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    Ginny and Me: Reflections of What God Can Do
    Ginny and Me: Reflections of What God Can Do
    Ginny and Me: Reflections of What God Can Do
    Ebook87 pages1 hour

    Ginny and Me: Reflections of What God Can Do

    By Christine Walters

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    About this ebook

    Abuse is damaging. It comes from cycles of abusive behaviors learned and repeated through generations. Because of shame and embarrassment, many people do not speak about the cruelty they endured. In my case, most of the abuse I suffered resulted from my mother’s mental illness. For my entire life, people told me to excuse my mom’s abuse because she was mentally ill. However, mental illness does not give anyone the right to abuse you (in particular, your child). Ginny had childhood paranoid schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder. She lived in the Buffalo State Hospital through her adolescent years. When released from the hospital, she had me. She was twenty-six, and my dad was thirty years older. My mother was white, and my father was black.
    As a child, I struggled with my mixed heritage. My mom would tell me that white people did not like me because I was black. Even from a religious standpoint, I was raised as a Catholic and Baptist. On Sundays, my mom and I attended mass without my father and Baptist service with him. I always felt like I had to choose. Was I black? Was I white? Was I Catholic? Was I Baptist? My mom told me that her side of the family disliked my dad because he was black and my dad’s side of the family disliked my mom because she was white. Here I was stuck in the middle. I share my life story with the world through God’s glory. My story is about how faith enabled me to overcome extraordinary struggles, pain, and loss. Faith, hope, and forgiving the unforgivable through prayer and trusting in God are the keys to healing. Ginny and Me: Reflections of What God Can Do is a deep personal story about my troubled relationship with my mother, who lived with a severe mental illness. Ginny, died unexpectedly at Christmas season, and buried later on Mother’s Day weekend. My story addresses how God carried me, and several social issues including mental health, child neglect and abuse, domestic violence, loss, and grief.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristine Walters
    Release dateOct 22, 2016
    ISBN9781370132447
    Ginny and Me: Reflections of What God Can Do
    Author

    Christine Walters

    Christine Walters is a published nonfiction author and entrepreneur born in Buffalo, New York, grew up in Fort Myers, Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Services Management with a focus on social work, and experienced in health and wellness, human and social services and nonprofit management. Provides insight on forgiving the unforgivable through God's glory. Encouragement for people who have been hurt from abuse, loss, and extraordinary struggles. Faith and hope for the hurting. Published in the State of Virginia Library, Lee County, Florida, Library, Loudoun County, Virginia, Library and Buffalo, Erie County New York, Library and Focus on Women Magazine. Publication review in Readers' Favorite Book Review and Midwest Book Review. eBook and Paperback available on Focus on Women Magazine, Walmart, Book Soup, Amazon, Kindle, Barnes&Nobles, Nook, Books-A-Million, Indigo, AbeBooks, Alibris, Goodreads, Google Play Books, AuthorHouse, Kobo Books, iTunes, iBooks and Stores which is available on iPhone and iPad application.

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      Book preview

      Ginny and Me - Christine Walters

      Ginny and Me: Reflections of What God Can Do

      By

      Christine Walters

      Copyright © 2015 Christine Walters. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author

      Smashwords Edition

      Table of Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Prologue

      Chapter One Ginny and Me

      Chapter Two Growing Up with Ginny

      Chapter Three God’s Grace and Mercy

      Chapter Four Saving the Worst for Last

      Chapter Five Angry with God

      Chapter Six Final Good-bye

      Chapter Seven God’s Plans Are Not Our Plans

      Chapter Eight Four-Year Bondage

      Chapter Nine Reflections of What God Can Do

      Epilogue

      Prayers

      My Prayer to God

      Poems by Chris

      Reflections of Christine

      About the Author

      In memory of my mother, Ginny, who struggled her entire life to live an ordinary life

      To my readers, in hopes that my story will give encouragement to keep striving and to have faith in knowing no struggle is impossible for God

      Acknowledgments

      I would like to thank my children, family, and friends for supporting me through this journey and believing in me. I would also like to give a special thank-you to the individuals who encouraged me to finish my book and the friendships establish

      Prologue

      Ginny and Me: Reflections of What God Can Do is about my mother, Ginny, who lived in the Buffalo State Hospital throughout her adolescent years. It’s a unique story of a woman who managed to get released from the hospital, have a child, get married, and own a home. Ginny tried to live a normal life despite abuse and her mental illness. She loved Jesus and did the best she could to raise me.

      My desire to write this book is to uplift others and show the God who brought me through dysfunction, abuse, anger, and distress. I experienced much pain. For many years, I cried. I thought I was cursed, abandoned, and forgotten. It is my testimony that God never left me alone.

      Throughout my life, even through the abuse I endured, God continually watches over me, blesses me, and helps me grow spiritually. Healing and forgiveness are through God. I overcame adversity by having faith and leaning on Christ.

      I share my life story with the world, hoping to give encouragement and insight to trust in God.

      Chapter One Ginny and Me

      Hear my prayer, Lord; listen to my cry for mercy. When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me.

      —Psalm 86:6–7 (NIV)

      Virginia Marie Walters, born June 26, 1949, known as Ginny, had childhood paranoid schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder. She lived most of her adolescent years in the Buffalo State Hospital, located in Buffalo, New York.

      Ginny stayed there when the hospital housed the mentally and criminally insane. There, she met my father, who was housed there after serving a few decades in prison. When both were released from the hospital in 1974, they married after having me. She was twenty-six; my dad was thirty years older. My mother was white, and my father was black.

      My mother’s mental illness consisted of hallucinations, delusions, and violence to others, but mainly to herself. Many times, she had a hostile behavior with unclear thinking. She thought everybody wanted to put her away, back into the Buffalo State Hospital. Then there were the multiple personalities. She had four that were familiar to me:

      1. Virginia, her birth name. She did not like to be called by that name. She stated that Virginia was another person. She thought of herself as a withdrawn, outspoken, and rotten person.

      2. Ginny, her nickname. She used this name instead of her first name. She tried being normal, stable, and married with a child. Everyone knew her by Ginny.

      3. The little girl. She had a babyish voice and liked someone to cover her up when she laid down. She liked teddy bears and Easter baskets.

      4. The bad one. She had a deep, low voice and sounded evil. This one could get very violent.

      A letter that Mom wrote to her doctor

      I was placed in foster care not long after she had me. Due to my mother’s history of mental illness, I would visit with my parents as a very young child in a room with my social worker from Child Protective Services. In foster care, I experienced my first account of abuse.

      As a child, I suffered a lot of damage as result of my mother’s mental illness. And I struggled with my mixed heritage. My mom would tell me that white people did not like me because I was black. She said that, if anyone asked, I was to say I was black. Ironically, she also said that black people did not like me because I had a white mother. From a religious standpoint, I was raised both Catholic and Baptist.

      On Sundays, my mom and I attended mass without my father and Baptist services with him. My parents were able to have unsupervised weekend home visitation. I would run away before the social worker came to take me back to foster care. I would call the social worker as the bad man who took me away. My parents finally got full custody of me right before enrolling into school with ongoing monitoring for many years through a program offered by a faith-based nonprofit

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