Priscilla Shirer sits down on TBN’s Praise with her brother, Anthony Evans, in a new interview about overcoming difficult times in our lives, and trusting in God’s perfect plan during seasons of waiting. This video was brought to you by TBN Networks®. SUBSCRIBE here and never miss an upload! https://www.youtube.com/c/PraiseTBN/?… PODCAST: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…
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NEED PRAYER? TBN’s Prayer Partners would love to pray with you and are available 24/7: 714-731-1000 (U.S. and Canada) and +1-714-731-1000 (International). On the air since 1973, TBN’s flagship ministry and talk show Praise is one of the most recognizable — and most watched — Christian programs in the world. Taped before a live audience and hosted by TBN’s own Matt and Laurie Crouch along with other popular personalities, Praise features the best in contemporary Christian music and worship, fresh and impacting ministry voices, engaging interviews from a wide variety of guests, and a fast-moving hour of relevant talk you won’t want to miss! #praise #tbn #priscillashirer 00:00 Intro 00:44 The Shirer Siblings 02:03 Anthony’s Music 02:56 Revival After Loss 04:36 Living with Grief 05:59 The Power of “No” 08:12 The Power Within You 09:42 Caring for Your Mental Health 14:05 Seasons of Waiting 15:53 Tools for Mental Health 19:22 Respecting Your Capacity 21:47 Music Born from Experience 23:45 A Song for Mom 24:22 When Life Doesn’t Go Our Way 26:15 You Are Not Alone 27:06 All Things for Our Good 29:24 Setbacks Are Setups for Success 31:14 The Impact of Lois Evans 33:45 There Is Always Hope 34:50 A Prayer for Strength
when I see somebody else stand I see oh
I’m not the only one that has gone
through a hard thing or that has had to
make this decision to to push past my
feelings to choose allegiance to God
despite what’s happening in my life it’s
just not me other folks are with me and
like me and like you said there’s
encouragement in that she got diagnosed
with a rare form of cancer and we were
told like in in a very dramatic way our
dad breaking into tears we don’t see him
do that often but we had about nine
months to literally say goodbye to our
mother in in losing her it’s like one of
the ways I figured out a a way to work
on Grief was to do things in the now to
honor her and her Legacy that’s great um
that helps you grieve um to change that
energy into that and that’s what that’s
what this song is this is my baby
brother we have there are four of us
Crystal’s the oldest then me then
Anthony and Jonathan is the youngest so
Anthony are right there in the middle
yes so we have this little special
special little Bond thing where we have
all these deep conversations and we get
have one of them today I’m excited
because you have new music I I do I have
new music and and a New Journey and a
new experience and I’m glad to be able
to talk about it with you and and all
the audience I need to give the audience
a breakdown though you named our
siblings yes crystal is Miss logical
like the TP oldest oldest sister miss
the smart like everything’s methodical
yes and then Priscilla is missp
personality I got to tell you she got in
so much trouble for talking too much
growing up but now it’s all worked out
nicely so that’s it and then my brother
Jonathan athlete and very determined but
I just I sit here and have flashbacks to
us being kids and you just be in Miss
personality and I’m like this is great
so anyway the thing is though you said
Crystal was the smart one no you’re
you’re and then you came me and said I
had personality yes but then you’re
smart right under
that okay you know what I’m saying all
right fine moving on okay yes sorry I
would like to make clear before we even
begin You Are The Guest okay and I am
the interviewer in other words this is
my show I get to say and ask you
whatever it is that I say to you and
what I want to ask you because what I’m
thrilled about is that I we get to
introduce to everyone that you have
brand new music out after how many years
have you now been making music oh 20 24
so I started when I was
eight or or so yeah yeah yeah it’s a TW
24 years okay um and this is your what
number album 11 11 albums in that’s a
lot of investment of creativity of um
vocal capacity and you’ve been
stretching yourself the kind of music
you’ve been doing through the years has
shifted and changed depending on where
you are in your life yes and this is the
thing I love about your music is you’re
always writing songs whether it’s a
collaborative effort or whether you’re
writing it yourself you’re always coming
out of a place of where you’ve been in
your life they reflect what you’ve been
processing spiritually emotionally
mentally and this project which is named
revive talk to me about what in your
life has been leading leading you
towards even the title of the record
before we even get to the songs
themselves just what was happening in
your life that made you want to think
about Reviving being revived it was a
lot of things that was that was was
happening in our lives with with our
family and a lot of prayers not being
