Hey, this is Dr. Anita and welcome back to In The Light as we continue our

season two conversation with this special episode about prayer. This episode about prayer.

This episode about prayer was inspired by my conversation with Dr. Tama.

Now, first, let me say again that that conversation was amazing.

And I'm sure all of you who listened already know

that I was in slight fan girl mode

because Dr. Tama is no less than a phenom.

And during our talk, we touched on our shared experience

with the historic traditions of the Black Church

and how God's presence with us throughout our history

in this country, from slavery to Jim Crow,

to the Civil Rights rights movement to the present

systemic injustices that we continue to endure. His presence has made an

incredible difference. It was important to our conversation because we were

discussing the forces that shape our conception of who God is. That's an important

consideration at the intersection of faith and mental health because believing in God and walking with God

doesn't necessarily mean that we will only or even most of the time live free of emotional difficulty.

The idea that being in emotional pain

suggests that I'm somehow failing in my faith has something to do with our

conception of God, so we need to reject that. If our expectation is that faith and prayer should mean that we will be happy-go-lucky every day,

well, many of you have likely already had a rude awakening regarding that, and if not, I'm sure

2020 has you re-examining that

...