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Transcript
My name is Angela Dee Stribling. I was born and raised in the Hill District, April 22nd, 1968, and I’m currently in Swissvale, Pennsylvania. Our family initially started down on a place called Kearney Way. I wasn’t born yet, but the police station that you see on Rose Street, that was where our initial house was when I was a kid, and eventually my dad bought a house up on Mahon St. on Wylie Ave. where I was born and my high school years was where I was at that house. My childhood was fun. I’m the youngest of six, and my dad worked in the steel mill for US Steel. My mom was a homemaker. I spent my days running around with my siblings, mostly my brother who was a couple years older than me, Gary. We used to just have fun in the house. I was kinda sheltered a little bit, so I didn’t get to go out like to different summer programs, but my mom and dad made sure I had lots of love and many opportunities. I went to Miller School initially, and then from Miller School I went to Vance School, so I had a lot of friends and just was always pretty smart in school and just knew that I wanted to do something purposeful with my life. When I lost my mother in 1985, you know, needing love and from her loss, you know what I mean, that’s when I got pregnant with my oldest son. But again, you still take those struggles as motivation, and you know that you still have something in you. So once I had my second child, I knew I couldn’t just want to be a mom, although that’s significant life work. But you know, you have more in life to offer, so that’s why I decided to go back to school. I started going to little business schools in town. Then I started working for Dollar Bank, and then from there that’s I decided to go back to school once my kids got older because my mom, when she died, she had promised my dad to make sure that I went to college. So I always have that in the back of my mind. And once my kids got older, that’s when I went back to Carlow to get my undergrad degree, and while I was there, I decided to get my graduate as well. And that’s why after my dad and my brother died in 2011, that took me through some struggles with grief and depression, but God is a healer. And when I came through that, that’s when I wrote my book, and it’s called “Embracing Calvary: From Pain to Purpose.” And it’s still out there on Amazon, and from that experience, though, it motivated me to want to do more for my life. I left Pittsburgh after my dad and my brother died because it was so traumatic to me, and I moved to Charlotte, NC. And, you know, wherever you go, God is with you, but you take you wherever you go, and once I went through those tribulations of that depression, when I came back, I knew there was a book in me. It was just something that was weighing me down. And once I started to see God to see what it was, and I started writing with a friend of mine and we finally completed the book. It probably took us about six months. We would meet and then he would tape the sessions. I would just regurgitate my experiences, and then after it was completed, and he gave me the manuscript, God was like, “This isn’t it.” So I had to go back myself and rewrite and tell the full story that took me probably another three months, and I already had my publisher already lined up, so once I finally finished it, I just handed it over and we went to work. It was definitely a release because I had all that pain bottled up inside of me. It was therapeutic, and I needed to get that out, but I also needed to get that story out for people who God had lined up to hear that story. You know what I mean? Because nothing that you go through, it isn’t just for you, it’s for your testimony to let people know how good he is in your life. I tell my grandson and I told my son, “Whatever your heart’s desire is, don’t let anybody disturb that. Don’t let nobody convince you that what is in your heart cannot come to fruition because it can.” When I tell them every day, I just told my grandson the other day, “Go be great.” When I say go be great… We all have the power to be significant and contributions and members of society. You don’t have to just think small. You gotta dream big. You’re going to have struggles, you’re going to have things that take you out of your path and your journey, but sometimes failing is just as significant as being successful, because when you fail, those failures truly direct you to the next level and to where you’re really supposed to go. So don’t ever think that the end is the end, because I’ve gone through a lot in my life, and God still had a plan and a cover for me, and I’m on the path of where he has, and you can’t show anybody something. That’s why my kids are following right in line with that, because they’ve seen what I’ve endured. But I’ve seen to be the ability to overcome and definitely, definitely if you’re not in a faith, keep God first, because he’s the only one that can truly direct your path and get you where you want to go, because Satan is kind of… He’ll try to stop it. But if you definitely keep your faith in God, he’ll get you where you need to be.