answered the way that I wanted them to
be and my faith being in question to be
honest like I didn’t make music because
I felt like an actor getting into
character to go sing songs I no longer
believed that’s why I stopped I would go
sing places but I would talk to the
people who had me honest and be like I’m
not in the play like I’m not recovered
from what life has done to me and I’m
not aligned with what I’m singing right
now so it took me a second to kind of
like I don’t want to I don’t want to
feel like an actor singing Christian
music that that’s that that’s not a good
feeling yeah so what happened is I had
to make a decision do I just continue to
let my faith deteriorate or do I take
the steps and take take do what I can
and then believe that God’s going to do
what I can’t and add himself to the
effort that I put forward cuz I didn’t
even know which way to go to recover
from like for example us losing our mom
or in that way um or having the
emotional spaces in my life just clouded
I didn’t know which way to go so the
album’s called revive because I started
taking steps and I felt God bringing
things back to life in my heart and in
my experience and I was like people need
to know and experience this so it’s
about the music but it’s more about the
message that he can bring dead things to
life in your heart that you think that
are just done yeah okay here’s the
question I want to ask you like five
questions SP up in my my brain from
everything you just said but did you
keep going even while you knew you
didn’t feel like what it was you were
singing or you didn’t feel like showing
up there are a whole lot of people that
have been through loss just like we have
devastating hardships one after the
other CU not only did we lose mom but
there were nine family members in the
scope of five years that we lost it was
like backtack loss and Chaos in our
lives and you’re saying that you had to
keep showing up to do a job that you
didn’t feel emotionally spiritually
connected to right so I’m wondering did
you pull back and stop doing certain
things or did you keep going while just
recognizing at the same time I need to
be working on the other area of my life
there’s so many people that have to keep
going yes while they’re struggling yes
it was a balance because I had to keep
going yeah but I would be strategic I
the honest conversations that have being
vulnerable and honest and authentic with
the whether it was the a church you know
the church in Florida I go to often
sitting down with those pastors and
saying this is what’s going on in my
life right now so to get up on the stage
I I it was hard but I didn’t feel like
an actor cuz they knew the truth because
they knew the truth because they knew
the truth and then doing things with our
family that was underg guring and
helpful to me I got rid of the things
that I could get rid of that were that
were draining me of the energy to work
on myself okay and that that varies for
everybody watching there are certain
things though that we can clear off our
plate that leave capacity for healing
because you’re not exhausted and and I
had to strategically work that out in in
my life don’t you think that it takes a
measure of courage to be willing to
number one be authentic with the people
around you that you can trust um to know
the truth about what’s happening with
you but it also takes a level of courage
to say you know what this this this this
people may be appreciating this people
may be applauding me for this other
folks may think based on what they
prioritize that I need to do this but it
takes a level of courage to say you know
what actually I’m I’m doing this and
this is draining me this is not helping
me right and you actually told you you
taught me that you taught me the power
of no and you taught me the art of when
you say no to something you’re you’re
saying a simultaneous yes to something
else so when I said no to whatever
opportunity that people thought was
amazing and huge I was saying yes to my
spiritual well-being and that yes
matters more than the no there’ll be
another opportunity you you said this to
me there’ll be another opportunity to go
do that there won’t necessarily be
another opportunity for you to walk this
walk forward in healing at this time
yeah so that was the decision that I had
had to make and some of the NOS were
hard until you experience the yes yeah
yeah when you start to experience the
yes like me sitting here with a light
heart and talking about music I thought
that would never happen again so but
that was because the nose landed at this
yes that’s good and this yes in this
project too like that’s a big yes that
you got to have the mental margin the
spiritual margin the emotional margin
and the Sparks of creativity that are
required to be able to put any sort of
project together in a valuable way all
of that diminishes when we just keep
going and going and going while not
tending to our emotional absolutely the
the sorry go ahead the depth of these
songs and I is because of of that like
if I wouldn’t have taken the time to
heal and just cranked out more music it
would not be it wouldn’t have the depth
