Graced to Lead
The Graced to Lead Podcast is an empowering space dedicated to women, designed to inspire, equip, and nurture their leadership abilities in every aspect of life. We are here to remind you of the extraordinary God-grace you possess to lead with confidence and Biblical wisdom, whether in your professional endeavors, at home, in your business, or within your ministry.
Join us weekly for a journey of personal growth and empowerment. Each episode and post is crafted to challenge and inspire you, providing insights and tools that propel you forward in your leadership path. Graced to Lead is more than a podcast; it's a call to embrace God's grace to lead, even if you feel unqualified. Here, we believe in your power to gracefully, boldly, and effectively lead God’s way!
What to expect: solo episodes, conversations with guests, and even a few giveaways.
Graced to Lead
Ep. 7: Matters of the Heart: Leading through Difficult Times with Dr. LaTrice Williams
Leadership can often feel like a solitary climb up a treacherous mountain. When you’re expected to guide others through storms of adversity, who guides you? In my conversation with Dr. Latrice Williams, we tackle the behind-the-scenes struggles that leaders, particularly Christian women, endure. As we peel back the curtain, Dr. Williams shares strategies for leading with integrity and how to stand firm in the tides of trial.
We explore how setting boundaries is an act of self-care, and how faith can be our compass in the darkest nights. Dr. Williams and I share how our trust in God has carried us through, proving that the most profound leadership is born not in the absence of trials, but through them. Join us as we affirm that the path of faith-based leadership, while sometimes challenging, paves the way for the deepest growth and the most enduring strength.
Mentioned during the show:
Connect with Dr. LaTrice!
IG: drlatricewilliams
Facebook: thedestinydriver
Youtube: drlatricewilliams
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Welcome to the Graced to Lead podcast. I'm Belinda Gaston, your host, and listen. If you are a Christian woman who leads at work, in your own business or even in ministry, you are in the right place here. You'll find practical advice and encouragement as you lead through real conversations that will challenge and inspire you. So join me on this journey to becoming better leaders God's way. Are you ready? Let the journey begin. Welcome to the Graced to Lead podcast. I'm Belinda Gaston, your host, and listen. You are in for a treat this week. We have an amazing guest with us today. We are going to. Let me just preface this conversation and tell you what we're talking about today. We are talking about leading through difficulties. Listen, if you are a leader and you have had some moments of disappointment, discouragement, frustration, having to manage things in your life while you lead, you want to keep listening, because our guest today is none other than the Dr Latrice Williams. Listen, dr Latrice Williams is a five-fold mentor.
Belinda Gaston:She's known for her lifestyle of leadership and as a servant leader. Her first and favorite ministry is a mom and Gigi, and she has three beautiful adult children and one grand princess. I love that. She lives, loves and leads through service, equipping, training and building strong, effective leaders in ministry and the marketplace. Known as the Destiny Driver, she has earned her doctorate in biblical studies and received an honorary doctorate in theology. She is the founder of Divine Grace Ministries International and Divine Connections Covenant Fellowship, serving senior leaders, pastors and other ministry leaders across the nation as their spiritual covering.
Belinda Gaston:She's the CEO and founder of Latrice Williams Global Ministries. She's an entrepreneur also is the owner and CEO of Living With More Enterprises. Her company houses a full-service publishing company, a magazine and newsletter design and layout division and high-level kingdom leadership and development training institute. And not only that, y'all, but she is also an Amazon international best-selling author. She has penned eight books eight, eight books and created four journals. Come on now. And recently her new book, the God Agenda, is making notable impact on and offline among readers and other authors. And finally, she is the host and founder of the no More Drama Experience. And the no More Drama Experience has become a safe place of healing, hope and deliverance for men and women, especially kingdom leaders. She is the person of the hour today. So if you wouldn't mind, giving us a virtual hand clap and welcome to our guest today welcome to our guest today, dr Latrice Williams.
Dr. Latrice Williams:Welcome, thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me today. This is so exciting.
