Regina Swarn Audio Series Presents
Life Topics, Real Talk Love and Relationships, Religion, Music, Movies, Reviews, and more. Bringing you stories from around the world -with people from all walks of life.
Regina Swarn Audio Series Presents
A Veteran’s Journey Through Trauma, Faith, And Service - Dr Katherine Dayson
A seventeen-year-old learns to march, sing, and lead—then faces a bomb blast in a German bunker that changes everything. Dr. Katherine Dayson opens up about the years that followed: PTSD that lingered, faith that steadied her, and the mentors, chaplains, and family who refused to let go. Her story moves from Tops In Blue stages to computer consoles, from master drill commands to the quiet work of healing, and finally to a calling that now spans cities and countries.
We talk about the moments that mark a life: the first lonely night in basic training, the pride of mastering a craft in the Air Force, and the fear that comes with sudden loss. Katherine shares how mental health care, prayer, and community can coexist, and why PTSD is not a weakness but a wound that deserves care. She also tells a vivid quitting-smoking testimony—one drag, a car filled with smoke, and a conviction that ended decades of addiction—which now fuels how she supports others fighting their own habits.
Today, Katherine serves as the International Supervisor of Women for Joshua Kingdom International, traveling to Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans, Saginaw, Tuscaloosa, and beyond. With a Doctor of Divinity and ongoing counseling studies, she mentors women, builds retreats, and brings practical hope to people navigating trauma, depression, and change. If you’re a veteran, caregiver, or anyone seeking a way through hardship, this conversation offers both candor and compassion—and a reminder that purpose can outlast pain.
Subscribe, share this episode with someone who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help more listeners find stories like this. Got a question or a takeaway to share? Message us and join the conversation.
Music
Commrcoyÿ
A message from me to all my wonderful followers. Please feel free to share your feedback. Click fan mail and leave me comments.
Show end
Contact
swarnregina@gmail.com
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Gina Fine Audio Series Presents. Today I have a very, very special guest on with us. Um, she's a retired staff sergeant in the Air Force, but she's so much more than that. She's a missionary that travels the world, sharing the good tidings of great joy to every soul. And I truly thank God for her because she is my sister. And I thank God for her so much. So I'm going to introduce you to her and she's going to tell you something about herself. Welcome to the show, missionary Catherine Dason Sworn. Now maybe you can correct that for me. How are you?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, great. Thank you so much, uh, Regina. It's good to be on the line with you today. It is a pleasure to be here today.
SPEAKER_02:Wonderful. Now, you know, you got a story to tell. I mean, you got so much that we gotta do several podcasts. We got to do several, you know, versions of it, part one, part two, possibly part three. Because people, let me tell you, her story spans decades, and she she's so smart. She's in our family, and she's been a lesson to every one of us in the family, but the kind of person she is, her generosity, her love for the Lord has just reached out to others. So she don't just help the family, she helped everybody as God, and I say this very very clearly, as God lead her, because he can't help everybody, but she helped them as God leads her. And so, missionary Davis, I don't know how what you want how you want me to refer to you, but would love for you to tell us something about yourself because you got a great story. And again, I'm so happy to have you here to share it on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you, thank you. Regina, I just want to say that I I give God the glory. I am glad to be here to uh be on the on the uh show this morning. Um my my title is um doctor. I'm Dr. Catherine Days and I got my uh three degree in divinity a year ago. Um and uh I am very happy in the in the station that I'm in. Uh I am um the fifth of a family of thirteen children that was uh you know from my family, this one family. Um yeah, so I am uh let's see, you got with the I was trying to chime to make sure I was giving you the right number. I think number five. There's a lot in our family. It was a lot a lot of children. Mama had a lot of children, mom and dad had a lot of children. So um so just to give you a little bit of about myself, um, I graduated from high school there in uh from Macon, Georgia at uh Ballot Ballot Hudson uh Senior High School and uh in 1969 and um decided to go into the military. So and I can tell you a little bit about my military tour when I first got there and so forth.
SPEAKER_02:So we would love to hear about that. Um can I hear about that? I heard Bell Hudson, if I can recall, which I can't recall too good, but it used to come down the street and have bands. They don't do stuff like that anymore. The band would come down the street, and I want people to listen to this, the band would march physically down the street through the neighborhood, playing music. And you do I know you remember that.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yes, I do. I remember this was uh, you know, I went in and at an early age. I had just graduated in 19 uh 69, and I was only 17 years old, and the band, my band at Ballard Hudson, uh high school, senior high school, would, you know, go through the neighborhood and you know, just to have the people come to know that we were we existed at Ballard Hudson, the Tigers. We were called the Tigers, the Ballot Hudson by Tigers, that was the band. And we would go through the neighborhood so that people would see what we were actually doing at the school, so the parents could see their children were actually learning something about music. So it was a good time for my for me. You know, that's a portion of the good times in in the in the Pixie for me in school, and I truly enjoyed that at that time. My sisters and brothers were there as well, and um, so I really enjoyed that time, you know, when I was in school and when I graduated and going through the neighborhood in 1969, 70 in that area. Right.
