By Sara Shelton If someone had told teenaged Jackie Hill Perry where she’d be today, she probably wouldn’t have believed it. A wife, mother, speaker, poet, and rapper, she recently added author to her list with the release of her first book, Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was and Who God Has Always Been . Perry’s journey of faith isn’t your typical teenage coming-of-age story. Instead, hers is one that requires courage and conviction to speak and share. “I wanted to invite people into my world and help them have empathy for something they may not understand,” Perry explains. “I want to allow them to walk in my shoes.” A QUIET STRUGGLE To fully take that walk in Perry’s shoes, you have to go all the way back to her childhood in St. Louis, Missouri. Raised without the consistent presence of a male figure in her home, Perry spent her formative years in the care of her single, working mother. Weekends were often spent with her aunt, and that’s where Pe...
