Chantel Deniese on Faith, Purpose & Building a Foundation for Self-Worth | The CJ Moneyway Show

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Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show podcast, the podcast show where we unlock potential one dream at a time. Today we have another guest whose journey is truly worth hearing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Moneyway experience.

What's up, my good people? Welcome to the DJ Moneyway Show in association with GI, the state's capital. Be on the lookout for that new animated series created by your boy CJ Moneyway and CJ Moneyway Entertainment. Today's guest is faith-led empowerment leader Chantel Denise, a powerful voice for self-worth, spiritual awareness, and soul care. And what you may have not known about Chantel is that She's also an author, a singer. It's a lot to this lady, y'all, more than what we know. With over two decades of experience teaching Bible study, mentoring women, and helping with creative youth, Chantel brings a deeply personal and spiritual lens to personal growth. In this episode, as we explore the challenges and breakthroughs of navigating womanhood, faith, Family and Purpose. Welcome to the show, Chantel. Hey, how you doing today, Chantel?

Hello, CJ. I see CJ's initials up there. I'm gonna call you Corwin. I like the CJ.

Hey, yeah, you know, we can leave it. We can leave the government name out, you know, it's all good. That's my mantra. I got— actually, I got that name when I was writing my book. You know, you come up with different characters, different stuff, and That night, it just stuck. So I'm rolling with it. I made it a brand. So this is what we gonna do. So, Janelle, let me ask you, you know, this wasn't on my agenda first, but we got to put it out here before we get lost in the woods. What are you working on right now?

Oh my gosh, thank you for asking, CJ. I am currently working on my project as a performing artist. I have been performing for many, many years, but I've never put all of, like, had a collection of my work on an album or an EP. So I am currently working on my EP with a group called Wavemakers out here in Texas. And let me just tell you, I got some good stuff coming. I'm super excited about it. And it's just really triumphant process for me because I've wanted to do this for so long. So I can't wait to introduce this new music to you.

Man, you know, you out there in Houston, so I hope the music good enough where you can, you know, Beyoncé, what's her name?

She out in Austin, but I would pass by so I can see Beyoncé.

Yeah, I mean, it's Houston, right?

I mean, I'm from Houston originally, made my way to Los Angeles for a long time. Now I'm over here, I moved back to Texas, I'm down in Austin.

What part of LA?

I was living in the Valley, San Fernando Valley. I'm Valley girl. I was able to hit the Strip and go down to Hollywood and Los Angeles. Wherever they led me to be able to do what I do, I was there.

Hey, I feel you. I got on Bulls today, but I am a die-hard Laker fan. Die-hard since 1980. You know, I've been there since Magic, you know. I've Magic. And I, like you say, with Tina Turner, uh, have you been doing the tribute to her? You know what I'm saying? Since 19— what'd you say, '98?

1998, I've been doing a tribute honoring her work. Yeah, really quickly, I met Magic at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffle. Uh, yeah, he was really nice.

I am jealous. I'm serious right now. I am jealous because if I had— you know, if they ask you a question like, if you had one guest that you would love to have on your show, who would it be? Without a question, Magic Johnson. Magic, again, for the umpteenth time, if you listening, man, your boy CJ Moneyway needs you on the show. Now, I want you— I need you on the show to give us some of that wisdom and knowledge. And yes, I cried in 1991 when it was exposed that he had HIV. So call me whatever you want to, love me some Magic, love me some Kobe. So let me ask you, Denise, building a foundation of faith and self-worth, tell us, what was your journey from ministry to mentorship?

