Kierra Sheard preached the good word during her Billboard Live At-Home concert on Thursday (April 23) and also raised money for Ronald McDonald House Charities Detroit, which provides resources for families of locally hospitalized children.
The Detroit-born gospel singer started and later ended her half-hour livestream with an encore of “It Keeps Happening.” “It’s a declarative song that you can use and speak over your life. … It’s very encouraging, especially during this time, because I know God has given us some promises,” she said when the song wrapped the first time. “We’re probably like, ‘Well, what about my timeline? What about what was supposed to happen right now? What about the aftermath?’ … I want to encourage you to know that if God gave you a promise, then it’s going to happen.”
Spreading the gospel didn’t just benefit her online fans who might feel like the COVID-19 pandemic threw a serious wrench in their plans; Sheard also needed the encouragement. The Grammy-winning singer thanked those who commented their condolences for her after she lost her 84-year-old grandmother Willie Mae Sheard last Sunday (April 19). In a Good Morning America interview posted weeks prior to her grandmother’s passing, she opened up about both her grandparents’ battles with the novel coronavirus.
“Mentally, I am doing well,” she reassured her fans in her best attempt to not get emotional. “I hope that I have the opportunity while being on this platform to encourage you, those who have been affected by the virus and if you’ve lost a loved one, I hope that you would be inspired by this scripture that’s carrying me through! I think it’s in Philippians [4:7], and it says, ‘I give you peace that surpasses all understanding.’ It hurts, it hurts so bad … but I send peace your way and let you know that you can get through it.”
In an exclusive interview with Billboard last week on the release date of her eponymous album KIERRA, she credited her “mother, aunts and grandmother to not settle for good or even great. I want to impact the world with my music just as wholeheartedly as they did. They are my biggest inspirations hands down. I hope I make them proud with this new record.”
Watch Sheard’s uplifting Billboard Live At-Home performance below, and donate to Ronald McDonald House Charities Detroit here.