Wings On My Back

Join me in the Five Minute Friday Challenge hosted by Lisa-Jo Baker. Participants write for 5 minutes with no editing, no over thinking, and no backtracking. This week’s word is: Afraid.

 

(Go)

I didn't grow up like the other children. I didn't wear the designer brand clothes. Heck, I was lucky to have new clothes that weren't my sisters’ hand-me-downs. I didn't watch all the popular television shows. For a while there we didn't even have a TV. From ages three through eight I didn't live in suburbia. Instead I lived in a very padded little habitat. I attended a Christian school during the week, went to Church on Sundays and lived on a Bible College and Missionary Training campus. My only outings into the ‘real’ world involved a tight grip on my mother’s hand at the supermarket.  In truth, my naïve childish mind was terrified of the public school just up the road.

So when Dad was diagnosed with leukaemia and we were sent ‘home’ to recoup it was like entering another world. Culture shock would be a very appropriate term here.

Although I am naturally an introvert, I often wonder if I’m still getting over it. Still learning how to fit in. For years I doubted my worth and was afraid to be myself lest it offend someone and they should think I was foolish.

But God did a wonderful thing. He moved my new little family one thousand kilometres away to a country town where nobody knew my past. Nobody had any preconceived notions of who I was. He placed my feet among a group of Godly women who loved me for me. They pointed out the wings on my back and then encouraged me to fly.

I am eternally grateful for those years. Though I may still be nervous (and I suspect I always will be) in new situations or with folk I do not know so well - I know that God made me special. I have no need to fear who I am.

(Stop)

Now, your turn…