Oh, so let me give you a little back history because I was a part of a church in LA for 30-plus years. 31. Let's just go ahead and round it off. And so for a long time, our church was set up where we had a lot of, like, discipleship groups, where you had groups, community groups, where we meet together and we connect with one another and we help each other spiritually. So my husband and I, we led those groups for, I would say, 20 years. I have been leading those groups even upon me moving from LA and moving here to Texas. I was leading a group. We were doing it online because of course COVID hit, and so you had to reshift. And so I did that for a long time. But what I really realized was, for me personally, like, I believe that God definitely gives you these abilities and these opportunities to do great things, but he's always wanted us to work on ourselves. So I had to do a— what do you call it— a switcheroo. And I had to really go back and start doing some work on my own personal life. So I stopped leading those groups and start working on my own personal life. I took a self-development program, I also took a life coaching program, and it was there that I discovered that I'm supposed to be doing not necessarily the group in a sense of the way that I was doing it, but I was supposed to be doing a lot more one-on-one work. And that's where I started life coaching. And then from that one-on-one work, of course, I started back doing a little bit of the group stuff, which is kind of current. And that's where I wrote my book called Unblock Me. And I started doing some group work and some individual work as well. But I truly believe that I am called to help women in a very specific and strategic way. And so that's where the mentorship stuff comes in. The Bible teaches like the older mature women in Titus help the younger women. So that's where the mentorship stuff comes in. Those women who are a little bit younger than me that I can actually walk side by side and help them spiritually in their life, whether it's physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally. There's four components to life, to the mind, body, and soul. And I feel like God has called me to really help people to do that kind of work. And that's been a great journey for me. It's been awesome. It's been wonderful. I went on a book tour, and I think from that book tour, I just kind of met so many amazing people that needed the extra that extra encouragement. And I consider myself really more of an advisor. I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm not here to have you be codependent of me. Once I give you the tools and help you, it's time for you to launch out there, baby, because you got to go help the next person. So it's not about me holding on to you for 10 and 15 years, because if I still have you, I'm still helping you with work for 10 years. What are you actually doing with the work that I've taught you the couple of years before? You know what I'm saying? So it's time for you to— I'm about like, let's help these birdies fly, these babies fly, because they need to apply this information and go out and help the next person.

You said so much there. I got a couple of things I want to add to what you said, but tell us about your book. What is the name of the book that you went on this fabulous book tour with?

It's called Unblock Me. It's called Unblock Me. It's the journey of learning how to master your life, overcome challenges, and live in your worth. God revealed this title to me personally because I had a lot of blocks in my life. When I told you I had to go back and do this self-development program, coaching program, I had to work on my own life so that I can get unblocked in some areas so God could use me the way he wanted use me. Because when you're blocked, you can say hallelujah, God is good all you want, and he is all those things, but you will not live the best version of yourself if you have blocks. There's just no way. God won't do for you what you can do for yourself. And so I felt like that book, when he put it on my heart to go on that journey of discovery for myself, I started writing stuff down. I'm like This stuff is not just for me, man. I've got friends who I have seen experience some of this stuff. There's people out in the world that need some of this information. So I'm like, let me just write down my journey and let me give the people the tools, some of the stuff that I actually use that helped me. Perhaps somebody may be edified by this. Somebody might grow from this. And so the book tour was awesome because I would meet people who were just coming they didn't know what to expect to find themselves wanting more information. Because it's that kind of subject matter that you have to want to do the work. You have to be at a place that you understand that there are some blocks for you to get unblocked. It's not for everybody because everybody's not ready to get unblocked.

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That's the truth, you know. So you made me think about some things. I got another podcast called, uh, Plant Seeds with CJ, and that was something, as you were alluding to, when I started this podcast, that's what I wanted to do. You know, I got two of my buddies, we're doing something starting in July. I always wanted to aim towards me. Just because of what you're doing right now, empowerment for women. And you know, when I was looking around, I was seeing a lot of women empowerment podcasts. I was saying, you know, Girls Rock on BET and things of that nature. And you know, I know we got some men podcasts, we got Shaq and Kevin Hart and all these guys or whatever, but I was like, who is really out there on a podcast right now? I'm not saying that it's not, but who's edifying the man? Who's edifying that brother out there that's going through some stuff, you know what I'm saying? And you know, it was funny that you said that because I was just talking about this a couple weeks ago. Actually, I did a podcast on this, removing the specks and planks out of your own eyes, because there's layers of specks and planks. I can't get the planks out of my brother's eye if I still got planks in my eye? I can't help you. But this is what we do, Chantel. You got a situation, right? You got an issue. I'm older than you, you know, that's just saying I'm older than you or whatever, call me OG. And so I'm talking to the young G because he got an issue, he got a situation that he going through. But because I'm OG, I can tell you how to do this and this and that. But am I really helping them? Because at the same time, I know myself that I have an issue with the same thing that I'm trying to help him with. I haven't got over it, you know what I'm saying? So sometimes I got to get some things, and as you said, get my life together, get my life in track and what God want me to be. And once I open up to him, now he can fill me with things that I need to go out there and help that young brother, not hurt him. But help them. Because sometimes we think we helping people, but we hurting them in the long run, you know what I'm saying?

You know, I mean, you better talk about that. I love what you shared, CJ, because I absolutely agree. I think there are men podcasts out there, but the edification part is, is the magic word, because the building up— a lot of those podcasts are talking about subjects, specific subjects, right? A lot of the podcasts with some— a lot of the celebs are topics based on world stuff, or, you know, it's different things. It's not like, hey bro, what's going on with your marriage? Let's talk about that. Hey, let's— what's going on with, you know, we talked last week about, you know, you hitting that pipe. What's going on with that? You know, there's not a lot of people that are willing to go in and say, hey, let's get unblocked right here in front of live TV.

