far!
What I love about being an author is that I am able to share God’s heart for His daughters on paper that people can read for generations after me. Writing immortalizes your words! I love the joy and privilege of impacting a life with the words God gives me to write in my books. Being a Kingdom author has truly been one of the greatest gifts in my life. As a creative, I love the writing and publishing process. I absolutely LOVE the creativity that being author affords me! The conception of the title of a book, to the entire manuscript process, and finally the editing and publishing process is a sacred journey. Birthing a book is a labor of love! I am blessed by God to be able to do that as Kingdom author, God’s scribe.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
My heart beats for mentorship! This is a core pillar to who I am. I believe in the power of discipleship and mentorship because there is such power, beauty, and transformation in pouring into another life and being instrumental in their development as an individual. When I think about mentorship, I default to examples in the Bible of powerhouse mentorship models: Jethro and Moses; Ruth and Naomi; Moses and Joshua; Paul and Timothy; Jesus and the 12 Apostles. What I love about these examples of mentorship is that the Mentor intentionally sowed into the lives of the mentee, replicated his or herself in the mentee, and empowered the mentee to effectively lead. Therefore, the best advice that I would give when choosing a mentor is to seek an individual whose life is aligned with the vision you have for your life. In my own life, I believe that God will send divine relationships, mentors, and partnerships that align with His assignment for our lives. Therefore, I believe it is critical that any leader who wants to grow into the next level of God’s purpose for their lives is to seek a mentor whose life is worthy to emulate. The mentors that God has blessed in my life span across the many different roles I am entrusted to steward: my spiritual mother, my business coach/mentor; my mentor in education; etc. The most important aspect in seeking a mentor is the fruit that this person produces! Good fruit only comes from a good root! It matters who speaks into your life! Therefore, a mentor whose life has lasting good fruit is a gift from God!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.waittrain.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/larissa_d_jean/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WAITTrainers/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larissa-jean-874aa927/
Image Credits
Larissa Dayana Jean
Mikhaela Slavik Photography
