She wrote a journal to help her granddaughter — but it may inspire others

It was not meant to be a book.

After the birth of her first granddaughter, Verjuana Foreman decided to jot down some notes in a journal. She saw it as bits of advice that might help the child through life.

“I knew I would likely not be around her much,” Foreman said.

But the result was “Flowing From My Heart,” which is now available online at Amazon and eBay.

The book was published in December.

The 44-year-old Texas native and her husband of two years, Lorenzo, live in Fort Mitchell, Ala. They arrived in the area in February. He is a sergeant at Fort Benning and was formerly stationed at Fort Stewart. She is a former Army sergeant who now works on post. They have seven children ranging in age from 8-24 from prior marriages but only one child lives with them.

Foreman said she decided to write her views on life and faith as something permanent that her grandchild could have.

“There is something about a grandchild,” she said. “It is a totally different level of love. Nothing is greater. I know she would face a lot of difficulties in her life. I know you must experience pain to grow. I wanted her to have something she could always use as a reference.”

A fellow member in the church choir told her “sister, you need to write a book.”

She tried to get other family members to add morsels of wisdom but nobody would.

“I got discouraged and quit,” she said.

And then she got a text message three years later from a friend who was living in another country.

“What aspirations do you have, but yet they seem unobtainable?” the friend wrote.

“It instantly brought tears of regret to my eyes,” Foreman said. “I knew the answer immediately. I knew what I wanted to do.”

And that was finish the book.

She said this was at a time when she had left the military and, despite a college education, was having difficulty finding a job.

“This was an assignment from God, and he was closing doors so I would finish it,” she said of the book.

She writes in the book about how an email from the same friend who had sent her the text confirmed her thought.

“When you know what God has called you to do, created you to do for His glory but yet you do nothing — hard truth, it is disobedience.”

“I did not want to be disobedient to God,” Foreman said.

Using prose and poetry, the book addresses different topics such as love, fear, procrastination and forgiveness, all with references from the Bible.

In one chapter, Foreman writes about true beauty.

“People spend fortunes trying to change things about themselves that they think do not fit into the societal mold of beauty. I am always saddened to see desperately unsatisfied women who subject themselves to nose jobs, facelifts, Botox injections, breast and buttocks implants, liposuction and other craziness to change their physical appearance. Plastic surgeons and cosmetic doctors get rich off unfulfilled women looking to purchase their self esteem and a greater level of self confidence. What these women do not realize is that they are perfect in God’s eyes. Every piece of them is exactly the way God intended it to be, and that is true beauty.”

She also writes that divorce courts and unemployment lines are filled with people who refused to forgive.

“Bitterness and hatred can pollute your life,” she writes.

Not only did Foreman write a book, but a journal with the same title is also available. Along with spaces on which the owner may write, there are selections from both Foreman’s book and the Bible.

Foreman, who attends Greater Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Phenix City, encourages others to write, whether it is to pass the time or to clear a cluttered mind. They should write when brokenhearted or when inspired.

In the preface to her book, she writes to her granddaughter, Kasey, that her earnest prayer for the child, as it is for all children, is that her future is “blindingly bright.”

“It was meant for my family,” she said. “ But I hope the book will serve as an inspiration, a source of encouragement for many, that it will make it a little easier to make it through the tough times.”

And, maybe, avoid a few, as well.

This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 7:22 PM with the headline "She wrote a journal to help her granddaughter — but it may inspire others."