Rebellion Road | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Rebellion Road | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jenny Miller
01/14/20
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

I lived in my car for a good bit in my later teen years. Don’t feel sorry for me; it was my own prideful choices that got me there. I idolized my victim mentality. My parents had been split for a few years and I had been staying at my dad’s house, which was a choice made in rebellion and anger. We got in an argument and I pushed him to say he wanted me out. I heard what I wanted to. Later, when people asked why I was living in my car, I used the sob story that my dad kicked me out which usually brought on some form of pity and assistance. It was total manipulation, but I didn’t realize it then. I was in full-fledged rebellion.

For a while, I lived in the Walmart Supercenter’s parking lot. I’d walk around the store until the wee hours of the morning, then hop in the car, turn the heater on for a short period of time, then turn it off to sleep for twenty minutes. I’d wake up shivering and turn the car on again, starting the process all over. That went on for days until security told me I couldn’t stay there longer than a week at a time. So, I moved on to the laundromat down the street for a couple days, then came back to the store again.

My lowest point was washing my hair in a CVS bathroom sink with hand soap. I had to move quickly because I didn’t have any money to buy anything and people kept knocking on the door. It was humiliating. I walked around the store for a few minutes feeling sorry for myself and looking at all the things I couldn’t afford. Even a Little Debbie snack for a dollar I didn’t have enough for.

The next day I went to WinCo and used my last ten cents on Top Ramen and ate it in the car at five in the morning. There wouldn’t be food again for a while unless I could manipulate someone into helping me. There was no way anyone would hire a person who looked as disheveled and dirty as me, so a job was pretty much out of the question.
That was a rough road for me to walk in my rebellion. Truly it’s hard to ‘kick against the goads.’

I remember praying for God to help me out of my situation, knowing full well it was my decision to be there in the first place. My prayers went unanswered for a long while. It follows that Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

What’s amazing, though, is God’s great patience and awesome love. As soon as I really realized my sin and confessed it, asking for forgiveness, He came through in a big way. I was given a place to stay, a great job, a family to help me, and reconciliation with my own family. It was a true Prodigal Son situation which the Lord orchestrated with my repentance. I’m not hungry anymore. Not in the sense that I was when I lived in my car.

“Blessed are those which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6, KJV)

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.