I have a pair of a dragon shoes. A sixth-grader from Connecticut left them in her cabin, when I worked for NC. I decided to conveniently forget to tell her when we went to lunch after cleaning up the room where she'd lived for a week. They are my favorite shoes. They're a size seven and a half or so and I wear a six, but I love them. Khaki with no shoestrings and dragons embroidered on the sides. I've written a poem about them. I where them daily, without socks. Even in the snow this winter. I love these shoes. They have an interesting story, they remind me of the "time of my life" I had working in New England. And of taking that first big leap into independence.
There is a girl I met back in November. She is beautiful and brave. She is working to make positive decisions. She is changing her life for the better. She is heading out on a new adventure. She is walking out of her comfort zone and back into the world. I get to see her every other Thursday. It is a blessing to us both, I think. Definitely, for me. This Thursday may have been the last time I will ever get to see her. During our last meeting she told me how much she liked my shoes. Then as we were joking around she said, Can I steal them? I told her it was fine as long as she didn't kick me or anything to get them. Like if she just said, Give me your shoes, I'm stealing them. That'd be okay.
This Thursday I was looking at the shoes of the other girls around me. Velcro straps in white or black. Uniform. I couldn't quit looking. God was speaking to me. I wanted a pair. I didn't know if it would be weird, but I wanted to ask the lady over the program if I could have some, even if I had to pay for them. I know it would seem strange, but I just wanted to be able to look down at them every day. To look down and remember to pray for my friends there. To look down and remind myself daily what they were facing. To look down at these shoes, so that I could be with them in some way even while I wasn't there.
Later, I was sitting next to my friend that will be leaving soon. I had forgotten the letter I promised her and encouraged her to write the P.O. Box. I asked her what size shoe she wore. And quickly while no one was looking I asked her to try on my dragon shoes. They fit her perfectly.
When she writes the P.O. Box I will send them to her in her new life. I hope she will be able to look down at them and know that something that was very special to me is now hers. I hope she will be able to look down at them and know I am praying for her. I hope she looks down and remembers where I was and knows that she can walk in the Freedom I am walking in now.
I wear my dragon shoes every day. Really soon, I will mail them to a friend so that she can walk in them. They aren't new. I didn't even pay for them. And I'm pretty sure the 6th grader from CT will never realize how her shoes, that she never even called the camp to find, are impacting someone's life who really needs them. Life-changing shoes.
When my friend walks out of the doors of where she is and into Freedom, she will be doing so on the day that marks my Freedom. 6 years. I pray much healing and a life free of bondage for her. She deserves it more than she knows. Very soon I hope she can know how very special she is and walk in the Truth and Identity given to her by a God that loves her so much.
Every day I put on scruffy shoes with dragons on the side, hopefully soon I'll be trading them for black shoes with velcro straps. Such divine timing, such Grace in Him speaking and in a willingness to listen. When is the last time you tried on someone else's shoes? Could it change your life?
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