Marisa Donnelly

You cannot change the past, but what you can change is the present—who and where you are right now.

Let yourself be scared, just for a moment. Let yourself feel that fear running through your body, the promise of possibility. Because where you feel fear is where you grow.

Even in the moments where we feel the most purposeless, the most directionless, the most off-track, our God is reaching out to us with His open hand. He is searching for us, beckoning to us, waiting for us. He is here.

If someone loves you, they’ll love you. They’ll love you in all the ways you need. They’ll love you in all the ways they know how. They’ll love you, and prove this love, over and over because they don’t want to lose you. That’s real love.

Because when someone loves you—it’s not about them trying to fix you, change you, or fall in love by a certain time. There aren’t rules, aren’t guidelines, aren’t ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts.’ Love is something that comes naturally.

Meet people. Go on dates. Try new places. Eat new foods. Figure out what kind of person you’re into and what you really value in a relationship. Learn what things you can’t tolerate and what makes you giddy with excitement. Talk to people. Open up. Love wildly.

I will be the one who believes in you when you forget how to believe in yourself.

And isn’t that wrong, but so beautiful? How we bend and break and reshape the contours, the curves, the chaos in our minds to match another’s?

You listen to both your heart and head.

You deserve the love you keep giving away.

I’ve never been able to love any other way than fully, totally, completely

Because any many that treats you as if who you are is not enough does not deserve the love you give.

No matter what we’re going through, no matter how heavy a burden laid upon our hearts, no matter how shattered and tired we feel—that breakage won’t last forever. Pain is only temporary.

Women are strong by nature; you don’t need to prove yourself by pushing other people away. Limiting your human connection doesn’t make you strong, sweet girl, it only makes you lonely.

She mentions the future, and includes you in it.

We will say goodbye, not because we’ve reached an ending, but because that’s the word you say when you begin a new chapter in your life’s story. And that goodbye does not mean the book closes; we simply turn a page.

I will be the fluttering of your heartbeat, the tingle in your fingertips, the way you just can’t catch your breath when we kiss.

I’ll always be thankful for the sliver of time I shared with you, despite the impermanence—because it was real.