Let's do it.

Now, there may be some— I haven't seen them, like you said— but there does need to be more conversations where we are being encouraged, but we're also being called to truth. We're also being told the truth, like right there. And I personally have felt like God has called me to do that kind of work, but— and it's intimate work for people to feel comfortable with talking about their situation. So I get that and I understand that, but there's just not a lot of encouragement. There's not a lot of deep talk. There's a lot of surface conversation. There's a lot of focusing on this man, this situation over here, what the world is doing. And I'm not saying any of that stuff is not a topic of discussion. We need to have those discussions. But are we really helping each other? That's the conversations we need to be having.

And you know, Chantel too, in this. I'm glad we talking about this. Yeah, we'll get back on subject in a minute. This is something that is dividing and need to be talked about. A lot of times too, it does matter. And you know, you hear pastors say this all the time, it does matter who you listen to and who's trying to encourage. People don't know the difference between someone who's trying to encourage you because they can see your full potential or someone who's trying to discourage you. See, we got a lot of haters out there, but then you got some people that genuinely care for your well-being, genuinely wants to see you succeed. I don't care if you grow up and, and I helped you and you go out and have more than me. If that was the case, I wouldn't have gave my advice. I wouldn't have gave my— you know what I'm saying? I wouldn't have gave you me. I don't give a lot of people me. You feel what I'm saying? Like, in my personal space, if you in my personal space, I care for you, I, you know what I'm saying, whatever. But don't get it twisted for one minute. If you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing as a man, I'm gonna say something, you know. If you come to me with something or whatever, whatever, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it and tell you something to make you feel better. Like in the movie where he said, do something to make me feel better. I put, uh, uh, uh, I know Bernie Mac, that was in the Players Club, you know what I'm saying? Like, do something to make me feel— I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna tell you the truth. Just like I would want a friend— if you're a friend and you say you got friends in LA and this— if you're a friend, don't lie to me. Don't lie to me and tell me that this is right or whatever, and you know that it's wrong, and I'm gonna go out there and do the same thing again and fall into the same trap, or I might die. Don't tell me that. Tell me, tell me what's real. Be real with me, you know what I'm saying? Because I'm gonna be real with you. That's just bottom line.

Amen.

And a lot of times, you know, we don't like that, especially men. We don't like being challenged. We don't like being, you know what I'm saying, challenged and confronted with anything. Yeah, confronted with stuff, you know. I'm, I'm starting to notice, uh, Chanel, and I'll leave it on this because this is to you men. I'll leave it on this. I'm starting to notice that if you have a gathering and men are out talking, you know, like, happy men be in the garage or outside on the back porch and the women in the house and, and they talking and doing their thing or whatever. And then men outside having real conversation because, you know, we don't talk the same way as we actually— husband, we don't talk the same way around our wives as we do around each other when y'all ain't around, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's just different conversation. But when you have real conversation and they can't handle it, I'm tending to see— I'm finding the men going in the house with the women. That's something that we need to talk about, you know what I'm saying? So let's move on from there. Hey, so, uh, let me ask you, Chanel, how you dropping my teeth? I don't know, I got the purse on my mind. I got the— because I called you that from the beginning and you correct me, and I told you my cousin name is the same name, so I shouldn't forget it. And happy birthday, Chantel! Chantel LaDawn Clay, 50 years old today. So Chantel, let me ask you, how do you define self-worth in a world of comparison?

Woohoo! First of all, worth is value, so you have to have self-value. You have to understand yourself value. That means what you offer and what you contribute to the world, what you're made of, your DNA, the fabrics of your soul, the person you are, your integrity, your character, how you show up, however you present yourself. That's your value system. So you have to, have to operate in self-worth from the value that God already placed upon you. So that means you can't be like Susie Q because you were not made like her. That means that just because Sandra is awesome at this don't mean I'm supposed to shoot for how Sandra is. I gotta shoot for what's my value system, what's important to me, what matters, how do I want to show up. If I leave today, how do I want to be remembered? That's individual self-worth, individual value. It's not based on anybody else. And I think what happens when there's so much comparison is because people see people out there that look like they're thriving, right? I don't know if you see all the— there's so much on the internet that we get pulled into. First of all, we got time for this, but that's a deep suction hole for the enemy strategy. Pull you on in, lure you on in. And you have to really be aware of what is for you and what is not for you. You mentioned earlier, like, you don't listen to it. We shouldn't be listening to everybody. Got to make sure you know who you're listening to. And so I would say the first thing is when it comes to comparison, when you're around a group of people, whether it's women, a group of women, a group of men, or whomever, instead of focusing on comparison, focus on being in community with that person. Find out what you can learn from them. Because if you attach your self-worth and your value system to how they roll and how they operate, you're going to always be one down. You're never going to be one up, you're going to be always one down because you're sabotaging the life that God has given you, the assignment and the work that you're supposed to be doing for the sake of comparison, and then getting your worth based on what you're not doing or what you should be doing based on what they're doing. Does that make sense?

