Season 3 (Episode 22): Becoming Unashamed

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Yes, I'm live over here on Facebook and LinkedIn. Welcome everyone. I will start in just a minute to give social media time to let everybody know that I'm here. Good morning, good morning. I'm super excited about today's live. Um, today's topic is called Unashamed, and I'll be talking about mental health and faith and how the Lord does not want you to be ashamed uh-oh, of the things that you go through in life and not be ashamed to get the help that you need. So let me put this unashamed topic. Good morning, good morning. So I'm up here again with another pop-up live. Thank you guys so much for joining in, I really appreciate it. Good morning, Amethyst. Good morning, Venisha. Good morning, everyone. If you guys are able to stay on, if you have any questions at any given time, please feel free to put them in the chat. Um, I'll try to pause throughout, um, you know, my talk today, um, to answer any questions you may have. Thank you guys for joining. Before I start, y'all, I want to say this: I'm proud of myself. Let me tell you why. Y'all don't laugh at me, okay? So for, oh, like months, maybe even a couple of years, I've been trying to do my own eyelashes, y'all. Okay, so, and, um, I could do my own hair, I could do my nails sometimes, not all the time, depending on how I feel. But, you know, my lashes, I really struggle with, you know, trying to, you know, put them on right and make them stay. And so I would get so frustrated to flick them. Okay, so I know it's kind of random, but I said, you know what, girl, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you, Kita. So I call myself Kita, and my family does too. That's what they call me at home. So welcome. I wanted to share that, y'all. I'm proud of myself. Okay, so anywho, back to today's topic. It is called Unashamed. Unashamed. Unashamed. Unashamed. Unashamed. I will say this throughout the live a lot today. And so, um, some of you guys may know that I'm hosting a Faith and Mental Wellness Summit that is March 13th and March 14th, um, of this year. It'll be virtual. So anybody can join from the comfort of their own home. Thank you so much, Patricia. See, you did a good job. Thank you, sis. Um, for your comfort of your own home. Um, and today I want to come up here and share a little bit more about what God gave me to share with you all today. Um, this morning as I was in prayer and I was like headed to the gym, um, I was like, okay God, praying about the summit, asking God, okay God, where, you know, what should I be doing next? He said, I want you to go live again today. You need to go live today and share with, you know, my people, um, your heart and my heart concerning, um, this summit. This is not just another summit. This is not just something that I just popped up and did, okay? And so if you follow me on my podcast, back in, um, I believe it was August of last year, season 2, I did an episode about how God gave me this whole vision about The Summit. And so I'll share a little bit about that today. So, um, over the years as a therapist, you know, I have counseled a lot of people, y'all, a lot of people. And one of the things that I noticed is that people really had a hard time finding a Christian counselor or, or Christian therapist or life coach who was truly after the Lord's heart. Okay, because as some of you guys know, you know, people will say they're, they're believers and they counsel people who are Christians, and that's great. I love it. I'm here for it. But not everyone is led by the Holy Spirit, and not everyone, um, truly allows God to, um, lead them in how he treats his people. And so my heart and my spirit was so grieved over the past 6 to 7 years, to be honest, that I had been praying, God, please raise up counselors after your own heart. And so during that time, I wasn't on social media like that. All I had was my own personal Facebook page, and that was it. Um, and I was going through a season where God was really training me and really teaching me and really, um, you know, developing me on how to combine the two together. Okay. And so it wasn't until I got on social media, more on Instagram, on Facebook, and I was able to see, oh my gosh, like we really do have some like Spirit-filled Christian counselors out here. I know Amethyst is one. She's a believer as well. Um, she loves God's people. She counsels, you know, people, um, God's way and however God leads her as well. I could tell that about her. Other people that I've, um, came across and I've met and I've talked to and had on my podcast that just bless my heart so much so because you know, they're from different states and, you know, they're from different, you know, counties and even, you know, in Canada and different things like that. It just made my heart just leap with joy. Okay, so thank you all for those who are out here on the field, okay, doing what God has asked you to do. Now I'll say this is my disclaimer. Of course, you know, we should love all people. We love people no matter who I'm counseling, whether they're a Christian or a non-Christian. I treat them the same. I'm still going to pray for them. I'm still going to intercede for them. I'm still going to seek God about