You know I talk a lot about protecting your peace because it is something that I am very passionate about and I know that it is something that we all struggle with from time to time, so I come back to this point again and again. You know I was hiking a mountain a few weeks ago and I started thinking about what I could do to protect my peace while I was hiking up, and the more trouble I had hiking up the mountain the more I realized something. Anything worth reaching takes a hard climb. It was a seriously hard climb to get to the top of that mountain, but when I finally got up there the view was so beautiful and so worth every difficult second that it took to get to the top. I would not have traded that view for anything. Now, while that view was nice, I do strongly believe that protecting your peace is much more important.

So it goes without saying that it is even more worth it to fight for your peace. Anything worth getting in life takes hard work. Pain equals strength. You know when I was going up that mountain I was seeing a lot of people hiking much faster than me and getting to the top so quickly it was actually pretty frustrating at first until I realized why they were so fast. They have done this climb a lot of times before. Repetition builds strength and it is the very same rule when it comes to protecting our peace. So do not quit on yourself just because you have not conquered something or because you have not gotten to a certain level or destination in your life yet.

Journeys are full of ups and downs, losses and gains, pains and pleasures, but I know one thing about the journey: as long as you keep moving forward, as long as you keep progressing in life, as long as you follow that progression, you will always get to that place where God needs you to be. So I just want to encourage you, whatever struggle you might be going through right now that you let it build you and not let it break you, man. Let it make you better. So make a decision wherever you are right now that you are going to conquer your struggle, whatever that struggle may look like. You know we all have got struggles. That is what makes us alike as human beings. There is not going to be one single person that you will meet in your life that is not going through some kind of struggle. Maybe that struggle for them is a major struggle that you can clearly see or maybe that struggle for them is a silent battle, but one thing is for sure: they are going through a struggle. I want to challenge you guys to push yourself out of your comfort zone to conquer your struggle wherever you can.

It all starts with you.