Brenaji Marshae Brown - The Walking Testimony

The Walking Testimony.
Copyright 2021 by Brenaji Marshae Brown.

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This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the publication. The authors and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

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ISBN: 978-1-63950-102-1[Paperback Edition]

978-1-63950-103-8 [ eBook Edition]

Printed and bound in The United States of America.

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Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Welcome to My Life

Cali Start School

Cali Elementary School

Fourth Grade

The Repeat of Fourth Grade

Heading to Cali Middle School

Sixth Grade

She Left Me

Cali Junior High

The Bully That Apologized in Junior High

God Gave Me Another Chance

When Change Knocks, Allow It to Come in Your Life

Chose to Walk on the Path of Forgiveness

* * *

I dedicate my book to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

* * *

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

Hebrews 13:5

Acknowledgments

W ithout my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this book wouldnt have ever been written, and for that I am grateful. Thanks for leading me and for giving my story to me to share with the world.

Introduction

B ree Brown, a second-time mother, gets told by Dr. Coby Wright that her newborn, Brenaji Marshae Brown, will never walk or be able to use her hands, but God has other plans, and Brenaji ended up walking. This is proof not even doctors know everything. When Brenaji goes to school, she finds out she is different. Why has no one in her family told her she was different? Brenaji finds out about herself from a new girl that she befriended, Kimmy Timpson, and her life will be forever changed. Brenaji starts getting bullied in school in fourth grade and tells no one. It is when she gets held back in fourth grade by the principal, Mrs. Zoey Kimble, that things get worse, but little does Brenaji know there would be a new teacher, Mrs. Traneice Bowen, who is after destroying her life. Brenaji has more obstacles to face, and that is when God presents two paths to her to walk on. But what are the paths God presents to her, and which path will she walk on?

Welcome to My Life

So I wouldnt get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations.

2 Corinthians 12:7

M y name is Brenaji Marshae Brown. I was born on May 15, 1990, to my mother, Bree Brown, on a cold day at a hospital in California. I wasnt the only child she had. I had a two-year-old sister, Breann Brown.

I was born with deformities. I had bilateral clasped thumbs and fingers and clubbed feet. My thumbs were both bent into the palm of both my hands. Dr. Coby Wright said to my mom I would never walk due to the condition I was born with, with my feet, and he also said I wasnt going to be able to use my hands without surgery. Dr. Coby Wright referred my mom to go to the handicapped childrens clinic. As a result of my deformities, I had to have surgery. Quinsy Dunn, MD, was assisted by Mike David, MD, and they both performed surgery on my clasped thumbs and deformed hands. My right hand had a more severe congenital clasped thumb. After surgery, I had to wear casts on both my hands. I had vertical talus correction done by doctors Magellan Thanh and Odom Gooding, which resulted in me wearing leg cast.

My family is from California. My granny helped my mom raise Breann and me. As I grew up, my mom was still back and forth with me in the hospital, and it wasnt easy. We relied on public transportation since my mom didnt know how to drive and didnt have a car.

There came a special point when I was back at California Hospital, and Dr. Coby Wright and I were reunited. The same doctor that said I would never walk saw me walking throughout the hospital room. He smiled from ear to ear and was in shock. He couldnt believe itI was actually walking. My mom and my sister were the ones that saw me first walk, and Breann yelled, and I fell down, but I wasnt going to stay down forever. One day I got up and stayed on my feet and no longer fell, and I kept walking. That was proof that doctors can say one thing, and God says another thingwhat a miracle. I walked and continued to walk for years without stopping. I walked with a limp, but still my limp didnt stop me from doing what was said I would never do.

In August 8, 1992, my mom had a baby boy named Byron. I wasnt treated special or as if something was wrong with me. I played with my siblings, and we all would get whipped and fussed at when we would do wrong, and we all got punished. Despite my physical disability, no family member said Brenaji, you cant do this or that, and Im glad they didnt. Cant is such a negative word. They didnt try and help me or baby me up or anything; they let me do things for myself.

But little did I know there would come a point where I no longer would just be at home with my siblings, playing and having fun. There were other places I would have to go, and school was one of them, and I would find out things about myself that not even my family told me. But why? Why had no one sat down and told me anything about myself that I didnt even know? Maybe it was better I found out on my own.

Cali Start School

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

I n 1995, I got my first start in school at Cali Start with other kids of course. I missed home, but I had no choice but to go to this school. Even though my mom didnt have a car, I still went to school. We walked toward there, and sometimes my uncle Maine would walk with us too and carry me on his back. I learned from my mom and Uncle Maine when they would walk me to school that if you want something bad enough, dont let anything stop you to do what you have to, to achieve your goals even if you dont have a car.

I loved my teacher, Mrs. Kerry Hover. She was so sweet. I just loved being around her. She had a daughter, Macy, and she went to Cali Elementary School. Mrs. Hover took me with her to Macys school. It was a big two-story building that was green and white. I felt like I was a big kid when I went with her to see her daughter at school, and I enjoyed myself.

I had a huge crush on a cute boy at Cali Start, Davin Porter. When you saw him, you better believe I was right beside him, smiling away like I was at the dentists office. I loved eating breakfast and lunch around him, and he didnt even get angry that I always sat beside himit didnt bother him one bit. His eyes were so pretty, and his smile too. We played together at recess, but never did I tell him I liked him. I told my mom and my granny that I liked Davin, and they didnt have anything to say about it. I guess to them it wasnt a big deal for a five-year-old girl liking a boy. I guess it was okay.