Growing in Faith, Love and Grace         with Ella

This site is dedicated to promoting the word of God through personal experiences and words of wisdom and faith inspired by God

This site was created to encourage and inspire others who read my stories, blogs and my books.  

My Personal Testimony

 I was raised by my father and stepmother from the age of 5 onward.  My mother was an alcoholic and had 5 children with my father.  She was much younger than my father about 20 years younger than him when they met.  After having 5 children back-to-back, she was not ready to settle down and raise us.  She still wanted to party and live the lifestyle she wanted to live.  She was not very responsible and after a few years she and my father separated, and she was left with 5 small children to raise on her own in Chicago, Illinois while my father went back to Jackson, Mississippi.  

 Needless to say, this did not last long. Living the life she chose to live, she was not able to raise us properly and "keep a roof over our heads", literally.   She ended up taking us to live with my grandmother in Arkansas.   After living with my grandmother and aunt for about 2 weeks, (seemed like 2 years ).  My father finally came to our rescue and took us home to live with him and my stepmom and her 3 sons.  We became like "The Brady Bunch" TV Show.  

My parents took us to church and instilled a basic knowledge of believing and trusting in the Lord for all of our needs. We attended church on a very regular basis, and here I learned about good and evil and what it meant to live for Jesus.   I did not enjoy such a strict upbringing at the time and always looked forward to the day when I would be able to move out.  I decided the best way for me to do this successfully was to go away to college.  

At the age of 18, I went off to college and majored in Nursing.  I got married after just 2 years in college and dropped out of school. I worked for a few years and had my first child, a daughter.  I decided after a few years in the workforce when my daughter was about 3 years old, that I wanted to return to college and complete my nursing degree.  It was not easy at all. I ended up pregnant with my son while I was in school, and he was born the summer before I was set to graduate.  Having a new baby and being in nursing school was The most difficult thing I had faced and wanted to quit many days, but my husband encouraged me daily to not quit and I was able to graduate with the charter class of Nursing School at Southern University in 1988.  

I accepted the Lord as my Savior at a young age but did not truly have a personal encounter with him and come to the knowledge of him and my eyes were fully open when I was about 20 years old.  I was attending church on a regular basis, I was a young married mother and one day in Church, I felt the Holy Spirit touch me internally and all of a sudden my eyes and ears were open to fully receive and understand God's words. I heard the minister preaching and I realized in that moment that I truly heard and understood what he was teaching and it was like I had a "light bulb" moment.  I wanted to live for Christ and wanted my life to be an example of what being a Christian meant.  I began to go out into the neighborhoods with my fellow church members and pray with unbelievers and helped them turn their life to Christ and accept him as their personal savior.  

After 10 years of marriage, I ended up getting divorced, losing my parents, my father first then my biological mother a week later.  This all happened within a year's time.  I went into a deep depression and did not know it.  I did not want to go to work. I did not want to live a Christian life anymore. I began to rebel against my faith and started drinking alcohol.  I drank for many years, but during Covid 19, I began to drink very heavily from 2019 to 2022.  One day, I decided that I did not want to live this lifestyle anymore and I prayed and asked God to take the desire to drink away and he answered my prayers, and I stopped drinking alcohol completely and became sober in May 2022. After that I began to place focus on my writings and publishing books and articles. 

 I published my very first book - Why Buy the Cow with Trafford Publishing Company in 2003.  available on www.trafford.com

My next book was not published until 2019 some 15 years later, (talk about writer's block), Mississippi Shines on www.Amazon.com, then came 5 other books written about my ancestors and slavery in the U.S.  I also recently published a book called - How to Research and Create Your Own Family Tree in 5 Easy Steps, which is also published on www.amazon.com also visit my author page at www.ellashinesgoldsmith.com

Recently, I have finally ventured into writing more books and articles on Faith and Living by Faith and Prayer and fully trusting in God. On this site you will find many articles, blogs and hopefully inspirational words that will help you grow in faith with me.  

Go to the Topics at the top of this page to view several different topics I discuss related to Love, Faith and Grace.

These articles are copywrited and sole property of Ella Shines Goldsmith