Listen Linda! Hosted by Jacquiline Cox
Music commentary
Listen Linda! Hosted by Jacquiline Cox
Stay On The Porch
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One choice can split a life into before and after. We sit with author and poet Thomasine Kitt, a truth teller who turned family loss into pages that carry both warning and hope, and we don’t rush past the hard parts. Her upcoming book I Came Off The Porch Too Soon tells a heartbreaking story from the voice of the one who didn’t make it back, and the message lands like a siren for the youth and for the adults trying to protect them: stay on the porch until you’re really ready.
We talk about what it takes to write through grief without being swallowed by it, and why Thomasine calls writing “medicine.” That leads us into the “waiting room,” the season where you’re still functioning but still unpacking, still learning how to breathe after loss. We also go deeper into faith when God feels quiet, what patience looks like in real life, and how silence can carry purpose when you let it shape you instead of break you.
Then we shift into her inspirational poetry project The Power Of God, where worship and warfare meet on the page. Thomasine shares how she dug deeper than ever before, how God redirected her words, and why her story is ultimately about legacy and restoration, not just pain. If you care about grief healing, Christian encouragement, inspirational poetry, or storytelling that can save someone else, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s waiting on a breakthrough, and leave a review with the line that hit you the hardest.
Welcome And Why This Matters
SPEAKER_04You're the one who's meant to walk in pregnancy. Listen, Linda, girl you got this.
SPEAKER_05Listen, Linda.
SPEAKER_03Girl you got. I just love it. Alright. Listen. Today is not just another episode. We are sitting with a storyteller, a truth teller, a woman who took pain and turned it into pages that refuse to be ignored. She is the author of I Came Off the Porch Too Soon, along with her brother Roland Kit. And that is a story that grips your heart and does not let it go. She's also the author of the upcoming book, The Power of God, an inspirational story, which is a reminder that even in chaos, God still speaks. And last, well, not last but not least, because I got a couple more things to say about her. She's also a co-author in Women of the Waiting Room, Volume 3, Survivor's Remorse, Poetic Ministry. And she has just become the only official ambassador for Listen Linda magazine. Welcome to my girl, Thomasine Kill. Yeah.
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Opening Prayer And Setting The Tone
SPEAKER_03All right. Y'all know I have to do what I do when I do how I do it. So we are going to start off with prayer. We're going to open this thing up the way that it is supposed to be. And then we're going to keep it moving because we got some things that we want to talk with Thomasina about. Amen. Amen. Hey, hey, Miss Kit. What's going on, girlfriend? Let us pray, girl, so we can get into it, honey. All right. You know what, Thomasina? I'm going to let you lead us in prayer.
SPEAKER_02Okay. All right. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you as humble as we know how, calling on your heavenly and precious name. Lord, we just want to say thank you, Father God. Thank you for your grace and your mercy, your peace, your understanding, your wisdom, your knowledge. Lord, we thank you for your blessings, Father God. We thank you for peace for covering us. Lord, we know that enemy is busy, but you are greater than any enemy out there, Father God. We just thank you for raining down on us this evening, Father God. Touch everyone name by name and bless everyone, Father God, because you know right now we need you, we need you, we need you. All these blessings we claim right now in the mighty and precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen, amen, and amen.
Who Tommy Was Before Pain
SPEAKER_03Amen, girl. You better go ahead and tell it like wheels, amen. All right, yes, corral said, Amen. All right, moving on. Now let's get to it. Before we get into the books, though, I want people to meet you, Tommy.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_03Who was Tommy before the pain, before the writing, and before purpose found you?
SPEAKER_02Before all of that, um, I just had a lot of joy. I always had a lot of energy. I'm a people person. I love people. I love helping. I love giving. I love doing. But what you see is what you get. This is who I am now, today, tomorrow, forever.