Belinda Gaston:We are excited to have you and if you are listening and I just read the accolades and the accomplishments of Dr Latrice you know that she is the leader to lead us in this discussion, because we are going to have a transparent discussion here. So again, I always say grab your pens and your pencils and your note-taking devices and get ready to take some notes for these wisdom nuggets. But somebody did write in to me last week and told me to stop saying that because they were driving and they don't want to be writing while they're driving. So, wherever you're listening from, pay attention is what I'll say Pay attention. So, dr Latrice, we're going to jump right into our conversation here.
Belinda Gaston:I think it's important for us to talk about this topic because I am a leader and life happens and it is difficult to lead when life happens, when things just kind of hit us and we don't kind of expect it. But most people think as leaders, that we have it all together, right. I mean, you're a leader if you're leading a group of people or you're leading an organization or a ministry or wherever it is that you're leading. You're leading a group of people or you're leading an organization or ministry or wherever it is that you're leading. You're there because you have it all together, so why do you think this conversation about leading through difficult times? Why do you think this conversation is important?
Dr. Latrice Williams:Well, my first thought about the necessity of this conversation is that it is what's not seen that can be most impactful in the conversation. It's easy to see us when we show up. It's easy to see us when we execute. It's easy to see the things that look good. But the impact, and, I think, the necessary influence, happens in the conversations where we talk about what didn't go well, what challenges we had, what things we had to grow through, and because sometimes that gets overlooked, because we see what some may call or they feel is the glamour of it oh, everything went well, everything was executed, everything was so beautiful and it was laid out, or you know, whatever those things may be, but we don't see what it took to get there, we don't see what was lost to get there. We don't see, you know, just the different things that sometimes we don't share, because by the time we get to appearing to have it all together, we're just like we made it. And so I think that these conversations will be so helpful to the leaders One for those who are perhaps too focused on having it all together, or those who are anxious because they feel like they don't have it all together. So this conversation could be beneficial on either side to help them to understand that one. We don't have to have it all together. It doesn't matter how much we do and how well we show up. There's somewhere that we can grow, there's some place that we've had to experience and even, especially the difficult places, we've learned how to, or we've been told, never let them see you sweat or never give them the proverbial, them the satisfaction. But most leaders, in theory, yeah, we have it all together, we have the ability to show up well, we have the ability to execute well. But what about the times when we didn't and we just appeared to? What about the times when, yeah, we showed up, we preached, we taught, we ministered, we laid hands, we prophesied, and then, you know, as soon as it was over, it was like, oh my God, get me out of here. I just need a moment, I've got to get away, and so that's that side that we don't often share.
Dr. Latrice Williams:That, I believe, needs to be talked about. It needs to be shared. Now let me say this it needs to be shared from the healed place. The way we share it, the perspective from which we share it, also makes a difference. We need to be able to share it from the place where we've gained the wisdom, we've truly healed, we've grown from it. And so when we talk about it, there's not those traces of bitterness or those where we may hear what is the word I want to say those jabs. You know, sometimes you hear people talk and they're talking truthfully about what they've experienced, but there's always that little underlying thing. That's when we know we need to pull back and we need to have a difference type of conversation. But I think these conversations are definitely necessary to help other leaders to heal, help other leaders to know that while we're showing up well, let's show up, just let us live well as well as leading well.
Belinda Gaston:You have said so much in your first statement. I want to kind of go back here, because this appearance of leaders having it all together and I think if you are leading in a corporate space you see this just as much as you do in other spaces and I think that was the thing that most surprised me when I got to a place where I was considered to be a leader officially was how many of my colleagues were trying to figure it out or having difficulty. And so I think that point of people appearing to have it together when they seem like they have it together, is really important. And then the other part that I heard you say was the healed place, and we're going to talk a little bit more about that later.
Belinda Gaston:But I think it's important for people to recognize whether they're healed or not, and we had a guest on the show who talked about matters of the heart, Dr. Nedra Buckmire, and one of the things she talked about is how those unhealed places show up when we lead. And so I love that these conversations are happening around the same time so that our leaders can kind of build on that. But I think it would be helpful if we could kind of share some examples of leading from difficult places, and so I want to ask you if you can share a time when you had to lead through a difficult time. Can you share with us a time that you had to lead and maybe how you navigated that space?
Dr. Latrice Williams:I have quite a I won't say quite a few, but I do have a few examples.
Dr. Latrice Williams:But one of the examples that I will share is it was the loss of every member and every leader of my satellite campuses, of my church plane.
