Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Camille McKenzie
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000152A
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00:01 Stay tuned to meet a woman who has overcome adversity
00:03 and teaches others to do so too. 00:05 My name is Yvonne Lewis 00:07 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:33 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:35 My guest today is Camille McKenzie, 00:37 Lifestyle Coach and Author of 00:40 "Long Journey to Freedom: 00:41 Seven Steps to Confidence and Joy. " 00:44 Welcome to Urban Report Camille. 00:46 Thank you Yvonne for having me, it's a pleasure. 00:48 Oh, it's so great to have you, you know, 00:51 first I met you at the event that "True Health TV" had 00:57 which is a wonderful... 00:59 it is an affiliate of Dare to Dream, 01:01 in Atlanta and you and your husband 01:04 sat at our table with Jason and me, 01:06 and you told me you had written a book 01:09 but then you sent the book to me 01:12 and you sent the Trailer about the book 01:15 and before we really get into our interview, 01:18 I really would like for our Viewers 01:20 to see the Trailer, so they can kind of have a sense 01:23 of what the book is about 01:26 and then we'll talk about your journey. 01:27 Let's take a look at the Trailer. 01:29 Okay, Yvonne. 01:31 Music playing... 01:35 Locked Behind Bars 01:40 Locked Behind Bars of Mental Imprisonment 01:48 for 27 years. 01:55 But then the Son came and changed her life. 02:01 She has never been the same! 02:05 The Son took her out of prison. 02:09 By showing her the way to freedom. 02:13 He can do the same for you. 02:18 Are you locked behind bars of insecurity, 02:21 self-doubt and shame? 02:24 Are you living the life of your dreams? 02:26 Or is fear stopping you? 02:29 Do you want more joy, peace, love 02:32 and confidence in your life? 02:33 The power of choice. 02:38 The power of truth. 02:40 The power of thoughts. 02:43 The power of words. 02:46 The power of gratitude. 02:50 The power of contentment. 02:53 the Power of love. 02:56 Join Camille Mckenzie on a journey... 03:00 A journey to freedom. 03:06 Long Journey to Freedom. 03:12 She will show you the way to freedom. 03:19 www. longjourneytofreedom. com 03:26 music 03:32 Available at Amazon. com 03:38 What a lovely Promo... 03:43 Thank you Yvonne. 03:45 Lovely, and I... 03:47 as I read your book, 03:48 and I got a sense of your journey, 03:51 I thought, 03:53 "Well, this is so good" this is... 03:55 you have some very interesting things 03:58 that have happened to you, 03:59 let's talk a little bit about your journey. 04:03 So, as a child, what was going on in your life? 04:07 You start... you talk in the book about 04:08 drinking a poison and how the poison was... you know... 04:13 your father drank, and your grandfather drank, 04:15 what poison are you talking about? 04:17 The terminology of "poison" 04:20 is to really indicate to the reader that 04:22 what I am about to talk about 04:24 is something that can cause death, 04:25 it's lethal and the death that I'm talking 04:27 about is psychological 04:29 but sometimes takes a form of where it's physical 04:32 and what happened to me is that from ten years old, 04:35 I started to experience extreme bullying at school. 04:38 I think the skies of inferiority had already started to 04:42 wash over me, 04:43 I already started to sense that within my little young mind 04:47 I think, just growing up 04:49 and looking at other people, comparing myself to them, 04:51 and just... not feeling that I was good enough, 04:53 but the poison ultimately was in school, 04:56 in school I was teased mercilessly about who I was 05:00 and thinking about that 05:02 and reflecting upon that each day that it was happening 05:05 just made me feel like 05:06 I was just this "complete nothing" 05:09 that God had created an absolute loser, 05:11 and I didn't deserve to be on earth 05:13 and so, at a young age I really wanted to take my life, 05:17 I didn't have the courage to do so, 05:19 but I wanted to, because the poison was 05:21 "you're not good enough, how God created you, 05:24 is absolutely wrong, and you need to know that" 05:27 and so I believed it. 05:28 You know, the whole situation with bullying 05:33 is so intense, I think that as adults, 05:36 and if we don't have young children, 05:39 we can minimize the impact of bullying, 05:43 but bullying is so prevalent and it's so damaging 05:47 and it's so impactful, 05:49 it can impact you for the rest of your life. 05:51 Amen... amen... 05:53 So, how did