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Listen Linda! Hosted by Jacquiline Cox
Music commentary
Listen Linda! Hosted by Jacquiline Cox
Miracle's Mother: When God Says "Not Today" to Impossible Odds
What happens when a woman decides she's done negotiating her worth with people who can't afford her? LeShawn Fernandez's story isn't just about survival—it's about becoming a warrior who conquers everything sent to defeat her.
With raw authenticity, LeShawn takes us through her journey from childhood sexual abuse to finding her voice as an author, podcast host, and champion for healing. The breaking point came in 2021 when she finally said "enough" to the toxicity and dysfunction she had normalized throughout her life. "I truly was that caterpillar that went in a cocoon and turned into this beautiful butterfly," she reveals, describing the painful but necessary transformation that led to genuine healing.
The centerpiece of our conversation revolves around Miracle—LeShawn's daughter who wasn't supposed to exist according to doctors, and certainly wasn't expected to survive when born four months premature at just one pound nine ounces. With paper-thin skin and countless medical challenges, every prediction was that she wouldn't make it. Yet today, Miracle is not only thriving but testing as gifted academically. This testimony becomes a powerful metaphor for LeShawn's approach to life's obstacles: "If Miracle can go through it and get through it, I definitely can."
LeShawn's wisdom shines brightest when discussing self-worth and boundaries. "Until you love yourself, you can't love anybody else. You can't even love God the way He deserves to be loved," she explains, challenging listeners to examine where they might be compromising their value. Her perspective on faith is equally compelling—"We walk by faith, not by sight" isn't just a catchphrase but a lived reality that everything must happen in the spiritual realm before manifesting physically.
As the host of the Wounded Warrior podcast and author of "Story of a Warrior" and her chapter "Look at God" in the bestselling anthology "Through the Rain," LeShawn now uses her healed heart to guide others through their storms. Her parting message resonates with anyone facing seemingly impossible circumstances: "Don't give up. The blessing is right on the other side."
Ready to start your own healing journey? Connect with LeShawn through her website or social media channels and discover how your wounds can become the source of your greatest strength.
Hey there, I'm Jacqueline Cox, but you might know me as ListenLinda. Um, where do I even begin? I guess you could say I wear many hats Podcast host, entrepreneur, Mrs Illinois, usa, and so much more but it all started with a simple passion to tell stories and empower others. Building a platform wasn't easy. There were days when I wondered if anyone was even listening. But then something amazing happened. I realized the power of my voice. Suddenly, my words were reaching people, touching lives, making a difference. Now I see my mission clearly to create spaces where every voice can be heard, thank you, and together we can make our voices echo far and wide. To be a guest on Listen Linda. Contact Jacqueline Cox on Facebook Messenger.
Speaker 2:Woo Jack, welcome, welcome, welcome to the Listen Linda Book Club Live, where the books are powerful, the testimonies are raw and the authors baby, they do not come to play. Okay. I am your host, dr Jacqueline Cox, founder of Listen Linda Publishing, media mogul, mama, wife and bold truth teller for the kingdom chat, and today we're about to tap into a testimony that will leave you saying look at god. Okay, this queen right here is one of our 25 awesome authors of 2025 and she wears that crown with purpose. She is the host of the wounded warrior podcast, survivor, a storyteller and the author of the Story of a Warrior Witch, listen. If you haven't read it, baby, you are behind, okay. She's also a feature voice in the newest anthology, newest bestseller, through the Rain, and and trust me, she did not just walk through the storm, she brought her umbrella, boots and a word chat, okay. So, family, help me. Welcome the one and only Lashawn Fernandez. Yes, honey. So for those who that don't know, you with Lashon, tell them a little bit about yourself all right, hey y'all.
Speaker 3:Hey. Thank you, jacqueline, for allowing me to be host. Uh, talking on today on Listen Linda Book Club. But just a little bit about me, guys. I'm Lashon Fernandez, also known as here's the insurance lady in the insurance industry. So I'm a motherwn Fernandez, also known as here's the Insurance Lady in the insurance industry. So I'm a mother of three girls. They're all grown. One is just 35, and the last two are about to be 20, 21. Yes, I did that a big jump.
Speaker 3:I actually love helping people. That's my passion, that's my heart. I love serving helping people. That's my passion, that's my heart. I love serving the people.
Speaker 3:So when it comes to me, I'm just always on the go, finding where I can help and give service to, because I'm one of those people. How can I give back? How can I help? Sometimes God has to remind me that sometimes I got to be the receiver too. That's kind of hard to do, but I'm getting there. But I do believe in self-care now making sure I'm good, because I'm no good for anybody if I don't take time out for me. So it took some years of learning that, and I mean years. But God is good.
