My Inspiration

I know that God has given me the tools to succeed. He has given me the ability to pull myself out of this pit. I've had the answers all along. I just had to stop making excuses and start believing the truth. He will strengthen me on my journey. I am following His lead every step of the way. I know that I will succeed. At times I still need encouragement. Here's some of the things I have found/read that have helped me.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"
Philippians 4:13

"I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a song of praise. Many will see what He has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the Lord."
Psalm 40:1-3

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."
Isaiah 41:10


And also, these tidbits of truth I've recieved from countless emails, for when I need to be honest with myself....

...sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel...

...no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt me every once in a while and I must forgive them for that...

...it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be...

...I CAN keep going long after I think I can't...

...I am responsible for what I do, no matter how I feel...

...either I control my attitude or it controls me...

...maturity has more to do with what types of experiences I've had, and what I've learned from them...and less to do with how many birthdays I've celebrated...

...it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes, I have to learn to forgive myself...

...no matter how bad my heart is broken the world doesn't stop for my grief...

...my background and circumstances may have influenced who I am, but I am responsible for who I have become...and who I am yet to be...

...my life can be changed in a matter of hours by people I don't even know...


And some famous quotes I've stumbled upon that inspire me...

--"The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone." (This encapsulates the theme of this site, it's my life's anthem right now.)
–-Orison Swett Marden

--“You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.”
--Anthony Robbins

--“Discontent is the first step in progress. No one knows what is in him till he tries, and many would never try if they were not forced to."
–-Basil Maturin

--"You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving."
–-St. Francis de Sales

--"Since no one is perfect, it follows that all great deeds have been accomplished out of imperfection. Yet they were accomplished, somehow, all the same."
–-Lois McMaster Bujold

--"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face."
–-Eleanor Roosevelt

--"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."
–-Lao-Tzu

--"All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail."
--Dorothea Brande

--"Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."
–-Henry Van Dyke

--"The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself."
–-Anna Quindlen

--"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
--T.S. Eliot

--"Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over."
–-F. Scott Fitzgerald

--"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear."
–-Mark Twain

--"Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight."
–-Helen Keller

--"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
–-Aristotle

--"Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use."
–-Ruth Gordon

--"I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be."
–-Groucho Marx

--"You miss 100% of the shots you never take."
–-Wayne Gretsky

--"Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome."
–-Samuel Johnson

--"Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more."
–-Louis L'Amour

--"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
–-Theodore Seuss Giesel

--"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
--Albert Einstein

And I'll end with this, my favorite quote...

"Heal the wounds, but leave the scars Lord God, that I may never forget your hand of grace and mercy in my life."