The problem with that? The pages that I was reading were the pages that recount Maya's rape at 8 years old.
Yeah.
I don't know about you, but that puts way too much horrible stuff in my mind to even consider sleeping. The night was late, but I had to read a bit more to try and rid my memory of images that no person should have in their mind. Ever. Evil nasty violent stuff. The stuff of nightmares.
I read for several more minutes and then prayed that God would ease me into a dreamless sleep. He did and I am so thankful.
Today, I am eager to read more of Maya Angelou's memoirs. I don't know much about her but I do know this: as an innocent, naive child, she was raped. I also know this: her story didn't stop there.
Isn't that freakin' amazing? Her story did NOT stop there.
Not with violence. Not with someone stealing her innocence. Not with a horror straight out of hell.
In an interview with Times-Picayune (2013), Maya said that she believed in God because that's what her grandmother told her to do. As she grew older, Maya fully absorbed the fact that God loved her and that she was a child of God. She admitted that this knowledge compelled her to live her life courageously.
Fortified by the LOVE of God, Maya could rise up and not let any travesty knock her down.
Fortified by the LOVE of God, Maya could bravely and boldly reshape her story into a beautiful thing.
Fortified by the LOVE of God, Maya grew up to write poetry and memoirs, to teach, to lead and to direct.
Isn't it amazing how God's love redeems our stories?
This world tries to deliver horrifying endings but God's love reshapes and revives.
I write this tonight to encourage you in your story.
I don't know where you are at, but I do know that there are a lot of unhappy stories unfolding out there. Stories of sick children and exhausted mothers. Stories of victims of rape and abuse. Stories of joy-stealing anxiety. Stories of genocide, murder in churches, sickness and death.
And if your story feels like an unhappy one tonight, hear me out: your story is NOT over yet.
The Great King of the Universe designed you, made you, and loves you. He also has great big plans for you. Plans that will use your unhappy story for great things; connecting you to new people, revealing strengths in you, moving you to a new location, shaping and forming you for a plan and a purpose.
God's story for you is one with a happy ending if you will allow it. Lean into Him. Trust that He's got you wherever you are at in your story. Know that you are so loved and let that knowledge give you COURAGE to rise up and live this day.
Your story is not over yet.
- BvH
(** Maya passed away at 86 years old in 2014**)
I'd like to close out by sharing one of Maya's poems: Still I Rise
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don’t you take it awful hard ‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines Diggin’ in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I rise I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.
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