how to treat this person, right? But it's a different angle. I can't speak the same language that I would do to a non-believer as I do a believer, right? Uh, thank you so much, Amethyst. As a non-believer, so I have to like just be mindful, and God has trained me and showed me how to do that. I have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to mental health. I have all kind of certifications and trainings and experience, and I've, I've helped other, um, therapists too to learn, um, certain things as well.. And my best friend who's also in, um, Arkansas is a therapist too, and she would call me, hey girl, I have a question about this or that, and I would give her feedback and it worked for her, you know, for her clients too. Um, and then on the, you know, spiritual side, the biblical side, you know, I have training in that area too. I've taken courses, I've, uh, went to Bible college, you know, took courses there, took courses with, um, Dr. Faith and things like that. And so I'm well equipped, okay? I say that humbly, and I say that because God has, God has healed me, y'all, okay? Your girl came a long way, all right? So with that being said, um, back in, um, last year around this time, um, my mentor Dr. Hardy— some of you guys may know who she is, uh, some of you guys may not, but she's also my mentor and my former professor— and so, um, she told me, Shakeeta, she said, I really think you should like host a summit And I'm like, Dr. Hardy, I don't have time. I was so busy, busy, um, last year around this time. It was so much going on, but I was really about to enter a season of rest. So last year, for about 6 to 8 months, you guys, I really rested. I rested. The only thing I really been doing during that time was like the prayer reels on Instagram, y'all. Like, people think that I'm working 24/7, but I wasn't. Like, I already had so much content out, it appeared as though I was working extra hard, but I wasn't, y'all. I was like literally sleeping in, resting, allowing allowing God to refill my cup, y'all. And so I'm thankful for that rest season. So now I'm entering into a season again where I'm going to be busy again. So I needed that rest, okay? And so during my rest, you know, I asked God about the summit. I said, God, you know, Dr. Hardy, you know, she told me that this would be a great idea. I'm like, Lord, what do you think? And the Lord told me, he said, you have everything that you need for you to have this summit. And I'm like, oh, okay. And so, um, then like the next day I was— I had been praying. I'm like, okay, God, well, you know, what should I do? So anyway, God began to give me so much download and so much information about what to do, how to do it. I mean, he was just— oh, y'all, like half an hour straight, he was just giving me so much, giving, giving, giving, giving. Oh, so it was so amazing. And so then, um, after that, like, I asked him, I said, God, I didn't even ask you what the theme was. I said, God, what's the theme? For this, um, summit. And he didn't answer me right away. It wasn't until me and my family had went to Cold Stone the next day, like a Saturday I think it was, and I was in Cold Stone, I kept hearing the words like, shame, shame. I'm like, God, what, what's going on here? Why I keep hearing the word shame? And the Lord was like, that's the theme, unashamed. And I was like, oh my God. So my family, y'all, they funny. They, they're used to me, all my antics and all my revelation that come, how I react. I'm like, oh my God. I'm like, Mommy, what, what God say? So they used to it. Oh, they saw my husband the same way. He get revelation all the time too. And so, um, I began like, oh my God. God was like, I want my people to become unashamed. And then he started downloading more information to me. And so, you know, after I got the vision and wrote everything out and what God was saying, um, then I began to start looking for speakers. There are people that I reached out to, the time didn't work out for them, but ultimately, you guys, it worked out. We now officially have all speakers. We have 12 speakers that will be speaking about faith and mental wellness. They'll be incorporating clinical knowledge also with scripture and giving you tools and strategies to help you to become unashamed of your mental health. And so, um, when you hear the word shame, right, I'm pretty sure you get like a cringy feeling. They don't feel good. It sounds horrible, and it is. Okay, so the definition of shame is a shameful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. The synonyms for shame, here are some of them, is disgraceful, embarrassing, guilt, confusion, humiliation, mortification, and the list goes on. That's horrible. And as you guys— some of you guys who are therapists are up here— you guys know that shame is definitely a symptom of traumatic events that we can experience, whether you've been through sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, right? There's shame that come along with that, but that shame is not coming from the Lord. And it's interesting because that's how the enemy try to keep us like condemned and trapped in our life experiences is through shame, uh, making us feel as though it's our fault, or shoulda coulda woulda did this, or, you know, um, if