Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 132
My name is Michael Thomas but I also go by Pensmoke, the name I record my music under. I'm a rapper. I was born in the Smoky Mountains of Eastern Tennessee. I am of Gaduwa (Cherokee) heritage. My family descends from Jim Cheoa, Ah-lin-nih Cheoa, and Ail-cih Cheoa on the Siler Roll and Oowahooskee on the 1817 Reservation Roll. Within a couple of weeks after being born, my family moved from the Smokies all the way to the other side of the state-Memphis. My father left when I...
Alberta Daisy Schenck was born in Nome, Alaska, to Albert Schenck, a Euro-American Army veteran of World War One, and Mary Pushruk-Schenck of Native Inupiat heritage. Although Alaska was purchased from Russia by the United States in 1867, it did not enter the Union as the 49th State until January 3, 1959. Like the whole of American society in that era, prejudice against people of color and racial discrimination were the practices of the day. In 1944, as a 15-year-old high...
I've known dysfunction since I was a little girl. My mother was a loving, devoted Christian, but my father was a man haunted by his own scars, and those scars often filled our house with chaos. When I was four, I gave my life to Jesus, and I'm grateful because if He hadn't become a part of my life at an early age then I wouldn't be here. My father didn't want me-he told me so. He made me feel unloved and worthless. Later in my teen years, things got worse: More chaos! My...
My name is Crystal Steinhauer and I was born in Merritt, British Columbia, and grew up on the Coldwater Reserve. My parents are Faran and Vivian Steinhauer. My dad is from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation of Alberta. Most of his family are Christians and his mother, my grandmother, was a praying mom who is a living testimony to her children and family in Saddle Lake. My mom is from Merritt, and her family is from the Thompson Nation. Both my parents are from large families. I love...
Several years ago I attended a small United Methodist church in Michigan. I had just begun my work in Native American ministry. During that time frame I had an experience that highlighted a mindset that still prevails among many Native and non-Native leaders serving Native American people. My mother, Mary Church, was a highly-respected elder in our community and was one of those who continued our regional tradition of making corn soup. Her soup-making skills were well known...
Twenty five years ago, our mission administrator told us he was requiring us to move from the Cheyenne reservation to one of our mission centers to get counseling. It was a shock to hear that but we moved. Counseling sessions were confusing. I didn't understand why we had been sent to counseling. But I did the best I could and talked about whatever I could think of might be a problem. I talked about how my father had abused me and our mother as I was growing up. My father...
Christmas was the most memorable time during my childhood years on the prairies. It was uncomplicated but valuable, humble but rich. Each one special to our family. Every member made the effort to get 'home for the holidays' and travelled under extremely difficult conditions most of the time. No one had cell phones or road assistance. Somehow they always got through, by the grace of our mothers' hours of prayers, I believe, and another Prairie Christmas would begin. For years...
The doctor was talking to my mother as they stood beside my bed. She was upset and the doctor was trying to comfort her. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Williams, but we've done all we can for your son," he said. "He has a heart problem that we cannot correct. I think you should take him home and let him rest. Make him as comfortable as you can so he can enjoy his last days with his family." Although I was five years old at the time, I couldn't understand what they were saying. I only know...
Bernice Sondrup, who has had contact with thousands of prostitutes over her years of ministry, says Crossfire volunteers would have talked to everyone of the 54. Scanning a sheet of their photographs, the 63-year-old grandmother and former missionary to the Shuswap people reminisces about the ones she knew personally: this one stayed at the Crossfire safe house; that one accepted the Lord; this one was consumed by drugs. Many of the women had been struggling to make changes...
When Karen Meekis first heard about a support group for survivors of sexual abuse, she jumped at the opportunity. “I felt like it was my last resort or I was going to go crazy. I wanted healing so bad I was prepared to fight for it. It was a miracle that this service was available for me.” From the age of three Karen and her two older brothers, grew up in a series of foster homes in Oregon, where Karen’s brothers were beaten viciously and Karen was sexually abused. “I had to watch my brothers getting beaten. They’d line them...
I remember how I helped my mother and loved working in the garden with her as a young child. It gave us time together. As we worked, she always told a story. I guess what I didn't realize then, was the way she was teaching me life's lessons, in parables. All plants need pruning. Sometimes I thought she was wrong when she cut off first blossoms and extra foliage. "Why do you take off the nicest parts?" I continually asked. Her answer was always the same: "Because I love them....
We celebrated our ten-year anniversary much like we've celebrated the previous nine, traveling to reservations and ministering to Native people who are dealing with the same challenges we have been healed from. We travel with our seven children onto reservations in South Dakota, Arizona, Montana, Idaho and Canada bringing Hope to our Native people. For ten years we have been celebrating the gift of marriage and sharing our story with others . . . bringing Hope to those who...
As a child, no one says, "I want to grow up to be a murderer." I certainly didn't. Yet here I am, 36 years old, labeled by society as a murderer because I took a life. I was born to Christian parents who have ministered among Native Americans for 30 years. I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior at age five and grew up in church. I was actively involved in my church youth group. In college however, I began to search outside the church for friends and began to frequent bars, loo...