The Story Behind Stay On The Porch
SPEAKER_03Amen. Amen. Now, let's go there. Before we go there, I want to put up the image of the book. Woo, yes. Let's talk about it, girlfriend. Let's talk about it. I came off the porch too soon. Yes. This book will be coming out summer of 2026. So let's go there. That title alone, I came off the porch too soon. That hits. I should have stayed home. I should have listened. For those who don't know about this book, what moment inspired that story? And let's keep it a little bit brief, maybe under two minutes, so we can kind of get through everything. Because you like me, we long-winded, girl. We long-winded.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But but just the person, just who my brother was. Um, he was just funny. He cut up, he laughed, you know, never really like kind of bothered anybody. And myself, him and my brother Roland, we all got that same personality, the same mentality. You know, we we get together, we vibe together, we help each other, we share, we cut up. I mean, we just some good people. And it was just him. It was just, I wanted to make sure he did his memory was still alive. So that was the best way I knew how to just come and put it in a book.
SPEAKER_03Now, for those who don't know, she is speaking in first person, and her and her brother, they're speaking in first person as if he's telling a story, which really, really touched me. Because you all know, if you don't know, I am the publisher for this book. Uh it's published on the Listen Linda publishing because this is my girl and she trusted me with it. So thank you for that. But reading the manuscript of this book really touched my heart. And I'm sure everyone wants to know how hard was it for you to tell this story from his voice after his passing?
SPEAKER_02Uh it was kind of tough. It was some parts that was kind of tough, but um, just knowing who he was, things that we knew he would say, things that we knew he would do. Me and my brother, we kind of tag team and we got in it together. But yeah, it was some some really tough moments for us because, you know, even writing it, it was kind of hard. You know, we had some tears because we know he wasn't really there, but we had to speak it like he was right there with us standing by us. So yeah, it was kind of tough.
SPEAKER_03Did writing this feel like healing, or did it feel like reopening wounds?
SPEAKER_02Feel like healing. It felt like healing because I was 14 years old, my brother was 12 years old, and it was when he passed. Yeah, so it was kind of traumatic for us to go through that. So in those moments, it was that was the worst time for us. So I don't think we could ever write nothing in those moments, but coming forward, that's when it got better. So it was more of a healing for us.
Trailer Moment And The Warning Signs
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. I tell everybody when you go through something traumatic like that, even if you don't publish it, just write it out. Right, write it and make it plain. You have to write it out, make it plain, but you also heal in writing. I know that that's therapy for me. Um, so I appreciate that response. Um before we go into the last few questions about this book, I do want to play the trailer so people can kind of get more of the concept of what this book is about. Um, so we're gonna run the trailer for this for this book, you all, and then we're gonna get back with more questions with Thomasina Kid. Well, my as I like to call it, Tom.
SPEAKER_00A porch, not to get caught up in them streets. But I thought I knew better. I thought I was grown. My family, man, we had everything. Love, laughter, dreams for the future. Mama worked two jobs just to keep us together. My sisters looked up to me. My little brother wanted to be just like me. But the streets were calling, and I answered. Late nights, wrong crowds, thinking I was invincible. The older cats made it look easy. Fast money, respect, power. I wanted that life. Mama kept warning me, baby, nothing good happens out there after dark. But I stopped listening. That night, I felt something was wrong. The air was different. My boys were nervous, but pride kept me there. The flash happened so fast, then darkness. Then watching. Watching my mama cry over my body in that hospital bed. Watching my little sister freeze up, her hand on her chest, not understanding why her big brother wouldn't wake up. My little brother broke down in church. Grown folks had to hold him up while he cried for me. And I was right there, but I couldn't touch him, couldn't tell him I was sorry. If I could go back to that porch, I'd never leave it. I'd listen to every word mama said. Don't make my mistake. Stay on that porch until you're ready. Really ready. Because some choices you can't take back.
