Aleechea Pitts is a police chaplain. In this episode she tells us about her path to finding her personal identity in serving others and praising God through writing self-help books, giving workshops, singing, playing music and preaching the gospel of Christ. Her path has been illuminated by a figurative voice that guides her everyday decision-making and provides her life with peace and fulfillment.
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Transcript (continued):
William: Alright. So what takes up most of your time these days?
Aleechea: Well, working. Writing: working on my fourth book currently. And in-between that preaching, singing and playing. So pretty much my time I have to really be disciplined in taking advantage of the downtime that I have.
William: And what entails playing?
Aleechea: I'm a keyboardist.
William: Yes. I saw something about musician.
Aleechea: I'm a keyboardist and a drummer. But my love is for the keyboard. When people call me to different services, I mean I played for funerals, weddings, church services, conferences, I'm normally being asked to play the keyboard.
William: Yeah, music can have a lot of influence when you're preaching, or just trying to connect in general, isn't it.
Aleechea: Absolutely, even when I recently... I've been going around, speaking at Rotary clubs. And so this one particular club that I went to, I opened up with a song. So needless to say when I opened up with the song, number one I got their attention, and basically they were focused on what I had to say afterwards, because the song that I sung coincided with the presentation that I had presenting.
William: Yeah, it can set the mood, to make people more ready for what you have to say. That's great. So do you go around a lot, preaching and speaking? Like what radius are we talking?
Aleechea: All over, as far as Virginia. My desire is eventually to come off my full-time job and just do a speaking tour. My desire. And I believe I'll be doing that between one to three years.
William: Wow yeah. What keeps you going? What inspires you to do this kind of work?
Aleechea: God inspired, simply God inspired. He gives me an unction, or he gives me direction. There's a scripture that says, "You will hear the still small voice saying 'This is the way. Walk in it.'" So I always listen to that still small voice, and that's how I'm able to do what I do. Many people ask me, "How are you doing all these things that you're doing?" And my response to them is simply "I'm just being obedient to what God has given me." And a lot of times we try to pattern ourselves after other people, but the truth of the matter is God don't want you to be like someone else. You have to be uniquely you. It may seem quirky to you, it may seem kind of off to you. But that could be the thing that will set you apart from the masses.
William: Yeah. I think it's natural for people to emulate someone else. But they can only be really happy and have a purpose in their own life once they realize what makes them them, like how they can be their own person.
Aleechea: Yes.
William: What kind of path have you gone to build this identity and this purpose in your life? What led up to this?
Aleechea: Really, self-acceptance is a big one. Self-acceptance. As a child I never really kind of fit in. I was just always different, no matter how much I tried to fit in. And it came to a point, maybe like my early 20s, that I really began to accept who Aleechea was, and not only accept who I was, like who I was and loved who I was. And so I made a resolve that anybody that comes in my life, you either going to accept me for all of me, or you're not gonna accept me at all. And if you don't accept me at all then I'm okay with that. And so that's what made me begin to go down this path. Because a lot of times, and I say it all the time, a lot of times we try to be heroes to other people when we ourselves need to be saved. And so if we work on us and build ourselves up, build up our character, build up our integrity, then we can in turn reach out to the community. Then we can in turn touch other people. But it begins with us first, you know. And a lot of times we look for people to make us happy when the happiness starts in you first.
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