At the heart of Children of Destiny is the story of Grandma Jubil —
the great-great-great-grandmother of author Karla Taylor — who lived
under the weight of slavery and yet experienced a life-transforming encounter
with God that would change everything.
In that encounter, God reasoned with her, appealing to her compassion for an
innocent newborn baby whose mother had died in childbirth and who now had no
one to care for him. The child looked like the very people responsible for the
suffering of her people — yet he himself was innocent.
Grandma Jubil faced a profound choice: she could allow the pain and injustice
surrounding her to determine her response — or she could align her will with
the will of God.
She chose to align herself with God's will. She opened her heart to love and
care for that motherless child. That extraordinary act of faith, compassion and
obedience would have consequences reaching far beyond that single moment —
touching the very generations that followed.
That baby was Daniel, the son of the slave owner, born on the same day as
Grandma Jubil's own son, John Freeman Walls. When Daniel's mother died during
childbirth, Grandma Jubil raised the two boys together. Through the
unconditional love of God she poured into them both, John and Daniel grew up
bound together as brothers at heart — despite the unimaginable circumstances
into which they had each been born.
This is a story of faith that conquered bitterness. Of love that overcame
injustice. Of a woman who chose God — and changed the destiny of generations.
