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Jacqueline Rainey


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Topics of conversation:

  • Overcoming traumatic events in life
  • Depression and post trauma
  • Faith and Spirituality
  • Life after addiction/substance abuse
Jacqueline Rainey of Arlington, Massachusetts, says, “I believe that I have been given a calling to speak to and inspire women.” Although she lives in Massachusetts her place of birth is Georgia. She hit the foster system at the age of thirteen with her first foster home being the home of a Pastor and his wife. There were other homes that followed. One of them included the home of a woman who chose to have all the children who entered her home baptized and so she was. Toward the end of Jacqueline's run as a ward of the State of Massachusetts there was Helen Green, who became the mother she always wanted, but she passed many years ago from cancer. After a brief stint in the Army, Jacqueline made her rounds at a number of the Massachusetts Colleges and Universities while struggling with Psych issues which also attributed to her substance abuse, and later addiction. She was bruised, but she is no longer a broken woman. The memories of child abuse, domestic violence, addiction, and sexual assault are heavy burdens for anyone to bear, but she says "Here I stand in God's hand. Even though my journey had not been one of comfort the Lord told me that I should now enjoy the journey."

Through Whose Eyes: Rise Child of God

Jacqueline Rainey
Strategic Book Publishing (2011)
ISBN 9781612048550
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (8/11)

Read the review on ReaderViews.com


Synopsis: The short-stories in Through Whose Eyes: Rise, Child of God are meant to provoke the reader to think about the journey each character takes. The woman in “Turning Corners” finds herself in jail once again and begins to have revelations about the life she’s been leading. She comes to realize that life as a streetwalker has been holding her back and it keeps her running away from the call of God.

The spiritual character in the story “Clean” is already a woman of God, but her faith is tested and shaken when she is raped. Though she is surrounded by family and loved ones, she chooses to keep it a secret. The woman in “Waiting for God” remembers her journey through the foster system as she seeks a place of safety and searches for God on a church’s stairs.

In the story “My Name Is,” the characters become pretenders, hiding their true emotions behind game faces. They seem unaware that God sees all and loves all. The characters of “Touched” are just that: a spiritual mother who begins losing her faith, even while watching God work through her young daughter to restore spiritual order to their small Southern town. God has always chosen the unexpected!

The story “I Use to Be” mirrors closely the author’s life while struggling with addiction, which strips us of our self-respect, our families and our faith. “These stories are reflections of my personal struggles and my victories.”