Thoughts from ME

I woke up this morning and after getting some breakfast I stepped out into the dim light of predawn and stood barefoot in the grass. I felt the dew on my feet and the soft cool morning air on my face and hands. I listened but the birds were still asleep. Taking a pair of scissors, I cut a bloom from the rose bush outside my back door.  Life is messy. And sometimes unkind. It is confusing, painful and discouraging. But an amazing thing happens when we decide to take it just one day at a time. It is a lesson I have to learn over and over. Sort of like Charity or Humility or Optimism. I have decided to have faith over fear. To trust that although I can't know what will happen, that a perfect Being who loves me does. And trusting in that is more important to me than knowing. So while it is difficult, and some would say perhaps a cop out for dealing with life, I choose to trust that God cares enough about me to have my best interests at heart. And if He has decided to not share

It would not be a trial of our faith if our faith was not actually tried. Trials are essential, obviously, but how much of a trial can it really be if all the time we feel His guiding hand and Comforting presence? Can those really be considered trials? Today I am officially a third year medical student. Reflecting over the last two years, I want to take a moment to write down my thoughts. As a missionary, when the Spirit said I would be going to medical school it was a huge relief. I had struggled up to that point to really know what to do with my life. I knew I wanted a good career, a steady paycheck, a job that I loved. I knew I wanted to work outside the home, make a difference, help people. But I didn’t know exactly what that looked like for me until that moment in Virginia. And when I got home and got to work researching and then putting into action all that would be required to be accepted into a medical school in the US I had multiple moments of doubt. Heavy doubt. But I p

I love the cool blue of early morning. When you know many of those around you are still asleep and you open your blinds. That soft cool blue spills into the room bringing with it the idea of a calm morning, expectations, possibilities.   In the early morning I feel the most peace. That is why I like getting up at obscene hours. My Spotify says “good evening Melissa” even though I have woken for the day.  The hope I feel in the mornings for how the day will go is a stabilizing factor in my life. I believe we all need to recognize these and hold on to them. Life is a fast paced, too full, sometimes heartbreaking adventure filled with the ups and downs that we never could map out even if we tried. And yet we make it through every day. And there is something miraculous in that - in the tenacity of our willingness to start the day anew despite difficulties that arose the day before.  My step dad was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. It has come as a shock and a terrib