Koffee ChitChat
Koffee ChitChat
Empowering Journey of Redemption and Success
Our guest shares her profound story of redemption and triumph after incarceration. She underscores the importance of separating one's identity from past mistakes and emphasizes the power of embracing God's plan over societal judgments. Brenda's transition to becoming a successful business owner and fractional CFO is truly inspiring. She also offers a sneak peek into her upcoming book, designed to motivate those facing their battles. We round off the episode with a discussion about the importance of community, connection, and the unwavering grace of God. Be sure to join our Koffee ChitChat Facebook group to keep the conversation going and to find support and positivity from a like-minded network.
Hey y’all hey, don’t miss the next episode of Koffee Chitchat!!
Hey y'all. Hey, welcome to season nine. Can you believe it? We are going into season nine of our podcast. Super exciting, totally blessed. We are just going to be chatting with some great guests. We are talking good vibes, inspiration and all things positive this season. You don't want to miss our inspiring guests. But before we introduce our guests this morning you guys know how we do it let's shout out our coffee of the week, a coconut ice latte. So make sure you grab one. Our special guest is one of my hometown friends. She's from the small town of Cachata, louisiana.
Speaker 1:It has been said that beginnings often shape destinies and Brenda Devery's personal journey stands as a testament to resilience, faith and the unwavering grace of God. After completing high school and a brief stint in college, brenda found her path in the military, seeking opportunities beyond the limitations of her upbringing. Her commitment to personal and professional growth is unwavering, as Brenda continues to inspire others with her story of faith, finance and leadership. She remains committed to her goal of shaping the lives of young women and men, guiding them towards a deeper relationship with Jesus. So we're going to get this chat started. Welcome to Coffee Chit Chat, brenda.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. You are so welcome.
Speaker 1:So, y'all, we're going to start with your humble beginnings. You came from very humble beginnings, and how did this shape you into the person that you are today?
Speaker 2:Oh, wow. I would like to say that our foundation is. No matter what life may throw at you or where you go, we will always turn back to our foundation. And the humble beginnings that I have is a grandmother, a mom and family members who taught me about Jesus and about setting your roots and your states in God. And so, irregardless to growing up poor, growing up in the projects and not having much, we didn't know we didn't have much because we had faith, we had hope, we had God, and we always returned to that, irregardless to what we had. So we call them humble beginnings because we didn't have much. We call them humble beginnings because we didn't have much, but I like to think now, knowing better, that we had a lot. Even though we didn't have much material things, we had a lot because we had Christ, and it's that that has kept me and brought me through all of the things that has happened in this journey called life. So that's just been the most amazing thing to me my relationship and faith with God.
Speaker 1:And that's a rich relationship. So you're right when you think about the love of Christ. Exactly Awesome. Now, you had a brief stint in college but decided it was not for you, so you joined the military instead. How?
Speaker 2:was that journey yeah, let's talk about that.
Speaker 2:So so that was more of my husband. Uh, we decided to to my high school sweetheart. We decided to both go to the military together, but it ended up being just him, because once we learned, uh, if we go to basic, there may be a possibility that we go separate ways. So he took that ploy and I ended up just being a wife to the gentleman in the military and we was overseas and it was there, I believe, that God allowed my borders to be expanded.
Speaker 2:It was there that I began to and when I mean there overseas while there, began to shape the life that I have now, though I didn't understand it then because I was merely at the age of 18. And I just knew that I wanted to do something other than Cushetta. I just didn't know what. But ended up getting married and I have no regrets. But definitely the military and the discipline of being a military wife and being on base and working on base and actually working inside of NORAD those things shaped me and was preparing me for what was going to come and giving me the intestinal fortitude that help for me to withstand things that later came in the future. So that was a pivotal time in my life and I'm so grateful for God, to God that I had it, and you know much about the military, so I love the discipline that I learned. I learned the experiences, the people that I met, the broadening of horizons All of those things were very important during my time there.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah. We meet so many people, so many different personalities, so many cultures, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely, and things that we probably would not, probably things that most of Cushetta, the place that we came from, may would never see. And so I'm just grateful to God for that season, for that time in my life, because it was really a shaping season in my life.
Speaker 1:The exposure.
Speaker 2:The exposure Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, oh yes. So now we're just going to fast forward right past all of that into this finest passion of yours. When did this start and how did you know that this was like sort of your calling?
Speaker 2:wow so so I, I didn't know, I was just kind of thrust into it. Um, after our time in germany, I ended up, we ended up going to carter rata springs and I got a job at NORAD AFWA Space. A couple of people I know that was there ended up getting a job only at the mere age of 22. And the job initially was supposed to be working at what was called the Granite Inn there, but I ended up being an executive assistant for one of the five-star generals while I was there and finance I began to keep the books for him, for the Grenadine, for that area, and it wasn't something that I was taught, it was just something that, as I was thrust into it, it just became a passion and I learned that, hey, I've never gone to school to be an accountant at that time, but it became very naturally.