you go get the help that you need, I mean, you don't have faith, or if you— or if you're gonna get the help that you need, um, you being condemned for it. I have definitely counseled people over the years who would tell me, Shakeeta Torres, I went to my pastor or my leader and I told them, hey, I'm seeing a therapist. And they're like, shame on you, like, what's wrong with you? You don't have enough faith to believe God can heal you and deliver you all these things, right? And I would become so angry. And then I seen the flip side where I've seen people who were, you know, going, um, to an amazing church. Actually, pastors would like refer them to me, okay? And so I've seen both spectrums. I've heard different stories. I've also been persecuted and all the other things for trying— for being bold about how God uses therapists to provide clinical help for his people. And guess what? At this point, I don't even care no more. I'm like, whatever, okay? I'm confident with it now. I don't even care, okay? So with that being said, um, I wanted to share the story and share the vision with you all concerning this summit. You can go to, uh, www.faithandmental— faithandmentalwellness.faith to register and to download a free guide called Breaking the Barriers of Shame. And we also have a Facebook group open now. If you go to Facebook and you go to Faith and Mental Wellness, um, you'll see the big old white circle with, um, Faith and Mental Wellness in the middle, because there's several accounts up there with Faith and Mental Wellness up there. And people are already joining the group now. I actually just started a group last night and people are already coming in, so I'm so excited. Um, and so with that being said, I have a specific message that God gave me too. When he was telling me to go live today, um, he reminded me of Ecclesiastes chapter 3, and it blessed me. Uh, this is one of like one of my favorite chapters, you guys. It really does explain to you, you know, our mental health and our life and the things that we go through and how God, he understands. Because here's the thing about healing and deliverance, right? I believe in healing and deliverance. I operate in healing and deliverance. I have authority in my domain of sphere of influence. But what I realized is that— what I've learned is that people can— you can go to the altar and get healing and deliverance all day, but if you don't change your mindset, if you don't change your habits, if you don't— are not able to see your blind spots, you're going to continue to go around the same cycle over and over and over and over and over again. That's what Christian counselors— that's what we do. Life coaches, that's what we do. We're able to see the blind spots that you may have in your life that you might not see. We all have blind spots. This is why we need each other in the body, okay? I have blind spots, but I have people who hold me accountable. I have my best friend, I have my family, I have my leaders. They cover me, they check me, right? And so that's the purpose of seeing a counselor, or seeing— and then we have the clinical knowledge and the skills and the language to give you to help you to understand what you're experiencing. And also medication. I'm not against medication at all. I've seen medication work wonders for people. We're quick to go and take a pill for our headache or take a pill for whatever we're going through in our bodies. But when it comes to our mental health, we don't want to really even try that. I'm the person, I don't push medication on people automatically like, here, here's a pill. Like, I really want to work on your issues. What I found is that you're so depressed and so anxious, you need something to kind of settle you down so you can really even engage in therapy. And I've seen people take medication and it'll work for them. I seen folks had medication and it did not work, so we had to look at alternate things that are natural for them to help them to work on their symptoms, right? So with that being said, here's the scripture. Um, so we're going right now to, uh, chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, okay? And it's called A Time for Everything. Okay, there's a time for everything and a season for every activity under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die. That's grief right there, y'all. A time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to search and a time to give up. A time to keep and a time to throw up— wow, to throw away, sorry. A time to tear— to tear— and a time to mend. A time to be silent and a time to speak. And I meant to say, uh, tear, not tear. A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. And so this, this is pretty much saying it's a time for everything. And we go through life, y'all, we have hard seasons, we have seasons where we need help, we need support, and there's nothing wrong with it. There's no shame in that. Even if it takes you a year or 2 years or 3 years to continue to go and get support and help to kind of undo some things, you do that. Do not let people make you feel bad or feel ashamed for doing that. You got— I had a whole moment this morning. I was like sitting here like tearing up. I couldn't cry a lot because I had my makeup on. I didn't