When people question who you are with their words, show them who you are with your actions

What are you connected to?

It took me a while to figure out that I liked to hold on to things-past hurts, pain, Ill feelings towards others. So when I finally began to seek God for something different and I wasn't getting it, I asked God why wasn't I seeing a change. He spoke to me and said How can your cup be overflowing with blessings from God if it's filled with all the junk He needs you to get rid of? Allow God to empty you of the things you don't need (anger, jealousy, bitterness, etc) so He can fill you with the things you need (joy, love, peace, etc).

Mom didn't care, daddy wasn't there. Friends turned their backs and bae walked out. Job let you go, school didn't work out. Life happened! What do you now? Let it keep you down and out or use it to motivate you and make you better? I say use it to make you better!

When I started UT in 2007, I thought I had life all figured out. I had picked the right major, the right career choice, I was on the straight path to success. But as life would have it, instead of going down that straight path, I went around a few curves, up some mountains, down into some valleys, and more. But it was through this journey that I learned (and am learning) who I am. There's a blessing in having to take the scenic route: your purpose & destiny are somewhere along that winding path. 

Many times we pray about things and God gives us the answer yet we choose to ignore it because it's not the answer we wanted or it didn't come how we thought it would. Take a step back and open your heart to receiving the answer that God has already shown you

Lesson 26: It's Time to Start Living- I realized that for the longest I've just been alive, going through the motions of life. I didn't feel fulfilled. I no longer want to be a living being just taking up space but I want to experience the fullness of life and get everything that life has to offer. Today, I am blessed to make it to 26 years old and I vow that this will be the greatest year of my life thus far. I'm going after everything I want, doing everything I want, and letting nothing stop me! Ask yourself are you just alive or are you REALLY LIVING?!

Lesson 25: Tear Down the Walls- somewhere along the way I developed this defense mechanism where the minute I felt like I was going to be hurt by someone I would start to build up a wall towards them. And although it is easy to put them, they're even harder to tear down. I became more and more fearful with every encounter. I'm sure along the way i blocked out harmless people just because I was scared they would hurt me. Walls block out everything that's trying to get in. Yes they block out the bad things but they also block out the good, as well. Tear down the walls, stop living in fear, and let life come as it may. You will always deal with some form of hurt but the walls will keep you blocked in and away from the blessings you are to receive if you keep them up.

Lesson 24: Don't Make a Permanent Decision Based on Temporary Circumstances: have you considered how the decisions you will make could impact others around you? Have you considered how the decisions you make will impact you for one week, one month, one year?For me I had to consider how taking my own life would impact my family, my friends, & others around me. Was it worth it to take my life because things weren't going the way I wanted them to go at that exact moment? For you could it be is/was it worth it to cuss that person out? Fight that person? Spread that rumor? When you sit back and re-evaluate whatever situation you have been facing consider if the choices you are making are necessary. Sometimes, we don't need to take any action or change the choice you are making to a more positive one.

Lesson 23: Don't Get Lost in the Lies- people seem to think they know your life better than you know your own. I've heard so many false things about myself that it's ridiculous, but for a while I began to believe these lies rather to believe the truth I knew about myself. I lost myself. Mentally I was fighting the lies. Physically I was trying to fight the people who were saying these things. I no longer knew who I was. But once I realized that I didn't have to fight and that as long as I walked in truth and let my actions speak for who I was those lies didn't matter.