When youth still burned within my veins, My parents sold our city home. From Melbourne’s streets we turned away, Two hundred leagues to fields unknown. A farm of earth, of wind and rain, Where silence learned to speak again. I walked a road I’d never known, Where doubt and destiny aligned. A child once marked as far too wild, Too fast of heart, too sharp of mind. Yet hear me now, O judging world, I crossed the line they swore I’d miss— I stood where fear had barred the gate, And passed the test, my first true wish. He cannot stand, He cannot last, The years he missed Will hold him fast… Though years were lost from two to nine, I rose where none believed I could. I passed the trial of common ground, And proved my broken past still stood. At twenty-two, I heard the call, A higher voice than fear or fate. Two years I gave to faith and truth, To lift the lost, to serve, to wait. I taught of hope, of Christ, of light, Of hidden worth in every soul. And in their searching, I discovered Purpose makes the broken whole. The numbers fought me, cold and hard, But wires and screens obeyed my hands. In library halls by fading light, I learned to rise where knowledge stands. In two-thousand came the proof, A diploma forged in sweat and years. Then love arrived from distant shores, From Lagos skies and burning sun. In twenty-twelve, my wandering heart At last knew rest—my life begun. O listen well, ye broken-hearted, Who fear your life has lost its way. The storm will pass, the night will break, And dawn will claim the longest day. Hold fast— Lift high your head— Ride through the storms with open eyes: Your life will rise. Ride through the storms! Stand unafraid! From darkest night comes brightest day! Hope shall endure! Joy shall return! For every life is blessed in turn!
