The most perplexing question for a human being to face; no its not 'do you want fries with that', but "what do you want to do with your life?"

I've never had a clue. I wasn't one of those lucky people who knew at a young age what I wanted to be when I "grow up". I'm still searching for the answer to that question, but one thing I know is "WHAT" is a wide variety of questions.

I've been stuck in a stormcloud for all of my life, a cloud filled with hopelessness, fear, anxities, worries, low self esteem, co-dependecy of unhealthy people, regret, and the list goes on and on. It saddnes me to say that I haven't let this cloud disappear despite the fact that I was saved a year ago. God has given me a LOT of healing in the past year, but as I think of my life, I'm still scratching my head.

I've heard a quote that roughly says "evil can be done by merely not doing good", and thats true. How many moments do we pass by every day that could benefit us or another person? Its harsh, but we're robbing ourselves, and others. The one phrase which is total bull is "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me". Uh, what? How about.... NO! Of course they hurt! To put these two sayings together, words will hurt, but its the words that we DON'T hear that can cause the most damage too.

I think the saddest thing in the world is for a child to grow up in a house with no encouragement. Of course I say that selfishly because that's what I experienced, but for a child not to be encouraged is robbing them of their future, it's robbing them of themselves. Sure the chat "you can be anything you want" is cheesy, but to NOT hear those words, especially from a parent is a missing piece of the heart.

I am in contact with a single father who has a young son. As soon as he comes home, he gets his orders. Do this, do that, do your homework, and I'm not saying he's a bad father, not at all. But who likes to be bossed around all the time? Is that a pleasant way to come home? "Oh good you're home.. now you can ____". Again, I've experienced this and know how hurtful and straight up annoying it is.

We are not defined by "WHAT" in life. What we do, what we don't do, what we wear, what we look like, what we weigh, etc. That is NOT who we are. And when I meet someone for the first time and they ask me "what do you do", in all honesty, it ticks me off. I know its just small talk, but whats the point of that question? What if I'm a laywer and you hate lawyers? What if we just lost a potential friendship?

Its a sad fact of my life that I am 31 years old and I am just now starting to have faith in my life. But I know time, the amount of time it takes to "get" or "do" something doesn't amount to jack squat. We "do" and "get" things when we are ready to. We're ready when we're ready, there's no forcing it. The bad news about life is that we are powerless over a lot of things; the good news is that we can learn from it and do something different next time.

If you're a parent, encourage your kid(s). If they want to do something that you don't like,  tough. It's their life. If you're a friend, encourage your friend, even if they are making stupid decisions. It doesn't matter who someone is, they could seem like the most confident person in the world, but speaking as someone who fakes confidence, I assure you, they need encouragement too. You don't know what kind of impact that will have on someone, but it is ever lasting. I remember one time receiving encouragement from my Uncle, and I still smile inside when I think about it. You never know, it might be the first time they've heard it.