My Word

Gizelle Bryant

Brown Girls Books LLC ~ www.BrownGirlsBooks.com

ISBN: 978-1-944359-79-9 (ebook)

ISBN: 978-1-944359-80-5 (print)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means including electronic, mechanical or photocopying or stored in a retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages to be included in a review.

First Brown Girls Publishing LLC trade printing Manufactured and Printed in the United States of America

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It is reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped” book.

DEDICATION

This book as well as everything else that I do is dedicated to the three people that matter most to me. They have stretched me to be the best version of myself. They have taught me the power and beauty of unconditional love. They have brought my life a sense of purpose and internal peace.

I am forever grateful to be the mother of my three amazing children, Grace, Angel and Adore.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

PART TWO – THE PRESENT

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Epilogue

Chapter 1

March, 2008

The doors of the church slammed shut and the sound echoed in my ears. I squirmed a little in my place in the pew.

What was going on?

It almost felt like we were being held hostage the way the deacons stood, like soldiers, at the closed doors. All the male armor bearers were poised like they were bearing arms – all aimed at keeping everyone in their place. But for what?

And why had Reverend Lewis, the assistant pastor, just asked all visitors and non-tithing members to leave the sanctuary? Why had the ushers scoured the rows in search of any stragglers who had stayed behind?

The sanctuary was bright with the morning sun that shined through the stained-glass windows, but the members of Pilgrim’s Rest Missionary Baptist Church who remained all sat in a stunned silence.

After a few moments, Reverend Ovide Robinson pushed himself up from the huge oak-framed ornate pulpit chair and meandered toward the podium. Just before he got to the pulpit, he reached out his hand, and his wife, First Lady Alberta Robinson, rose from her seat of honor in the first pew. One of the ushers rushed to her and held her elbow as she ascended the four steps up the altar to join her husband.

Reverend Robinson took his wife’s hand and then, together, the two stood before the church. Now, there had been many times when I’d sat here in Pilgrim’s Rest and every head had been bowed and every eye had been closed, but this was not one of those moments. I didn’t have to look to my left nor to my right to know that every eye was on our Senior pastor and his wife.