Why Are You Afraid?

 

Why are you afraid?

I carry no contagion.

I do not bite or scratch.

I have no wounds in body.

My mind is quite intact.

I am alive.

By God's grace and healing.

You would know if only you spoke.

I will tell you about my God.

I will tell you about His yoke.

I am able.

To hear God's Word.

To worship Him–And pray.

To tell the old, old story.

That brought me to this day.

I sit in a wheelchair.

Do you see it?

Is it all you see?

I have a voice. Will you listen?

I am a person. Will you see me?

I step out in faith to tell you:

My heart cries every time you pass me by.

I long to share my glee.

You stare. You assume.

You don't see.   Me.

I am a person with a disability.

I am not a disability.

© 2009 Berta Dickerson

Chaos

When I left my home at seventeen, I was alone. I experienced fear in my ability to function in daily life. I had been a member of a family, a group of people focused only on day-to-day survival. 


Our dynamics changed frequently but we were together wherever we were.

Six members then five as our family fractured.

Ten with a stepparent and four more children.

Nine as one graduated and moved out.

Eleven as the one returns with a baby.

We moved often.

An old house in town until it burned.

A new trailer for five rose from the ashes.

A larger trailer for ten in the country.

An old farmhouse not far down the road.

The garage of an old gas station.

With all its smells.

A milk cow and calf indoors.

With their more pungent odors.

A school bus converted to living quarters.

Life in bottoms along a creek.

Fishing and hunting for food to eat.

Living off the land.

A farmhouse across the creek.

Dry and dusty manure shoveled out.

The floor bleached.

We moved in.

We were together wherever we were.

Yet I knew it was time for me to go.

Alone and vulnerable.

Harm came my way.

Emotions stinted in time.

Hardhearted to survive.

Chaos.

Bought by the blood of Jesus.

Continuous feeding on God’s Word.

Broke the yoke of my fear.

And set my feet on solid ground.

My family is now much larger and filled with love for me. God is my Father and my brothers and sisters in Christ are innumerable. Leaning on Jesus, I have peace and joy beyond understanding.

“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:38, 39 NKJV).

In Christ,

Berta

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He Is the One!

The wrappings are gone.

The boxes played with.

The toys are scattered.

The children content.

I sit in my chair.

What did it mean?

Is that all there is?

Now that it’s clean.

Something is missing.

My heart – it aches.

What is wrong with me?

Is it all fake?

The carols I sang.

Was it by rote?

The Father above.

Did He hear each note?

The Christ child - He came.

Did I forget?

To honor His birth.

To worship His breath.

I sit in quiet.

I ponder His birth.

Why did He come?

To this sin-filled earth.

The love of His Father.

Bid Him to come.

To save my soul.

He is the One!

In Christ,

Berta

If this poem blessed you would you consider sharing it with your friends? Thank you, Berta