The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Unveiling the Mysteries of Lust: My Story by Shashawnah Smith

Episode Date: July 19, 2026

Unveiling the Mysteries of Lust: My Story by Shashawnah Smith https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FBXDYF8S This book is a spiritual definition of Lust using my own personal life story. It is full of lessons the Holy Spirit has taught me through the process of living with many head-on-collisions with the Spirit of Lust. Inside you will find not only definitions of how my particular strand of lust (sexual) has had it’s moments of defeat in my life, but of the other strands of lusts that people just like you may battle, without even knowing it. This book gives people a very transparent glance into a time in my life that I’d otherwise not be willing to share had God not prompted and pushed me to reveal. There’s parts where you’d laugh, you’d cry and you’d probably cuss me out but, I believe, most of all, that you’ll learn and grow spiritually as well. So, as you embark on this journey with me, stay open minded and alert because it’s an adventure!

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We have an amazing young woman we're going to be talking to on the show. Her book is entitled Unveiling the Mysteries of Lust. My Story by Shoshana Smith. We're going to get into it with her and find out all sorts of stories. I should do the, I should do the 2020 guy's voice. Lust, you say. Hmm. Murder.

Anyway, sorry, I'm just trying to figure that one out. But it didn't quite sound as funny in real life as it did in my head. But that's the beauty of this show. We'll just keep moving on. She was born in New York City and currently spends much of her time working, ministering, and traveling wherever she has the opportunity. She resides in Texas. She's an author, entrepreneur, and the CEO of Ready for Life, Prosperous Life Guidance LLC through organization. She and her team are dedicated to reach teenagers and young adults by providing guidance support and godly wisdom to help them build successful and fulfilling lives.

Welcome to show, Ms. Smith. How are you? I am doing great. How are you? I am doing excellent. It's wonderful to have you, and congratulations on your book. My book talks about the unveiling of the mysteries of lusts, because mysteries, well, lust is very vast, and it's something that is hidden because of the enemy, because of our enemy, Satan, and he uses it continuously. And it's not just sexual like many people think, but it's a moment. emotional, it has a physical element, it has just all different types of strands, so to speak. And it's just talking about all those strands and especially mine and how to watch for them,

how to pray about them, and how to release them to God by the way to Holy Spirit. Now, you said this is pretty much a memoir? Yes, it is a memoir, but it's teaching through my memoir. So, yeah, it's not only just, speaking about my what happened to me why is why is lust was lust a part of my life but also teaching how not to be where I am where I was in the past and to get better by doing doing different things in the Lord and praying and those kind of things give us a rundown a little bit of an overview on your story then how did you there's a seven deadly sins there's last

on the, I don't know what the other ones are, probably because I practice them every day. But you know what I'm talking about? So how did you fall into the traps of lust? What was the path you went down? Where you had an aha moment maybe? And you said, boy, maybe this isn't a, I'm not approaching this right way or something. It took a while for me to actually notice that I had lust going on. But it was only after I developed a relationship with Christ that he began to teach me about me. First thing he does, he teaches us about us and our own things that he's trying to work on to make us better. And so he's shown me that when I was younger, the things that I used to watch, I used to watch MTV, BET,

just all kinds of movies and things without parental controls. And yeah, and I like them. And I didn't know why I liked them, but I liked them. And he told me that the things that I watched, I didn't know what I was doing, but Satan knew what I was doing and why it intrigued me and why it became worse as I grew. Oh. You know that lust. So how do you know what lust is? You're talking about the definition of it a little bit ago.

What is the lust? How do you identify lust? How do I know if I'm involved in lust or what? So I say the definition over and over within my book. The definition that I've come up with along with the Holy Spirit and some very intelligent people in my lives is that lust is doing something or wanting something so bad that you'll go outside of the will of God to get it. Oh.

Yes. That sounds like you get you in some trouble. It can. Yeah. Boy. So did you get in any trouble or were you just kind of, you're kind of dilly, dealing with the temptation there and realize maybe, maybe this isn't a good road to go down. How did that all come together?

So I didn't, I wouldn't say that I got myself into trouble and my past relationships. I think they would think that it was pretty bad. But as far as getting into real trouble, no, I don't think so. But that's why the Holy Spirit had me write this book because it was a lot of things that I've done that could have gotten me in trouble. And I needed to tell somebody, tell anybody that would listen. So what made you want to write this book? Was there an aha moment? And how long did it take to complete?

What made me write it? Again, another Holy Spirit thing. I never wanted to be this transparent, never wanted to explain that I had a problem. But when you develop a relationship with Christ, you begin to love what he loves and then hate what he hates and then understand why he does what he does, right? And this is no different. He told me that my story is a testimony. And so therefore I had to write it. I did it and I did it in the most transparent and non-judgmental way. And it took, I began writing in 2018 and I got it published in 2025. Wow.

