Positioned for Next - Postured for Now

From navigating silent burdens to embracing spiritual alignment, this episode explores the importance of posture, purpose, healing, and sisterhood in every season of life and leadership.

If you’ve ever felt stretched, weary, overlooked, or spiritually restless, this conversation will encourage you to pause, breathe, and remember that God still has wonders ahead for you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hello everyone. Thank you for joining in for today's session, today's episode of Women in Position. I have a special guest. Her name is Lakeisha Calhoun. Lakeisha for Calhoun. And she is an amazing person, a beautiful person inside and out, and such a blessing. And uh so Lakeisha, say hello to the people.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Hello, Hara. You guys, I'm so happy and so honored that you would have me on your podcast. So thank you for even considering us.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Absolutely, absolutely. You're doing some great things. And um, before we did before we hit hit the button to go to go live, we um I was bringing up the fact how I actually first met you. Now, I I I think we attended the same church at the time because I just joined rejoined Greater Community, my Church of God in Christ, my home church. And um and Leslie Faye Weaver told me about a blog you had. And I signed up for it, and I remember getting those weekly, and they were so encouraging. So I I before I really got to know you, you know, I I knew you as as Elder Calhoun's wife, but I didn't know you, right? We had we had like sat and break bread together or anything, and uh but you always carried such a beautiful heart and spirit, and you're very loving, it just comes, oozes out of you. But your your blogs and your devotionals through those uh was so encouraging, like so encouraging, and um I was so grateful that Faye shared that with me. And um mutual friend of ours.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Thank you, Faye. Thank you, Faye.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yeah, thank thanks, Faye. Um, and you know, I always tell people like those are simple ways to evangelize when you just share, like when someone watches this and they share this or send the link to someone else. That is a great evangelistic you you're evangelizing because you're sharing the gospel, and um, and so I'm I'm just so grateful and I feel so blessed and honored to have you be with us.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having us. We appreciate it. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah, so give us a little background on who you are, honey.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Okay, so as you know, some people say I'm Elder Calhoun's wife, but uh I am a mother of three. I have two grandchildren with one on the way, have um, two Dorden Loves. Yay! Um, and my husband and I have been pastoring for 13 and a half years. Um, before we were faithful members of Greater Community Temple, where we both served. Um, our bishop and our first lady. We served in so many capacities, couples ministry, CWC as a president over that. It was on pastoral care. We served in several positions the 13 years that we were there, bishop training us, first lady training us, training me should always tell us you don't know where God's gonna take you, you could be a pastor's wife one day. But I think for me, I I I held on to that because prior to moving to Memphis in '99, I knew that that pastoral call was on my husband's life. So I was trying to eat it all up because I didn't know when, but I knew it was coming. So I was trying to learn and grow and and navigate through life and ministry at the same time by raising kids. So um, I was trying to eat it all up. So um when the time came for Pastor Calhoun to be sent to Somerville, Tennessee, which is about 50 miles from Memphis, um, we were at the time ready. We were ready because we had been trained and um had sat under good leadership for a great number of years. So I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I um I work. I told people I have a whole job. Whole job. That was very demanding. I work in marketing um for my company, been there 26 years actually, 26 years now, and um just an all-around loving person. I I say I'm just a nice person by nature, um, but uh I just love people. I love God and I love God's people. And I just I wrote a book um some years ago, which was um from that blog. Our blog was called Breakfast with the Lord. So I wrote a book in 2007. Um, and then I launched the IXL, I did an IXL um, we'll talk about that later, but I did a a tour, I actually tour in 2018 and 2021. And so, and I just recently ventured into songwriting, so I'm really enjoying that season of my life.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Ah, well, Chad, you just spoke my language with songwriting. Yes, yes, that's that's my love. I love writing beautiful songs um when God gives me something. And um, we have another YouTube channel called Sing Sister Sing, and uh, and our our music company is called Sing Sister Sing Entertainment and Media, and we've produced an album. So who knows, child? Maybe you can write a song and we can sing it.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah, I have I have one out that just came out recently called The Pause is Purposeful, which I love. Um, and I have one that's called Lord Cut It Out of Me. So I'll send them to you um after we're done, and you can take a listen. But and uh if you're a songwriter, you may tell me I'm trying to get better at it. I've been writing all my life, but um just started beginning of the year. Um writing songs, and I have fairly enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Fairly enjoyed it. Yeah, it is, and it's such a blessing, too. You know, um Miles Monroe said something that has stuck with me for years. Um, he said, um, he talked about some of the greatest gifts and things are in the cemetery. And um he was like talking about dying empty, and that that really is my life's goal to live out everything God has given me and so I can die empty. Like I want to die empty. I want to get every song out there, you know, and uh leave anything on the tape, yeah, yeah, yeah. And um, and so you know, with women in position, it's a we we focus on um women who are in professional careers, um, but yet they lead with their faith in those careers, and they also lead in so it's lead in the in ministry and in the marketplace, and so you are definitely a true example of that. And I love how you said, you know, um when you were talking about serving, and and I believe that we're only good leaders when we know how to serve and follow well. And you talked about that preparation period, and that is so important, and um that I think women um and any, I mean, of course, it's for anybody, but that time of preparation, that time of understanding that I need I need to be poured into, I need to follow, I need to be submitted, you know, because a lot of times women don't like the word submitted, but I I often say, you know, I live I live in this space where I I challenge sisters to be surrendered sisters, surrender everything to the Lord and be submitted to his will and not to your own. Right, you know, yeah. So so let's talk about the I Exhale conference, honey. Yes, and and you know, I love I love your theme for this year because it just fits in so greatly with our podcast. Um, it's called uh this this year's theme is position for next and posture for now. Yes, and I I wrote a book, I was intending that to have it um with me, but I wrote a devotional called When Women Get Into Position, and it's um the subtitle is a right heart posture for a righteous purpose. Yes, yes, yeah, and and I I just kind of go through some of the women in the Bible, and you know, it's it's a it's a it's a devotional that's very reflective so that you can see yourself and you know, and making sure our heart posture is right, and being in that position of a of a submitted heart. And so I want to know from you what does that phrase position for next, posture, posture for now, what does that mean to you in this season of your life?

