Amanda's journey has been filled with good times and bad, but is not without purpose. In her own words, she says, "Sometimes we feel we are walking down a meaningless pathway to nowhere, but in all truth that is just the version of our life's story Satan wants us to see. Satan doesn't want us to understand that every obstacle presented is able to be overcome; if we could just reach beyond the insecurities, and the atmosphere of fear, doubt, and negativity to embrace God's infinite truth that was graphed into our lives before we were conceived."
"I know the thoughts that I think toward you, said the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." But Satan's purpose is to divert that good God-given purpose that God intended for our lives toward that of utter destruction.
God knows the thoughts that he thinks toward us, but do we? Do we realize it isn't God's will that anyone perish but that all come to repentance? Yet, God's not going to overrun our will, so God says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I WILL give you rest." Amanda has come to realize that being a Christian is a bed of roses, because even something as fragile as a rose has the ability to inflict pain. Amanda's journey hasn't been one of ease, but it has all brought her closer to one thing, love.
