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Nala Ray Confronts Shame, Identity Crisis, and Finding Redemption Through Faith After Leaving Adult Industry
Nala Ray opens up about the paralyzing weight of shame, from childhood abandonment and sexual abuse to years in the adult industry, and how she discovered freedom through surrendering to Christ. Drawing from Genesis to Romans, she distinguishes between godly conviction and worldly shame, revealing how the enemy uses identity attacks to destroy lives. With raw vulnerability about her abortion, addiction, and OnlyFans past, Nala offers practical steps for anyone trapped by shame: keep handing God your box of burdens until you're finally free. This isn't theory, it's her lived testimony of transformation.
Understanding the Weight of Shame
Nala Ray opens episode two of the Nala Ray Show by diving into one of the heaviest topics she's ever confronted: shame. After revealing her abortion in the previous episode, she felt God pressing on her heart to explore shame more deeply—not just the shame she inflicted on herself, but the shame inflicted upon her by others. She makes a critical distinction right from the start: conviction comes from the Holy Spirit and points believers toward righteousness, while shame is a worldly emotion that attacks identity, creates guilt, and leads people away from God.
Nala emphasizes that shame has been a constant companion throughout her life journey. From age nine when her father abandoned the family, to age thirteen when she was sexually molested, shame attached itself to her identity even when she did nothing wrong. She asks a question many survivors wrestle with: "Was I not good enough?" This question reveals how shame distorts our understanding of ourselves and makes us carry burdens that were never ours to bear.
Shame We Inflict Versus Shame Inflicted Upon Us
Nala breaks down shame into two categories to help listeners identify their own struggles. Shame we inflict on ourselves includes things like abortion, financial collapse, addiction, pornography use, and sex work. Shame inflicted upon us includes being cheated on, sexual abuse, and parental abandonment. She confesses she falls into almost all these categories, making her testimony particularly powerful for those struggling with similar battles.
During her teenage years, Nala spiraled into what she calls "acting crazy"—sneaking out, seeking validation from men, and falling into sexual sin at a young age. She describes herself as a "little crackhead" during those years, driven by raging hormones and a desperate search for identity. For seven years, she was addicted to smoking weed, unable to wake up or go to sleep without it—the textbook definition of addiction. She also mentions other common addictions plaguing society today, including excessive social media scrolling, with some people logging eleven hours of screen time daily.
The Enemy's Ancient Tactics
Nala points listeners back to Genesis and the story of Adam and Eve to show that shame is nothing new. The very first raw emotion felt in the Bible was shame—when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, their immediate recognition was of their nakedness, and they felt ashamed. The devil told them they could be like God if they ate the fruit, using the same tactic he uses today: attacking identity and promising false empowerment.
She stresses that the enemy has been watching each person since birth—even since conception in the womb. His goal is singular: to lead people straight to hell by making them fall and keeping them trapped in shame. However, Nala offers hope by reminding listeners that the enemy is not omnipresent like God is. While God is everywhere all at once, the enemy is limited. The key is recognizing his patterns and tactics so we can fight back effectively.
The Gospel Answer to Shame
Nala anchors her message in Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." This verse became a lifeline for her. She explains that shame says "I am bad," but the gospel says "you are redeemed." This distinction transformed her understanding of her own worth and identity.
When Nala got saved, she was still living in sin—still operating her OnlyFans account, still cussing, still dressing immodestly. But she didn't feel shame about her past because she was overwhelmed by the fact that the creator of the universe chose her. Conviction from the Holy Spirit came later, gently leading her to change her behaviors. The only people who made her feel shame were Christians who told her that her conversion was fake, that God couldn't possibly save someone like her.
Two years later, she stands as living proof that God's redemption is real. She recently helped another major OnlyFans creator leave the industry, get baptized, and accept Jesus—a moment that brought her to tears because it demonstrated God's power to transform lives. She also celebrated when Lily Phillips, another adult industry figure, got baptized, urging Christians not to judge but to rejoice over every soul that comes to Christ.
Practical Steps for Surrendering Shame to God
Nala offers concrete, actionable advice for those struggling to release shame. She describes a practice that changed her life: getting on her knees, envisioning herself before the cross, and literally handing God a box containing all her shame, hurt, and unfairness. She had to do this repeatedly because the enemy continuously tries to place those thoughts back in our minds.
The process looks like this:
- Get on your knees in prayer
- Envision yourself before the throne of God (we can come boldly before His throne)
- Picture yourself handing God a box labeled with whatever you're struggling with: finances, doubt, fear, sexual sin, addiction, pornography
- Speak out loud: "God, I surrender this to you. I can't carry this anymore. Take this burden from me."
