Over the years, I've learned that life isn't a piece of fudge cake. I've also come to the realization that you can strive for anything in this world, but you simply won't get their alone. You have to acquire, acknowledge, and appreciate the people who have been placed in your life. Each person is and will be specifically placed in our lives for a variety of reasons and one of the most important is to learn how to love and serve others. Community changes lives, let it change yours...

Here are 5 reasons why being surrounded by a community is so important:

1. Information

Let's be honest, how many times have you forgotten about an exam, important meetings, dinner plans, etc. There is usually always that friend who keeps you updated on all the 411. Those are the friends who often keep us on our toes when it seems like our brain has left the building.

2. Motivation

WHEN I MOVE, YOU MOVE, WE MOVE! That's what I want my community to feel like. I want to be able to motivate, be motivated, and share that motivation with everyone. You want to have people in your life who will positively push you outside of your comfort zone, people who motivate you to achieve the things you never thought you could and people who motivate you to be a better you, the BEST YOU.

3. Encouragement

Life gets hard and sometimes you feel hopeless. Surrounding yourself with good community is ideal for moments like that. Your friends and family are the ones who will make you feel loved, appreciated, and fill you with the Good Word which will lift you up out of that dark hole. I can't tell you how many times the various people in my life helped me through hardships with prayer, kindness, and love.

4. Truth

No one likes to admit when they're wrong, I'm sure we all agree. The people who know you the best will be there to tell you when you're wrong and steer you in the right direction.....and probably save your bottom from something disastrous.

5. Company

Sometimes we just need company. Someone to binge watch Fuller House with and laugh until your stomach hurts. Simply knowing that you are blessed with friends and family, is enough to want to appreciate their company and the amazing community you are provided with on a daily basis.

Being part of a community, not all only means you will receive these things, but it also means you will provide them.

Inform and be informed, motivate and be motivated, encourage and be encouraged, be truthful and listen to the truth, and provide good company and be surrounded by good company.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25