Sometimes it takes a heartbreak to shake us awake & help us see we are worth so much more than we're settling for.

So many people bump into our lives for a second and it changes us forever, but they never know it. And while that's funny and strange and a little sad, it's also just life. And the truth of the matter is, it was never really about them anyway. It was always about us and what we were meant to learn from them. It was always about us and who we were meant to BECOME as a result of having encountered them.

if I changed even one tiny little thing about that season, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be WHO I am today. I wouldn’t have fought the hardest battles of my life and won.

Be vulnerable. Take a chance. Step outside your comfort zone. Try something new and daring and audacious. Maybe it’s changing jobs or changing cities or simply changing your hair color. But do something different than what you do every single day. Take a risk. Even if you’re not ready to. Because you never know how important and vital the sentence you’re writing today is to the bigger story your life is trying to tell.

I’m still here. The doubt, the fear, the heartbreak, the depression, the anxiety, the insecurity: It didn’t win. The people who hurt me and let me down: They didn’t win. The disappointment and the failure, and the hopes and deferred dreams: Nope. They didn’t win either.

Sometimes it takes getting pushed to the very edge before you can find your voice and courage to speak out again. Sometimes it takes hitting that rock bottom to realize you’re done descending, and it’s time to rise. Sometimes it takes being told you’re nothing—being made to feel like you’re nothing—to help you see that you are complete.YOU. ARE. ENOUGH.

God knows what you're ready for. He knows what your arms are able to carry. He knows what your heart can contain. He knows what’s coming, and He knows how and when to prepare you for it. He knows the right time, the right place, the right person, the right answer. He knows, so you don't have to.

Sometimes you have to realize that you’ve HAD enough to realize that you ARE enough.

As it turns out, it was that very rock bottom that became the most firm foundation I had ever planted my feet on. A foundation so solid, it finally provided the springboard I needed to outrun that teasing, taunting shadow of unworthiness that had followed me my entire life.