- Repeat this process as many times as necessary until it's truly released
Nala emphasizes that we must believe God's Word is true and alive. The Bible isn't a dead book—it's living and active. Verses like Psalm 23, which speaks of God leading us beside still waters, became a anchor for her mental health. She had to choose to believe that God would lead her to peace and calm, even when her circumstances screamed otherwise.
Dealing with Grief and Lamenting
Nala opens up about the devastating losses she experienced: her brother's suicide, her sister-in-law's death two months later, and her father's sentencing to twenty years in prison—all within a short period. At only twenty-eight years old, she feels like she's lived three lifetimes. Losing her only brother felt like losing a piece of herself, leaving her feeling incomplete.
Her best friend Taylor gave her a book about grief and lamenting that transformed her understanding of how Christians process pain. The book taught her that "crying is human, but lamenting is Christian." Lamenting follows a biblical pattern found throughout the Psalms, particularly in David's writings: it starts with addressing God directly, then expresses raw emotion and questions like "God, where are you in my circumstance?"
Nala explains that this type of honest wrestling with God actually builds faith more than anything else. When life hits hard and we feel God's absence, we face a choice: blame God and turn away, or say "God, I don't know what you're doing, but I choose to still follow you." She's had to make that declaration countless times in her walk with the Lord.
God Doesn't Owe Us Anything
In a perspective-shifting moment, Nala challenges the common belief that God owes us blessings or comfort. She shares a powerful statement she often makes to God: "God, if you never do anything else for me, if I become homeless, if I lose my husband, if I lose my friends, if I have nothing else in this life, your son's sacrifice was enough for me."
This posture, she argues, is where Christians should position their hearts. God doesn't owe us anything. His son's death on the cross was the ultimate gift—why do we demand so much more from such a loving God? She uses the analogy of a parent denying a child a sugary drink before bedtime. The parent isn't withholding out of cruelty but out of wisdom and love, knowing what's truly best for the child even when the child can't see it.
God isn't a cosmic vending machine dispensing Ferraris and blessings on demand. He's far more interested in our character development and our relationship with Him than in giving us material things we might use to run away from Him.
Faith Beyond Feelings
One of Nala's most important teachings is that feeling God is not the same as walking with God. We cannot depend on our hearts and feelings because they fail us—our hearts are compromised by sin. Many Christians experience what she calls "Sunday morning faith"—feeling God's presence powerfully during worship at church, only to feel nothing the moment they walk outside.
This is completely normal, Nala assures listeners. Church is meant to be a gathering of believers celebrating together, and yes, we should feel hyped in that environment. But we cannot depend on church to give us those feelings every week. We must initiate that relationship with Christ at home, by our beds, in prayer rooms, in garages, in our cars—anywhere and everywhere.
The goal is to take Sunday morning faith and turn it into Thursday morning faith. She recommends the song "Monday Morning Faith" by SEU Worship, which makes her cry every time because it captures this exact struggle. Who loves Mondays? Nobody. But that's precisely when we need to bring our faith most intentionally—on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and every ordinary day in between.
The Identity Crisis and LGBTQ+ Community
Nala addresses the widespread identity crisis she sees throughout society, particularly visible in the LGBTQ+ community. She views this movement as evidence that many people have no idea who they are, which she finds heartbreaking. When people lose their identity in Christ, they search for it in sexuality, gender expression, relationships, careers, or any number of other things that can never truly satisfy.
Her message is urgent: do not get lost, do not get caught up, stay focused, and have tunnel vision. We don't need to see what's happening on either side of us—we need to keep our eyes on God, or we will lose focus and drift away. Our walk with God is the most important, beautiful, life-giving thing we will ever grasp in this life—more important than marriage, children, friendships, or any other relationship.
Who God Says You Are
Nala closes with a powerful reminder of identity in Christ. God says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are pristine, unique, and deeply loved. She pictures God in heaven bragging about His children to the angels and even to the devil, saying "Look at my daughter! Look at my strong son!"
This is the identity that matters—not what shame tells us, not what our past dictates, not what others have done to us or what we've done to ourselves. God knit each person together in the womb and has been present throughout every moment of life. He desires relationship with us and calls us His own.
Nala emphasizes that we should never let fear and shame rule our lives. Instead, we must let God's love direct us and identify us. She has felt every kind of shame in the book, both inflicted and self-imposed, but she refuses to complain about the unfairness. Instead, she continuously hands it back to God, sometimes multiple times for the same issue, until she truly releases it.