Yeah, I know exactly what you said. It's like, you know, like you say, it was an old saying back in the day, it say, uh, trying to be like the Joneses, you know what I'm saying? You trying to be like the Joneses, but the Joneses got something totally different, you know what I'm saying? Like, your gifts and talents— you mentioned somebody like how she doing this and she living in this lane, you know, her gifts and talents got her there, you know what I'm saying? Your gifts and talents may not be the same and display the same as hers is, you know. And that's one thing I talk about a lot too, as you're talking about comparison. The reason why a lot of us feel the way that we feel, because we have buried our talents in the earth. Because we know how— we know what the words say. The words say that two of them went and went, multiplied their talents, and one of them went and he buried his in the earth. The talents that a lot of us have buried in the earth are the exact same talents that can get us to where Susie at. But because we have denied the talents that God has given us— or you, you alluded to something, you said something to the point— or we have denied what God given us and too busy focused on what he has given somebody else, man. Go dig up the talents God gave you and let it multiply, man. Quit playing with yourself. And so let me ask you, hey, it's real. Like, this is Bible, this is scripture.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying?

This ain't something that CJ made up, you know. No, this is word. But as he have done with you, your husband, myself, you know, my wife, and and many others, he has given— what did he tell the disciples? He told them, he say, because they asked him why did he speak in parables, he said, for them they don't understand the mysteries, but for you I have given you the mystery. So that's why you call Chantel out to work on herself, because I have given you some things that I haven't given everybody, and I need you to utilize it to the best of your ability.

Oh, you preach this, CJ.

I just be talking.

I love it. I love it, man.

When I see that you with the Bible, I'm like, I love these type of conversations. I really do, because, you know, too many people stray away from this.

Exactly.

Scared of how this gonna be, man. Look at the world that we're living in.

We need the word. People don't understand, like, I don't get freaked out about stuff. I didn't get freaked out about the pandemic. Yes, of course I wanted to keep myself safe, but when I go and understand the plagues, I'm like, it's the plague. I'm not freaking out over it. When I see the world and the presidents and all these different people making decisions, everybody's fussing and crying, I'm like, wait a minute. Y'all asked for a king. Israel asked for a king. God said, I will be your king. President is a mini king. Y'all asked for it. So because you asked for it, you can't control who gonna be there. And I'm speaking to Christians because a lot of people who are not Christian, they don't know the word. They don't know some of these stories.

But we plant seeds though. We plant seeds. Somebody gonna come and water. You plant some seeds.

Yes sir. But for Christians, the stuff that we're getting caught up in, the rapture that we're getting caught up in, we need to stop because we have work to do. Our assignment is different from this person over here who is a non-believer. Our goal is to supposed to be helping the non-believer become a believer. And so everything that we do, and when I'm teaching, when I'm speaking, I always tell people, if you have a problem with the faith, because everything I do is faith-led Everything that I'm talking about is faith-led. And you know, I may not sing a gospel song, but my music, you go get some inspiration from God. And inspiration is breath. So you gonna get something from God through me. And I always remind people of that. Like, I'm not necessarily going around like shouting all these different things because if my life doesn't match it, people ain't gonna hear the word anyway.

People ain't gonna know you watching. And you know they watching, you know what I'm saying? They watching, waiting for that one little slip up, like, oh, you know. But that don't—

