From Timid to Terror
After getting a cast on my arm for a broken wrist, I used it as a weapon against bullies. That helped me learn to stand up for myself.
Comfort is Hard to Come By
The morning sunlight streamed through the crack at the side of the curtain, and I blinked my eyes awake. As I sat up in bed, pain shot through my right arm. Even wrapped in a cloth bandage, my right arm throbbed from when I fell off the monkey bars the day before, on the playground at the boarding school for missionary kids in Nigeria. I scooted to the edge of my lower bunk in the dormitory and slid my feet…
Monkey Business on the Monkey Bars
At boarding school I got hurt while playing on the monkey bars when a friend gave me some advice, meaning to help, but it backfired on me.
The Ordinary Others and Your Extraordinary Life
For many years I dreamed of doing extraordinary work for the Lord, but felt relegated to living an ordinary life. Then I found my tribe.
A Surprise Experience of Forgiveness
Sitting in a women’s Bible study, I looked around the circle at the smiling faces. Am I the only one who has trouble with forgiveness? I wondered. As a six-year-old, my heart shattered when I was sent to boarding school for several years. When I returned home for vacation, I couldn’t express to my parents the homesickness, rejection, and abandonment I experienced. I felt hurt and angry. The many instances of abuse I saw from people who were supposed to…
Don’t Cry, Little Debbie
O Lord, you know everything about me. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away…and when I rest at home. You place your hand of blessing on my head. (Excerpts from Psalm 139:1-5 NLT) “Welcome back to Kent Academy for second grade,” the Auntie said with a smile. I carefully stepped out of the blue VW van parked on the playground in front of the girls’ dorm in Miango, Nigeria. “Follow me, Debbie, and I’ll show you to your…
Going Home Tomorrow
At the end of my first year at boarding school I was so excited to go home. I’d made a few friends and learned the ropes but hoped I wouldn’t ever return.
Pressure to Succeed
In first grade at boarding school I decided to cheat on a test and hoped I would get sent home. I missed my little brothers and new baby sister.
The Scary Bunk Bed
On my first night in the dormitory at Kent Academy, the auntie on duty pointed toward the tall bunk bed against the right-hand wall of Room 15. “You’re in the top bunk,” she said. In my unfamiliar bedroom at the end of the first-grade hall, my stomach tightened, and my six-year-old voice squeaked like a mouse. “Do I have to sleep way up there? But how do I get up so high?” I’ve never slept so high off the ground….
Trouble During Rest Hour
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18 (NIV) The tall, harried woman loomed in our doorway, hands on her hips. “Debbie! What on earth are you doing?” Stretched out on my bed in the dormitory for missionaries’ children in Nigeria, my body stiffened. I knew I was in trouble. Earlier in the…