SPEAKER_00 8:22

So usually when God gives me a theme for the we have the conference every year, and so ironically, normally he gives me the theme around October-ish, and so he said nothing. And I said, Okay, Lord, you know, I really would like the theme. You don't really need a theme because the conference ayectolic stuff is okay, but I like a thing so I can know what vein he's going in. So I kept praying and asking God, like, what are we saying? Because I'm a person that doesn't like to move until God moves. And so I kept saying, Lord, you know, you gotta talk to me, tell me what you're saying. So I had uh reached out to a friend of mine and she said, Well, you can you can you can say this. I said, Well, nah, I really need to wait on God. If he takes until July 17th, the day of, that's fine. But I really want him to speak now so I can kind of tell my speakers which direction to go. And so I was at the gym and I was just crying out to God, saying, God, I need you to speak to me because people are waiting on me um to tell them what direction. So he told me on the treadmill, I'll never forget, he goes, I need you to call it position for next, posture for now. And it just a light bulb came on because I knew that what got God is always telling me something that I have to live before the conference or either after. So the fact that he said we're positioning for now, positioning for next, a lot of us are so focused on our next that we don't we don't enjoy the now. And sometimes we're so in a rush to get to the next that we're not we're we're we're not letting God purify our hearts, we're not letting God um get things out of us that may hinder us in our next season. So for God to say I'm positioning you for next, something is coming. There's something coming next. But before you get there, I gotta work on you so you can be able to sustain it when it comes. So I got excited because I knew that um there was something big coming, but I also knew that he wanted me to surrender everything that was not like him, everything that might hinder me in the next season now. So you want to get my heart posture right, my mind posture. And so I was I was at that moment saying, God, whatever it is, have your way. Have your way. I'm ready.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Yeah, yeah. That is so powerful. Yes, we can we can miss the lessons now because we're so focused on the future. Yes, that that you know it it is like okay, I'm working towards this, I'm working towards this, but having that moment, like reflection is just something really powerful to me in meditation, you know, and sitting in now and saying, Okay, God, what what is it right now that I need to to be doing, to be learning, um, to be sharing, you know? Um, because I I feel like a lot of the things that we do now are in preparation for where God, because we don't, this is the beautiful part about God when you're submitted to his will and surrender, is that we don't know, we just know he orders our steps, and if he orders our steps, he's going to prepare us for what he has planned for us. Yes, you know, just like because we know he he knows the plans he has for us, but we don't always know it. And so, because this is what I tell people a lot of times a lot of times when you step into what God has called you to do, what he does is it's so powerful, like how he works, but he just starts unfolding, it becomes this beautiful flower that just opens and it has all these beautiful layers, and so he he just keeps unfolding and unfolding. I we never know the end except the fact that or the truth that we're gonna spend eternity with him, right? But our journey and abundant life that he has for us here, that's an unfolding, and I think it's so beautiful um that that he gave you that because that's that's so powerful being being positioned for next because I'm because I have the right posture now, I'm gonna be okay when I get to that next. I'm ready for next, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