Speaker 3:But that's a little bit about me. I'm definitely new to being an author. God has been landed on my heart for years and years and years. I'm telling on myself, but finally I was obedient last year, the latter part of the year, and just decided to push myself, to push myself. Just do it. Let go of the fear because, just like myself, healing helped me. It can help so many others. So just bless my soul to see that people that respond back, that have purchased the ebook. It makes me feel good because it's not about me. At the end of the day, it's about kingdom building. And you know, when someone look at me and seeing some of the things I went through because one book can't tell all, I promise you but if they see, if God can do it for me, he can do it for them as well. So that's just a little bit about me.
Speaker 2:Yes, and so, before we get into the books and the accolades, I really want to get deep into the woman, the woman behind the warrior. Ok, now you share boldly about your journey through mental anguish. Was there a breaking point or a defining moment where you said enough is enough.
Speaker 3:I'm choosing to heal point, or defining moment where you said enough is enough, I'm choosing to heal. Yes, I have to be very honest. It came in um 2021. Oh, lord jesus, that was the worst year ever for me. Um, you know, it was at that point that everything that you can imagine can happen, happen. That was where my battle, it was hell right here on earth for me moment, and even my marriage had reached its limits. It was at boiling point and it was at that moment I remember telling God it's got to be better Something out here. I just can't believe. This is my life for the rest of my life. So it was at that time I kind of sat down to start healing, but it wasn't until the latter part of 2021, I made up my mind.
Speaker 3:There were some people, including my ex-husband, that God wasn't going to allow to come with me in 2022, because I knew at that time I was ready to heal. All I knew was toxicity and dysfunction. I was brought up in homes with nothing but chaos, so that was normal for me. So it was scary, going into a healing journey to even witness the miracle that God could perform in my life. I truly was that caterpillar that went in a cocoon and turned into this beautiful butterfly by allowing God to take control, no longer doing it Sean's way, but doing it God's will. So that's where the kind of for me, the kind of for me, that pain was just too much pain I wanted to endure any longer. So it's like you get sick and tired of being sick and tired and you finally say, all right, enough is enough, let me get off this now and do what needs to be done to have this healing journey, and the rest is history now absolutely I.
Speaker 2:And I just want to commend you, honey, because you know I read every book you wrote, honey. I done read the Story of a Warrior, I done read your chapter in Women of the Waiting Room and this one, and so I'm just, I'm floored, I'm floored. We have so much in common, but it's some things that you have went through that I have not experienced and I just commend you. I do, I look, I look at you and I'd be like, oh, this is my twin flame right here. She just opened up in Atlanta and I'm over here.
Speaker 2:But I think that you are a super woman for real. I see you and I just I see God's glory on your life. So I'm blessed to know you and I'm blessed that you even even give, give, give, give somebody like me to time a day chat, cause you got so much going on. But you know what you, you have a spirit and it's been a lot of times and I know you'd be like I don't know this girl from a can of paint, y'all, but I'd be calling LaShawn and I'd be like LaShawn, I need you to talk to me, I need you to talk to me about this lid, and I will call her and she will give me, you know, just really good Christian Kingdom advice on how to handle certain situations. I just I thank you for that. Now we're going to get back into the Wounded Warrior podcast, because that title alone speaks volumes, volumes. What inspired you to start it?
Speaker 3:And what does being a Wounded warrior mean to you? Well, a podcast is something I really wanted to do for a few years, but I don't do anything without knowing how to do it. And when you had that course on podcast, I was like, well, this is my opportunity here to literally take this to the level I've been wanting to take it and also got guidance. So the Wounded Warrior was, of course, not my idea. God gave me that title and what it means is no different from, and what it means is no different from our military, our vets. They go to battle, you know, and they go to battle for perfect strangers. They don't know all of us, you know, they know their family, but they're putting their life on the line for little us. And although I don't see myself could ever serve in the military because of you know, my, as far as I, was always one of those people oh no, you're not going to tell me what to do, you know type of person. So I wouldn't have been very good because I was not where I took discipline very well.
Speaker 3:So when it came to that side, and as I started healing because I used to say, you know, I never looked at myself as a victim. I always said I was a survivor. Okay, but God had to show me I wasn't a survivor. I was a warrior because I conquered everything that was sent to defeat me, even the end of my marriage. When my ex-husband said about the divorce, you know the enemy could have took me out, but god said not today, you're kept one and you go rise from the ashes just like the phoenix. So I I look at myself as a warrior that once was wounded but in spite of being wounded, she bandaged up those wounds and just kept fighting, kept fighting.
