F.A.I.T.H.: From Almost Impossible to Hopeful

By Everetta Harper

F.A.I.T.H. From Almost Impossible to Hopeful is a memoir of the author. The main thought of the book is to have faith and trust in God in every impossible situation. It shows how a person, no matter the age, can truly trust and depend on God. Trust is what makes us go through an impossible situation, however big or small, and on to a hopeful situation. Circumstances come and go, and nine out of ten times, we dislike being in those cases, but the voice of God, the prophecy, is a very important atlas in a season in our life. As we listen to God via his servants, reading His Word, prophecy, and answered prayers, our level of understanding of and faith in God grow. God loves us; He is all about love and he does care for his children. Remember that the Lord leads our life and guides our steps. Dealing with life situations can and will leave us feeling like things are just impossible to change, but by trusting in Him, we begin to understand we can go from the impossible and that things are looking up and getting better. Things are beginning to be hopeful, and it's all because we have put our life in His hands and trust in Him. We can go from impossible to hopeful; we only have to have faith in God!50

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662415180

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F.A.I.T.H.

From Almost Impossible to Hopeful

Everetta Harper

Copyright © 2021 Everetta Harper

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-6624-1517-3 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-1518-0 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

These words are dedicated to all the believers,

who have realized that there is a movement from

God in your life.

And if you allow him,

He will allow you to walk

from having faith in Him

to trusting in Him,

because yes…these words have

different meanings!

Having faith in God is totally

different from trusting in God!

Allow him to move you from

faith to trust!

There is a promised hope. It does seem like more and more people are finding themselves in places where hope seems dashed. Problems seem overwhelming. Trails and tribulations are on the rise, and hardships are pressing in like never before. In hope we believed against hope (Romans 4:18 ASV). That is what we should become. Hope brings becoming!

Acknowledgments

It’s awesome to sense and know that in life, you have at least one person that you can call a friend. Ever since February 13, 1983, over thirty-five and a half years ago, God has blessed me with a true friend for life, my best friend forever (MBBF), my lover, my partner, my protector, and truly my other half, Deacon Stanley Harper Sr. (aka Stan the Bass Man). He has had my back every step of the way, and I am forever and truly grateful for the journey that we have been on. I thank him for all the times he motivated me to go forward and never said I can’t achieve it! He always said, Go ahead, baby. You can do it. I got you. I will always be in love with him! And my heart so, so misses him since his passing on June 29, 2018. Baby, sleep in peace until God raises you up to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17).

Thank God for our three children—Stanley Darren Harper Jr., Stalisha Evonae Harper, and Starretta Elisha Harper—God’s gifts to us; grandsons Kevin, Kayden and Elijah and granddaughter Eliana; my daughter/nieces Ajee and Dejaiah Roberts; daughter-in-law Kim Harper and her daughter Hailey Stovall and all of our godchildren—Cedric, Keith, Whitney, Jeremiah, Jason, Leilani, Taylor, Joyal, Zion, and Levi.

To my mommy, Elder Carolyn V. Bradley, who has encouraged me many times down through the years; my father, Everett Bradley (SIP), who had a big part in helping make me into who I am today. Thank you, Daddy. My two sisters, Elder Virna S. Bradley and Angelina E. Bradley, who also have helped me in countless ways that I can add up. They have shared with me that I have inspired them in some kind of way. Thank God for that, even with all my mistakes. And to my Harper family—Bradley, Lee, and all the rest, near and far—love you and thank you!

My grandparents, all sleeping in peace, but are treasure I hold from memories of wisdom I cannot even pay for. Mr. and Mrs. John and Hattie Mae Lee of Moncure, North Carolina, and Mr. and Mrs. James and Annie Bradley of Bremo Bluff, Virginia.

To my spiritual father, Apostle Joe Ross (SIP, February 2019), for over forty-two years of guidance from God, thank you—starting with our marriage in 1988 and our remarriage twenty years later in 2008, our baby dedications, and water baptisms. Thank you for all the spiritual steps of elevation in my life, from humble beginnings as a drummer to the leadership role as the assistant pastor of Prayer Temple Church, 2014 to 2018.

My two godbrothers—Bishop Darren Ross, whom we named our son’s middle name after (his godfather), and Pastor Lamont Jackson. Thank you for being the brothers I did not have from my birth parents. My godsister, Sylvia Nisey T. Prince, love you! To someone who’s more than a special friend to me and Stan and whom I grew up with in the same building and became even closer to me as we worked in ministry, Elder Michael Mike Delardge.

