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Posts tagged ‘rural-mississippi’

Rural Mississippi Tales: Healing from Poison Ivy in the 1960s

My mother told me this story many years ago. I am retelling it here as she told it to me. Marcus would be my grandfather. This event took place in rural Mississippi in the 1960’s.

“When I was about 2 or 3 years old, my daddy, Marcus, worked for a seismograph company. He was the head leader. Therefore, his job was to cut the trail. We went to church 4 times a week because daddy was in training to be a preacher. While cutting the trail, Marcus would come across many bad things. He had a machete that helped. Daddy wore long sleeves, long pants, and boots. All of this helped to protect him. Marcus had a wife and two babies at home. He needed to work, and this job paid top dollar at this time. However, Marcus was allergic to poison ivy and poison oak. The trails were covered with both. Marcus would come home covered in a rash. Only his eyes did not get any poison ivy or poison oak in them. Marcus would go to church. While there, he would be prayed for. He always prayed for God to clear the rash up. The next time Marcus cut the trail the poison ivy and poison oak rash would return. Marcus was badly tongue-tied. This made it very difficult for people to understand him. This night was a church night. As usual, Marcus was covered in a bad rash. Therefore, he went down to be prayed for. However, he was feed up with being healed and then getting it again. Therefore after a few weeks, Marcus said to the church and the pastor, “Ju-st Vac-cin-ate me!” The church prayed again. God cleared up the rash. The next day Marcus went back to work. He cut a trail that was full of poison ivy and poison oak. However, he did not get a rash. Marcus lived over 40 years from that night and never got poison ivy or poison oak again. My mother, my brother, nor I ever got poison oak or poison ivy. God saved us from that bad stuff and vaccinated daddy for the rest of his life.”

Edited to add: His grandchildren and great-grandchild have not had any problems with poison ivy or poison oak either.

Exploring Family Stories of Faith and Life Lessons

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Surviving Childhood: A Flood, a Boat, and Family Memories

Many years ago, it rained for about 1 month in a small rural town in Mississippi. My grandfather (Marcus) was just a boy. He was the youngest of his siblings. He lived in a 2-room house with his parents (Berry and Pearlie Mae) and his 3 sisters. Yes, I said 2-room house. There was a kitchen and a living room. They cooked and ate in the kitchen. They lived and slept in the living room. The bathroom was in the outhouse behind the house. 

During this month of rain, they all went stir crazy. The only excitement was counting the chickens through the floorboards. They didn’t own a television. 

On the day that the sun finally came out, Berry suggested that they go on a boat ride. Pearlie Mae agreed. She fixed a picnic Lunch. They all quickly got ready. Now they didn’t own a vehicle, so they got the small boat and the picnic basket and started to the flooded Pearl River. 

They put the boat into the river. They put the basket into the boat. Pearlie Mae gets into the boat. The 4 children get into the boat. Lastly Berry gets into the boat. The boat is barely above the water. They row around on the river for about 2 hrs. While on the river, they eat lunch. Water keeps splashing into the boat. 

Finally, the come back to shore. A man runs up to them. He is so relieved. He had been there since they had gotten into the boat. He explained that he had not taken his eyes off of them so he could tell rescuers where the boat went down. He had been so afraid that the boat, which was barely above water, would sink from the weight of the 6 people and 1 large picnic basket. 

My grandfather, Marcus, told this story many times. He said that God takes care of children and crazy people. 

It still amazes me that 6 people could even fit into a boat that size. The boat was only about 5 or 6 foot long and about 2 foot wide. 

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The Snakes who terrorized a young girl in Mississippi

This is a story written by my mother about a time in her life where prayer played an important part. I hope that you enjoy hearing how prayer helped my mom when she was a young girl. 

My family lived in a Ranch style house that was in the middle of a bid field.  On the ranch were many ponds to water the horses and cattle. There was a large pond in front of our house. We had a long cement porch that reached around the whole house. The bad part about this house was there that were three large rooms, but you had to go outside to get to the next room. I am 6 or 7 years old.

One day my mother, my 10-year-old brother, and I were in the living room. I wanted something to drink.  I had to go outside and down towards the pond to get to the kitchen. Right there on the porch was a 5 or 6-foot diamondback rattler. The snake was hissing at me. I started yelling. My mother and brother run out to see what was wrong. They see that the snake is way to close to me and it seemed to be charming me. My mother comes up behind me and Paul, my brother, goes around to the other side of the snake. My mother pulls me back while Paul hits the snake with a hoe many times. This causes the snake to lose its head. When my daddy comes home from work, I tell him, “The snake lost his head.” Daddy was glad that we were not hurt and that the snake lost his head.

It seemed to me like at least one time a week I found a snake on the porch. I found diamondbacks and water moccasins. All of the snakes were deadly. Thank God, none of the snakes ever bit me. All of them lost their heads. However, I became scared to go outside by myself. Finally, I refused to go outside by myself. One day, mother checked the porch for snakes. Since there were no snakes, I came outside onto the porch. I started praying. It came to me to ask my mother and daddy to pray with me. We went to church about 4 times a week. That night when daddy got home, he asked, “Did any snakes lose their heads today?” I said, “no, but I know how to keep them away.” Daddy then said, “I want to hear this.” I replied, “Help me ask God to please keep the snakes away.  Even though my daddy was studying to be a preacher, everyone including him, laughed at me. This made me feel very bad.

The next day I went outside by myself to talk with God. I walked the porch and all around the yard.  I told God, “Please help me. Show them you will keep the snakes away from me, the house, and the yard.” My family lived there for another 4 years. No one found another snake in the yard. However, many snakes were found on the other side of the fence and in the pond. The owner of the land finally had to get a group together to go kill the snakes that were in and around the pond that the cows drank from.

Daddy told the owner that I had been finding a lot of snakes in the yard, but lately none had been seen. The owner of the house and land said, “I wonder why?” I spoke up, “I know why. I talked to God and asked him to keep the snakes away from me and my play yard.” This time no one made fun of me.

Written by Karen (my mother)
 
Inspiring Family Stories That Uplift Your Spirit

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