Speaker 2:From that job and long story fast forward. As we moved back home to Shreveport, louisiana, I ended up working for Horseshoe Casino Horseshoe Casino and from there it was in the payroll department and the experience and the desire for accounting was birthed even more there. And just out of the blue, one day, as one of the payroll supervisors in the payroll department, I received a call from a management recruiting firm that recruited me for General Motors. So it was there that all of that finances, and I worked in General Motors payroll department. So finance was just birthed from there and something that just became natural, even without being taught, although I did go back to school. But the passion for it, the ability to do it merely because it was a gift rather than a learned behavior, made it fun, easy, and I did it with love and and and with much skills, because I believe the anointing to do it came from above, way, way from the beginning.
Speaker 1:OK, so kind of like just got thrust in there and then it just kind of became, hey, this is what I like, I like doing this financing Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, Even when life took me from it. It's where I ended up pivoting back to.
Speaker 1:OK, and now this next section. I was reading in your bio about incarceration. What was that like? What was that about for you?
Speaker 2:Oh my God. So I wouldn't wish incarceration on anyone. It had multi facets. For me it was one of the worst and the best places that I could have ever been, so I know that that's not something people always go. Huh, what do you mean? Worse and the best? Worse, because who wants to be taken away from their family, who wants to be set aside and caged in? That's not something that I wish on anyone.
Speaker 2:But also, it was in the fire, or in the fire, in the pit of incarceration, in the bondage of incarceration, that I learned more about my relationship with God. I learned more about myself. I learned more about people and listening and hearing and spending time with Holy Spirit. So, although it was not a place I wanted to be, I learned that it was there. Giftings and purpose was birth, because it was there that I was quiet enough to sit and to listen and to hear Papa speak and share with me things about myself first, and deal with me about things of character, flaws that needed to be delivered for me. And then, as he delivered me and taught me about myself, he began to help me to see outward of people that may have looked like me or women that may have been thrust into things like incarceration or like situations, because oftentimes we end up in places because of things happening, but it's it definitely never was our intent as little girls I never intended. As a little girl in Cushetta, one of my dreams was never to go to jail. That definitely wasn't what I sit in my house and dreamed about. Or, as a little girl say, this is my plan for the future. Definitely incarceration wasn't the thing that I wrote down.
Speaker 2:However, life, situation, circumstances thrust me into that and after being delivered not so much as from jail immediately, but from my own kick hurts, habits and hang-ups, um, god began to allow me to look within and think about other women that may be in situations, women that may be in jail, but that doesn't necessarily make them bad people much like myself. Women that may be in situations, you know, and it's not always jail. It could be in abusive situations. It could be women that are in things like addictions, doing things because life has catapulted you there and you just don't know how to make the turn, to turn back around and do the things that your heart desired as a young girl. You end up in these situations and you stay in these situations because the world, people, life, things throw things at you.
Speaker 2:So it was there that God began to teach me about that. You know, don't make this about just you, because it's not about you. It's bigger than you. You went through it and I'm delivering you out of it, but you need to also go back and tell others how I brought you through, because there's other women, young girls, much like yourself, that didn't dream of this, never thought, didn't set out to steal, didn't set out to hurt anyone, didn't set out to cause havoc or to do anything wrong. You just find yourself in that place.
Speaker 2:And now how do you get out of something that you've been now labeled as, or viewed as, or put down as, or or ostracized or separated because people now see you as this bad thing or this or this menace to society, so to speak for lack of a better term because of life issues, circumstances, things that have happened or or or or happened to you, or things that you may have even brought on yourself, but remembering that you don't have to stay there because you hit the bump in the road. It's almost like taking a trip. We're on a journey, we're on a trip and we can be headed, and I'm going to speak our language, paula. We can be headed from Cushetta to Dallas, but on the way we have bumps in the road. On the way we have bumps in the road. But if we stop to examine the bump or stop to to to to fix the tire, but don't ever get back in the car and keep going, we'll never get to Dallas. We're going to always stay in that place where we stopped at.
Speaker 2:So that's in that place God birthed in me a purpose to help those, much like myself, that get in situations that they didn't plan on being in, where life happens. But be that. Be that hand up for them, be that voice of reasoning, be that. Be that Harriet Tubman, be that Moses, for lack of a better word and say, hey, listen, you, you can get out, you don't have to stop and say, hey, listen, you can get out, you don't have to stop and stay here. No matter what happened, let's keep moving. The journey has much more than what happened to you. The journey has much more than the bump. So incarceration that's why I say incarceration for me was more than just that place of, so to speak, but it was also the birthing place where God brought me, cultivated me, brought me forth and told me and shared with me and spent time with me important to me. Holy Spirit taught me who I am and what I am to do for him going forward.