more is caught than taught. That's what I learned with parenting. More is caught than taught. So I can teach my kids all day long, but it's what they catch from what I do that they will remember and hold on to because they soaking it up like a sponge, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So it's super important for us to remember, like, you know, the things we ask for. Like, God— the Bible has all the information. It's the blueprint. It's got all the information. So I don't usually get freaked out over things that go on. And people always wonder, like, why is she stressed? And then, baby, first of all, I'm passing through here. I gotta enjoy my time here. So how do I enjoy my time? I gotta focus on things that God has put before me. That's how I enjoy my time. That's how I stay, stay on the straight and narrow. That's how I stay unblocked. If I allow all this other stuff to come inside of me, I'm gonna get blocked where I can't even hear God anymore. I can't connect with him because I'm blocked with all the stuff that I'm trying to navigate. That's another thing for self-worth too, for people. It's like you, when you're trying to capture everything, you miss on that thing you talked about not burying the talent, going and digging it up. I think that a lot of people can't see that talent and realize that they buried it because they're trying to catch all these other things. Their focus is completely off from where they should be. And I had to learn that lesson for myself. I had to learn. Now, when you ask me— sometimes you ask me to do stuff, I'm like, nope. Even scheduling this podcast, I was like, let me look at my schedule. I can't do it this month. You know what I'm saying? I'm very clear on, nope, you can't do that. And when I get cluttered, I go back to my value system. What's important to you? What did you say to yourself? What did you talk about at the beginning of your year to yourself? What did you write down and said you was going to do by this here day, girl? What did you say? I go back to those things when I'm getting cluttered and unclear.

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And you know, it's something that you said earlier that made me think, because that's true. You said they asked for a king. When, when the time you came to him, he say And he told him, he said, look, he said, um, you know, they ain't do nothing to you. They ain't go against you. It wasn't against me. So don't you fret, don't you worry about it, because I am, I am, you know what I'm saying? So it's like you say, if we don't have that level of thinking— and, and it's not to disavow non-believers, you know what I'm saying? Because at the end of the day, as you were saying That's why he has selected— he said many are called but few are chosen. And that's why he has selected some to go out into the masses. See, because you can, you can get so much from church, but what are you taking from church and going out there into the world and give it? Because those that's not going to your church, they ain't getting what you getting, you know what I'm saying? So don't— and then this for some of y'all Christians too, and I'm gonna leave it on this. Stop going to church, listening to the word of God from the man of God or the woman of God, and acting as if that situation does not involve you. Either you've overcome it, or, you know, saying, or whatever. And then come Wednesday, somebody that need that word that you ignored— because God put you there to get the word to give to somebody who was going to come to you for that word— but because you ignored, you can't give them what he gave you. So stop doing that. Stop doing that. Go to church for a reason, you know what I'm saying? For the right reason. Let me ask you.

I call—

now see, now you got me calling by your middle name. You got me scared to call you by your name. I'm calling you Chanel Number 5. So, uh, so Chanel, let me ask you, how do you balance your work life faith, and your business?

How do I balance work, faith life, business, and family life? I would have to say all of that is from faith. All of it is streams from that. So when I think about— I'm very clear on what I can do and what I cannot do. Like, I understand myself, I know myself. For example, I know that 2 events in 1 day is enough for me. I used to do about 4 or 5, like morning, midday, extra midday, and then 2 in the evening. And these are like going places and doing things. And so because I've come from a past of multitasking and doing a lot, I've learned how to put things in categories. So my family is going to get the best of me. That's important to me. And so work and, you know, all that other stuff that I do,— it has to definitely be underneath those categories. So it's like God, then my family, and then everything else. And so that's how I kind of live my life. And it's all faith-led in a sense when I say that if there's something I know I really want to do and I know it's not the right timing, I trust. I just surrender it over to God. It's like, hopefully, that'll come back to me. For example, say someone says, hey, Shantel, I want you to perform. At the Coliseum out in California, and it's going to be on this date, and I know I already have something on that date, I'm not going to try to finagle a way of how I can do that. I have to go to God first and get his clear understanding. Like, I put it before God, like, okay God, you know I really want to do this. I've been trying to get it to Coliseum, you know, show me, line it up if it's something that I could actually do with what I already have. But if not, I'm okay with it. I know that you'll circle it back to me. And so I think that that's something that I've had to practice. It doesn't come easy for me because, you know, if you're passionate about something, sometimes you want to go for that dream that you have. You want to play at that place. You've been waiting for it. But sometimes we have to be clear on the enemy's strategy too, because he's there weaving and waving things. And there's things like, for example, I will tell you this. I'm going to give you a specific example. I do— like, I went on the tour with my book, right? And I do these women events. And so every time I do a women event, I do it once a year at the end of March because of International Women's Day. Every time I do it, it's a lot of work for me. I find myself doing it kind of like by myself, everything from planning, from getting the venue, from getting the food, from everything. And yes, my family, they come and support me and help me with it. But I find myself stressful. So I prayed about it. I said, "God, this year, I don't think that I need to do the event, but You make it clear, because if there's somebody that needs to be blessed, let me do that event." Several weeks went by. God made it very clear because one of the things, it wasn't on my heart. I wasn't passionate about it. And every single one of them, I've been passionate about it. It wasn't on my heart. And so it went by, days went by. It was clear. God says, "Don't do it." because it's going to be a hustle for you. I don't know if you understand the term of pay to play as a musician. That's where you hire out, get all your friends to come so that you can get whatever that you get on the door. It's kind of pay to play. Get the— whatever, whatever you make on the door, that's what you're going to get for the night. It could be $300, $400, $500, it could be $1,000 depending on how many people you got there. So I knew, I'm like, I'm gonna have to get all these people here. I can do it, but it's gonna be a lot of work and I'm being stressed. So I decided, I talked to God, I said I'm gonna bow down. I'm not gonna do it. Well, that same date that I had scheduled that event that I went and canceled and told everybody I'm not doing it this year, which was March 29th, that group that I mentioned earlier, the Wavemakers group that is helping me with my current project, which is to get my EP done, that group I won a grant for. The night of that celebration night was March 29th. It was same day that I would have had my woman's event that I would have been stressed trying to do. Wow. I was like, I don't want you doing that. You need to be here because I got something for you.