you navigate through that, 05:56 Camille, what did you do during those years to deal with that? 06:00 Great question, I did nothing, 06:02 I internalized it, 06:04 I sat silently each day as it was happening, 06:07 and I just assumed that 06:09 this was the way it was supposed to be. 06:10 Actually, I deserved it, you know, I was ugly, 06:13 I didn't look good and God created me to be a loser 06:16 so why not just accept what was happening to me, 06:19 so it continued to happen 06:20 because I didn't do anything about it 06:22 and at the end of the day, Yvonne, 06:24 I think, one of the messages that God 06:26 wants to really get through to those who read the book is 06:29 this, "Bullying is not a small issue, 06:32 it is a serious issue because as you said, 06:34 it has an impact that can last for long years to come. " 06:39 It is that studies have been done 06:41 in which people who have been studied, 06:44 they realize until 50-years old or older, 06:47 they are still dealing with the mental and emotional scars 06:50 of bullying and physical scars as well, 06:53 because your body starts to experience different stresses 06:56 because of what they're experiencing 06:58 so bullying is not a small issue, 07:00 and I think the two things I want to highlight about it 07:03 is this... the first is the psychological death 07:05 that's the poison that I alluded to earlier, 07:08 the psychological death 07:09 of not feeling that you're good enough, 07:12 psychological death of being in a sense 07:14 someone who's living but really dead, 07:17 I don't want to live my life, 07:18 I'm here but I'm kind of 07:20 taking up space, that's where I was, 07:21 I'm just going through life every single day 07:23 doing what it is that I'm "supposed" to do 07:26 but I don't deserve to be here, 07:28 that was the mental space that I was in 07:30 and so, the psychological death 07:32 for someone who's bullied, that is really real, 07:34 you're not living your life, 07:36 the second thing as well is 07:37 that suicide is often very prevalent 07:40 for those who are bullied, 07:42 the other day I saw a startling statistic, 07:44 you're talking about, 07:45 it is the fourth leading cause of death, suicide that is... 07:49 among people who are... from the ages of ten to fourteen 07:52 and then also, 07:53 it is the third leading cause of death 07:55 for those who are in the age group from 15- to 24-years old 07:59 so this is serious, 08:01 God is seeing people who are precious in His sight, 08:04 created in His image, 08:05 but are not understanding who they are 08:08 and, therefore, are living lives that are really "dead. " 08:11 Oh, there are so many things that I can ask you from that. 08:15 How did your family deal with this whole thing, 08:21 did they know what was going on 08:23 how did you... was it being reinforced at home? 08:25 How did you deal with that at home? 08:28 Good question, I didn't say anything. 08:31 Is that often the case with kids that are being bullied? 08:35 Yeah, you're silent and parents don't know about it 08:38 until... sometimes it's too late. 08:39 In my case, I hardly said anything about anything 08:43 much less bullying, I was very quiet 08:46 and just introverted and so with the bullying, 08:48 that was no different, I said nothing 08:50 and the only way that my parents found out 08:53 about it particularly my mom, 08:54 was she found the letter that I wrote, 08:56 and she saw in that letter details in which... 08:59 I indicated that she wanted to take my life, 09:01 she saw a knife in the picture, and she realized, 09:04 "Oh my gosh, this is happening" 09:05 she spoke to me about it, I told her what I was thinking 09:09 and she just assured me that "Camille, you're beautiful, 09:13 you don't need to think about ending your life" 09:17 but I still felt the way that I felt inside, 09:20 the healing wasn't there. 09:21 You know, when you think about the passages that we go through, 09:26 in childhood, 09:28 going on into adulthood, and you think about 09:31 all of the natural feelings of inferiority, 09:34 lack of self-confidence, 09:36 that a teenager kind of automatically feels, 09:39 and then you compound that with the bullying, 09:42 that has got to be it's, as you said, 09:47 it's leading to suicide, Right. 09:49 and often we hear on the News about this young person 09:54 was bullied 09:55 and they committed suicide 09:57 Right, right, right, hmmm... hmmm... 09:58 and you wanted... you know, you think, 10:01 "Wow! is it that bad, can it be that bad?" 10:03 And obviously it is, obviously it is... 10:06 day after day after day, being told that you're nothing 10:11 that has got to be so painful. 