The daughter of sharecroppers Johnson and Gaynell Jacobs, Judy Jacobs (Lumbee Tribe) was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, and is the youngest of twelve children. Her family, devout Christians, struggled financially. Judy began singing in church at age six, and at eight, underwent a spiritual conversion experience. Her parents recognized her talents and encouraged her toward a music career. She and her sisters formed the gospel singing group, The Jacobs Sisters. She attended...
"The woman in front of me was in no shape to be on television. Her face was lifeless-her eyes red, swollen, vacant. She met my gaze as if begging to be told what to do, but I had no idea how to help her and felt every bit as lost as she looked." So begins the spiritual memoir of Nez Perce Indian Hattie Kauffman known to millions for her work as a network news correspondent for CBS News and ABC's Good Morning America. The surprise for readers is that the woman she is...
As an artist, color is everything. Whenever autumn is here, I find it brings me renewed awareness of our Creator all over again. I am in awe at the bounty of colors, from warm earth tones to neon yellows and orange. Creator is the Master artist and I take every opportunity to absorb as much as I can. Every tree lined country road or golden field is a work of His hand. Last year, on a perfect Indian summer day, I was inspired to write this poem as I watched my son and...
I was barely a teenager when I began smoking pot and dabbling with Ouija boards. In less than three years, I was running cocaine for a big dealer and sold my soul to the devil. Moving into an apartment with like-minded drug addicts and criminals, we spent our time snorting coke, smoking crack, dealing drugs, vandalizing churches while on LSD, and committing petty theft. I read the satanic bible on a nightly basis, as if I would gain brownie points from the devil. Landing in...
As I walked in, I saw my mother laying on the couch, bloody from my dad beating her, shaking in fear, unsure of what to do. Fear shot down my spine and I knew once again I was going to be hit with the realities of life. Ya'a'teeh, my name is JR Lilly and I am a citizen of the Navajo Nation. I belong to the Red Running into Water Clan and I am born for the Cliff Dwelling People Clan. I was born and raised on the reservation as the second oldest of six children (four brothers...
I am a Native American and a prisoner for Jesus. I want to encourage fellow inmates and families of inmates. I’ve been a prisoner for Jesus for years, preaching and teaching the Good News of Jesus, His precious grace to inmates, guards, and all who will listen. I am bold, fearless, and all about my Father’s business. I know who I am in Jesus. I’ve been persecuted, denied, hated, and bruised. But it doesn’t matter because its only for a moment and soon I will return back to my...
My Tribal Prayer Journey started in the Spring of 2009 after my Dakota nephew Seth Cloud Chief Eagle passed way from huffing “computer dust-off spray”. This led me to visit and gift every tribe in Arizona, bringing gifts for elders and asking their permission to offer prayers about the curses of Drug Abuse, Alcoholism and Suicide. Then I offered prayers of blessing and healing on the land and peoples. On the first weekend of this Arizona Tribal Prayer Journey, I was led to...
Each one of us has positive and negative factors that shape our lives—age, gender, health, appearance, personality, families, national cultures, religious backgrounds, finances, and education, to name a few. Each of us functions within these. The Creator of the universe wants us to use these temporary variables; yet, He invites us to live beyond them. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to know Jesus. For decades, I knew that the Bible was true and that Jesus was the So...
When I stepped from the classroom into the hallway, somehow, it seemed more crowded with kids even shorter and smaller than last year. Was it because I was feeling self-conscious about being a head taller than most of them? As two girls passed, I heard their giggles. “Did you see her? She’s so tall!” “She’s almost a giant,” the other girl snickered. I fought back embarrassed tears. Why did I grow so tall over the summer? In the lunch area, my friends from last year, Rita...
On the peninsula jutting out into Lake Winnipeg, near the end of Manitoba Highway 59, is where I call home. I was born in Victoria Beach, and called Traverse Bay, Manitoba my childhood home. My mom was treaty but my dad wasn’t so we couldn’t live on the reserve. All through grade school up to high school, that’s where I was. I’m Ojibwe and there were ten of us in my family. In fact, there were twelve but two of my siblings died when they were little. My dad finally got his tre...
Do you feel abandoned and alone? Are you running away from someone or something? Sherry Lynne knows what it’s like to be “on the run”. If this describes your life, you can stop running. There is someone who wants to be your friend and who will never abandon you. Creator knows all about you and wants to have a personal relationship with you through Jesus. Now is your time to stop running. Here’s how to ask him into your life: •Tell God that you want to accept His way to know true peace and joy. •Tell Him that you know that w...
As I lay bruised and bleeding on the side of Interstate Highway 10, watching the taillights of the semi fading into the distance, I thought, so this is how God answers prayer. Less than forty hours earlier, huddled under an overpass of I-95, shivering in the cold spring rain, I’d prayed these words, “God, I don’t know where I’m going but I trust You’re going to take care of me.” It was the first time I’d prayed in over five years but I was feeling desperate, a minor illegally...