SPEAKER_05Yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Let's talk about it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, I can't stop watching the video. I mean, it's like he is in the video, it's like that's him. Um, it's like the video has come become a part of us because everything in that video is exactly how it happened. That's what it is. And seeing it, it makes us feel a whole lot better because it's like we can we feel him, we feel him in the video. So you did an awesome, outstanding job bringing all of that home for us. So we really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_03When I went off the board, oh my god, keep watching it. You can watch old load on a cry, girl. I can't cry like that, girl. I gotta wipe my tears. Now I I want to ask you, what do you want young people to hear when they read this? Not read, but what do you want them to hear when they read this book?
SPEAKER_02I just want them to hear the warning signs. It because it's a lot of warnings all throughout that trailer, all throughout the book. Just warnings because you can be going through life doing whatever, and nobody ever gives you a warning. But if you get that warning, I just want it to be ringing in their head, like, okay, I didn't heard this somewhere before. Um, my grandson said, Granny, he said, um I like that movie you showed me. Um, I I got to stay on the porch. He has to, I got to stay on the porch. I said, Well, that's good. Because he might be nodding, so you're like, go ahead, nephew.
SPEAKER_03I got to stay on the porch. All right, nephew. You gotta go ahead and stay on that porch. Yeah, I know that's right. That is what I want to do.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah, catch that that is the mouth of babes.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, mouth of babes. That is awesome. Yeah, another question I want to ask you. If he could speak today, what do you believe that he would say? Oh, she went. Okay, can you hear me? She had to call my own. I see you. I hear you. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna have to go out.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Alright, so we're gonna take a break, everybody, and we're gonna play that trailer again, and we're gonna wait for Thomasina to come back.
SPEAKER_00I should have listened to my mama. She told me not to come off that porch, not to get caught up in them streets. But I thought I knew better. I thought I was grown. My family, man, we had everything. Love, laughter, dreams for the future. Mama worked two jobs just to keep us together. My sisters looked up to me. My little brother wanted to be just like me. But the streets were calling, and I answered. Late nights, wrong crowds, thinking I was invincible. The older cats made it look easy. Fast money, respect, power. I wanted that life. Mama kept warning me, baby, nothing good happens out there after dark. But I stopped listening. That night, I felt something was wrong. The air was different. My boys were nervous, but pride kept me there. The flash happened so fast, then darkness. Then watching. Watching my mama cry over my body in that hospital bed. Watching my little sister freeze up, her hand on her chest, not understanding why her big brother wouldn't wake up. My little brother broke down in church. Grown folks had to hold him up while he cried for me. And I was right there, but I couldn't touch him. Couldn't tell him I was sorry. If I could go back to that porch, I'd never leave it. I'd listen to every word mama said. Don't make my mistake. Stay on that porch until you're ready. Really ready. Because some choices you can't take back.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Had to run it back. Had to run it back again while we waited on my girl. Okay. Yes, yes. Now, what I was asking you, if he could speak today, what do you believe he would say?
SPEAKER_02He would still be um saying this message. I need to stay on the porch. I should have came, I should have stayed on the porch. I should have listened to my mama. You know, I wasn't grown. You know, everything that my mother said was the truth. You know, sometimes we hear our parents, but we don't want to hear our parents. So we dart out and we do our thing, but in in the back of our minds, we need to keep that warning because you're gonna need it sometime in your life. So that warning, yep.
SPEAKER_03Do you ever struggle with guilt while telling somebody else's story, feeling like you're carrying the weight of what if?
SPEAKER_02Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes it's it's tough to try to tell somebody else's story, especially one like this, you know. It can be kind of kind of heavy on you to try to pull all of that out. And the person ain't here to really kind of be with you when you're doing it, but yeah, that's that's a tough one, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It is what has your brother have you talked to Roland about um how he feels as he's writing? Um, because we know you ain't here, Dollar Bill, okay? But we have it for you, okay? Yeah, yeah. Um how has he been um handling through um through this um through this book writing process?
