WHOA That's Good Podcast - How God Gives Us Strength in Our Deepest Grief | Sadie Robertson Huff | Tasha Cobbs Leonard

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

Sadie finally gets to meet Tasha Cobbs Leonard, a Grammy Award-winning Gospel musician whose hit songs “Break Every Chain” and “Dove’s Eyes” have been inspiring Sadie for years. Tasha opens up about the wild ride her career has been, including winning a Grammy and losing her beloved father in the same week. Sadie and Tasha share their stories of how unexpected fame challenged their faith, and Tasha proves that even when we’re waiting for God's promises to come to full fruition, there’s still work we can do for his purpose. This Episode of WHOA That's Good is Sponsored by:  https://liberty.edu/Sadie — Get your application fee WAIVED when you start your future with Liberty University today! https://factormeals.com/whoa50 — Get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month when you use code whoa50 at checkout! https://preborn.com/sadie — Visit the website or dial #250 and use keyword BABY to donate now. - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up fam? Happy, whoa that's good Wednesday everybody. I hope you're having a great week, but per usual y'all I'm telling you it's about to get so much better because we have an incredible guest of the house today. We have Tasha Cobbs Leonard. Welcome to the podcast. Hi, thank you for having me. Oh my gosh, this is so fun. I have been so excited. We've had your name on our calendar for I guess the past month and our whole team has been so excited for this. So thank you for saying yes. Same here. I am super excited. I know this is about to be so fun, so informative, just impactful. So I'm super excited. I know this is about to be so fun, so informative, just impactful.

So I'm super excited. Thank you for having me. Yes, and congrats on your new book, everyone. We're gonna be talking about her new book, Do It Anyway, Don't Give Up Before It Gets Good. I cannot wait to dive into this, but before we do, I have to ask you the question I ask everyone who comes on the Will That Skip podcast.

If someone didn't warn you about this, I genuinely apologize. But the question, just a simple one, what is the best piece of advice you've ever been given? Oh my goodness. Several come to mind and know I was not pre-warned. So this is off the dome, okay? I would say in my career and in my ministry, it would be from Cece Winans. She told me once, she said, stay as small as you can for as long as you can. That's good. And literally, I have taken that from business to ministry

to career as small as you can for as long as you can And that that's been some incredible advice. That's so good and actually kind of crazy that you said that because Cece I know and Shelly Gigli are good friends. We have mutual friends there and Shelly probably a year ago gave me that same piece of advice. In a particular, no, like so cool that you said that, in a particular area of my life. And it's been so cool because in my mind, I was wanting this thing, it's a church thing,

kind of a ministry thing, I'm like, you know, you have visions for it to grow, you want to make big impact. And she said, no, like, stay as small as you can for as long as you can and let, in that small, in that start of something And she said, no, like, stay as small as you can for as long as you can, and let in that small, in that start of something. She said, let it, you know, your DNA. Like, get to know the DNA.

What's it supposed to be? You know, it's such an important, pivotal time where you get to know the heart of what you're doing. And so anyways, it totally changed even the plans that we had going into what we were doing. And it has remained small for the past year and it has been the best piece of advice she gave us. We have had so many good things come from just that advice.

So I'm so glad you shared that to everyone listening to this because I haven't shared that on the podcast yet. I love that. Oh, wow. Yes. It's been such a blessing. Such a blessing. So speaking of this,

this actually leads me perfectly into the first thing from your book I actually wanted to read because I love this so much. And a lot of our listeners, we have listeners all ages that listen to this podcast, but a lot in their 20s. And I think people can really relate to the season that you were in from the section I'm gonna read. But I love how you said, no one could have ever told me

all of this, singing worship songs on a rainy night while driving home from a video warehouse was preparing me for something much greater than I could have ever imagined. So tell us a little bit about driving home in the rain, working at a video warehouse, like where were you in that time of your life? Because obviously people who follow you

know where you are now, but let's go back to before any of that happened. What was God doing in your life there? Absolutely, man. I love this conversation because sometimes people, when you have to revisit seasons, so this was a moment in my life where I had to go back. So I left college, I went back home to do ministry

with my dad and my mom at our home church. I was going back to my old job at the video warehouse, but I still had this word over my life. From a young age, people had been telling me, there's something special on you. There's a special grace on your life. And my mom, I see your name in lights and people are gonna know your name

before they know your face. But here I am as a store manager at a video warehouse back in my hometown doing ministry with my dad. And so I remember I would leave the store after closing. And this one night it was raining, just raining so hard. I was sitting in the car and just having a moment with God like, hey, what are you doing? Where are we?