Speaker 3:And there's so many scriptures, god, I look back, you know, as David and Goliath, I just kept going. I refused to let defeat be the end. I just knew that I had to go through it in order to get through it. And I tell everyone if I can get through it. Anybody can get through it, because I'm one of those stubborn, stubborn, bull childs. God says, and God was patient with me, loved me unconditional. But I tell people it wasn't easy for me and I know God looked many times like that's my daughter, but good, god, look at her and you know I'm just speaking and I'm telling you the truth, because it was not an easy journey for me. Not to sit down, not to heal, not to just operate in my masculinity because, you know, I've been on my own since I was 15.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So you know, that was my survival technique. That's how I live. Just knowing nobody was going to do it for me, I had to do it for myself. I didn't have the guidance and encouragement that was needed, so I had to figure out a lot along the way yeah, I, I can relate to that a lot.
Speaker 2:And, um, as I was reading very about to make me cry right here on this thing, girl, I was reading, um, the story of a warrior last night, just trying to go over it, you know a little bit and because I have it on my Kindle, and, girl, they had me shouting one minute and crying the next. It was a lot but it was. It reminded me Of, of, of, like, the tornado that I call my life. Like I said, we had a lot in common. Why did you feel this book had to be written and what was the hardest chapter for you to live through and being right about that?
Speaker 3:One. The book had to be written because God called me to write the book, to share my story, and it was something that was hard for me because I don't like being vulnerable. You would see, you know the word I give and how God used me to share my story to a multitude of people on the platforms. But I tried and I couldn't resist God any longer, cause I was like God, I could do it behind the the, the poop, I could do it in the church I just don't want to be out there on social media. But it was bigger than me. I couldn't be disobedient because God brought me through so much. But why it was so hard to share my story? But why it was so hard to share my story? Me getting over the sexual abuse was the hardest and for so many years I suppressed that and didn't want to deal with it, didn't want to face that. But when it came to writing the book, I would say that was the hardest hurdle I had to jump.
Speaker 2:Because you had to unpack.
Speaker 3:I had to unpack and face the anger I had, because in my mind five years old is a baby, so you're a grown man, and then there's five boys, teenagers, with little old me. I mean, I couldn't fathom. What was it about me that was attractive to almost grown men and a grown man that you talking about and healing for me to conquer? It really was.
Speaker 2:Now, one quote that stood out to me from the book was I had to stop negotiating my work with people who couldn't even afford yeah, let's talk about that, let's talk about that. My work with people who couldn't even afford me yeah, let's talk about that, let's talk about that. All I got to say is yes. What was that like when you came to that realization right there that was the hardest.
Speaker 3:Um, because I always put myself on the back burner because I didn't think I was worthy, I didn't feel good enough. Um, I always thought of myself as less than and I believe a lot of it triggered from the little girl that was hurt so young and continued on throughout her life. So I would just settle, I would just deal with people. That wasn't even worth my time. And I used to say, when I first started healing, joining was helping others. When I launched from TikTok, when God had me start there, I used to always say you know, I put myself on a clearance in your local store that wasn't up there like your Macy's and Bloomingdale's. It wasn't until I started putting me first, because until you put you first, you're settling. You don't know who you are. So therefore, people go take you for granted. I didn't even have boundaries. I didn't even know what boundaries was until healing, sitting with self. But it wasn't until I started loving myself that I tell people all the time.
Speaker 3:People like I would have never knew that because you were so confident in your business. Well, confidence in business and confidence within oneself is not the same. You can be confident in your business because you know your products, you know your benefits because you study it. But did you study yourself? Did you get to know yourself? That's what I didn't know and I didn't understand it, because I had so much craziness going on. And when the mind is confusing, it's foggy, and the person that's taking advantage of you because you don't know yourself, you're allowing them to because you care less about yourself too. So they're not going to care much about you neither. And then, once you're no longer beneficial to them because they see they can't run the same games they've always, they try to bring the old you back out.
Speaker 3:But where I'm at in life now, the old me is gone. God created in me a new creature. All things are new. So this side of me don't accept nothing, and I tell people all the time that's when they'll come with the scripture, where you turn the cheek just like Jesus did. That's not what that passage means, because Jesus, as we see, he went in the synagogue and was just knocking everything down that was disrespectful to him and to the house that we call the house of God. So at the end of the day, you know, people interpret things the way they want to, but that wasn't a pushover like people try to make us be in a sea. He wants you to have some standards and be grounded as well, because until you love yourself, you can't love nobody else. You can't even love God the way he deserves to be loved.
