Walk Worthy Press: Daughters Of The King by Dr. Gail Hayes

Author Testimony

The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace. Her clothing is woven with gold. She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors.

Psalms 45:13-14 NKJVIn recalling how God first touched my life, I think of my salvation experience. For many years, my younger sister witnessed to and prayed for me. She talked about the Lord so much that it got on my nerves. How could she get so excited about this person called Jesus? To me, He was the White man on a picture with lambs under His arms. I looked nothing like those lambs and he looked nothing like me. So I could begin to grasp the concept of being made in His image. As far as I was concerned, we had nothing in common except that we both had bodies.

As a person who had just broken the gender barrier by becoming the first African American female law enforcement officer in my city, I did not understand my sister's excitement about her newfound salvation. I was fighting for survival in world dominated by White men. They daily let me know how they felt about my presence by telling me that I was stealing the job of another man who had a family. I believed in God but my sister's testimonies had little impact on me.

Although I had grown up in a church going family, I did not understand her passion for Jesus. I believed that I would go to heaven because I was nice to everyone. My mother took us to Sunday School, so I heard the stories, and even sang the songs. Still nothing moved or convicted me. I believed that since I treated everyone fairly, that I was not one of those sinners mentioned in the songs. I didn't have a clue that I was standing at hell's gates and could have been a gatekeeper to the fiery furnace.

At the time of my sister's conversion, I was also an adulteress. I became involved with a man and in the midst of our involvement; he told me that he was living with someone. I resented his unwillingness to give up his live in lover, but continued in the relationship. He was my addiction. His situation ate away at my emotional stability. I became like a crazed animal. I would pull him closer, hoping for a change, and then I would suddenly push him away and tell him that I never wanted to see him again. I struggled with emotional bouts of tears and self torture, telling myself this is all I deserved.

" No man will ever want you. You will never get married." These words spoken by my father, during one of our many heated discussions, haunted me. They stood in the shadows and laughed at the brokenness of my femininity. I drifted through a sea of unhealthy relationships, never docking at stability's safe harbor. Rejection was my life's anchor. Loneliness my perverted ally. So it hurt but was not surprising when my lover grew tired of the game, left and got married.

One night, a couple of hours after a telephone conversation with my sister, I went to bed feeling uneasy. After fighting a turbulent sleep for what seemed like hours, I got up and began cleaning my house. Everything felt dirty. I cleaned out closets and swept and mopped floors. I washed clothes and cleaned my bathrooms. I cleaned every room and washed every wall. I even took a shower because even my skin felt unclean.

After my shower, I began cleaning my bedroom and something strange happened. I took the sheets off the bed and without knowing why, I scrubbed my mattress. With bucket and sponge in hand, I furiously scrubbed and soaked the entire mattress. I felt troubled and fearful so I called my sister. I wept as I told her about my cleaning. With tearful trembling, I told her how my heart ached with loneliness, how my life was a wreck, and that I could find no peace. I needed help but did not know where to look or where to begin. I then begged my sister to lead me to the Lord. I could no longer stand the void of hopelessness that surrounded me. I wanted joy and a hope for my future. I dropped to my knees and leaned on the water soaked mattress as my sister led me in the sinner's prayer. I knelt in soapy water that washed clean the filth from my mattress. I arose, cleaned with the water of His word.

I left my married lover and started living for the Lord. It was not easy being a Christian single. It was one of the hardest seasons of my life. I immediately started reading my Bible and praying with passion. I asked my Father to send a Christian husband...quickly! Within a year of leaving the adulterous relationship, a Christian man found and married me. That was over twenty years ago.

How did I get myself into such a mess? Well, the answer is simple. I did not know who I was. I had no idea that I had a wonderful identity, a powerful purpose, and a divine destiny. My sister leading me to God's love, forgiveness, and acceptance was just the beginning of my journey.

As God drew me closer, I read His word. In its pages, I discovered the scripture Psalms 45:13-14, which states, "The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace. Her clothing is woven with gold. She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors." Through this scripture and through God's mercy and patience, I discovered that I am that royal daughter. I not only discovered my identity, but also learned to grasp my purpose so I can fulfill destiny. The Lord then instructed me to share this message with my sisters. This led to my writing the book Daughters of the King.

Daughters of the King is a book that focuses on God's first gift to us, our image. Once we discover our identity, we can grasp purpose. Once we grasp purpose, we can fulfill destiny. My hope for you is that you find discover the beauty of your image type. I pray that you will no longer be bound by what others say about you, but rather what the Lord of Hosts says about you. My prayer for you is that you discover, accept, embrace, and walk in your destiny as a daughter of the King!

Gail M. Hayes

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