SPEAKER_02:And now we're gonna speak a little bit about um can I say missionary dayson? Do you can I refer to you as missionary missionary? Missionary excuse me, doctor, doctor missionary, doctor. Dr. Dayson, I think that's what it's going. Um I want to talk a little bit about your life in the military because you um you got several stripes. You know, you are you're on up there, you you're not just down there, you she really ranked really high in the military, and uh several of my family members was in the military, but we're so happy that she was in the air. I think she was the only one that's in the air force.
SPEAKER_03:No.
SPEAKER_02:And uh can you tell us a little bit about your military life, please?
SPEAKER_01:Of course. Well, um, like I said, I was only seventeen years old at the time. Uh mom and dad had to sign me in, you know, as a because I was considered a child, you know, at 17. So I went out I, you know, had other things that I was getting ready to do, but I didn't pursue those. But I I came across this one guy he was telling me about going into the to the Air Force. He was an Air Force recruiter. And uh I just happened to be at the airport that day in Atlanta. And so what happened is he told me a lot of things about the military. He said, You can do the same job in the military that you're trying to do here at Delta Airlines, uh, to be an airline student. So in the military, uh I went to Lackland Air Force Base uh here in Texas, where I retired here. And while I was in the military in basic training, um it was uh a very difficult time for me because I'd never been away from home uh more than you know, staying in at the in the country with the auntie or aunt or uncle or whatever. But when I went in the military, it's completely it was completely different. You know, it's a different you know I was scared to death basically.
SPEAKER_00:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:So why were you so scared? Because I know you I don't want to talk about the bad stuff, but I know you were you just scared because you you missed the family and things like that.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly, exactly. I miss my family. I was you know, I was then when you're in a family with so many people and all of a sudden they're not there, you have people that you can talk to in your family, and you know, I didn't feel that I hadn't gotten any friends that I hadn't had any I didn't have any friends at that time in the military. When I was the first place you go when you're in the military is through basic training, where they train you to go to your next you know, to your duty station. So what happened, uh I remember the first day that I uh arrived at Lackland Air Force Base, it was in the evening. And uh the re that's why I was really afraid. I didn't I was afraid of what was to come. You know, I had so much empathy. I was, you know, what time I was gonna have to get up in the morning and I can tell you about that. Uh what time was you know I didn't eat a lot of food at that time, I was very thin. I was Yeah, you were very thin thin.
SPEAKER_02:Those pictures, man, you see those pictures?
SPEAKER_01:I was very thin at that time. And so when I got to basic training, the first thing they did was to feed us. They would feed us and come on in, you march in and you you know, you didn't know how to march, we walked basically because they hadn't talked to march. So they said, Come on, we're gonna feed you. They took us to what they called the mess hall, that's where they go to feed everyone, and uh went there and they fed us and then they, you know, marched us to the dorm where we were gonna be staying for the next 30 days. Uh actually it was more than 30 days. We were there for six to eight weeks. But anyway, uh when we got there, because the instructor, they have two instructors there, female instructors, uh over the dorm, over the fifty, it was fifty of us, fifty uh soldier uh airmen in the in the dorm. And so they give us they give us our bed and so forth, and you know, I can give the whole rundown on it, but I just wanna take it a little bit at a time because it's a lot. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Did you uh have any challenges that while you were there? I mean uh this is the beginning of it, but did you um have any like things that you went you know had went through or problems?
SPEAKER_01:Problems are going. I don't know, when you're in a new environment, a new situation, and you're in here with uh let's see how many was uh forty-five to fifty other female in the dorm, and you have your own space, you have your little bed, your own space, two to a room, sometimes three to a room, depending on the space that they had available. And so what would happen is, you know, there was assigned by the instructor the team chief. You have two people, a team chief, you have a team member who was in charge of us. And so they would um choose someone within the flight to be like the um, you know, to help them when they're not there to, you know, make sure we got everything done. This is one of the one of our peers, you know, were what would tell us, you know, what do you have to get up at this time and we've been told to get up at this time or whatever. Um, you know. And so we that's that's the way it was at first when I was there. I was you know, I was, you know, you go into a new environment, of course. Right. Oh, you know, apprehensive at first, but you know, you learn the routine, you know, what time you have to go to breakfast and you have to get out of breakfast and go get, you know, your shots, because we had to get shots, we had to get clothing, you know, get fitted. And I was wearing a size zero at that time. I was so thin. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I still see those pictures too. They were I'm like, wow, well, you like no model like a sing well you were a singer in the in the military. You did sing too.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I can get into that, but I was trying to take myself take you through the the the military part, you know, the training part first before I got to uh, you know, to sing and so forth. But they used to have something in the military when I was there at Lackland called tops TLPS in blue. These are the top singers, dancers, comedians, and so forth in the military. So I just happened to be a singer because I'm from a singing family. My mother and my sisters, uh, they were, you know, we used to go to different churches thing and so forth in the church also. So they had tops and blue in the Air Force. And um I volunteered myself to uh be a part of that. And uh, if you can remember they had the song The Age of Aquarius, that the I forget the name of the Africa.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah, we were fifth dimensions, yes.
