Ronita Johnson is an African American daughter of a preacher who grew up initially in Louisiana and later in Northern California. Here she tells her story of a severe childhood which left her feeling shame, guilt, bitterness, and a general sense of unworthiness. She shares her journey from a devastating childhood to one of forgiveness and wholeness. Her first discovery of healing was provided by sitting in a women’s circle. She says, “In that circle I had an opportunity to look at myself through the eyes of these women with such love, with no judgment. It was unbelievable to me the fire we lit in the center of that circle. When I would go home, I would go home with the fire still in me but it wasn’t a burning fire; it was the kind of fire that created transformation and actually transmutation in me. I became a different person. I, for the first time, was able to face myself in a way with deep love.”