I think a lot of times I think a lot of times we are when we're so ready for God, God speaks a word and then he backs up because he doesn't always come when he speaks it, it doesn't come tomorrow. And I had that misunderstanding when I first got saved. So when God would prophesy to me, I will fall out in a week because it didn't come to pass. I would just have a whole meltdown because I thought when God spoke something, it was gonna happen the next day, three days, okay, maybe a week. And so I had this misunderstanding that when God spoke a word, that I was prepared now, and it's not. God has to, God is so wise and he's so intelligent and so merciful that he says, Yes, I have all these things for you, but I gotta get you ready for it. And sometimes we think that God's delays is a punishment. No, he's preparing us. There's some things that he got to take out of us, some things he has to put into us, and so I'm at a place now in my life that I say, God, whatever you have to post, my heart posture is important to me because I don't want this, I just don't want God's hand, I want his heart. So, what does God's hearts feel about his people, jobs? I just want to be in the right posture for God to be able to bless me based on my heart posture because you can have all the lights to fame, but if your heart's not right, people see that people see people can see right through it. So I'm like, God, whatever you have to do, I'll I'll tell this quick story. I was uh last year at IXL, I was just so tired. I've been traveling for work all year, and I was just exhausted. And so I decided at the at the spare of the moment, this might have been two years ago, um, I was gonna go to Woman Evolved. I'm like, I am tired and I need to be poured back into. So I'm just gonna spare the moment I booked the ticket and I'm going by myself. I just need to go and get poured into. Long story short, while I was there, I wanted God to speak this powerful revelation to me while I was there, right? And so while I was there, God gave me three opportunities to minister to people, and I fought him every step of the way. Every time he told me to minister to somebody, I'll say, God, I didn't come here for that. I didn't come here for that, I came here for me. And every time you would show me a person to minister to, I would get in a downright attitude. I mean an attitude like God, I did not come here. I just got through pouring out, I didn't come here for that. God, I came in for me being selfish. And after the third time, I called him myself, I was obedient every time, eventually. And he said, You know, my problem with you is you've always been obedient, but you haven't always been willing. And I said, Oh my god, because I gave you three chances to me to partner with me to minister to somebody who's been who's who's here hurting, and you fought me every step of the way because you were so focused on you getting delivered or whatever that you didn't realize this is a 40,000 seat auditorium that Sarah Jates can't get to everybody. So I positioned you strategically so you can minister somebody and you fought me every step of the way. Now you were eventually obedient, but you weren't willing. And my word says, if you're willing and obedient, you should need to give the land. So I left there with it like boo-cry because I knew there were several areas in my life that I had been obedient, but I wasn't willing because my heart posture was right, because I was selfish, I wanted what I wanted to do, minister what I wanted to minister. It doesn't work like that. When your heart postures right, whenever God says minister, it's first of all, it's a blessing to be used by God, right? God doesn't have to use you right, but for me to say God and fight him every step of the way because I was so focused on me that I dismissed the fact that God wanted me to partner with him to minister to somebody else. So I often tell people I'm my willing, willing, and obedient phase of my life. Whatever God says, do I want my heart posture to be of such a thing? If God says do it, I want to do it. I don't want to hesitate, I just want to be happy to partner with him so that souls can be saved or souls can be healed and delivered. So we have to be so that's I think for a lot of us, we're so focused on next that God said the people I want you to minister to right here. Right now, your your your heart posture is not right, you're not willing. You'll do it, but you're gonna go kicking and screaming every step of the way. So I need you to get your heart right. So when I say do it, you say yes. And I wasn't there, I was happy.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Yeah, that's powerful. Yeah, that's that's that's really powerful. Um, I remember when um we went to visit a cousin in the hospital in Jackson, Tennessee, and um taking my dad up there to, and it was actually his niece, and um there was a uh family, and there was a two two ladies, Caucasian ladies, and they were in the hall, and one was just you could you could see the sadness, and one was just crying uncontrollably. And I I heard the Holy Spirit say, go console her. Now, we just stepping off the elevator, you know, and and we're walking down the hall, and then I see them, and I I I was shocked that I I did it so so fast, like but that that showed me something because because and here's the thing, here's the thing, Keisha, is that we don't know what people have prayed that day. Like, Lord, I need a sign. Like, we don't know, and and if we really want to be the arms, and I I I I love your your full transparency of saying I was selfish, I would I wasn't willing, because we can get so consumed on us, like I don't feel like that. I came here to get poured into, or I came to see my cousin, I'm going through two, but but at that moment, Jesus wanted to show comfort, yes, and and and it was such a beautiful moment, it was such a beautiful moment, and um, and these were things that I had asked God to do in my life. Like I want to I want to be so sensitive to you, yes, yes, that when you speak, and because I don't care if I don't have to know the person, but I know you know the person, yes, and you know one of the things I always say when I get up to speak before I speak or or sing, I always say, Lord, you know the need in the room, yes, and I'm just your vessel, so meet the need if you meet it through me, fine. If you meet it through somebody else, fine. If if the angels come down, that's fine too. And it's that willingness, that that that heart partial that you're talking about, like that's so important. And I really appreciate your four transparency because there were times I wouldn't I wouldn't do it either, because I'm like, I ain't gonna be I ain't gonna look crazy. And then you know, because she could either push me away, you know, anything could have happened, but I removed myself and just became the vessel. And I think that when we're as women in position, we have to remove ourselves. You know, this is something I teach in leadership too. It's like when you're in and in communicating, it's like you know, when you're delivering a message or you're speaking up in a meeting, just just get clear on the message, don't worry about you because this is not about you, right? And and just like you said, this all of this is for what we do for the glory of God to win souls to the kings. That's so so true. So thank you for that transparency, Gather. Yeah, so so in terms of the the conference, I exhale, which I love. I thought that was like such a cool name. And I I didn't realize you hosted the conference. I saw the um pictures and stuff last year from it, and I was like, oh, look like they had a good time because actually it was a clip and you were singing at the end, everybody went up and worshiped, and it was so beautiful. Um, and so so what inspired you to create this conference and what need did you feel women were carrying that you wanted this experience to address? And um, was there a personal moment in your life that made you realize women needed permission to exhale?