When are these promises gonna happen? And I remember there was a song by an amazing worship leader, his name is William Murphy, and the song is called, Created to Worship. And the lyrics, they say, I was created just to give you glory. I was created to worship and adore thee. You are the son of the living God. And that song just kept replaying in my car, in my mind. And it kind of just lifted me up out of that place. Like you're right here right now and it's on purpose. I need you to learn what you're going to learn here in the process. A lot of times we don't like processes, you know, but

processing prepares us for our purpose. And so I believe that season of managing that video warehouse and managing the employees there, it actually prepared me now for doing ministry and leading a church with my husband. Being able to manage people and do it well, do it in excellence, do it with the heart of God. I don't believe that I would be able to do it the way that we do it now,

had I not experienced that season then. So I really felt like it was important to put that in the booklet. I had to go back and revisit some places of my life that I thought, hey, I made it past that. But sometimes you have to go back. That's so good. It's so true. And I love how you kind of spoke to the fact that you had all these prophetic words over

your life and you believe them, but you're sitting here and you're like, okay, God, I believe you for it, but this is what I'm seeing. This is my reality right now. And I think so many times it's in those places that people start to doubt God, or they start to say like, well, yeah, they were wrong. They missed it or whatever. And I also think those are when people say

they're like in waiting seasons, and not that like, yes, in some ways you are waiting for what's to come, but at the same time, God is doing something on purpose in that season. Like you're not just waiting on the prophecies to come true, like you're working towards those coming true. And so I love how you were able to see like, what I learned managing people at a video store

is what I'm doing now on a different level in a different space, in a different place, and kind of with different purpose, but it was all taught in that place. So I just love that. And I think so many people overlook that. Yeah, actually I was talking to someone else today and man, just an incredible woman of God.

And she was saying, nobody wants to go through the process, but man, the outcome is beautiful when you walk it out with God. So I love that you shared that. Okay, so a lot of people know you for Break Every Chain. And oh my gosh, that song, I remember the first time I heard that song actually, and I didn't grow up hearing a lot of music

that was really popular in the church, because I grew up in a really traditional church background, and so we only did acapella, like literally no instruments. I was kind of like under a rock for the longest time. Well, then God started doing something in my life, in my heart, and then our family show took off and I wanted everyone to know about Jesus. And so we actually did our first tour

and the worship band we had out on tour with us sang Break Every Chain. And I remember I was backstage and I started to hear them lead this song and I ran out because I was so deeply impacted from just hearing it backstage, just the words they were declaring over the room. I said, I gotta go see what's happening in that room. And seeing the impact that song had on that room was one of the coolest things, just watching

what a song could actually do, like in the spiritual realm of actually breaking chains off people's lives and physically like seeing people crying and being so moved by it. And night after night for 16 cities, I was like, I would not miss that song being led. So then of course I fell in love with who you are in your music, cause I looked it up and whatnot. And so take us back to just like leading that song,

how all of that came about in the first place and how it ministered to you first. Oh man, I love this so much. And that testimony is such a blessing to me because I can relate. Like the song, when I first heard it, I was actually in the car traveling with my team. I love to drive, so I was driving at the time

and everybody was asleep. I talk about it in the book. And I was just in this season, it was asleep. I talk about it in the book. And I was just in this season. It was a very, very dark season for me, just struggling with depression and anxiety, really, really, really bad. And I remember this song because I would just do playlists. I would just let it play, turn on iTunes, just let it roll.

And this song came on and the first words, there's power in the name of Jesus to break every chain. And I felt like my spirit just began to receive these words and walls started to crumble that I had built up over the years. And I felt like, man, this song is really speaking to a part of me that I've been seeking healing for, for a very, very long time.

So for about two weeks straight, I just played it nonstop. When I got home, it's the first thing I would turn on in the morning, the last thing I would turn on at night. And I just allowed that song to minister to those broken places in me, those places that needed healing. And so people ask me all the time now, hey, do you ever get tired of singing Break Every Chain?

The answer is absolutely not. Because every time we sing that song, there's a different response. You know, somebody in the room receives a healing or a breakthrough or an encounter with Christ that they've been searching for for many years. And for me, I can relate to it. So I understand the importance of that moment in their lives that, hey, this song is doing something that people may have. It's a breakthrough they've been searching for for years, probably. And so for me, it's a personal thing, you know, not just a pretty melody, not just some

great lyrics. It is ministry. It is a moment that I know when we released this song, just like you were saying, every night you had to run out, you had to experience what this song was. It's not just a song. I call it a tool. It's a tool that God uses, you know, to cause freedom in people's lives. And so for me, I believe it's so effective because I've experienced that breakthrough myself.

Wow. You know, through the ministry and the lyrics of that song. So it really takes me back. I get so emotional even talking about it now. And it's at 12, 13 years later and it still has the same impact. Literally the same. That's incredible.

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So I didn't know what it meant to have like prophetic words or when the spirit starts to move. I was just learning all of that and through through learning, God was at the same time given this platform. And so by the grace of God, you know, He used me to start a tour in that way and minister to other people, but it was really ministering to me and He was teaching me the whole time through it.