SPEAKER_02It's it's made him better because when we were, when he was 12, when I was 14, we was just a mess. We was just it was it was hard for us, but as we progressed and moved on, still keeping him alive in us and you know with us, it just made us stronger, it made us stronger, and the writing became our medicine, so that's our medicine. So once we get this book in our hands, we got some medicine to take with us everywhere we go.
The Waiting Room And Unpacking Grief
SPEAKER_03Amen. Amen. Now we're gonna talk more about that, but uh um I want to um introduce the the other book that we have out available now, um, and that is one moment Women of the Waiting Room Poetic Manager. Yes, yes, yes. Can you tell everybody the name of your chapter in this book? From grief to purpose, from grief to purpose. Now that right there, that's ministry. Yes, I want to ask you besides everything that we already talked about, um, as far as your brother's book, what is the waiting room in your own life?
SPEAKER_02The waiting room for me and my own life would be um unpacking. I've I've been through a whole lot, I've seen a lot, I felt a whole lot of loss and a whole lot of grief, a whole lot of pain, whole lot of experience in life, and I don't think I fully unpacked everything. So the waiting room experience to me is for me to unpack. Right.
SPEAKER_03So you're kind of standing in that waiting room, you're still there, yeah. Unpacking up there. That is phenomenal. Um, a lot of us, I come out with these anthologies. This is my 10th anthology, going into the 11th one next week, and I'm still in my waiting room too. That's why I keep writing about it. I keep writing about it until I've moved on from that. So a lot of people say, Why do you why do you keep doing these um these trauma anthologies? And what they don't realize, people say that they do not realize that this is literally healing for people. And yeah, it is, it is. It really is. I mean, for us to bleed on those pages, and what's really healing about it, which you will find out, because it will happen to you is when you get those emails back, and you looking at those reviews on Goodreads, or you're looking at those reviews on Amazon, and you're reading how your chapter or your story specifically call you out. Your chapter, your story changed my life. I had one girl when I did um Mountains Can't Rise Without Earthquakes email me and tell me I was thinking I was on the brink of suicide. I was on the brink of suicide, and that's not talked about enough. So before we get into that, um are you back? Can you hear me? Yeah, yeah, I can hear you. Great, great, great. So what I want you to do now because we're gonna go on another like minute or two break, I'm gonna play um God did that. Um I want you to turn your ringer off. Okay, nobody can call you. So we're going to do that right now. I'm gonna play, um, I'm gonna play. Listen, Linda. That's three minutes, 33 seconds. That gives you enough time to log out.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01All right.
SPEAKER_04Listen, Linda. We've been watching you try to hold it all together. And we're here to remind you who you are.
SPEAKER_03All right, all right. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Hey y'all, if y'all watching this, stop calling Tommy. Okay, I know. I know. Wait. Yeah, wait. Like the waiting room. Amen. Yeah. All right. So we are back. Stop calling Tommy. Exactly. Now I want to get back into it, okay? Okay. Um, what kind of women did you write your poetry for? For this specific project? What kind of women?
SPEAKER_02Um, just women that have had loss that have um you might have lost a mother, brother, just anybody just hasn't had has any type of loss because it hit hard for me. It hit real hard for me to the point where um I had already lost my brother, still trying to get through that. That was really tough. But then when I lost my my mother on top of that, I started writing a poem. I think that the poem I wrote in that book is one of them is called Feel My Pain. Yeah, and every time I read it, I cried because I put everything into that one poem because um I I just I didn't I didn't even think about it. I know you're not supposed to question God, but I asked him, I said, you know what? I just lost my brother over here. I was 14 when I lost him, and then here you go. I done lost my mama, so you know how I'm supposed to get by this. And he taught me to write. And so I've been writing ever since. And just like I say, it is medicine. So for those women that done experienced loss, don't know how to deal with that grief, don't know where to put it at, don't know how to unpack it, don't know how to deal with it. That's what my um chapter was about. Um, from grief to purpose, because God will turn your grief into purpose.
SPEAKER_03Amen. Amen. I want to ask you this how do you sit with God when he's silent? How do I sit with him when he is silent?