of these songs there’s a song on the
album called 828 that’s Romans 828 him
working things together for your good
but that’s coming from a different place
now like we’ve quoted that verse for
years a lot of us that’s coming from a
different place or the bridge of that
song is Ephesians 3:20 um now to him who
able to do exceedingly abundantly more
than we could ask or imagine sometimes I
stop that verse there and I don’t go in
to the end of that verse that talks
about the power that is already in us I
was not experiencing The Power Within me
that was already in me because I was so
distracted by doing too much and I did I
was not connect I think the enemy’s
objective is to distract us from the
power that is within us so that we will
not be able to experience exceedingly
abundantly more and I was distracted
from that power come on you preaching I
just really was you know Daddy I’m
talking a lot because I’ve had too much
coffee I’m SOC Slow Down slow I always
have to tell him to slow down but yeah
it’s your coffee situation is out of
control
sir slow down okay Dad you were gonna
say something used to take us to the
circus growing up and I loved animals so
so much and I remember seeing the
elephants in the parking lot and being
mesmerized by the fact that this
elephant had a chain around its ankle
that was in a steak in the ground and it
didn’t realize if he just pulled one
good time
he’d be running the show try hard to
pull exactly but he was fooled to he
forgot the power within him because of
that chain that was around his ankle
he’d been trained to stay put exactly
the enemy’s objective is to train us to
stay put and forget that we have the
power within us to just do the effort to
pull that pull that break that chain and
we can do it but if he can keep us
distracted we don’t experiencing don’t
experience don’t experience it and
that’s this album is revived uh called
revived because I’ve now experienced the
power of breaking breaking those those
chains my I felt that in my spirit I
felt it in my spirit that’s a big deal
because you’re the you’re the speaker no
okay but this is something people may
not know about you which I’m sure lends
itself to your songwriting and your
creative capacity but you are a master
illustrator you’re a great Storyteller
and you know that like we always are
commenting on when we’re having
conversations about regular life stuff
you were able to pull out an
illustration like about the circus and
an elephant and make a substantial
spiritual point about something that’s
impactful and people can grab hold of
that so you do that through your music
too you’re telling a story that has
spiritual principle and encouragement to
help people to stay booed up in the
midst of life’s hard stuff absolutely
absolutely so describe a little bit more
about this disparity you were seeing in
your um work your ministry and what you
were feeling tell us how you were
feeling in your heart your soul and your
mind that was causing a discrepancy
between what you were singing I felt
like I was I felt like I was playing
injured I like an athlete go
illustration here it is here it is like
an athlete who has a sprained ankle but
the athlete that everybody expects to be
on the court dunking so they just wrap
their ankle and go out and keep playing
and ultimately the damage that can be
done by you playing injured you can be
complet forever taken off the court if
you keep playing injured so that’s what
I felt like I felt like something’s off
I know what I’m capable of with Ministry
and I know what I’m capable of but
something is off and I didn’t make the
choice to to sit down I uh the Olympics
2020 Simone biles the champion of the
universe everybody knows she’s about I
mean the expectation on her was huge and
she went up to do this Vault and landed
crazy and everybody thought what is
happening to the champion there was she
was capable of a lot but her mind was
right and she had to admit I have the
twisties and and if I keep going for
y’all I’m going to injure myself in a
way that I might not be able to recover
from because I’m trying to perform for
y’all yeah so I that’s what I felt like
and I had to get to the point where if I
keep going like I have the twisties
spiritually mentally emotionally I have
the twisties and I have to stop because
if I keep going the injury to me is and
the people attach the people attached to
you is going to be a problem so that’s
that’s what I that’s what I felt like
like and so I had to you know let let
people down in some ways but I I love I
don’t know why Anthony and I often joke
about and comment on the fact that we
are thinking similar things or like
we’ll be one of us will text the other
one when the other one is composing a
text to send to the other one like it
happens all the time or you’ll wear a
purple shirt today and I wear this
purple on today we showed up and it
looks like we tried to coordinate and we
didn’t we just showed up like this and
the reason I say that is because I kid
you not yesterday I was thinking about
the Simone B’s situation the courage
that it took that girl to say I don’t
