The Story Begins - part 1

Well here we go, this is how the story begins...back in a small country church where some interesting situations took place and life as I knew it changed forever. I was young and naive and believed that all who called themselves Christians and showed up to perch on a pew each Sunday, were good honest people that you could trust, especially those who were specifically kind to you, even those you called friend and boy was I wrong. I learned that I could not put my trust in any man, but God alone...and I learned it in an abrupt manner with a toxic turn of events, I had everything whisked out from under me, I was spun around like an old tin top, and I landed in what seemed to be a very bad dream. It took a lot to get over it...at least I thought I was over it.

A number of years passed by and as any faith following girl will tell you, Jesus came to heal the sick right, and who wouldn't be classed as sick after spinning around in that situation. I am not an out there charasmatic Christian as such, more a quiet deep thinker who spent time leaning on my faith in Jesus and talking with God on an intimate level and receiving what I thought was healing from that moment in my past. I had forgiven those who hurt me and moved on. I had a new life, I was now married and had two amazing boys that I was raising with my husband and there was more than enough to occupy me without slipping back into the past and dwelling on any of that, I'd gone through.

Then a day came back in 2012, when the Holy Spirit moved, and God said, now is the time and He led me up the hill to that old church and I sat on a crossroad and I learned for the first time, that I still needed healing. What I thought I already had was not enough, it only covered the surface of this wound, like a bandage to stop the ooze of proof of what I'd been through. It had become so second place that I had put it out of my mind, but I had a story to tell and God wanted me to tell it. Not just for myself but for others so that they too could find their healing. I couldn't tell the story, because the story was about me even though I didn't know that when I first started writing. God wanted me to be honest and He wanted me to tell the end of the story the way He intended it to be. I was happy to listen for His prompting in any case, but there was just one problem...I wasn't living the end of the story.

The story, to be written in children's picture book format, was about an elephant who was so intimidated, that she was named Incredible Intimidation. She would hide away from all those who made her feel intimidated, unworthy and unloved. She wanders into a garden where she meets a new friend, one who accepts her for who she is and understands her, prays for her and supports her so that she draws on her faith once more and finally receives the healing she needs to be set free from everything that others have placed upon her...and she simply becomes incredible. What a lovely story concept, but when it became apparent that I was the elephant, it also became apparent that I wasn't incredible...at least not in my eyes even though I was in the eyes of God.