Reflecting

Well, this is a start of something new, I've never blogged before and it has never crossed my mind to do so. Today however has been by far an interesting day. I made it through nearly all my classes it seemed without having to give my testimony (odd for me, since all of my classes are ministry related and before it was a common practice). Then came my final class, Communicating with Children, and I was asked, so I gave it. My testimony is not a big deal, there's never been a time I didn't know Jesus that I can remember, but there was plenty a time when I was told to abandon my belief in Him. I was home-schooled most of my life, and barely attended public school, the last 2 and 1/2 years of high school was part of that time. Being a new kid there I was mostly shunned, when others found out I was a Christian, that's when the trouble started. "Jesus is just an adult's imaginary friend" "He's never done anything for my life" "What do you mean you want to wait for marriage to have sex?" My beliefs and values were forcefully and rapidly attacked, my "religion" as others put it, was simply something I was hiding behind. They were determined to take the "good little Christian girl" and turn her into one of them.

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;         5   Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,         10   And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.         15   I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.         20

This poem, describes my story in a culture where God is no longer valued, where it's ok to do what
I now deem morally wrong. I myself took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference. I am now thankfully in a place where I have support for my faith, no one attempting to corrupt me. Instead others are helping me down my path, and for that, I am thankful. Sometimes it's painful for my to reflect back on those days, but today, I see the strength I had, and I came out so much stronger.