Surviving by the Grace of God

By Mary E.D. Norris

Some people don't have or know love, faith, or the belief or trust in the Lord. They did at sometime in their life, but the paths that came along in their life cause them to lose it. Some were strong enough to fight back and somewhere not. I was one of the Blessed ones.
I grew up a little barefoot country girl. At the age of 6 years I learned how to take care of my brother at 12 years my youngest brother. At the age of 18 I met the love of my life with two children and six months later we were married.
I live in the small town of Garland North Carolina. I have one living child left with me for the rest of my journey. But I don't have to worry where my other four children are because I know they are in heaven waiting on me. Even with all the trials and pain I went through in my life, the Lord has molded me into something beautiful of his own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504959766

Mary E.D. Norris

I grew up a little barefoot country girl. At the age of six years, I learned how to take care of my brother; at twelve years, my youngest brother. At the age of eighteen, I met the love of my life, with two children, and six months later, we were married. I live in the small town of Garland, North Carolina. I have one living child left with me for the rest of my journey. But I don't have to worry where my other four children are because I know they are in heaven, waiting for me. Even with all the trials and pain I went through in my life, the Lord has molded me into something beautiful of his own.

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© 2015 Mary Norris. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/10/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-5978-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-5976-6 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

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KJV

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The Beginning

Chapter 2 My True Love

Chapter 3 The Wreck

Chapter 4 CB Radio Club & Ft. Bragg

Chapter 5 Anger, Hurt, Pain and Relief

Chapter 6 The Next Year

Chapter 7 The Change In Our Lives

Chapter8 Herman Norris

Chapter 9 Mary Norris

Chapter 10 Teresa Lynn Key

Chapter 11 Vivian Kay Jones

Chapter 12 Billy Ray Norris

Chapter 13 Robert Dean Norris

Chapter 14 The Lord and I

Mary Norris shares the pain and heartache of losing a grandson, a husband and four children. God blessed her by leaving her with one child in her life, and she thanks the Lord daily for him. God’s grace and love has been sufficient to carry her through her life and any situation she may face. If you believe and trust in the Lord he will carry you too. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted, and he will if you will allow him to.

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CHAPTER 1

The Beginning

1940 - 1963

In 1940 my mama Betty Horne and my daddy John Dowless got married in a little town called Dublin, North Carolina. They stayed with my dad’s parents for the first year. Then they had their first son Purlie and Daddy and Mama move to Elizabethtown, North Carolina. My daddy went to work for Mr Rich Johnson as a sharecropper. Back then they raised corn, tobacco, peanuts, and cotton. After all the crops were harvested and sold daddy would get his part for his year of work. Everything was worked with mules and horses working from sun up to sun down. In 1943 my brother Jimmy was born. As time went on my daddy was out in the fields plowing and praying. He asked the Lord to send him a little girl he wanted one so bad, and on May 9th, 1945 God sent him what he asked for, a nine pound baby girl and mama named me Mary Estelle after her Mother.

Back then you raised your own meat, we had cows, hogs, chickens, and goats from these animals is how we got our milk and eggs. What milk and eggs we couldn’t use daddy would sell. He would take corn to the grist mill to have ground into corn meal and grits. Things were tough by the time I was 5 years old. Daddy would borrow $10 a week from the landlord to buy sugar, flour and things you couldn’t grow in the garden. We didn’t have a refrigerator or a washing machine. Daddy would heat water in a large pot and we would wash clothes on the scrub board. We had a ice box that sat on the front porch and the Ice man would come by once a week and Mama would buy a block of ice that would last for about 3 days.At the time we didn’t have a car so Daddy would take the mule and wagon and go to town about a mile away to get a few groceries we had to have.