A Heart for the Lost
Throughout the episode, Nala's urgency for people to be saved shines through. She prays over her audience before every podcast because she cares deeply about each person who listens. Her own transformation from adult industry performer to passionate follower of Christ fuels her desire to see others experience the same freedom.
She assures listeners that God can handle all their problems plus a million to billion other people's problems simultaneously. We never wear God out with our struggles because He's the creator of everything. His love is infinite, His patience endless, and His desire to redeem us unwavering.
Nala's final encouragement is simple but profound: don't ever let the enemy get you. God has your back. He loves you more than you can comprehend. And no matter what shame you're carrying—whether from abortion, addiction, sexual sin, abandonment, abuse, or anything else—Jesus Christ died so that shame would no longer define you. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Video Transcript
What's up everybody? Welcome to the Naler Ray Show where I am your host Naler. Guys, this is so exciting because this is episode two of the Naler Show. Uh if you haven't seen episode one, you definitely want to go uh watch it or listen to it on Apple Podcast or YouTube. It's pretty much on every uh major platform right now. So, make sure you guys subscribe, download, like, share, comment because I want to hear back from you guys. Um, all the comments that I got in my last video were so uplifting and just encouraging for me. Um, so just know that everything you say to me, I am reading and looking over and responding to because it truly matters to me that you guys took time out of your day to watch or listen. So, thank you guys so much for that because the last episode, as you guys know, if you've watched it, that I dropped a major secret that I had not shared with anyone other than my husband and my best friend. And so, and that was regarding my abortion. Uh, I had an abortion a couple years ago, and I had felt so much shame over um doing it. I mean, it's a really heavy topic and especially in our current society now. I feel as though it's become so normalized and even people call it health care, I'm hearing, which is absolutely ridiculous because it's not. But we're not going to get into that at the moment. So guys, today I've been really praying hard and just asking God like, "God, what did you want my second podcast to be about?" And I kept hearing the word shame. And shame is something we've all experienced in our lifetime, whether something's been done to you or you have done something and we feel shame for it. And I do want to um divide the two meanings and words of shame versus conviction because conviction only comes from God. It comes from the Holy Spirit. And when you are saved, you feel convicted over wrongdoing or when someone does wrong to you. Um, but shame is more of like a worldly definition of guilt and loss of identity. And that's truly what I want to dive into today is the topic on shame. So stay along for the ride. Maybe go get some popcorn and some water. I got my bubbly water here today. Super excited. That's actually my favorite drink, by the way. I love orange bubbly water. It's incredible and everybody should drink it. Um, all right. So, first I want to go over like, you know, so much has happened in my life and I have been so public about a lot of the things that have happened in my life and I don't say it to get pity from you guys because that is that's just not the point. I truly believe that if you have a testimony, it's because you've been tested and God will use your situation to glorify him. And that is truly what we're here for on this earth, right? Is just to glorify God in everything that we do, even if it's difficult. And so shame is something very near and dear to my heart because I have felt it in so many different scenarios. Uh whether it's something that I have done shameful or with something someone has done to me. I mean um talking about like nine years old like my dad left my family. I ended up feeling shame for that, which is so odd, right? Because I didn't do anything wrong. I was just a nine-year-old girl who wanted a dad. And my dad ended up leaving. And there was a shame in that because it was like, was I not good enough? Shame attacks your identity of like who you are? And so whenever that's called into question, especially by the enemy or people around you, it really tries to solidify itself in your mind, in your heart, and can absolutely redirect you in the wrong direction. And so um nine years old, my dad left. 13 years old, I was molested and sexually taken advantage of which again was not my fault. Something was inflicted on me and I felt shame for it. And you know, I really feel like I'm speaking to some people in the audience right now, whether it's you and you have felt that shame from someone who has done something really hurtful to you and yet you feel like you have to bear the burden now. And that's just wrong. That's so wrong. And that's not what God has for you. And I'm here as a survivor and a warrior to tell you that God loves you so much. He loves you so much and he is here to take away that shame from you. And so if we fast forward a little bit, um I started acting uh really crazy in my teenage years if you guys haven't heard or not, but I was a little crackhead kind of when in my teenage years I was sneaking out of my house because I wanted validation from men and uh I fell into sexual sin at a young age. And um I also know that a lot of people even watching now can relate to that. like uh especially when you're a teenager, there's so many emotions and hormones going on. And I remember even telling my mom this because she was asking me why I was like acting so crazy. And I was like, "Mom, I just have so many hor my hormones are raging." That was my exact verbiage there. And