littered with the best evergreen trees and dotted with blackberry plants.
It brought me home.
Back to the forested mountains of North Carolina, where occasionally there were sightings of black bears that ate from the blackberries there.
Yet, as I walked these paths, the black top that sloped down to a canal...
I stopped to watch the most amazing thing...
Swallows.
These birds amazed me.
All birds tend to amaze me with their joy and sheer delight in their song, but these ones were special. This time it wasn't a song that drew me in. It was the continuous flight.
And as I watched, I began to reflect on my journey. How I would dip low into the valleys, yet joy carried me on. God has given me such strength and joy to endure.
There were times I didn't know quite what was happening and I clung to hope.
Times when I was in and out of the hospital... oftentimes it's the invisible battles that prove the hardest.
(had my "emo" days)
But, celebrated my life and was gifted with my guitar by loving friends.
Spent time at rest by cool streams, and still waters.
And, after a first experience out of the country... seeing extreme poverty firsthand...
I got to go to my father's country, Sierra Leone.
Graduated an amazing school of discipleship.
And completed that with a 2-month outreach to Thailand.
Ended up in the place I had always dreamed of living... Sunny SoCal.
It was beyond my expectations! (the life I was living)
Celebrated birthdays...
Suffered loss...
Marched in victory alongside dear friends...
Went to another country I never dreamed of actually visiting... (England)
Travelled the country with my family and best friend...
Did the things that I enjoyed but, in some ways, feared... (playing soccer with people I barely knew at a new school and sharing songs I wrote in public)...
...made a documentary in Belize...
...met Kim Walker! ...
Now
I am fighting the stigma placed on addicts,
shedding light on issues of mental health,
spreading Christ's love and loving every moment of it.
Reflecting on my past
I see so much my Good, Good, Father has done
how He graciously rewards
and how I am nothing apart from
His lovingkindness,
His goodness,
His love.
Hold on to your story.
Cling to your testimony.
And own it.
For that is how
We shall overcome.
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