He Is With Us.

By Dawn Redding

When I was in high school, my English teachers always required us to keep up with a daily journal. And I didn't like it at all.

When we asked why we had to submit a journal, they said, "You need a record of things you did in your life and dates and such."

We questioned why.

She said, "You might want to write a book one day about your life, and you will have everything you need about your history in your journal."

I said that will never happen! But look at me now. I am writing a book!

This is basically an autobiography with an emphasis on Jesus in my life. I haven't always followed Jesus as I should have. I never stopped believing, but when I was younger, it wasn't a priority in my life. As I got older and closer to Jesus, I could see where he was with me in my life, and I didn't even realize he was there. He never gave up on me. He was there with me when there was joy in my life, and he was with me when I didn't know which way to turn to next.

I want to share my story of life and give Jesus the glory. He is with us. He wants a relationship with us. He is working in your life when you don't even realize it. Then when you do realize he is there for us, it changes your life for the better. You may still have struggles, but remember, he loves us and wants a relationship with us.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said "Surely the LORD is in this place and I did not know it."

--Genesis 28:16

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685701154

Book preview

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He Is With Us.

Dawn Redding

ISBN 978-1-68570-114-7 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88751-989-0 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-68570-115-4 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Dawn Redding

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.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

About the Author

When I decided to write my story, I thought about my junior high school English teacher Miss Rona and my high school English teacher Miss Betty. They both required us to keep journals. They both assured us that no one but themselves would see the daily entries.

First, I really didn't like the idea of putting my personal information in a book for my teacher to read. I had trouble believing they would not share my information.

When students questioned the need for a journal, I remember Miss Betty saying, You may want to write a book one day, and you will have dated information and details.

My first thought was, I will never write a book. I wish I had listened to her advice and taken it seriously, but I didn't. You know what they say, Hindsight is twenty-twenty. I was young and dumb and thought I knew everything. I don't have all the dates when things happened in my life because I was young and dumb. So here we go.

I was fortunate that I was able to go to the same school from first grade through twelfth grade. Different buildings but same school system. The majority of the students in our class graduated together. I made good grades. I was the valedictorian in our class, but I wasn't the smartest person in my class. There were two males in my class that took a couple of advanced classes that I didn't take. They both went straight to college, but I waited until later in life.

I grew up in a small town in Arkansas. I have an older brother, Allen, and two younger brothers, John and Ronald. Growing up, we were poor, but I didn't realize we were poor. My mother, Anita, was and still is an excellent seamstress. She made all of my clothes and all of my brothers' shirts and some of their pants and shorts. After all of us kids were in school, she went to work in a local clothing factory and worked there many years. After the factory closed, she went to work for a police supply store. She made alterations for police uniforms and she loved that job. The store closed, or she would still be there today. She is a very smart beautiful lady. She grew up in Elaine, Arkansas. She had an older half sister. Same dad but different mothers. Two brothers and two sisters. She was able to go to school through the eleventh grade but got married to my dad after eleventh grade, and she didn't go back to school her senior year. I am not sure when they moved to Caraway. She met my dad in Caraway. She is extremely smart, but I think she regrets that she didn't finish high school.

My dad, Asa, had to work when he was a kid. So he missed a lot of school. He came from a large family that worked as migrant farmers and worked on riverboats and whatever job his dad wanted him to do. He didn't get to go to school on a regular basis. He had to work to help feed his younger siblings. But he is a smart man. He has had his own auto body business for many years.

There is one story he told me that I will never forget. As I said, his family was large. He had twelve brothers and sisters. Two of the brothers were older half brothers. Same mother but different fathers. They lived in Union Hill, Arkansas, in a small house in the woods. There wasn't room for all of them to sleep in the house. The two older half brothers were gone. My dad and Joe were the two oldest boys, so they had to sleep on the front porch because there wasn't enough room in the house for everyone. He said he didn't mind sleeping on the porch. But he wasn't crazy about the panther that slept under the porch! He said they didn't bother the panther and the panther didn't bother them. But the first night was scary, and he nor Joe went to sleep. The next morning, the panther left and then came back to the porch at night. The panther didn't bother them, and they didn't bother the panther.

