My Faith Journey

By Granny Annie

My Faith Journey is a true story about my life and my love for God, my unwavering faith in his word; that empowered me to endure and overcome. The word of God is not a story, neither is it intended for entertainment it is life and I embrace it whole-heartedly. All scriptures used in this book are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Wont you trust him today?

Stay Blessed
Granny Annie
Annie Kate (White) Knighten

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503512160

Granny Annie

Annie resides in Belton Texas, where she continues to love and care for her dogs, chickens, ducks and garden. Annie loves to sow the seeds of life, which is the word of God; into the lives of all she comes in contact with. There is no greater love, no greater joy, than showing others the same love; God has shown her. Most Holy Love Granny Annie Annie Kate (White) Knighten

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Copyright © 2014 by Granny Annie.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014919547

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5035-1217-7

                Softcover       978-1-5035-1218-4

                eBook            978-1-5035-1216-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/29/2014

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Contents

Prologue

My Faith Journey

Trial-and-Tribulation Phase

The Beginning of a New Level of Grief

Tonja and Lynwood

The Bowers Children

June’s Growing-Up Years

My Siblings

Poems by Stephon White

My Sister Pearl

Jasper White Jr.

Henry White (Soap)

William White (Little Bit)

Jerry Lee White (Wren)

Bobby

James White (Candy Man)

Kenneth Cordy

Hayward Cordy

Marie Cordy

Charlie Mae Sams-Price

Edward Cordy

Jimmy Ellis Cordy

Great-Grandmother Joycelyn

My Ancestors

Lillie Mae (Aunt Sis)

My Parental Family

Cousin

Epilogue

My Grandparents, Parents, and Siblings

My Family

My Spiritual Children

My Best Friends

The Poet

My Success Story

Acknowledgments

and

Special Thanks

To my family who allowed me to share their life stories. To my children and granddarlings for their love and support. To my Xlibris publishers for making this novice author look like a veteran. Kudos to all of you.

Most Holy Love,

Granny Annie

Annie K. Knighten

Prologue

Growing up with sharecropper parents during the early 1950s and the early 1960s, we didn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing. We had outhouses, and we drew our water from a man-made well. Unlike today, they didn’t drill for water—they used pickaxes and shovels to dig the wells. They dug until they hit the water main. Then they would erect a platform on which they attached a tackle, threaded a rope through it, and attached a bucket to draw (hold) water.

We lit the house with kerosene lamps. We cooked on wood-burning stoves and washed our clothes in large galvanized tubs using rub boards made of glass or tin placed in a wooden frame (we had both varieties). We made the soap we used to wash the clothes. The wash tubes were also used as bath tubs, but we bought our bath soap.

We canned, preserved, salted, sugar–cured, and smoked our food. There were no freezers. We had an icebox that we placed a fifty-pound block of ice into, to keep the food cool. We bought the ice from the icehouse or the traveling ice man.

I thank God for that era in our lives because we didn’t just live in the same house. We lived together communicating with one another, truly knowing one another’s cares and concerns. The main things dividing people back then were prejudice and bias bred by ignorance. Equally as devastating to our moral fabric today is the thrust into the throes of greed, pride, and inconsideration for our fellow man.

Beloved, we don’t acquire unwavering faith in the sunshine. Steadfast faith is obtained by going through and enduring the storms of life. When we put our trust in the God of all times, our hard times won’t seem so hard. Want to know him more? Study his word, become filled with his spirit, then just trust him. His name is Jesus.

Most Holy Love,

Annie Kate Knighten

Granny Annie

My Faith Journey

I was born on December 21, 1945, in Bartow, Georgia, to Jasper and Carrie Lee White Sr. They were sharecroppers, as were most families at that time. I’m the second oldest child of nine born to this union. We were born so close together, my mom gave birth to three girls and six boys in a twelve-year time period. My mom was, now as then, very beautiful—pretty inside and out. As the saying goes, she was easy on the eyes, even though she didn’t seem to know the effect she had on others. She was shy and timid and was also very talented as a seamstress. She made most of our clothes, even the boys. She would look in the catalogue and find the outfit she wanted, cut the pattern out of newspaper, and hand-stitch the outfit that would rival any department store’s. She didn’t have a sewing machine.

