Rising From Grief: Minister Alma Thomas' Journey Of Resilience And Hope (Inspirational)

In this powerful episode, Reginald D welcomes Minister Alma Thomas, a remarkable woman who has turned her pain into purpose. Alma opens up about her experience with a life-threatening stroke that left her bedridden, and how she continues to pursue her dreams despite the odds. Alma also shares her inspiring journey from the loss of her son to heart disease to becoming a beacon of hope for others.

Join us as she discusses the challenges she faced, including the stigma surrounding mental health in the African American church, and how she transformed her grief into action by establishing a scholarship in her son's honor.  

Discover the importance of resilience, faith, and the power of sharing your story. Alma encourages listeners to never give up on their dreams, no matter the circumstances.

Alma's info:

Website - https://www.yhomas.at

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100063077808852

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/almathomas830

Transcript

Welcome to Real Talk with Reginald D. I'm your host, Reginald D. On today's episode, I have a remarkable woman. Her name is Minister Emma Thomas. She's an author and a minister and is doing great things for the kingdom of God. Welcome to the show, Emma.

Hello, hello. How are you?

I'm doing great. Yourself?

I'm doing good.

Good. Thank you so much for coming on the show with me today.

Thanks for having me.

Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. So Emma, let's start out and share a little bit about yourself and where you grew up and your journey through the challenges you faced throughout the years.

Okay. I was born in Mississippi, but I moved to New York when I was three years old and I attended Abneyville school. My life was pretty normal until 2009. In 2009 is when I lost my son to heart disease. And that was a very dark period in my life because people were saying things like, he's in a better place. Now, once you go through the process of grief, you realize that they are in a better place, but you don't want to hear that. days after you bury your 18-year-old child and you're thinking in your mind, if it's such a better place, why not let your little Johnny go there and let my Tyshawn come back and you tell me tomorrow when you walk past this empty room, where you walk past this empty chair and you still think, gee, your little Johnny's in a better place. And then people would tell me, oh, my 98-year-old grandfather had a heart attack and God saved him. And I'm wondering, like, why did God save your 98-year-old grandfather when my 18-year-old passed away? And I was going to church Sunday after Sunday. and they was slapping oil on me and telling me it was gonna be okay. And I didn't feel like it was gonna be okay. I felt like I was silently dying inside and everybody was telling me how strong I was and how they wouldn't be able to do it. And I'm on the inside, I'm screaming like, I don't know how I'm gonna do this either. If you know anything about the African-American church, it's a little better now, but 15 years ago, it was either like your mental health or Jesus. You couldn't have both. You couldn't have mental health problems if you have Jesus. And I'm thinking like, if you have a medical problem, it's okay for you to go to the doctor. and get medicine. But now when you're talking about mental health, now that's taboo. Now it's like, you got Jesus and you're supposed to be okay. And I realized that there's no difference between going to a physical doctor and a mental health doctor. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. And I know the thoughts that I was having wasn't normal, that I wasn't going through the stages of grief normally. And I knew the stages of grief because I majored in psychology. Reading about the stages of grief and going through the stages of grief is totally two different things. So on April 17, 2009 was my son's first birthday in heaven. On that morning, I woke up and I said, I wonder if my grandma baked him a cake. I wonder if the angels are singing happy birthday to him. And then I decided in a split moment that nobody could. celebrate my son's birthday like his mom could. For 18 years, I made his birthday special. So why would this be any different? And I recall putting all my pills in my hand and putting them up to my mouth, ready to take them. And I know that God is real because I heard a still voice say, if you see him, if you do it, you'll never see him again. And I put all the pills back into the bottle. And that was the day that I decided that I needed help. And I went to the EAP at my job which is the mental health piece. I talked to someone and I was able to turn my pain into my passion. And I started a scholarship in my son's honor. And up to date, I've given out 70 scholarships to African-American males that have been accepted into college.

That's awesome, that's awesome. You know, I heard a lady tell me one time, she said that she has buried her mother, she's buried her father, she's buried her brother and her sister, and she's buried a child. She said, nothing worse than a child at all, most people.

Yeah, that's some club that you get in, you don't volunteer for it. You're involuntarily inducted as a member. Like I said, the pain is unbearable until you work through the stages of grief. You don't get stagnated at any one point, and you do what's best for you. And in the beginning, I was trying to prove to people how strong I was, but suddenly died inside. And I had to realize what my disease was, and avoid those things that I know would trigger me.

