The Places I've Been.

I've been around. Grew up quickly. Learned lots of thing way too early and experienced things no one should ever have to. I've been let down a zillion times and I've been in places where you feel like you don't belong.

I am not bitter over these things. God has used them to mold me into what I am today. I am thankful for my experiences because I like who I am. Because I like where I am at and I like where I am going. I am thankful that God took something that could have gone so very bad and made it so very good instead. I am thankful that I can use these experiences to teach my children and hopefully they will learn without having to go through it themselves.

I am thankful because so many others have succumb to their experiences. They've given up hope and allowed the bad things of their life to take control. They have retired themselves to the illusion that things can't get better. So they become apathetic, lazy, egotistical. Then they fall into the vicious cycle.

I am thankful not to be in that vicious cycle. I am thankful that I can stand up and say "Bad things happened to me and you know what I made some really bad choices in my life. But those things, those choices, those experiences THEY DON'T OWN ME! I OWN THEM and God has used them for good!"