SPEAKER_01:I was we were always singing that song. That was one of the songs that we were saying to open up our show. We didn't song. Oh yeah, it was it was beautiful. That was a good time for me. Those were uh wonderful times at that time for me because I was doing something that I was familiar with. And um, you know, I got to meet a lot of different people. And those who won there in Lackland, it won the uh the first show in Lackland, they were sent to um California. I went to go go to um I forget the name of the base. They had a base, they Travis Air Force Base, I think it was. They closed they have since closed that base down. We were able to go there to continue the show. But there were little children coming up, and I remember the song uh that I sang, Love on a two-way street. I did a good job on it too. I enjoyed it so tremendously. It was it was beautiful, and uh, you know, and we sang it, it was a band playing behind us and everything, and it was it was quite nice actually. And so that was those were the good days in the military when I first, you know, graduated from high school to go there. And to move on to the military portion when I got my first I had to take a test, they call a bypass specialist test. And I was very good, you know, it's really good in numbers and so forth, uh, when I was in the military, even in high school. And I took the test and scored up in the upper nineties on the on the test. Wow. So guess what? They said, Okay, so since you you did so well on the test, we're gonna send you on to your first duty station. I didn't get to go to basic train I mean to uh tech school. They have a technical school. And uh they sent me uh I end up being my career field, they call the MOS or co or you know, your whatever you're gonna be doing in the in the military was I was gonna be working with computers. So I ended up being a computer operator. So and then I can tell you about my duty station. I'll I'll let you, you know, know about the Yeah, please do. Love to hear about that. Okay. So I left uh Lackland Air Force Base. My first duty station uh in the Air Force as, you know, out of basic training. I went to Scott Air Force Base, uh, which was in Illinois and uh, you know, in the St. Louis area. And uh that's where I was stationed there for let's see, I'm I was there for three years, I believe, at Scott Air Force Base. That's where I learned my trade, you know, my skill, uh working with computers and uh so forth. And I really enjoyed it. I had a supervisor and I had all the other people. And uh I was just like a little kid, you know, because I mean I was the youngest thing in there. Everybody else was I thought uh when you were 30 and 40 years old, that's old. You know, that's to me that was very old. So I'm in here with all these old people, but I was just kidding, at 17. And so I had just turned 17 in December. So um anyway, so I had another year to go before I was 18. But anyway, I got to Scott and I just really learned my trade, learned how to, you know, say yes, ma'am, and yes, I said yes, ma'am, and yes, sir, to everyone. You know, I was just wow. That was part of the training too when I was in basic training. You know, you gotta say yes, ma'am, yes, sir. Come to attention. You see a military officer, you gotta salute. That's something that they taught us in basic training when I was there. And uh let me just tell you something. I love basic training so much, I got to love it so much. I'm going back now, but I'm gonna go back to where I was. Um I became I became a military training instructor myself. Oh boy. Yeah, I loved it. I loved it so much, you know. But they they found that I really liked it and they asked me to come out of my career field from St. Louis to go to be a military training instructor. So I say, Oh, okay. Okay. And uh I had to teach everybody else how to march, how to salute. But the main thing, I was in my you know, I was still young, so you know, I guess they were experim, you know, experimenting with me.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know. So how old were you how old were you at this particular time?
SPEAKER_01:Still 17 or Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I did three years at Scott Air Force Base. Oh, and after Yeah, after I did the three years at Scott Air Force Base and learned the trade, and I thought I was gonna get ready to go somewhere else. Yes, I was. They they I got no I got a notice from my commander and uh he said that okay, um at that time I was just Airman, Airman Dayson, you're gonna be going we're gonna need people in at Lackland Air Force Base as instructors. And I just happened, I didn't I wasn't too angry with that because I like the area, Texas. I like Texas, I like, you know, basic training. Right. I love teaching other people. And uh I went back I was only eighteen at this time, I was eighteen, a little over eighteen. I was young, I was very young. So it was a good experience for me to go back as a training instructor. And I was they used to call me uh I was a master, I became a master drill instructor in those four years that I was there. The ones that wear the rope to teach not only. Yeah, you teach the trainees and the officers. So I was able to teach Oh my goodness. Yeah, I was a master drill instructor. So I enjoyed that. That wasn't my career field, but I really got in and I mastered that test, you know, at that time. Wow.
SPEAKER_02:Well I want I know this is crazy, and I know this is crazy, but I'm I'm kind of jumping in here now a little bit. Um did you were there things that you just uh really didn't like while you were there? I mean, I know you don't like to talk about it, but this is something that can help people, you know, and uh I don't know what a static is coming from.