SPEAKER_00 20:24

So, God, how God does me, he always, I'm always a sacrificial lamb, right? He knows I don't mind. And um I actually was uh invited to do a retreat in Pigeon Fort, Tennessee. Um, and I asked God, like, what would he have me to share with the ladies there in 2018? And um he told me that he wanted it was time for the women to ex health. And he said, But you got to put an eye in front of them because you can't exhale for them, they have to ex for themselves. And I had just learned how to do it a few months prior to that. You know, I got the invitation in November for the retreat, but in November of that year, I found myself in a hospital in the ER with heart palpitations, and um, they thought I had a stroke and all that. And I remember being in the hotel room, I mean in the hospital room, and my my husband has this thing about don't leave anybody in the hotel in the in the hospital by themselves. And they did all kinds of tests on me, and all they could come up with was she's stressed. And I remember my husband left for a brief moment, and my son, my oldest son, was there and he was asleep. And I remember laying my head back in the um on the pillow and just taking a deep breath and exhaling because I had carried because when you're in leadership, you have to carry so many people's burdens, and we have been trained that you get yours later. I remember working the altar one time, and I was on the altar for myself, Renee. I was down there for me. I wasn't down there to work the altar, and somebody tapped me on my shoulder and said, Get yours later, work this altar now. And I remember feeling So deflated because I needed help. I was struggling. And so being taught that train that you get yours later, I had learned to mask what I was going through. I didn't want to be vulnerable because I was in leadership. So I didn't want anyone to know that I was not okay. So I found myself because of that, I found all that weight. I found myself in a hospital, stressed out, threatening a heart attack, a TIA, because no one told me it was okay to not be okay. So the next month, when God told me to label the my presentation, I exhale, he took me to all the things that I had been carrying and how I had to learn how to let some things go. And as a leader, it was okay to not be okay. And I remember being at that rich retreat, and um initially I was supposed to do just the adult women, not the young adults. And the day of the uh retreat, they called me and said, Hey, Lady Calhoun, you're gonna have to do the teens because uh our speaker backed out or something happened. And I remember thinking, Oh my god, Lord, teens go through something totally different. I'm called to women, I'm not called to teens. But ironically, after I did the presentation and I spoke, the teens were the first ones on the altar. And as they were on the altar getting prayed for, I noticed that God maybe zero in on all the older saints who were sitting around the room trying to assist. And God had me go to each one of those ladies and say, You don't get to be strong today. Today you get to exhale. And each one of those older ladies broke down and cried. It's like they needed permission to say, it's okay to not be okay. And so when I did that, I decided to bring it to Memphis because people were saying it was so wonderful. My sister needed to hear that, and so I said, Don't worry about it. I'll have a conference, I'll bring it to Memphis. And so I did July of that year, and God told me to take it on tour because we saw hundreds of women being set free. Now, when I started, I would have people put on a mask because that's how we walk around in church. We are we want everyone to think that we have it together, especially if you're in leadership. You can't have a vulnerable moment, you can't go to the altar because you're battling because they may think your marriage is in trouble. Oh, what are they? Are they in sin? No, I'm just heavy, I'm just emotionally tired, I just need prayer. And so I wanted us to normalize not being okay, and I wanted a safe space where women could come with leadership, whether a pastor or what, and be able to finally let some things go and be okay to say, I'm not okay, I'm struggling. And so that's what IXL was. We took it around the country in Singapore um from 18 to 21, um, and we saw hundreds of people just being free, and we're very transparent at the conference, so we took our struggles so that people can feel like, oh, I'm not by