Speaker 1:So it had multiple purposes for me in incarceration well, okay, well, you definitely did not get stuck because you are so, you are so big and now, and you are just living your best life. So I guess you you pretty much answered my next question. I was going to say how did that journey change for you and what changed in you to become like the CFO of your life, not only your company, but of your life?
Speaker 2:Amen. Again, as I said, much like you said just not getting stuck. Much like you said just not getting stuck deciding that this happened. But it's not who I am. It's what I did or it's what happened to me, separating the action from the person making mistakes. That mistake is not who you are. It's a mistake that you may have made the choice.
Speaker 2:The one-time choice doesn't have to define your entire life, and that's what incarceration was for me. I could hear the noise from the outside saying you'll never get a job, you'll never be this, you'll never be that or never be this because you've been incarcerated. Or I could hear the voice from within the Holy Spirit saying that you can do all things through Christ, who was strengthened. That's what I want to leave with people. No matter where you've been, no matter what has happened to you or no matter what you've done to cause it to be that way, you can change, you can come out of it. And if we just shut down the noises and the voices all around us and remember that we're running a race, we're in a race and we're racing against no one but ourselves, and so we have to just make a choice, irregardless to where we've been or what we've been through, that I'm going to finish this race and I'm going to finish in victory. And just make that choice and don't stop, while we're in this race, to listen to the spectators. We just have to remember them, because some are going to be booing for us, some of them are going to be cheering for us. Everybody got an opinion, so we have to decide to choose that I am not going to listen to the opinions of others, whether they're booing, whether they're cheering. I'm going to decide to look within, to my creator. I'm going to keep my eyes focused on the finish line, on the prize, and go ahead, go straight forward, no matter where we've been. And so that's what I did, paula.
Speaker 2:In spite of where I've been, in spite of what happened to me, in spite of what I've done to me, I made a choice that I'm going forward with God, because that's not the plan he had for me. His plan was good. His plan was to give me a future and to give me a hope. So I kept my eyes on that, irregardless to what people are saying. And so now I'm not only the owner and the CFO of, as you said, my life and my company, but multiple and many and other people's company. I do fractional CFO for a couple of companies, so it's all God. It's all God and being determined to believe what he said about me, irregardless of what the enemy tried to paint about me, I chose to believe God and that's. I say that that's how we do it, that's just the way. Just making a choice on a daily.
Speaker 1:That's good. I like that you chose what God says about you, not what me says about you. We know that it is him that needs to know our name. Everybody else can do that, but it's just him that needs to know our name. Everybody else can do that, but it's just him that needs to know our name. So I just love that.
Speaker 2:That's it, that's it.
Speaker 1:That's it, and so I'm assuming that the book that you're writing is it going to be about your journey from humble beginnings all the way to this great trial.
Speaker 2:Absolutely it is, it is. It's going to share, um, the whole purpose and the mission behind the book is, is, is, is. God says we're delivered, uh, by the blood of the lamb and the words of our testimony. So my hope and my desire in the release of the book is that one, if just one, would read it and see that, irregardless to what you're stuck in, whatever muddy situation life may have put you in, that God is able to bring you out of that. If you just believe, if you just trust his words, leave, if you just trust his words, if you just trust who he is and what he wants for you, that it's nothing too hard for him and he can bring out anything. So that's the whole purpose in the book.
Speaker 2:Just to share my story, just to be completely transparent about where I've been through, and he prepared me for that. He prepared me for the opinions of man. He prepared me when people say all manners of evil, whether it be good or bad, right or wrong or a lie or truth, that you are not moved by. You just keep focused. So that's what the book is about Just move on what God says and not what is being said about you. So that's just that's what the book is about and that's hopefully somebody can be blessed.
Speaker 1:Love it, love it. Well, you know we're going to have you back on when the book is complete, so we can, you know, shout that out for you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:We definitely will get you back on, but before we let you go, tell our listeners how they can follow you on your social media.
Speaker 2:Wow. So yeah, it is. That's a good question, brenda Demery. I think it's Brenda Demery At Brenda Demery on IG and it's Brendademery on IG and it's brendademery on Facebook. We are currently working on TikTok page. Listen, I am never intended to be the social media person, but God intended for me to share the good news, so those are the platforms in which we use to share the good news. So are the platforms in which we use to share the good news. So I'm saying that to say much like you have an assistance in in doing this. I have people that help me with that, but I think it is at brendademry on ig.
Speaker 1:I'll find them and I'll paste them in our Facebook group that would be super amazing.
Speaker 2:See God, make us helpers one to another. That would be so amazing if you could help me with that.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah, and I'll put them in our Coffee Chick Chat Facebook group. So we sure appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule, your busy day, because I know it has to be a lot it is. It is With us on Coffee Chit Chat. So, guys, our quote of the week is every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit, and that's by Napoleon Hill. Make sure you guys tune in next week for another episode of Coffee Chit Chat.
