Welcome to The Journey of Dr. Erica Smith. I’m so glad you’re here.

I’ve always wanted to write a book about my life, but I always ran away from the idea. I’ve been asking God for a while when would be the right time to tell my story. When would be the best time to open up a box of all of His wonder and the amazing things that He has shown me in just 37 short years? But one thing I know for sure is that there will never be the perfect time or the right moment to make everything feel right or even to make myself feel ready.

What I do know is that when I started Hey Erica Smith in 2018, I realized that I had a very different outlook on life and that what I really wanted to do was write. I think only real writers will really understand what I’m saying. Maybe all this time I actually have been a real writer, and it has been tearing me up inside to know that I have not been operating in my calling. And well, now is the time.

I don’t know how all of this will end up. I don’t know if all of my dreams will come true or even if I will live to see them. But what I do know is that the Lord came to me, found me, and saved me when I was 7 years old. Just a little girl sitting in the choir stand. That little girl had been tormented for years, doubting life and questioning everything. Growing up without a father and wanting to know if she belonged in her family.

But that day, God came and found me. He told me, “Erica, today is the day you go and sit in that chair. When Pastor Brown says, ‘The doors of the church are open,’ you get up and go sit in that chair.” I immediately responded and said, “OKAY.”

I remember being so riddled with nerves the entire time, and it felt like church was so long that Sunday. The sermon took longer than it ever had. Back in that time, we would be in church until about 1 p.m. Pastor Brown was long-winded, but man, I really felt it that Sunday. Eventually, the time came when he would “open the doors to the church,” and just as I had said to God, as soon as I heard Pastor Brown say, “The doors…” I was up and walking down to sit in the chair.

My mom wasn’t there with me. She often would drop me off at church on Sundays. I was one of the kids that the church raised. Some Sundays, I’d show up, parentless, but still committed. When the church secretary came around to ask me what I was coming down for, I told her, “I’m supposed to be baptized,” and she was shocked.

After they went down the row, Pastor Brown then came up to me and asked me, “Erica, who told you to come down here?” And I told him, “God did.” He looked up and spoke into the microphone and said, “Church, y’all won’t believe this. Erica said God told her to come down and get baptized.” I remember people clapping and standing and cheering. Then he asked, “Where’s your mama?” and the congregation said, “Oh Pastor, she’s not here.” Someone close to our family said, “I will take her home, and I’ll tell her mama and make sure that she knows.”

I remember that ride home so clearly because she was so amazed. All she kept telling me was, “Erica, that is so good! That is just so amazing! God told you? Wow!” That was my first experience with being obedient to the Holy Spirit.

I think that’s really what gave me the foundation to take on this journey to Dr. Erica Smith. Because people often see the end result, but they have no idea the level of the struggles that you had to endure to even arrive. I don’t want to believe—and God is still working on me about this—that we are meant to just walk through this life unscathed. I believe that the hurdles of life, the issues, and the struggles are all purposely designed to be there, and they all work together for our good. Life comes with so many distractions, and you truly have to be locked all the way in to make sure that you stay on track.

Especially in this day and time, with the internet and social media, people try so hard to perform and project who it is they want you to believe them to be that often you never really see the real version. And don’t get me wrong, I am not a supporter of being overly vulnerable and oversharing because there are some things I feel should be kept to yourself. But I believe the biggest thing I want people to take away from my story is that no matter what anyone throws at you or into your life, you still have the ability to overcome it.

There are some people who really do live a really great life. I think I’m one of those people, even with all of my past struggles—growing up without a father, a single mother, poverty, and so many other things we’ll discuss on #TheJourney—and the things I have had to overcome in silent and wilderness seasons. But it’s so important that we honor those seasons of life because they made us. They shape us and create the version of who God has called us to be if we are obedient.

There is nothing that is too big for God. The significance of me taking that chair when I was 7 years old is really big. I didn’t have any parent or adult encouraging me to go sit in the chair. I didn’t have a group of friends or really anyone who pushed me to make such a life-altering decision. It was just me and the Holy Spirit before I even knew what the Holy Spirit was.

The goal of #JourneyToDrEricaSmith is my bold proclamation of who I know the Lord wants me to become. It’s not only the educational journey, but the mental, spiritual, and physical journey that accompanies it. It’s me being obedient to the calling and also sharing this journey with you all. I’ll be documenting the journey in vlog style in a special playlist over on my YouTube channel. I haven’t created an official schedule, but it’s something that I’m hoping will be a blessing to you.

The content will document everything that it’s going to take for me to stay on this journey and for me to become the woman I am believing the Lord for. The wife, the mother, the CEO, the educator, the author, the speaker… Dr. Erica Smith.

Make sure you follow me on all social media and lock in to the website. I’m so excited to share this part of my life with you, and I look forward to you sharing the journey with me. I hope it’s something you can look forward to this fall. Thank you for being here.