Light Needs to Be Seen

"Code grey! Code grey!"

The teachers went into action as they told us to get to the back of the room. We all moved until we were told that the drill was over. We sat there for about 10-15 minutes, all huddled together.

The sad truth is that the drills are becoming reality. The attacks are real. Our world is hurting more than ever before. As a student going through the drills, I thought to myself, "Well there is no use for these drills. Nothing will ever happen."

And it has.

A shooting there. A bombing here. And every day, they are becoming more of our "new reality."

All we can do is lift our arms up to God, asking him to help our society, our nation and nations around the globe.

This should not be.

We feel helpless. We feel as though the attacks will never cease.

But when our world is at its darkest, God is there. We should never give up on world peace because with God, nothing is impossible.

World peace is possible if we work together to bring happiness, joy, contentedness, love, honesty to every crevice in this world. It takes each of us to change our reality once again.

No matter how dark and difficult our lives can feel, we have a God who can heal us and show us His light.

And that light...

That light needs to be seen.

Stubborn to Bright Side

Yesterday, I was told that I will not be able to run for awhile. To be frank, I was devastated. Not only does running help me deal with my mental illnesses but when I was a child I always dreamt that I could run in a Marathon.

Today, almost all day, people asked me if they could help me out with anything. Stubborn me, I declined most of the offers. I'm not used to asking for help, especially physically. In the last few weeks, I went from running 2-5 times a day with a day or two off to not being able to run at all.

But in all things, there is a "silver lining." Being off of my feet as much as I can will help me stay seated and work on my scarf project. Just plug some headphones into my ears and I'll crochet for hours.

So my takeaways are 1) don't be stubborn enough not to ask for help and 2) look on the bright side; no matter how difficult things are, you are not alone in this world and there are many people who care about you..

Letter From and to Within

 Every so often, I challenge myself to write a compassionate letter for myself. Often, it is so easy to share love towards others and not so much myself. I hope that by sharing this, you will find some compassion towards yourself.

Dear me,

I know that you are going through so much right now and I hope that you are blessed to receive this note. Every life has its ups and downs, circles, squares and trapezoids, but that does not mean that you have to let the evil in your life to stop you from achieving your dreams. Do not let those obstacles and trials of life stop you from becoming stronger. You got this!
You are incredibly strong and I know that you will get through this because you have been through so much more. This life is not always full of simple solutions. The situation you find yourself in right now will pass and most likely get better. Sometimes it takes time. Sometimes it requires peer support. Sometimes it requires you to change your behaviors with those around you and within yourself.

I know that you try to do your best, but there are times when your best will not be good enough. Forgive yourself and do not hurt yourself by dwelling on your inadequacy. We will never be perfect and you obviously know that nobody will. Mistakes are inevitable. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to be patient and move forward from the negatives.

No matter what situations you find yourself in, know that you are loved. Deeply loved. Nothing can take that away from this fact. You may or may not always feel close to God, but you know through “coincidental” circumstances that God loves you. I love you. Those around you love you. Learn to love yourself and forgive yourself. Move forward.
Sometimes it feels as if the circumstances in your life are painful to go through, but try to remind yourself that there is always hope. Never give up. Stick to the hope, love, joy and contentedness that fill your life each day, no matter how difficult today was or is.

I love you….