10:14 It is Yvonne, you know, the thing with bullying is this, 10:18 when we think about what the Bible says 10:20 that death and life is in the power of the tongue, 10:23 that is a pretty powerful statement 10:25 we often think with words... that words are just "words" 10:27 and so when we think of bullying, 10:29 "Stick and stones may break my bones 10:31 but words will never hurt me" 10:32 so when we hear about bullying, 10:34 and we say, "that's a side issue, 10:35 come on now, get over that, 10:36 were talking about that, it's just a little thing" 10:39 but God doesn't recognize it as that, 10:41 when He sees the impact that that is having on young lives 10:45 and that, not just the lives of a young person 10:48 but ultimately they are going into adulthood with these issues 10:52 that the dreams and the passion that He has for their lives, 10:55 the purpose that He has for their lives, 10:56 that ultimately can be aborted 10:58 because of how they see themselves, 11:00 God says, "You know what, I want this to be an issue 11:03 that is recognized as serious" 11:05 and ultimately, 11:07 I believe that part of the calling of God in life, 11:09 is to take that particular message to the world, 11:12 it's to say, at the end of the day 11:14 whether you are a young child, or whether you are an adult, 11:18 your words have incredible power, 11:20 you have the power to be able to speak life... 11:23 in the life of other people, or you have the opportunity 11:25 to also speak something else which is that, 11:27 God says, "Choose life, 11:29 speak life in those in whom you meet" 11:31 and the world will begin to blossom 11:33 into a place in which all of us 11:34 can feel a greater sense of hope, resiliency and love. 11:38 Come on now, I love that, I love that, 11:41 you know, as I listen to you Camille, 11:45 you have taken this adversity, this pain, 11:49 and God has allowed you to transform that into a purpose 11:55 from pain to purpose, Amen. 11:58 so now, you are on fire about delivering 12:02 this message of wholeness 12:04 and is that what inspired you to write this book? 12:08 How did you get inspired to write the book? 12:10 Great question, 12:11 the inspiration came from the One who gives, ultimately... 12:16 inspiration and calling, 12:17 my God and great Savior, Jesus Christ, 12:20 when I felt the impression of the Spirit to write the book, 12:24 I'm like, "Oh God, I could write but not necessarily about me" 12:27 you know, but, I understood, 12:30 when the impression came to write the book, "why" 12:32 I understood that lives needed to be saved, 12:35 I understood that calling... 12:37 some people's lives needed to be lived, 12:39 I understood that there are many people 12:42 who are going to their graves, 12:43 in a way in which they are dying, 12:45 and... they are dying empty, 12:47 and some of them are dying full, 12:48 but in the end their grave is the wealthiest place 12:51 on the planet, because so many people, 12:53 who found themselves in a place where they're limited within, 12:57 they do not know their own power, 12:59 they do not understand the power which God has given them, 13:02 and so they go through lives as I said, "dead men walking" 13:06 not living the lives that God has called them to live, 13:09 so the inspiration ultimately came from God, 13:11 and from that, 13:13 I decided that I wanted to see young girls around the world 13:17 rise up and see themselves as how God sees them. 13:20 Yes, and it's so important 13:22 to have a different picture of ourselves 13:25 than the one the enemy tries to plant within our heads, 13:30 Amen. and in this Society, 13:31 there is such an emphasis on how you look 13:36 and what color you are and all of these things, 13:40 that should not play into it but they do 13:44 and we internalize that Right. 