she looked at me like I was crazy and I kind of was a little bit, but you know, as a teenager, you're just trying to figure things out. you're feeling kind of like an adult or you want to be treated like an adult, but you also have these kid tendencies. So, I know um people in the audience watching this who have slipped up and had sex out of marriage, there's a kind of shame that really holds on to you that is really hard to let go of sometimes because you know, we know what the Bible says is to wait until marriage, but then the world says, "Oh, sleeping with people is fun and it's going to give you everything that you want." But we we if we understand the enemy, which we should, we should strategize in war against our enemy. And if we know the tactics he uses, then we're better off and we can fight the enemy in so much of a different way. But if someone's new to this and wondering about becoming a Christian or what it's like, no Christian, by the way, should be condemning you for not waiting until marriage. That condemnation, that is not from the Lord. I mean that's even biblical but I know sometimes it's very difficult and we fall we fall short all the time. So I mean I know I fell very very below the line there. Um but yeah I just wanted to give some really good examples of shame. And so this is shame that we inflict. Shame that we inflict. Um, some good examples are like uh an abortion or um financial collapse or addiction, porn use or sex work. And uh I kind of fall into almost all those categories. So you guys, I am not judging either. I am here to just speak the truth and shine light into the darkness. And I hope that you can relate to some of these. Um I can relate to almost all of them. So I understand um like where this is coming from. Uh and then shame that's being inflicted on you is like if someone cheats on you or uh if you are sexually taken advantage of um or if your parent leaves. Um those are just a very short list of how shame can just come into your life in such a sneaky way and literally start destroying you from the inside out. And if you don't have Jesus, it will absolutely change the trajectory of your life. And I'm telling you that because it changed mine. I let shame direct me. Like it was the captain of my boat. And I just sat in the back saying, you know, whatever, wherever you want to go, let's go. And um I fell into some really bad decisions. I did fall into addiction. I was addicted to smoking weed for like seven years. Like I could not wake up without it. I couldn't go to sleep without it. That is the exact definition of an addiction. Something that you cannot put down because you feel like you need it to just survive. Some people it's scrolling on social media. Like I know people around me who cannot put down their phone sometimes or their watch time is like 11 hours in a day. Like it's it is an addiction. And the enemy uses addictions just as a distraction. He has so many tactics. But the good news is is that the enemy never does anything new. He will only try the same tactics over and over and over again. Which is why it's so important for us to pinpoint exactly like what he's going to try to do or pick up on patterns that he's already tried to use on you. Whether again if you're a man and you struggle with watching porn or if you are a woman and you struggle with watching porn or as a woman if you've had an abortion or um being cheated on or you cheating on somebody or a parent left you or someone inflicting sexual uh desires on you. And so I think it's really important that we pick up on things like that. And I mean even nowadays like you guys even see on the internet how much like sexual ideology is being pushed on everybody young people teenagers young adults old adults like it's terrible that the world has taken such a shift towards sexual desire but guys it's been around since biblical days like and I do even want to mention like the first real emotion the first raw emotion that was felt in the Bible was with Adam and Eve. Like if you notice, if you go back to Genesis, when they were created, like when they sinned, when they ate that fruit, their first recognition was being naked and they felt ashamed. That was like the first emotion felt was shame used by the enemy to steer them clear of the Lord by saying, "Oh, you're going to be better than God if you eat this." But the devil has not changed in his tactics. Like I previously said, he hasn't at all. In fact, he's just gotten a tiny bit craftier. And I'm not trying to give him credit at all because he's the lower than the low. But y'all, I really want to speak to your hearts today because I know that so many of us are is struggling with this. And the biggest thing that the enemy wants is to attack who you are. And I'm not saying that lightly. Like a lot of us, uh, you've probably heard this before, but with one of your friends or family members when they're just like, "Oh, I just need to, you know, find myself." You know, the only true finding yourself is with Christ. That's it. He will tell you who you are if you dare to ask. But I think that a lot of us are very scared to ask because it means that we might have to change. We might have to give up bad behavior or and addictions and uh porn use or uh cheating on somebody or you know give up scrolling all day on social media. We have to give up. But it's not even a sacrifice because the ultimate sacrifice was with Jesus Christ on the cross. He's not asking you to die for him. He's asking you to live for him and live like him. Uh in Ephesians there's this incredible verse. Uh it starts off and I just want to pinpoint this. It says imitate God. And it also says carefully decide you know what is pleasing to the Lord. I love those key words where it says imitate. So in your prayers just ask God how can I imitate you better? You know God help me to be careful about what I do so that it does please you. Again, like I said at the