SPEAKER_01:I'm trying to hold my thing background the the main thing that I you know, the only thing, I would say the only thing that I didn't, it was like a vacation when I first got there. When I first got there, I you know, we were able to go to town and so forth on the weekend, and uh to that's when we're we'll go and spend our money. We got a check and got paid, and it was good to get paid, but I always used to send, and I tell everybody this, and I'm I'm telling God honest truth, God knows my heart. Uh, I would send uh most of my money back home to my mom and my dad to take care of the other children that was up there. And uh I I didn't mind it. I loved doing that because there was a gift that I had of giving. God gave me a gift of giving, even at that early age. And I would say, well, mom says she got all those children back there, so I'm gonna go ahead and send, you know, something back to the family. And that's what I did. I I wasn't asked to do this, I just volunteered to do it, and I enjoyed doing it. I did it cheerfully.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you really was, because I remembered um a lot of the times, even when you didn't come home, you would send um boxes of gifts for us. Um I remember recorded tape recorders and dolls and all kinds of beautiful gifts you you would send and things for mom and everybody, everybody had something that you would send. And when boy, when you came home, you came home like, excuse my question, you came home like Santa Claus. Because when you came home, you really brought a lot, you know, for everybody. I mean, you just it those were some wonderful days. I remember those days. And I really missed them. They were beautiful, beautiful days. Everybody was kind of together and you know, it was really great to have you come home. I don't know where the static is coming from, but hopefully it's not not we're not too close to the thing. We're getting static a little bit, but please, please explain but that uh continue your you know when you c when you came home. I love those stories.
SPEAKER_01:Oh well, when I got the chance to go home, they would give us like, you know, leave time. They call it leave, uh, to go home, you know, to vacation. Most of the time it was at Christmas. I would always select uh Christmas time. Now we're talking about when I was in uh basic training when I went home. When I got back to uh my duty station to go back there, uh when I went back to my duty station to my duty station after basic training, um the time that I went home was during the time I was at at Lackland. And I would come and they would give us time to go home, you know, go home to visit after we got out of basic training. This was after training though, actually. And that's when I would go home and I would get a bunch of go to the PX or they call it post exchange where you can get things without paying any tax. I wasn't used to that. And I would go in, I was like a little kid in a candy store. So I went in and I bought all kinds of gifts for everybody in the family. Uh you know, I just just looked in and I said, I'm gonna get them this. Nobody made any requests, but I just would go in and just get different things for it, you know. And my baby sisters, Regina and Laura, Laura and Regina, I would always make sure I got something like a a baby doll or something that I know they wouldn't have, some roller skates or some uh roller skates.
SPEAKER_02:Uh remember the roller skates? We were just in the neighborhood, right? Yeah skating on those plastic skates. People were laughing at us, and then by the time their skates tore up, we had our good skates and we would skate down the street in our good skates for it. We were so glad to get those good skates.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, yeah, those were good times. Those are some of the good times of the the I didn't have any bad, bad times until I went overseas when I was stationed over uh in uh Germany. I was stationed in Germany for about four years, and that's when I had the bad times. But at Scott Air Force Base, I was there. I was playing tennis and I was playing all kinds of sports, and that's where I met my husband, uh, who was I was to be married to for but we stayed married for a while, and uh Herbert Days, and he's gone on, he's passed on. But the thing about it is, that's where I met him at Scott Air Force Base, and then of course, you know, trying to go in chronological order here from basic training, from basic training, I went to my duty station at Scott Air Force Base, and I got an assignment to go to um Germany. I went to Germany, uh Rammstein base, uh Germany. And it was some that's some trauma. That was some trauma times. So, you know, I have some traumatic times there. Um I was stationed.
SPEAKER_02:Well we are talking about depression too, so you know, you may want talk about you may or may not want to talk about some of that.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I did experience that, you know, because my husband didn't go to Germany with me. He stayed in we were still married, but he stayed in America. And so I was in Germany alone, and you know, that made it even more stressful. But anyway, um we were at work uh one day and this we were we were at war during the time. I went in during the Vietnam War, but that war was had passed because it was in 73, I think they the Vietnam War ended. President Johnson, I think, signed it. But anyway, we were in the bunker. I think we were with uh Iraq wars, uh a war from the you know the Middle East type war. But anyway, that was going on, and uh we would have threats of bones and so forth, and they had training uh gear that we had to wear and so forth and be ready at all times. And so we would take our helmets and our backpacks and our rations and stuff. We had to take that on us at all times whenever we were threatened with war. When we had, you know, the commander would always tell us to make sure you had all those things that you needed. So I was at work one day with the other team members, uh, the other soldiers at the uh, you know, airmen, we'll call airmen. Right, right. In the bunker. We were in the bunker, underground bunker working on computers. We were I was in the computer field, so we were doing our job, and there was a bomb uh that exploded next next door to us. And uh that was the uh, you know, one person died in that bomb, you know, lost their lives in that bomb. And that is the time when I, you know, really had a lot of depression and and trauma. And it was you know during that time. And so um, you know, I I went through a lot of depression because we all could have been, you know, healed at that time, but you know, God spared our lives and the bomb went off and they found. That was loud. Oh my God. That was very loud. But we were on a bunker now. We were underground. We were underground bunker. And I know at this time I can talk about this. I mean, you know, it's classified information at um back then, but it's not now. It's been declassified. But uh, you know. Anyway, um I had those records, my military records. It was in my military, medical records, and so forth. And uh my records were still in St. Louis, Missouri. That's where they kept all the Air Force military records, the medical records and so forth. And they had a fire there in St. Louis that burned up the records from the time I was uh came in the military in 1969 all the way up through 70 something, 78 or 79. They burned those records. There was a fire in the in the class, you know, an area where they had the medical records. And my record my records were burned at that time. So any, you know, they didn't have them archived at that time. So that my records, my not the military records, but the medical records now only is what I'm talking about. But my medical records to this day, I don't have all of my medical records because of that. And uh I went through a lot of depression back then at that time, you know, because I I ended up seeing a psychotic and so forth, and I went through a lot of stuff and I was diagnosed with uh post-traumatic stress. Oh my goodness. PTSD.