Speaker 2:Because you got to find it within you first, Absolutely, Absolutely. We talked about that before, about how people say turn the other cheek. I remember he was talking about that and we said that is not what that means. God doesn't just. Oh, they punched you on the oh. Talk about how to give a miss to him. That's not what he say. He say love him, but leave him, honey, you don't have to around that you know.
Speaker 2:So yes, yes, yes. Audrey Ann says I understand I need to use that line with some of the people I know. And good afternoon to you too, mama Myra. We see you, girl, we see you girl. So I want to ask you how has the response been so far, for other than you know all the stuff I've been saying about it, because you know I'm going to talk about the story of the warrior until I can't no more chat. But what has the response been so far? Like, what are some of the readers share with you about the book and how has it impacted them?
Speaker 3:I have been getting a lot of positive feedback. A lot of it helped. Other people have been going through the same thing, you know. And it's not just women, you know. At one time I thought it was just the females go through.
Speaker 3:You know the sexual abuse, but absolutely not that's been the biggest one for most people because not just me, I'm thinking it was just a me thing. It's been so many people that suppress the sexual abuse because nobody want to talk about they were molested. That is not something you just want to talk about, because at the end of the day, everybody know you should be protected. A child should be. This is the reason God, allow us to be the parents or the guardians of that child, to protect that child. Because you're innocent, you're pure, so I think that's been the hardest for most people. You're innocent, you're pure, so I think that's been the hardest for most people.
Speaker 3:Yet along so many people tell me I can't even imagine if I had to be on my own at 15 and make it in this society. Was it easy? Absolutely not. And and even at the time I didn't understand God was with me. Then, you know, at the time I didn't understand, god was with me, then you know, even though I didn't have a relationship with him like I should have and didn't know, I knew of him but I didn't know him. That's a big difference, because so many of us know of him, but do we really know him? Knowing him is being intimate with him. Knowing him is moving out the way and allowing him to dwell in his temple. His temple is this body. We walking around this green earth. That's his. He just loaned it to us. That's why when we exit and we transition on, that body goes right back to ashes, it goes right back to dust.
Speaker 3:So that's been a lot of the response, the feedback, and people been coming back to God, drawing back to God and understanding that man, just doing the best they can, they just repeating what they were taught. A lot of it is detoxing our mind and detoxing our soul and healing the soul and allowing God to step in and exude through us, through the love that he gives us, which is unconditional love. It's not a transactional love Like we're so used to seeing today. What's in it for me? That's not our God and we shouldn't have that mindset either. We should have the mindset God love us unconditionally. That don't mean, oh, you just go and let people walk over. You take advantage of you can pray from. Pray for them and love them from a distance.
Speaker 2:Yep, exactly, exactly. I 100% agree with you with that. A lot of times people think, just because you know their family or somebody's family or somebody, or you've got history with this person for a long time, that oh, it's okay, but that's family though, you got to stick to them. They should have knew that they was family when they did what they did to me. Where is this preaching at for them? Because at this point you have to protect your peace at all costs. It don't matter if it's family or whatever.
Speaker 2:If you want to live a long, happy life that God wants you to live, you have to learn how to let those anchors go, because people, whether it's your mama, your mom-in-law, your sister, your cousin, your cousin-in-law, whoever it is, they bank on the fact that, because they have those titles, that they are entitled. And you are not entitled because of your title. If you're not treating me right and and especially if you ain't treating my kids right, but if you ain't right, you're not going to treat my kids right. If you ain't treating me right, you're not going to treat my husband right. You ain't treating your husband right. You ain't treating me right because we are one.
Speaker 2:And if you don't have those respect. If you can't respect our boundaries, then I don't want you around me. You can love, bomb me, you can do whatever it is you think you have to do, but I've already saw that side of you. I've already saw who you are. You already revealed yourself. So you trying to put the mask back on, you can't mind yourself no more. I see you, I hear you, I hear your spirit. I see that you ain't no good. And what people, um and I think we talked about this too with shapeshifters. I don't know if it was you, if it was somebody else, but we talked about shapeshifters when I was on the phone with what it was. I think it was you. What people um, the devil would try to come into people and then he will try to see what you like. Right, that's right, that's right. Your attention. So if you are a woman of God, then they going to act like they're a woman of God or a man of God or you know they going to play the role.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying. If you went to this music, then they into this music. They trying to get into good graces so they can, Because I truly believe in witchcraft, I really do. Oh, it's real, it's real. And they try to get close to you by trying to think You're bad to you.