SPEAKER_02Be honest, because it's hard to wait on him, but in that in those moments, I learned how to just just get that patience and wait, just get in my little closet and my little space, your war, and then just be silent because when you try to do it for God, He's gonna show you you can't do it for Him because He got to do it for you. So it's just trying to be be as silent as He is and waiting on Him. So, like you say, in the waiting room. So you got to you got to try to learn how to wait because when he comes through, man, he's gonna come through like a hurricane.
SPEAKER_03Gotta learn how to be patient as a patient, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02That part right there.
SPEAKER_03Amen. Yeah, what do you say to the woman who feels forgotten by God, who feels like God may be overlooking her or forgot about her?
SPEAKER_02Um, I would say don't give up, um, don't throw in the towel and don't think that just because you ain't heard from him in a long while, that he ain't coming, he's not gonna come through for you because that second that you turn back, he's gonna show up and then you're gonna be in someplace else where you ain't supposed to be. But he just wants you to wait, wait in those moments. Don't move, just be just be patient. I know it's hard. It does get hard trying to wait because it's a lot going on in the world, and so my my advice would be to just don't take it for granted, just wait, just wait, wait it out, you know. Like if like at a baseball game or any anything we going through in life, you just gotta wait because it's gonna be worth it, it's gonna be worth it, it's gonna be worth it.
The Power Of God And Deep Writing
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. Now we're gonna move on into your next book because we we trying to cover all of them today, amen. You got this one coming out. Yes, the power of God, inspirational poetry. Yes, now this book feels different because at first, you know, we we talked more about the waiting room and being waiting and being in that season, right? But this book feels like release, yeah. But let's start talking about this one. Did this come up from a place of worship or warfare?
SPEAKER_02Both, because with my other books, I was I was mediocre, I was just like kind of streamlining. But this book right here went deep into my soul, it took me deeper than I ever went before to bring these poems out because those poems right there, like I mean, just reading the imagery, it's a lot of imagery, it's a lot of you know what God did for me to show his actual power. I mean, you could feel it in the books because it was like I didn't just sit there and write a poem to try to make it rhyme. It was like I was digging deeper than I ever went before. So this book right here is yeah, you got to get that one.
SPEAKER_03What I love about what you said is because, of course, you know, I'm a poet by nature, by blood, right? Yeah, um, and a lot of people confuse poetry, they think that every poem has to rhyme, but it doesn't, it just has to flow. It is a flow, it is a feeling, it is a spoken word in essence to poetry, so it doesn't always have to rhyme. But if you are a metaphorical person like I am, like Thomasina is, like my girl Melanie Johnson, Melanie the Voice Johnson, Cheryl Jacqueline Jackson, these poems. Oh, to Kenya Johnson. Um, I'm just trying to throw out names of people who um who are phenomenal poets as all the ladies of poetic ministry, but I will say the ones who all of it touched me. I want nobody to get jest, okay, but the ones that really touched me would be Ani the CEO, um, it would be um Jada, Dr. Jada Green, um, it would be Thomasina Kitt, it would be Cheryl Jacqueline Jackson, and it would definitely be Felicia Davis and to Kenya uh Johnson, coach authorist to Kenya J. Johnson. Please follow this lady. Just get poetic ministry while it's still on sale. Man, when I say these women, woo, phenomenal. Phenomenal. All of the women are, but what I'm saying is those six ladies really took me to a place. And I'm gonna tell you something. Jada Green only has one poem in there, but it was so strong, yeah. Y'all gotta get this book. If you are a fan of poetry, if you and even if you're not a fan of poetry, if you are a fan of storytelling, the way that these ladies use cinematic writing and their poetry should be studied. Phenomenal. Same thing with Tommy, the power of God. Y'all know I got the manuscript on the publisher. When I say she put her cinematic writing lab class to work with kids because when I read it, I was like, wow, like she said, major difference from her first book. This book, her first book was good. It was, it was good, but this one right here, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That one right there.
