Come Walk with Me

By Becanna Cooper

Come Walk with Me is the testimonial of a young woman who learned to love God, shamelessly and wholeheartedly. Life’s challenges push her into a level of innocence and intimacy as she clings more to God. It is in the pureness of heart that she trusts her darkest secrets, dirtiest laundry, and sincerest desires to God. Before she realizes it, she has entered into a precious, loving, and sexless relationship, unlike any relationship she has ever known.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973681601

Becanna Cooper

Becanna Cooper is an ordained minister and an avid teacher of the Word of God. She is the founder and executive director of an outreach ministry that subscribes to the needs of all who have been abused or who are in abusive relationships, those who have been disheartened by life’s circumstances, those who have been battered, and those who feel there is no hope. She has been saved since the age of twenty-two. She is the blessed mother of three adult children, grandmother of eleven, and great-grandmother of one. She cherishes her family.

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Copyright © 2019 Becanna Cooper.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8159-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8161-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8160-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019920205

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/16/2019

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 In the Beginning

Chapter 2 Moving Forward

Chapter 3 Losing It All

Chapter 4 Parting Ways

Chapter 5 Heart-to-Heart

Chapter 6 Wounded and Healed

Chapter 7 The Telltale Signs of Time

Chapter 8 Life Is a Mystery

Afterword: I Remember Mommy

In loving memory of my parents, who taught me that the most important thing in this life is to honor, love, and serve God with a pure and sincere heart.

To my children, who have been and remain the substance and source of my inspiration. I am a blessed woman to be able to call you my children.

Above everyone and everything, I am indebted and drenched in love to Jesus, the Son of God, who is the giver of all life. I owe Him my life.

PREFACE

Initially, Come Walk with Me began as my personal journal. As my life began to unravel, my journal became an outlet that allowed me to be me. After several years of rereading my journal, I realized that I couldn’t be the only woman who felt deserted, displaced, and dejected. So I had to reexamine myself by asking myself, How did I get here, and more important, how do I get out of this place?

In my particular case, God’s love was my saving grace. He was the one who kept me grounded, kept me balanced. He was then and is now the keeper of my soul. He allowed key persons in my life, who became planters. These planters dropped seeds that sprouted crops of hope, love, self-worth, strength, and wisdom that became my daily portions. I decided and learned to hold on to God for dear life, and to this very day, I’m still holding on to Him.

INTRODUCTION

We love him, because he first loved us.

—1 John 4:19

Here is my story; it depicts my growth from independence to dependence on God. God’s Word has undoubtedly become meat for my soul, nurturing and fostering my relationship and my growth in Him. Come Walk with Me outlines my life’s journey of overcoming hurdles meant to deter me from reaching my destiny in God. Things that were meant for my harm turned out to be the things that pushed me into the waiting arms of Jesus.

Come Walk with Me is built on faith. Early in my life, I knew of God from my parents, especially my mom, and from what I heard and saw in church, but I didn’t know God. I knew of faith because my mom believed and lived what she could not physically see. In her heart, she knew that God would bring something—whatever it was—to fruition. I didn’t have her faith; but I had her example, so I knew I wasn’t operating in faith.

But that changed the day I fell in love with Jesus. I personally experienced the tangible benefits of inviting Jesus into my life as a repentant soul. I tasted His goodness. I was a benefactor of His mercy. I received grace when I didn’t deserve it. My mind-set changed. What once seemed so hard was not as hard. A trust that I never knew I possessed became evident. I saw God loosen the shackles of bondage that I could not loosen myself. I witnessed God holding back the hand of one who would have otherwise physically harmed me. I learned that whatever appeared impossible to me was but a toy to Jesus. He blessed my soul, day in and day out. Of the many who knew Him not, He chose me, and I accepted the call.

My earnest hopes and prayers are that something penned on these pages will encourage you or someone dear to you to O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him (Psalm 34:8).

At the conclusion of this book, I’ve dedicated a poem to my mom, titled Come Walk with Me. Although my mom is at rest in the Lord, I believe that during the most turbulent times in my life, she has constantly been with me in spirit, holding my hand and cheering me on in that calming voice of hers, saying, Baby, you can make it with Jesus.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

—Matthew 6:33

Turn the page, and come walk with me.

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CHAPTER 1

IN THE BEGINNING

Humble beginnings were not new to me. After all, my family’s trade was farming. My parents always worked the farm, knowing they would never own the farm. I grew up in the little southern town of Washington, North Carolina, for the most part. As far back as I can remember, my parents were sharecroppers. I began to understand how hard farming was at about the age of ten. We lived on Mr. Burn’s farm. His farm encompassed maybe a hundred acres of land. Of these acres, my daddy planted ten acres each of tobacco, corn, and peanuts. He planted maybe five acres of soybean, and he had a little piece of land where he planted watermelons.

Each year, my daddy would borrow money from Mr. Burn so he could plant his crops. After everything was harvested and sold, whatever Daddy owed Mr. Burn was subtracted from what he earned. We planted tobacco plants in early summer. Midsummer, we primed and baked tobacco. Late summer, we harvested the rest of the corps. Early fall, we graded and sold tobacco. This was my parents’ repetitive lifestyle. I lived it as a child, but I always dreamed that when I grew up, I would not be a farmer.

Tobacco farming was seasonal and routine. Mommy and Daddy would wake us all up so we could have breakfast before they started their day. My baby sisters, Bertha, who was eight, and Claudia, who was six, and I stayed home. We had to clean the house as best we could, and I was just learning how to cook. My brother, Mason, was twelve and old enough to work alongside the men.

Early in the morning, about a dozen men, who were also farmers and maybe a few hired hands from town looking for a day’s work, went into the field to prime the tobacco. Priming was when the ripest leaves of the tobacco, usually at the bottom of the stalk, were plucked from the stalk. The men worked in pairs, two per row. They went down each row plucking and tossing green tobacco leaves into wooden wagons with sack sidings that were tacked down to each side of the wagon. Once the wagons were filled, the man designated as the rider hauled the tobacco to the barnyard.

While the men went into the field, the women, who were called female handlers, were waiting at the barnyard to receive the wagons. By the time the rider arrived, my sisters and I had finished our chores so we could watch the women wrap the tobacco. The rider disengaged the wagon and lowered the front end to the ground. The handlers lowered the two sides of the wagon and quickly began to hand bunches of tobacco to the wrapper. Although I didn’t like farming, I loved seeing the women work together. They would hum, sing and tell jokes. They made working look easy.

Wrapping was an art. The wrapper had to be quick. She stood alongside a stick holder that was about four feet long. It was long enough to hold a four- to four-and-a-half-foot wooden stick and sturdy enough to hold about four to six pounds of raw tobacco. As quickly as the handlers passed bunched tobacco to the wrapper, the wrapper snatched it from their hands. She took a ball of cotton twine, dropped it to the ground, and wrapped bunch after bunch onto the sticks. She finished one stick and wrapped the last bunch of tobacco on that stick with a tight knot to secure it.

After the wrapper finished a stick of tobacco, the woman closest to the end of the wagon took the stick off the holder. She laid it on the ground like a pallet, stacking layer