13:47 and then we're just kind of stuck in this morass of pain 13:53 so, the Holy Spirit inspired you to take your pain 13:57 and make it your purpose, and that's what you're doing 14:02 how would you... 14:04 if you were talking to the "Camille" of fifteen, 14:09 what would you say to her? 14:12 I would have so much to say to her 14:14 the book ultimately... is what I would say to "me" 14:17 and that's why, "Long Journey to Freedom" 14:20 was ultimately written, 14:22 I believe God wanted me to use the pain that I had experienced, 14:25 to help someone else, 14:26 so if there is one young girl out there 14:28 that would pick up that book and say, 14:30 "My gosh, I don't want to go where she was 14:33 27 years for life, 14:36 I want that shortcut, I'm going to read that book. " 14:40 Talk to her, talk to her in that camera, 14:41 "Young lady, young girl, wherever you are in the world, 14:44 what I say to you is, 14:45 first and foremost understand who you are, 14:48 that your Creator has called you beautiful 14:50 that your Creator has called you blessed 14:53 and that He wants you to pick up a mirror, 14:55 a mirror that is not found on earth 14:57 but a mirror that has been built in heaven 14:59 it's called the 'Word of God,' 15:01 and He wants you to search it daily 15:03 to understand who you are and whose you are, 15:06 once you do that 15:07 you'll no longer struggle with who you are. " 15:11 That is so good, and if young men and women 15:16 could just internalize "whose" they are as well, 15:20 that they belong to the Lord and that God has a plan for them 15:25 often on this Program, Camille, we talk about Jeremiah 29:11 15:29 that's like my favorite, my new favorite verse, I think, 15:34 because I allude to it all the time 15:36 about God's thoughts toward us, 15:38 thoughts of peace and not of evil to give us... 15:41 in NIV it says, "a future and a hope" 15:44 and in the King James, it is, "to give us an expected end" 15:49 and so, that says, there is a plan 15:51 and no one can fulfill that plan for you, 15:58 you were created to do that, and once you find that, 16:02 you have found... your divine purpose. 16:05 Tell us what it feels like now as compared to where you were. 16:10 Words can't express it, 16:13 it is the most powerful place on earth to be in. 16:17 I wish this for every single person on the planet, 16:20 that whatever it is that God has called them to do, 16:23 that they would find themselves 16:25 right in the middle of that purpose 16:27 because once you live in that purpose, 16:30 there is a peace that surpasses all understanding, 16:34 there is a joy that grips your soul, 16:36 that allows you to live life with passion 16:39 and just with a sense of just... 16:41 "Thank God I am here I can't wait for the next day" 16:45 I want that for others, 16:47 I want them to dream a bigger dream for themselves 16:50 because ultimately God has dreamed it for them. 16:53 I like the way you said, "God's dream for us" 16:56 because God has His own plan for us, 17:00 and Satan has a plan, and God has a plan, 17:03 Satan's plan is to take you from here 17:06 and spiral you downward and destroy you 17:09 but God's plan is to lift us up 17:12 and to give us the abundant life through Jesus Christ 17:15 and what a difference, Satan kind of lured you 17:19 with different things just to bait you, 17:21 get you into the trap and then... take you down. 17:25 It's amazing, but God has this way 17:30 of taking the darkest times 17:32 and bringing something out of that 17:35 and you know... you know that... first hand 17:38 because you went through another very dark time 17:41 after the bullying, tell us about that. 17:43 Yeah, oh yeah, 17:45 wow! two times that I never would have expected, 17:47 was that, my young husband at 34-years old, 17:51 one morning got up 17:53 and just started to complain that he wasn't feeling too well 17:56 that was not normal so I took that to be 17:59 something very serious, long story short, 18:01 what ended up happening, Yvonne, at 7:38 on November 14, 2009, 18:06 I was told that my husband, at that time, was dead, 18:10 and that was 18:12 one of the most devastating experiences of my entire life 18:15 because I loved him so much, 18:17 we were college sweethearts and he meant the world to me 18:22 and I honestly did not believe that I could live without him, 18:26 I thought that I would ultimately 18:28 not be able to survive it, but God... 18:31 Yvonne: But God... Camille: But God. 18:33 And it just happened all of a sudden? 18:35 All of a sudden, no warning... nothing... 18:37 what he died of was something that is considered 18:41 a silent part of a heart attack 18:44 when you have a silent coronary disease, 18:47 and it was just... one time it happened... 18:49 and that was it, 18:51 and the time that it happened, it took his life. 18:53 Other people may get other opportunities 18:56 to live through it, he did not, 18:57 and so, my world was devastated by that completely 19:02 without hope as to how I was going to get through it, 19:07 but God stepped in, and reminded me who He was 19:11 and His ability to help me, and so I remember 19:14 just praying in my living room and telling God, 19:18 "God, I don't know, I see nothing around me 19:21 but a complete darkness, 19:22 but, I know that you can take this broken heart 19:26 and continue, you can take this broken life 19:29 and you can make something out of it" 19:31 and He has. 19:33 Amen, amen, so, your response to the dark time 19:38 was not to draw away from God, 19:41 but it was to draw closer to Him. 19:44 Did you find comfort and peace during that time? 19:49 How did it manifest? 