My Journey: From Bruised and Battered to a Woman Delivered by God!

By Jennifer Joyner Johnson

My journey throughout life was not easy; the road was hard and full of mistakes. But it was blessed by God! I probably would not be here today if it was not for the hand of God stepping in and changing the empty road I was on and directing my life to something bigger and better. Praise God! I owe everything to God! Thank you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644711491

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My

Journey

From Bruised and Battered to a Woman Delivered by God!

Jennfier Joyner Johnson

ISBN 978-1-64471-148-4 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64471-149-1 (Digital)

Copyright © 2019 Jennfier Joyner Johnson

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

About the Author

Introduction

Could my horrifying story encourage more female victims of rape and abuse to be inspired and to know there is hope? There is never a better time for me to be honest with myself and to my family and come clean about something that I have been keeping a secret from them. Here I am pouring out my life. No, this is not for attention. I have never talked about this situation to anyone. The truth will set me free, and I can finally break the hold that this secret has had on my life for twenty-seven years.

I am so sorry for keeping this secret hidden away from you, my family, for twenty-seven years, and I think it is time for me to open up and tell what happened to me twenty-seven years ago and continue to tell my story to help teenage girls and other women to be honest with themselves, and I pray that it will help someone else. I did not give my family the opportunity to support me in my situation because I was too afraid to say anything to my mama, to my dad, to anyone really.

I continue to have a good relationship with my dad, but for some reason, I pushed my mama away, sister away. I made it hard for my mama and sister to love me because of this situation I was dealing with. I made a big mess out of my situation. Some people will only love you as much as they can and use you until their loyalty runs out, or until they are through with you. When you’ve been hurt so bad, it is so easy to build walls around your heart to protect it from being hurt again, and it is hard to trust people even your own family. This secret caused me to distance myself from the people who loved me the most.

The truth is better than a lie because lying just makes a mess out of everything. Keeping secrets from your parents, don’t help the situation, none either. When people abuse you or hurt you in anyway, and then they tell you it is just between you and them, or when they tell you it is our secret, or when they tell you no one needs to know about this, that is the first sign to run and tell someone, please tell someone.

Please don’t make my mistake. Please tell someone because honestly it is wrong; because these grown men and women know exactly what they are doing to us younger people when they force you to do something that you don’t want to do. Our minds have not yet developed, and we obey the grown-ups in our lives and don’t think they will hurt us or abuse us and when they do it is a big letdown, and it hurts so bad because we trust them, and then they take advantage of us and tempt us with their sexual acts all because we are young and trustworthy.

Temptations come in all different ways so don’t be fooled. If you get a bad feeling that something is not right, then most of the time, it is not right. Have the courage to stand up for yourself because I did not, and I regret that I did not stand up for myself. I was blinded by what was happening to me, and I was so afraid to say anything, so I kept quiet about my father’s friend raping me twice, and things in my life just continued to get worse through the years. Now, I am speaking out to help other teenagers and women not to go through what I went through because I can still feel those terrifying moments, decades later. It had consumed my life for so long.

So instead of putting myself through all that he said, she said, I kept quiet about being almost killed by my ex-boyfriend. That was very hard to go through, and I went through that alone, too, because I felt like I had no one to talk to about that situation. Honestly, you really don’t deal with all these emotions without someone to talk to and to help you get through all the hurt and pain. My self-esteem was shot and being in an abusive marriage was even harder because this time my daughter Pespi was there with me to witness all the abuse. I honestly believe that talking about all this hurt and pain is the best medicine for you to do. It has helped me so much.

Please talk to your parents, your friend, your pastor. Please talk to someone. Don’t be consumed by your problems like I was. Since this is the first time I am speaking out about all of this, I have something extremely important to share with you. Significant life-changing experiences. So valuable that it will change your life. Now, let me take you on my journey. Hold on! Here we go!

Chapter 1

I lived in a small town in Georgia with my mama, my dad, and my sister. My dad’s name is Harry. My mama’s name is Kay. My sister’s name is Addie, and my name is Jennifer. I was born in Valdosta in 1974. When I was three years old, my sister Addie was born in December. Our lives were pretty normal. Both our parents worked at Brockway in our hometown. We went to church regularly. I was about ten years old before our dad started to attend church with us as a family. Our parents were loving and supportive. Our mama Kay was a godly woman who was always there for us no matter what sport or program Addie and I participated in, Mama was always there cheering us on. As far as I can remember our father Harry always made Addie and I, French fry sandwiches on the nights our mama Kay had to work late at Brockway.

Then I was old enough to start Elementary school. I became best friends with a young girl, and she became like a sister to me because we did everything together. Her name was Marie. She would spend the night at my house, and I would spend the night at her house. As we grow up into young ladies, our friendship grew stronger. Then it was time for my sister Addie to start Elementary school, and I would make sure Addie got to her morning class. Next, Marie and I would go get Addie from her afternoon class. Then we would wait in line and rode the bus home.

Once Marie and I got to middle school, we basically lived at each other’s house. When my sister Addie got to middle school, she tried out for the JV cheerleading squad, and Addie made it. Marie and I went to every JV football game to support my sister Addie. Marie and I would help the JV cheerleaders with their homecoming floats. Football and homecoming were a big deal in our hometown. Marie and I had so much fun attending all the JV football games. Middle school was so fun.

When I was twelve years old, my father would take Addie, Marie, and I to the races. We would go to Waycross, Georgia, to the racetrack every Saturday night. The race track was a dirt track. My favorite driver drove a black car with a pink number two on each side of the car. My father always told me, One day, I will see if you can meet the driver of the number two car since you like him so much.

I told my father, Wow that would be cool. Thank you. Honestly, I thought my father was being nice. A few months later, the racetrack had a meet-and-greet day for the fans to meet their favorite drivers. My father, Addie, Marie, and I met all the drivers, but when it came to meeting my