More From Rolanda T. Pyle

As a Christian woman I had to learn to trust God. Trusting God can be extremely hard, based on what life brings you. My childhood had some sad and questioning times for me. I loved my grandmother and father, but I wanted a mother like everyone else. I became a social worker and eventually became the director of the first Grandparent Resource Center in NYC, providing services to grandparents raising grandchildren. After that I went on to do nationally what I had done locally; I worked for a program that provided grants and services to grandparent caregiver programs across the country. I would visit these programs to evaluate, advise, and train staff to work with the grandparents and other relatives as well as the children. I received numerous acknowledgments and awards for my work with grandparent caregivers, including being named one of the “100 Women Who Shape Our City” by New York’s Daily News and receiving the Sloan Public Service Award and HBO’s Beah Richards Spirit Award.

So the bad things in my life turned out to be good things. The lesson I learned was that as Christians, we must trust that God will work all things out in our life for our good and for God’s purpose, even (and especially) when we can’t see it. Another thing that happened because of my life experiences was that I started expressing myself through writing. While in junior high school, my English teacher told me that I had a creative writing ability, and that stayed with me. Currently, I have authored three books—a book of poetry, a devotional, and a children’s story book. The children’s book is about a little girl who has to go live with her grandmother. I also won a 2023 poetry contest and, as a result, my next poetry book will be published in June.

Rolanda wrote “A Tribute to Grandparents Raising Grandchildren,” which can be found here: https://www.christianwomenliving.com/a-tribute-to-grandparents-raising-grandchildren/.

You can read more from Rolanda and connect with her on social media by visiting her website: https://sites.google.com/nelsonworks.info/roroscommunications/home.