Our attendees were calling this the most inspiring weekend they’d ever had. I smiled to myself, thinking how scared I’d been on the ride out. But I still had a nervous feeling in my stomach, and I knew it wouldn’t go away until after the fashion show.

Transitions in life are like storms at sea; they test the integrity of our character. It’s during these times of transition that we learn what we’re made of.

Are you feeling the urge, deep down inside, to start your own business too? Maybe you feel it when you talk about the dreams you once had. Use that feeling to begin again, to cast a new vision for your life. What would it look like to live your dream?

We’d just come back from our second trip to Maui in twelve months. Our kids were in private schools and, for the first time in a long time, we had more than enough. Yet, for the first time, my life felt empty.

On the Camino, I felt God tugging at my heart the entire time, reminding me to trust in Him. I imagined that’s how Peter must have felt when God asked him, Do you love me? And, like Peter, I always responded, Of course I trust you, Father! But God wants to see physical actions as well as words.

The women told me they had both been born and raised in Pamplona, yet had never done the Camino. They were shocked to hear I was traveling alone, and called me valiente—brave. Encouraged by their kind words, I thanked them profusely and continued on my way towards Pie de Perdon - a steep mountain range.

I woke up in France, alone and tired, with only my high-school French skills to depend on. Although I’d been overseas before, I had never traveled alone.  For the next 30 days, I would be completely on my own.

Here in the US, the word “pilgrims” makes us think of Thanksgiving: of tall-hatted English people and Native Americans, sitting together along a wooden table. When I first learned about pilgrims at five or six years old, I never dreamed that someday, I would be one too.  

All of us make mistakes and hurt others. Unfortunately, that’s just part of life. But one of the truest marks of someone’s character is how they handle those mistakes and those hurts that they cause. We may often demand immediate apologies from those who have wronged us, but are we so quick to offer the apologies when we have wronged others?

Imagine a beautiful mustang running wild and free in an open field, enjoying the freedom we all dream of. Sometimes, he feeds from a rancher’s trough and slips away before the rancher can touch him.

Is it the struggle that matters, or what we become as we engage in it?