Why Live?

What are you living for?
Why get out of bed in the morning?
I had to think and think...trying to find an epiphany of an answer. But the answer didn't come until a couple hours later. It's so simple.

The sunrise.

The thought of cinnamon rolls or waffles and orange juice.

My Mom will be sitting at the computer researching MS or reading the news, and wanting to talk and laugh with me early in the morning before anyone else wakes up.

The thought of working out and feeling that wonderful burn...lol.



There are things I have to do.

Questions I have to answer.

People I need to see.

People who NEED me: my little sister, my Mom, the kids at RU.

There's a life I need to live and a purpose that still needs to be fulfilled.

There's an adventure waiting just around the bend.

There's a Bible waiting for me to open it and gain wisdom and knowledge.

There are people who need my prayers - need me to get out of bed and get on my knees.

There's a reason for everything, so there must be a reason I'm here, and I don't want to miss it.

There is God, who wants me to follow Him. Because no one has the same journey as me that He has mapped out Himself and made me for.

It's funny because...these are all things that I'm thankful for. The reason I get out of bed each morning... The reason I'm LIVING. And since I'm still young and healthy and (as far as I know) not anywhere close to dying, I need to ask myself "What are you living for?" instead of "What would you die for?". How can we die for something when we live for nothing?

There are people I'm living for as well. I mentioned my sister. God gave her to be my little baby sister. She's like a butterfly. Imaginative, energetic, sensitive and very VERY smart. Wise beyond her years. She has taught me how to not be selfish (I'm still learning that one), taught me what it means to always be there for someone, taught me how to laugh instead of get angry, taught me why it is so important to always speak with love coming out of my heart, taught me that kids are just as smart as adults (just not as mature and not as knowledgeable about the world), and she has taught me much more. And now you may be thinking, "Well, you need her!". God knew that I needed her to teach me things. But she needs me to be there for her. She needs me to believe in her and support her all the time. She needs to see Jesus in me and to see what a best friend really looks like. There are things that only I can help her with as a sister. I started praying for a little sister when I was ten. There was me and my two brothers at the time. Mom got pregnant a couple months before I turned eleven - and lost the baby. We're not sure if it was a girl or not - but we call her Lauren (Sorry buddy, if you're a boy! We'll find out someday in heaven). Dad said they were done after that. But God wasn't through :) Not long after that, Mom was pregnant again and now we have our little butterfly. She looks so much like me, everyone thinks she's my daughter. And she needs me. She's a follower - she listens to other people's opinions about her and those opinions affect her habits and her character. I am the opposite - I'm a leader type and very observant. She needs me to guide her as her sister and show her who she is in Christ, and that that's all that really matters.

God placed me here for several reasons. I'm not just a loose feather floating in the air. I have reasons to get out of bed each morning.  Reasons to look at the sunrise and smile and hope.

Some people can't get out of bed each morning. Some people are sick, maybe dying. You may feel that your life no longer has a purpose. But if you are still alive, believe me - you are here for a purpose. Don't give up on it. Don't give up on God. I've been bedridden before - feeling totally helpless, in constant pain. I know. But I also know what faith in God can do when it is unwavering, no matter our circumstances. You may be lying on your back, crying into the pillow that is thrown over your head, gritting your teeth, trying with everything that is in you to praise God instead of curse Him. Even there, He IS there. And He will use you, in a mighty way, if you will let Him.

We who can get out of bed should do it simply because we can. And be thankful.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:15