ABSOLUTION...The Treiva Williams Story

Photography by AARON LACY

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MIRACLES STILL HAPPEN

When you sit at the table with a miracle, the conversation … let’s just say, it’s different. Such is the case with the mastermind executive, life coach, and series Executive Producer with Black Ink at Paramount, Treiva Williams. While her life’s scroll features many credits, Treiva’s most significant credit lies in her trust and faith in the things of God. Dubbed as “not your average church chick,” Treiva offers God something more than a ritualistic going-through-the-motions in her daily living. As an infiltrator for Christ, she carries her faith into and throughout the marketplace as only she can. God speaks up and through Treiva, off-camera and in spaces within the television industry that would otherwise remain void of His voice.

In this Holiday issue of MB Magazine, we invite you to pull up a seat at the table and learn from the life of this modern-day sage. Glean from her wisdom, her triumph, and her journey toward absolution. I encourage you to embrace the Treiva Williams story as a testament of what God can do when authentic faith meets His power in the life of a true believer. Nothing forced. Nothing imagined. Rather, only the truth that comes from experiencing God deeper than the eyes can see.

When a mosquito bites you, it feeds off the liquid that gives you life: your blood. While feeding, the mosquito deposits a toxic substance inside you that remains long after the tiny insect is gone. Your body recognizes the harmful deposits as foreign, and the entry site begins to produce an itching sensation, alerting your entire being that something harmful has penetrated the protective barrier. Immediately, your body needs to expel the toxin, but you must make up your mind: resist the temptation to scratch the itch, or scratch in desperation for relief, perhaps leading to life altering infection, permanent scarring, and irreparable damage.

MB MAGAZINE: Who were you before you discovered your faith in God?

TREIVA WILLIAMS:“My childhood was very troubled. I was born to young teenage parents, and unfortunately, my life was tumultuous with them. There was a lot of back and forth with parents who were still in their rebellious stage of life. Both struggled with addiction issues and struggled with being young parents. Their struggles led me to enduring an abusive upbringing; which manifested in me as rebellion and self worthlessness throughout my teenaged and young adult life.

Of the abuse I witnessed and experienced, what was most prominent and the hardest thing for me to shake throughout my life were my mother’s words. Her words are the scars that stayed with me for

years. I still feel the itch of the scars from her words every now andagain, even at the age of 54. When I look back, faith was with meeven before I understood what faith was and before I developed anunderstanding of who God was for me personally. It was God’s faithfor me that kept me even before I had faith in Him.”

Exodus 20:12 admonishes us to honor thy mother and father thatthy days be long upon the earth. It could prove difficult for anabused child to understand abuse, much less honor her abusers. InTreiva’s case her abusers were her parents. Conceivably, at times inTreiva’s life her heart toward her parents may not have aligned withthe honor God requires of a child. Treiva’s mother was not only herfirst and primary teacher but her source of trauma as well. Duringthe interview, Treiva describes her mother as one who used herposition as the primary influencer in her daughter’s life to depositwords likened to cancerous growths.

My motto for life is... This Far by Faith.

- treiva williams

+Treiva and husband Big Rocc

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A distinct difference emanates between the itch Treiva fights against today, which stems from the remembrance of her mother’s words, and the pain that Treiva experienced as a child. The distance between the two are marks of absolution more deeply described through Treiva’s story she so candidly shares:

TREIVA WILLIAMS: “What God has taught me [regarding my parents] and helped me to accept in His love for me is that I do not have to accept a lack of love from anyone. Even if He used them to birth me. God showed me that I was owed relationship and not just a relative. But God also taught me to have grace for those I couldn’t be in relationship with in spite of. I battled through my childhood, having infrequent encounters with God along the way. I did not get saved until I was 29 years old. October 1997 is when I came into the knowledge of, This is what I’m doing [giving my life to Christ]. This is what this is [salvation]. I know what I’m committing myself to [as a believer].”