That's God. You know, I was telling them, one of my little brother, he family, but I was just telling him the other day, I— because he take pictures, he do car shows and stuff, whatever, he film car shows and everything. And he was telling me about this big event that he missed in Indianapolis from his mentor. They had this big event, and he said, man, I hate I missed it. And like I told him, just listening to you, I say every big event ain't a missed opportunity. Nope, it's not a missed opportunity, you know, because sometimes it was meant for you to miss that. I say because you gotta line yourself up so that when the opportunity like that come, you already ready, you know what I'm saying? I'm already there. Life is preparation. You just don't get to where you are just by happenstance. No, you gotta put in the work. You gotta plan, strategize, and like you say, organize or whatever. I listened to T.D. Jakes before, and T.D. Jakes say— because you're creative, so I know you know this, you can understand— and he say you gotta have boxes, you know what I'm saying? Like, I gotta be able to put something here, something there, something here, because I got all these ideas, so I can't put them all in this one box. I may be working on something, and so now all these ideas that I got, I'm trying to fit it in. Into this, but it don't fit there. It fits in some of these other categories that I have, you know what I'm saying? So open up your minds, ladies and gentlemen. And so one thing I want to ask you, Chanel, Miss Chantel, is have you ever, or do you often tell your husband— because I know as a creator, you know what I'm saying, we busy. Although, you know, we do things with the family, go out to eat, go to sporting events and things of that nature, because my little son, he run track. And stuff like that. He play basketball. And so, you know, I work too, so I miss a lot of stuff, you know what I'm saying? Sometimes I may miss it if I'm working, I miss it. If I don't, I'm there. But I also do this, and I'm working on something else, and, you know, so it's always something constant. So sometimes I have to tell my wife, you know, to just say thank you for giving me the space that I need to do what I'm doing, you know what I'm saying? Because sometimes people don't understand And I'm not just doing it for me, I'm doing it for us. I don't need the nagging, I don't need the complaining, you know what I'm saying? None of that. Just give me the space to do what I'm doing, you know what I'm saying? Because who knows where, you know, your music gonna go, who knows where your book gonna go, anything, you know what I'm saying? But sometimes we just, you know, just have to say thank you, you know what I'm saying? Because a lot of times people ain't in the space that you in. They don't understand certain things, you know what I'm saying, or how this work, how do we expect them to understand. But you know, it's just like, uh, that dream, the Joseph— that's my story right there. Oh, I love the Book of Joseph 37:45 because you see it. And I just— I feel the post something with TI, uh, tomorrow because he said something. He said, don't let nobody talk you out of your dreams. Don't let nobody talk to you because they can't see it. They want to talk you out of what you see, and I don't care who it is, if they can't see it, they don't sometimes believe it, you know what I'm saying? And try to deter you from where you're trying to go. And so that's why I say sometimes we have to say thank you, because we ain't in the same space in that category. We're just not in the same space, but I thank you for giving me the space. I just wanted to throw that out there.

I love that. I, you know, I probably need to say a little bit more thank yous, but I do share with my husband how much I appreciate him and his support because he definitely has my back. We haven't always been on the same page with the dreams and the goals, so I'm gonna be honest, but we have worked through so much till we both get it now, and we understand that life is seasonal. We understand that there are certain seasons I'm gonna be super busy and he's not. He's going to be super busy and I'm not. Like right now, he's getting a lot of— because he's a piano player, he's getting a lot of calls right now, and he's coming to me, he's like, what do you think, blah blah blah. So we talk about a lot of stuff that we end up taking and we don't take, um, and so— but yeah, I do express, you know what, I appreciate your support because I wouldn't be able to do this without you.

