How I came to be here

When I was in kindergarten the school I was attending gave me a test. After I took that test the teacher sat my parents down and told them that they should not expect too much from me. They said that I was not very smart and I would be much happier if they just did not expect too much. That night my father asked me, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" I told him that I wanted to be a veterinarian. His response is that I would have to work very hard and get straight A's if I was going to accomplish that since veterinarians are some of the smartest people in the world and have to know tons of information about all kinds of animals. I took him at his word. When other kids were at recess I was doing my homework. When other children were going to birthday party's I was reading through wildlife magazines. It turns out I was not unintelligent. I just needed to work a little harder to reach the same goals. 

Fast forward a few years and we moved to a small town where the students were never expected to leave the area. Many told me I could not accomplish my dreams because I was a girl. Many told me I could not get into honors courses because of where I lived. I was fortunate that my mother fought for me because I had the scores and the grades. In fact, I was well ahead of my peers. My mother knew, and she believed in me. Thank you, Mom, for believing in me.

Fast forward a few years and my father had taken a bad break. We did not know how we would pay for college, but I was determined I would work my way through. Here is where I got a good break. I was offered a new scholarship which would pay my room and board. The only trouble was that there were some people who saw the scholarship as political leverage. On that note the students who were to receive the scholarship packed up and petitioned the state. There were lots of time changes and the typical hurdles. But this is how I met my first soon to be president: George W. Bush. He signed our scholarship into existence and I was college bound. Thank you to then Governor Bush, now President Bush, for believing in a bunch of kids with no way to pay for college and thank you Mom, for again helping us to fight our way through politics.

After college, I had to find a way to pay for medical school. So I joined the Navy. Of course, that road had many twists and turns and hurdles as well. But they all led here. Now I am a physician with two wonderful kids enjoying leadership opportunities on various levels. But my real goal is to empower you. 

The fact is that I am not the smartest, or the strongest, or the prettiest. No victory comes without pain and work and determination. But I was called for a purpose, and I will overcome. This website is for all those people that have been lied to and told that they cannot achieve great things. The people who have been told that they are less than or that they should just go home and give up. I am here to tell you that you are here for a reason. If you give up on that reason, everyone that would have been blessed by your success WILL suffer.

Although my story is on the blog, there are so many others. Some have suffered terrible physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. Some have had to endure a life of poverty with few opportunities for success but learned how to overcome from depths of the darkness so that there is no way that they can fail now. It is hard to keep your head when you are drowning. Believe me, I know! The truth is that your existence has power. Remember Corrie ten Boom learned her leadership in the melee of the holocaust. Harriet Tubman learned her leadership in overcoming slavery. Theodore Roosevelt learned his leadership overcoming Polio, and David Goggins learned his leadership at the hand of an abusive father. There is no victory without adversity. Adversity is just training for a better future - a stronger one. 

Today I want you to go home. Write down 10 things you like about yourself. Write down one or two talents that you keep coming back to, and at least one way that you can use those talents in a career. Write down five live goals and what you would need to achieve those goals. Start meditating on those goals and how you are going to accomplish them. Only you can take the first steps. No one can do it for you.  But know this. You are enough. God said so, so you have to believe it.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made - Psalm 139:14

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor can the mind imagine the things that I have for you - 1 Cor 2:9

I have a plan and a purpose for your life, it is a plan to prosper you and not to harm you - Jer 29:11

All things work together for good - Rom 8:28

I am not saying it is going to be easy! I am not saying it is going to turn out the way that you pictured in your mind. What I am saying is that God desires for you to use your talents and not to squander them. Because if you squander them then everyone who you were suppose to bless will miss out!