Speaker 2:Whatever you doing, trying to love bomb you? You know, I see you for who you are already. You already show I'm looking in the camera. I want y'all to see me because I know you monitoring spirits. I see you for who you are already. Okay, I peeped your game long ago. You can't fool me. You ain't going to win. So stop trying, so stop trying, so stop trying. And I'm saying all this because I'm getting to this next part of this interview, because you dropped some gems in this through the rain, baby. That chapter was a whole altar call in itself. If y'all don't know about her chapter in through the rain, it's called look at god. We are going to play her real and we're going to come back so she can tell us the story behind it, okay, but yeah, yeah, it definitely. It definitely bugged some spirits. Okay, it bugged some spirits, but this, this was awesome, awesome, awesome chapter.
Speaker 1:Have you ever prayed so hard? Your throat burned, but heaven stayed quiet. She wasn't supposed to get pregnant again, not after the doctors told her her body was too broken, not after the pain, the scar tissue, the surgeries. But God had other plans. And her name was Miracle. One pound nine ounces, that's all she weighed. Paper-thin skin, a heart that kept stopping, lungs that forgot how to breathe, a mother told to say goodbye before she ever said hello. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. No feeding tube check, no monitor gone, hole in her heart, closed jaundice brain, bleeds, cerebral palsy, silent nights. She survived it all.
Speaker 1:When Miracle first spoke, she didn't say mama. She said mama Ra-Ra wants a juice cup, mama Ra-Ra wants a juice cup. A sentence, a whole sentence After years of silence after doctors said she'd never speak. Whole sentence After years of silence after doctors said she'd never speak. They said she wouldn't walk. She ran. They said she wouldn't talk. She testified. They said she wouldn't learn. She excelled. She didn't just beat the odds, she embarrassed them. And right there in a consignment shop, a little girl remembered the angel God assigned to keep her alive.
Speaker 1:This isn't a story. This is a spiritual autopsy. It will break you, wreck you, heal you and make you weep with worship Through every storm, every tear and every moment of hope. This journey has shown us the power of faith and the beauty of miracles. Even when the rain falls hardest, love and belief can carry us through. As the clouds part, we remember Every trial is a step toward the light. The sun always rises and with it new beginnings and endless possibilities. May this story remind us to look for the miracles in our own lives and to never stop believing. Pre-order from LaShawn Fernandez. As she debuts, her chapter Look at God is one of many chapters in the upcoming anthology through the rain, let her take you through her storm and come out to the sunshine.
Speaker 2:All right. So we are back with LaShawn with her story in the number one no, it's not the number one to release, but number three bestseller on Amazon right now. Through the Rain, the anthology. Tell us the story behind Look at God. What were you walking through during that time?
Speaker 3:Oh, it was a rough time then. I remember I was told, before Miracle even became a seed, I remember being told by the doctors, due to some damage to my body from an injury just a few years before that, that I wouldn't be able to have any more kids. Plus I had PCOS, um, so I know my body. So where I worked there was times we had to do restraints. Now I had my right before I took one of the kids. Of course I didn't get hurt or nothing like that. That particular time I just didn't feel right. My breathing, everything was off whack. So I remember calling the pregnancy center in Cobb County because I stayed on the north side at that time and they did a test and it was so positive. And I'm saying to myself now how did that happen?
Speaker 2:She said it was so positive.
Speaker 3:And they told me I needed to go to find a doctor because I didn't have, of course I didn't have OB nor GYN at that time. So I found a doctor and it was nothing but God, because it was a high risk pregnancy. It was so much going on with my body at that time so I was high risk, although I was 30, you know, I was still at a safe age, but just my body had so much going on. They said, well, you look like your sugar is up, pressure's up. So, with that being said, I was high risk. I was in and out the hospital, so much with Miracle. I remember that Friday they let me go before I had that Monday, which was the 11th, and Friday they let me go before I had her. That Monday, which was the 11th, and the doctor didn't kind of take my health as serious as I wanted her to Because she let me go home. I felt bad Sunday, my ex-husband and I at the time I literally was in church as I was hurt so bad. Little did I know I was going through early labor. It wasn't until Monday because I knew I was going back to the high risk portion of Northside Hospital. Sure enough, my water broke, didn't know what was going on. I'm thinking because I took a bath. I did so it was crazy. So I got there. They told me oh, we got to go ahead and admit you give miracle because her name wasn't miracle at the time. We have to give you potassium because she's trying to come. What caused the miracle to have where she was coming out breach was I was exposed to pneumonia at work. However, I didn't get pneumonia, but it got exposed to the wound somehow. So they kind of wait. We had a little time. But they said if her dad at the time didn't get up there at a certain time, they would just have to go ahead and take it. So she didn't get enough potassium, but because we didn't know, I think if we would have still been in the hospital we'd have been good.