care cuz I mean I remember the media
coming in her I remember people
canceling her speaking negatively about
her why in the world you’re representing
the US I mean think about the pressure
that you’re representing all of us and
you’re going to give up and I just
remember seeing her look squarely into a
camera to do a news um little conference
that she was doing and she was just
saying and describing what the twisties
were and that she knew she could
decimate her entire career not to
mention the quality of her life with an
injury if she just kept going because
everybody else wanted her to exactly the
courage it takes to admit something is
out of balance here whether emotionally
spiritually even physically we can run
ourselves into the ground physically lit
in the in the in the name of ministry in
the name of ministry so it takes courage
what you’re saying is freeing somebody
up right now is what it’s doing because
the entire culture surrounding Us in
society but also so in Ministry is
hustle grind keep going all the way to
the end the end of yourself the end of
your physical health the end of your
family people are afraid in every way
but they feel like around them there’s
this constant pressure to keep going and
what you’re describing is Having the
courage to pause for a second take a
deep breath ask the Lord about the
season he has you in right now and then
trust that this is not a fruitless
season even though it might feel or seem
less wly productive right that the Lord
is using this as groundwork for what’s
coming next exactly exactly when you
talk about um the season of kind of just
waiting and you watch people people
around you are moving that this is so
random but here’s another story now I’m
I’m I’m aware of it now that you talking
about illustrations I you know I love
boats I love being on Water I love it so
much but that they took us to the engine
room because I was so intrigued about
how this thing actually works and they
got to this point where they showed us
in the engine room this automatic
automatic stabilizer system that that
that this yacht had and and bottom line
is that when waves hit it there was
something inside of it that shot water
out on the side that a wave hit on so
that would not capsize it was an
automated system that was built into it
but for that system to be built in it
had to go to dry dock it had to sit it
was made for the water but it had to sit
on the dry dock to get the system put in
it so it will not turn over when the
waves hit the the time that I have taken
off wow was my dry dock time while
everybody else is sailing and having the
greatest time but what got put in me
through work on my mental health on my
obviously my spiritual health are
stabilizer so when life’s waves are
hitting me I don’t not feel the wave but
I don’t capsize because uh Romans 828
will shoot out of my heart or
Philippians 1:6 will shoot out of my
heart on the other side while while the
scenarios are are hitting me hard so I
sh you need to know that I’m gonna steal
all of that I can assure you y’all read
this in a book I I told her the first
time I’ll give you credit after that the
Lord the Lord told me I said it was okay
I’m just saying yeah that’s kind of
that’s great people need to hear that
and out of you being at the dry dock a
whole new project a project that
wouldn’t have the depth it wouldn’t have
the creativity it wouldn’t have the
beauty and power that it’s going to have
in people’s lives if you hadn’t taken
time to just let the Lord stabilize you
okay we’re going to talk about the music
but I want to ask you one more question
because you mentioned specifically
mental health oh yeah and I I want to
sit here for just a few minutes and talk
to you about this because this has been
a big deal for you um and you have
invested in your mental health yes I
think that folks particularly in the
church it’s more and more um acceptable
now to discuss openly yes but um it
hasn’t been historically right so I
think you even discussing it now will
give somebody permission to realize they
can address their mental health how what
brought you to that point of realizing
uh I need just like I might get a
trainer to help me with my physical
health or a financial adviser to help me
because I want to plan and budget well
for retirement you’re like I need some
training somebody to gir me up in my
mental health what brought you to that
point and what have you done over the
course of more than a decade now yeah
yeah just walk through this yeah you you
mentioned the trainer the or the
somebody helping you with your finances
I liken it to a tutor in nth grade I had
the hardest time in math class I could
not understand Miss Simmons would be at
the board explaining this formula that
works every time and she had a book of
truths formula she was working out on
the board and I had my my AR my hand up
the whole class and finally she goes
Anthony in order for you to pass you’re
going to need tutoring and we have a
book of Truth here we have the formulas
that always work but you’re having a
hard time understanding these formulas
so in order I did not fail because I
