Sometimes the hardest things in life, are the ones worth fighting for. Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same. Sometimes, you just need to close your eyes and put one foot in front of the other...even if that makes you vulnerable, which no one wants to admit they are, yet, it is during those times when you grow and learn the most. It seems I can't help but put myself out there to be vulnerable, I wear my heart on my sleeve and when in love, I love fully, wholeheartedly, without regret, without fear...ultimately it is the fear that binds us. It suffocates us from becoming who we truly are and from who we are meant to share this life with. And if you're lucky, the fear can be pushed aside, like a flower that grows in the crack of a concrete sidewalk.
The greatest times in my life were when I stifled that fear and walked down the road without knowing the destination. Of course it will be scary, of course you will have pain, but the experiences and cultures that unveil themselves to you along the way...will far surpass the trials that once seemed unbearable. I look back on the past few years and think of what my life would be like had I not taken the chances I did. I would never have seen England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales in twenty-one days and made friendships I will have for a lifetime. I would not have left my home in south Florida to attend Providence College in Rhode Island for four years. I think of the memories and amazing people I met and the young women who will stand beside me at my wedding one day. I would not have traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to Salamanca, Spain to live with a family I'd never met, in a country I'd never seen. What life-altering things would I have passed up? Talking to Angelita every morning, laughing and experiencing Spain with Christy & Jessy, walking through the Plaza Mayor admiring the baby strollers and fabulously dressed Spaniards, discovering the rooftop garden wherein I wrote, slept, read...
I cannot comprehend the amount of mercy and love that has been poured out onto my life, so the best I can give is that love to those around me. I am waiting on the Lord. I am keeping the faith. I am loving as Christ has loved meL unconditionally, with forgiveness and grace, a support, a constant, and a shelter to run to when life gets tough...what a perfect example Christ has shown me...