SPEAKER_03I can't wait for May. I can't wait for May because I know there's gonna be a lot of reviews on this book. It is phenomenal, phenomenal. Another thing I want to ask you because you do know that this was part of the 21-day uh poetry challenge that was done through um listening to publishing, but um I could tell that something was happening in your life as you were writing this, just following along with you. I can tell by the different events that you talk about in each poem. What was happening while you were writing this book?
SPEAKER_02It was just me trying to um unwell, I guess unpack because I like I said, I had I went deep. I went way deep. Like I didn't just sit, like normally I'll go pray and then I'll go write something. And sometimes God just gave me something else totally different. He be like, no, I don't want you to write that. I need you to do this. But that book is totally different because I just went to a place that I probably just ain't never went to before. And I dug deep, deep, deep to try to pull out those points. Because yeah, it just allowed me to um really sit down and look at myself and unpack a little bit of what you know, life, just life. Um if it if there was any more lingering grief or if there was any more relation, if anything else was just lingering, I was trying to pull it all off. I didn't want none of it on me. I was just trying to pull it off and put it in that book, just pick it off.
SPEAKER_03Amen, amen. Um, I want to go into another question. Um, can you share a line or a message that God gave you that shook you while writing this?
Losing Mom And Finding Meaning
SPEAKER_02A line or a message while God gave me. Um I would just have to say, um God, God would say, I'm sure I'm gonna show you my power. I'm gonna show you my power because that those books, the words, like I I put a whole lot of what was really actually going on. Like if you see the cover, I was trying to get to that to that setting in the cover to make it you know pop to make it okay. God is speaking to me in this moment right here, and this is what he wants me to do, and this is what he wants me to say, this is how he wants me to say it. So, yeah, that part right there. He yeah, oh man, he speaks, he speaks, he does speak. Some people might not ever hear him, or they might be like, No, I ain't never heard God. How you heard God speak to you? Get in, get in your closet, and you will hear.
SPEAKER_03Hey man, I was just gonna say that now. Come on, now, yeah, you know. Now I want to pause because behind every book is a woman that had to survive something. Okay, yeah. I want to ask you what almost broke you when I lost my mama.
SPEAKER_02That was that was the worst.
SPEAKER_03I lost my mama, yeah. I lost my dad too. When I lost my dad, I was hurt, but me and my dad were close, and I had actually been in his presence before he passed. Um, when I lost my mom, it was something different, it's something different.
SPEAKER_02Like, I don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_03We weren't close, we didn't have like a mother-daughter relationship. Every time we talked, it was cool, but we barely talked. Um because my mom, it wasn't because she was on drugs, because I never judged my mom because of that. Okay. Um I always loved my mom, always respected my mom. But now, as I'm growing into more and more into my faith, and I'm growing more and more just wise, you know, as I'm getting older. I'm really, I I really started to realize, and God told me this when my mom passed. He said, You think your mama kept you at the bottom of the totem pole because she was really close with all the rest of your brothers and sisters. But what you don't realize is that maybe she was distancing herself so she won't taint you. She saw the the covering and the blessing of God on your life, and she didn't want to interfere with that. So she knew how she was, although she was very deep in her faith, but she knew the type of person she was, and she knew that she didn't want to influence me. I'm the only one of my sisters and brothers that don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs, right? Um and I think it's really because God kept me, He keeps all my brothers and sisters covered. Let's start there. But I think it was it was something about me that my mama kept saying, You special, you don't, and I just kept like, nah, she don't want to have nothing to do with me. But when she passed, I understood. Yeah, yeah, it was I don't know what kind of her to pass for me to forgive her for not being there for me. Yeah, so I can understand that girlfriend.
SPEAKER_02It's a it's a different kind of energy. I mean, I lost my dad, lost my brother, and I I took I carried that that weight, that pain. But when I lost her, it was just like, oh my god, uh I gotta go talk to God, like you got to tell me what to do. It was like, that was heavy for me right there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So let me ask you this: what kept you here?
