Confession Booth: Open Letter to Gabrielle Douglas

September 5, 2012 • By Ana Valeska

Dear Gabby,

Baby girl, congratulations! You've leaped into superstardom with grace and poise. Your journey, though, has not been without its trials.

I watched an Essence.com clip describing the sacrifices your family-primarily your proud mama-had to make to send you ALONE to Iowa to train under legendary Olympic coach, Liang Chow. Your mother must have sensed your purpose when she saw fit to send you 3,000 hundred miles from Virginia Beach to West Des Moines, Iowa. How beautiful it was to watch a Youtube clip of you testifying about Almighty God at your church with your biological and host families surrounding you and praying for you before you left for the 2012 Olympics.

Gabby, glean from the words of Bishop T.D. Jakes:

People are being trained today to think so small. Those who control the media and airways are feeding us a steady diet, perpetual diet of little thinking where we major on things that are not relevant to the destiny to our people or our civilization. Little thinking may be entertaining, but it's not revolutionary.

Sister girl, while your haters are commenting on your hair, you are making media rounds with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Honey child, while "keyboard-courage" folk--you know, those who spew hate and ignorance only because their PC's hide them. You know, the Twitter Tyrants, the Facebook Fowls, --analyze your slick-back 'do, you are enjoying lunch with Oprah.

Baby doll, amidst the silly banter about your appearance, just remember that you now have enough endorsements and wealth to buy more hair salons than the law should allow.

So, Gabby, don't stumble; do what you do best-tumble.

Leap into

Strut across

Cartwheel

And whatever you do, wear that contagious smile of you. Don't let them see you sweat.

In Christ,

Ana Valeska is a not-so-naughty librarian, college instructor, book editor and--yeah,baby--NEWD columnist. Her forthcoming work, Tu Eres (You Are), is a devotional based on modern-day worship psalms. Ana Valeska longs to help redeem urban, young adult culture for the Lord Jesus. Her daughter, Selena, and cat, Puffles, have her wrapped around their little fingers.

Visitor Comments (1)

Go head Gabby!!

Posted By LINGOSO on September 11, 2012

Gabby Douglas is a true example of someone who is humble, kind, and worth having every good thing that she has coming and then some. Her faith in God, her stance on who she is and knowing that God is everything and has brought her this far makes me proud to know that there are some people who actually still stand for Christ. People love to comment on her life in a negative way but I love how she has turned the other cheek and she is still standing. She is an Olympian, and a two time gold medalist winner, she has proved herself time and time again and she shouldn’t be ridiculed on her hair but the media can never give the good without the bad. The sacrifices that her mother has made to be away from her special daughter for so long has helped her, along with her praying family members and Gabby's consistency has brought her this far and I know she has a bright future ahead of her. At the end of the day she has made God, her parents and her supporters very proud and I pray she continues on her journey and never loses her faith along the way.