And so it was so cool was I had never heard that song and when they let it, I thought it was a prophetic moment. I thought that the Spirit just led this worship leader to just start singing, there is power in there with Jesus. Because I didn't know, like I didn't know that was like a song. And I remember running to this pastor who was there going, did you hear what they just started singing?

And so I just didn't know. And they were like, yeah. And then it was really cool because the pastor was kind of explaining to me like, this is a prophetic, like there is a prophetic gift on this song. Like this was already written. Yes, it's already been led.

Yes, but in this moment, like God is doing something in the room. Like the Holy Spirit is moving. And it was just a really cool thing for me to learn that and see that through that song. And so that song actually taught me so much about the way that the Lord works and how, yes, it's more than a melody, it's more than a song. And it's so crazy, it's like 10 years since all of that.

And what God's done in my life since that moment is amazing. It's kind of funny and even hard to even go back and remember how I felt. But I wanna say those things because we have listeners from all different places and spaces in life. Some people who are listening to this have been in their church their entire life. Some have never set foot in a church.

Some are sitting here listening to us talk about break every chain and they know exactly the song, the melody, they're singing it in their car right now. And some are about to go look it up. And so I just wanna kinda jump in there and step in the gap to say, I was there too for those listening being like, what is this?

There is so much power on this and never really experiencing what it means for power to be on a song and really until that song. And so you start singing this over yourself. God's doing something incredible in your own heart and your own life, but then God used it to go a little bit further. So how did you get to the point

of winning a Grammy for this song? You know, and I believe that you can absolutely understand and relate to this. I believe there are things that we can prepare for, but then there's just purpose. You know, God puts his purpose on us and it's his will, his way, when he wants to do it. And so I believe with Break Every Chain,

my spiritual father and mentor would say this all the time. He would say, hey, this is my daughter, Tasha Cobbs, and she's a bridge to the nations. And before Break Every Chain, I had no clue what he was talking about. It's just a bunch of jargon. I'm like, hey, what are you talking about? Why do you keep saying this?

But he saw something in me that I don't necessarily believe that I knew or understood at the time. And I think it's very key and important to have those people in your life. I see something in you that you might not be able to see, but I'm going to pull it out. And I believe we have to have those people who stretch us. And so he would say this.

This is my daughter, and she's a bridge to the nations. And so with Break Every Chain, we would sing it in our churches and it would have that same impact. People crying and experiencing freedom. And so going into recording my first album, Grace, there was one song I was sold on. I was like, I don't know what else we're going to sing, but we're definitely doing Break Every Chain. And it wasn't because I was expecting Grammys or I was expecting the world to be changed.

I just, I wanted one person to experience the power of Jesus Christ. But it was just one of those things where God put his favor on it. And he said, this is the song I wanted to go, I wanted to be a bridge to all cultures and nationalities and people. And it was saying in churches around the world

and people, you know, it began to rang out just everywhere. And I was like, well, you know, I never really thought that it would impact the industry the way that it did. I knew that it would bless a lot of people because of my experience with it. But I never thought, hey, this song is, my peers are gonna love it. People are gonna think, hey,

this was an excellent presentation, excellent enough to make it to the Grammys and the Recording Academy to put their eyes on it. I just never thought, I wasn't thinking that way, but that's just God's favor and his grace. I think a lot of times people ask me, hey, what's one one word of advice you can give to a up and coming, you know, want to be a Christian star? I want to be, you know, and my advice is to be faithful where you are right now.

Be committed to I was just committed to singing worship songs that would bless the local church that I was called to. I never once thought, hey, millions upon millions of people are gonna be wanting to hear me sing around the world. It was never like something that I was pursuing. I was pursuing the next Sunday. Like, hey, let us have a great encounter this Sunday

at my local church. And God rewarded it. The scripture says that God rewards the faithful. And I was faithful to my local church. And I still am. I love the local church assembly. And I believe that God's hand of favor was resting on that, so much so that he says,

hey, if I can trust you with these 250, then I can trust you with the nations. And so that would be just a word of wisdom, even from that season for me. It wasn't something that you can conjure up. You can't prepare for those moments. And I really believe it was just a God thing. Yeah, oh, no doubt.

But I love, so I'm about to say a song that has ministered to me probably more than any other song. No joke, I go back to this song over and over and over again. And I don't know how often you get told this, but the song Dove's Eyes, you say, I listened to that song actually before I speak. I listened to that song before I do most anything publicly. I pray those words over myself, the lyrics to that song.

That song has been so pivotal to me in my life. And actually our team retreat this year, back in January, I had our whole team listen to it and pray through it. And so it's ministered to me in so many ways because kind of like what you're saying, same for me, I wasn't doing this to preach to millions of people or to have this platform.

