Thursday afternoon, April and I talked about suffering and the role it plays in the evolution of our identity. Somewhere in the conversation, I said what is the headline of my blog: "Suffering, no matter how you look at it, breaks us. But as we lie in our brokenness, we have three options: we can remain in our broken states and bury our heads in the sand, we can try to piece ourselves back together, or we can rise up on the wings of eagles and take the broken pieces of our lives and fuse them together into a mosaic masterpiece that makes our lives before the suffering fade in comparison."

There's no getting around the fact that suffering has been thrust upon me. No matter which angle you explore it from, my life over the past four months has been far from enjoyable. Yes, I've had my moments of laughter and joy, but overall my life has been scarred with a whole host of emotional, spiritual, and psychological suffering. In my counseling sessions, we are beginning to see that this suffering did not begin when Julie broke up with me; rather, the breakup acted as a catalyst for a volcanic eruption spewing forth a plethora of bottled-up and masked emotions, thoughts, and feelings.

I stand on the threshold where I have a decision to make: which of the three routes will I pursue? Will I remain in my brokenness? No. Will I simply try to go back five months ago and restart there, pretending none of this ever happened? No. I will take this suffering and use it as a tool to evolve. I will become stronger, wiser, and build my character--all with God's help, of course. I will allow it to shape me into the person whom He wants me to be.

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And, totally unrelated but fun nonetheless, here are some pictures I took of my humble occupation (Hilltop Coffee Shop) as we shut down for the night after all the customers were shooed out. Caleb is the supervisor working behind the counter (the tall guy, my best friend at college), Kyle (one of my other best friends), and Lizzie (again, one of my other best friends!).