SPEAKER_02What kept me here? Everything that she put in me. Um, I was I I got saved when I was 12 years old, didn't understand none of it, what was going on, but um, she always kept me in church. Um, and her life living is what I tried to follow. Um, staying in church, keep my kids in church. Um, I just love God, period. You know, I just love him with all my heart because she brought him into my life. So I don't know where I would be or how I would be if I didn't have her putting God into me because she put him into me at an early age. So yeah, early, early.
Pain Or Purpose Game And Legacy
SPEAKER_03And one last thing um before we uh do our interactive game. Um, who did you have to become to carry all of this that you're carrying today?
SPEAKER_02Okay, I wasn't telling me. I wasn't telling me no more. I I had to, you know, yeah, I had I had to just I had to grow up, if that makes sense. I was even in this, if even in this body right here, I still had to grow up. I had to grow up beyond whatever was going on around me. I had to grow up out of pain, I had to grow up out of hurt, I had to grow up out of grief. So this, you know, no matter what stage of life you in, you got to grow up out of whatever you in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I can understand that, and I can I can I can relate because I had to grow up, and guess what? I'm still growing up. Oh growing up, still growing up, you know. You're never too old to learn, you never too old to become more than what you are. So I really appreciate that answer. So now we're gonna get out of the sad stage and we're gonna go to an interactive game that I have that I like to call pain or purpose. So, how this game works is it's engaging and it's quick. I'm gonna say a word, you tell me if it represents pain or purpose and why. Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Waiting, uh purpose. Why? Because I I know at the end of the waiting, I'm gonna come out brand new. God's gonna make me somebody newer when I come out of the waiting loss of pain. Why? Um, because even though I can write it and the words are my medicine, it's still it's still stings, it still hurts. So loss, um, hurt pain. Silence. Silence is purpose because you can say a lot in silence. You can say a lot without saying anything in silence. So it's purpose. Um it can drive you, it can do do things for you. Because um, everybody don't have to be voice boisterous to get a point across. Obedience. Purpose. Um, and it's purpose because I know that we have to be obedient in order for God to use us and do what He need needs to do with us, because He can't use us if we disobedient. So obedience to me is purpose. Writing. Oh Lord, that's purpose, girl. That's purpose because it's healing, it's my medicine, and I love it, it's my passion, so that's my purpose. God, purpose because he never left me, he's still with me, he loved me in spite of my whatever I got going on. The good, the bad, the ugly. He always there, so he's my purpose.
SPEAKER_03And I'm gonna do a twist. I want you to flip that one pain that you had into purpose in real time. Okay, that was small.
SPEAKER_02Oh, sorry. Flip it into okay, so that one pain into purpose would be um being able to take something, something from that part of me and bringing it forward to right now, but making it bigger than it was to remove that hurt out the way. So just make it so it could be a it can be a piece of writing, it can be whatever, but I needed to come out to make it bigger inside of me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly, exactly. Great answer. What does legacy mean to you now?
SPEAKER_02Oh girl, legacy to me now means that when we go through things, we don't have to trash them, we don't have to throw them away, we can bring them back, we can you can we can I guess rectify them. And I'm talking about my brother. My brother is my legacy. My brother, my brother, uh Timmy, that's no longer here, is my legacy. And I feel like we bringing him back, we restoring, we resurrecting through words, and he's my legacy.
SPEAKER_03How do you want your brother's story to be remembered?
SPEAKER_02So I want his story to be remembered by everybody, everybody in the world, everybody from wherever, seeing his story, listening to it, but not only seeing it and listening, using the the warnings, using them so that somebody can be saved, because somebody somebody is going to be saved by that story. So I just want it to be everywhere.
SPEAKER_03But how do you want it to be remembered? How? How?
