Finding Your Voice

This has been on my heart to share for awhile as I've been trying to find "my voice".
Certain circumstances have led me to understand the importance of finding my own voice and ultimately God's voice.
I feel sometimes as Christians, we have many people in our lives telling us "the best way to live" or "the right way to be in a relationship" and quite frankly, I hate it. I do not believe there is one way to live or one way to be in a relationship.

God has created each of us unique and each of us in His own image, therefore, none of us are the same. What makes humans unique is their variability. We aren't simply cookie cutter models of someone else.
I am me and you are you and that is okay.


I am an internal processor. I try to figure things out in my head before I discuss them with other people, if I don't, I end up saying things that I don't mean, don't believe, or haven't had the time to figure out on my own therefore I find myself going along with the best fit answer.
I have learned that it is okay to process internally. It is okay to not always have the answers when someone asks for them, and it is okay to be me.
It is okay to find my voice when dealing with a struggle.

I love talking to my friends about what I am going through because I desire for people to come along side of me, walk with me through my struggles, and love me despite my flaws. But sometimes, despite great intentions, I get too many voices and too many people telling me different things and it makes it harder to live. I want to always be me and never lose sight of that. I know what I was created for and I know I have a purpose but my purpose looks very different from everyone else's purpose and that is okay.
God has been teaching to me slow down, to listen, to find Him, and to find me. 


I have been overwhelmed recently with a peace I cannot explain.
Even though, in moments, it feels like my world has been flipped upside down, I have peace.
Even though I am drowning in a million worksheets, papers, and exams, I have peace.
Even though I am struggling, I have peace.
And even though I may feel alone, I have peace.
I have a peace that I cannot describe but it is a peace not due to my own work, but a peace that can only come from Him.
I desire to hold on to this peace and remember what this feels like when i'm desperately searching for it.

Finding my voice has sent me on a journey, a journey of prayer, writing, processing and thinking.
But it's times like these when I know God is working because I can feel Him.
Even though conviction sucks, I am thankful for it because it is a gift.
Conviction means, God cares enough about my heart to change something in my life in order bring glory to Him and that is a gift in itself.

Melanie