TLC takes a closer looks at the lives of some of Atlanta’s most unique and revered preacher wives in their newest series, The Sisterhood. Tara, Domonique and Ivy are three women who simply love God but refuse to be judged and held to unfair standards because of their positions in the church. ESSENCE.com caught up with the ladies to get the scoop on how they really feel about putting their lives on reality TV, why they decided to be so open about their (sometimes troubled) marriages, sex lives and what fans will learn from them as First Ladies and women of God.
ESSENCE.com: As First Ladies, are you unfairly held to a higher standard?
TARA: Of course. As a First Lady, as a pastor, as a woman of God. All of those. One should exemplify a character in nature that is appropriate to the word of God. The scriptures tell us we are held accountable.
IVY: One of things I live by is ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’ So there is a lot of pressure when you have a large assignment or calling on your life. Although, I had to grow in my two and half years of being a First Lady, you do start off feeling this immense pressure. People come up to you and say you can’t do this and that. They also scrutinize over every little thing. You have this coming to Jesus moment with yourself and God and you realize I can’t be held captive by this pressure. I’ve learned to walk and talk with integrity and be accountable to myself with what I do and what I say. But I’m not held captive by people’s opinions and their judgement.
DOMONIQUE: On the ministry side, unlike Pastor Tara, it doesn’t matter to me whether you have a church or you’re in television ministry or you’re witnessing out the backseat of your car. When we don’t assume the totality of the calling we try to pick what roles we’re going to play. From a people’s stand point, I love God, you love God. You can’t go to the strip club, I can’t go to the strip club. You can’t sleep around. I can’t sleep around. The same ordinance and the same word of God I’m living by, guess what boo boo, you are too. We are all called to be children of God, so therefore the rules apply to all of us. We deal with baby mama drama, bad marriages—some of us are on our second marriage—had children out of wedlock, we deal with bankruptcies, drug addiction, bad children in and out of jail. We deal with it all. It’s how do we deal with it as women of God that will set the standard and give young women and young people an example of how they can go through it.
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article courtesy of Essence.com
