Why Go Where You Are Not Welcome?

     As one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals faced extreme cruelty as she attempted to help break the barrier that prevented African Americans from integrating into the public schools. She, along with the other eight African American students that were chosen to attend the Central High School in Little Rock, had to be guarded during their school days by the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army. Each day of school was one to be dreaded.

    As the awful taunts and bullying surrounded her, Melba was able to continue only because of her deep faith in God and His ability to protect her. She firmly believed that this was all within God's purpose for her life. After surviving a year that included name-calling, acid in her eyes, and other acts of torment, there was not a happy ending. Melba was eventually forced out of her home state when the Ku Klux Klan began posting flyers offering a $5,000 reward if she was delivered to them alive, and $10,000 if she was delivered dead. 

    What kept her grounded through such a trying time? She was only fifteen when the integration process began. One of the greatest sources of comfort to Melba was her grandmother. When others in her church began to ask her why she was so determined to go to the public school if she was not welcome there, her grandmother had the perfect response: "If you go only where you are welcome, that's where other people want you to go, not where you choose to go. You're limited by their vision— not living your own dreams."

    We are all in a quest, like Melba, to fulfill God's purpose for our lives. Satan makes it all too clear that we are not wanted there, within the will of our Heavenly Father. He tries every tactic in the book to get us to give up, to quit trying, to rebel against the small hardships we are forced to face. Sometimes there are mountains that seem too high for us, and rivers that seem too deep and cold. Why would we travel through such an unhospitable place, he asks us. Why go where we are unwelcome?

    We must not be limited by the things Satan throws in our path. Our vision must not be dimmed by days of doubt and times of disappointment. Our dreams are of a higher calling. Our purpose is chosen for us by Creator of the Universe when we submit ourselves to Him. The One who made us will not desert us when fiery darts are hurled our way. His hand is not shortened in the time of tragedy. His ability to protect us is never in question.

    The easy way to travel, the way where we are welcomed and cheered on by the multitudes, is not the path to purpose, but to disaster. As Melba walked the hostile halls of Central High, she often found solace in reciting the twenty-third Psalm. May each of us, also, carry the ever-faithful words in our hearts as well: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me...Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."

The facts presented here are taken from the book I Will Not Fear by Melba Pattillo Beals. Within the pages of her life's story, you will meet a wonderful and courageous woman whose entire life has been spent building her faith, most of it while under fire. If you are interested in her experiences of integration, she tells more details of that ordeal in her book Warriors Don't Cry. Be prepared to be amazed at God's guidance and protection as Melba is thrust into the limelight during a time of national unrest and tension.