You Have Worth

By Pearline Robinson

God designed you to soar like an eagle to make your nest among the stars. He pushes His children to soar with confidence to rise above our level of thinking. When we begin our spiritual walk, He teaches us how to fly as the mother eagle does with her eaglets until they are ready to leave the nest. She teaches them how to fly by pushing them to the edge of the cliff to shove them off. Then the father eagle soars after to catch and bring them back to the cliff until they can fly on their own.

Rise high as an eagle soar ahead to meet the storms. Do not allow distractions to stop you from achieving the eternal glory. Know that God is pulling out of you what He placed inside of you prior to your conception.

In God, you have worth and the capability to rise above your circumstance. For God said, “What I have placed in you is greatness. Do not be afraid to spread your wings to reach the plateau God has in store for you.”

Soar in victory over the challenges faced along the way with the assurance that you are not a victim but an overcomer.

Soar, my children, the world is waiting for your arrival.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638143048

Book preview

Chapter 1

Introduction of My Journey

Sixty miles outside Memphis, Tennessee, is a town called Dundee, Mississippi, where my mother, Lillian, lived with her grandma Lizzie. Lillian was a beautiful, full-figure teenager with brown skin, slightly slanted brown eyes, and flowing hips. In August of 1957, at the age of sixteen, at John Gaston hospital, Lillian gave birth to me. I am the oldest of two children and the only daughter. Lillian, along with her two sisters, were sent to live with their grandma at a young age. Their mother, Pearlie, was divorced, and with three kids, she had to work to provide. She worked in an egg factory in St. Louis, Missouri.

Lizzie was somewhat mean and didn’t smile much. She stood five feet, five inches tall. She was stout with chocolate skin and had high cheekbones. Her hair was thick, course, and black. And because she worked the fields, she wore overhauls and fireman boots to protect her feet from the mud and snakes. The girls knew not to ruffle her feathers. They were afraid to make her angry. I’ve been told that whenever they disobeyed her, she would beat them with leather straps until their skin scared with bruises and open wounds spilled blood. They lived with their grandma Lizzie until they started having their children.

Lillian became infatuated with clean-shaven, somewhat handsome thirty-three-year-old man Eddie who stood six feet tall, a railroad worker with plenty of benefits. Her beauty and persistent pursuit attracted him, and they found themselves in a secret love affair, and I don’t use the term loosely because he was a married man. He lived fifteen minutes away in a small town in Mississippi call Lula with his wife of twenty-some years, Mable, and only son, Eddie Junior.

Eddie and Lillian engaged in an eight-month long clandestine affair that was exposed after Lillian unexpectedly became pregnant. It wasn’t uncommon in those days for teenage girls to seek marriage from an older man who had money in hoping for a better life. Some girls sought out older, married men or men in general looking for validation, to belong, and be loved. Many time parents forget to teach the child’s worth.

Eddie feared his wife would find out, and it weighed heavy on his mind, but still, they continued their affair. Lillian tried to hide the pregnancy. But once it was realized that the cause of her protruding belly was a baby, Lizzie confronted Eddie and inquired about his plan for providing for the child. Out of respect, he agreed to take care of his responsibilities.

During mother’s pregnancy, she assisted Grandma Lizzie in maintaining the farm and sharecropping in the local field. She continued working in the field until close to her due date. But in those days, when young girl became pregnant out of wedlock, they were sent away to have their children. Lillian was sent to live with her mother, Pearlie, in Memphis, Tennessee. Pearlie had remarried—her husband’s name Emmitt—and she’d given birth to a baby boy, Emmitt Junior, in April 1957, just four months before I was born.

Momma (Grandmother Pearlie) shared with me that shortly after my birth, my mother left me and moved back to Dundee to live with her grandma Lizzie. Daddy (Grandpa Emmitt), Momma (Granny Pearlie), and my uncle (Emmitt Jr.) are the family I primarily grew up with. Uncle Emmitt and I were raised as brother and sister, my grandfather referred to me as Sissy Cat.

Momma and Daddy were God-fearing people. Daddy officiated church revivals in Chicago for about fifteen years, then the strain became too much on the family, causing him to stop accepting guest speaker invitations.

Two years later, my mother ended up pregnant with a second child and the father unknown. She again moved back to Memphis and in August 1959 gave birth to her second child, a baby boy, Lonnie. She stayed with us in Memphis to help with the responsibilities.

Then two years later in 1961, she found herself pregnant with her third child, gave birth to her second baby boy, Tyrone. His father, James, was a family man, also lived in Memphis. He came to visit Tyrone often and provided the financial support.

In 1962, Grandma Lizzie had moved from Dundee to Lula, Mississippi. She called to say her mother, Jenny, who lived with her there, was dying. Being alone and working as a sharecropper, she needed assistance. Momma took Emmitt, Lonnie, and me with her for a three-week visit to Lula, Mississippi.

When we arrived, my great-great-grandmother Jenny’s health already begun to decline. She’d lost strength in her legs, began to walk on a cane. She needed assistance getting to the outhouse. Daily, with a loud voice, she would yell, Pearlina! Come walk with me then grab my hand, and I guided her across the yard to the outhouse. I’ve never understood why she needed my assistance. With me being so small in stature, what could I have done to stop her fall? We returned to Memphis after about three weeks, but Momma continued taking trips to Lula for months.

My mother told me that Grandma Jenny was a praying woman, that she’d sit in her rocking chair and pray from sun up to sun down. Many days she’d fast for hours with tears streaming down her cheeks. She mourned and sang hymns throughout the day, thanking God for the many blessings He granted our family. Great-great-grandma Jenny knew she was dying and found it necessary to establish with God who would continue the legacy of prayer. She prayed over me. But being so young, I didn’t understand that her prayers established my future relationship and fellowship with God. It also prepared me for the challenges ahead.

The Word of God says in James 5:16, The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Many times the prior generations forget to seek God concerning future generations who will continue the family prayer of intercessory. God answered her faithful prayers and chose me. Throughout my family lineage, God has shown favor. Our family is fortunate to still encounter God’s provision and favor from her sincere prayers of faith.

The Lord called Great-great-Grandma Jenny home in her sleep at the age of ninety-seven. The day of her funeral, standing at the casket, I raised upon my tiptoes to look upon her beautiful olive skin, but I wasn’t tall enough. My mother described her features as that of a Cherokee Indian with olive skin and thick long strands of gray hair. She and Grandma Pearlie shared in resemblance. Momma was strong-willed and powerful with tan brown features, high cheekbones, with straight, fine, coal-black hair, and brown eyes with a bluish tint. The short time she and I spent together left me with an unknown realization to recognize her