Speaker 3:Well, they took her Owlet, got a second to see her because they had to rush her in the NICU to put her on the ventilator because she couldn't breathe on her own. They had to also put her in an incubator because you know, of course she was cold, to keep her warm, but I couldn't touch her, or not, because her skin was paper thin. But I remember that night I went to sleep. God speaks to me a lot in dreams, so it was a dream. There are times I have visions, but mostly dreams. And he came to me that night and he said the child shall be called Miracle. Well, I knew what Miracle meant, but I looked it up anyway and I remember the whole time. It was a challenge. They kept telling me it didn't look good, but I knew that, that god didn't give me the name miracle just because, uh, my past at the time came up pray for me. I had some friends came and I had friends telling other friends. Y'all need to tell her, you know, because she's gone crazy. She think that baby gonna live. There's no way that baby gonna live.
Speaker 3:Miracle Miracle had jaundice, she had a retina, she had heart issues, you name it. She had it. They say she was going to have to come home on the monitor, which she did. She was going to eat from a tube for the rest of her life. Well, none of that Miracle caught her. Every day she defeated every eye that they gave against her. They said she was going to be severely MR because she had brain bleeds, but God said otherwise. It wasn't. Until we came on the south side of town. They said she'd been tested gifted. I said no. So they tested her. She had advanced classes where we was. But they tested her on the south side and they said she's gifted. So they put her in some gifted class. They said she wouldn't walk.
Speaker 3:She started walking when her sister started walking at nine months. I guess America said oh no, she's not going to out top me. So she started walking a little bit, took a minute to get it down because the coordination wasn't there. She then started talking to three and all her PT OT. Everybody was there. They witnessed this miracle Because, see, I'm handicapped. You know, I had days where I can walk a little bit, days I couldn't, and I remember going in there to help and they figure out what, what, mariah, you wanted? We pointing to everything. Miracle came out of the, the session. Normally she don't do that. She walked in there and she pulled on me and she said mom, rara want a juice cup. That was her words, been talking ever since she. She went into a complete sentence no, dad, dad, no, mama, mama, rah, rah want a juice cup. Lord be whole. This is what her sister wanted the whole time. We could not figure. We choosing everything else but the juice cup.
Speaker 2:And you're like duh, you know what Y'all going to make me talk now? Because y'all said y'all didn't get it.
Speaker 3:And everybody was in a maze. But what? What was the most amazing thing? One of the therapists didn't believe in god at all, but it was at that moment. She was like, well, maybe miracles do exist, because to see and witness with your own eyes not just have me to say it or Miracle, godmother and full-time nanny at the time, just witnesses and telling it to everybody was there and witnessing, seeing it for themselves. So it was just like, wow, you know, it was at that moment we were seeing what god was doing in her life, without seeing the full picture, and we wound up going to a consignment shop that, uh, I used to just to get out to breathe. Um, that was my therapy at the time when I could maneuver. And, um, we went to the consignment shop and they were taught not to touch anything, especially glass.
Speaker 3:And Miracle was very good at listening. She definitely was my child that listened. She didn't like to be in trouble, so she kept saying Mom, that's the lady that helped me at the hospital. I'm looking because I wanted to thank the lady, so I'm looking all over. She said, right there, mommy, right there. She kept saying I'm looking, I don't see no lady. So I'm looking all over. She said, right there, mommy, right there. She kept saying I'm looking, I don't, I don't see no lady. So I'm like Miracle West. And then finally, I guess Miracle said I'm just tired, it keeps saying there's the lady. So she went over there and she pointed at the angel and it was porcelain angels they had sitting on the rack, and it brought tears to my eyes because she identified her angel was her guidance the whole time she was in that hospital and she was in the hospital from October to the latter part of January, which that was actually her due date. So it was just a miracle in itself.
Speaker 3:We got home she went to see her eye doctor. They said the retina wasn't there. Maybe she uh, it affects her later on in life and they didn't lie because when it comes to eyes, her vision has, um, changed. That changed changed this year when I took a really big time, but all through school from birth it was like nothing there.
Speaker 3:Then, once she came home, she was not on the breathing. The breathing machine went out. It kaput. So I went to a pediatric and they ordered well, for two weeks, miracle, didn't have a breathing machine and the doctor said well, she's been doing it without the breathing machine. We're good, we don't even worry about it, no more. And she didn't come home on a feeding tube. She had actually got to two cc's Not much she was drinking, but the whole point was she didn't need a feeding tube. But the whole point was she didn't need a feeding tube. And her heart doctor at the time said I've never seen this before, but she won't have to see me unless something happened later on in life.