myself. Because sometimes you think it's just me. No, it's not you. We all have our own struggles, right? So the fact that we're transparent, because God told me some years ago, transparency brings about transformation. So I need you to be transparent to a degree. I'm an open book, so I tell it all, and um, so that people will realize it's okay to not be okay, it's okay to be a pastor's wife and struggling, it's okay to be a leadership and struggle. So I excel lets them know it's one, it's okay, and you're in a safe place, and we don't record um some of the sessions because I want them to feel free to open up. So that's how it started. So we took a hiatus in 2021 because COVID, and then we came back in 2023 and we've been gone. I was traveling, and my husband said, baby, you got to bring it home because uh it's taxing to your job, it's very demanding, so you got to bring it home. So we brought it home in 2024, and then we just do it yearly in Memphis. But we've seen total transformation of people saying, I finally let go. I had a 75-year-old lady, and I'll say this real quick, in Florida at a conference, and she was molested by her dad and her uncles, and all of them were gone, they were all dead, deceased. But at that conference, she was finally able, after all those years, to forgive them because we we focus on forgiveness, we are big on forgiveness because that's a weight, right? And she was able for the first time in her life release them, forgive them, and let it go. She said she felt like a weight had to get off of her unable to exhale. So we we have so many stories like that where people have probably been able to just breathe.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Yeah, that's really powerful, and and so um, so you mentioned about her being able to release that, and I I like the fact that you said because this is so true, you know. Um, I'm divorced now, but at one point I was married, and and you know, he was in ministry as a pastor, and Keisha, when I tell you the fake face that I had to put on all the time because of the challenges within the marriage itself, um and I I was I felt like I was living a lie because I had to be so strong for the congregation, right? Because I love the congregation, I I love the people, um, but I knew everything was not right and real. Right. And um it took me a long took me a long time to just be able to finally say that when your children tell you this was the eye opener for me, you know, it's like and my kids actually said, you know, like they're they're not seeing what they what they hear is not lining up, and um, and so being able to release that and just be so grateful that that weight was off because I felt like I was living a life of deception, and and I I even remember after getting divorced, I was sitting in the balcony of um Mississippi Boulevard, and uh I think I I I believe I had joined at that time in 2009, and um and I remember asking the Lord, I was going through the divorce, and I and the choir was singing, the it was just beautiful, and I remember sitting there starting a week because I was like, Lord, will you ever use me again? Like, you know, me singing was everything back then for me, you know, it was so much, and it it was my it was it was still lives a gift of mine, but um but it was like if I didn't sing, I wasn't gonna breathe right, like something was missing. And um, and so to to be able to to just be vulnerable and and understand that, and and because my next question was about women um who are successful publicly, because like I was in a vice president, I was like 38, and I um 37, I became a vice president of this organization, and and I was everything looked like it was so successful publicly or privately. I was silent, I was listening to Bishop Jakes last night um talk about he motions, and he was talking about men and their silent scream, and I was thinking about women and our silent scream too, you know, and I was like, I was in that place where I was screaming and nobody saw it, I was in pain and nobody saw it, and I I felt like I couldn't express it because I was a leader, I couldn't express it to my family because they thought we were good because we had a big house and three three cars, two two SUVs, and a little all the things, and you're hurting, and we're hurting, yeah. You're hurting. And so, what would you say to that woman and and what would you hope that they that woman would release when they walk into the to the conference this year?

