God's Open Doors: My Journey

By Barbara Miller

God's Open Doors: My Journey is about providing a safe and nurturing environment for children that promotes academic achievement. It cites additional historical information to teach our children there is hope if you believe. God will always make a way somehow, and we need to prepare for the next century, which belongs to the children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781643498249

Barbara Miller

Barbara Joyce Miller, historian, researcher and sociologist co-founded, with her husband Norman, the Centre for International Reconciliation and Peace in 1996. She has been recognized by Worldwide Who’s Who for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in humanitarian affairs. She lives in Cairns, Australia with her husband Norman and son Michael. Barbara is very passionate about Aboriginal advancement, and liaises with religious and other communities worldwide through the Centre for International Reconciliation and Peace, which provides services focused on healing the wounds of history and reconciliation between people groups. With her husband, Norman, she pastors the Tabernacle of David congregation and she leads groups of Australians to Israel for Christian conferences and prayer tours. Barbara has 40 years of professional experience not only in Aboriginal affairs, but also as a psychologist and mediator. She has her own business - Mediation Works Qld and is an expert in mediating workplace and large scale community disputes and family law matters. Barbara is a motivated, inspiring teacher and counsellor who holds a postgraduate degree in sociology and a Bachelor of Arts with honours in psychology. As a social justice campaigner, she helped the Mapoon people north of Weipa move back to their land after being forcibly removed and she is presently writing a memoir on this experience. In the 90s, Barbara served as the CEO of the Aboriginal Coordinating Council through which she lobbied state and federal governments and wrote reports on topics such as native title, Indigenous resource management, local government, human rights, crime prevention in Aboriginal communities, health and deaths in custody. She has also authored various books and articles, including a book titled William Cooper, Gentle Warrior: Standing Up for Australian Aborigines and Persecuted Jews, 2012 and The European Quest to Find Terra Australis Incognita: Quiros, Torres and Janszoon 2014.

Book preview

305547-ebook.jpg

God’s Open Doors

My Journey

Barbara Miller

ISBN 978-1-64349-823-2 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64515-595-9 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-64349-824-9 (digital)

Copyright © 2019 by Barbara Miller

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, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Preface

I am so pleased to say I have enjoyed running Barbara Miller’s I Have a Friend Youth Center for the past twenty years. As I was sitting here in my office, thinking about the many children I have seen come through the door, I realized that this second book of mine had to be written. I, first and foremost, would like to thank God for giving me the opportunity and the mind-set to step out in faith to do his goodwill. Without the grace of God, this youth center would not have even begun. There were so many doors shut in my face in the beginning because I do not have a degree in this field. However, my own challenging experiences as a child made this center a must for me. As a child, I was told that I would never succeed past the eighth grade; I was described as a slow, Negro child. This has stayed with me and I promised myself that if I was ever able to help someone else who was struggling, I would do whatever I could to help. We don’t always know what God has in mind for us. But I do strongly believe that each and every one of us has a calling in this world. We just have to act on that impulse to help others. For me, this calling was to help children achieve their potential.

I am not the reason we have good things like the center; God is. I want the center’s children to realize that you don’t have to stab anybody in the back to get ahead in life. Just be honest, work hard, and have faith. Those virtues will take a person farther in life than they thought possible. When God has something for you to do, it will be done on his time. I hope that the children will take a deep look at what working hard in school means for their future. My primary goal is for every student to experience at least once the joy of learning and spending time with friends who are positive influences. I want to help move this next generation to a better life. With prayer and effort they will come out on top. I am very grateful to God for giving me this opportunity to do his work. For the next twenty years, only God knows what will happen. But I know he will never be taken out of the I Have a Friend Youth Center as long as I am here.

I was blessed to have many volunteers and executive board members who have stood by me through thick and thin, I know there were times they wanted to say She’s driving me nuts! All jokes aside, I must say that I loved every moment of it, and if God gave me another life to come back and do this work, I would not hesitate for the slightest second. For twenty years, we have been blessed to have many students from Mercy High School under the leadership of Sister Mary McCarthy, Ms. Marceau, Mrs. R. Carrie, Health Kannam, and Nancy Doane in working on this book with me as well as many other volunteers from around Connecticut.

I would like to give special thanks to people that God has put in my way to help me. I know that God has something special planned for Patricia Socarras to do with children. I thank God for Patricia and all her work on these pages. I would like to take the time out to thank my baby girl, Angie, who has watched me for years and knew what I was trying to say, and write it in a less-confrontational manner. Thank you, baby girl, Miss Barbara loves you. I would like to thank Bailey Zimmitti, one of my little angels who have become so attached to the mission here at the center at such a young age. She has been a permanent fixture Tuesdays and Thursdays at the center, connecting with the kids. I also would like to thank Annie Abbate. Annie is an extremely dedicated