admitted that I needed tutoring mental
health and therapy and working through
things it’s not saying that the Bible
doesn’t have the power or that you’re
you don’t trust the Lord it’s saying if
I read be anxious for nothing I need
tools to help me be anxious for nothing
because that’s not how do I do that how
do I do it and implementing those into
my life and and having to admit to
myself I think it’s hard for Christians
or people of Faith or people in
professional Ministry to admit I need
help but once I did that and people
started coming to my life who were
trained on a on
a in mental health yes and I got to tie
that into my faith that changed
everything I learned the art of being
kind to myself I learned about toxic
relationships and actually because of my
faith I was setting myself up and
getting into scenarios where I became a
victim of my own compassion because I
was forgiving and all that there comes a
point where you know like if my Apple my
MacBook breaks or something there comes
a point where the restart doesn’t work
you have to send it back to the
manufacturer because they know how to
fix it I wouldn’t send people back to
the manufacturer I would not turn them
back over to God I would still keep
trying to fix and fix and fix and that
was messing with my mind so I had to
learn I had to I mean those are just we
could talk about this forever but those
are just a few things and once I got rid
of toxic relationships once I started
being kind to myself once I admitted
that I needed tutoring uh you know
tutoring that changed everything that
was a major part of the Revival in my
heart and it I know it can be a major
part of the viewers Revival in their
their hearts of having tools to help
them yes so you’re not saying any of
that for you displaced or removed the
pracy of the Bible of prayer of faith
all those things you’re just saying
here’s what I know to be true now I’m
going to take this to someone so that
they can have a conversation with me on
the practical way to live in light of
what I just read practical way to live
in light of my faith that that’s where
the how does 2 plus two equal four in
this next 24 hours of my actual day
exactly exactly and um I remember just
having to clear things out of my life
when we were growing up our mom who we
love so much she’s the the best cook she
just would cook stuff but I remember she
would not come place things on the table
if I had my homework and like Twinkies
or whatever on the table dinner dinner
would be I know just random snacks
because I ate too much but she would
keep the she would not um serve the
dinner until I cleared the table until I
cleared and set the table clear the
table off y’all set the table yes and so
me working on my mental health I believe
that happens a lot with the Lord he has
something fresh for us but we have
clouded up our lives with so much and
clearing the table of my heart my
emotions my life I got things placed in
front of me that now make it so much
easier because that were prepared for
you they were prepared to give to you
but you had to clear the space so you
could receive them yes and when I didn’t
clear the space for our mother the meal
would get cold and when you don’t clear
the space in your life for what God has
for you what he has piping hot and ready
can start to cool down you may miss some
of those things so that’s also part of
revive is and and part of mental health
and everything is just kind of clearing
out all the Clutter and allowing God to
place something there he had for me and
every time I clear he places something
down so now it’s easy I’m like okay okay
right because he has because you have a
track record that he’s faithful and he’s
good he’s faithful and he’s kind and
just in case anybody’s discouraged
because in that last illustration you
mentioned you know waiting too long the
meal gets cold God’s grace and mercy is
so sufficient that it is retroactive yep
that he’s like don’t worry about that I
got a good whole microwave system back
here or I’ll do something better that’s
what God does nothing is lost with him
and out of this season of your life of a
lot of hard work because I I don’t want
anybody to think you were sitting at the
dry dock just like enjoying the sunrise
no you no no uhuh you you’ve done a lot
of had a lot of hard conversations with
therapists with your family with the
people close to you that you can be
authentic and vulnerable with a lot of
hard conversations a lot of Tears a lot
of struggle as you try to contend with
the word of God and what it is that he
wants you to do and and then the
creativity that God so he’s so good that
in Seasons where we feel like nothing is
happening all of a sudden you start to
see through the dry cracks of life just
little bits little glimpses of growth
and Greenery and like the Lord’s saying
I’m still here I got it some Good’s
coming out of this and now we have
revive yeah yeah it’s such a good record
Anthony thank you we’ve had I keep
saying record does that date mean we
still it’s it’s kind of a throwback term
you know what I mean record album you
what what do you call it an album what
do the artist call it yeah an album
