Breaking the Curse

by Johnson, Charlotte Russell

• ISBN13: 9780974189369
• ISBN10: 0974189367
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-20
• Publisher: Reaching Beyond Inc

Summary

Breaking the Curse is the seventh book in author Charlotte Johnson's series of motivational works. This book explores the complex relationships and dynamics involved in functional and dysfunctional families. Once again, Ms. Johnson addresses the problems within families by using real life examples. Ms. Johnson deals with revealing family secrets and their impact. Readers of Ms. Johnson's earlier books are familiar with her willingness to tackle difficult subjects in an informative and entertaining manner. Breaking the Curse has an increased level of poetic expression and symbolism when compared with her other books. The balance of family stories, poetry, and family pictures provide the reader with a feeling of connectedness to the family, inspiration and humor.Ms. Johnson uses her family experiences and the experiences of others to illustrate the destructive nature of family secrets. She reveals intimate and scandalous family secrets in order to help others and prevent harm to others. Breaking the Curse will shock and touch the hearts of many generations with its intimate and extremely personal accounts of childhood experiences reminiscent of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, A Child Called It, and A Bastard Out of North Carolina.Poems such as Scapegoat, Sacrificial Lamb, Secrets, Secrets, Green with Envy, It Happened to Me, and Useless Excuses grab the reader's attention and give insight into the feelings of people as they perform in their roles within the family. The poems give voice to the experiences of families. Each chapter begins with a poem to foreshadow the story that is about to be told.This book offers hope to those who have experienced pain, disillusionments, heartaches, suffering, and abandonment. Revealing secrets, dealing with the ramifications of the revelation, and the consequences of actions helps to promote growth and healing. Internal scars and wounds must be treated to prevent past hurts from killing future hope and progress. Ms. Johnson exhorts each of us to look inside of ourselves to ensure that we think not only of the safety and progress of ourselves and our families, but develop empathy and courage to fight sin, evil, and injustice to help others. Evil thrives when we repress our past or becomes apathetic and ambivalent to the suffering of others and do not have compassion for others who are in danger. Breaking the Curse encourages good people to educate themselves, be informed, and be willing to fight sin to ensure that "family curses" are broken and that future generations can experience a life that is not bound by past sins that have taken root, grown, and thrived in the roots of their family tree.This book reminds us to show love, compassion, and concern for others who suffer. Each of us will one day need to be comforted. As a society, it has become easier to overlook injustice for the sake of convenience. Breaking the Curse reminds us that it is everyone's duty to be involved, to sacrifice in order to help others and prevent future harm to the innocent. This book is excellent for those who need encouragement, work with families, have suffered from hurt, disappointment, abuse, neglect and betrayal or who work with these populations. As the reader travels through this novel with Ms. Johnson into dark tunnels and even darker closets, hope is ever present as the journey gets closer to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Author Biography

Charlotte Russell Johnson is a writer, motivational speaker and Christian evangelist. She has had an active prison ministry for numerous years. She has worked with numerous non-profit agencies. Ms. Johnson served as the New Connections to Work Coordinator at Columbus Technical College in Columbus, GA when the school began a collaborative partnership with other state agencies to change the face of welfare. Later she served as the Community Resource Development Coordinator for Region VIII with the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services. Her efforts led to a former welfare recipient being selected as the woman of the year by several local radio stations. Her work has encompassed helping inmates, victims of AIDS, teenage mothers, and substance abusers. The author was instrumental in establishing Teens Empowerment Awareness with ReSolutions, Inc. (TEARS) in Phenix City, AL. Ms. Johnson has B.A. in Health Science with a minor in Criminal Justice from Columbus State University where she graduated Phi Kappa Phi and magna cum laude. She was one of the first recipients of the Kennon and Parker Academic Scholarship from Columbus College. Additionally, she received several honors' awards. She received her Master's Degree from Troy State University in Community Psychology in Counseling. She is currently pursuing a D.Min. in Christian Counseling from Beacon College and Graduate School. She has also attended the graduate program of Southern Christian University. However, she states her GED remains her proudest degree.