want to start smearing on me— on me before I went live. But you know, I had a client. I had been seeing her for over a year. Over a year, you know, like a little bit during the pandemic, before the pandemic. And, you know, she, um, was really dealing with a lot of unresolved trauma. She was a believer, she loved the Lord, really bad anxiety, all of the above, y'all. And so I know she ended up— I won't share all her business, but she ended up going to, um, get, you know, some weight loss surgery done. I actually, as her therapist, as her counselor, I was able to assess her to make sure she was mentally um, prepared to undergo, undergo, um, that kind of surgery. And so I was excited to do that for her because she had came such a long way. Okay, so yesterday she was in my heart and I said, hey girl, I saw, I seen her email. I'm like, hey girl, I'm just checking on you, how you doing? Uh, I pray you're doing well. And she sent me back an email, y'all, and she got married! Oh my God, she got married! She lost so much weight and she looks amazing. She looks happy. She's like, Shakeeta, thank you for everything. She was like, I'm excited about what God is doing in your life as well. I see you. Oh my gosh, y'all, I was just like, my heart was just like full. And it just like, for me, you know, as a, as a counselor and a coach, it's a reminder for me that I'm doing exactly what God is telling me to do. Because for me, I don't always get to see the end result of someone's life, which is okay. I had to make peace with that, okay? Uh, because the word of God says that one man sows, one man waters, and God is the only one that can bring the increase. And so when you are, you know, doing that, you're not going to always see the end result. But I thank God that he allowed me to see her result, you know. Um, sometimes God will show me in dreams people, um, like where they going. So I'm like, okay God, thank you for showing me, you know, because it's, it's, it's beautiful to me. It's beautiful to see people transform. It's beautiful to see people, you know, really walk out, you know, their healing and really walk out this life, right? And so yeah, so pretty much unashamed, y'all. Those of you who are joining, thank you guys so much for joining. Uh, yeah, glory to God. That's right, Venisha. I was just like, ah, God is so good. He's so faithful. He's so faithful, y'all. So once again, her season— she went through a season where she had to really heal, you know. It was hard for her. It was not, it was not easy. Now she's in the season where she's reaping a harvest, where she's happy, where she's joyful, right? And that's what every single person go through, whether you're a believer or not. But the good thing about being a believer is you have God, you have Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is right there with you, right? Even if the believer, God be with them too, okay? He be with them too, but he wants them to come, to come in and receive, you know, salvation and receive him, right? But I always tell people this, this is what I say. The people that come to me for services and they're believers, I have to remind them this. I'm like, yeah, you might have been dealing with this most of your life, you might have been dealing with this for years, but the thing about God and the anointing that's on my life I know that it's not going to take you that long to get to where you're going. It might be 3 months. And God told me you might have one session with them, sow a seed, that's it. You might have 2 or 3 times, sow a seed, right? Um, sometimes people do abandon the process because they let distractions come, they let other people get in the way, right? But the Lord is saying like he's still patient. I think I told this, uh, this word about a month ago to one of my other sisters in Christ, and she was like, I'm tired of going through this, I don't understand. And I was like, well, uh, it's your choice. Like, God waiting on you. But the thing about it, I thought it was so funny, she was laughing at me. I said, well, God is so loving and so patient. Whether you get it in 3 days or 3 years, he's still gonna love you. He's still gonna wait for you. That's what I told her. She said, oh God, well, I don't want to, um, wait 3 years. I said, it's up to you. Sometimes some things are up to us, like being obedient to the to certain things that God may tell us to do. Sometimes the obedience could be going to, going to therapy, going to see a coach to help you to heal from, heal from some things, okay? Um, so be obedient to what God is telling you to do during your healing journey, right? And so yeah, that's what God gave me, um, gave me this morning. And so once again, um, the Faith and Mental Wellness Summit, we had the Wealthy Crown that just joined. Welcome, sis! She is one of the speakers talking about becoming unashamed of your finances, you guys. She is anointed in that area. And it's— she's so powerful in the Lord. I love her so much. She's my sister, she's my friend. Um, and so we have other speakers up here. Um, you go to the site with topics such as, you know, dealing with pornography addiction, um, grief, um, human trafficking. I'm talking about boundaries and shame. Um, God, we have, uh, some people up here are pastors