BY KENDYL HOLLINGSWORTH

KENDYLH@
OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

OPELIKA —

Roxie Ramsey may have just celebrated her 80th birthday, but she’s quick to tell you she’s still learning and growing.

Through a lifetime of meeting challenges with faith and perseverance, Ramsey has grown in gratitude, as well as her love for God and others — topics she explores in her book, “Roxie: My Journey of Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs”, published in May.

“That’s why I had the book done — because God and them, they have been so good to me,” she said.

While she has spent the last 30 years or so back at her childhood home in Opelika, Ramsey recounted a time of uncertainty she faced while living in the projects as a young mother. An incident involving her husband at the time and the furniture in their house became a turning point in Ramsey’s faith.

“God said, ‘Don’t worry about it. Let it go. I will take care of you and your children,’” Ramsey recalled. “And God has been taking care of me since then.”

And while that divine help didn’t come in the form of a life free of trials and tribulations, Ramsey said she was able to triumph over the ones that came her way. She got a car. She had employment. She provided for her children.

“I worked hard with my children,” she said. “The first thing I taught them: You have to have respect, and you’re going to learn how to respect people and care about people.”

Now that her children have graduated and become successful adults, Ramsey still names that divine guidance as the source of the blessings that followed.

“All of that was God,” she said. “God was helping me do everything.”

But Ramsey also began to face various health challenges, resulting in numerous surgeries over the years. Each time, Ramsey said she felt the care of God and her doctors, and she knew she was in good hands.

In her book, however, Ramsey recalls a period of “despair and hopelessness” — a time she dubs “the wilderness”. Accustomed to health concerns, she wrote about going to the doctor for constant chest pain. When the doctor found nothing wrong, she went to get a second and third opinion only to receive the same answer: There was nothing physically wrong. Ramsey came to the realization that it was emotional pain she was feeling, and it was beginning to take a toll on her body.

“I asked God to deliver me from the wilderness and instead of removing me, he sent Skylar to me,” she wrote in her book. “… I knew God had sent her to me because I had been in the wilderness for too long.”

Skylar is Ramsey’s granddaughter who she brought to live with her for a while, with the permission of Skylar’s parents. At just 4 years old, Skylar not only brought joy and light into Ramsey’s world, but she also saved her life.

“One day, I lost my balance and fell and she called 911,” Ramsey wrote. “She was only four years old. They told her to stay on the phone, but she said she needed to call her father and tell him to come home.

“She told them the name of the street, but not the address. I was able to get close enough to the phone to give the address. Once they arrived, they were impressed by her. She later asked me the address, so she could remember.

“I found myself feeling intense and lonely until God sent Skylar to me. The hand of God has never left me and for that I am grateful.”

Ramsey said she spent about three years writing “Roxie” as she reflected on the people and events that have shaped her. Ramsey’s young home caregiver also helped her publish the book — another “God-send” for her.

Through it all, Ramsey said she still recognizes God’s hand in the details, past and present.

“God is in control,” she said with a smile.

Ramsey’s book is 122 pages recounting these stories and more, complete with photos, Bible verses and a notes section with prompts to help the reader journal his or her own journey.

With her book, Ramsey said she hopes she can inspire more people to build a relationship with God and experience his love and guidance as she has. She also urges her readers to make the most of the time they have and be open to the lessons they can learn along the way.

“While enduring challenges and the storms of life, my focus was usually on the problem and how to fix it, but there is always a bigger picture,” she wrote in one chapter. “Life lessons are usually learned after the fact because we’re so consumed with the problem we can’t see past ourselves … Every circumstance, situation and every person we cross paths with is an opportunity for a lesson if we’re open to receiving it.”

“Roxie” is available to purchase for $14.99 through Amazon.