I've found in my own life that the older I get, the more stubborn I am in my beliefs and opinions. Without keeping my ego in check, it would be easy for me to bail on relationships when I didn't agree with someone. The antidote to this problem is humility, plain and simple. The more we claim an unassuming nature, the more we believe the best about people and situations, and the more we try and see others through the lens of love. We are then given the opportunity for our relationships to grow.

Surrender goes against our very nature to be independent. Surrender indicates we willingly choose to rely on others. We must rewire our thinking to recognize that needing another person (and being the person someone else needs) is not a weakness; it only strengthens us.

I think subconsciously because of my upbringing, I was very aware of values and morals and that's why I experienced the occasional guilt with my habits.

In times that are dark and God seems far [away], I look for him in small ways - the innocent laughter of a child on an airplane, the way the rain falls down through tree branches, the aroma of honeysuckle as I ride my bike down the Natchez Trace, and through the love of friends who have carried me through the darkest times of my life.

After a few years of the addiction controlling my online life, and beginning to affect my life offline as well - meeting men and becoming physically involved with them - whether I believed in God or not, to me was moot. Anything that had as much control over my life as this addiction did could not be healthy.

My faith is certainly not as stable or constant as I’d like it to be. I’m a highly emotional person and sometimes allow my emotions to affect how I feel about God or how I trust him.

God is not usually a burning bush in my life. He's usually a very quiet whisper. And he never shows up too early...but he's also never late, either.