The other day, I received an email from M, a girl who’s been reading this blog. Her email brought me back to this post I wrote about Alexis & Nika—their life and their death and the story that they left behind. Which, ultimately, reminded me once again why I blog, and why I hope and strive to live a life that inspires.

“The first impulse is always one of love.” said Alexis.

I cannot imagine a life without love. I make a mental checklist of all the things in my life that count for something, and all of them are because of, or inspired by, love. In the same way, I know how it’s like when something is driven by the opposite of love, or the lack of it—things that usually end with half-baked work, or unnecessary pain, or senseless anger, or hurtful and traumatizing words you can’t anymore take back, or worse, broken relationships.

I know we can’t exactly live in a perfect world and have unicorns and butterflies all over the place, but we do have a choice to fill our little worlds with positivity, and encouragement, and words of hope; and cut sources of negativity in the process.

It is in that note that this blog was brought to life. Once, I said, “There was just no way I could blog without giving away a huge serving of my heart.” That’s just the kind of blogger I am, and what Chasingdreams.net is all about. More than just digitally documenting my life, I’ve always prayed that this blog will reach people and make some form of positive change. To inspire. To encourage. To give hope.

And so, when someone writes me and tells me that something I wrote gave her hope, or helped her through sleepless nights, I take it as an affirmation that this site is serving some greater purpose than simply being an online pensieve of a happy, giddy dreamer.

M wrote:

Hi Rhiz!

You probably don’t remember me. The last communication we had was about my orders from the Dreamerie. I’ve been meaning to send you an e-mail pero I was just a little shy since we don’t really know each other personally. I guess, I wanted to share with you a few things.

The first time I came across your blog.. it was one of those sleepless nights induced by a broken heart. Lol. It sounds funny now but that time, I was really devastated. If my memory serves me well, it was your blog about Alexis and Nika that I read. I was drawn to your blog because of your stories of faith. I needed those that time. I felt emotionally and spiritually drained that year.

Though we don’t know each other personally, I feel happy that you’ve tied the knot and I also want to share with you that I’ve found someone also. Someone who has allowed me to renew my relationship with the Lord.

Congratulations to you and your husband! God bless both of you.

Thanks, M, your email made my day. :)

I love knowing that I’m part, albeit a tiny portion, of a bigger story. Bigger than myself, and my dreams.

Today I praise God for people like M, and Shadz, and Joanne, among others—girls who were once strangers, but I now consider kindred spirits who share my hopes of spreading love and inspiration to this world.

And for people like Alexis and Nika, and my Dad, who lived lives that are still inspiring people long after they’re gone.