Dr. Latrice Williams:One of the leaders left a lot of you know lies, a lot of division, you know those types of things that happen from the place of offense. And it was a time that for me, I had to endure and face like alienation and abandonment. And it wasn't so much that I had never seen those things in my life before, but it came from people that I served faithfully, people that I stood with, people who I just didn't expect it from, and I mean, that's just the reality. And a lot of times as leaders, you know we are so all in with people that we don't necessarily expect that if something like of that magnitude happens that they would abandon you. And so I still had to lead those who were, who were with me with the main campus, so those who still decided that I'm not going anywhere, I'm just not going to be vocal, I'm gonna stay. But you know, so it was kind of like a tug of war to see people agree with someone but say I'm going to stay with you. So I had to learn how to navigate a wound without wounding others. Ok, we need to pause for a moment, and I need you know, defending myself or trying to prove myself right, it was going to cause more division, it would have caused more confusion, and so my learning how to navigate that meant I had to not necessarily compartmentalize, but I had to have safe spaces. I had to have safe people that were outside of those who I led, so that I did not wound them because they were looking on, they were hearing the lies, they were seeing the posts, all of the things. They were getting the phone call. But then they were looking to me and some were looking okay, let's see what the pastor is going to do.
Dr. Latrice Williams:And so God taught me how to just keep doing what he had taught me to do Just keep being who you have been, even though others have changed. And that's very difficult when you've given your life as a leader to lead people and then see them change. It's something that happens. And learning how to navigate the wound I had to heal, I had to process, but then I had to make sure that I was very intentional about how I handled those who were still with me so that I did not wound them.
Dr. Latrice Williams:And sometimes it's hard to be intentional when you're wounded, when you're hurting and you're like all I really want to do is lash out. But what would that really solve? What would that really build? When you're called to be a builder, how would that really help? And if there are other leaders who are watching you, then how is that really leading them?
Dr. Latrice Williams:So it was a very intentional time in my life. I can share it from, like I said, the healed place, because I've been able to help other leaders now who have experienced similar things and not be. I don't have to share it from the place of this is what they did, this is what they said. Now I can say, yes, this happened, yes, that happened, but this is what God taught me, this is what I did, this is how I handled it, so that they understand that you don't have to lash out, but you have to be intentional about how you handle those who are still with you about how you handle those who are still with you, and so thank you for sharing that Earth because you're very vulnerable.
Belinda Gaston:So I appreciate that, thank you for that and, I think, for our listeners, there are some nuggets here that I don't want to skip over as we think about leading in a difficult situation.
Belinda Gaston:So, in your situation, Dr. Latrice, you were in a situation where the leaders that you led, it sounds like, left the organization, and when they left, they left with, in some cases, tarnishing your reputation or attempting to, or sharing a narrative that wasn't true, and you had to navigate that space while still leading other people, and so one of the things I heard you talk about that I want you to elaborate on is this idea of a safe space. I think part of for leaders, part of what is necessary and we've talked about this before on this show is having that space where you can be you without being the leader you, because being the leader, you carries a certain level of responsibility and expectation, and so let's talk about this safe space. So you said you had a safe space when you were going through this period. How did you create that safe space and how did you? How did that work for you? How did these safe, this safe space work for you?
Dr. Latrice Williams:leaders and they were my safe space. They were the people that I could talk to and they so I have this thing that I say we need people with trusted voices and trusted ears. So trusted voices are the people who can speak into our lives and speak from a non-biased place. They're going to tell me when I'm wrong and when I'm right. They're going to encourage and rebuke as needed. But then their trusted ears, people who can hear you, and they can hear you at your worst place, your most vulnerable place, your most traumatized place, and not judge. They don't sit in a seat of judgment. They don't now disrespect you or see you differently because you're having a vulnerable moment or if you're just having a bad moment, because as leaders, we can just have a bad moment and so people who can hear you, but you're safe enough to pour out your heart in a way that you may not do with other people. And so, because I had to, I knew I needed to contain what I was feeling. I needed to contain a lot of the turmoil that I was going through. I couldn't just contain it and hold it. I had to contain it when necessary and then release it in that space that they gave me to just talk freely about it, and it wasn't about talking about people. Now, this is what I love. It wasn't about talking about the people, the people who did it. I talked about what happened. I talked about how it made me feel. I flushed out the things that just you know it's all about. The people know this safe, safe space is for you, is to be about you, and so it was a space about me. Okay, latrice, this is what is happening. How are you feeling? What are you feeling like doing? What is it that you want to say? But you know you can't say that. You know what is it that you need to get out of your literally out of your soul so you can heal? And so that was the space for me.