Some things take longer to make because you get it right and make it all sound good, dot the eyes and cross the T's. Absolutely. Absolutely. So now, what do you hope readers come away with when they read this book? There are several things that I hope that readers come away with. I want them to know that though life is hard, saved or unsaved. If you go the saved route, you have someone on your side, someone rooting for you win in every situation and even at your worst.

I want someone to learn that not everyone, that is a Christian is perfect. It doesn't mean that our life is just perfect afterwards. And I want them to know that there is hope. You don't have to hate life because there's so much more to life than what you may actually be going through. Oh, yeah. And the great thing about telling stories about cathartic journeys we go on, roads would go down like this one, where we're trying to figure this stuff out.

and it's confusing, but then we get that interest to maybe share with people because a lot of times the great thing about that is sharing can help people understand what they might be going through themselves, and you may have a blueprint that you give them, like, for example, in your book, on how to get out of the jam they're in. So we all tend to seem to get in similar jams, you know, on a large enough scale of all of us. Yeah. And so you sharing that really helps other people. And that's the reason why I did it, although my initial thought to write this book and tell about all of the things that you don't want nobody to know.

Oh, yeah. That's part of the bravery. But the great thing about writing a book like this is you help so many people. And those people you may never meet. And they may never meet you. Every now and then you might bump into somebody and they go, hey, you changed my life. And you're like, oh, that's cool. And I'm like, no, you like really change my life.

my life. And so you just never know who this is going to help, who is going to be affected the most. And it's great that you share this stuff for people. And you just never know whose life you're going to change these days. Absolutely. Absolutely. The main character in the book, I guess, the protagonist is you. Yeah. And you probably talk about how you found God and or you, did you grow up With religious or did you find God through this journey of lust? I guess you could kind of say I grew up with it. Like my mom used to go to church, my grandmother, my godparents, they used to take me. But when I had questions, they couldn't answer my questions.

And so I just kind of went because they told me to them. And I never was connected until I became an adult. Ah. Yeah. Sometimes when we're young, we don't kind of get it. It's just, oh, it's there. But then later in life, you're like, hey, what is this? Maybe I need this.

What's going on here? And you can get into this stuff. Lust has different forms. What sort of forms do you see lust behaving in? If somebody's out there and they might be let lust get out of control, what are some examples that maybe you can cite that people can self-identify where they go, oh, I'm doing some bad lusty stuff there? So one example I can give is that if you're in a relationship and you find a

yourself happy, right? If it's a good relationship, you literally would have nothing wrong with it. If you begin to entertain a conversation and text messages and conversations laid into the night and stuff like that with the opposite sex, whether it's somebody that you've known for years since you hadn't talked to or anything of that nature. And you keep it away from this person that you're already in a relationship with. That is definitely, definitely a lusting thing. Yeah. Lust!

Yeah. I tend to lust after cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory. Is that a bad thing or is that a good thing? That is a good luster, bad. Blottenness kind of something. Oh, that's gluttony. Man, I'm moving right down the vices, aren't I? Seven deadly sins, man.

Glutony. Yeah, that's probably true, especially if you eat the whole pie. That's not good. A slice is fine. Yeah, just a slice, like half a pie or something. Just not the whole pie. Maybe three quarters of the pie. Maybe 99% and then you just leave a little slice just so that you don't feel like a pig.

I pig down on the thing. I'm just giving my advice because I have a deep-seated lust and fetish for cheesecake. Don't we all? I thought everyone had that. I thought everyone had that. I mean, I'm more into one slice. One slice. Or two.

Yeah. If you like more. One at a time is fine. Right. After a while, you eat the whole pie. So there's that. Now, what are these interactions you're having with God? How is he counseling you?

How is he helping you? And then let's talk about your ministry. So I'm along with that if you want to weave that in. Okay. God talks to me mostly late, late nights or early morning. Sometimes he wakes me up. and then I can't go back to sleep. So I talked to him.

And then he gives me some information. Kind of rude of him to bug you late at night. You're sleeping. Shouldn't he send an appointment and during the day and you have a proper Zoom call or something? Yeah, definitely not rude. He doesn't sleep. So if he knows that it's something that I need to know and I tend to listen more when I'm sleepy or when he wakes me up, then I don't mind at all because I need it. I do it and I listen to him, especially since he makes it impossible to go back to sleep.

I spend the time to listen to him and see what he has to say to me. It's very important. I love to hear it. Yeah. And as far as my ministry goes, I enjoy giving the knowledge that God has given me to other people growing up. Especially, I know my book is going to help somebody, even if it helps one person. I am forever grateful, but being actually able to minister to a young man or a young women that's going through some issues trying to make to better themselves in life.