Speaker 3:It was like once they closed the hole up in her heart, everything that they thought was going to occur didn't occur. That was the power of God. So miracle her life in itself it's a miracle. So when I was going through what I was going through with my disability, I kept going back and reclaiming my mind. Disability. I kept going back and reclaiming my mind. If Miracle came almost one week shy of being four months early and she was one pound nine ounces, and if she can go through it and get through it, I definitely can go through it and get through it with the disability that I was going through and just praying and trusting God. So her story in itself resonated miracle for me and for others, because people that was around me, my neighbors and everything else, everybody just witnessed a miracle. Because you miracle when I say couldn't walk, couldn't talk, and if you see it today, you, you wouldn't believe it unless you witness it at that point and she is amazing y'all.
Speaker 2:That's my friend in my head. She don't know it yet. She'd be, she'd be looking out, she, she'd be, she'd definitely be looking out. So I, I adore her. I think she is a phenomenal young lady. And for those you know, anybody who's watching, who's in their own storm right now, who may be stuck silent, ashamed or just ready to give up because I know you good at these, because if y'all watch the Wounded Warrior podcast, she gonna always drop them gems, okay. So if y'all watch the Wounded Warrior podcast, she gonna always drop them gems, okay. So if y'all, if, for anybody who may be ashamed or ready to give up, what would you say to them right now, from your own healed heart?
Speaker 3:I would say don't give up the the you got to go through the breakthrough. The blessing is right on the other side. You have to. This is my thing, this is my model. Now I truly, truly understand what it means.
Speaker 3:Now we walk by faith and not by sight. What that means is we might be down here on this earth and we live in having an earthly experience. It's a spiritual experience, but if we keep the faith, we trust in God. He said, if you only have the faith enough of a mustard seed if you've never seen a mustard seed, you barely can see it Because God knows as he performs miracles your faith will increase. It's going to start out this small, but it it's gonna keep building like an avalanche. So always remember we walk by faith and not by sight, meaning everything happened in the spiritual yes, not in the physical. It has to happen in the spiritual before it comes to the physical world. So trust in God and know he got you and understand. If you allow him to be your God, move over and allow him in to dwell and exude through you, everything will be all right.
Speaker 3:Trouble can't last always. Weeping may endure for a night, but but joy gotta come just like a storm, a tornado come and it might cause all that disruption. But what happened? The governor put out the FEMA money and they rebuilt it and sometimes it's better than what the original structure was Even like. For me, the new version of me, the new structure, the master put the masterpiece better than it was in its original architecture. So the foundation is much better.
Speaker 3:So don't give up, beloved. Just hold on to God's unchanging hand and trust him. Lean on his understanding and not our own. How can we fix what the original creator, he, said I'm the beginning, I'm the end, I'm Alpha and Omega. So why are we trying to figure out? If he made us in his image and his likeness, he'd know what's best for us. We just need to be still and know he's God. Don't give up, because when you give up, you're giving up on God. You got to let him be the master, because he will make you, as his masterpiece, the best virgin you could ever imagine. And the peace and joy have not surpassed all understandings, even for me. But I lean on God 100%, wholeheartedly. Now I moved out the way and when I tell you life get better, no longer I'm walking on faith.
Speaker 2:No, longer holding that burden. You're giving it to God and you just keep moving and keep moving.
Speaker 3:And keep moving, and then life becomes totally different from me. Yes, totally different.
Speaker 2:Oh man so let's give up.
Speaker 3:Y'all, please don't give up. I love that. Keep pushing Pray until something's happened. God knows what we need and what we want. He's just waiting for you to talk to him and a prayer don't take a whole lot, it's just a conversation like we having right here. I'm talking to God and allowing him to work miracles in your life, and then you'll say one day look at God.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes you will, yes you will. Girl, look, when I be doing her podcast, I be watching her podcast y'all. When I say I be in the back with my mic on mute, I be screaming, I be hallelujah, my hand be going up. This lady, I'm telling you, her voice is a word in itself. I adore you. Oh man, you're motivational.
Speaker 3:To God be the glory.
Speaker 2:God be all the glory. So I want to ask I know that you got something coming up on the 22nd. Yes, tell us more about that, what you got coming up, come on, drop the tea, drop the tea, drop the tea.
Speaker 3:So on the 22nd of this month I will be doing my booth signing. So I actually have a venue in Fayetteville, georgia. So from six to nine I will, literally it's going to be fun. I don't do nothing where it's just boring door. No, I believe, and you know, just living, you know, and having a good time fellowshipping with one another.