Dr. Latrice Williams:I had to make sure I talked to people who would talk to Latrice, not talk to Latrice about the people. Talk to Latrice, about Latrice. Talk to me about this place that I'm in, what I'm experiencing, and then how to help me get through it, versus focusing me on, oh, they've done this. They said this because, once it was done, and said it was done, and said that part was over, the part that was continuous was me having to process that, and so you need safe spaces.
Dr. Latrice Williams:As leaders, we need people who will hear us without judgment, but that will hear. Hear us and still hear. Holy Spirit for us, because they'll hear us without judgment, but they can't hear us and then just let us get away with everything. Okay, latrice, now I hear you and I have no judgment, but let me tell you where you're wrong. Let me tell you how you can process that differently. And so those spaces helped me the most, and really it was just being able to talk it out. Sometimes my spiritual parents didn't say anything, they just listened and then they would pray and that will be the end of the conversation. And sometimes, you know, I would get finished talking and I would rant and I would rave and I would cry, and very few people can say they've seen me cry, but they can, and they would encourage me and they would love on me and then they would correct me and then we were yeah, that was it. So that safe space includes all of it.
Belinda Gaston:I think that's really important. I think in a time where people are so digitally connected but not necessarily connected in real life, so to speak, it is challenging for leaders to find that space, and so I think that's a really good tip and I think it brings us to kind of. My next question for you is tips for people who are dealing with difficult challenges, difficulties as they're leading, and I'll give you some examples. I know for me most recently and I talked about this in a previous episode I did not realize that I was grieving while leading. So my right hand, my assistant at work, passed away last year, towards the end of last year, and I thought, okay, we had her memorial service, I got a chance to eulogize her and we kind of moved on and I wasn't going into the office much, I was working virtually, but every time I went into the office I felt her presence and I felt that grief over again. I just didn't realize that's what I was feeling. And so over the last I would say I guess, six months, I realized that I have been operating not quite as myself, as a leader, because I was grieving, but I didn't realize that what it was until someone recently called it out, and so I think that a lot of times, as leaders, we're dealing with grief.
Belinda Gaston:I have a coworker who's going through a divorce right now. It's a difficult thing. We have on the job challenges or in our businesses. Maybe we might not have the clients we want or we might have difficulty with our business. If we are ministry leaders, we might be having challenges in the congregation. If we are ministry leaders, we might be having challenges in the congregation. So you're dealing with all these things, but there's an expectation for you to lead, and I would love it if we could talk about what are some practical things that leaders can do to navigate these spaces. And it sounds like the first thing is this safe space, creating a safe space. But what else would you say to people?
Dr. Latrice Williams:So, in addition to the safe space, you also need to be kind to yourself, and what I mean by that is take some time off. If you need to, don't be afraid to step away Now. For pastors, a lot of times we say I can't step away, I don't have the help. If I don't do it, who's going to do it? One of the things the Holy Spirit showed me was that, even if you do it, if you're not well when you do it, it's not helping anybody. So take the time away, be kind enough to yourself to embrace the fact that I'm in a difficult time. I still have to lead, but I need to position myself to one heel so I can lead well. And the way I'm going to get to healing is I have to acknowledge that something has happened. I have to embrace the fact that I'm human and I need time for my wound to heal, just like anybody else does. Or I need time to process whatever this difficult space is, so that God can give me a new strategy, or God can speak to me and help me, give me a way to move through it and still lead well. But a lot of times we just keep plowing ahead. We just keep going because we have to. So be kind to yourself, give yourself time, take a sabbatical, sabbaticals. God built this into his divine plan for us to rest. Rest helps us to, it brings clarity. Rest helps us to be rejuvenated, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and so take that time that you need.
