Value in the Valley by Iyanla Vanzant

Author:Iyanla Vanzant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2002-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

A Valley Experience

Maria married Joseph because her mother told her she would never make it in this life without a man. It was a well-known fact in the family and among anyone who would listen that the only thing Maria’s father could do for Maria’s mother was satisfy her needs and pay her bills. She was grateful that he had given her three beautiful children, of which Maria was one. But the fact still remained, he was a man. A man is useless unless he has money and an imagination in the bed.

Maria was not sure she believed her mother. None of her girlfriends felt that way. They were in love or wanted to be in love just for the pleasure of it. Some of them made out pretty well. On the other hand, Maria saw quite a few of them heartbroken and sick when a relationship failed to work. She was confused, but she was also twenty-four years old. According to her mother, no one would want her soon. She was getting old. If she started working and making it on her own, the only men she would attract would be freeloaders and gold diggers. As fate would have it, she met Joseph on the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday.

Now you must remember the lesson from the Valley of Understanding, “What you draw to you is what you are.” Maria was in conflict. She was confused. She was looking for a husband not because she wanted to get married, but because her mother told her she should be married. When you are lonely, confused, desperately in conflict, and you go out on the prowl, just what do you think you are going to attract? That’s right! Your mirror image! A man who is lonely, confused, and desperately in conflict. Also remember that human nature forces us to chase the symbolic representation. We go after what the thing we want looks like without understanding what it really is beneath the surface. So you know Maria was in trouble, right? So here we go.

Joseph was a tall, aggressive, very handsome man. Like his father, he was well-read but had little formal education. He had completed the tenth grade. Like his older brother, he had worked for many years as a servant/chauffeur in the home of a very wealthy family. He saw what it meant to live in wealth and he was determined to live that way. His father and brother told him he was crazy. He would never make it to the top in the “white man’s world.” He was almost convinced, but then he met Maria.

Maria was beautiful and well-educated. She seemed to have it all together. When his employer was out of town, he would take Maria to the house and entertain her. As a matter of fact, the first time they made love it was in his employer’s house. In his employer’s king-size bed. Joseph told Maria he was a stockbroker. He took her to all of the private clubs and establishments to which he chauffeured his employer.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.