Abbie Stockard, Miss America 2025, was my most recent guest on our monthly podcast, Go Getters and Go Givers, which will be available Friday, October 2. If you haven’t signed up to receive the notification monthly to access my podcast, you can go to my website at www.johnedmathison.org to sign up. Here are a few things that you will learn from Abbie:
- Miss America is not perfect. She shared a lot of the things with which she struggled. She had experienced many tough things in her life, including the divorce of her parents. How she handled all of those is a great education for everyone.
- Her mother went to Auburn and was on the dance team known as “The Tiger Paws.” Abbie always dreamed of going to Auburn and following in her mom’s footsteps. Her mom placed her Tiger Paw jacket in Abbie’s closet so that she would see it as a little girl every day when she went to dress. She had the image of what she wanted to be in front of her.
- She adopted a theme for life. It is two words—CHOOSE JOY. She relates how she had a lot of opportunities to choose many things in handling the situations of life. She had a lot of negative comments about all the things she couldn’t do. She didn’t listen—she just decided to CHOOSE JOY.
She has that phrase written on cards and notes in many places in her apartment, her automobile, her books—everywhere. She tells us how to CHOOSE JOY.
- She is sharing an apartment with my granddaughter, Healey Mathison. Healey helped me interview her because she knows Abbie so well. Healey told of how lonely she felt when she first arrived at Auburn, but Abbie came up and spoke to her with a simple word of encouragement. They developed a relationship that has produced Kingdom results. Don’t ever underestimate the power of a simple and kind gesture and the difference it can make.
- Abbie has a platform for ministry. She never expected to be a Miss America, but God placed her at the right place at the right time. She is now seeking to use her position as Miss America as a platform to lift up Jesus Christ and to serve people. She has dedicated her life to carrying out the Great Commission to go and make disciples and the Great Commandment to love all people.
- She talked about her failures. She had to take out student loans to start college. In order to pay them back, she saw a couple of pageant contests she could enter that gave scholarships. Would you believe that in her first pageant she finished third place. She decided to try again the next year and finished even further down the list. Most people would have given up—but not Abbie. She continued a couple more tries and all of a sudden won scholarship money and an opportunity to compete in Miss Alabama, then an opportunity in Miss America.
- She will be getting married next year to Walker Kessler who plays basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers. She tells a beautiful story about Walker the night she was crowned Miss America.
The podcast is about 40 minutes long and you will be challenged, inspired, and motivated to learn how God can use you. Don’t miss it! And share it!
What’s your theme for life?