SPEAKER_00 30:02

I and I hope because a lot of us have been there, right? We were successful in public and in a quote unquote miserable in private, and we have to create environments and whether that's in church or not, where women can say, I'm not okay and I need help. And we have to not judge them because you're going through a divorce does not mean that God's hand is not on your life, right? And I think we make people feel like if they're having hardships or if they're going through, then that diminishes their anointing and it does not. So I'm hoping that women will come in the conference knowing that this is a safe place, you can you can cry, and we God gave us a way to do it where nobody knows your business, but you still exhale, and it's such a uh an amazing way that He gives gives us to do it. Um, so that way it's just you and God, and you don't have to tell us your business, if unless you just want to, but you're still able to release it. But I want them to come in that room and say, I'm heavy. But when they leave there, I want them to say, I I feel like I've lost 10 times. We've heard people say that. I felt like I've lost 10 panels. I want to know it's okay to not be okay, it's okay to say you're struggling, it's okay. I did an IXL conf where somebody brought me in to do it, it wasn't mine, but they brought me in to do it. And um, as I was ministering to the ladies, um, God wouldn't let me move on. And I said, I'm sorry, ladies, but God, I cannot move on because there's somebody in here that God saying, You gave me everything but that. And I'm saying, and they're all like like looking, and I'm like, Okay, I said, God, there's a lot of women in this room, so you're gonna have to show me who she is so I can know who she is, because she's not gonna voluntarily come forth. And so I began to walk around and just praying in the spirit, asking God to show me. And then when I got to her and I began to minister to her, and she just kept saying, I hate you, I hate you. And she wasn't, you can hit the room go, you know, because they thought she was talking about me. And um, so she began to just talk about how she hated her husband was dead, but she was glad that he died because she hated him. And God knew that he can trust me with her because I had I had been in a season where I hated my husband. So God knew that he can trust me with her feeling, and so we were very gentle with her and administered to her based on experience and based on how I've honey. I've been there where I've hated my husband. Um, and so I was able to minister to her from from my past experience, and that day she was able to finally forgive him. But I had to be sensitive to the whole because she would have left left home, come into a conference and went back home, still bam way, yeah. So we want people to know you can do everything to God, you don't have to come here and get part of it, you can get everything because one, he can handle it, two, we're not gonna judge you for how you feel because it's a real emotion, right? You feel that way. I don't know what the backstory is, but something happened, and we want you to know that you can lay it all out, no matter how ugly it is. And I tell people all the time, I don't care how you have to say it, even if you have to use colorful words, you got to get it out. And sometimes we as a church we get real deep. Oh my god, they no, let them get it out because that's the problem. We feel like we cannot communicate our true feelings, and I don't care how you have to say it, I don't care what you have to do to release it. My goal is to get you to release it and to let it go. If you gotta tell me you hate me, you hate your husband, that's okay, that's your true feelings. The good the thing is we don't want you to stay there, so we'll work with you, we'll minister, we'll help you, we'll walk you through it. So when you leave there, you'll feel like that weight has been lifted and that yoke has been destroyed. So I want people to come in there with all their dirty dirty as my son's. Bring all your dirty dirty because God can know what He can handle it. And we're gonna work with our women, we're gonna work with make sure that you don't leave with that thing. We want you to exhale, however, that looks for you. We want you to be able to exhale.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Yeah, that's great. I love that. I love that. That's so exciting to know that you're procurating a space for that, for faith, um, and for safety, yes, you know, and and and and peace and comfort, all of that, and I think that's so important. And um, and I can just see that chains will fall. Um as the chains fall, God is surrounding them with this this level of love and comfort. Um and you know, when when we break free, when we get our breakthrough, there's a level of confidence in God. It's like our faith actually increases, in my opinion. That's been my experience. Like it's because I and I used to tell my mom when I would be upset about something, and I I would say it, and I was like, you know, I'm talking to God about it, and she was like, she she, you know, my mom old school, and you know, she was like, Well now, and I was like, Mom, listen, one thing about the God I serve, he can handle whatever I say, he can handle it and however I say it, you know, and um, and that's what we needed to know that God does not expect us to be, even though he tells us to to be imitators of him, he still knows we have this this side of us, we still have that human side. I mean, and Jesus, when even when he was on the cross, he said, My God, why have you forsaken me? He felt the weight of sin, something he had never felt before. And he was like, you know, but we can we sometimes we do feel forsaken. Who hasn't? Asked God, why is this happening? I've been saying I used to tell the Lord, Lord, I've been saved since I was 12. Now you know good and well I shouldn't be going through this, right? And the truth of the matter, though, is that I was being tested and tried, and you know, some things were my fault, some things I brought on myself, and we have to we have to even release ourselves, release ourselves from that guilt and shame that we brought on our own selves as well, too. And uh, because sometimes we've been the perpetrator, you know, and I I think that's something uh you know, sometimes we don't address in the church. What about the perpetrators? Let them they they can be forgiven and healed too. Like you started that that myth, you started that that back gossip and stuff like that, you know, that cause a whole ripple in the church or cause a whole ripple at your job or within your family, yeah. And you can be forgiven of that, God will forgive you of that when you come sincerely to Him.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Yeah, so so let's let's go. I was gonna say that's the heart posture, too, because things that's that we don't deal with in our heart, they manifest in so many other areas, so we have to get those things, even the dirty, ugly things of our heart. Like you said, God can handle those things, He knows it anyway, right? He knows it. So we have to ask God to God. And one of my favorite scriptures is create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit on the inside of me because I want my heart to be right, I want my heart to be pure, and sometimes things contaminate it. Life happens, right? And so the heart gets tainted and it gets contaminated, but God can handle anything. I often say God says cast all your care upon him because he cares. I mean everything the good, the bad, and the ugly, especially the ugly. So there's nothing I go through, nothing I'm feeling that God can't handle. He can handle it all.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