God’s Word in 2 Timothy 2:17 speaks of the power of words from a false teacher; a false teacher is one who teaches false principles and conveys false information. Operating as a false teacher in Treiva’s life from an early age, Treiva’s mother taught her many falsehoods — about herself and the true meaning of love and family. In her life and within her household there was always a knowledge of God but no examples of love. Without experiencing the comfort of maternal love it is hard to fathom the love of God. Treiva ultimately had to find God & His love for herself. She had to discern His presence in her life before she could understand His being in her life.

MB MAGAZINE: Let’s talk about what happened in 1997.and radiation treatments would cause you to get really sick.

TREIVA WILLIAMS: “I was really, really sick in 1997. I had resigned to the conclusions of the medical report. Doctors told me, ‘We have given you everything that we can.’ I was preparing to go [die].

“Immediately after that, Shanita says to me, ‘God said this is not untildeath.’

“I just looked at her with a smile. I nonchalantly said, ‘Oh.’

“I was like, ‘Okay, well if that’s done, then I don’t want to do any more radiation. I want to be able to spend whatever time I have left with my children.’ My babies were young at that time. They were around the ages of 3, 5 and 7. So, in my mindset of administration I was like, I need to put this in place and that in place and I knew that I wanted to go to heaven.

“She then asked, ‘Is there anything you want me to pray?’

“I responded, ‘I want you to lead me in the salvation prayer because I want to go to heaven.’

“She said, ‘I will. But this is not until death.’

“While I was at the studio that day, Shanita came in and she looked at me. She said, ‘I just want to pray for you.’ She began to pray for me, and it was a God experience like no other. It was nothing but the Holy Spirit that literally excised what was in me, out of me. After that night I was violently ill. I thought it was merely the aftereffects of the treatments that I had been taking, because taking chemo and

“I was like, [shrugging her shoulders] ‘Umph.’”

“A couple of days later, another one of my husband’s friends whom he had not talked to in a long time called because she heard that I was sick. At that time cancer was in my uterus area. His friend told us about a doctor by the name of Dr. Chen, who was an Eastern

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medicine woman. When I met with Dr. Chen, I didn’t even tell herwhat I had. She looked at me. She looked at my tongue, and she wastouching me. Then Dr. Chen said, ‘Oh, your woman is sick.’ Shegave me a bunch of herbs that tasted like dirt! I was drinking theherbal blends she prescribed. I made the tea and did what I could,because my mindset was, I was at the end. So, I was in preparationmode. Anything that was giving me energy to make it to the end Iwelcomed it. The herbs and teas did just that [increased my energy].

“Then in October 1997 the doctors told me that I wouldn’t makeit to my 30th birthday, which was May 1998. I began living in themoment. Time just kept passing. My birthday came. Then Junecame. Then July came. I was going to the doctor. They were doingtests, and the tumors were shrinking. Then, the doctors were like,‘We want to do another round …’

“I said, ‘We’re not doing another round of nothing!’ I told the doctorsthat the only thing I would be willing to do is have a hysterectomy.

“They told me, ‘No,’ because I was too young.

“I had made it to my 30th birthday, which they told me I would neversee. Now there is a concern that I am too young for a hysterectomy?Inside, I knew that I should not have listened to them. I should have

It is the Lord who gives wisdom; from him come knowledge and understanding.

- proverbs 2:6

gone somewhere else to get a hysterectomy or advocated for myselfbecause ultimately in 2016 the cancer comes back. It came back andmy uterus was completely filled with it.”

MB MAGAZINE: What was different the second time around?

TREIVA WILLIAMS: “While I was deeply disappointed, I wentinto it this time with faith and belief in God’s promise that, ‘This isnot until death.’ I approached my condition with a better knowledge

“I prepared my body and took 120 days to clean my system. I went vegan. My healing partners during the journey were April Daniels and Diann Valentine. They went vegan alongside of me. I read up on the Mayo clinic and learned about how increased doses of vitamin C acts as a cancer antigen, almost like its own natural chemotherapy that recognizes the good cells. I paid attention. I was prayerful. I listened to God’s wisdom, and I listened to the wisdom of man, understanding that I know where wisdom comes from, whether the person acknowledged it or not.