Speaker 3:But, more than anything, I've had a lot of people say I need an autograph copy. So just, you know, come out if you're in the Fayetteville area it's, it's posted the address and everything is posted on my Facebook page, but just to actually meet and greet and see the face behind the screen. You know, because I'm really one of those people that love to be among people. You know, that's even what God wants us to do. Fellowship, you know, be with your brother and sister, you know, not so isolated where no one knows you, but that's the beauty of it. But, yes, so if you're in the Atlanta area, fayetteville, georgia is right outside of Atlanta and I will have some refreshments and, like I said, we'll have a good time fellowshipping and talking and you can ask me all the questions you want to ask, because my life could not go in one book y'all.
Speaker 2:I promise you couldn't no, and she is always fun to be around. I know that for a fact, um, just a good time. So right now, um is the segment called lightning round. Okay, so everybody to come on the show. We do the lightning round. I asked you a question. You got to give it to me in 30 seconds, okay.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:What's your go-to scripture on a hard day?
Speaker 3:On a hard day is always going to be John 3 16, but I fight between that one and Romans 8 and 28. But I have to remind myself with John 3, 16. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believe in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Everlasting. So that's my go-to, because it just picks my spirit up when my spirit's down, because, no matter what I believe in, it so everlasting life.
Speaker 3:Okay, sweet tea or coffee oh, that one's hard both, but if I, I have to have my coffee every day when I get up in the morning okay, what song gets you in warrior mode? I would have to say Jacqueline Carr, with that Jehovah Jireh song.
Speaker 2:Oh man, yes, that's a good one. That's a good one. That's a good one. If you could tell your 13-year-old LaShawn one thing, what would it be?
Speaker 3:I'm here to protect you, girl, I got you. So that's what I would tell myself I'm here to protect you, girl, I got you. We're going to be all right.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. That's awesome. Oh, man, that's a good one. That's a good one. So, lashawn, thank you. Thank you so much for your honesty, your heart and your healing, because you remind us every day that today, being a warrior doesn't mean that we don't cry. It means that we keep showing up with tears in our eyes and purpose in our hands. Y'all, please go get the story of a warrior. I'm going to put it right here on the screen. Story of a warrior. I'm going to put it right here on the screen. If you need an author copy, a signed copy from the author, wwwarthurlashawncom, go check it out. Her chapter in Through the Rain. You can also pre-order that through her. Follow her podcast, the Wounded Warrior podcast, on all stations worldwide iHeart, spotify, apple Podcasts anywhere they play podcasts, amazon Music, audible she's everywhere. Y'all Share her story. If you feel like the chains in your life are too heavy, remember this woman right here was once where you are. Look at what God did. Look at what he did. Lashawn, can you pray us out, baby?
Speaker 3:Absolutely Everybody, bow your heads, dear Heavenly and Most Gracious Father. We come to you today, lord, saying thank you. Thank you for giving us a fellowship with one another. Thank you for allowing me to share, lord, just to pour out, be vulnerable, to show others your glory and to show others what healing can do for one soul. Thank you, lord, for everyone today and meet them at their needs.
Speaker 3:Lord, whatever they need in that brother or sister that want to give up, lord, just give them a little bit more hope, letting them know that everything will be all right. All they got to do is hold on to your unchanging hand. All they got to do is walk by faith and not by sight. If they understand, let go and let you God, not let it go and pull it back from you, but to give it to you and truly leave it alone. Leave it alone, but, more than anything, if they understand that you are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and you dwell in us.
Speaker 3:You never left us, you never forsake us and you never will. Although we may leave you, you're like the prodigal son, father, and you welcome us back home. You love us unconditionally. Let them know that the blood will never lose its power. There's nothing too bad that you won't be there for them. So thank you, lord, for this day, and every day we see a new day. We give you all the praise, all the glory, all the honor. It all belongs to you. We can't take no credit. In Jesus' name we pray Amen.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen, amen. Now you can tell people where they can reach you at.
Speaker 3:Y'all can reach me on Facebook LaShawn Fernandez, tiktok, lashawn Fernandez. Linkedin, and on YouTube it's LaShawnFernandez1255. And that's pretty much it. I think I gave every oh Instagram my name as well, and my website is wwwArthurLaShawn L-E instead of L-A-S-H-A-W-Ncom.
Speaker 2:And next time have a good one.
Speaker 1:This is my friend.
Speaker 2:On the Liz and Linda book club. Do not forget to like, share and tag somebody who needed this. Right here. I'm your host, dr Jacqueline Cox, and I will see y'all next time.
Speaker 3:We'll be right back Smile.
