Where My Shoes Have Taken Me.

My shoes were scuffed before I knew the word for pain
Kindergarten feet, heavy with shame
Too round, too slow, too strange to play
Mocked for what I couldn’t change each day

Primary school echoed with names not mine
But cruel nicknames stitched like seams in time
I learned to walk with my head held low
And carry the weight only children know

The neighbor smiled and said hop in the car
But bitterness brewed like a hidden scar
Me and my brother just wanting to roam
Tried to find the brave way home alone

That bridge was new and terribly tall
We stood frozen, two shadows small
Then a stranger’s kindness broke our fear
But kindness ended when our folks drew near

The beating came like thunderclaps
Punishment wrapped in parental straps
My shoes curled inward, tried to hide
But still they marched, stride after stride

Boarding school halls and secondary screams
Bullies with teeth and broken dreams
Some now wear smiles and wave hello
But bridges burned don’t regrow

Was I born with combat soles
Assigned to walk where justice rolls
To feel the sting and make it right
To wear these shoes and still stand upright

More bullies came with subtler sneers
Wore adult masks but fed on fears
Still my shoes bore silent cries
Threadbare prayers beneath stormy skies

But one day grace bent low
And Jesus found the shoes below
Mud-soaked, blood-worn, tear-stained, torn

perfect still in hands nail-worn

Now I walk in His shoes, not mine
Sandaled in love, eternal design
He wrote my path before the dirt
Before the cradle, before the hurt

Now every step is holy ground
Mercy walks where I am found
No longer lost, no longer bruised
His love my armor, my feet now used

For healing, not for hidden fight
For walking in His perfect light
From shame to glory, pain to peace
His shoes will take me where battles cease

And I will go where He ordains
Through fire, joy, through holy rains
My shoes once torn, now walk anew
In Jesus’ steps, in paths made true