With Eagle’s Wings

Fear is not foreign to this life. We experience it when we are seconds away from a car accident, face a potentially life-threatening illness, or get a pink slip. The fear I felt many years ago had nothing to do with any of these events.

Quite to the contrary, I was about to embark on an adventure I had been looking forward to since I was nine years old. It scared me half to death.

That same year, I watched video clips of Susan Boyle and witnessed her metamorphic journey as an unknown forty-seven-year-old Scottish singer who became an overnight sensation. Total strangers around the world were pulling for her to win the Britain’s Got Talent contest. Two years prior, Paul Potts experienced the same phenomenon with his brilliant performance on the same show. Yet, just days before their auditions, they were just two ordinary people with a dormant talent that exploded at the right moment in each of their lives. The fear I was experiencing as I drew nearer to the big day took me by surprise.

Nerves of steel were an essential part of my daily armor after raising six children practically on my own, combined with over twenty years of teaching. So what generated this unexpected reaction in the pit of my stomach? After many years of setbacks and detours, I was about to try my wings as a full-time writer. With my home paid for and no debts to cloud the horizon, I announced my resignation from my position as teacher and principal.

The unexpected fear as I stepped outside that zone of security into the unknown and envisioned myself teetering at the edge of a high mountain made my pulse race and my throat go dry. Would I fall or fly? While I have no illusions that I will storm the world as Susan Boyle or Paul Potts did, I do believe my talent is specifically geared toward the person God created me to be. As the moment of transition drew nearer, I slowly began to believe He was the strength that would empower me to mount up with wings like eagles.

Knowing He is there continues to transform fear into anticipation. Though the butterflies never totally vanished, they were no longer quite as frantic.

God wants each of us to trust that where He leads, we can safely follow and leave the outcome to Him. So spread your wings, and see where He will take you.

Sharon (Clark) Mills