Category Archives: Mothers

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A New Book Honors Church Mothers…

Hello World,

I hope this Sunday morning finds you well and you’re on your way to church to give Him praise morning…If you have been in church for a while, particularly a black church, you’ve heard of the term church mother…A church mother is a matriarch, whether formally or informally, of a congregation…An older woman whose wisdom, earned through years and years and years of living this life, is one of the church’s most valuable possessions…Though the beauty of youth has long departed, another beauty only acquired by watching God work things out time and time and time again, has descended upon her countenance…She is a jewel…a rare gem…

Photojournalist Alysia Burton Steele is capturing the rare brilliance of church mothers in her book in progress ““Jewels in the Delta.” From her Facebook page, below are descriptions of a few of the 50 Mississippi women that Steele photographed and interviewed for her book…

Mrs. Leola, 102, was thrown off a plantation in Yazoo City because she refused to have her little girls pick cotton. She wanted them to go to school. The overseer told her she had to leave if she wouldn’t let them work because she would “ruin his other blacks” because they would want an education too. She left and said it was the best decision she ever made. All of her girls have masters degrees and one has a Ph.D.

Mrs. Rebecca, 99, talked about how thankful she was for the woman she worked for as a cook. The woman taught her how to save $2 every week for a year and make a payment on her home. She paid her house off in 15 years. It’s not much, she said, but it’s hers and she has the original deed.

 
Ms. Velma, 78, dragged a woman out of church after she heard the woman talking about how fine her husband was. Punched the woman between the eyes and went back in and “sat quite comfortably” in church. Never saw the woman again. Husband had no clue she did this.

Read more about Steele’s book and see some of the photographs of the women in the The New York Times article “Chronicling Mississippi’s ‘Church Mothers,’ and Getting to Know a Grandmother” by Samuel G. Freedman…

And below is a video about the book…

So when you see one of the elderly ladies at your church today, maybe you shouldn’t just speak and keep on going…maybe you should get her talking and learn from the wisdom only she can share…

Any thoughts?

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The Stones That Built Me Strong – New Book Alert!!!

Hello World, stonescover

As I’ve said before in previous posts, summertime is the best time to catch up on your reading…Over the past few weeks, I’ve featured fiction books so today I thought I would feature a non fiction selection…Presenting The Stones That Built Me Strong: Turn Hurtful Stones from Your Past Into Stepping Stones for Success! by Alissa R. Jones…

Are you holding on to something you need to let go of?

Have you ever felt like all the odds are against you to succeed?

Have you ever felt like you fell in love with the wrong person?

I came up against these questions at life’s most trying moments. For many years, I was silenced by fear and suppressed the bad memories of my childhood.  At the age of 11, I was abused by a man my mother let rent a room in our home. I discovered my dad I’ve known for 13 years wasn’t my dad biologically. I looked for love in the wrong places, trying to fill the void of all the things important to me being taken and leaving me hopeless.

When we don’t deal with our past it can’t be healed. I made a choice to marry a man for the wrong reasons. In hopes of holding on to him, I continued to lose myself in the process and deal with situations I should not have.

With each stone thrown at me, I have come to know peace, understanding and forgiveness through turning to God. After turning to God, I learned that what was once a negative and a hurtful stone can turn into a positive one. I realized sometimes God places these obstacles and trials before us to humble us, and prepare us for what He truly has in store for us.

The Stones That Built Me Strong: Turn Hurtful Stones from Your Past Into Stepping Stones for Success! is available on Amazon.

About The Author:alissa

Alissa R. Jones is an author, motivational speaker, project director, woman of God and the list goes on…But most of all, she is a survivor. She is the Founder and Director of S.W.V., Survivors with Voices Foundation with a mission to help survivors embrace seen and unseen scars, find a voice, and heal. S.W.V. provides an outlet in which their voices may be heard. Alissa R. Jones was born and raised out of Springfield, Ohio. She currently resides in Houston, Texas with her husband Robbin A. Jones and their children. For more information, visit the author online at survivorswithvoices.com.

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A Sudanese Woman Awaits Appeal of Death Sentence for Her Christian Faith…

Hello World, ibrahim

What are we willing to sacrifice for our faith? As I know that mostly Americans read my blog, I would imagine that most of you, most of us, very rarely if at all, consider true sacrifice as a part of our faith unless it’s Easter. By true sacrifice, I mean giving up something that is very costly, such our lives even, because we profess to be Christians…

However, in other countries that don’t ensure religious freedom, Christians must live in the tension of having faith in God while knowing they may be forced to give up their very lives because of their faith…

Such is the case for 27-year-old Mariam Yehya Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman who has been sentenced to death for refusing to reject her faith in Jesus Christ. According to a CNN article, Ibrahim has been in jail since January 17 and was convicted of apostasy on May 15. Complicating matters, Ibrahim was pregnant when she was jailed and gave birth to her second child, a girl, last month. In addition, her nearly two-year-old son is in jail with her. Her husband, Daniel Wani, who is Christian and an American citizen, told CNN, her case is now being considered by a Sudanese appeals court.

Although Ibrahim’s father was a Muslim, she was raised as a Christian by her mother, an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, after the father abandoned their family when she was 6 six years old. Apparently, her Muslim relatives are the ones that turned Ibrahim into authorities.

In addition to waiting on the decision of the Sudanese appellate court, Wani is also seeking assistance from U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire, his home state.

As American Christians, we need to be, at the very least, praying for for Mariam Yehya Ibrahim and Daniel Wani. And as we pray, we should also consider what are we willing to sacrifice for our faith?

As the saying goes, Jesus is not willing to bear the cross alone…If you don’t believe me, read John 15:20-21…Remember how I told you that servants are not greater than their master. So if people mistreat me, they will mistreat you. If they do what I say, they will do what you say. People will do to you exactly what they did to me. They will do it because you belong to me, and they don’t know the one who sent me.

And there are many stories in the Bible and beyond that demonstrate that some of us may have to pay for our faith with our lives…

I’m not a “gloom and doom” Christian by any means, but we have to know that having sincere faith in Jesus Christ will cost us something…

So I ask this question again: What are we willing to sacrifice for our faith?

Below is a video detailing some of this couple’s story…

Any thoughts?