Today I wore a pair of faded old jeans and a plain grey baggy shirt. I hadn't even taken a shower, and I did not put on an ounce of makeup. I grabbed a worn out black oversized jacket to cover myself with even though it is warm outside. I have made conscious decisions lately to look like less of what I felt a male would want to see. I want to disappear.

Though no one can backtrack and create a brand new start, Everyone is capable of taking their life in a brand new direction.

Never give up hope. All things are working for your good. One day, you'll look back on everything you've been through and thank God for it.

If you're reading this, I hope God opens incredible doors for your life this year. Greatness is upon you. You must believe it though.

Hope is a form of conscious dream making.

Hope is what keeps us hanging on when we feel our rope wearing out. A positive attitude is often the natural result of maintaining that hope.

It's vital to our survival to be positive.

Without hope we fail to exist.

Intimidated, old traumas triggered, and fearing for my safety, I did what I felt I needed to do.

John was still making comments regarding violent things that he shouldn't, but I hoped he was just being a big mouth. Nobody was going to listen to me anyway.

He told me that if I hung up, he'd do it. He would commit suicide. He told me that if I called the cops he would kill every single one of them and I knew that he had the potential and the means to do it

No amount of me trying to explain myself was doing any good. I didn't even know what was going on inside of me, so how could I have explained it to them?

It is not a single crime when a child is photographed while sexually assaulted (raped.) It is a life time crime that should have life time punishments attached to it. If the surviving child is, more often than not, going to suffer for life for the crime(s) committed against them, shouldn't the pedophiles suffer just as long? If it often takes decades for survivors to come to terms with exactly how much damage was caused to them, why are there time limits for prosecution?

The story of my birth that my mother told me went like this: "When you were coming out I wasn't ready yet and neither was the nurse. The nurse tried to push you back in, but I shit on the table and when you came out, you landed in my shit."If there ever was a way to sum things up, the story of my birth was it.

I was so done with looking at life through the eyes of beer-drinking cheese-heads. I wanted to go on that mission trip and look through the eyes of someone from a different culture and see what they saw. I wanted to meet people who didn’t crush the can of what they just drank on their forehead.-Rebecca Meyer, Crooked Lines

Never give up.Never give up on your hopes.Never give up on your dreams.Never give up on your visions.

Hope is the believe that the promised will be fulfilled.

There is always hope for the living.Keep hope alive.Never give in to fear.

Encouragement is a blazing hope.

The gift of life, gives you the greatest opportunity to live and chance to rise above any situation. With hopeful attitude you can overcome any struggle.

Hope is the grace of endurance in the stormy days.

He, who dares seek God's presence, will receive His blessings and favours.

Live a life abundant in love and rich in spirit, these are the seeds of a fulfilling existence. Be the safe harbor you seek in the world. Follow your dreams, not your fear. Go into the New Year with an open mind and hopeful heart. Don't let the chains of unforgiveness weigh you down. Life is too short to live in a prison of past hurts. The futures is yours for the taking and creating. Life is bittersweet, when we can let darkness and light co-exist as illumination, we can live in true happiness. When we live life at its best, it is a symphony of feelings, of high and low notes, of tragedy and comedy, love and loss, magic and the sublime. It can be quite a spectacular journey when we fully embrace and accept it.

If you're stuck in a puddle, it means there's higher ground all around you, you just have to step onto it.

The scripture gives us timeless hope.

Life is unpredictable.But do not allow the difficulties of day-to-day to deprive you of your confidence and hope. Never allow life's disappointments to get you down. Get up any time you fall.

May your hope keep you joyful.

Seek the blessings each day brings.

2 to 12 hearts 1 beat2 lips will meet2 birds 1 stone2 never b alone2 wills 1 goal2 haves 1 whole2 be in love2 be as One***©Clarissa O. ClemensThe Poetic Diary of Love and Change - Volume 1

Never lose hope.Never lose faith.

Hope is imagination of reality.Hope is keeping your dreams alive.