My father, Asa, met my mother, Anita, fell in love, and started a family. I have an older brother and two younger brothers.

When I was in elementary, our family didn't go to church on a regular basis. My brothers and I would go to vacation Bible school normally at my aunt Geneva's church or aunt Mattie's church during the summer. Eventually, my parents found a church they wanted to attend. I enjoyed going to church, and I really liked Sunday school class with my friends. Our church is a small congregation. So the minister would preach the sermon first thing. Then we would have Sunday school after the minister delivered the message. We still do that today. When I was a teenager, there were too many times, I would skip the actual worship service and just go to Sunday school. My parents weren't going all the time then. A lot of the time, I went by myself.

When I was in the seventh grade, I was the librarian when I went to study hall. I didn't mind doing it. Most days, I didn't have to deal with anybody and could work on my homework. Some days were busier, and I didn't have much time to study. There were a couple of tables in the room, and one table had some senior boys sitting at the table. At least once or twice a day, one of the boys would whistle at me. When I looked up, they would all be looking at a book. I knew they were not studying, but I didn't know who was whistling at me.

Until one day, I heard the whistle and looked up. There was only one male sitting there, and he smiled at me. Finally, I knew who it was whistling at me. He just smiled and I smiled back. You will find out more about him later in the story.

One summer, we had a youth director named Jim. He was in college, studying to be a minister. And he could play the guitar and sing. He had a beautiful voice. When he first arrived, he started a youth choir.

I remember the first time we practiced singing when he stopped and said, Someone has a beautiful voice, and I think it is you, as he pointed to me.

I would get solo parts, and I sang some complete songs as solos in church. I liked to sing. In school, I was always in the choir. When I was in the ninth grade, I was asked to sing with the senior high group, and I considered that an honor.

Jim decided to take a group of kids and adults to Cumberland University for a concert they were doing. That is where Jim obtained his degree. It was a wild ride getting there. Jim had told every driver to wait for the vehicle behind them so no one got left behind. We didn't have GPSs at that time. So it was follow the leader. I remember my dad saying we could go a little faster, but Jim was afraid someone would get left behind. That made sense, but the closer we got to Cumberland, the more traffic we had and the faster we drove.

When we got stopped, the drivers, aka followers, asked Jim, What was the deal of going so fast in all the traffic?

Jim said, That's just what you have to do or get run over.

The older drivers just didn't understand that at all.

When we got to the university, it was beautiful. The concert was amazing. Jim introduced me to the conductor, professor, not sure exactly what his title was, and asked the professor if he had time to hear me sing. I had no idea he was going to do that, and I was not prepared. I knew Jim was just trying to help me, but I couldn't do it. And I had not planned to go to college so far away from home. We were able to spend the night in one of their dorm rooms. The men were in one room, and all the women and children were in another room. I also remember the next day we started for home. And the closer to home we got, the faster we drove.

Jim also took us to the Passion Play in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We had several cars following the leader again, but this time, we had more kids than adults. My cousin Rhonda and I rode in the front in Jim's car, and there were two boys in the back, Burnie, and I think it was Tommy, and Rhonda's roommate at the university dorm.

In elementary, Burnie was my boyfriend and wanted to be my boyfriend in high school, but he was getting into things that I wasn't into. So that didn't happen. He was pestering and bothering me the entire time we were there. I talked to him and told him I wasn't interested in being his girlfriend, but I would be his friend because I didn't approve of how he was living his life. You can imagine how that went over. On the way home, we were sitting in the car in the same order as we came. Needless to say, Burnie was not happy with me. We made a stop on the way home for a potty break and snack. When we got back in the car and headed home, Burnie was pestering me by