When My Father and My Mother Forsake Me – Jamesha Stokes

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. (Psalms 27:10 KJV)

This scripture is truly my testimony on today. Due to the unfortunate circumstances that my mother and father have dealt with, they were not able to care for me at a particular time in their lives. I truly thank God for His grace that has kept my mother and allowed her to be not where she was. At the age of 13, my sister and I lived with a couple of different people until I was about 16; then we moved back with my mother for about a year. Unfortunately, circumstances were not at their best so we then again moved from my mother’s into my cousin and Pastor’s home.

At the time, we were told that we would be there for only two weeks! (This was August of 2009 and we still live with them to this day). Authorities told us to grab a couple of outfits because it would not be that long. They kept prolonging the time and pushing it back. During this time, I felt so hurt within because I did not have parents as most children do. I was entering my senior year of high school and had so many festivities to plan for, and I felt out of place because I did not have my own parents to help me get through and plan for the future. In addition, on top of all of that, I had to commute from Boston to Brockton for school leaving my house at 5:45AM most mornings. I felt completely overwhelmed and out of place. Although I did not understand at that moment and completely blamed it all on my parents and their shortcomings, I had no idea that even in the midst of all those events, I was in the best place because The Lord had taken me up into His special care!

God had so much favor upon me; He allowed me commute each and every day to high school, receive my diploma and embark on a journey to earn a Bachelors of Science in Psychology with a minor in social work! Not only was I able to complete a bachelors degree but I was able to go to school LOAN FREE!! He has kept my mind when “thoughts” were my enemy. One thing this experience has taught me was to not compare myself to others but to see the works of The Lord in my life personally. The cloudiest days were indeed that, but God knew why each event happened the way they did, and it all was to lead me to a path to bring glory to Him! Not having my parents at that given time was more than difficult, but I thank God for His promise, I am in the best place for He has taken me up!

Jamesha Stokes