Blessed From a Child: Accepting God's Revealed Love with Wisdom and Understanding

By Linda Winphrie Johnson

Does life ever seem so overwhelming you don't even know where to begin to get help? Have you ever wondered how to get past the plaguing troubles of life and live in God's abundant grace?

In Blessed from a Child: Accepting God's Revealed Love with Wisdom and Understanding, Linda Johnson dives deep into these questions, as well as many others, through this moving memoir of the unbreakable bond of a family. See how Johnson pushes through some of the darkest moments in her life, such as surviving a gang rape, broken marriages, physical abuse, and the loss of her beloved parents, to a place of peace and rest in God's love. In her walk with God, Johnson learned how to extend God's grace to others and has become a living testimony of God's goodness to those around her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887933917

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Blessed From a Child

Accepting God's Revealed Love with Wisdom and Understanding

Linda Winphrie Johnson

Copyright © 2023 Linda Winphrie Johnson

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the authors and other contributors. These views and opinions

ISBN 979-8-88793-380-1 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88793-391-7 (digital)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014954696

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Blessed from a Child

The Extended Version

My Cozy Place

A Lonely Town

Surviving Covid

My Birth Defect

My Baby Brother's Death

I would like to dedicate Blessed from a Child: Accepting God's Revealed Love with Wisdom and Understanding to Christ who strengthens me to do all things through him, and to my children, Cleophus Junior, Clifton, and Cherriea. These three special people have inspired me to hold on to my dreams of becoming an author.

In writing this book, I received all of their blessings to tell my story. I feel blessed to have these people in my life. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Introduction

The year was 2001 when I decided I wanted to become an author and write my first book. Different thoughts and ideas came to mind, so I began writing them down in a journal. Most of my ideas at that time were fiction. My wild imagination would not have appealed to Christian readers back then; that was during a time when I was living for the world.

After I finished writing that book, I sent the manuscript to quite a few publishing companies. I patiently waited for a response. Just when I was about to give up hope, I received a letter in the mail. I was so excited! I just knew it was what I had been hoping for. As I opened and read the letter, my excitement quickly turned to disappointment. In a sentence as simple as this, my dreams were crushed: Thank you for submitting your manuscript, however, at this time we are not accepting any fiction novels. I instantly became discouraged and took a step back from writing.

Several years went by, but the passion to become a writer never left me. I began to take a different approach. I wrote little notes about my ideas, but nothing was ever quite interesting enough. It wasn't until I was saved that everything started coming together for me.

Looking back over my life and the many things I had experienced, I decided to write a book and share my journey. It was an epiphany. When I had started writing back in 2001, I did not pray about it. I tried to do it all on my own. Now that I am saved, the words come easily. I am able to write and tell my story. I now know that I want to write Christian books. I want my books to send positive messages and bring people closer to Christ.

When I decided to write this book, it was during a time when I needed God to come into my life. After reading Romans 10:9–10 in the privacy of my own home, everything changed for me. I confessed my sins and believed in my heart that God raised Christ Jesus from the dead. I was saved!

I also read Romans 10:11, which says: Whosoever believeth in Him will not be put shame.

The feeling was so overwhelming that I wanted to tell the world. I first had to find a church home; and I did. I then went through orientation classes and baptism.

When I think back to all of the blessings that I have received over the years and the times that God was there for me, I didn't realize it until now, but that was him working in my life. He revealed all of this to me after I was saved. I would like for my readers to know that God was with me all along, through the good and the bad.

In this book about my life, you will read about many events from my lifetime, including how God brought me through sickness and near-death experiences when I was just a young child. You will also read about the rape that I blocked from my mind, as well as the bad relationships and bad marriages that followed. This is the story of my life: Blessed from a Child.

May God bless you.

Linda Winphrie Johnson

Chapter 1

The Autobiography

The year was 1953 when my father decided he was tired of slipping around trying to see my mother. He had decided to steal her from the top window of a two-story house where she slept along with her sisters. He was very quiet when he put a ladder up to the window, and she was very ready to be taken away by her future husband. She was from a very strict family so my father had to steal her in order for them to be together. They had talked about doing this plenty of times, and it was that night when it became a reality.

My mother eagerly threw her bags out the window and carefully climbed down the ladder. They were off on their new adventure together! He took her home with him, and my paternal grandparents took her in, treating her like their own.

By the time my maternal grandfather found my mother, she was already eighteen and of the proper age to be married. So they stayed together and were very happy. Hard farm work was nothing new to my mother; she had done it strenuously during her home life with her siblings. She fit right in with her new husband's family. She worked in the fields and helped harvest the crops.

Mother didn't work very long in the fields before she became pregnant with me. It was the winter of___. Since I would be her first child, she was very nervous. She wanted to be a very good mother and wanted a healthy baby, so she stayed out of the fields and worked at home, cooking and cleaning. It was then when they decided to move into their own home.

On August 14, she gave birth to a beautiful seven­pound baby girl. My father wanted a boy, but after seeing me, his eyes lit up with adoration. The whole family came to see me and talked about how beautiful I was. This didn't last long because within a few days, my mother started to notice little red blotches all over my skin. These blotches started on my cheeks, and within a few days, they began to spread to my neck. My mother thought they were just heat rashes, so she showed them to my paternal grandmother and she agreed with her. They sent my father to the drugstore for some ointment. After a few days, there was no improvement; in fact, the rash spread to every part of my body except the bottom of my feet and the palms of my hands. Concerned and worried, my mother felt it was time to go see a doctor.

Early the next morning, my parents took me to the doctor. Immediately, the doctor had a diagnosis. It was a severe case of eczema. I was injected with shots and prescribed medicines. The eczema became so bad it would run and bleed from the scratching. Socks on my hands didn't stop me from wanting to scratch, and my mother cried to see such suffering of her child. There were many nights that she stayed up all night crying along with me. My father would try to help, but he was so tired from working out in the woods, cutting and hauling wood all day, and helping in the fields that he was too exhausted. Sometimes, my grandmother would come and help out so my mother could rest. They all spoiled me rotten because I was so pitiful looking. Soon the eczema began to dry up, causing my skin to darken and crust. This didn't change my family's feelings toward me. In their eyes, I was still their beautiful baby girl. Months went by with little improvement.

When I was a little older and walking, my mother made me an appointment to see a dermatologist because my little legs, arms, and neck had dark spots in the creases. The dermatologist prescribed creams to use daily, and by the grace of God, it all cleared up.

As I grew older, my parents began to feed me table food. I was starting to grow teeth and could chew food, but something was making me sick. Most days after I ate breakfast, I vomited. Breakfast in our home would usually consist of fish and eggs, along with grits. Every time I ate these things, I would vomit. So back to the doctor I went.

After describing my