New Beginnings

The new year begins in a few short hours, and as I think about everything that has happened this year, I am grateful to be here celebrating 2015. This past year, my whole life changed. i graduated from high school, I left home, and I gave up everything that I cared about to follow the plan I believed God had for me. "Get up and follow me" has never felt so applicable to my life. I gave up all my friends, my family, and my hometown, but now I am blessed to have a new home and a group of the most amazing individuals as friends. This was the hardest year of my life, and yet it has been so rewarding. I have been afraid about the future my whole life, and now as I look to 2015 I realize I am no longer afraid. I made it this far, right? Don't get too caught up in past as you look back, but also don't get too caught up in what could be, live in the present because it contains everything that is. We are looking to new beginning, and it is full of everything we could imagine. Make it what you want, and make it yours. Don't let people tell you what to do or who to be, and know you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. If you could get through this year, you can get through everything that is to come. Take a deep breath and be prepared to begin, with the beginning of 2015, the wildest adventure you could possibly imagine. Take this year head on, and never let anything get in the way of what is most important. This is the time for new beginnings and this is the time to be everything you were made for, so Just Do It. Don't stress about make a new year's resolution, instead focus on making this new year everything you want it to be. And don't forget to laugh every opportunity you get, because laughter is the best medicine.  Happy New Year!!  :)

Beautifully Broken

I am often a mess. I can't match my clothes properly or do my hair..ever. I hate dressing up and sometimes I hate being a girl. I look at myself and I see all my problems. I see all the zits and all the parts of me I think need to be fixed.. the parts of me that aren't perfect. I see that I can't concentrate

on anything and I make a mess of everything. I over analyze every aspect of my life and often screw everything up for myself. I don't trust people and I've built up so many walls so that no one can hurt me..  I am broken. Shattered to bits and pieces that I thought no one would want to pick them up, and I even didn't think I could piece myself back together. I still often believe this. I think I am too messed up to be loved. But I am totally and completely wrong. Every day I am here I am reminded of how absolutely wrong I have been this entire time. Yes, I am broken.. I may even be as shattered as I think I am, but I am not too messed up be loved. Every piece of me that is broken makes me who I am, and guess what?  These flaws and broken bits of us are what make us beautiful. We are blessed with all these beautiful people in our lives, and the crazy thing is they are broken too. Yes, they may not be as broken as you, and they may never understand you, but someone out there does.

For the first time in my life I have found people I trust with everything I am, all my broken pieces and all my flaws. And although I don't normally feel beautiful on the outside, I know I was broken so I could be this person I am now. And this person that I have been molded into is beautiful. You are beautiful because these broken pieces are the world's best shot of getting you to fail, but you are still here pushing through. So what, you broke along the way. You aren't meant to withstand everything thrown at you. You are just expected to hold on until the sun comes after the storm. It's okay to be broken, it means you're are still alive. So, next time you feel like you're not beautiful remember you are taking this whole life thing one step at a time, and you are rocking it, because the world's got nothing on you. You were made by a God who loves you more then anything else, and you've got people in your life who think you are more amazing then you realize. You can do it all, and you are going to do it your own way, because you are beautifully broken into who you are, and I, for one, am so thankful you are who you are.