beginning, you guys, this is all we are only here to serve and please the Lord and be holy and pure before him. Now, we won't ever reach that on this earth. And God's not saying, "Oh, I want you to be perfect." God says, "No, I know you've sinned and I accept you even though you've sinned. You don't need to come up on this high horse to meet me. I sent my son down to meet you." So, that's just so beautiful. But so also shame in the Bible is not about like feeling bad about sin. Uh it is the painful awareness of being exposed unworthy or separated tied to fear hiding in a loss of identity. There's that identity where again guys identity is like your identity should only be tied to Christ and not in things of this world because again this world is going to burn. It will absolutely be destroyed one day. Not even a single thread of grass will be left until God creates the new heaven and the new earth. But I don't want to get into that right now. But this is the verse for this podcast. It like weighed so heavy on my heart. It's Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Such a beautiful verse and such a wonderful reminder that like even though we mess up and we suck sometimes, there's no condemnation through Christ. Christ is like, you know, like I love you for you. I didn't need you to clean up. I don't need you to be better before you come to me. I need you to just be you and then I get to come and make you whole. And that's a big thing about shame. Shame is like the feeling of not being whole. You feel uh like pieces of you are scattered and um like you've created too many soul ties with people like unhealthy soul ties with people. Um shame [snorts] says I am bad. The gospel says you are redeemed. Which is so great by the way that that just just to put like the biggest smile on your faces. And I know it kind of sounds like I'm preaching right now, but hey, it's really hard for me to talk and not kind of preach a little bit because guys, the good news saved my life. Saved my life. The devil has been trying since I was born to break me. And man, he got me there for a minute. I'll give him that. But that's the most credit I'll give him is that I went into Only Fans. I was a porn star for five years. And now I am completely redeemed. And I just think that's so beautiful. And I get so excited that the God of heaven and earth, the creator of the universe, wanted me. Sometimes I just feel like I'm like an ant on a giant rock floating in space and God's like, I want that ant. You know what I'm saying? Obviously, he's not calling me an ant. I am. But that's just how I feel. And and not even how I feel. Like that's literally what I know. That's what I've been taught. That's what I feel when I pray is just God's presence. But again, I really want to speak to you. I want to speak to you in your heart. I want to let you know that there is a God that cares so much about you. And I know you know what you're doing might be wrong or something that's been done to you has been so wrong and it's unfair. That's the hardest lesson that sometimes we have to learn is that bad things happen and there's kind of nothing we can do about it sometimes. But what God does is he uses those experiences. He doesn't create those experiences. So don't get me mixed up here. Don't hear what I'm not saying. Like God uses certain bad situations to get you on track, but he never created or developed the bad issue. We live in a very, very sinful, broken world. And that world, the this world has been broken for a very long time, a couple thousand years now. So sin has just developed. But I want you to know something. And I want you to hear me clearly on this. The enemy has been watching you since birth. Birth. Like since you were conceived in the womb, the enemy had his eyes on you. He wants nothing more for you to fall or to be led straight to hell pretty much. And so I want you to be cautious and be careful because you do have a very real enemy walking around roaring like a massive lion seeking whom he will devour. And sometimes that's us. But you do need to recognize something here is that the enemy is not omniresent. Only God is omniresent. So that means he is everywhere all the time, all at once. The enemy is not. Um, but I just want to encourage you in that because again, I feel so strongly that like people are dealing with shame so hard right now. And you know what I'm seeing so much of um on the internet is like uh big Only Fans creators like Lily Phillips, Camila. Well, Lily Phillips just got baptized, which is insane by the way. And we should all be rejoicing. And I'm saying that not to judge her or anything. I don't want us to judge her because dude, when I came out as a Christian, I got so much hate from Christians um who just couldn't wait to say, "Oh, this is fake. God can't do like not even that God can't do that but that she's not really a Christian and in in the long term of things you're just saying that God couldn't save somebody like me but I rebuke that in the name of Jesus. Um but y'all so I am so proud of kind of what I'm seeing. Uh I just recently helped a girl get off Only Fans. She was a really big creator on only fans. And let me tell you, I sobbed when she called me and she told me I deleted my Only Fans and she got baptized and accepted Jesus in her heart. And that was not by my doing. I had no hand to play in that. It was only God. Only God can change your heart and help you to change your ways. And so, like, let me just line up the process for you really quick. So when I got saved, I was still living in sin. I still had an Only Fans. Um I had stopped smoking weed. Um but I was still cussing. I was still immodest like crazy. Um and I h I had issues. I was dealing with so much healing at the time or brokenness. I wouldn't say healing. I don't think the healing process had even started yet, but um it's just a process. And then Holy Spirit came in and convicted me. Conviction