GLORIOUS LIVING
Historical - "The Black Mother's Quest"
Article by Apostle Connie Foster
Harp of God Ministries in Detroit, Michigan
The month of February is the month when we celebrate Black History. Not black history month because Black People have more than a month of history. Since the creation of time, God formed man out of the dust of the earth, blew breath in him and called him a living soul. So the time begun! History!
I want to celebrate black mothers for their strengths, their courage, and their long-suffering. When I think about the black mothers that have perhaps been left alone to raise their sons and daughters with very little to work with, I am totally convinced that God has prepared these bodies for something more than just self gains. I remember as a youth my mother would sit her children down and share stories with us. We didn't know at the time that she was like Jesus telling parables that would later enlighten us with sound wisdom to become overcomers of life's tests and trials. I would watch her tirelessly endure hardships, turning her tears into laughter only to protect her children's childhood imaginations and dreams.
I read a short story from a book by Virginia Hamilton - "Many Thousand Gone, A Mother's Despair". This story refrain came from the poem "Farewell of a Virginia Slave Mother", by the renowned Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier. This story talks about a slave woman named Margaret Garner who refused to have her children in slavery only to experience the pain of abuse, separation and despair. Margaret had escaped with her husband and four children but was later caught. She could not bear the thought of her children being enslaved again so she murdered her favorite daughter and later instead of being put to death, they sent her back to her slave owner. She refused to return, so she planned again to kill herself as well as her nine-month-old baby she carried in her arms. On the way back across the Ohio River to Kentucky, Margaret jumped or fell overboard with her baby in her arms. The child drowned but she survived. After hearing this Margaret was overcome with joy that another one of her offspring was out of the reach of bondage. Her fierce heart, her will of steel and her love for her