I never knew that was what God had in store for me. But I was doing Bible studies at my house and I was in high school and I did, you know, Bible studies for middle schoolers and for high schoolers and in this state and in that state, just because I was traveling to that state to visit my cousin. So I started a Bible study there and I just loved it. I love teaching people about God. And now, you know, there is a platform and there are people, but I'm like,

God, just give me Dove's eyes, give me undistracted devotion to only you. Like I, and my favorite line from that song, I don't want to talk about you like you're not in the room. I want to look right at you. And it's administered to me so much like, God, I don't want to just do ministry. Like I want to do it with you.

I want to look right at you. This is all for you. And so to hear you talk about even break every chain, thinking about the song Dove's Eyes, like your eyes were on God. Like you were faithful to him. And then yes, he did this extraordinary thing with it, but the heart was just to minister to one, you know?

And so tell me about why you recorded Dove's Eyes and how that spoke to you. I remember whenever I told Christian we were pregnant with Honey, it was quite the shock. It was a shock for both of us. It was really surprising but the best day ever. It was awesome and it's been so amazing getting to see Christian become a dad. But there are a lot of mothers who find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy and they don't have any support to help them out. These moms need help obviously and so my partners at Preborn and their network of clinics all across

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All gifts are tax deductible. To donate, go to preborn.com slash Sadie. Again, that's preborn.com slash Sadie. Again, that's preborn.com slash Sadie, or you can dial pound two five zero on your cell and use the keyword baby. And that is pound two 50 and use the keyword baby. You know, first of all, you sharing that has me teary eyed and I'm actually not a crier, but

that song, kind of similar to Break Every Chain, when I first heard it, it was in that season where things were kind of taking off and there are so many distractions, so many voices, so many people have ideas of how you can do this and how you can make this bigger and how you can advance. And I wanted to keep the heart posture of a worshiper that the same 10 year old Tasha, who loved to sit in her room and spend time with God and listen to worship songs,

that's the same Tasha I wanted to be no matter how many eyes were on me. I wanted to keep my eyes on him. And so in hearing that song, you sharing that, because that's what that song was to me. Going in, I don't even think, you know, it was a part of the set list. It wasn't something that, hey, I want to put this on Heart, Passion, Pursuit, on this album. But it became the theme of that album. We have a moment that was created, kind of like the moment where you said you thought, hey, this was just a prophetic moment. There was a moment on that album where we start just singing our eyes are on you, our eyes are on you. It just kind of became the thread, a thread, like a theme of that album. And I thought, man, I have to put the song Dove's Eyes

on this album because that's what this album is about. Just no matter how much chaos is going on around you, no matter how many people are pulling on me, it was a major season for my life, but I didn't, even now, I don't ever want it to be about me. I say this often, we have an opportunity in, in gospel and Christian music. Um, it's the one genre where we represent someone else. And I always want to keep that at the forefront of my heart and my mind.

That this is not about Tasha. I'm not representing Tasha. I'm always representing Christ. This is not about Tasha. I'm not representing Tasha. I am always representing Christ. The only way to maintain that posture is to keep my eyes on him. The Doves Eyes song, I think it was just so important for that album because that was the posture of our heart.

That album, of course, it went on to just do some incredible things, breaking so many records. We had so many worship leaders who were a part of that album. And I think just gathering in the room with all of us having so many followers and people that we lead every single week, but we all had this one theme, like that we wanted just to focus on Jesus.

And I love, man, I love to talk about that album because we actually went to Atlanta into a studio. It was 30 worship leaders. This is just how God told me to do it. He said, I want you to call 30 worship leaders from around the world and you guys spend five days in a studio together. And we just, we had time to have conversation and prayer together. Kind of, it sounds like your Bible studies. We had different pastors and leaders who would just come in and minister to us. It was, it was like a Bible studies. We had different pastors and leaders who would just come in and minister to us. It was like a little mini moment just to retreat and breathe and birth from those moments was that album.

Wow. That has Dove's eyes on it. That's really cool. It was just a thread for that season of my life where I don't want to be distracted. Yeah. I just, you know, I only want you. Still, no matter how many people see our relationship,

it's just about me and you. Yes, yes. I love that so much. Like hearing the backstory of that is so cool for me because I really have listened to it so many times and before, like I said, before I do anything, because I think back to like before I started publicly speaking and stuff like that.

And again, like God was teaching me so much in the process of, yes, I did Bible studies in high school before my parents' TV show took off. And then all of a sudden I'm on Dancing with the Stars and all of a sudden I have this platform. And I'm like, then I'll start speaking. And it's like all happening so fast, but I grew up so traditional.

