A 36-year-old mother of three and former naval officer turned heads as the state of Georgia’s representative at this year’s Miss USA pageant, held August 27th in Miami, Florida. While Jade Kircus did not win – she lost to another woman who will now claim the crown as the first ever wife and mother – but her message of faith did not go unnoticed. Miss USA was famously owned by now-president Donald Trump between 1996 and 2015.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, the winner of Georgia’s contest, in her first-ever pageant that propelled her to the national stage, Ms. Kircus shared how her background in the Navy, as well as a profound loss due to miscarriage at 16 weeks just this past January, helped ground her faith and prepare her for anything.
“I went from the navy uniform to being in a sash because I really felt like the Lord put it on my heart in October to compete, and when I found out that my state didn’t have an actual pageant, I signed up for the open casting call after praying about it for a long time. So since October, I’ve prayed about it, and the door opened, and I joined the open casting call and was selected as Miss Georgia USA,” she said.
“When I was in high school, I was deciding which college or university to go to, and I wanted to originally become an ambassador and be a pilot. And so I was like, okay, where can I go that will allow me to do those things? And I decided on the Naval Academy. It was a very intense application process, and when I was accepted, I decided to go because they have such a unique culture and really just an incredible ability to propel you into not only the Navy and service to our country, but life in general,” she went on.
“And so I decided to go to the Naval Academy, and from there I became a surface warfare officer. So that was in 2012, and I served two sea tours on two ships and did engineering. And then my shore tour was at Central Command in Tampa, Florida. I know I spoke previously about the Lord laying competing on my heart in October,” she continued.
“Well, at the end of October, this last year, I found out I was pregnant. So I said, “Okay, Lord, that’s a closed door. And in January, we lost our baby girl at nearly 16 weeks, and I just remember holding her in the hospital through several traumatic moments prior to that, and I remember looking at her and being like, “Wow, this life is so beautiful. And it was in my most difficult moment that the Lord really showed up and showed me who He was. And so, although it was challenging, I clung to my faith. I chose to cling to who God is, not my circumstances, because there’s so many things in life that we just can’t see and we can’t understand, and we won’t until eternity, and we won’t until we’re with Him,” she said through tears.
“But in those moments, I have never had more peace, and I know that sounds crazy, but my God is a God of peace, and He is a God who restores, and I really just, in my hardest moment, looked at that and was like, “God, you’re still faithful. You’re still good. You still care about me deeply, and my baby girl is with you, and I get to meet her one day because you’re good,” she added.
“Obviously, I had the grieving process, and then in February, he put Miss USA back on my heart, and I’m like, okay, God. I thought it was a closed door, but it is an open door, and so I’m not going to sit in the pain and the hard that like the hard parts of what I just experienced. I’m going to move forward and know that you’re still good and know that you have a plan. And so the fact that I get to sit here today and get to be at Miss USA is truly a testament to his faithfulness because he has a plan all along. So while I miss my baby girl and I wish I was holding her right now, I know that I’m here for a purpose, whatever that is, whatever that looks like. I would love to say to everyone watching that it’s never too late,” she spoke.
“I’m a 36 year old wife, a mother to three beautiful children, and I never thought that at this point in my life I would be doing something like this. But you can do hard things. You can do hard things at any age, at any stage, and I think each person has their own season where they’re able to step out and they’re able to really show up in a way that they never thought they could. And so, whoever is listening, I want you to know that today you can make a choice to change. Today you can make a choice to be confident and become the woman or the man that that God has called you to be. It’s never too late, and that is my message,” she finished.
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video