Yes. And that's very wise too. So Mr. Alvin, you have two books, Dream Killers and From the Waiting Room to the Recovery Room. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Okay. Those are the two books that I wrote before my stroke and Dream Killers talks about those things in life that can kill our dreams and just our low self-esteem, your past failures, procrastination. It talks about all those things. And from the waiting room to the recovery room, I started writing that book on the day that the doctor came into the waiting room. and told me he did all he could do, but he couldn't save my son. Now, so remarkable about this whole thing is that I'm an author, so when I had my stroke, my whole right side was affected, and that's the side that I write on. So I'm thinking now, like, Okay, with the stroke, how am I gonna continue to do what I love to do? And after my stroke, I've written four books with my left hand, with one finger on my telephone. Because you can't put your purpose on pause. And what I realized on pause, April 23rd, 2001, I realized that April 24th wasn't promised to me. When I laid down on April 23rd, I had all these things that I planned to do for the weekend. A lot of things I had put off, I was like, I can do it tomorrow, I can do it tomorrow. But when you go through a devastating health scare like I went through, the doctors gave me a 99% chance of living. No, a 99% chance of dying and a 1% chance of living. So now I'm living in the 1%. What can I do? And this one would say, don't give up on my dreams. Just like I had to find a way to write my books that life is in chapters. Some chapters are sad, some are happy, some are long, some are short. But the main thing is that a chapter has to end. There's no chapter that goes on forever and ever, but that chapter ends. You begin a new chapter in your life. And the funny thing is that 20 years ago, it was prophesied to me that I wasn't just gonna be local, I was gonna be global. And if you read my story, you know, my son died, I experienced a fire, and was homeless for a while. I married a jokester, and I found out that he was addicted to drugs and he was in denial, so I couldn't help him. but he left me in financial ruins. And then four years ago, I suffered this massive stroke. So a year ago, before my apostle died, he also prophesied to me. He said, you're not just local, you're gonna go global. So now I do these podcasts for my bed because I wanna inspire and motivate people that no matter what you go through in life can rise above your circumstances. So as I was preparing to do this interview today, I was looking back over my tasks. I've spoken on over 400 podcast seminars and virtual conferences And I said, look at God, in the very place where I thought it was over, in the very place where the enemy told me the throne in town is the place where God has used me the most. So my advice to your audience is to never give up. Do you recall, Reginald, as you were growing up, that you would do things and you would go home and your parents would say, why did you do that originally? You said, because they dared me. And your parents said, well, if someone dared you to jump off the building, would you do that too? Well, on today, I'm double-dog daring your audience to dig deep inside to that place where they thought their dreams might've died or they might've rocked them silently to sleep because they thought they couldn't have them. I dare you to dream again. I dare you to awaken the dreamer in you.

Oh, that's so powerful, man, Selma. That is so powerful. Because look what God did with the 1% that they said that you had. He took that 1% and made a remarkable person out of it. And still the journey keeps going, right? Yes, amen. So you talk a lot about perseverance and talk a lot about people going through circumstances and things like that and basically telling them not to give up. And you're a prime example, I feel, that all the stuff you've been through, and you're still here, and you're still reaching the masses, and you're still doing the kingdom work. What motivates you and what drives you to do this?

My faith in God and the fact that any word he said, he will never leave you or forsake you. No matter what you're going through in life, God is with you. And he still has a plan and a purpose for our lives. It's like when you're taking a trip and you miss your turn, you don't pull over to the side of the road and say, I'm not going to my destination anymore because I missed that turn in the road. No, we have these things now called GPS systems where you can put your destination into the GPS system. And it says rerouting, rerouting, rerouting. And you might not get to your destination the way that you plan to get there, but you will get to your destination. So I feel like Our current situation is not our final destination. Most people give up for less thinking that I'm the only person that's stabbed in two. God has forsaken me. No, it says in the Bible that he raised on the just as well as the unjust. So don't throw in the towel, don't give up. God has a plan and he has a purpose for your life. Even when it looks like your purpose is dying. Even when it looks like your purpose is dead, God still has a plan and a purpose for your life. And a lot of things that we go through are not for us personally per se, but how can I tell you that you can survive your child's death If I never stood at a cemetery and looked at my son being laid into the ground, how can I tell you that you can survive a bout of being homeless when I never was homeless? How can I tell you that you could do everything right in your life and still end up with the wrong partner if I never went through a divorce? And then how can I tell you that laying here on this hospital bed, you can inspire and motivate people if I never showed up? when I'm going through this temporary situation? How can I tell you that you can still live your dream life if I gave up on mine? But no, I'm still inspiring people. I'm still taking classes. I'm still teaching. I'm still living my dream life. And I could have gave up. I don't, you know, I didn't have to show up. I could lay in my bed and have a pity party, but no, after the pity party is over, I want to inspire and motivate people to live in their 1%.