record we say that body of work a new
body of work that sounds so official
it’s a little over over the top the
thing is I’m glad you mentioned that
because it is a body of work and in this
day and age where everybody’s
downloading one song here one song there
what I see in revive is a story that you
have told from beginning to end and I
think when someone grabs hold of the
whole story there’s a Revival that’s
going to take place in them because
they’ll see the trajectory of where you
were headed from point A to point B
what’s what was the creative process for
you like as you were writing these songs
and then thinking about um musically how
to get them together and prepare them
what is the process like for producing a
record like this it is I I love that at
home connected feeling you know how I
just I love to be with family and
friends so the process to me starts at
my house with with my friends who are
wildly talented that that they are the
musicians I get to work with and the
writers are just wildly talented so some
of these songs started in just honest
conversation about me talking about like
there’s a song called even if and I was
talking about I had to make a choice at
one point when the healing didn’t look
the way that we would choose would I
worship him even if he didn’t allow that
to happen and I was talking to my friend
about that and then the song even if
came out of that because I know that
there are people who are like I have to
make a decision at some point if God
does not in map this out the way that I
had intended or the way I I thought am I
going to worship him when circumstances
don’t look like what I want them to so
that’s the it just convers the songs
come out of honest conversations and
stuff like that I try not to go like
okay now we’re gonna formulate an album
It’s not that it just it’s just out of
life out of the struggle over the last
year the song about our our mom for
instance I was I was asked to write a
song for a movie um a BET movie I had
got to produce the music for that and um
Sons were singing to their mother in the
movie and the actress um walked to me me
right after she sang I mean s right
after after she she was in the scene
with tears in her eyes and she goes I
know you don’t know that I know the
story of your mother but she is so proud
and every lyric you just wrote was for
your mom and I felt it wow then I
finished the song for our mom cuz I was
writing it for a movie but she was like
no you weren’t no you weren’t so that’s
how that song got birthed so it’s been a
lot of a lot of scenarios like that
where um you know you mention that song
even if which I’ve heard many times now
and every time you have sung in front of
a an audience that has been gathered I
mean it’s like they can’t help but to
stand up in response to this reality
that it’s a play it’s a throwback to the
Hebrew boys um in the Book of Daniel
basically we believe our God can but
even if he
don’t we’ve still made a decision our
Allegiance is to Yahweh and Yahweh alone
and you’ve we’ve had to live that out
like Lord we’re praying in this
direction Not only would this be
wonderful for us if you would answer
with Mom and with others like Lord if
you would answer this way um but also
it’d be good for you like like we’ll
make sure we do all the things to give
you the glory like you yeah you will
really be glorified Lord if you will do
it this way in our timing the way we
would want you to but then being able to
move the needle of your prayer too but
even if even if your will doesn’t look
like what we would prefer we have
decided that for me and my house what we
going to do is we going to serve the
Lord that’s a hard truth to swallow even
if you love the Lord that’s a hard truth
to swallow but as you mentioned when the
audience starts to engage it makes the
truth easier for me to swallow like when
I’m when I’m watching them join in that
because everybody has their even if
scenario if you are alive you have a
scenario where you’re like God if you
don’t I got to make a decision I’m going
to still worship I think when we
collectively come together authentically
like that that is what propels us for in
our faith is and that’s what the again
the album is about is US experiencing
this together this isn’t a yeah this
isn’t a performance album I do some kind
of other kind of music ain’t nobody got
time for that we could be doing
something different was performance if
it was about performance yeah so that’s
that’s what it is and that’s I think
when people are responding to to music
or to a message they’re hearing the
response like we were talking about
people standing it’s almost like
testimony when I see somebody else stand
I see oh I’m not the only
that has gone through a hard thing or
that has had to make this decision to to
push past my feelings to choose
allegiance to God despite what’s
happening in my life it’s just not me
other folks are with me and like me and
like you said there’s encouragement in
that yes and that’s a powerful thing
that we we do at your events you have
people stand up who’ve experienced
Deliverance in a certain area and pray