and coaches. We have some who are, you know, part of the fivefold ministry. Uh, you guys, this is gonna be amazing, okay? We're going to be having door prizes where we have some giveaways. And then you can also watch the replay. If you are a licensed professional or a therapist or a life coach, you want to get a certificate of completion for attending this summit, you can. I know for me in my state, I'm in North Carolina. And so our board has passed it to where we can attend a live virtual summit and those hours can count towards our licensure. So from my state is 40 hours every 2 years to recertify your licensure. Okay? And so you'll be able to get 12. Even with me being a speaker, I can still get 12 for myself. Okay? Arkansas, same thing. My best friend's in Arkansas. She actually called the board for me and she sent them the link to the website and all that. Excuse me. And all that. And they approved the summit as well to be the count towards your hours. Check your state, check your board. I don't have time to call every single board, but a lot of times people don't even know they can count live hours like this to go towards your certification and your licensure. Because you're going to leave away with tools, with strategies, with resources that'll be a part of the summit. Like I said, we have the replay up, and then you'll be able to— I have a portal just for this, for you to be able to sign in and all that good stuff. It's going to be via Zoom. Virtual March 13th and 14th, uh, from 9 AM to, um, so about 3:30 in the afternoon. Okay, um, so if you can't watch the whole thing, we'll have the replay available. Um, also we have, uh, merch— merchandise, um, in Teespring. We have t-shirts. I have a shirt. I did— I should have wore it today. Uh, t-shirts, um, we have like, gosh, cups. Oh my God, hats, all of the above.. So if you can, please, please, please, please join us. Hey, sis, my phone went out. It's okay. I had to make sure that my phone didn't have the, um, the limit, because I put a limit on my, on my, on social media, so I'm up there all day checking it all day. So I understand. So yeah, that's all I have, um, for you all. If you have any questions, please let me know. Don't forget to join the Facebook group. Uh, it's actually in my stories as well where I put a link you can click on and go straight to the group to join. So that's all I have for today. I'll definitely be doing more pop-up lives over the next few weeks as the Lord lead me. I do have other things I want to discuss, but I can't discuss it. I don't want to overwhelm y'all. It's too much information, right? Yes. Let me see. So you guys have any questions right now? So I need that. Yes, the Wolfie girl. Girl, now I will say this, that I have the iPhone, and so sometimes, you know, when you try to, um like for me, you can ignore the app settings. So I might have like an hour limit all day for just all of them, right? But you can put, okay, one more minute, you know, 15 more minutes. And so I do do that sometimes, I'm not gonna lie. But it does prevent me from like checking. You can get in the habit of checking. It's a distraction, right? It can be a distraction. Yes, yes, yes. I want to say a prayer, um, really quickly. You know, God, I always like to pray before, um, before, and I pray, um, pray us out. So Father, I just thank you right now, God, for every single Listener right now who's on, who's watching it live, who's going to come back and watch the replay later. Holy Spirit, I ask you to invade their space, invade their hearts, invade their minds. Holy Spirit, cover them, God, under your blood. Father, we just thank you right now even for revival. We thank you, God, for how you're going to revive hearts, revive minds, set people free, Lord. Father, I pray, God, that this summit, Lord God, that you draw people who needs to be there. For those who are looking for answers, and for those who are looking for language, for those who are looking for breakthrough, Father, Father, send them, God, because God, we have some dynamic and awesome speakers who are after your own heart, who has a passion for the body of Christ. And so, Father, I just thank you for your love. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your mercy. Father, I ask you, God, just continue just to cover, um, their families, cover their homes, their job, their career, their income. God, oh God, just continue to cover them under your blood. In Christ's name I pray, Lord. Amen and amen. All right, you guys. So I will see you guys later. Did that make sense? Thank you guys for joining. Uh, if you have any questions, I'm about to get off. If you do, let me know. If not, then I'll go ahead and end. I will go ahead and end. I wish I could put the link here to the Facebook group, but it's not. I have to actually get off and go to another app and do all that other stuff. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. Our prayer is that this podcast episode has blessed you. Don't forget to go and subscribe and leave us a raving review. If you would like to sow into this ministry or to this podcast, Pain, Passion, and Purpose, you can do so at anchor.fm/painpassionandpurpose or Cash App $shakeetatorres. Shakeeta Torres. Thank you so much, and I will talk to you next time.