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Dear Pastor Frank,
Re: TESTIMONY - Experiencing the Lovingkindness of God in my life:
My story began when my son, Aaron, was born in Portland, Oregon. You see I was separated from my Husband and living back at home and Aaron came through a Cesarean birth. Aaron had entered this world and instead of me naming him after his Father or mine (although their names are his middle name), I remembered a young Preacher who visited my high school who inspired me and others there not to get involved in drugs...Rev. Aaron's Johnson's Campaign, "Drugs is a Drag" is what brought him to our school's assembly but then he reached out to me as Black Student Union President and other Black students there (we sponsored the assembly) to come and hear him speak at his Father-in-law's church, Maranatha. I went to hear Rev. Johnson and he singled me out and had me stand up as the congregants greeted me warmly. He was besides being a handsome man, kind to me and genuine in his message. I felt special because I was not getting any male attention at that time and his attention gave me a better self-image. I forgot about him but then remembered him when I was feeling very low during my son's birth and since my son brought so much joy to me, I decided to name him Aaron.
Why would I give birth to such a baby? Where was God in all of this when I was feeling bad having moved back home after I gave birth to my second child to my husband? I thought that life was bad, but then it got worse when my son, while I breastfeed him, would shoot the milk out like he was in the movie, The Exorcist! It frightened me but then when my Father, sister, cousin and I were sitting in the kitchen area, Aaron stopped breathing and began to turn blue! I was beside myself as he gasped for air! My Father, also a Minister, yelled "Quick, go get the syringe!" I ran upstairs to get the syringe, brought it down to the kitchen and my Father began to suck out the excess mucus with the syringe so that Aaron could breath again. With that we went to the hospital several times just to hear one Doctor say that Aaron had a bad cold, but then another Doctor wanted to give him some more tests and that's when it was discovered that Aaron had Pyloric Stenosis, which is the closing of the pylori tube so that food and liquids could not go down to his stomach. This required an operation, and I was watching over him in the meantime just in case he could not breath and I would use the syringe on him. When we got to the hospital for Aaron's surgery, his Father had arrived to but we were not on much speaking terms. At this time that was so vital to our son's life, we could not even hug each other although the fear was present as we dreaded the outcome. I remember standing in the hallway and the nurse literally firmly taking Aaron out of my arms, then me collapsing to my knees in the middle of the floor, yelping, feeling so weak and defeated! My sister and cousin helped me up and then we waited for hours for the surgery to be performed. Finally, the Doctor came out and he told us that Aaron would be fine! Although his Father and I divorced when I moved to California a few months after that time (and ironically, for me to attend my Sister's church, also named Maranatha), I remember smiling and thanking GOD for showing his LOVINGKINDNESS in allowing Aaron to live and get better.
God didn't just stop there! Recently, on July 19, 2008, I was blessed to become the GRANDMOTHER of Malachi, my son's son!
I see him as a continuous pursuit on God's part to show me that in spite of my life, my heartbreaks, my wrong decisions, my straying away and coming back to him several times, that God's hand was on Aaron's life (named after someone I never even saw again in my life but someone who touched me as a young teen), and now Aaron kept up the legacy by naming his son Malachi Aaron Elam. The name, Aaron, thou scriptural, was not a part of our family history on either side, but it is a reminder that when God wants to do something new and bright in our lives, he allows certain names to come into existence.
I believe that Malachi will be taught in the ways of the Lord (as his birth brought healing to my relationship with my son and my daughter-in-law) and although Malachi was born with one enlarged kidney, I see the promises of God all around him as he grows stronger, he's already plucking the piano that they put before him, and like his Mom who is an excellent singer, singing background to Natalie Cole and most recently Yolanda Adams along with her twin, I believe this is God's way of letting me know that JESUS is my LOVEJONES!!! I am the only remaining female Boyd in my family as my sister has passed and never got to see her grandchildren, and my Mother passed ten days after 9/11 and left behind great grandchildren. My brothers here at New Dawn encouraged me at the Mid-Week Service, Brothers Nat Sullivan and Rev. Ruffin Swain, to share this story. I hope you are blessed to see that God does not start something for just one generation, but from generation to generation his plan unfolds. Even with God choosing the churches with the same name, and I am now a member of New Dawn Christian Village who also has relationships with both churches of my past, and my son is currently a Member at Maranatha in California whose Pastor raised my son up as an infant (who was also in baby care with Apostle Fred Price's Mother as an infant) and now Aaron's son, Malachi, shares the same birthday as the Pastor, it inspires me to remember ......
A LOVE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD is the BEST THING that can ever happen in my life and in yours too!!!
In his love,
Princene Boyd
Member, New Dawn Christian Village www.ndcv.org
Princene's Photo taken by Deacon Stephan Johnson
Malachi's Photo taken by his father
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