So I'm learning as I'm going with about the Holy Spirit. And I think like that song is ministered to me in so many different ways, because in some ways, yes, it's like through all the followers, I don't want it to me in so many different ways, because in some ways, yes, it's like, through all the followers, I don't want it to be about anyone else but you, God. But then also, not even in a God keep me humble way, but in a full humility and transparent way,

out of my insecurity sometimes, I was so afraid to speak because I'm so insecure about how much I don't know. I feel like, you know, I just didn't feel like I knew enough but God was inviting me into these spaces and so even the part of it of like I believe you are listening I believe that you move at the sound of my voice just just like believing that God when I speak like you are gonna give me the words to say like in so many ways like Moses you know's like, this should not be me.

I should not be the person doing this. Like I have a speech impediment. What do I know? And God's like, I am who I am. Open your mouth and I will give you the words. And sometimes I feel that when I'm kind of singing that song over myself, like, man, I feel like there's so much I don't know.

I feel so small. How am I gonna do this? But I do believe, God, that when I open my mouth, that you are gonna give me the words to say, and I believe that you move at the sound of my voice. And so like that song, like I said, I prayed through it because there have been times I've needed it when you feel all the eyes looking at you

and you don't want to get distracted by that. And then times I felt that feeling of the eyes looking at me in a crushing way, in an insecure way of, okay, I really need you in this too. So anyways, it's really cool to hear the backstory on that and how God ministered that to you. And just from a place of 30 worship leaders being together and praying and believing,

what came out of that is special. So the Grammys happened, but that was also a really hard time of your life. I know this book was dedicated to your father. And so tell me a little bit about your dad and the timing of his passing. I am the definition of a daddy's girl. Like, that is me all day. If you look it up in Webster, it's going to have my name.

I love it. If you look it up in Webster, it's going to have my name. I love it. Love it. And so my father, he started pastoring our church back at home when I was 10 years old. So I'm a P.K., a pastor's kid. And I just kind of grew up just watching my father. He was a great leader.

And he really, really cultivated leadership in me. So just kind of growing up with that. He was one of those old school pastors who knew, they memorized the word of God. He could throw out a scripture just like that. And then my husband calls it, he knew the address of every scripture. And so I looked up to him for one

because of his commitment to his call. And it's just being able to see that from a very, very young age. He supported everything that I did. He and my mother both still to this day, she is everybody's, not just mine, she's everybody's number one supporter. My mom celebrates you, she's never met you. I love it.

She's your number one supporter. And so just growing up in a family of very supportive parents who loved God and they walked that out before me and my brother every single day. I had great training and a lot of times back then it wasn't through, it wasn't verbal. It was what I watched them do. So my dad was like an old school pastor who was never leaving the church. We vacationed from Sunday evening to Saturday morning.

We were going to be back at that church on Sunday. I love it. So we would take our vacations and 2013, that was the year where Grace was released with Break Every Chain. And so we had all of these nominations from Dove Awards to Stellar Awards to the Grammys. And I was thinking, man, all of this stuff is falling on a Sunday, it's on a weekend, there's no way, you know, I got to brace myself just in case daddy is not going to be missing church on Sunday. And so when I started to share

with them, hey, the Stellars are happening this weekend. And then seven days later, I'm nominated for two Grammys. And you know, I know you guys don't, I know pressure whatsoever, but they were those kind of parents that never gonna miss, you know, these moments in my life. And so my dad decided that, hey, I'm gonna leave church in the hands of the elders and I'm gonna go be with my baby.

That alone was, it was greater than any award that I could have ever received to look out and see my parents in the room, knowing the sacrifice that they made in order to be there. And so that night we won three Stellar Awards at the gospel, they call it the biggest night in gospel,

Stellar Awards. And I sang Break Every Chain for 60 seconds. I was like, I'm gonna give it all I got for 60 seconds. I'm like, this is the new artist, you get 60 seconds. It just went absolutely crazy again. That song is just undeniable. It is. All you needed is 60 seconds, and that's all you got.

Right. And so that night, we were just at my pastor's hotel room, a few of us just celebrating what God had done, and just celebrating the experience at the Stellar Awards. And my pastor, he said, the experience at the Stiller Awards. And my pastor, he said, call dad and see if he wants to come down here. I was like, hey guys, we got daddy to Nashville. He is not coming to hang out with us at 3 o'clock in the morning.

You guys are pushing it, right? And so I texted him anyway and I said, hey, we're all hanging out in pastor's room if you guys just want to come hang out. And he immediately responded, hey, we're on the way. And I was like, are you OK? Oh, my gosh. So my dad, he came and he just he he was a man of very few words. But if he spoke, it was either going to be profound or very, very funny.

So that night he pulled on the greatest comedian in him. And he had us laughing. We were just on the floor rolling, crying, laughing. And I remember when he left the room that night, my dad was a carpenter like Jesus. And so he said he was going to build his daughter, Kirio, for all of the awards that he believed that I was going to win. And so that night, I promised him that any award that I would win, they're yours. So he had all of my awards in his hand, just holding them. He was beaming from ear to ear.

