Stretch Marks

A friend recently asked me what stretches me most in this internship. I thought it was a very apt question and deserved a post of its own because most of my challenges come from MYSELF

EDIT: My mom stretches me the most... lol. Aka she worries about me being too open and cyberspace... and well you know the works. That's ok. I like to respect her and honor her by editing this post. Besides, I've found a celebrity whose parents worry over cyberspace... and had a "no dating till 16" rule too. So I'm not alone. (thank goodness... I really thought I might be).

But if you want to full story, just as me! Here's the really abbrv. version and I don't know how to abbreviate abbreviate. Brandon, help?

So when asked about what stretches me the most.
It’s not being thrown into an unknown state for ten weeks and living with a stranger who becomes your family
It’s not being in a church where there is not one person my age
It’s not having to speak to senior high about drugs and alcohol
It’s not having to give a lecture about parish nursing to adults
It’s not grieving over broken lives
It’s not wondering at the immensity of what God wants for my life
It’s not cranky humanity that doesn’t want to be helped

It’s ME. I give myself the biggest challenge– how I see things, whether I trust God even when I can’t feel him, whether I choose joy over shame and despair, whether I believe people care about me even when I feel so alone, whether I realize that other people are only grumpy because I started it, whether I learn that even when it’s my fault, I don’t have to judge myself into the ground.

Arise – arise my soul. Shake off your guilty fears and rise!