A Cliche at Its Finest

   "Everything happens for a reason." I'm usually not one to use cliches, but this one really describes where I'm at in life right now. After I took a step back and realized that my addiction to perfection was destroying not only my spirit, but my relationship with God and what He was trying to accomplish, and allowed Him to free me from it, I found out that I had so much more joy than I ever had before. Sometimes the hardest thing for us to do is to let go (and I mean REALLY let go) of what we struggle with and trust that our Heavenly Father knows what He's doing. We never think that true positives can come out of negative experiences. We are unable to wrap our finite minds around the idea that we don't always have to follow the "traditional" life path. Yes, I'm not going to graduate in four years. I'm not going by what I thought was the right way to do things. And that scared me more than anything. It made me think I was defective, like something was wrong with me. In reality, not graduating has opened up so many doors for me that might not have been opened had I graduated this year. I got a job at a place that has made me discover my love for painting and crafting. I'm going on a life-changing trip to Baja, Mexico in December and taking the first step towards my ultimate dream of becoming a medical missionary. Through this trip, I have had the honor of becoming acquainted with Arianna, my missionary representative. I think this is one of the best examples of "everything happens for a reason." Out of every person that could have been assigned to be my representative, the fact that Arianna was chosen is truly, I believe, divine intervention. As I have been able to talk to and swap testimonies with her, she is slowly becoming not only my mission rep, but also a really good friend. Our stories and life experiences are so similar, and every time we are able to talk I feel encouraged and uplifted. I may not have ever had that opportunity had my life gone "according to plan." Whose plan am I really following though? I had always said that I wanted to follow God's path, but up until a few months ago, all I was doing was trying to force myself down a path that obviously was not meant for me. Once I began trusting in what God had for me, everything began to fall into place so much easier. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. It is, however, much better than where I was at. Trusting that God knows what he's doing much more than I do puts me in a better place than I could ever put myself in. There's a reason that I'm here at this place, in this moment. There's a reason I've taken a short detour on my path. Everything that has happened so far in my life has happened for a reason......but I've never been much for cliches ;)