Terry-Ann Henry: God kept me

FOR TERRY-ANN Henry, it was the sustaining ability of grace, coupled with the redemptive and restorative power of God, that has kept her from losing her mind, even during her pre-teen years.

Having been exposed to abuse of all kinds, young Henry was subject to a toxic lifestyle, which forced her deeper into despair as she grew older.

She told Family and Religion that she was born to a teenage mother, and so spent her initial years being raised by her loving grandmother. However, everything changed when she was taken to live with a man, believed to be her father, at eight years old.

“I innocently thought my life of lacking necessities would become better. Unknowingly, I entered a home of constant domestic abuse, where I witnessed my stepmother and father occasionally fist fight,” she said, adding that her environment caused her to struggle academically and mentally, as she tried to cope.

Henry shared that she was molested by the man, who was later proven to not be her biological father, and his brother.

She was later raped by the partner of another family member; bitter experiences which, though were not her fault, left her feeling ashamed and broken.

“I ran away to seek refuge from my mother, but I was rejected by her. This caused me to then seek refuge from my stepmother who took me into her home. Things started to look great at first, but this was short-lived. I was a teenager by this and my stepmother, who was also broken and scarred, was not capable of offering the care I required,” she said, sharing that she ended up living with a boyfriend.

Balancing assignments and a full-time relationship proved almost impossible for Henry, and it was not long before she fell out of school.

TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS

The stresses of her life, which saw her moving from one toxic relationship to another, resulted in the loss of her twin daughters with whom she was pregnant at the time.

She continued, “I almost lost my mind, if not for the mercies of God. I became pregnant again in that same relationship and I had my son. Later, that relationship became extremely bad and things got out of hand, so I left.”

Henry, who later migrated, shared that her life began turning around when she handed it over to Jesus Christ.

“I decided to wait on God to send me a godly husband and after five years, I got married, and two years later, had a son from the union. The Lord God then amended the relationship with my mother,” she noted, adding that they became best friends until her mother passed away.

Crediting her redemption to God, the woman tells how His grace and mercies kept her during the various transitions she had to make to be where she is right now, in her first book, called Scarred, Restored and Redefined.

“I wrote my story to help others know that they are not unique to what they are going through, and to encourage them to trust that God is able to heal and restore whatever scars they might encounter on life’s journey. He did it for me, and He can do it for you, too,” she said.