Everything happens for a reason. This is the statement that is at the core of everything that I believe. Growing up with a Jewish mother and a Christian father, there were always questions in my mind about exactly what I believed in. I was raised Jewish but still went to church on holidays with my dad. When I was little people constantly questioned me asking what I really did believe in, and for the most part, I usually answered “I don’t know.” As I watched both of my grandfathers get sick and eventually pass away I knew I needed to figure out what I believed in and could not continue to “not know.” My mom was a strong source of finding out what I really believed in. I believe in G-d. I believe that there is one being up in heaven that controls everything. I think that everything we go through in our daily lives is all part of a plan. The challenges in our lives are G-d’s way of making each of us stronger, of making us realize that there was a reason for each different “hill” in the journey of life.
The first situation in my life that made me realize that everything truthfully does happen for a reason was when I went through sorority rush at the beginning of this year. I came into school thinking “Ok, I know exactly what I am going to be.” What I did not realize was that everything was about to go the exact opposite way I thought. I eventually got cut by all but my two least favorite sororities. What I thought was going to be an easy process was actually incredibly emotional. The feeling of rejection is so disappointing and you cannot manage to make any sense in it. I felt like I could not see a reason for why I could not just get what I wanted. It took my three months to realize I am in the right place. I would of never had so many friends or even met some of my best friends had I not been in the sorority I am in. One little change and my college experience would have been completely different and I could not see how it would of actually of been better. Now that I have been put through this situation and come out a stronger person, I truthfully do believe that everything happens for a reason. When people tell me that something has gone differently than they planned I just say, “It will be okay, everything happens for a reason. You will see this once everything is better.”
Even though some of the challenges we get faced with are hard to deal with, in the end, they teach us a lesson. The death of my mother’s father made me learn what exactly it meant to love and care for someone even as their life slowly took a turn downhill. It taught me how to show my emotions, something I had never been able to do until this point. It took me eighteen years to realize that it was okay to cry, that it was okay to show emotions when something hurts. Every little challenge in our life is G-d’s way of making us stronger, of teaching us a lesson that we could not of learned on our own.