Marisa Donnelly

Just because you are a woman of faith doesn’t mean that this road will be easy. It’s okay to admit defeat, frustration, confusion, or fear. You are not weak for being human. Remember that you are strong in Him.

I can’t have this halfsies, this sort-of-love, this relationship without a relationship because it’s not real. I can’t act like I understand this whole ‘casual’ thing, like dating for mere fun and nothing else makes sense to me. Because it doesn’t at all.

Isn’t it unfair that we were created to feel, to love, to bind ourselves to other people without boundaries? That we could fall in love with someone who doesn’t love us back? Or who doesn’t love us at all?

You were legitimately excited when you discovered library cards were free.

The truth about forgiveness is that it sets your heart free.

If you’re not together in person, he’ll try to keep your texting conversation going, simply by asking questions or just being interesting.

A girl who loves God is both fierce and tender, bold and quiet. She is a woman just like any other—a heart, two eyes, a body, a soul—but what shines through her spirit is her faith, her inability to see the world without her creator as a central part of it.

When you love a girl that’s fiercely independent, you learn that you can love her without changing her, but you still show her how wonderful it can be to be taken care of. And you learn that a woman’s strength does not, in any way lessen yours.

I need you to be the man that I can be myself around—my comfiest clothes, my most genuine smile, cuddled on the couch with my legs on your lap and cold beers in our hands.

You’re not wrong for thinking of him. Not wrong for allowing the thought of him to cross your mind. You’re not wrong for laughing, for smiling, for letting a hint of happiness skip across your heart when you picture his face.

“Recovery means freedom. Freedom to be who I am, to be who I want to be. Freedom to do what I want to do, and the freedom to continue writing the rest of my story. Freedom to make my dreams come true and to dream again.”

One day I won’t have to ask myself if I’ll ever see you again. Because one day you’ll be right in front of me.

God loves you more than you could ever know. He wants the best for you. He wants you to find love, and He will bring you that man when the time is right. He won’t leave you. He won’t turn his back to you. He won’t cheat on you or break your heart or leave you for someone else. He will put you first, always.

I would always forget who I was in those ivy green eyes of yours; they reminded me of a forest, the kind with paths and twists and turns. The kind of forest I could get lost in, on purpose.

We were all strangers once, trying to map out our paths, stumbling around with eyes that couldn’t see and bodies that were unsure. We will all feel like this again—weird, foreign, timid, alone. But these feelings lead to growth, to new beginnings, to a new sense of self. Hold on. You will reach the other side a better person than you were before.

The woman you should really be with will be strong. Strong enough to stand on her two feet, strong enough to stand up for you, and strong enough to stand up to you.

The world will tell you that being an emotional woman is weak, that giving your love away is weak, that letting others in is weak, that you are weak, just because you are a woman. But the world is wrong.

Sometimes you just have to slow down. You have to take a moment to breathe, to say, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do that right now,’ or ‘I’ll do that later.’ You have to give yourself the permission to say no, or walk away when you’re in over your head.