“ Anne Lamott says in Traveling Mercies, I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of… Melanie Shankle
“ When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our p… Melanie Shankle
“ Someday you’re gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You’ll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing. ELIZABETH GILBE… Melanie Shankle
“ And you know what I realize now? That we're all waiting on something, no matter where we are in life. It's the human condition. Melanie Shankle
“ ...motherhood is the thing in a woman's life that catches her by total and complete surprise. Melanie Shankle
“ Real motherhood is different. It's better and it's messier and it's more complicated. It will break your heart and make you laugh harder than you ever imagined. You find yourself alternating between f… Melanie Shankle
“ I watched her with the crab as she ignored all my admonitions that the poor crab just needed to be set free if he was to have any chance of surviving. And God showed up there on that beach to teach me… Melanie Shankle
“ But my personal favorite words of wisdom came from Gulley during the last thirty minutes of the trip, when she broke up a backseat scuffle by declaring, 'When you lick the person sitting next to you,… Melanie Shankle
“ God gives us these raw, little people, and we have to form them and mold them and teach them how to operate in society. And if we get a glimpse of all the ugliness that lies right beneath our own poli… Melanie Shankle
“ Not one thing we've done changes that we are his. That he created us and loves us with a love more fierce and loyal than any we will ever know. He isn't looking for perfection. He's looking for humble… Melanie Shankle
“ Which is why we have now added a vow to our friendship that we will never ever "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" each other. That at we will always talk things out and never allow miscommunication to… Melanie Shankle
“ I believe that is what happened during this time in my life. God had other things for me, and he knew me so much better than I knew myself, so he moved me along to a new place. It certainly didn't les… Melanie Shankle
“ Sometimes you can look back on times in your life and know that God was guiding you even when you didn't know you were supposed to be listening. Melanie Shankle
“ You hear so many people talk about finding their soul mates only in relation to who they marry, but I think that, as women, our real soul mates are often found when we recognize some version of oursel… Melanie Shankle
“ Of course there was no way my mind could have comprehended all that this friendship would become. There are probably only a handful of times in our lives when someone who will change us forever walks… Melanie Shankle
“ It was the beginning of learning that I can't look to any one person to be my security blanket, and that my value goes deeper than one person's opinion of me. I learned that friendships are fragile an… Melanie Shankle
“ We both learned how to be a friend by watching the women who came before us. Women who taught us that it's okay to show someone who you really are-that when you stop hiding behind a mask of perfection… Melanie Shankle
“ Some roads we travel in life can feel like the ones that might break us, but that's why God surrounds us with people who will cheer us on and wipe our tears and listen as we pour out our hearts. Becau… Melanie Shankle
“ When Perry and I walked into the hospital waiting room and I saw her sitting there, I began to cry, because that's what friendship looks like: knowing your friend better than she knows herself and bei… Melanie Shankle
“ Because that's what friends do. They speak the truth when you've lost your way, pick you up and brush you off , tell you that you're going to make it to the other side, and cheer you on until you get… Melanie Shankle
