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At 32, she'd lost both parents, and now was
a single mom with a failing business.
Roxanne had been raised in a church that
taught that God brought problems in your
life to teach you a lesson.
God must have felt like He needed to knock
a lot of sense into me, she thought.
Sure, she'd made mistakes. But for the
most part, she colored between the lines in
her life. She'd done the best she could.
As a child she'd had a fanciful imagination.
While other little girls imagined being
a princess, Roxanne dreamed larger. She
imagined herself standing behind a pulpit.
Nothing seemed more exciting to her than
preaching the gospel.
Those fl ights of fancy quickly died, though,
when adults assured her that no girl would
ever preach.
Back home, after the funeral, she sat on
the side of her bed and wept. She didn't feel
rebellious toward God. She felt…defeated.
When she thought about going back to
church, something inside her whispered,
by Melanie Hemry
Different
Life
ROXANNE ALEXANDER RAN HER FINGERS ACROSS HER MOTHER'S CASKET.
HOW COULD SHE BE GONE?
HER MOTHER HAD ONLY BEEN 62. THIRTEEN MONTHS EARLIER, HER DAD
HAD DIED AT 65. BETWEEN THOSE TWO LOSSES, ROXANNE HAD GONE
THROUGH A DIVORCE. IF THAT WEREN'T BAD ENOUGH, THE BUSINESS SHE
CO-OWNED WITH A FRIEND WAS CRUMBLING.
