Big Dreams

At the age of six, I promised God my life. The whole thing. No reservations. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

Some of you already know what happened next. Life did not feel like an adventure. In fact, life hurt. (If you don't know the story, you can find it here: http://realteenfaith.com/2006/06/28/real-devo-go/#more-48)

Somewhere along the way, this little girl stopped believing in big things. I still believed in a big God, but I didn't believe in big dreams.

Not anymore.

Then something changed.

When I turned 17, I met a journalist. She told me I could write. I didn't believe her, but writing gave me something to do on nights when I couldn't sleep. Nights when the pain was so great I wanted to die.

That journalist introduced me to an author. That author introduced me to an agent. That agent is in the process of introducing my writing to publishers.

This was not my original dream.

If you had told that six-year-old girl that she would be a writer, she would have frowned. She would have told you she was going to live in Romania with the gypsies. She would have told you she was going to do exciting things.

I mean... who wants to sit behind a desk all day?

I hate it when people say they know why God allows difficult things into our lives. I don't know why I spent the better part of 11 years in bed. But I do know there were pretty much 2 things I could do there: sleep, and write.

And I did a lot of sleeping. And a lot of writing poetry. Mostly death poetry.

Who knew one day I'd write humor?

'Cause after all, who wouldn't need a sense of humor to see how crazy it is that this Romanian Gypsy at heart is now working with the wildest bunch of teens there ever was?

Maybe this dream wasn't so far-fetched after all.


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B.J. Hamrick writes for you and for Real Teen Faith.