SPEAKER_02How um through everybody that's that can through everybody through through the younger generations, through the youth, through all of those who are who might be facing something right now that's going through something. I want the book, that book, or the movie, or whatever we put out there to be like, okay, yeah, I remember. I got to stay on the porch.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I gotta do what my mama and my daddy tell me. So be the dude. Yeah, yeah. If someone reads all of your books, what should they walk away changed by?
SPEAKER_02My faith in God. That should change them because I can't do nothing. I can't, even if I'm writing something, I can just write something down and he'll change the whole thing, he'll change my schedule, he'll change everything just to get his point across because it's not about me, it's about him.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, that was that was phenomenal. That was phenomenal because a lot of people they give me a lot of different questions, I mean a lot of different answers when I ask this question, but no one has ever said that people should walk away changed by their own faith in God, and I think that that is a great answer. Um what do you say to someone who feels like it may be too late for their story to even matter?
SPEAKER_02Um, I say. Get that doubt out of there, get that devil out of there because everybody got a story. And the more you hold on to it, the worse it gets because holding on to it is like a like a sickness. But once you release it, once you take that pen and that paper and write it down, you can feel it just giving you a big old sigh of relief. Just like I say, writing is medicine. So I say, do not hold that story in, get that story out. Tell Miss Uh Jacqueline, and we will get it in those stores for you.
Support The Books And Closing Prayer
SPEAKER_03Amen. Listen, listen, this was not just an interview. This was a reminder that even the hardest stories still deserve to be told. Tommy. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your obedience and your willingness to turn pain into something that can heal others. If you ever or if you've been moved by this conversation, don't just feel it. Support it. Her book. She already has um what is it called? What's your first book called this on Amazon right now?
SPEAKER_02A journey for easy. A journey for easy.
SPEAKER_03She has the power of God coming out in May. The Women of the Waiting World Volume 3 is already out on all Amazon, on Apple, on Flash Word. Um environment. Pick it up right now. Um the porch too will be released this May. God willing, it will be released this May. So make sure you follow her on social media. She's on Facebook under Tama Tena Kit. You can find it right there. It is right under her right under her camera. Tama Tina Kit. Follow her there. And most importantly, do not silence your own story. Thomas, I'm gonna ask you to pray us out, and then we're gonna end this live stream with God Did That.
SPEAKER_02All right. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you once again, Father God, just to say thank you, Father God. Thank you for all of the grace, your mercy, your peace, God. Thank you for being an instrument to us, Father God, giving us all of these gifts and talents to use, Father God. We just pray right now that every book, every project, everything that we put our hands to, Father God, is blessed, blessed, and blessed. And we just want to say we love you. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, amen, and amen.
SPEAKER_03Amen. Now, if you have loved this live stream today, look right here and donate to Listen Linda Live, the cash out the dollar sign young safe leaders. The zale is the number right below, and we that will help me to continue to bring authors just like this to the platform. Thank you again. God bless you. We love you like Christ loved the church.
SPEAKER_04We out Let me test it real quick. God did that. It's glowing love. This is glory. Yeah. Look at me now. I did that. Every step back, he flipped that I did that. Every mountain he moved that I did that. Every tear you lose that I did that. Ayy to the right and the quake, I did that. When he from me out the way to room, I did that. Oh go break, I did that. I walked on to the bread on my lips. Devil pushed hard, but I didn't lose my lips. I got help, clothes when the walk up. Came out the fire looking less face. I was breaking. Oh I got to go up and you would say I break it. I'm just speaking to me. Just too from the food. Cause he can make it quite a night. That's why it's just that everybody wants that I did that. Everybody wants that I did that. When it broke me on the way, I did that. I remember being broken in the way. He's dead girl, I'm a guy who makes stones with head. I'm dancing in the freedom on the Jesus cake. I'm out and close, my praises allowed. I joy that I did, I want to joy that every month. I'll do it in all in the purpose. I did that. Yeah. Look at me now. Only one name gets the credit.
