Many years ago, there was a young lady who lived in my neighborhood. She had a natural difficulty with speech; she was bump, so to speak. She had quite a temper for her timid stature, adorable face and charming beauty. That's not too unexplainable, at least for someone like myself who was part of a large group of kids who constantly teased her for her disability. It isn't one of my best memories growing up and since I began to know better, I tried to make amends. Unfortunately for me, I haven't found myself privileged enough to seek for her forgiveness all these years. Her parents had to relocate due to how the children including myself tormented her. She always run to her parents crying. That was a very horrible situation for such an innocent soul. I had carried this guilt and have consistently tried my best to reach out to her, if not to apologize but to at least know she turned out well, after all the hell we gave her during her childhood.
God being so good, the best thing happened today. I saw the once so called sad and angry little 'dump' girl today. She was walking along a major street with a man a later came to know as her husband and 2 beautiful children. And that's not all, she is quite a very successful trader and can actually speak now. YES, she can speak. According to her husband who saw a bit of her childhood before traveling to the US; her speech impediment faded out a few years after she relocated with her parents to the neighborhood where he stayed for a while. Apparently, she met other group of stubborn kids who did worse to her. The pain she felt fueled her courage and her all time weakness became her strength over time. Until one day, she woke up and her first ever words were that of her lovely husband's name.
If your guess is that I approached her, asked for forgiveness and that's how come I knew all this, then you're probably right. And then what she said conclusively and for that matter, my reason for sharing this story with you is this; she said;
"On the day I started to speak, I realized that as long as you're not dead, God hasn't finished creating you yet. If he was done with you, then you will probably be dead. We wake up everyday not knowing what's going to happen. But that is both a gift and a sign. It is a gift of hope and a sign of endless possibilities. The beginning of your story might be a bad one, but with God's gift of hope and signs of endless possibilities, you have an opportunity to change how your story will end. Everyday is an opportunity for a better tomorrow."
This suncked into my subconscious memory and I definitely will read it so many times from today just to make sure of it. She later thanked me for approaching her after all these years. We exchanged contacts and she left. I never knew her real name until today. What a lovely name she had; HAFSA, meaning the Female Lion Cub. No wonder she became so strong and ambitious. We had a funny name for her back in the days, and I remember that very well. But today, whatever name we gave to her, she is respectful referred to as Hajia Hafsa on my contact list.
Why am I sharing this story to you? It's because just like you and I, so many people might be going through the beginning stage of their stories. The bad beginnings so to speak. It is however important that regardless of how the story started and how it is going, we never lose the divine will to make changes in our future and create a better ending for ourselves.
