I Was Blind but Now I See

By Sylvia Darby

At the age of seventeen, a female committed a crime against her attacker, a male rapist. She committed arson and murder as a method of revenge for his attack upon her. The incident was reported as an unsolved murder for many years. She joined the church and was noted as a Christian. She was sure she had gotten away with murder. Years later, when the Holy Spirit had her revisit the year of this traumatic incident, he revealed the hand of God in the matter. She thought that the things that were happening at that time were coincidences. She later learned that they were not coincidences at all, but they were earthly occurrences under the direction of a heavenly being. Therefore, her eyes were open to the fact that the true avenger for all evil is God, and God alone. Her sin had been exposed and her secrets were revealed, and she was now found guilty. So she was now at a place where repentance was needed. The spirit revealed to her what she had to do to be forgiven. What the devil did against her for evil, God made it for good. He alone can take life's lemons and make lemonade.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644626948

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I Was Blind but Now I See

Sylvia Darby

Copyright © 2019 Sylvia Darby

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2019

ISBN 978-1-64462-693-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64462-694-8 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Prologue

At the age of seventeen, I committed the crimes of arson and murder, in an effort to avenge the attack of a rapist upon me. I felt that I was justified because of what he did to me. I even felt that I got away with it.

However, in my late fifties and early sixties, the Holy Spirit had me revisit the events that occurred at age seventeen, during my senior year of high school.

It was then that I faced my sentence of being guilty after all those years. I also remembered the scripture of Romans 12:17–19, vengeance belongs to God. Even though I felt helpless, hopeless, and mentally disarrayed, there was no justification for my actions.

As the Holy Spirit began to detail the events, I began to see the hand of God in the matter. God took lemons and made lemonade. Because of God I was saved. Why? Because he loves me.

I am sharing with you the details as they were revealed to me by the Holy Spirit, through the information in this book.

At age seventeen, I was unaware of the hand of God in this matter, I was truly blind, but now I see. Nothing is hidden from God. Our God is truly an awesome God.

Acknowledgment

I Was Blind, but Now I See is a story that shows the differences in perception as we, along with the Holy Spirit, view events with our spiritual eyes.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8–9).

This story contains fiction, nonfiction, natural and spiritual events. It’s based on a true story. I thank God for Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, for the inspiration and revelation to write this story. Matthew, Mark, Luke, Ruth, and Esther—they all had a story. This is what Sylvia Jean Belton was inspired to write. That was my maiden name. I’m known as Jean, by family members, neighbors, and other close friends.

I dedicate this book to the memory of my dad, Oscar Belton; my mother, Thelma Belton; and my brother Robert Belton.

Oscar and Thelma Belton

Mom and Dad

Chapter I

My Sibling Group

The fire is hot; the apartment is burning.

I feel dewdrops, as back home I’m running.

I’m returning to my residence at 2932 Banza Street, two blocks west of and parallel to Twenty-Second Street. It is made up of only four blocks. Banza Street starts at Seventieth Avenue on the south and ends going north at Twenty-First Avenue. It’s in the sunny state of Florida, and the city of Tampa.

Having been a resident of Tampa most of my life, I have seen a significant amount of growth and development in the city, especially downtown around the river. Also areas like Harbor Island and Ybor City are part of major development projects at this time.

Tampa had a population of 335,709 in 2010 and 377,165 in 2016. It is part of what is referred to as the Tampa Bay Area, inclusive with the cities of Clearwater and St. Petersburg, on the west coast of Florida, near the Gulf of Mexico (Wikipedia).

It was there that I resided with my parents and my six siblings, in the State of Florida famous for sunny weather and beautiful beaches. Growing up during the fifties and sixties, the biggest celebrations we looked forward to annually were the Florida State Fair and the Gasparilla Parade.

The Florida State Fair was located downtown Tampa in an area between Cass Street and Kennedy Boulevard. Leon Claxton was the only Afro-American who had a show at the fair. The Harlem in Havana Review was a variety show featuring singers, dancer, and comedians. It existed from the 1930s to the 1960s. The group traveled twenty-five thousand miles a year by rail and performed at many state fairs around the United States. Tampa was the winter headquarters for the group (Tampa-based Harlem in Havana made entertainment history, https.www.tbo.com).

The Gasparilla Parade is an annual event named for pirate Jose Gaspar. He had a reputation of terrorizing the coastal waters of West Florida during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century (History of Ye Mystic, ymkg.com).

Although we lived at other locations in Tampa, 2932 Banza Street seem to have been to me the most memorable place we lived.

I am the second child born out of the union of Oscar and Thelma Belton. My sister Gloria is two years older than I; and my brother Oscar Jr. is eighteen months younger than I. There were two additional younger brothers, Robert and Ronald, and two additional sisters younger than I, Shirley and Helen. We were all about two years apart. So we always thought that there were a total of seven children, but there were eight. When we became adults, my mother