Dr. Latrice Williams:Just today, I had a very difficult work day and I just took two hours away and I just sat down. I didn't talk to anybody, I didn't try to do any other type of work, I just did nothing for myself, and even though in the doing nothing, I really was doing something for myself, and so that's being kind to yourself, taking care of yourself helps you to then take care of other people. And then one of the other things that I would say is know when to say when, know your limits, know your boundaries and then respect your boundaries. When you respect your boundaries, others will respect your boundaries. When you know when to say when, like today, I knew let me say when, and so that was literally the way I was able to make it to this time for the podcast, because I knew when to say when. I knew I had gone far enough in everything I had done today. And so I think that when we learn our boundaries and respect our boundaries, then it puts us in a position for others to do so as well.
Belinda Gaston:Those are great tips Creating the safe space, being kind to yourself and knowing when to say when setting boundaries. I think a lot of times, as leaders, the boundary piece is a challenge. Challenge because we have you're either a servant leader we use that all the time. You're either a servant leader, or you're an empathetic leader, or you're a leading with the team in mind.
Belinda Gaston:It's all these things that really focus on as a leader, particularly particularly for women, giving of themselves as a part of leadership, and I'm fascinated by this, because I don't really hear that narrative with men. To be honest, I don't necessarily hear male leaders tell other male leaders you need to give of yourself. That's just not the dialogue. They do talk about servant leadership, but I think it's something that's just kind of maybe I don't know why, but it is something that is ingrained as women who lead, and so I have been guilty of this, of having trouble setting boundaries, and I know colleagues that I have in the workplace and people who I serve with in ministry, in business, there's similar things, and so can you talk about setting boundaries and how maybe leaders can go about setting these boundaries, particularly in seasons of difficulty?
Dr. Latrice Williams:in seasons of difficulty. So in seasons of difficulty, we need time that is set aside just for ourselves, because you cannot consistently pour and never receive a deposit or a pour. And so to set boundaries, I'll just tell you one of the things I did was I stopped taking phone calls and text messages at all times of the day and the night. This is something that I know as church leaders specifically. We will just if they call, we're going to answer. If they text, they must need us, let me respond. I don't want to offend them, I don't want to make them think that they're being overlooked, and we do it from a good place. But sometimes we do it to the detriment of ourselves, and so setting boundaries can be something as simple as I don't respond to text messages after nine o'clock. I don't answer, you know, phone calls after nine o'clock, unless, of course, you know it's some type of emergency or you know. But those are things that you can do for yourself, and what happens is people will begin to learn If I call her after nine, she's probably not going to answer, unless I text her and say, hey, it's an emergency, I have to call you, this is what's going on. And so we set. Just we can do small things that make big impact as it relates to boundaries.
Dr. Latrice Williams:The other thing about boundaries is that don't set a boundary and then disrespect it. No, don't set a boundary and then disrespect it. I can't say to my granddaughter I have a six-year-old granddaughter and I can't say to her Aurora, don't jump on that chair. If you jump on that chair, this is what's going to happen. So I've set a boundary, I've set an expectation, and then she jumps on the chair and nothing happens. And so I can't set a boundary and then disrespect. Don't set boundaries because somebody has betrayed you or because you're in a difficult season. Set the boundary from a healthy place.
Dr. Latrice Williams:So sometimes, before you make the boundary decision, make sure you know the why and make sure your why stems from I need to do this to be better, not because I need to punish people or not because this happened to me. So, in order to keep this from ever happening again, this is what I'm going to do. Well, the truth is, we can do that and it still may happen. It may just happen from another person or in another scenario. So set that boundary with the right perspective scenario. So set that boundary with the right perspective. I think that sometimes we initially set boundaries because something has happened, somebody has done something, but turn it inward and say why do I need these boundaries? What's the purpose of it, how do these boundaries help me and how do they help me to help others? So I hope those tips on setting boundaries help a little bit. They do.