Yes, that is so remarkable of you. It's so remarkable, because I know that you are testifying to people's lives through your testimony and through your circumstances and through your overcoming. So what are you most proud of, of your journey?

I'm mostly proud of that I showed my daughter how to be resilient and how to survive in whatever circumstances life throws us whatever kind of curveball. She's told a life day to my sister said never give it up. She learned to do that same thing in our life.

Once they ever if you got one thing to say to the audience today, what would that be?

It would be that have you ever been to the carnival and you saw that cloud? Did you throw the ball at it real hard? and it goes all the way down. And just before you're able to claim your grand prize, that cloud jumps back up again. Well, they put something in that cloud that makes it bounce back. Well, God has placed something in me that no matter how hard the curve balls come, no matter how far I go down, I always bounce back up again.

And that's the thing about it. You have to be resilient. You have to have that faith in God, and then you got to have faith in yourself. I think that's the biggest thing. You got to believe that you can do it. You know, when you have these circumstances, it's all about your thought process. So Minister Emma, what's next for you? What you got going on?

February, I'm doing my launch of my ministry. In my book, it's for people who feel like they've been overlooked. long enough and it's called the wait is over conference and books. So I'm going to be, I'm talking to those people who feel like it's too late. It's never too late. As long as we have breath in our body, God can still use us.

Yes, yes, definitely. He can. We just got to want to be used, right? Right. Yeah, so you're talking to all of these people, and you're encouraging all of these people. Do you get any, like, feedback from people? Like, you know, oh, man, you really changed my life, or you really touched my life, and things like that?

Yes, I get a lot of, especially from my goals. They're like, I don't know, you know, who else that you motivated, but you inspired me and motivated me to move on to that next level. I'm not sure why I'm doing this, but when I look at you and I see you in your bed, in your hospital bed, and talking about the goodness of God, there's nothing that I'm going through that even compares to what you've been through. So a lot of the co-hosts, excuse me, are motivated.

Yeah, and I'll be honest with you, Ms. Emma, you are a very, very powerful woman. Yeah, I mean, I am blown away with your story, but I'm more blown away of your perseverance at the end of the day, because, you know, what would happen to the people that are signing you if you gave up? They got the sign for you to touch. If you gave up, what would happen to them?

Amen. That's what I feel like. This isn't for me, this temporary position that I'm in is not for me, but God wanted to use me in my wilderness situation. God wanted to use me in my Job situation. He wanted to see if I'll say, even though you slay me, yet will I trust you.

Yes, that's it. That's it. So Minnesota, how can people get in touch with you and reach out to you or purchase your books?

Okay, I'm right now in the stages of my manager redoing my webpage, but you can get in touch with me, Alma Thomas, on Facebook, or Alma Thomas Author Ministry page on Facebook. And I'm AlmaThomas830 on Instagram.

Okay, I have one more question for you. You talked about giving up on your dreams. How can someone rediscover their dreams after life often advance?

Don't give up. Like, what I have done is learn to embrace the things I can still do and accept the things that I can't do. Temporarily, I can't walk, so I don't focus on not being able to walk, but I focus on the fact that I still have my voice. And as many people that had a stroke as severe as I did, they can't talk. But I can still talk and spread the message of Jesus. So I didn't give up on my dream when I found out, OK, My right side is infected. I can't use that to type. But then I said, okay, when I text people, I use one finger on my left hand. So I'll be able to still type books. It'll just take me a little longer because I don't like text to talk because it doesn't say what I want it to say. And then I get frustrated when I have to go back and go back and finish. But with my one finger, I'm still writing books. I'm still living my dream life. So you can't give up. You gotta, okay. So I may not be able to walk, but I can still talk and get my message across. 

Alma
 

There you have it. And think about what you said, that you may not be able to walk right now, but you can talk. But you got a lot of people in the world that walk around and still won't use their voice for anything. Right. So there you have it, everybody. Minister Alma Thomas, thank you so much for coming on the show. 

Reginal D
 

Thank you for having me. 

Alma
Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. God bless you. Thank you for tuning in to Real Talk with Reginald D. If you enjoy listening to Real Talk with Reginald D, please take a minute to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. See you next time.