19:50 I certainly did, my message to people everywhere 19:54 is ultimately this... that if you are not connected 19:58 to the God of the universe, 19:59 I pray that you will become connected to Him 20:02 because, if you're not going through a storm now, 20:05 you ultimately will, 20:06 and there is no way that you can endure that 20:09 without the power of God, because He brought me through it 20:14 and He knew ten months later 20:16 I was going to be dealing with something else, 20:18 and that was the loss of my dad, 20:20 ten months later, my dad died of Pancreatic Cancer 20:24 and two months prior to that when I got the diagnosis, 20:27 I was just completely just not here... 20:31 it was like, "How is this happening God, 20:34 I lost my husband, and now my dad?" 20:37 But the reality was that God stepped in again 20:40 and His ability, through particularly His words 20:44 to just reassures you that you can get through this, 20:47 is amazing, so, at the end of the day 20:50 what I would say to people is this... 20:52 God makes it clear in His Word 20:54 that "My power is made perfect in your weakness" 20:58 so I will boast of my weakness 21:00 so that the power of Christ rests on me. 21:04 Yes, yes, and look at God, look at how God... 21:09 in spite of the dark time, and He always does this, 21:13 in the wilderness period, you know, 21:16 we wouldn't... when you look back on it, 21:18 you wouldn't trade the closeness with God for anything, 21:21 you don't want to go through the wilderness, obviously, 21:25 but when you're there, once you've gone through it, 21:28 you look back and you say, "Wow! God held me up, 21:32 He held me up through that dark time" 21:35 and then you lost your husband, you lost your dad, 21:39 but when your dad was being cared for, 21:42 tell us about the young man who was caring for your dad. 21:46 Oh, God is great, He is good, 21:50 this is ultimately the story of my life, 21:52 is His greatness, to bring you through anything 21:55 but also to bring some powerful, positive great things 21:58 along with it, Yes, yes. 22:00 and so, throughout my experience with taking care of my dad, 22:02 they talked about bringing in an Alternative Healer 22:07 to work on him, He was at this point, Yvonne, 22:10 where literally it was... there was no hope, 22:13 he was going to die. 22:14 Pancreatic Cancer is very serious 22:16 and it works very quickly. 22:18 You got it, you absolutely got it right 22:20 and it did in his case, so we saw that happening 22:23 but my dad still had hope, 22:24 he was a man of faith and he said, 22:26 "You know what, I want to try whatever 22:28 there still is out there" 22:29 so, my parents called around 22:31 and found that there was this "Alternative Healer" 22:35 that he was a Medical Missionary, 22:37 I had no idea what that was 22:39 because I wasn't an Adventist so I was clueless. 22:41 Oh you weren't an Adventist at this point? 22:43 No, I was a Methodist at that point so, I'm just like, 22:46 "Okay, let's see what this turns out to be" 22:48 very skeptical and ultimately God did something amazing 22:53 I found myself working with him and taking care of my dad, 22:57 and starting to feel feelings... could it be love? 23:03 And so, I started falling in love with him 23:06 and he was as well, and ultimately we got married. 23:09 Now, look at God, and even in the midst of the 23:13 hardest times, He stepped in 23:16 and showed His love for you 23:18 by providing a "Houseband" for you. 23:22 Yes, yes, He provided sunshine in the midst of storm 23:25 and I think that's what I love about God 23:28 is that He is so redemptive, 23:30 He has a power to be able to take the things of life 23:33 that aren't too pleasant and make lemonade out of it. 23:36 Yes. So I love Him for that, 23:37 and I love His ability to bring us through 23:39 to help us to know that, "You know what, 23:41 there are always sunny days ahead. " 23:42 Absolutely, and another thing is so great about God 23:45 since we're just praising Him right now 23:48 another thing is, He can make one move 23:50 and accomplish several things with one move. 23:53 Like your dad... was getting somewhat better, 23:57 during that time, and then, 23:59 He also... God brought you a husband, 24:01 He knew what you needed, Yes. 24:03 you know the two main men in your life, 24:06 had been removed, and God sent you 24:09 another husband and what a blessing, 24:12 what a blessing. 