is not the same thing as shame. I did not feel shame for what I had done. All I felt was like in awe that the creator of the universe picked me and decided I yeah, I'm going to forgive her no matter what. Like that's my daughter. That is the heir in my bloodline. And like someone as dirty as me, an heir to heaven is crazy. But you got to realize it's all true. Like we are not living this life to not wake up again one day in paradise. Like we are living here for Christ and that's it. Like that is what our life should be and that's not unfair. Like he died for us. I'm getting too far off topic but yeah. So like I said conviction came after I got saved. Not shame. The only people who made me feel shame were the ones telling me that my conversion to Christ was fake. That was that was the only thing. And so people can say a lot of really bad things to you and it is unfair. I didn't end up doing anything or saying anything to anyone on the internet who called me false. I was like, you know what? In the Bible it says that God is my defender. He will defend me. So I don't need to say anything. And also if you are a true Christian, you know, the fruit speaks like um but yeah, the fruit speaks for itself. It's either dead fruit or alive fruit. And so here I am two years later, redeemed child of God. But yeah, so I would love to hear from you guys, especially on this. Like I it's crazy how many people reached out to me and have been talking so much about shame in my comments and DMs like saying how they're dealing with something and they don't know how to let go of it. And the saying stands true like let go and let God. But it's not that simple. And I'm going to be the first to tell you I struggled so much with that. I'm like how do I let go? How do I give this up? Because you know it's not fair that I was sexually molested at the age of 13. It's not fair that my dad left. You know, it's not fair that some of these things happened to us. But I want you to know the best thing that worked for me was when I got on my knees one night and I felt so much anxiety and pressure um from the enemy just saying like, "Yeah, you're not good enough. you know, you still have all this baggage and like you might be saved, but you're going to live the rest of your life with this baggage. But God says, "No, give me your baggage. Give it to me and I will take it and set you free." God God wants nothing more than for us to be free. And so, like I said, I got on my knees and I was like, you know what? I just sat there and I envisioned in my head like me sitting before the cross because the Bible also says that we can come boldly before the throne of God. Boldly like we come and we're like here is my declaration to you God. Here are my problems Lord. And I just envisioned in my head handing God this massive box of my shame, you know, and um all the hurt and the unfairness that has happened to me. And I was like, "Here God, like I can't take this anymore." And as soon as I kept surrendering it, I had to say it over and over and over again. But that's how the enemy works, too. He will continuously put thoughts in your mind that can like that just bring you back to what he's trying to make you stumble on. So what I have to do and what we have to do is just hand it to God and say, "God, I give you this. I surrender myself. I surrender my life to you. I surrender anxiety and fear and shame and doubt. Here it is, God. Like take it from me. Take this burden from me." And I love the Psalms where it says like, "He'll lead you beside still waters." That verse has been just circulating in my mind for so long. Just like he will lead me beside the calm, beside the peace. And I believed that I truly had to believe the word of God because it is true and it's alive. Like would you believe a dead person? No, because they're not talking. But the Bible is very much alive. And I I need you to believe me here because I've been through so much. And I'm only 28 years old. I can't believe I'm 28 years old, but I feel like I've lived like three lifetimes sometimes. And I know you guys must feel that way, too. But when you've been through so much, you feel like you're like, "What's next?" Even like I'm scared to even live another year. Because last year, you know, um I said this, I believe on the podcast, but like my brother, he uh commits suicide. And then two months later, my um my sister-in-law, she also passed away. And then my dad got sentenced to 20 years in prison. And that's just a lot. It's a lot for one person to handle. Um so let me just tell you, like I can relate to you guys. I I might not know the exact situation you're in, but I've also handle or struggled with like finances, and I just had to trust God. I hand I keep handing him that box. Whatever's in that box, you can label it however you want. finances, uh, doubt, fear, um, sexual permiscuity, modesty, addiction, uh, pornography, like whatever it is, and you just hand it. You keep giving it over until it's no longer in your hands. And I I love to give you guys like actionable steps because sometimes I listen to things or I'm reading a book and I just want it to tell me the answer while I'm telling you the answer. like this is what you need to do. And I'm only telling you this because it's actually worked for me. And I'm not saying that I don't have my hard moments and that you won't have your hard moments, but God is actively there for you all day, every day. It says in the Bible that he will never leave you and never forsake you. So even if people in your life like a mom or a dad or a sibling or a friend or a spouse has left you, God says, "I will never leave you." So, I've even had to put God in the, you know, the dad box. Like, I'm like, "God, like, I need you to be my dad. Like, I need you to be my lover. I need you to be uh a friend or a brother." Um, but most of all, he's my God, you know. And, uh, I think, you know, I've really seen a lot of