Belinda Gaston:They do, and I was thinking about the realistic boundaries and respecting the boundaries, particularly because I have been known to set boundaries that are unrealistic and that I don't honor, and then I end up going into a cycle. So I set the boundary, I don't adhere to it or people I don't hold people accountable for it, they go past the boundary I set, I get frustrated and I set the boundary again. I think it's an awful cycle, and so I think that's a reminder. It's so easy to do. It's so easy to do, so I think that's really good. I do have another question and you kind of alluded to this throughout this conversation about your faith. This podcast is for women who lead, who are women of faith, but they're in various levels of their faith walk and faith experience, and so you've talked a lot about the Holy Spirit. You've talked about I think you kind of talked about prayer at one point, but I would like for you to share with people how your faith has helped you lead in difficult times.
Dr. Latrice Williams:So let's have an honest conversation about that. My faith in people and my faith in the loyalty of people was shaken. That's something we don't want to always admit or acknowledge, but in order for my faith to be strengthened, I had to admit that, I had to acknowledge it and even embrace it. That, ok, my faith has kind of been shaking. Now my faith in God began to grow because God knew what I felt like was the worst experience that I could ever have in all of my years of ministry, to become one of the best seasons of my life, because he taught me more in the last three years than probably in the last 24 years. He taught me things about myself, he taught me things about people, and so my faith started growing because I started realizing that this wasn't the worst season. It was just the worst season I had so far.
Dr. Latrice Williams:This wasn't the worst season. It was just one of the worst experiences I've had so far. And so my faith was challenged. I did not think I could go on. I many, many times just contemplated well, let's just close, let's just let it go. You know, these things are being said, these things are being done. It will be easier. Being said these things are being done, it will be easier. But it was God who helped me in my faith walk to say it would be easier. But would that really be a faith move? It would be the easy move, it would be the simplest thing to do. As a matter of fact, it's what's expected, it's what's been said is going to happen to you. They are waiting for it to fall apart. But would that really be a faith move? Or would that just be me saying, okay, this is the easy way out? It's, you know, it's in pieces, let's let it stay.
Dr. Latrice Williams:So God began to grow my faith just by rebuilding me first. So my faith was not like oh, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said you know, increase your faith. No, he increased my faith every single day. He increased my faith. The same way, my faith was shaken by people and their actions and their words. He began to increase my faith, first in him, just through his reminders, just through him showing me that, hey, I'm still using you, you're still necessary, I still have great work for you to do. And so my faith was in the fact that, after all of that, god still sees me, god still speaks to me, god still uses me. And so I was just so amazed with God.
Dr. Latrice Williams:But then my faith started to be strengthened even more because God said I'm going to restore and I'm going to give you more and I'm going to bring you know different people into your life who are on a, as you said, a different faith level, a different level of maturity. And so he started using people to help strengthen my faith again. The same way people shook it, he built it again by my prayer time with him, times of fasting, those times when I said I would just pull away and I would just be in quiet. It wasn't so much because I did withdraw, but he never let me isolate because he would send somebody in, and him sending somebody in was the thing to say. You cannot go to a dark place. And so it helped my faith to know that God was still with me place. And so it helped my faith to know that God was still with me, that he was healing me, and I started seeing where I, if I had a time where God wanted me to share.
Dr. Latrice Williams:I started hearing myself able to talk about certain things and not feel that little thing that you feel from a wound. And so my faith was built through those multiple things prayer, fasting and people. People were a part of my healing process, just like people were a part of the wounding process. It helps your faith walk in a way that, unless you experience that, you won't understand it. But I can tell you God can do it and I am like a living, breathing witness that my faith is probably on a different level now than it's probably ever been. And so now I'm probably stronger in faith that I wouldn't be as shaken by now. It'll always hurt, you know, if somebody does something to you we're human but I probably wouldn't be as hurt. I probably would not be as shaken and feeling like, oh, I can't go on, I can't do it. So I'm built up more now and I have a greater capacity now in my faith.
Belinda Gaston:Thank you for sharing that. I'm struck by the fact that what happened as you were leading in that situation with people, it kind of shook your faith, that your faith decreased a bit in those people, and then how God built your faith and then brought people in to help in that building process, that's that's amazing.
Dr. Latrice Williams:Let me say this to you also, Belinda I had to allow the people in. So in this rebuilding of my faith because my faith in God was never shaken, he just had to rebuild my faith in other areas. But I had to allow the people in, and so one of the things that God will continually say to me is accept the help, Don't reject the help. And he would say it to me in different times of my life or different ways. He would show me hey, I'm sending the help. And I didn't always understand what was the help for. I would just hear him say accept the help. And now, as I look back, these were his ways of rebuilding me and these were his moments of saying hey, you know, I'm building your faith back in this area and in that area and increasing your capacity.
