need a smile?

It's people like this that give me hope.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Live like a champion today.

.Haily.  :)

^looking up^

Life is {HARD}!

Life is crazy...

But life is good.

There's been lots of exciting things lately.

And... tons of JUNK.

Opposition in all things, baby!

So yeah,

sorry for my absence.

Negative mood = not wanting to write

My journal took the brunt of the bad days.

Which is probably a good thing.

I've been thinking quite a lot about the Law of Attraction lately.

Your thoughts truly have a tremendous power over your future.

What you think you are capable of 

is exactly what you get.

So think BIG.

Because seriously:

Whatever you want,

Whatever you are willing to work hard for,

He will help you have.

Think about that for a second..

It's AMAZING.

He wants you to do great things.

You're His child.

Think about it.

Obviously you have amazing potential.

Listen, agency isn't just about being able to choose.

It's the power of your thoughts becoming a reality.

Whether you think you can

Or whether you think you can't, 

YOU'RE RIGHT.

That's something that is reiterated as truth over and over and over again in my life.

Right now it's with Art,

With Special Needs Mutual,
And with Lacrosse.

Things I never thought I could do.

Look up.

What can He help you with right now?

Right now He's given me more than I can handle.

The stress has piled up too high.

And really, you can only swim upstream for so long
Until you start to drown.

The days are long.

The journey is hard.

And it's easy to lose yourself out there.

It's easy to feel alone.

Rock after rock is being thrown on top of me.

And it's leaving me pretty exhausted and hopeless 

Trying to dig myself back out,

And trying to pick up the pieces..

It has taken this long to break down my stubborn soul.
My stubborn, stubborn soul.

And I know for a fact 

That I can't do this anymore.

I can't do this on my own.

There's NO possible way.

But.. I don't have to.

Life wasn't made to be 

a competition, 

a race, 

or something that we have to do 

all on our own.

He's here for us.

I don't just want the Savior in my life,
I NEED Him.
It has taken me this long to learn 

just how much of a necessity He is in my life.

He's not just my spare tire.

He's my becoming my steering wheel.

--

 It is my goal to one day paint my Savior.

 But, as you can imagine, 

It is a little intimidating.

In all of the pictures of Christ

It doesn't look like Him to me.

There's always parts of a painting that feels like Him.

Parts of the depictions feel familiar.

But it's not all the way right.

I will find Him.

That is my dream as an artist.

Lately I've been searching Him 

Through other studying other artist's depictions of Him.

I'm not there yet,

But I'm learning.

And as I sketch
I find little glimmers of Him.

Mm... I just love this Gospel.

Prayers. are. answered.

Today I'm thankful for tough times,

good food,

and the good people I know.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is
Stay Strong and Rock On!
.Haily.

P.S. This wasn't where I saw this post going,

But I started typing, and this all just came out.

More to come.

Love you!

life is fragile.

pushing through

Lacrosse Conditioning ended.

Whew!

Every school day in January for a couple hours.

They worked us HARD!!
But it's good.

It's helped me a ton.

Not just physically, 

but mentally 

and emotionally.

First they give us the challenge.

Your eye sockets kinda fall out of your head for a second 

just thinking about how many you have to do.

But a spirit of optimism kicks in,

and you try to fake confidence 

as you wrap your head around the crazy obstacle.

It starts off not too bad,

but quickly you realize how much farther you have to go.

And you keep pushing through

as fatigue kicks in.

Keep going.

Keep going.

Keep going.

Keep going. 

Don't think about the numbers.

Just do it.

And then you get to this point 

where the tension and pain and rapid heart rate 

is just too much.

You can't do it.

There's no way.

GIVE UP.

GIVE UP.

GIVE UP.

GIVE UP. 

GIVE UP.

your body cries in pain.

And your mind quickly agrees.

Every muscles is longing for just a minute

-just a second-

of release.
To walk.

To give up.
It's all too much.

There's not a chance in the world 

that  y o u  can do it.

You're not an athlete.

Stop trying.

You've done good enough.

This just wasn't made for you. 

 And I believe it.
Why shouldn't I?
I'm not an athlete.
Never have been,
but I want to be.
 I'm just not cut out for this.

Just stop running.

[And...

It's usually about this time 

when my medallion flings up from around my neck

and hits me in the face.

Just enough to remind me.]

And my racing heart 

gasping for air

whispers

Hey, you can do it.

You know you who are.

You know who you can turn to for help.

And so,

I trust it.

I trust Him.

And I talk to Him

to distract my sore muscles

and I tell my aching legs to keep going.

And the intensity grows

 and grows and grows and grows and grows and grows...

The Lord is my strength,
The Lord is my shield.

The Lord is my strength,

The Lord is my shield. 

I tend to repeat to myself over and over again.

Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.

Last lap.

The finish line is not too far out of sight.

My pace quickens,

and the adrenaline is thriving.

He's helping me.
There's a new surge of strength,
and the goal isn't too far out of sight.

GO
GO 
GO
GO 
GO
GO
GO!!!!

And soon the world around me is only vibrations.
The track becomes a blur,

And I am a bullet.

Unstoppable.


.Haily.