SIPPING CUPS OF INSPIRATION PRESENTS GUEST AUTHOR WEEK TOMMALINE JONES
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| TOMMALINE JONES, ARTIST and AUTHOR of The Secrets of the Wisteria Vine. |
Both my parents suffered terrible hardships as children, and by the time they became parents, they had become hardened by circumstances. Saying “I love you” or showing affection was almost impossible. As a child, I assumed this is way it was in all homes. Until I was older, and visiting the neighbor’s, I saw differently. Could this have been where I began to lose myself? At a very young age, I was an incredible deep thinker, ahead of my years intellectually, but behind socially. My need for this exploration was viewed as wrong and unnecessary. I tried to suppress that need to learn as young as 4 when my mother tired to teach me a lesson on racism. I did not see her way, and continued to give the little black boy sandwiches when he came to our house with his mother. Thankfully, I have stuck with that belief. I stifle a lot of my desires more and more about knowledge, quickly giving in when asked what my thought were or what I wanted. One day it no longer mattered to anyone what my response would be, because they all knew I would just go along . It’s as if I had lost my sight, and need for guidance. Then one day at 62 years old, I had an epiphany…..I was no longer ME. I had gone away years ago. My like, dislikes, desires, needs, were gone. I had ceased to exist. I had started to blame everyone around me for everything. Anger was every where. Raging anger. Then the day Maya Angelou died, I remembered her famous poem, “Still I Rise”. “Leaving behind nights of terror and fear, O Rise, Into a daybreak that’s wondorously clear, I Rise.” “Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I Rise.” When Jesus was born 2014 years ago, God had many plans for Him. Jesus was not exempt from those who disbelieved and persecuted Him. What happened when the Romans crucified Him? HE AROSE!! No matter what our adversities, God gives us the immaculate, glorious power to rise above them. STILL I RISE!!
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
Psalm 112:4 KJV
Unto the upright there ariseith light in the darkness: He is gracious and full of compassion, and righteous.