SPEAKER_02:Pretty serious.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and I was depressed and I had to take medication for it. But I, you know, I knew at that time, even at that time that you know, I had a praying mother. I I went to a church that w you know, I had a praying pastor at the time and and knew somebody was praying for, especially my mom and my dad and my family. So it was it was a trying time for me. So if anybody's going through depression because of PTSD, uh post-traumatic stress syndrome, that that is something that lasts a lifetime. It doesn't just go away. Certain things trigger it for me. But I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_02:I didn't know that. That it that it lasts like a long time. I didn't know that. Oh yeah, it does.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, you know, you can last you know, your lifetime, actually. I still have it. I take all kinds of medication for it. And what my um when I got back to the States uh to from Germany, my husband had bought me a German shepherd. He had bought me a dog, and you know that that helped me out a lot just having my dog. And I trained him I had to train him myself. I trained him uh well. So that's what you know, stress can you know can kill. People know that stress can kill you though. It can kill ya. Yeah, so I was I was in pretty bad shape. I ended up in and I'm gonna say this, and then it's you know, this is my own business, but I ended up in the in the mental health ward at the medical center for about a month or two up there. They you know, they medicated me and so forth. But you know, I'm telling this because other people have probably going th that's going through some of the same things that I'm telling you. And uh some people don't know about it, some people won't tell it, but I will tell it because it's something that I've gotten, you know, the medical part I've gotten over. I'm taking medicine for, you know, depression right at this uh right at this moment, you know, right now while I'm you know, at this age seven seventy-four years old, and I'm still, you know, suffering from and taking medicine for it. But anyway, um that's you know, that's what happened. That is something.
SPEAKER_02:That is the I don't know where the static is coming from, and we can talk about that too, but it's the sta every time you talk a little static there, but I don't know why. But the devil is a liar. Yes, he is, yes he is.
unknown:I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:He is a liar.
SPEAKER_01:I have my overhead fan, but I don't think that would interfere. I don't think that's a mess. No. But I that's that's that's just a portion of my military life. I mean, uh you know, I was in the military for twenty years. I just told you the beginning, you know, I can't I'll be sitting here for hours to talk about anything.
SPEAKER_02:I I had other people. Well that was very interesting what you were telling about you know, about the depression and how you you know did did they have like a church that you could go to or did you just in your room did you pray? How did you do how did you go about that?
SPEAKER_01:Spiritually. So what they would do, I mean if they found out that you were a religious because they asked you what religion you are when you go in the military, you know, when you got finished basically. I did have access to they would have what they call chaplain. They have the chaplain or you know, Christian chaplain, Baptist Catholic. I wasn't Catholic, but they would send chaplains, you know, to the hospital to visit or, you know, volunteer. A lot of people would volunteer, civilians would volunteer to come and visit the patients, or even when you got out of the hospital and you went back to your home, they you could still have appointments to go to see the mental health peop people and talk to them, sit down and talk to them to let them know what was going on in your life, you know, and y with your mental health. And it would that was, you know, back then that was very important because there was a war, a war still going on, you know, at the time. I didn't go to Iraq or anything like that. I went to uh I was just in Germany and um but anyway it was a it was a trying time and that at that duty station at Ramsey very trying time for me.
SPEAKER_02:That's when I got all the showing that God was always with you. He always had his hands on you and and pray showing that prayers really work. Prayers really prayers of the righteous avail very much.
SPEAKER_01:I believe that I believe that to this this day now but back then I was not in the church, you know, going to anybody's church. I would have people come to me. But had I been in a church I probably would have been you know better off but I didn't have a church home at that time.
