Let me introduce myself—A Story of Discovery and Internal Revolution

I am a passionate and honest writer. I feel like it's time I told my story. If you start to follow me, I'll begin to share some of my REAL LIFE experiences with you, and this I promise you: It will be raw, real and riveting. My journey began in Pennsylvania, USA— evolving from a humble minister’s daughter, to an educated, curious and world-traveled woman highly eager to continue to explore, deconstruct and re-define all aspects of my being. Deciding to share these stories with you started on a whim, but now has become a purpose...A purpose to understand myself better and share the world through my eyes.

Let's get started. This is one of my earliest memories….

Lauren, a little girl with strawberry blond hair and green eyes was about seven years old. She and her father started walking down the dusty driveway as small pieces of gravel occasionally kicked-up from the crunch of her father's crutches.

The sun was hinting of turning from daylight to dusk as the scorching summer heat started to wane in the sparsely populated countryside town located about two hours outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father was a strong man, with broad shoulders and piercing blue eyes. Lauren looked up towards her father—the minister, and could see by the sense of purpose in his face that he was getting ready for the task at hand. He clutched his bible in his hand as he scanned the approaching house for signs of movement.

The sounds of a large dog barking and growling accompanied by the rattle of a heaving-sounding chain sprung out of nowhere, and Lauren's heart began to flutter as she raced behind the safety of her father’s towering figure. Like a hunter, patient and waiting until the right moment to strike, the minister changed his posture from humble to proud. A raspy, computerized sound, unlike anything Lauren ever heard rang out across the front yard. “Bruce! Come here!” the voice commanded. The black and tan rottweiler dog, still growling warily crept back towards the raspy voice. A thin man, balding and lines sketched on his face telling of age and years of smoking greeted them with a curious stare.

“ I’m Pastor Mitchell, from Beulah Land Baptist Church, and I’ve come to invite you to our new church. This is my daughter Lauren”. The man had a strange contraption he was using to talk with. As he started talking in a computerized type of monotone voice, he had a microphone in his hand that he held up to his throat, which Lauren later learned was a tracheotomy-speaking device.

Lauren’s father seemed unphased by the site, perhaps as he, a disabled American combat veteran had been used to seeing bodies maimed by the horrors of war. He sparked up a conversation with the man, and Lauren began to cautiously look around. She could see peeling paint on the man’s house and abandoned machine parts that were peaking through the tattered back-yard fence.

The screech of a falcon overhead distracted the girl momentarily as she watched its wings, spread wide as it scoured for food. A dry wind picked up, blowing small pieces of dust into her eyes. Lauren looked to her father, and he quietly handed her his handkerchief, soft and smelling of jasmine and cedar chips. No longer scared by her immediate surroundings, Lauren smiled to herself as she watched the birds cheerfully flitter from branch to branch. Lauren was a happy child, with beautiful eyes— loving, trusting and filled with pure innocence. At that moment, she would have never imagined what adventures would lie ahead, and what sorrows she would endure and eventual triumphs she would experience.

As dark approached, Lauren’s father bowed his head in prayer with the man, as he placed his hand on his shoulder. Walking confidently back to the car to head for home, the minister said, “Lauren, this is what God called me to do…soul-win. We need to win souls for Christ. This is our purpose. We’re needed here. Do you understand?” Lauren nodded her head and softly agreed. She wanted to please her father. Lauren was his favorite daughter, and she wanted to keep it that way.

To be continued…..