over others and for some people them at
at fervent events that is their moment
they see somebody next to them stand up
having having experienced deliverance
and they know they’re not alone that’s
the that’s what this album is is about
exactly what what you said can you
narrow down three things that you feel
like God taught you during the M how
long did it take you to make the album
it’s been a year a little over a year
all right that’s just so important for
people to hear yeah yeah yeah it wasn’t
like last week we decided that yeah last
week we put a little record together no
it’s a year process probably before that
pen to paper but then getting in the
studio recording making sure that all
the tracks are right because you’re
involved in every level of production of
every song that you produce you’re not
just like singing into a mic and then
going home all of the balancing of
everything all of the singers arranging
all of the notes of all of those details
that’s you yeah so this is a year
process um where you’re still living
through this year you’re working on a
project but you’re living through this
year so can you look back over the
course of the Arc of that year and
pinpoint three things two or three
things while you were recording God was
teaching you this oh my goodness there’s
so there’s so so many things while I was
recording I mean I guess what what I
mentioned one of the things that I
mentioned of him being able to take your
leftovers and make them into something
beautiful I’d have moments along the way
where we’d finish the vocal for a song I
and I would remember how I felt a few
years ago thinking that there is no way
that he could be working any of this
together for my good there’s no and when
that vocal finished him being like yes I
can like in that
moment so that that’s one thing that
that he taught me but what it took me uh
is doing what I could and then God would
do do what I can’t that’s right he
magnifies your effort
so Daddy and we were little would walk
up behind me during Little League
baseball and grab the bat and I was
hitting nothing and daddy walked up
behind me and grabbed the baseball bat
he didn’t tell me to walk away he
grabbed the bat over my hands and all of
a sudden I became Babe Ruth yeah he
magnified my effort that is one of the
things that God taught me is you have to
do what you can and I will wrap my arms
around your circumstance and magnify
your effort and you’ll go from striking
out to home runs because you’re putting
you’re doing what you can but asking
inviting me into your circumstance so
that yeah that was wildly wildly huge he
taught me um briefly uh when it to
setbacks in your life like in my career
I’ve had setbacks a long time ago when
it wasn’t gospel and contemporary were
so split and separate and everything and
I felt very kind of alone in figuring it
out he taught me that alone time that
you fig you feeling alone was because I
wanted to set you up to be
self-sufficient and to produce things I
wanted I had events with your family in
mind that I needed you to know this for
and the only way you would know how to
do this is if things didn’t work out for
you and everybody was handing you
everything in your life so the setbacks
the current setbacks are set setups that
was a big a big huge okay I’m okay I’m
posi here cuz you’re saying so many
incredible things and I don’t want
anybody to miss what it is you’re
describing
because when you talk about the early
points in your career you were in the
middle of Two Worlds Of Music you’re not
quite gospel enough to be in the gospel
right industry you’re not quite CCM
enough to be you know in that radio play
of all of those so you’re some more in
the middle and you’re floundering and
you’re all by yourself and this is years
we’re talking about where you’re laying
the groundwork of writing music and
producing music and you’re signed with a
label and all of that but it just seems
to be sort of floundering so this is
lonely this is frustrating yes you’re
just feeling discouraged because all
this work but you don’t feel like
there’s fruit from the investment you’re
making right years later you look back
and realize that because you had to do
so much alone it actually prepared in
you not only the character but the plain
old Flatout skill cuz you had to produce
so much by yourself right that now you
have the skill to write whole records to
stand there and balance all the vocals
to Think Through how am I going to make
sure that people know the record exists
so that they can grab hold of it into
their own life you know all that because
of those hard years right I do want to
talk about Mom okay we we’ve brought Mom
up several times already um but for many
people who who don’t know what happened
with our mother just kind of walk them
quickly through that and then what song
on this album that was birthed out of
that yeah um our mom beautiful Regal you
know like a like a queen’s pres she grew
up in British Guyana so there was that
part of her culture the British part but
she’s also just a refined human being in
general um dedicated her life to
Ministry supporting our dad people here
