Sometimes you lose people. People drop you. Something happens that creates a wedge and you can't just agree to disagree. Sometimes it's a physical distance and you simply lose touch because you did not take the time to stay connected. It's interesting to me how with some situations, time passes and you forget the details of what really happened, yet some pasts are engraved in your mind. I think the times I forget are the ones in which I blamed others for causing all the problems because I have always been an easy forgiver. The times that linger in my mind are the ones filled with regret and shame of being dramatic and arguing over a problem that was never there because I simply created it with my own destructive thoughts.

We are our worst critics and we try to hide from it. We don't want to be too confident and then be crushed so we just sit in the shadows and wait for another problem to arise where we get to choose whether to blame ourselves or blame others. I've seen in my own life that I can think of a hundred explanations for why someone did something that hurt me and how it is totally fine and I understand it 100% so I brush it off with ease and love them just the same. But when it comes to myself, I worry so much that people can't do the same for me so I feel like I have to explain myself over and over again.

I have been learning now that if someone really loves and cares about you, they are going to love like Jesus.

I know loving like Jesus can be hard for some due to people breaking your trust or failing you in the past, but you have to at least try.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us.If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."

The people who mind don't matter and the people who matter don't mind. You want to have friends who will forgive you. Friends who will teach you and always tell you when you are doing something wrong. Be honest and as the receiver of honesty, don't be offended when it hurts your pride.

This past weekend, I attended the wedding of one of my best friends from middle and early high school. While at the wedding, I was reunited with other friends I had not seen in a while. Seeing people who have been there at my worst and best and still love me warmed my heart. Though falling apart and losing touch happens, there are some people who make it so easy to come together again. It's a special moment when you feel so reconnected to home and regardless of how much has changed in our lives we will always have a special place in each other's hearts. We pick up our friendship right where we left off.

I am so grateful to God for all the beautiful people He has put in my life. People who forgive 70 times 7. They inspire me to also forgive myself.

-from Anna with love

Homeward Bound

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