people and a lot of people uh were so kind in the comments when I said that my brother had passed away. uh they were so so kind and uh just commenting on how they had lost somebody too and that's just you know I never really understood um because I hadn't been to that many funerals and so when I went to my brother's funeral it hit like nothing else in this world like losing a sibling feels like losing a piece of yourself like there's just less of you now and I'm the middle of five kids. So, it was and that's my only brother. So, that was just the worst feeling ever. And um just know that I understand you. I I totally understand you. And I know that hurting is just such a hard thing to move past. And it, you know, I was reading this book because my my best friend Taylor got it for me. Shout out to Taylor DS. I love her so much. Um, but she got me this amazing book and the name is escaping me right now, but it's about grief and it's about lamenting. And I got to learn so much about lamenting. And it's such a beautiful process to cry. It's such a beautiful thing to like cry out with grief to the Lord because it even said in the book that like lamenting is a very Christian thing to do. crying is human and lamenting is Christian. That's the exact phrase that the book the book used. Um but even so many of the psalms they are laments from David to God starting with this like God like I'm here like an address to God and then lamenting which is like God why like where are you in my circumstance? And that what that's honestly that will build your faith more than anything is um like when you get saved, you feel this like fire for God, right? You're just like, "Woo, I will go knock the world down with my fist, you know, like I'm going to get so many people saved." And then life hits you. And life is very hard. Very, very, very hard. [laughter] But and then you're just like, God, where are you? You know, where are you, dude? I am I'm sitting in misery. And this is probably what Job felt was just like after everybody had like passed away in his life and he's just sitting there with ashes all over him with a ripped coat. And it's just like it's such a deep feeling of this massive grief when things don't go your way. And then we are so adept to start blaming God because yes, God is in control, but you forgot who who the prince of the power of the air is here. God is the king, but there's also an evil prince who is also inflicting so much pain to people because he wants to hurt God. That's it. And we hurt God when we turn away from him. So when bad things happen, we are doing exactly what the devil wants by saying, "Yeah, God, it's your fault. You made this happen." But those things are just faithbuilders. And I know that's a a difficult sentence to hear sometimes. I have had a very hard time hearing that because I'm like, "Well, God, like I already had faith in you." But God's not talking about the oh like praise God like I have faith you know I believe this is like you go through hell sometimes and you can come out on the other side of it or still be in the hell that's going on in your life and still say God I trust you. I don't know what you're doing but I I choose to still follow you. And I've had to say that statement so many times in my walk with the Lord. So many times where I'm like, God, you know, I don't know what you're doing here. I don't know what you're trying to teach me. I am hurting. I am broken, but you still saved me. And if I've had to make this sentence, and I think this is such a good thing to say because it puts into perspective just how big our God is and all that he's done for us is I'll say to God, God, if you never do anything else for me, if I become homeless, if I lose my husband, if I lose my friends, if I have nothing else in this life, your son sacrificed ice was enough for me. And I think that's the stance we should really start taking because God doesn't owe us anything. He doesn't. So why do we demand so much from such a loving God? Yeah, he absolutely loves you. But what he's more keen on is not giving you things. God's not like, "Oh, you're asking for a Ferrari F8? Cool. I'll give it to you. Why would he give you that? Like why if you're just going to drive as fast as you can in the opposite direction from him? Like why, you know, do you if you have kids and I don't, but you know, if you have a kid and they're demanding some sugary drink and you know that it's almost bedtime and you're like, "No, you can't have that drink." drink or would you just give the kid the drink even though you know he's going to stay up all night and not listen to you the rest of the evening just because he demanded something from you. I don't know if that was a really good scenario, but you know, hey, but I don't know. God doesn't owe us anything. And I think it's a really beautiful position to put your heart in when you can just say, "God, you know what? I don't know what in the crap is going on right now or like where you are in my life, but I I still believe you are here." You know, because feeling God is not the same as walking with God. Because we're also not supposed to depend on our heart and our feelings because they fail us. Because our heart is kind of compromised a little bit, just a little bit. And so if we continue to follow God after feelings, oh, I feel you here. Oh, I feel your presence. Like you go to you go to church on Sunday. Excuse me. Things keeps uh falling down. Anyway, you go to church on Sunday and you're like, "Oh, yes." Like this worship, I'm feeling that. Like, ah, this is so good. You walk right outside of church and you feel nothing again. Like, that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. Like, you were just celebrating in a room full of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Like, yeah, you should be hyped. It's amazing. But we can't just depend on church to give us those feelings. You need to initiate that