It is the place where many of us took our first steps. Where some learned to do their laundry for the first time and others learned holding onto your faith can sometimes be harder than you ever imagined. Where others learned the American language and culture and still others found themselves able to stay grounded throughout many a trying time at home. Its where we found each other, and found in each other someone to lean on. Someone to hold tight to for dear life. When everything was sinking, when you didn't realize you were drowning until a friend gave you a glimpse of the surface, when everything was going right and they kept you grounded, these are the friends who cling tight to each other under the glory of the mountains.
It was this place that saw me heart broken, mended, mistaken, gone astray, revived and rebuilt. And finally it is here that I found love. It was in the fresh white snow fall that it began to brew. A miracle all its own. When you're told that God has something better for you than you ever could have imagined ... well its in this place that my something better happened. A love that in my wildest dreams I could never have imagined on my own. Where two people are so in step with each other. And when one is down the other is there helping to hold them until they can continue on. I have found what I thought was to good to ever happen to me. What I always prayed for but had to stop looking and trust to happen upon it. It is another moment like many before where I find myself saying to God, "I don't deserve this, I can't ever thank you enough" and He replies with "I know, so stop trying and just keep walking beside me".
Oh, Mars Hill. It's been a lot of work. A lot of sweat and blood and tears. A long road to finding oneself. And our hearts bear the scars to prove it, but they also beat stronger as a result. For every trial, for every heartache, for every moment of darkness though, there have been many of light. And in the end, its worth all the struggles for what we had. And I can never forget that. I never will. And yes maybe, now it's time to move on. But I refuse to cut the ties because they are now the roots that ground me. They are what I cling to with all my might, the memories that keep me going and remind me that there is hope. Yes, I will move on, make new friends, have a life in my next step, but it will never remove my love for the Hill and I pray to never forget the lessons I learned there, the ones that have made me a better person. The ones give me pride in calling myself a LION!
