I mean all this focus on how we look on the outside. It's just all wrong

A book is kind of like a river; I simply jump in and start swimming.

But fear is confusing. It tears you in two. Half of you wants to run far, far away, but the other half is paralyzed, frozen, immovable. And the hard part is that you never know which half is going to win.

I have become convinced that God thoroughly enjoys fixing and saving things that are broken. That means that no matter how hurt and defeated you feel, no matter how badly you have been damaged, God can repair you. God can give anyone a second chance.

To the casual observer it looks like I have moved on since I go around wearing my little happy mask all day. I smile and laugh and carry on like my heart's still in one piece, but beneath it all, I am dying.

I welcome each new day with a hopeful expectancy that I, too, will rise above the ordinary. For I am not content to live a merely 'normal' life or settle for an average existence. No, I am destined for more - much, much more.

Shut off the internal bashing.