Yeshua, My Prince Charming

By Audrey Brown

Yeshua, My Prince Charming is a true story of how Jesus enabled a woman to overcome obstacles and gain hope and a purpose for her life. Audrey is a Jewish believer in Jesus the Messiah who shares how even through the most difficult challenges we can find joy and peace through the love of God. This book will inspire you to have hope for your future and to never give up during the trials of life.

About the Author Audrey Brown (AB) is a Jewish believer in Yeshua, (Jesus) her Messiah. She shares her life with the world through tremendous obstacles, enduring feelings of abuse, abandonment, and sorrow. Yeshua came into her life at the age of twenty-four to give a new reason for life and purpose. He held her hand through difficulties and provided for all her needs. Audrey experiences supernatural joy because of all the wonderful things the Lord has done for her in her life. She knows what unconditional love is. She has experienced His deliverance, healing, and salvation. Audrey's goal is to reach people who feel hopeless and give them a purpose for their life and a reason to go on.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644925706

Book preview

1

My Early Years

I remember my early years back in East Meadow when my dad and mom were married. The house was always in chaos. I remember Mom throwing chairs in the kitchen if she didn’t get the attention she felt she deserved. Other times, Mom would lie on her bed and refuse to leave the house because of her diagnosed agoraphobia. Jeanne, my elder sister by two years, would constantly have severe asthma attacks and need hospitalization almost daily. This was a problem because Mom wouldn’t leave the house and Dad would schlep Jeanne and I across town at all times of the night to the nearest clinic.

Our house was never full of love and happiness, except when Dad would come home from work to greet us girls (Jeanne and I at that time). I would be able to cuddle with my dad and play around. Dad would call me Sunny Boy because he and my mom desired to have a son but were unable to have one, therefore they cut my hair very short so that I would look more boyish.

The continuous arguing and disagreements between my parents caused my dad to move out. Dad had a problem with feeling lonely and he immediately went on the site for Parents without Partners (a.k.a. PWP). Dad met two women whom he claimed to love. I will call these ladies Beth and Dianne to keep them confidential.

Beth was a born-again Christian who had two children. Her son Bobby was my age and we got along nicely. Vicky was my sister Jeanne’s age and was a little difficult to approach. The problem was that my mother had taught us that born-again Christians were crazy and not to spend time with them. Therefore, when Dad would bring us to spend time at Beth’s house, Jeanne and I would feel uncomfortable and insist on leaving. We were afraid that our mother would get upset that we were with Beth. Dad usually brought us back from visitation a few minutes late. This was tragic to Jeanne and me because Mom would either lock the doors so we couldn’t come in or ask us a hundred and ten questions about our time with Beth and Dad. Do you think your father loves Beth? Did he kiss her?

I remember my mom asking Jeanne and I questions at all hours of the night, interrogating us as if we were in court. My age was between five to nine, so I didn’t want to discuss details of my dad’s relationship with my mom. Jeanne became the main source of support for my mom. Jeanne and Mom stayed up all night discussing the details of my father’s relationship. I felt left out and isolated. I remember crying upstairs in my room daily, asking God to give me an ulcer so I could die. (My grandpa on Dad’s side died of this). I cried all night because I was left out of the conversations between my mom and my sister about Beth and my dad. Dad also dated Dianne who seemed sweet. She had three children around my age, including a daughter a month apart in age from me; I’ll call her Cindy. Cindy and I hit it off right away. She was fun and had the same interests as me as a small child. It felt wonderful to spend time with Cindy. Jeanne and I grew very close with all the children that Dianne bore.

I could not wait for the weekends when Dad would pick us up to go see Dianne and her children. Some weekends we would see Beth and her children, too. The days we went to see Beth, Jeanne and I would beg our Dad to break up with her. She’s a born-again nut with a lazy eye, Dad, we would say. Dad was obsessed with Beth and wanted to marry her. This was not acceptable to Jeanne and me because our mother told us that Beth was evil and to not go there.

On several occasions, my mother wouldn’t allow us to see our dad. The police were constantly at our house banging at the door. My mother refused to allow my dad to see us and kept us inside. I locked myself in the bathroom each time the police came. I was frightened.

Other times that I locked myself in the bathroom were when my mother would run around the house with hangers trying to hit me. This would cause extreme fear in me. I was a stubborn child. I was a lot like my mother—angry, bitter, and resentful. All I knew was rage because that’s what was in my house.

I would get in trouble for anything and everything. My mother, and my father on his visits, would spank me with the belt, a hand, or anything around. This wasn’t considered abuse thirty-nine years ago. I remember standing outside, freezing, begging my mom to let me in the house if Dad dropped me off late from visitation. She was bitter toward Dad and took it out on Jeanne and me.

I withdrew from my mother and sister. Visiting Dad was the only happy time for me, therefore weekends were too far away.

Dad continued to date Beth and Dianne. Jeanne and I begged Dad not to marry Beth because of her religious beliefs, although she tried hard for us to like her. The days that Dad and Dianne got together with her three children—Cindy, Carol, and Robert—were very enjoyable for Jeanne and me. We would spend the day bike riding in the park or amusement parks and we would attend any fun event in the area. Jeanne and I pleaded with Dad to please marry Cindy because she seemed so sweet and her children became our best friends. Mom would say sweets are not good for diabetics, referring to my dad’s diagnosis of juvenile diabetes.

Finally, Dad picked up Jeanne and I for visitation on a Wednesday night and said he flipped a coin to see whom he would marry. Being a reformed Jew, I recall it was around Chanukah time.

It was a big surprise for us. After sitting at the dinner table at my favorite restaurant for what seemed to be an eternity to a ten-year-old, Dad came out with Dianne who would be his wife.

Jeanne and I were elated and speechless because if he would’ve chosen Beth we probably wouldn’t see him much anymore. We were afraid of our mother’s interrogations about their dates together and we felt she was crazy with her beliefs about Jesus. Jesus was for Christian people only, and Beth was addicted to this Jesus.

We felt a sigh of relief and celebrated Dad and Dianne’s engagement as an upcoming Brady Bunch type of stepfamily. Cindy and I were excited because we were so close in age and could see each other all the time. This was a dream come true for me.

It was like a fairy tale, going to Dad’s house to see Dianne and her children on the weekends. This way we could stay away from my mom because Mom was working two part-time jobs and on food stamps. We never had enough food in the house, and I was the only one who cleaned. I was never taught the right way to clean, so I did the best that I could at the time. The house was a mess.

Looking back now, Mom tried the best that she could without any help from a man. She always felt inferior growing up with her brother who was an awesome soccer player. She felt verbally abused by my grandmother. Grandma was an amazing woman who I was named after. Mom had issues with her. Mom did what she knew how.

She genuinely loved my sister and I, although if you were to see our relationship, it was very dysfunctional.

When Mom went to her second job at Sears at night; Jeanne and I would stay home alone. I was in the sixth grade at the time. We would fight like cats and dogs. I threatened to take her Barbie dolls away every time she didn’t do as I said. I was her younger sister but was very angry and manipulative. Jeanne would often resort to her eating disorder which in turn caused me to have severe depression. She would try and make me eat a lot so that she was the thin one. My biggest dream would be to live with Dad and his future bride, Dianne. I could start off junior high with Cindy and begin a new life at their house. I asked Dad numerous times on the phone, but Mom refused. Mom would get angry and hit me. I would retaliate.

She tried bringing me to the juvenile detention center to be admitted. They refused to take me in several times. Mom then went to churches to get me an exorcist because