Throughout all of my life God has been good to me. At birth I weighed only 4 pounds, 7 ounces and was not expected to live. I was ill for the first six months of my life.
My stepgrandmother often remarked that she thought about dropping me from a window when I was a child. She mistreated me because of the circumstances of my birth.
At 14, my mother was raped and impregnated by her stepmother’s brother. I was born just before her 15th birthday.
After my mother left home and married the only dad I knew, she needed someone to care for me while she worked. That person was my stepgrandmother (who was also my aunt).
My grandmother had turned my father in to the authorities, and as a result, her family turned against her. When they blamed her for his dying while in prison, she vented her frustrations on me.
My mother’s husband, the only dad I knew, was a jewel. He never treated me as a stepdaughter.
I was stricken with rheumatic fever at age 13. At age 40 I had a quintuple bypass, followed by a triple bypass at 61.
Today at 70, I’m still preaching and singing. I’m also a music and drama ministry director.
Instead of an unforgiving spirit, God has given me happiness and humor. I have been through many ups and downs, but each time the Lord brought me through.
American Faith 
