I Escaped to Tell The Story

By Dorothy Butler

This book is a practical and spiritual guide to help build families, marriages, and faith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638859604

Book preview

Chapter 1

A Humble Beginning

(Mama, Aunt Perkins, and the Bread Man)

I was born in a small town called Ozan, Arkansas. I am the seventh of nineteen children. My mother’s name is Flossie Johnson, and my father’s name is Ed Thomas.

My siblings and I were raised in a single-parent home because my father had another family. Being children, we didn’t understand why our father couldn’t live with us, but as time passed by, we began to understand.

In 1 Corinthians 7, it states, Let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.³ My father never married my mother because he had a wife, so we were forced to grow up with only one parent. He came around when he could, but that didn’t stop the pain of not having him there all of the time. Being born out of wedlock caused us great hardship and suffering, but God took care of us.

He knew it would be painful to grow up in a one-parent home, that is why He taught us in His Word that there is a certain way in which we are to live.⁴ All we have to do is just obey God. If we obey His Word, we won’t have to suffer so much pain. I thank my Lord and Savior for His Word today as I seek to live by His commandments.

My mother raised us the best she knew how. It was such a struggle, but she didn’t give up because she knew that she had God’s strength to keep her going.

For years, we lived from house to house, never owning a home, but my mother kept the faith. We watched her go to work sick many times. She often went to work without anything to eat. There wasn’t any food for us to eat either, but her faith kept her from losing hope.

On many occasions, mother would leave the house hungry, and go to her sister’s house to visit. Her sister would offer her food, but she refused to eat because she knew her children were at home, hungry as well. To me, she proved her exceptional love by sacrificing and going hungry when she could have eaten many times.

My mother knew she had a job to do, and she did it well. I looked at her spirit, and I saw a winner, a fighter, and that’s what gave my siblings and me strength, as well as inspiration to fight.

We watched our mother press on, never giving up! Mother didn’t often go to church, as she was always busy working. But she would get us ready and send us. I thank God for that to this day. I am where I am in Jesus because she sent us to church.

We usually attended a little Methodist church that we really didn’t like, but it was where my father worshipped, so that is where we went.

Aunt Rebecca Perkins

My father had an aunt by the name of Rebecca Perkins. God placed us on the heart of this godly woman, making her grow fond of us and love us dearly. She started helping my mother out—buying us clothes, shoes, and whatever we were in need of.

Aunt Rebecca would always tell us that we were pretty, and that would really make our day. I believe Aunt Rebecca did these things because of the Holy Spirit that dwelled within her. She was saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. My siblings and I used to look in her room and laugh at her when she spoke in tongues. We didn’t know any better, but now that we are filled with the Holy Ghost, we understand what was going on with her.

Thank God for Jesus and Aunt Rebecca!

Aunt Rebecca kept two or three of us at a time at her house to help my mother out. Many times, she and her fellow church members would bring wagons of groceries to our house. Thank God—I felt the love of God in them.

At one time, the church members wanted to take me and my siblings from our mother because they said she had too many children to care for.

Aunt Rebecca said, "No, I will not let you do this. I will help her raise her