I think that is a beautiful thing that God has given me the ability to do to give them wisdom and knowledge and a little counseling. Counseling is always good. Now, tell us about your ministry. What kind of ministry do you have? Do you have a church that you mean at? Is it online? How do you administer that?

Or do you go to different places and speak the word? I can. I am. I have spoken in front of groups. But I have a church that I administer to all the youth. And then my business, ready for life, is when students come to us by way of their parents. and then we give them, we pour into them. Oh, okay.

Yeah. All of the above. As you go through this journey, are there any forthcoming books coming out that we should know about? Any new books? Maybe you should run through all the Seven Deadly Sins. You can do your next book on gluttony and what was the joke reference I had? I can't remember my own joke references now. Oh, yeah, cheesecake factory.

Yeah. You can do a whole, you can probably do a whole book on, on the lust thing after. On the lusty, unveiling, all of it. Yeah, you just have a big picture on the front of that refrigerated thing they have with all the cakes and pies in them. That's sin right there. As far as books go, I have been getting a nudge to do another one. But it's not quite as, it is definitely strict. Definitely revealing.

but it's not so much, I don't know. It'll be in the, it'll be in works. I don't know when, but it'll, it's, it's in a works. It's in a works, yes. We'll look forward to seeing that and stuff. Now, you talk about some of the myths about lust and some of the facts. What are some of the myths of lust that people maybe self-delude themselves with? I start in each chapter with,

a myth and the truth. Some of the myths are save people don't or can't operate in a spirit of lust. Okay. Let's see. The myth that it's when certain situations, when people don't want to admit that it's lust, they say, oh, it's not less.

I just go after what I want until I get it. It's a myth. Definitely a myth. Yeah. And then when I was talking about earlier, I can have sexy single friends of the opposite sex while being in a committed relationship with someone close faithfully. That's got to be a challenge, huh? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, because you're going about their lustful hanging out of the clubs and doing the work of the devil, I guess.

You're definitely not forthcoming to the person that you're committed to if you're right next to them texting to somebody. That's your friend, quote, unquote. There's a lot of people that do that. A lot of women nowadays, they kind of have these whole corrals or, what else do they call them rotations or these whole bunch of crowds that they have as a backup, right? I think there was a study done recently

where somebody had, somebody had found that 50% of all women that are married actually have a lined up backup. case things go wrong that's pretty crazy that is crazy yeah i imagine love to fail yeah you're just setting yourself up and clearly you're if you're not looking at the person you're in love with you're looking at somebody else then you're probably yeah you're not really on the program you're not you're just playing you're just playing hop skip and jump and what was that thing that the girls used to play when they were kids when they were jumped through the keys of a

chalk on the pavement. Hobscotch. Hopscotch, yep. Just hobbscotch and through all the thing. Absolutely. Playing house. Not to say also hop scotch is when you take your scotch and you mix it with beer. Get it?

I know. Did not know that. I make this stuff up as I go on. It's great. People have no idea. Anyway, or at least maybe just me. Anyway, as we round out the show, give people a final pitch out to pick up your book to get to know you at your ministries.

And all that good stuff. Yes. Like I said, my whole purpose in life is to help those that I come into contact with. A book is called The Mysteries of Lust. My Story, it can be found in Amazon. Just search the book's name. You can search by my name, but my name is pretty long. So I wouldn't recommend that.

But searched by the unveiling the mysteries of lust, my stories. My business, again, is called. prosperous life guidance and it is about helping the youth the younger the younger generations to not fall into the same traps that many adults get caught in and yeah and I think that's about it yeah if you can reach me you can email me at Shoshana again a very long name but Shoshana book at gmail.com It's been wonderful to have you on, very insightful, and I'm going to have to buy your book and read it so I can make sure that

I got to quit lusting after that cheesecake fetish than I have. It's really good cheesecake, though. I believe it. I absolutely do it. Can we get them as a sponsor, folks? We've already plugged the cheesecake, and I think everyone at home salivating right now going must-gette cheesecake. Yummy.

So I'm not sure that we help people with their lust of cheesecake. Yeah, we may have made a horse. You made it worse. Yeah, made them leave from me. here and be like, oh, got to go get that cheesecake. Sometimes it has to get really bad before you hit rock bottom and you're like, I need to go to cheesecake rehab. So I've already been there twice.

And it looks like I'm going back. I'll make it. Thank you very much, Ms. Smith, for coming to show. We really appreciate it. No problem. Thank you for having me. I appreciate you. Thank you.

And thanks for us for tuning in. Order of the book, wherever fine books are sold. It's entitled, Unveiling the Mysteries of Lust. my story out in paperback and Kindle, wherever fine books are sold, there'll be a link on the Chris Vos show. Thanks to Minutes for tuning in. Go to Goodrease.com, Fortresschusch, Chris Foss, YouTube.com, Fortresschusch, Christvoss,

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