Life on the farm was good, even though the hours were long, the work tedious, and the pay atrocious. When the field work was done, Mom did housework and took in laundry to supplement her measly income. Thank God we grew and raised most of our food. In 1952, we moved to Donovan, Georgia—a rural of Wrightsville, Georgia. By this time, it was six of us children. Mom and Daddy continued to sharecrop with Mr. Peddy. Daddy was a hard worker, but he also was a Peter Pan. He couldn’t seem to get it through his head he had a family to support, leaving our well-being and welfare on Mom to shoulder alone. During this time, Mom gave birth to three more boys—working in the field all day, giving birth at night. Twelve years and nine children later (one deceased), with the baby only four months old, Dad left for good. I couldn’t say I was unhappy or missed him because now we didn’t have to dread weekends. Let me pause here and give the names and birthdays of the children born to this union.

Mary Lois White, born October 18, 1944; Annie Kate White (me), born December 21, 1945; Pearl White, born January 18, 1947; Jasper White Jr., born October 4, 1948; Henry White, born August 8, 1950; William White, born June 17, 1952 (deceased); Jerry Lee White, born August 25, 1953; Bobby White (died at six weeks), born October 8, 1954; James White, born November 19, 1955.

Mama continued to sharecrop; we helped all we could in the fields. My grandmother came to live with us, where she kept house for Mr. Peddy. At this time, I was attacked with the unexplainable, the incurable, and the unknown. I never felt sorry for myself. I always respected my doctors; I just never received their sayings.

Before I get into my medical history, let me tell you how I learned to walk by faith. My mama and grandmother raised us up to be righteous and faithful. My grandmother read the Bible to us every night, and it meant more to me than just storytelling. The written and spoken word of God became the living word for me. My grandmother and I would sit up late into the night after everyone else had gone to bed. I would drink coffee, and she would tell me about the prophets and apostles, love, trust, and obedience to God—and how he performed miracles for them and through them, anointing their shadows, clothes, and countenance. I didn’t know it then, but she was instilling faith seeds in me because of my ill-fated life; she knew without it, I wouldn’t survive. She would say, Pretty Annie, it’s not over until God says it’s over, and he has better things in this life for you. You see, oftentimes I felt less than: I was too tall, plain, sickly, with a heavy voice. I’ll give you a little history on my ancestors and my siblings before concluding the journey; but now, walk with me as I travel Faith Street.

We lived in Homestead, Florida, for almost a year. I was in first grade, Mary in second. At the end of the school year, we moved back to Donovan, Georgia—a rural of Wrightsville, Georgia. Upon returning, Mary and I were sent back to first grade. I never know why Mama let them do that. Our parents still sharecropped, and the children (as young as ten) worked in the fields along with them. We picked cotton. As children, we would say we worked the three D’s: daylight, doggone it, to dark. Back then, that was cussing, and it would get you a butt-tanning if grownups heard you say it. At first, going to pick cotton was fun—until it became mandatory. That took the fun out of it. It was about this time I started having headaches that got progressively worse.

Mama took me to the doctor; by this time, I couldn’t stand light or noise. They diagnosed me as having migraine headaches, which was uncommon in someone so young. Mama kept my room dark; oftentimes she would stand in the door and look in on me. I knew she was praying because I saw her lips moving. Even though I didn’t hear her, God did! Just as he granted Hannah favor in 1 Samuel 1:12–13, he gave me favor. Even though I still had headaches, they weren’t debilitating; I could function.

The year I turned twelve, I was attacked with blackout spells. I would only be out for a few seconds at a time; they just randomly came without warning. No one knew at the time I had a fissure in my heart. They didn’t do CAT scans, X–rays, and MRIs like they do now. My health was steadily declining. Mama continued to take me to the doctors. They diagnosed me with chronic albumin nephritis of the kidneys. On top of that, I was attacked with a sleeping illness that lasted a year—only waking up when someone woke me up. The doctors didn’t know what caused it, telling Mama we just have to pray it goes away on its own. Mama would wake me up in the mornings to get ready for school; before the bus came, I’d drop back off to sleep. My siblings would wake me up when we got to school. Ms. Bessie Mae brought a sofa from her house