Two people that had my back in prayer for years and are still holding me up as intercessors for me! We’ve shared spiritual guidance and encouragement down through the years; we may be far in miles but we’re close in heart. They have held me up in prayer and my family for over ten years. My big spiritual sister, whom I share the same birth date with, just ten years apart, Elder Cheryle Biggus. And my special baby brother is also ten years younger than me, Pastor Lydell E. Griffin (Threads of Resurrection Family Ministries, North Carolina).

To three women I have held in my heart as my spiritual godmothers; to this day, they have not wavered in the faith and in their walk with God. They are truly mothers-in-Zion—Elder Yvonne Ferguson (SIP, 2013), Missionary Daisy Delardge (SIP, 2020), and Mother (Matta) Ruth Roseboro.

To a prophet I met in my teenage years, when I was in high school, and for the words he has deposited in my life. Thank you, Prophet Samuel Levi Calland.

To the Prayer Temple Church family, and especially to the one and only FVOP, the Free Voices of Praise choir, singers, and all the awesome anointed musicians past and present, thank you. You also helped to shape and mold me into what God called me to be.

You cannot forget where you came from, so here’s a shout-out to 365 East 183rd Street for all the bittersweet memories.

Special shout-outs to Alice, Cynthia, Gweynita, Cheryl (SIP), and Shirley—each of you hold a special place in my heart for friendship and ministry.

For a lady who used to come to PTC; I can’t recall her name, but she would tell me, God said you have to write a book, and this was way over fifteen years ago. From time to time, she would come in, and after we said amen, she would come up to me and tap me and say, You wrote that book yet? She told me that about one or two more times. That’s all she would say—You started writing it yet? I have not seen her in years, but… I finally wrote it!

In 2019, God reminded me three times to write this book through Lady Lynette Cooper in the spring at a women’s conference, Elder Cheryl Biggus in the fall, and again through Pastor Lydell Griffen early winter. Okay, Lord, I will trust and obey!

Chapter 1

The Reference Point 1967–1988 (21 years)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

—Hebrews 11:1

Autumn 1967

During the time of my pregnancy with my oldest daughter, I shared the house at 883 Faile Street, Hunts Point area of the Bronx. I was living with my husband, Everett, and his aunt Vivian and uncle Sam Bradley, who later became the godparents to Everetta. I slept in the basement, and being tired, I got on my knees to read the Bible and pray. While I was reading, I fell asleep and I was awakened by a spirit (whom I thought was Mary, the Mother of Jesus. She told me to get in the bed). I don’t know how long I was on my knees, but I finished my prayer and got in the bed. On Saturday morning, November 11, 1967, unbeknownst to me, my water broke. I didn’t make it to the hospital. At 8:55 a.m., I birthed a little big-eyed, curly-headed baby girl, born with a veil over her face.

My father, Everett Bradley, whom I am named after, was twenty-eight at the time, and my mommy, Carolyn Bradley, was twenty-three. I was the third child born; my two other siblings (twins) preceded me by death at birth. I’ve heard before nothing good starts at the bottom or in a basement. Is that true? That’s not true!

I hear the words to a song ringing in my ears—My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’s blood and righteousness/I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’s name/On Christ the Solid rock I stand/all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.

These are words to a song, which grips on to hope, salvation, and assurance in God, our Father. My life has surely been a journey going from faith to trust in God, from almost impossible to hopeful. I’m forty-three (at the time I started writing this book), and at times, I wondered why. Why was that the answer to many questions I had in my spirit? Some things still don’t make sense, but I truly believe in God. When he’s a part of your life, he will cause you to fulfill divine purpose in your life, as long as you allow him to, and not to fight back. What I thought were impossible situations to recover from, God had another ending to those situations, and that’s just what they were—situations. Situations…situations are experiences to bring me to the next steps in my life. When did I realize that? I don’t know.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end! (Jeremiah 29:11 KJV)

In 1977, I began to form a relationship with God that I never let go of. I was young, just turned ten, in the second grade going to Public School known as P.S. 85, and my mother was very close to our babysitter, Elder Yvonne Ferguson. She lived on the second floor on the other side of our building, and she helped all of us—me, my sister Virna, and Mommy—find God on another level. Virna and I had gotten water-baptized on a Sunday, September 4, 1977, at the Rev. Shamboch Ministries in a large pool, where the water was troubled, and we came out shouting and crying and praising the Lord.

Elder Ferguson preached, taught, talked, and walked salvation. She was one of those church mothers who were on fire for God. When around her, you felt the presence and power of God. I wanted that—I wanted what she had! The night of December 16, 1977, changed my life forever! I remember one of her daughters—Cookie or Rosie—looking outside of the window (we lived on the thirteenth floor at 365 East 183rd Street, Apt 13EC. They called them the Twin Parks Tower Houses; we called them 365 Webster projects). We were having Friday night Bible study in our apartment. She said, I see an angel holding a clock. We didn’t know what it meant at the time,