Yeah, I love that. I love that. Thank you for sharing that. So um let's talk speakers, honey, because you got some good ones, honey. And um, you know, I love LaShawn Dillard Berry, she's been a friend for a long, long time. And she has a beautiful conference too, her bowl her conference. So shout out to her. Um, but tell us about the speakers and and what they will be talking about and and the the transformation because I like your topics and how they are aligning. Um, to you know, in terms to me, it's like strengthening the inner man. So tell us a little bit more about this speaker.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

So we have uh Dr. Linda K. Willis on a Friday night. And we let our Friday night speaker just let the Lord just have have his way. So that's a free um reign. Um you can let however the Lord chooses to use you. A lot of deliverance happens on Friday night. Um, so we'll let her just we'll unleash her, unleash her and let her just go. And then Saturday we have we focus more on seminars. So we'll have uh LaShawn um Dillard, she will be talking about a postured heart, um, getting our heart right. And um, and then we'll have my daughter-in-love, Dr. Samantha Carroll. She's been with us for the past couple years, and she's always so amazing. She gets almost the highest marks on our surveys at the end. Um, but she uh we're talking about a posture of mind, and she's thoroughly equipped to talk about that. Um, and then we have um Ebony Carpenter who took who sang us who ushered the anointing in last year. And so she'll be our musical guest, and I I always close it out with the word from the Lord. So um we're excited about it. We're excited about it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

That's so great. That's so great. Well, um, so I I put the flyer up, and if you look on your screen at the bottom, you will see um the 2026 IX Health Conference. Um, you can actually um I'm going to if you go in the show notes, you will see the link to the event right. Um, you have like what almost well a month and a half to get registered. I don't know when registration we have, but we're about less of eight weeks away. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um you you have time for general admission is 85 and your VIP is 115. Is that still the is that is that still the the registration fee?

SPEAKER_00 40:00

Yeah, unfortunately missed the the early work promotion, but the it does include um light refreshments on Friday and it does include lunch on Saturday. And the difference is the VIP, you get a t-shirt and you get um, we have something called a VIP bag, and our VIP bags are just amazing, it's full of goodies, and um, so you get that people love that bag. I almost did not do the bags this year, and they're like, uh, you gotta do those bags. The four are coming for the bags. So the VIP for those who've gone to a conference, they know the VIP bags are just amazing. So um you get that so VIP, you get the um the lunch t-shirt and that VIP bag, but the general registration, you just you still get a bag. I just hate going to conferences and I get a peppermint, a notepad, and a pen. Um it's a stickler. I'm like, I paid my money for a notepad. So I believe in giving bags with stuff in them. So even if you just sign up with a general, you'll still get a nice bag. But the VIP bags are like, as my son said, they five. So yeah, they both include, they both include lunch and they both include little snacks on Friday.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

Yeah, that's awesome, awesome. Well, I know it's going to be a great time. I'm looking forward to uh participating, and uh, and just just want to say thank you for giving God your yes on this. And um, I do have one final question that we ask women um on on this podcast, and that is what does being positioned look like in a practical everyday life or in your practical everyday life? What does what does position look like?

SPEAKER_00 41:34

Just being open to allow God to use you, just like with me, my I was obedient, but I wasn't willing. So being positioned is we don't get to choose how God uses us, right? We get a choice to say yes or no, but we don't get to choose how God chooses you when he when and where, like you are coming up the elevator, um, and God says, Minister to this lady, console her. We don't get to choose how God wants to use us, and when you're positioning like God, they have the saying back in the day, I'm ready for whatever. So you just you just position me, I'm right where God wants me to be, wherever that is. I don't have a it's not a title per se. So God can use me to prophesy today, but he may use me to lay hands tomorrow. So whatever you're saying right now, God, I am positioned to be willing and obedient. So position me to be able to hear clearly, and then secondly, position me to be able to obey you and obey you quickly because, like you said, somebody's life is on the line, and somebody's life is hanging on our yes. So we want you to be positioned that whatever God says do, we want you to do it because it's never about us. And I used to hear people say that it's not about you. I'm like, well, well, okay, but it's really not. God has a bigger plan for his people, and so he needs us to be in position so that when he calls, sends a clarion call out for someone to be consoled or someone to come to a conference or someone to be ministered to, we have to be positioned in with the right hot posture, right? So that God can use because God doesn't like to flow through dirty vessels. So I want to be uh clean and my heart posture right so that when God says move, I want to be willing and obedient, and I don't want to hinder anybody's breakthrough, I don't want my lifestyle to hinder somebody else getting what they need from God. So I gotta be in the right position.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