SPEAKER_02:The chaplain would come and visit the patients at the hospital or you know but I know I know this is I don't know if this got anything to to do with the interview but a lot of people quitting smoking. I was talking to somebody last night and and she was asking me like how do what do you do to stop smoking? I don't know but I do.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah that's why I'm asking you so can can you share that because I know she's probably gonna listen to this and I would love to hear your your perspective I started smoking when I was back uh I saw other girls smoking some of the boys, the young boys smoking when I was in basic training but I didn't smoke because I thought it was just you know I thought it was a filthy habit until I started smoking. But anyway uh I started smoking back in the 70s, I would say the early 70s after I got to my other duty station that I didn't mention. We'll do that later on. But I started smoking and I would smoke sometimes I would light up a cigarette and while that cigarette was still burning I would light up another one while I was talking keep smoking. And so when I've when I started to cough I had smoked for by this time from you know after I left basic training went to my stage duty station I really started to smoke. It it would calm me down. It used to calm me down quite a bit I thought. And uh the way I stopped smoking it took me years. I've I haven't smoked in over 40 years now because I'm 74. But it was hard it was very hard I don't care what anybody say oh well you just put the cigarettes down. No it doesn't happen like that. It's just like any habit that you have if you don't have you know the power of of God in your heart or you're not saved and sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost then you're gonna you you're gonna do what you do. You know and that's what I did. And so I would go to the club and I would smoke somebody you know it and never ran out of cigarettes I thought I could go to the commentary and and buy cartons and cartons of cigarettes. But the way that I stopped let me just tell you that how I stopped how I quit smoking. Okay years had gone by I was in my forties in my late forties and I'm 74 now as I said uh one day I just decided you know I just decided I was in a a restaurant and I saw this man I was working at um Golden Corral restaurant at Hash and this man came in and um he had a uh he was smoking through his trach he was at a trach and he still had this I saw the smoke I said what's wrong with him and I saw that he he was light I had a cigarette and the smoke was coming out of the hole in his throat and that right there just that turned me I mean that that turned me all kinds of ways off and I at that time I took my cigarette and I tried to stop at that time but I didn't stop then. I didn't stop then what I'm gonna tell you it was years past from then you know I was getting on up in age in uh 1989 no not eighty nine nineteen ninety six is when I eventually stopped smoking. I went went to this church and then uh I I saw this this preacher I call him brother uh brother preacher uh you know he put some oil on my head because he had done that for another woman in the church and I hope I'm not talking too much but anyway I'm telling this because I'm gonna tell you how I stopped smoking. And I believe that's the reason why. But anyway I I was coughing a lot I started coughing and uh I was scared because I thought maybe I had cancer and you know I thought oh Lord I got cancer. No I didn't have cancer because I went back to get it checked and I didn't have cancer but I saw this man with this smoke coming out of his throat that was the first thing and I stopped smoking for about a month or two but I went back to it and then when I went to church that day uh you know the pastor was praying for people you know they prayed for people in the churches and uh I saw this lady she went up she was a a change smoker and so she went up and she got prayer for her smoking and I was a doubting Thomas at that time if anybody knows the Bible I was I didn't believe until I could see it. But anyway she uh she went and she came back the next Sunday she said well Pastor I don't smoke anymore I stopped smoking I haven't had a cigarette in two or three weeks I thought oh my God really I when she was testifying what they call testifying telling her you know what was going on in her life and so I said well brother Pastor can you put some of that oil on my head because I want to stop I want to stop smoking you and so I want to stop smoking because you know I was coughing I had been coughing a lot and I thought like I said I thought I had cancer. So he put the oil on my head and this is a testimony y'all this is a testimony he put the oil on my head listen very carefully and I was working out at Kelly Air Force Base they since close that base down here in Texas and uh I was I was working out there at the time so um what had happened is once he put that um oil on my head I went to work that next day at Kelly and I was sitting in my car listening to a show called the Tom Jorner Morning Show and anybody out there that thinks they probably would know what that show is all about. So I was sitting there and I was listening to that show and I was still smoking now Marlboro 100s the Lone Cowboys and I was in my brand new car I had bought a car for the first time I was in my brand new car and uh lit up the cigarette head all the way because it was winter time. I left the window up and I was sitting in there and I was smoking and forgot about the the pastor putting the oil on my head now I I I I had asked the pastor and I they prayed for me that God would would heal me and you know that I would stop smoking. And you know I halfway believed that would happen and I halfway didn't believe it. But I'm gonna tell you what happened I sat there I took uh and they had the cigarette lighters that lighted to come with the car okay so I lit up my I took the took my cigarette and I lit it and I hadn't had a draw out of it yet I was getting ready to take a draw out of the cigarette to inhale you know how you do well you're not a smoker so anybody that smoked would know what I'm talking about. You take that first big draw of the morning I took that big draw of the morning in that cigarette that Marlboro 100 cigarette and I forgot and and and something hit me in the chest. I felt a deep push in my chest like it hit cut took my breath away and all of the smoke that I had that I had inhaled in my throat at the time in my mouth came out in the car and the whole car was completely flaked inside from the smoke. And uh you know I don't know if you know the movie Cheech and Chong uh when they used to smoke and I was and uh that it was just like that all the smoke in the car it was in there and I let the window stay up you know I didn't let the window down at all but anyway and when I got out of the car you know I I didn't even let the window down I just you know I didn't I didn't have it took the taste from my mouth that potential he took the taste out of my mouth and haven't had a cigarette I didn't have a cigarette from that day on I was stationed at I was stationed at Kelly Airport's base and never will forget that and I testified to that with I went back to the doctor to see if I had any cancer in my throat or anything because of the cough I did not have any cancer in my throat. I was I was healed I mean you know God took the cigarettes away that's the test great testimony. Yeah but if the person that smokes anybody that smoke out there give it because it's it's you know they put on the packages now about smoking you know it's bad for your health and it is you know it is that's why I wanted to ask you about it because one lady well she actually has cancer what I work out and she begging people to give her a cigarette.
