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With her forehead creased and lips transfixed into a contorted grimace, Nosa looked up at the woman asking her the now-so-familiar question. She was defenseless. Thrust out into the open to be speculated upon. Singled out like prey. Caught like a fish in a net. A sense of foreboding suddenly broke upon her.
"Can I help you, Ma'am?" Nosa asked gently, using her recited secretary voice.
"Are you the girl who lived in the house that got burned? I saw you on TV. I am so sorry that happened to you."
"No, it's okay. Thanks for your concern. Is there something I can help you with?"
"They said it was five hours before they found you under the flames. It must have been dreadful being under all that smoke."
A small laugh erupted from somewhere within. The lady in red was an intruder to her circumstance. And there were many other intruders. People who don't know a thing about how it feels to be engulfed in flames, but yet choose to ask you about it. Boldly defining and labelling you as "the girl who got burned." How many other people will ask her how it felt? How many times would she have to explain that horrible feeling of death and suffocation she never wanted to remember again. She did not want to talk about that day. She wanted to push it far, far, away from the confines of her memories.
"Ma'am, thanks for your concern, but are you here to see somebody?"
"Ah, yes. Mr. Phillips. Is he in the office?"
"Please, have a seat. I will page him at once."
It took a while before the lady in red went to take a seat. She was staring at her face. At the scars from the fire.
When she left, Nosa slowly stretched her bandaged arm toward the phone on her desk. Trying not to wince, she lifted it up to her left ear, where the scorching fire had left a deep scar. She'd been out of the office for two weeks now, but she'd needed to come back or else she would have lost her job. It still hurt so much just to walk. Or bend. Or eat. Or talk. And the headaches were increasing.
But healing was coming, oh she just knew it. And if anyone dared to say much more about what she'd endured in that fire again, she was gonna say to them, "I have a name. I'm not "the girl who got burned.' My name is Nosa."
(fiction)
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The Girl Who Got Burned
The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo
The Young Lady Who Can't Get Married
The Couple Who has no child
The One Who's Out of Status
The Sick Man
Always in Hospitals
The Jobless Man
The One Without a Degree
The, the, the [insert other labels]
Labels, labels, labels!
Are you defining yourself or being defined by others by something negative today? STOP now. Stop defining yourself by that condition. You are so much bigger than whatever is causing you to walk with your head turned downwards. Be confident in your esteem because the One who formed you in your mother's womb made you beautiful & wonderful.
Have you heard the story of the woman who was defined by a medical mystery in her time called the "issue of blood?" She'd been bleeding for twelve long years and her neighbours, family members, and friends all knew what was happening to her...so they defined her as "the woman with the issue of blood."
However, one day she saw Jesus walking down the street with crowds of people following Him, and she must have said to herself, "I'm not going to continue being defined this way. I'm going to touch the hem of His garment and be whole once again." She did. And she got healed instantly.
Now, you might interject by saying "My story isn't as simple as hers," but what story is simple? I want you to know that there was nothing simple about bleeding constantly for thirteen years. Your case might be different, yes, but not unsolvable. Your own healing might come in a different way but the main thing you need to know is that whatever has been defining you for this long WILL end when you touch the hem of His garment.
I listened to such an amazing speech by T.D. Jakes (relating to this topic), and it blessed me so much that I'll share it with you ---> WATCH HIM HERE speaking @ Elevation Church. I hope you watch and enjoy it just as much as I did. But more than that, I hope you rid yourself of every definition circumstances have tried to give you. The best is yet to come for you. Just you touch the hem of His garment and see what happens. Everything good will come. Be patient. Let go and let God take over.
Dear Readers. May you never live your life by a definition based on a mere myopic condition that is smaller than God. He is bigger than every challenge that threatens to come your way.
