Today’s No Fear Just Faith piece is by my friend Neo, we became friends when I was the reporter charged with showing her (the intern) around. I think I annoyed her at first and she found me too chipper, I grew on her (I always do hahahaha) and now even though she moved away we make a point of keeping in touch… She has a very interesting way of looking at life, jump in with both feet, sort of thing, here is her story…
I have always been fascinated with words. Whether it was writing those (now) cringe envoking love poems in high school, reading until the early hours of the morning or listening to how and the way that people speak. So it is quite befitting that I was “saved” by words that I overheard (hey, I’m a journalist, I overhear everything) in a conversation between two of my ex colleagues at the coffee making station.
What I heard wasn’t mind blowing or the next best selling self-help book idea but its brilliance is in its simplicity.
The conversation went like this: “You should really try some low fat milk…it’s healthier to drink”. And my colleague responded: “Life is far too short for low fat milk my dear”. That conversation sparked an idea in my brain that has become the basis of how I choose to live my life. Let me explain. I live what I call the “Full cream milk, full cream cheese and the skin on the chicken please” life. This may sound like a disaster for my health but in actual fact, it has nothing to do with food.
You see, in the short 27 years of life that I have lived, I have survived countless sexual assaults and attempted rapes at the hands of men and boys who I knew and some of whom were trusted friends and relatives. I’ve also survived a few suicide attempts when I was a kid of hardly 13 years old. (No don’t “aww” yet, that’s not the best part of the story). But this is the best life – I think – God could have ever given me. Too much harder and I would not have survived and too much easier, and I would not have had the determination to make something of myself. I digress, however.
The Full Cream Life is mainly based on realising that fear as we know it, is nothing but a figment of the thoughts we have…it is not physically real (no really, think about it) and quite frankly, I refuse to be scared of something that does not pose a physical danger to me. Honestly, the feeling of fear annoys me because it cripples your mind from making sound rational decisions and prevents you from taking opportunities presented to you by God.
The Full Cream Life is fuelled by faith. Not mountains of faith but just enough…the size of a mustard seed even (see what I did there? Hehe). I have the greatest faith that God’s plan for my life – as messed up a start as it had – is the mirror of perfection. It truly is. When one realises that God will never see you as a failure or without use, there is NOTHING that can stop you from achieving your dreams.
I would love to say that despite everything that happened to me, I went on to become some big shot but no. My story is not a unique one. In fact, if you drive down to your local township right now, pick out a young girl and ask her to tell you her story, you’ll probably hear the same thing. I grew up in a four room house with about 11 other people. No, reread that. Not a four bedroom house, a four room house. It was cramped, there was no privacy, there was no time for one on one time with my breadwinner mommy and it was tough. But at the age 27, I can proudly say that I have had to reset my dreams because I have already achieved the old ones I had by having faith in my God given Full Cream Life.
Now, dear reader, what would you do if you had no fear?