SPEAKER_02:She don't work there now but they bring in the emergency centarettes. I need a cigarette I need I think that's I don't know what you think. I think that's nerve. It's gotta be her nerve it's bad right now. She's probably having anxiety and stuff, you know what do you think? That's what I think. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Okay so when you're a smoker and I and I've smoked for so many years um when you're a smoker it's like any other habit that you may have some people eat a lot you know and some people drink a lot. My habit was smoking and so one of them anyway. I would smoke and then it may it comes first thing in the morning, you know, that's that's the first thing I used to do light up you know I light up a cigarette. And uh that that's what I used to do. And it it it's hard to give you know you gotta see something traumatic and you gotta have people praying for you and you know it's it's a lot involved and you know you can they have classes now in the military you know I'm I'm talking military because that's what I know that will help that will help you to you know try to help you to stop smoking. And all you know it's it's hard it's real hard don't think it's easy. You get some people that don't smoke that you all just laid the cigarettes dumb oh it's just not it's not easy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah I think it's easy to do that's why I wanted to ask you because you you know I didn't know that really know that you were a smoker but now that I know that you've used to smoke and in that testimony about all that stuff that smoke in that car oh my God. I wonder what that was you think it was God in there? Uh you mean as far as me smoking what was the question? As far as all of the the smoke that was in the car that that had Oh oh when I wonder what that was I have no idea I was not at the time I wasn't in the church.
SPEAKER_01:I had just gone to church probably a couple of weeks, three weeks I forgot about the pastor at Clark put oil in my head and prayed for me and this lady stood up and testified too that she hadn't smoked in three or four weeks. I did not go back to it. I did not go back to it I took those things uh and taught and cut them up threw them out I just threw them I didn't cut them up I just took them balled them up threw them in the trash and stayed in there in my office I started reading my Bible I turned to God I turned to Christ at that time believe it or not and I didn't feel like I turned to Christ at that time I said he's he's the only one that really you know when that smoke came out of my mouth he was telling me stop it because you know I stopped it. I thought that's the only thing that's the only explanation I can say I never went back to it.
SPEAKER_02:That's that testimony Oh God it's a great testimony I know someone's listening out there please grab hold of the face right now because that that testimony she just told about smoking and how hard it is to give up I mean oh my God it's hard I just thank God for that oh thank you for that testimony I I'm glad I asked that question now because the lady asked me the other night she wanted a cigarette and she has cancer and I I wasn't gonna give her a cigarette. I just wasn't gonna do that. I don't have one to give her anyway but definitely wasn't gonna go out and buy her cigarettes when she when she's actually you know dying of cancer right now so I when you know you know uh Regina when somebody asked me now they they wouldn't ask me now because they know I don't smoke but when I was smoking and trying to stop smoking and I had stopped smoking what when I had that experience with that smoke in the car people would still come up and ask me for a cigarette and I would tell them I've just testified to them.
SPEAKER_01:That that was my way of witnessing you know to a slow you know and God was pleased with that I think and that's what I mean. Yeah he was pleased because I stopped I haven't picked up a cigarette in ooh man at least 45 years. Yeah it's been a long time what a miracle what a miracle at that time cigarettes were cheap. Today they you can get a carton of cigarette is probably about forty dollars and 12 pence for 40 dollars I said oh Lord I'm glad I don't smoke now. But it it's it was very it's a hard thing to do. It's a you know you gotta have your mind made up you got to be talking to people that's gone through it and been there. I I used to do some really terrible things when I was a smoker. I would um light up a cigarette because we could smoke in the building in the dining dining area where people eat and I would just throw my smoke over that non-smoking area on purpose to do some new things back then. But God took that nasty habit from me. And you know that was a nasty habit to have and I thank you every day for that for taking it away. I do appreciate you giving me this this space here to talk about that because I I needed to you know talk about that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah heck it I I wasn't gonna even bring that up but it is I'm so glad that I asked that question because a lot of people out there are struggling with with smoking. They're struggling with that habit. A lot of people are but we're gonna have a part two and possibly a part three but what I want to talk about now is you know and I know I'm jumping way ahead of myself but we're gonna be talking about more about cancer and depression in um the next um podcast part two possibly part three but what I want to talk about now is you are uh with the ministry I think you call it Chicai Chicai yeah and uh can you tell me a little bit about that ministry because you you you uh you are very dutiful I guess you can call it that in that ministry and uh we'd love to know more about it well God has blessed me to join a group in Dallas Texas uh Bishop Richard Brown uh he's over it he's over he's the uh pastor for um Jakai mean Jesus uh it's called uh Joshua Kingdom International I mean it's an international ministry we also have uh churches overseas as well so I joined that um I joined that organization in 2022 at the end of 2022 when I've been there and what we do is we minister we have a church now home church we have an edifice there in in Dallas Texas urban Texas actually getting ready to do an appreciation for our bishop and uh so this this is an argument that is the church actually is a church home and that's not my only church home I have a church home here in San Antonio that's where I live but it is the church home where we are we are serving God and we each year we put out a calendar where we go to different states and we you know praise God and serve God and um you know people are saved and and advised the turn to Christ.
