The Single Woman

By Olga Castellanos

In this book, Olga walks you through the ups and downs of her life as she explains how God helped her develop wisdom, love, self-respect, and self-control through the hardest years of her life. After reading The Single Woman, you'll understand that nothing is impossible with God!

"No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD.

--Isaiah 54:17

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886856538

Book preview

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The Single Woman

Olga Castellanos

ISBN 979-8-88685-652-1 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-653-8 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Olga Castellanos

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

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2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

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20

21

The Most Important People That Have Impacted My Life

About the Author

Father God,

I ask You for the person who is reading this book. I ask You that this person would have an open heart to receive and have understanding in Jesus name.

*****

If you are reading this book, know that is not a coincidence. God wants to talk to you. He loves you and has great plans for you as He did for me. Blessings.

1

You Are Destined for Greatness!

Iam the youngest of four children, two sisters and one brother. My father met my mother while my mother was expecting my second oldest sister. I grew up in a two-family house in the north end of Hartford. My sisters and I shared one bedroom. I had my own bed, and my two sisters slept in one bed. Although I was not alone in the room, I was not able to fall asleep until my father or brother made it home. If my oldest sister was in a good mood, she would turn on the radio for me, and that would help me fall to sleep, or I would be daydreaming with pillow talk all night!

My youngest sister and I were very close in age. My mother would dress us the same most of the time. At first, I thought nothing of it; but as I noticed that we were so different, the fact that we would dress alike would bother me. We both liked to be independent and had our own taste in style. My oldest sister was always so caring and made sure we had nice clothes for school and special events. Every school year, she would always make a big layaway for us and allowed us to pick up most of the clothes. Downtown was it for us! It was our Saturday's field trip. The smell of popcorn in Newberry's! The music in Ron Devon's! The escalators!—all in one store—the Chinese shoes store and the panty holes; the Civic Center was all in itself! The people, the music, the traffic, but overall, G. Fox was my favorite store of all.

The windows decorations would make me so happy and dream that there was more to life. As kids, we would walk to Sunday church on Seyms Street. My parents never came with us. On Saturdays, a purple bus would pick us up for Bible class. On other Sundays, our mother would join us to church. However, she would walk with us to Sacred Heart Church; and some weeknights, my youngest sister and I would get picked up by the church bus for service at another Pentecost church.

As a kid, I was never explained things but only told what to do. For many years, I kept going to both Catholic and Pentecost church. I never questioned it. I learned to just go to church. What I did notice was that I was the one my mom always would choose to go to church when the neighbor lady would ask her if any of her children can join her. In the Catholic church, I pretty much learned every routine. I knew when to shake hands with everyone, when to sit, when to get on my knees, when to stand, and when to break bread. However, I did not know the motives. I was only doing what everyone else was doing.

When weekdays and Fridays would come, I knew to only wear dresses or skirts. However, one day I was heading to the corner store and had on some capri shorts. That day, I ran into the church pastor. I would go to church on some weekdays and Fridays. I was involved in the children's church ministry and praise and worship. That Friday, the children's ministry had a part in church, and I was supposed to share a word and lead worship that night. To my big surprise, that night the pastor decided to grab the mic and shared with the whole congregation that because I was wearing capri shorts, I no longer could participate in the church ministry and asked me to sit down with the congregation. I was so confused and hurt. At that time, I did not understand much about God or how to express things, but one thing I knew was that sharing the Word and singing made me believe that there was a God.

I never stopped going to church or even question the capris incident. However, I was told by the pastor's wife that in the Old Testament in the Bible, the women were not allowed to wear pants. I never understood it or even tried to because I was accustomed to wearing both pants and dresses, which I enjoyed very much. I never shared the experience with my mother because I knew she would not understand the Pentecost doctrines or possibly even care. Therefore, I kept it inside.

On another occasion, the pastor's wife asked my sister to remove her earrings. My sister told her that because my mother purchased her earrings, she was going to keep them on. My sister was bold! I wanted to hide. At the age of eleven, my parents decided to baptize me at Sacred Heart Church. I had many questions inside. One was, why now is my father coming to church? And the other was, why am I getting baptized at the age of eleven? All I knew was that babies get baptized. I had a godmother and godfather and then a big celebration afterward. Because I had no type of relationship with my father, the celebration was a huge deal to me—not because of the baptism but because my father was present. He had a live band, and he was home. He was in the living room with friends, music, and great food. It was a day I would never forget. I wanted badly to be a part of my father.

2

My father was one of twelve children. He was born in Ciales, Puerto Rico. At a young age, his aunt and grandmother helped raised him. At a young age, he moved to the US, and he attended Prince Tech High School and earned his license in barbering. He also lived in Las Vegas and New York City. From Tuesday to Saturday, he would leave the house at 5:00 a.m. and come home at 5:00 p.m. He never missed work. He owned the Navaja de Oro barber shop, which was in the north end of Hartford.

Being the youngest and having siblings who had a different biological father than me was very confusing. We were all like day and night. I felt like I never fit in because they all had something in common, which was the same dad and mom. Although my father stepped up