Yeah, and that holds a lot, you know what I'm saying? I mean, sometimes it may go in one ear and out the other, especially— I'm not saying it in my case, but maybe it may be in my case, but I'm not saying that just because she listened to this. But sometimes they may understand and may not understand. It's all good, we speak the truth on the CJ Moneyway Johnson Show. So let me ask you, Chantel, How can one discover their purpose through spiritual clarity?

Oh, that's a good question. One thing that always comes up for me, if it keeps coming back to you— so here's how God works, because God knows some of us are knuckleheads, right? I know for me it's always, God, you got to give it to me like the Trinity. I need to see it 3 times in a dream. Give it to me 3 times, guys. Jesus. So I would say there's a common through line, there's a common thread, and you cannot get away from the thread because God, he interweaves stuff just like the Trinity, you know. You cannot get away from the common thread. So if you see And it's also too, that one thing that keeps occurring and coming back to you that you can't get rid of. It also too is like your passion. Like, what do you actually enjoy? You know, what are you enjoying? A lot of times people are leaders and they enjoy it and they will not lead, but they enjoy when they get the moment to do it, right? It's like that thing that keeps coming back to you. Like, for example, CJ, if you're always to do this thing, like, because somebody has seen and they know that that's your gift because they've seen you do it. So they're going to keep asking CJ over and over and over and over to do this thing. The same thing if you have something you enjoy, you're going to keep doing it over and over and over and over. Once you discover that through line, that thing that keeps repeating itself, then you like really line that up with God because it's very clear God will always put his stamp on what he's assigned you to do. So you put it up before him, you pray about it, you connect with him about it, and you're gonna keep allowing that to come back to you. And it's always something that's healthy for you, that allows a light to shine inside you. Because, you know, when Jesus was talking to the disciples, we are a light that can't be hidden on the hill, right? So your light is going to come out, you're going to shine so bright in that particular area. That's purpose living. It's doing that thing that you know God has placed inside of you that is bursting. You cannot get away from it. You may put it off on hold. You go, I'm not going to do that this year. I'm not gonna— like me as a creative, I put creativity on hold at one point, kept coming back, right? I may— it's seasonal, so I took a little break from it, but it keep coming back. I can't get away from the creativity. All the ideas God be dropping— I need you to write this, I need you to show this story— too much information he's dropping. And so that's something to just be aware of. Pay attention to that through line, that thing that keeps repeating itself, that keeps coming back to you, and put that thing up to God, because God already know the assignment. He's just waiting for you to get on board with him in the assignment. And so that's the thing, that's why you got to put it up to him, and that's why you got to get clarity and confirmation.

Well, I will add on to that one second. I only got one more question for you, and then I have a— I got this game that I've been playing on the CJ Moneyway Show, okay, quick fire round. So I'm gonna ask you 5 questions, the first thing that comes to your mind. But before I get there You said something that was intriguing. You said that a lamp, a light, you know, saying that can't be hidden under a lamp, you know what I'm saying? And then that your— when your purpose, you know, you get to your purpose, that, um, your light is going to shine. And so what I would like to, to add on to that is this, because I think, you know, as I was saying, I was talking to my little— one of my little brothers the other day And he said, man, you know, sometimes you get to the finish line and you start getting nervous, start getting anxiety, whatever, you know what I'm saying? I did all this to get to this point. And I say, because sometimes you work so hard to get to where you are, where you've been, you don't know what's going to be at that finish line. You know, sometimes we say, well, I'm not going to change if I get this, I'm not going to— well, how do you know? You know what I'm saying? How do you know? Unless you know for sure that I've been without, you know what I'm saying? So once— because he, he will test you. Now, he, you know, says— you say he will test you. But what I would like to say is this, that when your light do begin to shine, when God begins shining his light on you, I'm just gonna be honest with people, people will turn from you. People will start falling off. People will stop calling you. People gonna stop inviting you places because your light is shining too bright for them. There's something about you they don't like. Now, these people that you used to roll with, you hung with, that you love, but your light is shining so bright they don't want you around. And so when you get to that point, don't get discouraged. Keep moving, because as she said, God is moving with you, you know what I'm saying? Forget what them haters say, you know. Hey, I'm keep moving. Y'all hate my life for a reason, you know what I'm saying? Because I'm walking in my purpose. And when you start walking in your purpose, people was getting hating on you because you always want to remember somebody when— I remember you when— well, well, God say that I'm a new creature in Christ. I got a renewed mind, you know what I'm saying? I devil, you can't tempt me with the things that you used to tempt me with. But because somebody else still being tempted by that, they're mad because you're not. Come on now. Yeah, anyway, let's get to the quick fire.

