Sisters of Grace

When I was nine years old, my granny sent me to Summer Bible Camp. I was so excited to go to camp with my cousin Brittany. I remember I didn’t have a Bible, so granny gave me one to take with me. It was one of her old Bible’s and I loved it. It smelled like her perfume, and it reminded me of safety. As I flipped through the pages, I would see her little notes in the margins.

I didn’t know that soon, I would embark on my very own personal relationship with God. I was baptized in Jesus name, in an old concrete tub, there at Bible camp. I remember as I was submerged in the cool water the feelings of a love I had never experienced. Granny, gave me the keys to unlock new doors. That little blue Bible, gave me courage during a dark time in my life.

When I was I ten, I went to live with my dad because my mom was going through a mental health crisis. The loving and nurturing mother I had known, became mean, bitter and violent towards me. The physical and mental abuse began. Although my father was in no better shape to parent me. He used to beat my mother and they separated when I was eight. When I was with my grandparents going to church, they made me feel safe.

The little, blue Bible was a part of my granny that was tangible. I didn’t know much about her God, but I knew that I trusted her. I began to read it often, I have always been a lover of books. A lonely girl, needing direction for her life, I found God. He showed himself to me, through the pages of that Bible. He has never left, though I have wandered, I always come home.