And I said, hey, daddy, let me snap a picture. I want to take a picture of you with your Stellars, right? And so he took one of them out and he's holding it. And he just has so much pride on his face for his baby girl. And I took a picture of him. And that would actually be the last time I saw my father here on Earth. The next day, they were in the car driving back home and he went to be with the Lord.

So, you know, that's a hard place because I tell people often I was on like this rollercoaster of life. Here you are, you know, you're celebrating these wins and then you have this loss. And seven days later, you have another win. I don't know what to do. Wow. Yeah. Emotions are all over the place. You know, I want to be exciting and I want to be grateful. But then my heart is broken. What do you do in those seasons? And so I

remember leading up to that, my dad, he kept saying, daddy, I want you, daddy's not going to be with you in LA for the Grammys, but I want you to go anyway. I want you to go anyway. He just kept saying that. I was thinking, of course you're not going to LA. I can't believe you're in Nashville, you know? And he just kept saying, daddy's not gonna be with you in LA, but I want you to go anyway. And I realized now that my dad was leaving with me

the last lesson he would leave with me on earth, that sometimes life is gonna be hard and you're not gonna understand it. It's gonna be cloudy. Your heart is gonna be broken, but there is something that's been placed in you. I know it, baby girl. and I want you to dig deep and I want you to do it anyway. And so because of the word from my father, seven days after his passing, I got up, I

got on a plane and I went to LA and I went to the Grammys anyway. And we ended up winning a Grammy that year. My mother spoke a prophetic word over my life and she said, people will know your name before they know your face. And I experienced that in that room that night where they called my name and people were looking around like, well, what does she look like?

They knew my name, they knew the song, Break Every Chain. And so when I stood, I actually stood up on, there's a video that's on YouTube where I asked the Academy to stand and give my father a round of applause and everybody stood and they gave him applause and I had a chance to honor him seven days later. And I believe it was because of,

I had the strength that I had because of the words that he had spoken to me, that daddy wants me to do this anyway. And so that's where we get this book. The queen of that book came from the last lesson that my father left with me to dig deep and do it anyway. What a message, what a word. Like, thank you so much for sharing your story

and for sharing your father and your father's story and the words that he gave you. Like, you were a daddy's girl because you had an awesome dad and the fact that he gave you so many words that now you're giving to other people and messages that people are able to hold on to. What a way to honor him and keep those messages alive.

I think it's just absolutely beautiful. And I love how you talk about grief in here, that grief is for a purpose, but it doesn't have to last forever. And you can begin to walk out of those. I love those things that you talked about in the book. One thing I wanted to bring up, because I heard you mentioned this on a podcast

and I thought it was really good, is you talked about how, you know, you're really great at talking about grief and you seem to have kind of carried it well. I mean, seven days later, you're honoring Him. People are standing up. You have a book written about Him. But nine years later, you're sitting here

and you feel like God just began to speak to you that there's something in your heart that believe that God failed, that God failed when he died. Can you speak to that a little bit? Cause I think that is so relatable that, especially when you're a Christian, because you say all the right things and you,

you want to believe and you want to have the faith and you push through, but nine years later, there's something in your heart, still kind of thinking God failed when your dad died. Wow. yeah. I thank you for sharing this because, you know, I think we can have all of the right words and the right language and, you know,

we could put the face on and put the mask on, but sometimes we have to take self inventory and really dig deep and say, what are you really feeling? How do you really feel about this? And I remember last year we did a tour. It was me, Natalie Grant, Naomi, Rain, Taya. It was a few of us.

It was such a beautiful tour. That is a crew. I was so sad I missed that. By the way, my husband screenshotted it when y'all announced y'all were going to tour and he said, we have to go and we never made it. But Taya is one of our closest friends and I love all those girls.

So I love it. That's awesome. I don't know about y'all, but we love spending the summer days outside. We love playing outside, swimming, hitting the baseball, tennis, pickleball, whatever it is. We just love being outside. And after spending long, hot days outside, who wants to spend hours in the kitchen? I don't know about you, but not me.

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to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month while your subscription is active. Don't miss this guys. My sisters, yeah. We were on the stage one night and Naomi has this song, it's called The Story I'll Tell. And the lyrics, and I had heard it for so many shows, but we were on this stage this night and it says,

the song says, oh, oh, oh, my God did not fail. Oh, oh, oh, that's the story I'll tell. And then she just kind of goes through different testimonies about our lives and things that we experience. And as she was singing it, I heard Holy Spirit say to me, you think I failed. Like you in losing your father and him transitioning and going to be with Jesus, you feel like, hey, I didn't have enough power to defeat a heart attack. Wow.

When I have all power, I have all authority. This was always in my will. You know, in the good and the bad, you have to see my hand in everything. And I mean, I literally just broke down. And it pierced something. You know how sometimes, you know, how do I say this? We have an expectation.