know the name Dr Tony Evans and they
know Dr Lois Evans but they don’t know
that our mother underg gured every
aspect of our death um he he’s brilliant
but there was just plates being spun
everywhere and she would spin them and
catch them as they fall so um while
raising while raising four of us which
is so confusing to me how how that was
even possible now that I’m watching
y’all raise I’m just lost but um she got
diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and
we were told like in in a very dramatic
way our dad breaking into tears we don’t
see him do that often because he we we
saw him hopeless which we don’t see him
ever or just not hopeless but not
knowing what the solution could told
there are no longer any solutions for
this yeah that that was a hard hard
thing to see but we had about nine
months to literally say goodbye to our
mother believing that whole time so um
I the my gratitude for her it’s kind of
this this whole thing of hindsights 2020
which is um the the song on this album
is an encouragement to those who still
have their moms to thank them to gloat
over them our mom wanted to make sure
that mothers weren’t unseen women in
Ministry weren’t unseen pastor’s wives
that was her desire so my desire in
doing this song was to obviously thank
our mom but literally encourage the
audience to thinkk there are so many
things that I promise you you will
figure out later she was doing to keep
you covered and to keep that’s right you
have an opportunity to thank her now and
I that that’s what I want to do I wanted
to say thank you to our mom um and I
think about her obviously multiple times
a day and see another Nuance of like she
was doing this too this is crazy but um
in in her it’s like one of the ways I
figured out a a way to work on Grief was
to do things in the now to honor her and
her Legacy that helps you grieve um to
change that energy into that and that’s
what that’s what this song is um uh as
as related to being dedicated to her is
is to kind of so when someone outside of
that particular song when someone grabs
hold of this project that you’ve spent a
year of your life plus really investing
in and honestly it’s just a year in the
production process because honestly this
has been years in the world as you’ve
worked through and walked through hard
things regular life things but also
difficult hard things you’ve had to
struggle through right so it’s been a
big process for you to put this record
together when someone grabs hold of it
and incorporates it into the playlist of
their life what are you hoping they walk
away with I’m hoping more than anything
that they they walk away with hope they
walk away with not feeling alone and and
they walk away knowing that again when
you do what you can God will magnify it
and you can do what you can’t that’s
that’s and it’s all wrapped in
excellence we want that to be the thing
and to enjoy it but this is about having
hope um coming from a a guy that’s been
broken and has a bunch of issues but God
has seems to take those issues and
rearrange them and make them into
something like this that that’s that’s
the objective and I just think we need
to pray about um how the Lord’s going to
use this music in people’s lives to
change us to challenge us and to
encourage us to keep on going for his
glory I will I will I love it um Lord we
are so grateful for your promises to us
we are so grateful for your promises to
us and more than that for the fact that
you do not break your promises to us for
the heart at home who needs a a personal
Revival that needs to come back to life
we ask right now that you would meet
them there that you would give them
glimmers of hope that you would open
their eyes to the things that you are
currently doing while they’re in this
dry season that are preparing them for
what you ultim have for them God I pray
that you would help us to corporately
make the decision that even if scenarios
don’t look the way that we are asking
for them to look that we will lift our
hands and that we will sing again that
you are good to us that you are so good
to us yes Lord God remind us that when
we do what we can you will do what we
cannot you will continue to work all
things together for our good um God that
you can do exceedingly abundantly more
in the life of every viewer in the life
of us here than we could ask or imagine
but that’s according to the power that
is within us so for every time the enemy
tries to distract us from the power that
is within us I pray God that you would
pluck our pluck our hearts out of that
scenario remind us God that he is trying
to distract us from our power so that we
cannot experience exceedingly abundantly
more and get us back on track we are so
grateful for you open our eyes to what
you are doing when we feel like there is
nothing happening in our lives for every
viewer again God I pray that you would
cover their heart in your hope in Jesus
right now we love you for all that you
do we love you for the fact that you
take our scenarios and bring them back
to
life we give you all the honor we give
you the glory in your name we pray in
Jesus name amen amen
amen