Belinda Gaston:That's yes, accepting the help. I think that's a good place to kind of stop here. We've talked about your experience as a leader, facing difficulty, and how you found your safe spaces as you were going through, how you had to heal first in order to lead. You gave us tips on how to walk through this process, and this last tip about accepting the help is really something I think leaders because as leaders we're taught well, you're a leader, so you do it alone, you do it in isolation, and leadership and isolation they don't go hand in hand. They don't have to. So I'm glad that you shared that. But before we kind of end, I do want to know if you have any final thoughts that you'd like to share with our listeners, for listeners who may be leading in difficult situations or difficult times. What are your any final thoughts for them?
Dr. Latrice Williams:No, I think I want to reiterate something you said is that we have been taught or we feel like, as leaders, we have to do it alone. But you don't have to do it alone. You simply need the trusted voices, the trusted ears who can hear you, and you need the safe space and having those things. That's the first step of not doing it alone and then accepting the help. It's very easy to reject help when you've been wounded or when you're in a difficult season and you start feeling like, oh well, I'll just do it myself. If I want it done, right, I'll make sure it's done. But what happens when you can't do it?
Dr. Latrice Williams:And so I want leaders to consider perhaps your difficult season is and I need to allow them to be who they are, to whatever God has assigned to my hands.
Dr. Latrice Williams:And so I think that if we'll accept the help, if we'll embrace that, god knows what we need, god knows who we need, he knows when we need it and he's able to send it at the right time. You know, don't count yourself out because you're in a difficult time, don't count your vision out, because you're in a difficult time, but just make sure that you have the things that we've talked about in place, and if you don't have them, then ask God to send them. Ask God to send you a safe place. Send you leaders you can talk to, send you people who can speak into your life and hold you accountable, correct you, love on you and help you to build so you can rebuild. And so I believe that that's what I would leave with the listeners is that you don't have to do it alone, and in retrospect I've learned that I can't do it alone. We were never meant to do it alone. There's not one person that God has ever sent into the earth that was meant to do it alone.
Belinda Gaston:I thank you for that. That is a great place to end. Thank you so much, Dr Latrice, for your time. So much, Dr Latrice, for your time, for your transparency. This, I think, will help people really reflect on where they are, if they're leading through difficulty and really getting some things in place so they can lead well even through difficult times. So, thank you, Thank you, Thank you Before we go. I want to know. I know that people may want to reach out to you, so I want you to tell us first if there's anything you're working on that you'd like to share, and also how people can stay in touch with you. How can they reach you?
Dr. Latrice Williams:Well, the best way to reach me and the easiest way is to go directly to my website, which is wwwlatricewilliamscom, and all of my information about everything that I do is pretty much at that website. What am I working on? I have a new book that I'm working on. I haven't talked much about it yet, but it's actually a tool for pastors and leaders to help them to teach about giving in their ministries and the benefit of it and the necessity of it. So I've just started working on it, but I believe it's going to be an amazing tool for leaders, pastors and leaders, even nonprofits and, of course, you know I'm always working on no More Drama because we're preparing for the June event or the June gathering. So those are my probably my two things that I would share that I'm working on right now.
Belinda Gaston:That's great. I can't believe another book. You already have eight. This is the number nine. Number nine we are, I'm excited to see the finished product and we'll put links up for folks to be able to find you. Thank you for your time. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. We so appreciate you. So thank you for being a guest today, Dr Latrice. Thank you, Thank you for having me.
Dr. Latrice Williams:It has been such a pleasure and I am so excited about what God is doing through this podcast. I believe it's going to be a blessing to me.
Belinda Gaston:Thank you and for our listeners. Thank you so much for joining us on the Graced to Lead podcast. We always appreciate you joining us. Remember to follow us, to subscribe. We do have our weekly giveaway, so subscribe, share the podcast if there's someone you think that could benefit from the wisdom of leading through difficulties, and until we see each other, we'll listen and hear each other again. Remember that you are indeed graced to lead. Have a wonderful week. Bye-bye.