SPEAKER_01:But uh right now I have been selected l uh last month I think it was uh actually it was this month it was this month I was selected as the uh international supervisor of women oh boy yeah international supervisor of women in Jakai and it's a job where you are in charge of all of the women uh in the organization so I am getting ready to set up a retreat a women's uh Christian retreat okay um that's the next year we're gonna start it next year so that way we can get a really nice place and I will be inviting people to come and join us uh you know at that retreat so that's that's basically Jakai uh international and you know our bishop bishop Richard Brown Rich Richard Ricardo Brown is his name yeah he has a son they live there in urban Texas we have a church beautiful church in in uh Urban Texas which is um not that far from Dallas Texas it's right there sounds you've traveled travel a lot with the ministry a whole year I traveled a whole year I went to New Orleans I went to uh Saginaw Michigan uh Tuscaloosa Alabama uh let's see I went to Atlanta of course that's right at home I went to Atlanta and of course here to San Antonio we have services here in San Antonio and Dallas Texas as well so I've been all around for the whole year the first year I joined I I went to everything that they had in every state and a lot of people do that God has blessed me to be able to do that. So and I've learned so much I've learned so much in the ministry and I learned quite a bit here in San Antonio with my own local pastor Pastor Ruben Robinson uh lasting life ministry that's my pastor here in San Antonio well my pastor in Dallas of course is uh bishop brown so you wanted to hear you're a doctor you're doctor doctor doctor yes doctor of uh divinity doctor of divinity I never heard it quite like that before doctor div Doctor Divinity No I'm um that's my my uh that's what I do you know I'm uh talk about the Bible teaching of the Bible right that's called divinity doctor of divinity and I'm still working on counseling as well so I'm learning quite a bit wow that's amazing boy you like I said you got so much history in your life that we just can't show it all in one podcast so it's going to be a part two with missionary Katherine Jason Warren it's gonna be a part two because her life as you heard she's oh my god I'm still thinking about all that smoke in that car.
SPEAKER_02:I feel oh no that's that's gonna be in my mind all day.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my goodness That was divine intervention that was God's thing stop yeah stop divine intervention ext you know came step then for me to stop smoking otherwise I would have been sitting here with cancer as well because I was smoking a lot at that time.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my God what what a mi what a miracle what a miracle and on that note we're about to get ready to quote out part one but that will definitely be a part two with um Dr.
SPEAKER_01:Dacean missionary doctoration that would definitely be a part two sorry okay candy I'm sorry but but that would definitely be a part two because like I said her her life story is just too great for just a part one and so it it spans it spans as I said in my other interview with my other guest it spans multiple decades so when you got a history like that part one is just not going to be enough so there will be a part two there will be a part two but um I would like to give you a chance to give uh the people somewhere that they can write to you if they need to write you or write your ministry or write chick pie or you know they need something about them wanting to how they can write you how can they write you oh if you want to write a letter I would prefer an email first so I get to know the person emails are okay but when I know the person then I will give my address for them to send a letter but at this time I just will give my email my email is my name uh small letter Catherine uh k a t e r I N E Dyson D A Y S O N uh 53 at gmail dot com that is my um my my gmail address and you can anytime send a you know a gmail to me at any time and I will read it and respond to it. You can see me you can see me on on my uh page there on Facebook you're on social media Facebook and do you have Instagram too?
SPEAKER_02:Uh no okay yeah she is on Facebook so you you can find her on Facebook and then yeah um that email is probably the best thing 'cause you know people can write to email and go from there and anything they need to know they find out but thank you so much for for coming on the podcast. Thank you so much and I was see always gives guests the last thing they want to say. They might want to say hello to someone out there. They you know give them something that they want to say so what they if they they close out close us out. Would you like to say have a last last word here?
SPEAKER_01:I would just like to say I want to appreciate you my sister Regina my baby sister for having me on your podcast show because the things that I said some people a lot of people need to know about it and I just want people to just keep the faith and be encouraged because we are in some really tough times in this country right now all over the world actually. We are so yeah so that's the you know I look forward to uh getting on here again to do another uh podcast with you and I I want to send a shout out to my family down in Macon Georgia as well I do have some fri uh family in Atlanta and so I just want to say thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Oh you're so welcome and on that note I think we're going to close out this part one but Dr. Dayson will be back so don't fret I know you're out there wondering when we went she will be back for a part two because her story is so exciting don't she don't you agree oh my God so she's gonna be back for a part two thank you going to be back for a part two and on that note I think we'll close out thank you so much Dr. Jason and on that note we're gonna say goodbye.
SPEAKER_00:God bless you goodbye bye bye