“I told the doctors, ‘I will do the surgery to remove the tumors by means of a radical hysterectomy, but I want four months …’ because God was clear to me on how I needed to prepare my body. God’s power working in my life at that time gave me the strength and confidence to stand up and advocate for myself. I was nervous. Talking to people that supposedly knew more than me. But I walked in the room knowing that nobody knew more about my body than me, other than God.

“Even then, doctors were like, ‘It’s only in the uterus, so we are going to leave the ovaries.’

“I was like, ‘Sir, if I wake up and I still have ovaries we are going to have a problem. I want four months to prepare my body for surgery. I want everything removed.’ And that’s exactly what I did.

“I realized that God intended for me to learn some things from my journey. I got angry with myself. I got angry with the old doctors. Then I felt guilty. Thoughts of, ‘I should have stood up for myself the first time …’ began to play over and over again in my mind. Something deep inside of me kept saying, ‘I knew it! I knew it would come back if I didn’t have everything removed.’

“While I did not have chemotherapy or radiation in 2016, I am still living with the long-term aftereffects from the first time I underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment in 1997. I thank God that it was not until death, even though I still deal with the effects of relapsing: progressive multiple sclerosis.”

MB MAGAZINE: What is the most important thing that God would have you share from your experience?

TREIVA WILLIAMS: “Growing in God has given me such a confidence in the power of my voice and the confidence needed to advocate for myself. Although He is my ultimate advocate, God has put in me the power and strength to stand up and speak up for myself in all things. That’s faith.”

If you have ever heard the saying “Good meat makes its own gravy”

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understanding allow her to live in complete forgiveness towards her mother without expectation or necessitation of an apology. Viewing her mother with empathy as the flawed and imperfect woman that she is, who may still be wrestling with her own inner child issues and trauma Treiva’s heart’s desire and prayer for her mother is to know and live in T.R.U.T.H. (Total Restorative Uncompromisable Transformative Healing).

TREIVA WILLIAMS: “I want for my mother what she has yet beenunable to give me and that is love and acceptance.”

My message to parents is that you never know who God has entrusted to sit at your table. Mary had Jesus, not knowing the mantle that He was born to carry. In the case of Treiva, her parents never knew that they had sitting at their table an acclaimed executive producer who would touch the four corners of the earth through a reality television series. They had no way of knowing that they gave birth to a transformational life coach whose works can be experienced around the globe. They didn’t know that unto them was born the future author of This Far by Faith: 31-Day Inspirational Devotional & Journal, a work purposed to help others see God in their everyday life situations.

then you can understand that the Treiva Williams story is best told by the one fashioned under The Potter’s hand. We should all aspire to live to tell the story of God’s grace, mercies, and miraculous works in our lives such as that expressed by Treiva Williams. Everyone will glean from her story differently based on individual life challenges, perspectives, hopes, dreams, burdens, and desires. Treiva’s journey from 1997 to 2016 was God’s course of absolution. She now lives in truth. Her faith in Him was solidified. She was absolved from resentment of herself, her mother, her father, and her life in and of itself. Treiva’s experience has made her an expert and placed her in a position to share God’s graces with others through Live in Truth Coaching, a personal development firm purposed to lead others to transformational, restorative, and uncompressed total healing.

Regardless of the enemy’s plan, God’s plan has allowed Treiva to live a life of passion and purpose, doing what she was created to do. From being one of the top producers in reality television series such as Mary Mary, R&B Divas: Atlanta, Love and Hip Hop and Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta to launching her upcoming podcast, God and Gumbo. Treiva credits God for what He has done in and through her life.

CONNECT with Treiva: Instagram - @msrocc68 EMAIL TREIVA: info@livingtruthcoaching.com to inquire about her transformational coaching programs.

Through God’s grace and her father’s recovery and redemptive measures, Treiva and her father enjoy the fruits of a loving relationship. One of God’s most precious gifts to her has been allowing her to know & feel the love of her father and to be a “daddy’s girl”.

As it relates to her maternal relationship Treiva’s growth and

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