Growing UP PK

By Tabitha Bennett and Shalondria Taylor

An intimate look into one PK's journey of healing and restoring her faith; holding no barriers to allow transparency and encouragement to each and every PK.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Journal Joy, LLC
• Release date: Aug 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781087983998

Book preview

Growing Up PK

My Story, His Glory, Our Victory

Tabitha Bennett

JOURNAL JOY

An Imprint of Journal Joy Publishers

Copyright © 2021 by Tabitha Bennett

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION (KJV): KING JAMES VERSION, public domain.

Scriptures marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Mental Health Terms are taken from the American Psychological Association (APA), public domain. Terms may be found at www.dictionary.apa.org.

For information on publishing, contact Journal Joy at [e-mail].

www.thejournaljoy.com

Summary: An intimate look into one PK’s journey of healing and restoring her faith; holding no barriers to allow transparency and encouragement to each and every PK.

ISBN: 978-1-7361688-9-9

First Edit: Love’s Edition, LLC

Final Edit: Nicole Evans Gyimah

Contributor: Pastor Shalondria Taylor

First paperback edition, 2021

BOOK DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my Family, Bishop Charles and First Lady Betty Bennett and all of my siblings, nieces, nephews, Aunts, Uncles, and all 1,000 of my cousins. I love you all!

Thank you Dad for pushing me to dream and allowing me grace to grow into the woman God designed me to be. Mom, thank you for showing me what God’s goodness looks like, from struggle to thriving, your testimony of God being for you, is inspiring! I love you both, I hope to make you proud! 💜

To every single person who has poured into me throughout these years… Thank you for planting and watering what God needed to grow in me!

FOREWORD

Some of the most impressionable years of maturation happen during one’s childhood. From peer pressure, familial influences, to media influences, those formative years are sensitive for any child. Now—consider the weight of what one may believe to be a normal childhood and marry it with the reality of being a pastor’s child/kid. Imagine the pressure of being in what most would consider the spotlight, because from their perspective, it is a sense of stardom. Yet, the truth is that this same spotlight is actually a microscope—one that is never shut off no matter how private you long for your life to be. There is also a high and low nature that coexists because every experience does not trigger a bad memory, and there is still room to be honest about every encounter—good or bad.

Within this community of individuals, there are very few who understand the dynamic of the pastor and pastor’s child relationship. The conflict between following God’s will for your life, your pastor-parents’ idea for your life, the harsh judgement of parishioners and the guilt for not measuring up to the standard they have set for you, in their minds, is more than a notion. How dare we fail to mention the former without acknowledging the generational blessings, the opportunities, the insight, inheritance, and legacy that come with who our parents are.

David chose to follow and obey God. Despite the mistakes he made, through his overall lifestyle of worship and heart after God, he planted good seeds that his son, Solomon, was able to reap from. It was because of David’s right standing with God that his son Solomon was chosen to build the Lord’s temple when David himself could not.

-Tabitha Bennett

What an observation! Taken from chapter two of Growing up PK, author Tabitha Bennett specifically speaks on receiving the blessings and benefits attached to the parents’ obedience and intention— in-spite of the mistakes that were made earlier in life. She unpacks the triumphs and trials of the pastor and the first family and gives expert insight on how to manage these relationships while acknowledging how the benefits and negative impact of these relationships have an influence on the mental health of both the pastor-parent and the children. The countless examples used in the Holy Scriptures create helpful dialogue that can be applied today and beyond.

My personal testimony is full of gratitude, to God, for pastoring parents who took advantage of planting good seeds that would bear a good harvest for their children to reap. As you read this book, recognize that the insight, instruction, and ultimately the impact these pages bear is the result of the seeds sown by pastoring parents. Unashamed of mountain top moments or valley lows, this work will inspire conversation that leads to hope and healing in pastors and their children for generations to come. 

-Pastor Shalondria Taylor

Table of Contents

Title Page

Introduction

CHAPTER 1: The Blessing And The Spotlight

CHAPTER 2; Why Do I Hvae To?

CHAPTER 3: Sibling Rivalries

CHAPTER 4: The People’s Perspective

CHAPTER 5: My Pain, My Purpose

CHAPTER 6: To Every Pk: Be Healed

CHAPTER 7: From Victim To Victor

ABOUT THE AUTHOR