And so we brace ourselves for what God is gonna say. I didn't have time to get myself ready. Like he spoke this to me before I could brace myself. And so it reached that place in my spirit where it needed to reach like, hey, girl, you need to pull it together. He had all authority and power then and he has all authority and power now.

He did not fail you. Your father is where he's supposed to be with Jesus, the place that he lived for his entire life. My dad used to say, he used to say, if I ever get a glimpse, daddy ain't coming back. I'll see you when you get there. And so we have this thing now where we all, even when I come in contact with some of his members

from years ago, they'll say, Bishop got a glimpse. He got the glimpse. He got a glimpse. He was not coming back. And so, you know, God had to remind me, you know, I had all authority then and I have all authority now. And there was such a piece that came over me where, okay, man, I've been holding on to this one little, this one little piece of grief that was hanging onto my heart in some way.

And Holy Spirit just has a way of penetrating even when we're not expecting it. You know, here I am on a stage thinking I'm about to minister to these thousands of people in this room and God said, no, I want to talk to you tonight. That's right. Yeah, that nine years later I received the freedom, even that little piece of freedom that I needed just to be reassured that God did not fail me. So good.

That's so good. And I love how God works that, you know, nine years later, he's still speaking, undoing those layers in your heart and continuing to bring more freedom. And I wanted to bring that up too, because we have a really close friend that went through something really tragic recently. And their son had a major heart problem and ended up passing away from it. And he was only a year and a half.

And it was just very hard and very tragic for our whole community and especially for the parents. But she posted on Instagram this morning, this whole, I mean, it was the most powerful thing about how so many people have said, do you really believe God's good during this? How has this impacted your faith? Has it impacted your faith?

And she said, it absolutely has impacted my faith, but it's made it so much stronger in God because what she's seen in the past just two months and what she's been able to envision about heaven. I mean, she was quoting things from Revelation where it's talking about, you know, holy, holy, holy, all these things about the greatness of God and the beauty of God and the beauty of heaven.

And she had a little picture that someone had painted of Jesus and this little boy that looked a lot like her son. And she's just like, man, to think about where he is now now, like that, like that's where he's supposed to be. And I know her very well, this is not fluff. Like she's talking from a hard place. And I just know there's gonna continue to be freedom over her life that she's gonna continue to find.

But what she's already realized and the things she's already shared based off of the power that she knows God's capable of, because she saw a miracle after a miracle in his life. And she's like, I know God is powerful enough to heal him from his heart thing, but what he's even done through his passing and their life and the lives of others,

her faith is just so strong. So hearing stories like that is just really amazing to really believe that God is powerful enough to heal anything, but he's also so powerful that even if he doesn't heal on this earth, the power is really where we're going. You know, like your dad said, if I get a glimpse, that's where I'm heading

because that's better than where we're at. And so what a powerful testimony. The last thing I wanna ask you because everyone on this podcast loves a relationship story. And I wanna hear about your husband because it was really sweet. I heard again on a podcast you were on about kind of the prayer you were praying

for your future husband. And I thought it was really sweet because it wasn't about like, God, it has to be now or whatever, but it was more to the heart. So talk to me about the prayer you were praying for your husband and how you guys met. He is the absolute best.

Yes. My husband. So we met. Now, if he were telling this story, he would tell a little different. Of course. I was attending a worship conference in Charlotte. He lived in North Carolina at the time. And my husband is like a producer and musician,

all the things. He's the best of the best. And I was actually traveling with William Murphy, my pastor at the time, and we were, I was singing background. So he, William Murphy was teaching a worship class that had kind of gone over, you know, you know how worship classes are.

They're in there just crying and going for it. And so he looks at me and he says, Tasha, I need you to go do my rehearsal because there was a concert that night. And I didn't want to be there. We woke up three o'clock in the morning. I was already just agitated. Like, I don't want to do your rehearsal, right?

So anyway, I go do the rehearsal. I walk in and they're singing the wrong version of the song. Now, I have do the rehearsal, I walk in and they're singing the wrong version of the song. Now I have this season of my life, I have all these walls up, not the most approachable person in the world. I was working my way to freedom. I hadn't yet experienced break every chain yet.

So I had walls up. And so I was like, oh man, not this choir singing the wrong song. And it was the wrong version of the song. And you know, so I say, I walk in and I was like, you know, who's in charge here? This is the wrong version of the song. Kenny tells it a little different. He's like, Hey, she walked in screaming, slamming doors. I was like, I did not slam any doors. Okay. And he, so this big guy is so handsome. He stands up and he says, Hi, my name is Kenneth Leonard. I'm the music director here. How can I help you? And if there's anything

wrong, we'll have it fixed by this evening. So I'm thinking, who is this guy? You know, you need to meet my energy. If I'm worked up, you need to be worked up. Why are you so calm? Right? And he actually just did that to me a few months ago. I'm worked up, you need to be worked up. Why are you so calm? And he actually just did that to me a few moments ago. I'm using his laptop right now and I couldn't remember the passwords. I was like, babe, what is your password? He walks up the stairs, he's like, how can I help? Why are you so calm?

