Our Love Divine

Crystal is a woman who never should have made it to age 50. She carries a secret that even her family members do not understand and shunned her to stay away from them. Her daddy died when she was young, and her mother couldn't keep her liquor making Crystal her punching bag and a toilet for men twice her age when mama couldn't give them open legs like clockwork. The only constants in her life were Jesus and Jeremy. One of them was giving her a love so divine that it covered all faults, all wants and all needs. Yet and still, Regina had a way of coming out and messing everything up.

Not this time though, nobody was going to stop Crystal from having her reward. Jeremy was her man and Jesus told her so. Regina would just have to die and stay dead long enough for Crystal to marry him. That's why the wedding dress was so exquisite. She had to look like Cleopatra and Queen Sheba all at once. This story will truly encapsulate anyone who reads it and who is interested in mental health afflictions.

Toya Raylonn Vickers was born in Toledo, raised in Columbus, Ohio and currently lives in Dallas, Texas. She is an African American woman who loves the written word. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from The Ohio State University and matriculated at Howard University to earn a Master's degree in Social Work. In 2003, exactly two months before she was to graduate from Howard with top honors, she was involved in a life-threatening car crash. After a six-month hospitalization she returned to Columbus, Ohio and began the long road to recovery. Unable to walk and obtain the master's degree with her classmates in 2003, she began writing again daily, her lost talent, while in her bed at Howard University Hospital.

During her fight to regain her place in society she was diagnosed with mental health disease. With much strength and courage, she began the road to healing and in 2006 after much prayer and fasting she penned her first novel Dimes, Profiles, and Wives, and was published in 2010 by Xlibris. It was the first book of many to come for this author. She is a published poet and novice song writer. She dares to walk in the newness of life and humbly writes to glorify God. She knows that even though her life has been filled with many obstacles she can still contribute to the world through her gift of writing. Toya Raylonn hopes through this God given talent more people will come to know who God is and believe in His love.


"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" - Philippians 4:13 The first verse in the Holy Bible her late mother Raylonn Cookie Cox-Smith taught her to memorize at age 7.

"Toya Vickers is an excellent example of a writer who started off with just a story to tell, but with her persistent hard work and dedication, transitioned into a talented author." - Joylynn M. Ross writing as BLESSEDselling Author E. N. Joy, - Ms. Vickers' mentor and writing coach.