My Life (part 1)

My life... has been anything but boring. Embarking on writing it out for the world to see is a little bit scary. I'm sure there will be a few things in here that... lets see... only 4 people know about me. Let's start at the beginning.

Most of my earliest memories involve music and singing. From the time I could talk, I sang. From dusting to what's for supper to singing along with Seasame Street, no topic was safe from being made into a song. I still love to sing, although I'm kinda shy about it. Not shy as in stage fright... but if you catch me singing as I'm washing the dishes or something, I'd smile and probably blush and then clam right up. lol. At times however... I want people to hear me, I just don't want to know that they are listening. Does that make any sense at all?

Back to the story. I was about 3 years old when my parents, who were both raised in non-Christian homes, became Christians. So I was raised in church. I first put my faith in Jesus at only 3 years old. I know that's pretty young, but I still remember it. I remember the presence of God, and what it felt like the very first time I knew that He is real. And... then I sang about it.

Between the ages of 3-6, I was fearless. I told all my friends about Jesus, prayed with several of them, and actually led little Bible study times using my kids worship music tapes.
Then elementary school came. I didn't fit in very well at all. Quite mature for my age, I tended to play alone or walk around with the teachers and keep them company. I became pretty shy, because I learned quickly that kids can be mean. I got picked on for my hair, clothes, faith, intelligence... anything that was different, and I was not a normal kid. I loved to worship God. I hated Sunday school. Mostly because I did not make friends easily with people my own age. All my best friends were at least a year or 2 older than me.

Junior high was torture. Practically. Wow, do I ever have alot of stories from junior high. I was a good student, pretty much. Honor roll in grade 7, almost flunked grade 8 (I'll get to that), honor roll again in grade 9. In grade 8, my emotions were everywhere, all over the map. I think I liked a different guy about every 3 days. Thank God I wasn't aloud to date yet, that could have been a massive disaster. I had a small group of friends, 3 of them. I made the mistake of sharing a secret with one of those friends, who in turn blabbed it all over school. I was mortified. Within 3 days all of my closest friends turned their backs on me, and I was alone. No friends left except the teacher, which is ok in elementary school but really lame in junior high. I can't remember how long that situation continued, but it felt like months. I ended up with a stomach ulcer from stress at 13 years old!

One good thing, however, that came out of that year was the knowledge of how to access the presence of God anytime, anywhere, in any circumstance. He was my Rock, my shelter, my hiding place, my refuge. Difficult times drove me to my knees, where Jesus truly became my closest friend, and He still is to this day. I can not imagine my life without Him, and I can not write about my life without telling of His love.

In grade 9 I was diagnosed with kyphosis, a spinal condition that causes a forward bend in the upper middle part of the back and if left untreated, can cause a person to become hunch-backed. The doctors fitted me with a custom made back brace. Imagine a hard plastic girdle made from a mold of your body that goes around your hips from the top of your leg to the bottom of your rib cage, then stick 1 metal bar coming up the front of your body to your neck, and 2 of those in the back, connected at your neck with a ugly metal neck brace, and an adjustable pad inbetween the 2 bars in the back forcing your back straight. Now wear it 16 hours a day, every day, for a year and a half. Yeah, not fun. My back was in constant pain. The second I got home from school I'd down some pain killers, take off the brace for a few minutes and lay down right on the cement floor in the basement until the pain killers kicked in. I took so many pain killers that I am now practically immune to Robaxecet (sp?). Even now I'd have to take 4 extra strength ones for it to have any effect. There were days I was in so much pain that I took 5 or 6 at a time.

The night before we went to find out if I could get rid of that brace or if I had to wear it for another 6 months, I prayed. Hard. I had my dad pray for me. I so wanted that thing gone. It was. My back had corrected just enough to warrant getting rid of it. If I remember correctly, we had a bon fire and burned that thing as much as we could.