Talented gospel singer Acacia Islands believes that nothing less than divine intervention is why she is still alive today after narrowly avoiding death in a horrific three-vehicle pile up over 11 years ago.
On that fateful day in June 2012, she had been on her way home when she took a seat in a taxi after completing her shift at a hotel on the North Coast. However, the driver soon informed her that she couldn’t travel with him that particular day.
“I got out of the car before it left for the journey.I got in the car and Merciless – may he rest in peace – the driver said no Singer. I am not going your way tonight. He had left from Mobay, and that night, he said it was a straight trip to Ochey, no detour to Trelawny. I just missed death, five people in all died,” she said.
She didn’t know the gory details of what had transpired until several hours later.
“My aunt called me in the morning early to say she had heard about the accident and told her I was OK. A musician from the band also called me, he had seen me step into the taxi and then he had seen the accident…all those people lying down in the road, he had thought I was in that taxi but God had a different plan for me,” she said.
In 2016, she became a Christian. She felt that her transformation towards Christ was a gradual, deliberate design.
Now, she is promoting her latest single, ‘Agape Love’, produced by Grammy-nominated producer Kemar ‘Flava’ McGregor.
“This ‘Agape Love’ song came to me at 4:30 am in the morning. When I woke up in prayer this song came to me like a symphony,” she said.
“Agape Love is the love between God and man, the love that God has for us, the love He gave us when He sent His only son to die for our sins…that’s an eternal love. It’s a love story.”
She is putting the finishing touches on an EP chock full of original songs. Her vocal range is anchored by the countless hours she spent on the cabaret circuit singing international standards, mento, pop and reggae hits from icons like Phyllis Dillon, Cynthia Schloss, Marcia Griffiths and others.
“The EP is all original songs, but I might throw something in there. When I started singing, I could do five octaves effortlessly, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, I never realized what I could do until later. I could do alto, tenor, bass, soprano, the 1,3,5, that came naturally, ” Acacia said.
These days, she has replaced her secular days with a rich, fulfilling Christian life.
“I have surrendered my life to Jesus. This is my testimony. His Grace surrounds me. He is at the center of my life. He has shown me that nothing is impossible once God is in it. Jesus saved my life,” she said.
Indeed.
