Turning Pain to Sunshine, Grant Passes the Blessings

Cobb County resident Eveleaner Grant has a very real story behind what seems a rosy message in her book "Pass the Blessings: Ready, Set, Go." Grant offers kind words of humility, inspiration and transformation for downtrodden women in the first book of her three volume set, which she currently teaches to the congregation at in historic Marietta. 

Life was tough for Grant, born in the projects of Macon when the South was undergoing its transformation with civil rights and educational equality for blacks. Grant was one of eight children who lived in a small apartment where her mother worked as the sole provider for the family.

“I didn’t see a father in the (projects') households, and I saw lots of young teen girls, some of them friends, who were having babies in high school,” Grant says.

After attending a revival while in the fourth grade, Grant acknowledges she accepted Christ into her life and immediately began to have a different perspective on life. She noticed things about her surroundings that seemed less acceptable, like the abundance of girls, including three of her own sisters, one of which was married, with babies.

Determined not to follow the same path, Grant was selective about who she dated throughout high school and college but admits life in the projects was difficult even without the added responsibilities her sisters bore.

“I remember Christmas was a box of apples and oranges, we were so happy just to have that. There were no toys or that sort of thing,” she says quietly.

Grant preserved beyond her circumstances to attend the University of Georgia for two years before transferring to Georgia College in Milledgeville. She eventually left school to move to Atlanta where she went on the road with a gospel group called 7-Fold, a small company she had participated with since she was 13 years old and which still performs to this day.

The group opened for larger acts such as the Winans while also touring the penal system throughout the South East. Their success was short lived though as group members married off, starting their own families outside of the kinship they shared as group members from their teenage years.

Grant’s life took a strange dark twist at a time she expected to be her happiest. Shortly after marrying her first husband, he became abusive. She says the beating became so severe that she lost affection for him. He turned to drugs and other sexual relations with other men to satisfy his needs. When he contracted an STD, Grant prepared herself to leave until she was found out.

She withdrew from her friends and family, avoiding their advice to seek the aid of doctors, largely because she didn’t have insurance or the money to cover the visit. Grant knew if she exposed her husband her life would be at risk. She saw a physician. The Marietta doctor agreed to see her but quickly realized the disease had reached a critical state; she was rushed to the hospital.

While at the hospital Grant learned she was pregnant with her son but knew she couldn’t return to her abusive home. With the help of her friend she left with the clothes on her back for California where she stayed with her sister few several months.

Upon returning to Marietta, the struggle didn’t lessen. She lost her job, leaving her without work or resources. Grant decided to leave her son with her family in Macon until she could get back on her feet. Though she could have stayed with different family members, which she did for a short period of time, she didn’t want to be an imposition.

“People can be so harsh and speak so negatively of you and your situation when you need help, even family. They called us trash, bastards and said we were worthless, but that gave us (she and her siblings) fuel to prove ourselves, to become something,” Grant smiles through the pain.

For over a year Grant lived on the streets by day and in an abandoned house in Vine City by night. She recalls cleaning up in gas station stalls to go around the city in search of a job—any job.

She finally caught a break after a chance luncheon with a family member whose boss took a professional interest in Grant. Within a short period of time, she gained employment with the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. There she met her second husband, who she’s been married to for 22 years.

“I know it’s a lot to expose, and there is sensitive material I share in the book that not everyone in my family is comfortable with. It was a painful time,” she says, “but I share my story because I want others to know you can be down, abused, mistreated and you can come from places like where I came from, but you can still go places.”

Eveleaner Grant is truly an open book, putting her life on display—the good, bad and ugly—for all to see or, more importantly, to learn from.

She prides herself on her accomplishments with her three children, educating young children through story telling and empowering women through seminars and workshops.

You can learn more about Grant’s work or contact her for bookings at eogrant@hotmail.com, http://letspasstheblessings.com/wp/ and Barnes & Noble.