(SWYD)
Unapologetically Raw!
It is my mom’s birthday. She is (92) today. To the woman who gave me life. To the woman who gave me tough love, to the one who puts God first, to the one who raised us the best that she could given that she come from a mom who was removed from slavery, to the woman who was a direct product of her environment, to the mother who witnessed abuse by white people, to the one who was told by her mother that she could not drink from the “white people” water in Ocala, Florida, that she had to drink “color people” water, of course her response to her mother “momma, I do not want colored water, I want white water, to the woman who got a beaten downtown Ocala just from drinking from a fountain that she thought as a child had white water and the other water actually had a coloring in it,Lol, to the woman who thought that God told her to preach and at age 15, she was beaten for joining a Pentecostal church and leaving church she was raised in, to the woman who got a beating every time she attended her church services, to the woman who married at 16, joined the church of her husband’s family-Church of the Living God, the Pilar, The Ground and the Truth, where she learned under the leadership of the late Bishop Nelson, to the woman, who knew that God called her to preach, who left, the Church of the Living God and joined the Greater Apostolic Original Holy (AOH) Church Of God under the leadership of the late Bishop W.T Phillips of Mobile Alabama, to a visionary, who was under the leadership of a major organization, that was taking money, building a fortress in Mobile Alabama and not leaving money for local churches to thrive, the woman Pastor who stood up to Bishops from all over the United States in a Pentecost meeting and said, “We come to Pentecost every year, we make monthly, quarterly and annual reports every year and go back to our churches which are falling apart. I am having church in an old house, my members deserve better, God called me to be a Shepard over his sheep, I am going to leave this organization and build a place where my sheep can be proud.”
In 1967, she decided to build God’s temple. She built a little church on Southwest third Street. The Apostolic Original Holy Church of God received her back as a Pastor. She served well, excelled in the hearts of the Bishops as a visionary. She set the standard high. The little church that she built now serves as the kitchen for the K-12 school. As God moved her forward, she joined the Theological Seminary in Ocala Florida and was laughed at by her male counterparts. She was labeled as the woman preacher who pastors the “little sanctified church.”
To the woman who continued and completed, her education at Theological Seminary in Ocala Florida only to find out that the Seminary was not accredited, to the woman who did not let that stop her, who went on to get her education again through a “white accredited” seminary. To the woman who let nothing stop her, to the woman who raised her 12 children and many other people children, not perfect, ruled as she had been taught, if they “act up-beat them into submission,” to the woman who said, “I made mistakes with you all, but when you learn better, you do better” To the woman who gives her last to assist others, to the woman who signed her name on houses and cars for her members to be able to live the dream of being homeowners, to the woman who stands up in Courtrooms and tell Judges, God forgave them and the same Bible that you have them swear on says, “Jesus cast their sins away and remember them no more, and Judge if you let them go, I will be responsible for them”, to the woman who lays hands on Judges, lawyers, and City Council leaders, even Police Chiefs, ask retired chief Deen, to the woman who said for God I live, for God I die, to the woman whose faith is so strong, she said, I will not close the church, I will serve God and I will keep the church open. To the woman who kept her church doors open and not one of her members or their children got Covid (19) to the woman who called me 6 weeks ago, and asked me to call my sister, her birthday twin on the phone, I did as she asked, when my sister and I, both were on the phone, she simply said, “if I were you two, I would come to church” My sisters and I both said mom we have underlying health conditions, we believe God, but we believe God made the Science. Again, she replied, “You two need to stop hiding out in those houses and come to church” My reply was, “mom I have Asthma and allergies too bad and once I get both doses of the vaccine, I will come back to church.”
Shocked, Apostle said with authority, let me say this, “I do not know what God you two are serving, we are not serving the same God, if the God I serve can make a man from the ground, if the God, I serve can put that man to sleep and take his rib and make a woman, if the God I serve can raise a man from the dead, after he had been stinking for four days, if the God I serve can heal a sinner like me after I committed to return from Miami and preach, if the God I serve can keep your mom, I know He can protect us from Covid, you all better stop hiding out in them houses and come to church. The God you two serving must be a fake God, my God is a keeper, a healer, and a deliverer. I said everybody who follow Jesus, trust Him completely, He will not allow Covid (19) to touch you, and I am just crazy enough to believe I am 91 years old and God will keep me.”
God did just that. To this woman, to this faith keeper, to the mother who lived and raised all of her children, 12 biological and numerous others, I stand today, a product of tough love, a person whom the state of Florida would have said was abused, I say now, thank you momma, thank you for all the beatings, thank you for teaching me to always be a lady, thank you for all the times you made me cry. Thank you for all the times you made us have prayer in the house, thank you for all of the times you taught me to forgive, thank you for all of the times you made us be in church when others were having good times, thank you for loving God. Most of all thank you for giving me Jesus. Thank you for teaching me all things are possible if we serve God. Today, I end not because I want to but because I have physical therapy. Thank you mom for always giving it to me raw. So!!! I speak unapologetically raw when I say Happy Birthday mom to you.
God has blessed you to live 92 years and I wish you all the joys this day can bring… You are rejected by many but accepted by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. His son Jesus keeps you, I love you mommy, keep trusting God, you say from the pulpit, you are human, you sinned, but you love and submitted to God’s WILL, sacrificing your life for His Kingdom. Thank you Jesus for the (92) years you have kept her. Thank you for blessing me to be her daughter. I love you mom and there is nothing that you can do about that!!!!!
Unedited, Unapologetic.