Yeah, I love that. I love that. Thank you so much for that, and and again, thank you so much for uh agreeing to come on the women in position podcast. We are so blessed and fortunate to have you, and and I hope you'll come back. Yeah, and share again. But um, I will definitely be there. I'm gonna get my ticket and um I will be there July 17th. Uh and look forward to Saturday as well. And um just expecting God to do some really great things. So if you're in the Memphis area, you listen to this on the podcast Apple Podcasts, IHA Radio, Spotify, if you're in the mid South region. Make your way. Listen, I don't listen. If if you cross the country, it is worth the flight. It is worth the flight. You hear that there's going to be be released. There's going to be breakthrough. So I would encourage you if this has touched you your heart in any kind of way, then get here. And if you can't make it, sow a seed and buy a ticket for someone else. And um, and I know they'll give it to the right person who needs it. Because sometimes this is the way to evangelize, as we said earlier. So thank you again, Keisha.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

Any any final words or I would just say that hey, if you're not okay, it's okay to not be okay. And make sure you reach out, find someone to talk to. Don't hold it all in because holding it in does one of two things. You're gonna either implode or you're gonna explode. And either one of them are good. So God wants us to cast all that care upon Him. And guess what? He we need somebody to cast those cares on. So I would say find someone, don't let it get to the point where you're you're dying on the inside. So find someone to talk to. Uh, be okay to go to the altar at church. That's what it's for. Don't care about what anybody says if you're going through and you need to go to the altar, go, don't carry about your time. I'll say this. I got I was carrying some bitterness because some family members did something to me in 2024 that just rocked my world. And um I was just it was the lot. And so um, these are people who are dear to me, and it was it was like three people, and so I was I be I was sad and then I became bitter, I mean mad, and I became bitter, and I carried that bitterness all of 2024, and I was determined, I was still laying hands, still ministering with my bitterness, and I finally said, God, you gotta deliver me. And so at our four-year anniversary at our church, I'm the first lady, and Pastor Lejoure Glassbury was our speaker, and I cried through the entire service. And when he called the altar call, guess who was the first one down there? I was the first lady. I mean, the ugly cry peeling off the floor because I was determined I didn't care who was there, I didn't care what my title was. I wanted to be set free, and so I didn't care who was there. It was a moment between me and God. So I would just encourage you, I don't care what your title is, when you need to be healed, get what you need, don't and make no apologies for I was determined that day I was not leaving there without being set free. I didn't care what my title was, and I scared the members, they're like, Oh my god, is she okay? Because they had never seen me like that before, but also let them know that it doesn't matter who you are, if you need to be set free, get what you need from God. Don't go to the hospital and believe. No, you're at the trauma center for a reason. So if you need to be healed, first lady, don't care. You got to go from your home and go somewhere else and get healed. Take care of you to get what you need for you, and don't let your title and your position keep you from getting what you from to keep you from exhaling. Okay, so get what you need because God cares about you as a person. He was caring, God cared about Lakeisha, not first aid the cow. We want Lakeisha, who my mom called me, to be set free, and that day I was determined to do so, regardless of where I was. So do whatever you gotta do, get healed, okay? And make a party for it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

Right, get healed. I like that. Listen, if if you felt like you needed permission to exhale, you just got it. So you just got it. And um, again, we do encourage you to purchase your tickets. You can go to VidBright, the link is in the show notes, and um we are so excited. We want to see your face in the place. I know you will be blessed. I know I'm blessed just from having this conversation, and it is it has really raised my expectation, too, of what I'm going to receive. So as you prepare to come, come come expecting that release, come expecting to just breathe. That you will get a we pray that you get a fresh breath that it that even that it even starts now for you. That you don't even have to wait to July 17th, that God will start now with you, that by the time you get to this conference, hallelujah. By the time you get there, so much breakthrough, like it's just it's like little cracks coming up the edge, and all of a sudden, by the time you get to the conference, listen, it's cracked all the way open. Come on, and you're um you're gonna come out new, you're gonna come out new. We thank God for that. We believe God that you're gonna come out new. I'm believing that for myself. There, you know, because as women, we have private prayers that we only share with the Lord, absolutely, and and I believe that as you exhale and release what you need to release, get get rid of the shame. Don't worry about your title. None, these are just sisters coming together because listen, yes, we all got something going on. Come on, and we all need to be free, and we all need to get to the place where we are available. See, the enemy wants to keep us card down so that we can't be double to be used, and we're telling you, come here and get your iron sharpened, okay? Sharpened, get cleansed, get rejuvenated, get positioned for your next. Oh good God, thank you, thank you. Well, listen, we love you so much, and um, thank you so much for uh tuning in. And until the next time, we believe that you will walk in purpose because as a woman in position, you walk in purpose and you live in destiny, and you live in destiny on purpose, okay? Your position for this, God bless. Y'all have a good one.