Broken Series Chloe Howard

hi I'm Chloe Howard I'm a sophomore at Los Gatos High School..
This last year has been crazy and exciting and intense and frightening and overwhelming and depressing... I was born with a clubfoot which is where my foot was upside down and backwards, which causes problems if you want to walk or do anything like that.
My first surgery was when I was six months old and then another at three; fourth grade. eighth grade, and then last year. I always felt comfortable with my foot. I was never really embarrassed of it. My parents really drilled it into me that my foot was special and that's what made me special, and God shaped my foot the way he did for a reason.
I've been bullied as a kid a little bit because along with the clubfoot I also only had three toenails... which not very many kids see every day. But last year, my freshman year in high school, I was called over by a group of girls that I knew... and they said, "hey Chloe, take off your shoe!" It's like, "What?!?" and I said, "You know, I'm good I'm going to leave my shoes on." The girl need kneeled on the ground and tried to take my shoe and sock off. I was kinduv struggling, because she was pretty strong... and so another girl came around the table and said, "Fine I'll help."and she went behind me and grasped me with her arms and lifted me up off of the ground... so the other girl could take off my shoe and sock and show everyone my deformed foot... and that was REALLY hard... I was shocked and scared.
I felt ashamed of the part of me that I've always been told made me special.
I was just in a really fragile place... I constantly felt tears behind my eyes. I was scared that they would retaliate because I told on them...and even like affected how I dress like I was wanted to hide myself because I was ashamed of shamed of my foot.
I started wearing like big sweatshirts. I just was not comfortable with who I was which what was so different than how I usually felt about myself... that happened in November (2014) and during Christmas break my parents gave me the option of transferring... I chose to stay. I'm almost glad that I stayed because I learned a lot about myself and kind of started to make friends... took off the sweatshirts...
But also during Christmas, my dad got a Skype call telling him that he won a chance to meet Bono... He chose to bring me his daughter, a diehard U2 fan... and he walked in and all his rocks star-ness... and he was wearing all leather and had pink shades on... hair was all cool.
I introduced myself to Bono, and I told him this past year I was assaulted for a foot deformity I was born with... He stopped me and he said, "What happened to you was an injustice." and we had this conversation about injustice and bullying he said that when I use my voice, and when my words are right and true, that it's like a punch... NOT a physical punch, but a verbal punch my voice is then supported by the voices of many... and he said, "Well, in my family we have a prayer, and whether we say it in the kitchen, or in the pub... it's that we are available for work... And when we make ourselves available for work, and we're open to God to work through us in in our lives, then good things generally happen..."
In that moment I kind of made myself a promise that I would work on opening myself to God, see what happened and that was really important to me in people they go through things... really hard things... and they're told that something great will come out of it that God will turn it into something beautiful, But not a lot of people actually see that...
I'm pretty lucky. My good thing having pretty soon, and it seems like good things are continuing to happen. I mean yeah bad things still happen. I can stub my toe or I can, I'm kind of having friend troubles right now... but... I now can see light at the end of the tunnel again.
I have hope again that God will pull through because I've seen him pull through... And even though sometimes I've been lying in bed at
night, I still feel like I'm talking to the wall when I pray... but I do know that he's there... and he supported me through all this... Because I can see how he's brought some pretty awesome stuff out of this...
@itschloehoward
standbeautiful.me