24:14 Amen, and you know Yvonne, 24:16 I wouldn't have chosen that path for myself 24:18 because after my first husband, I was going to remain a widow, 24:21 I just believed that there was no other man on the earth 24:24 that could eclipse him... that could surpass who he was 24:27 but God ended up proving me wrong. 24:30 Amen. I'm glad He did. 24:32 God is good, so, let's just get back 24:37 to the seven steps in that long journey toward freedom. 24:41 What are those seven steps, just give us a little hint 24:45 of each one and whoa, our time is running out 24:48 I can't believe it, our time is running out, 24:50 so just give us a little taste of what are those seven steps. 24:54 All right, the seven steps are pretty much proven to work. 24:57 The first is thinking about the power of choice. 25:01 When we talk about choice, we often don't realize that 25:04 this is something that's often taken for granted 25:07 but in every situation in life, you have the power to choose 25:10 whether or not you will make that situation 25:12 a great one or whether or not you're going to deteriorate 25:14 that experience into a negative one. 25:16 Then there's the power of thought 25:18 where... how do you think about 25:20 whatever events are happening in your life, 25:22 is it in a way that is going to lead to life 25:24 or is it in a way that is going to lead to death. 25:26 Then you have the power of words. 25:28 The words in which we speak, I talk about that... 25:30 obviously my experience with bullying, 25:32 that that has incredible power, not only just who you're like 25:36 but the lives of other people, 25:37 and then we have the power of gratitude. 25:40 Gratitude can cure a multitude of ills, 25:43 it can make you sing in times of great darkness 25:46 it is one of the most powerful forces on the planet 25:49 and there are many others, I don't know if we have time 25:52 to talk about the others, We do. 25:54 Okay, all right, and in regards to the other ones, 25:57 the power of contentment, 25:59 being able to realize at the end of the day 26:01 that what is... is what is... 26:03 I can still soar, I can still look for other ways 26:05 in which my life can be better, 26:07 but in the meantime, I can be able to say, 26:09 "God, thank you for where I am today. " 26:11 So, the power of love, 26:13 that is one of the powers that is the most purest 26:16 and fondest to my heart, because I believe that 26:18 as Dionne Warwick said, 26:20 "What the world needs is love sweet love" 26:22 when we have that love, 26:24 we can be able to bring people and ourselves 26:27 to a place that is just higher, 26:28 we live life higher, we're encouraged 26:31 and we are the ones who bring healing to the world. 26:33 So that is my message, 26:35 my message is that we have these powers, 26:38 these seven powers, 26:39 that can cure a multitude of ills. 26:42 Oh, that's incredible, and you are taking that... 26:46 that message to churches and wherever you're invited. 26:50 Right, right, right. 26:52 You want people to invite you to come 26:53 and share this message with their churches, 26:56 how can they reach you? 26:57 if you want to reach me, just go to: 27:00 www. longjourneytofreedom. com or 27:02 info@longjourneytofreedom. com 27:04 and I would love for you to go there 27:06 because I have a free offer for you, 27:08 so those of you 27:09 who would like to be coached by me 27:10 in terms of weight loss and just mind, body and spirit, 27:13 I would love to work with you, so contact me. 27:16 Oh great, so there's a free offer, 27:18 they can consult with you? 27:21 Absolutely, they will have that, 27:23 I would love to have the privilege of working with them. 27:25 Praise the Lord, well, thank you so much, 27:27 thank you so much for sharing your journey with us, 27:31 and for being transparent and just letting us know 27:34 what God has brought you through. 27:36 God bless you. 27:37 Thank you, Yvonne. Thank you. 27:39 And thank you so much for joining us. 27:41 It's really important that you "Like" us on Facebook 27:44 that you ask the Lord 27:46 just how you can support this ministry, 27:49 because, we really, really design Programs 27:52 with you in mind, 27:53 well, we've reached the end of another Program, 27:55 join us next time, because you know what? 27:58 It just wouldn't be the same... without you. |
Revised 2016-01-11