I'm like, I gotta get on this podcast. So anyway, he did the same thing that night. And it just brings such peace to me. You know, he is, I tell people all the time, from that moment until this, when he is the calm to my storm. Like I'm the storm, he's like, everything is okay. Just calm down and breathe, right? And so that night when we got back,

everything, just like he said, it was perfectly, it was perfect. The night went amazing. The worship was incredible. And so afterwards, this was the time of Facebook. I'm going to age myself. So we were, I'm sorry, it wasn't even Facebook. It was my space. Yeah.

So he sends me a message on my space and he says, I never do this. He said, but I feel like there's something, some reason why we need to stay connected. And, um, from that moment, we became the best of friends. And I mean, like this kind of friendship, I was getting him dressed for dates. I was telling him, it looks a mess. Where are you going? That girl is not going to like you with that on. You need to go change it.

Like I was that friend. It was the best of friends. We never even thought for one moment, you're supposed to be together. Like literally never crossed our minds. We even thought for one moment. Wow. You're supposed to be together. Like literally never crossed our minds. We built this friendship for years. Wow. And one of the prayers that I pray, that's the prayer you were talking about, is that you know, all of these years people have been prophesying up in my life that people are

going to know your name and you see your name in lights. And my prayer was, well, God, if you're going to do this in my life, I want to have known my husband before everything kind of blows up. And so he was very strategic in me meeting Kenny, becoming the best of friends. I remember when I had an album that was independent, it was called Smile. And that album just did so much. It went from, you know, people were singing the songs in their churches. And during that time, Kenny and I were still close friends and he was playing at this church and my song Smile was in the rotation of the, you know, how they play these, they play the videos on the screens before church

starts. So it came on and when Smile came on, he was like, every thousands of people in this church just started singing your song. So he texted me like, Hey, do you know these people know your song? Mind you, I'm about to go on a stage somewhere else. I respond to him and I'm like, I don't have time for this. He just could not believe it because he was just so detached from my friend and people know her. So it was what I pray for that. No way was he drawn to me because of who I was. He just loved his friend Tasha. And so that was my God answered that

prayer for me. So we just kind of grew our friendship and over the years, he went through a marriage and a divorce. And in the middle of that divorce, he went through a season that was very, very dark. And we just kind of, we had kind of parted ways. We weren't talking like we used to. And he texts me and he just said, Hey, I need my friend. And that was that moment where I believe where God was saying, you guys are just too ridiculous imbeciles. You never get any of my cues.

You know, after that, we realized, wow, there's something that I have that he needs and there's something that he has that I need. And so we begin to build our relationship after that season and he is still the calm to my storm. We have our beautiful children. We have four, I have four babies. Our blended family is amazing.

We have our oldest daughter, Alana. She just graduated college and now she's working in her career. We have our oldest daughter, Alana. She just graduated college, and now she's working in her career. We have our oldest son, Nea Maya, who just graduated high school. And we have our 12-year-old, Symphony. That's our little girl. And then we have baby Asher.

That's our, he's almost three now. So Asher is our miracle baby. I remember when you guys adopted him and just seeing it on Instagram, y'all are so cute, your whole family. She's absolutely beautiful. And I love the story of how you and your husband met and just the friendship that y'all form

and the timing of the whole thing. And then I love the one part where you kind of had to tell him like, well, not even tell him, you just asked him, like, you have feelings for me. You have feelings for me. You have feelings for me. Like, let's just. I love that because I always tell people on this podcast, because people always say, should the guy pursue?

And I'm like, yes, the guy should pursue, but you need to give him confidence to pursue you. Don't just be there giving him no clue. Give him the confidence to pursue. Let him know you like him. Let him know you would be interested in a date. If he texts you, text him back. And like, don't be, you know,

cause him more confusion than there needs to be. Give clarity. Like, and sometimes they need to know that they're not stuck in the friend zone. Yeah. You know, and they need like a little bit of encouragement because we've been friends now for five years. So I don't know if she wants to stay friends or, you know.

So sometimes you just gotta give a little nudge. Sometimes you just gotta say it. You just gotta give a little nudge. I love it. Tasha, you are amazing. You, I have been a fan from afar and I'm glad now to be a friend, to get to know you a little bit more.

Thank you for writing this book, do it. Anyway, guys, if you don't go get this book and don't know what you're doing, go get the book, go listen to the music. Thank you so much for being on the Willis Go Podcast. Amazing, thank you so much. Oh, I feel so great right now. I love your spirit.

And thank you for what you do. Your ministry is absolutely amazing, and I too am a fan. Aw, thank you Fred, you're so sweet. Oh, yeah