I love that, you know, jealousy and envy was the first sin for murder, man.

Come on now, April, come on now. Yeah, you better go back. People better go back to the beginning if you never— or, you know, people I can't, I can't understand. Nobody ever understood the Bible when they first started reading it. Maybe you had some scholars that soon, like, oh, I just— my father told me a long time ago before he passed, he say, he say, hey man, every time you go back and read something, you gonna see something different than you saw before. You say you just scratching the surface when you see something. And I'm gonna tell you men something right now. Go back to the beginning of Genesis. I think it's Genesis 3. We all know the story, Chantel, when God came walking through the— well, it say it— people in church, you hear that, but it don't say that God— well, it say that his voice came through the garden in the cool of the day, and he was looking for Adam, and he called out to him, and they had hid themselves because they had eaten from the tree.

Yes, right.

And so he say, uh, we naked. He said, who told you you was naked? And so he said, you ate from the tree, from the tree that I told you not to eat from. And so Adam said— because I was also— I said, Lord, you know, show me something that was transpiring back then that's taking place today. Man, I'm talking to you right now. And so cut this up a little bit because I'm talking to you.

And he say—

so I went back, I read that, I started like you said, I started writing stuff or whatever. And Adam say, it wasn't me, but it was this woman that you gave me that made me do it. Wait a minute, I said, um, Adam was the first man that didn't take accountability for his own action. And he's saying that's exactly what men are doing, always want to blame somebody else for their own actions. Man, like you said earlier, this is personal. This is personal. The word say that, uh, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess, and every man shall be judged by his own deed. Man, this ain't got nothing to do with nobody else. This is personal. This got something to do with you. Start taking accountability of your own lives, man. So, uh, Chantel, let me ask you, quick fire round. My guests kind of get nervous about this because they think I'm gonna ask some something outlandish and something crazy, but it's a real fun game. But I like keeping you on edge. So you ready?

Mm-hmm.

Daily habit that grounds you in truth?

Pray and Bible reading every morning.

Pray, Bible read, good habits. Favorite scripture, a quote that fuels you?

Philippians 4:8: Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think of these things.

You gotta say that again.

I don't think for the people in the back, for the people in the back, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, or excellent, anything that is praiseworthy, think of these things.

See, everybody can't just quote stuff. You better get it in you. You better get it in you. Say, cause his word shall remain forever. And this is how we combat the enemy. You got to have something in you. One thing you wish more women knew about themselves?

Their value.

Mm, no, your value. No, your worth.

Not talking about it, but really understanding what it means. Worth comes from God.

Don't talk about it. A book besides your own will change your life.

Oh, ah, what's the— so I forgot the name of it. It was by Simon Sinek. It's— oh, why can't I remember the name of it? So let me go to another one, because since I can't think of that book, I'm just gonna go for this one because it's the one that I have started from the beginning again, and that is the Bible.

Can't go wrong now. See, that should have been your first one. You're talking about some Simon. It should have been a first one. I told y'all I trip you up sometimes on this show. Got you. Gotta, gotta. Hey, so what does living on purpose mean to you?

Unapologetically aligned with God's purpose for you. Really understanding that when you walk in that, like, I am, I'm an ambassador of Jesus Christ, and so I move and operate under his realm. That's purpose for me.

That's purpose for her. And I'm gonna give y'all a final thought, and I think this is Chanel— I'm gonna say Chanel number 5. Yeah, Chantel Worthy again. Chantel Worthy, you are already worthy. Not about becoming, it's about remembering. Hey Chantel, tell us where can we find you on your social media and, and your empowerment community online.

Well, first you can hit me up on my website at chanteldenise.com. The name is right there on the screen for you, just put a .com at the end of it. And then on Instagram, I am Chantel Denise, so just put the I am in the front of my name. You can find me there. And on Facebook, Chantel Denise As Is As You See It.

As Is As You See It. chanteldenise.com. Check out— hey, listen to her music. Name of your song again, give us the name of the song.

So it's called You Got It, but y'all better be on the lookout for this EP that's coming. Wavemakers community, we making some waves, baby.

Ah man, hey, go listen to the anthem and get hyped up for this new joint that she got coming out with a band. Wave, they making some moves out here. Hey, in closing, man, With love from your boy CJ Moneyway and the CJ Moneyway Show. And don't forget, yeah, the State's Capital animated series coming to a city near you, where your story is part of something bigger. This your boy CJ Moneyway and Chanelle Number 5— I mean, Chantel Denise. Hey, we out of here.

Peace.

Bye, y'all. Thank you.

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Mm-hmm.

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