Last night I talked to my mom for about an hour. I love the way mom's can say something that everyone else has said a hundred times, but its just somehow different and makes more sense. Mom and I talked about a burden I've been carrying...and being my mom, she doesn't let me get away with excuses...she stops me in my tracks and says "no way". It's great, but very frustrating. My mom and I are as different as night and day on a lot of topics, but she is a wise woman whom I respect very much and when she says something, I generally listen (though don't tell her that!). Last night my mom told me, "Sara, you've got to lay this thing down and walk away from it and DO NOT pick it back up." I agreed and then tried to make excuses for myself...to which she would not hear of it, she is the no nonsense type. She also said "Have you read Pilgrim's Progress?" and I think she expected me to say that I had...every good Christian has, right? Well, when I said no, she quickly said "Read it." So this morning I went to our library, figured out that it was JOHN Bunyan who wrote Pilgrim's Progress and not Paul Bunyan (an occupational hazard for me)...and promptly checked it out. I was warned it was not easy reading...but I am up for it. And I am up for this challenge of laying down this burden. Our God is bigger than anything that comes our way...He gives us the strength we need to leave something with Him and not return to it. Joy is a choice...and I choose joy. Things are going to change here. I have said that many times...but for some reason, when my mom who God gave me says "Sara, you can do this." I believe it a little more than I did before. Plus I know the stakes...and there are many, not just the obvious. Its all a choice...I only have 4 months left here...I want to make the most of it and let others do the same. I need prayer in it. So if you think on it...well, pray for me to lay this down and not pick it back up. And also that I can make it through Pilgrim's Progress. :)