at home, by your bed, in a prayer room, in a garage, in your car. Like, you need to initiate that with Christ. Oh, it's the most beautiful thing when you can take a Sunday morning faith and turn it into a Thursday morning faith. Like, you can hype yourself up in that spirit whenever. Like, you don't need a church to do that for you. You should be doing that in your own walk. The best song Oh, here's a song you need to listen to. It's called Monday Morning Faith by SEU Worship. My favorite song of all time. I cry every time I listen to that song because it's all about having faith on a Monday morning. Who hates Mondays? Me and everybody else watching this. But guys, we got to just keep bringing that faith into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It's all about God. make your entire being about God. The music that you listen to, who your friends are, who you're hanging out with, uh I don't even know, the food you eat. Like, I don't know how you make that more like God, but hey, it's all right. [snorts] You know what? There's nothing wrong with a good box of donuts. Like, nothing says praise God like some crispy creams. [laughter] I'm so sorry. Sometimes I think I'm the funniest person I know, which probably tells you that I don't know many people, but [laughter] But y'all, this is so fun. I'm actually like low-key so excited that I get to do podcasting now because I've had so much on my heart for a really long time. And it's been so fun sharing my testimony all over the place. But I was so ready to like dive into more. I was like, God, what do you have for me? Like, what's next? Like, let's talk about good stuff. Let's dive deeper. And I want to encourage you guys, do not let fear and shame rule your life. Let God's love direct you, identify you. You know, I think again, not even I think I know because I've seen the statistics and so have you. So many people nowadays have lost their identity. They have no idea who they are. And that's very clear with like uh the LGBTQ plus community. They're showing us that they don't know who they are. And that's so sad. So, don't get lost. Don't get caught up. Stay focused. Have tunnel vision. You don't need to see what's going on over here. You got to keep your eyes on God or you will lose focus and you will drift away. Your walk with God is the most important, beautiful, lifegiving thing that you will ever grasp in your life. Getting married, amazing. Having kids, I bet it's amazing. I don't have them. Having friends, super cool. But a relationship with the creator of the universe. We don't even know how big the universe is, but okay, he's the creator of it and much more. The creator of you. He wants you. He He desires you. He says, "I knit you together. I was there in the womb with you." How precious is that? That just gave me goosebumps. How precious is that? That you have a God that has been there your whole life. But may I remind you, you also have an enemy who's been watching you since birth. And he is seeking you out to destroy you. So do not let something like shame, whether it was inflicted on you or you did it yourself, ever deter you from who God says you are. And let me just remind you really quick who God says you are because he says he made you fearfully and wonderfully made. Oh, so beautiful. You are pristine. You are unique. You are so loved. And I'm so proud of you. Like God, I'm proud of you. But God is like, "Woo, THAT IS MY SON AND DAUGHTER. Do you see them?" He's up there bragging. bragging to the angels and probably to the devil being like, "Yo, listen. Look at my daughter. Look at my strong son." Like that. Oh, beautiful. Beautiful. Wow. I love podcasting and I absolutely, as you can see, I love to talk, but I love to talk about Jesus. Jesus has my heart. He has it more than even my husband. Like I love my husband so much. But man, I love love love Jesus. I love [snorts] him so much and he changed my life. So trust me when I tell you I have felt every kind of shame there is in the book. I have felt it. I have been shame has been inflicted on me. But I'm not sitting here and complaining about how unfair that is. I'm not. I'm like, God, here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Sometimes I have to hand um the same thing back to God over and over and over and over again. He's like, "Okay, are you actually going to let go of it this time?" [laughter] I'm like, "I think so." Sometimes I have to hype myself up to do that. But all right, guys. This has been amazing. I know this is a shorter podcast today, but I really had this on my heart. And again, there will be episodes coming out every single Friday. You can bet on it that there will be an episode coming out for the Nala Ray Show. Guys, if you could just really quickly uh please just subscribe, comment, share, and download, that helps my channel grow so much. And I really I would love it if you guys could be a part in helping me share the gospel. It matters so much to me that you guys are here watching, hopefully laughing at my jokes, um, and just a part of this journey with me. And I'm I'm so excited to learn because I'm diving into my word every single day, listening to worship music, praying over my audience. So you I get to pray over you before I ever do any kind of podcast because I care so much. I have such an urgency in my heart to see people saved and so should you. Like God loves you so much. And so don't ever ever let the pesky enemy get you. Don't ever because God's got your back. He God can take care of all your problems and a million to billion other people's too at the same time. So don't ever feel like you're wearing God out because you're not. He's the creator of everything. Anyway, I love you guys. What an awesome podcast. I love you so so much. Again, make sure you subscribe, download, comment, share, like, do whatever. I love it. Um and I will be answering your comments uh after you see this. Yay. Happy Friday.