My fiance was the one who encouraged me to take a leap of faith! I was preparing to take the LSATs and apply to law school, and I had been going to a night class every Sunday for almost a year to get ready! Throughout the class, he kept telling me I should become a writer, not a lawyer. But I didn't listen to him until I came home from the LSAT and literally burst into tears not because I thought I had done poorly, but because I had hated it so much! That very day I decided to throw away all my law school prep and apply to MFA programs :) I am so much happier now!

After I finished college, I had some trouble deciding which direction my life should go in. I languished for about a year in retail jobs before deciding to go back to school to pursue my dreams of being a writer. The night before the move, however, I totally freaked out and became convinced that I shouldn't move away from my friends and family. After wrestling with it all night, I decided to take a chance on a new life and go for it--whatever happens. The first day of orientation all the new students stood up and introduced ourselves. When the 4th guy told us his story, I looked up into the blue eyes of my future husband.

Being engaged to a man who going off the navy boot camp next month is my leap of faith. I can't look for a job because I don't know where he will be stationed next year. I don't know how often I will see him in our mariage (we have no idea how many 6 month cruises he'll have to take or if he'll have to go to Iraq). I know for sure that he is worth it!

I have a two-pronged leap of faith. First, it has to be my fiance. When we first started dating, we were both working at Walt Disney World as interns. Halfway through the internship, he moved back home to Georgia for a job opportunity. We decided to stay together. After the internship was over I moved home to California, and we decided to stay together even with the cross-country distance, and this was after 3 months of dating. Our relationship has been majority long-distance as it will continue to be until we get hitched next July! That leap of faith was well worth it. My second leap of faith happened most recently, when I decided to go for my passion and what makes me happy - photography. I'm starting my own photography business, specializing in weddings and portraits. My fiance has encouraged me since my first thoughts about it. I love what I'm doing and hope to go full time in the next year!

I fell in love. And for some that might not seem like such a leap, it may come easily to many. But to fall in love - to give your whole heart and soul to someone, to trust someone so much that the barriers i had up have completely shattered in his presence - that was huge for me. It was the scariest time for both of us, wading through such uncertainty, fighting those instincts to push him away, to keep yourself from getting hurt. It was an enormous leap of faith, but the outcome was DEFINITELY worth it ; )

I took a leap of faith when I decided to move to DC last year. It changed my life 100%. New job, new city, and new life experiences. I would have never met my fiance if I had stayed in my old "comfortable" life!

My leap of faith came four years ago when I decided to be a mentor in a low-income, rural high school that was full of at-risk teens. I signed up to go to lunches three days a week and sit down with teenagers who looked at me like I was crazy. I was your average granola-girl trying to find something in common with girls who'd been through so much. Four years later, I am regularly attending camps to increase these girls' self-confidence and recognition of their internal value. Our cabin sizes average around twenty girls or so a trip. I have watched high school girls deal with pregnancy, drugs, gangs, abuse, and the list goes on. What I can offer has nothing to do with what I have in common with them... I am simply "there" for them. As I am watching these girls prepare to graduate and move on to college in the spring (a few of them ivy-league), I myself am preparing to graduate to a new place in life, as a bride... my fiance is also a mentor in another local high school. Not only was I able to make a difference in the lives of these girls, but they in turn have made a difference in mine. Not to mention that I found the love of my life in the process of helping others, and gained a partner for a future of continuing the good work we've begun.

My leap of faith was to leave my beloved family in Texas to move to Mississippi for graduate school. I was struggling to find my place and was in a relationship that was not right for me. So I decided to embark on my own. I am a twin and my sister and I are very close and it was (and has been) hard on us, but I needed to know that I could be independent and self sustaining. I have since completed a master's degree and continue my education each day. I work in Mississippi as a health educator and am engaged to an incredible man that I would have never met had I not taken this leap. And I really enjoy Mississippi! I am the happiest I have ever been, and finally things feel right. Plus, i no that no matter what, I accomplished these things and I can be independent and be a partner in life and in love.

I've had so many leaps of faith in my life that have all lead me to where I am now!!! I surviving being asaulted by my ex-husband for 4 hours one night (I escaped with a paper bag full of my most important belongings the minute I could and I just celebrated 20 years of escaping that nightmare!). Learning to trust people again, especially men. Moving to a new state by myself. Falling for a friend that was recently widowed despite all those voices in my head saying this is a bad idea!!!! He needs more time to heal!!!! But everything has worked out beautifully and I feel very blessed. Things just fell into place for us and now we're getting married in February AND expecting our first baby! God is good!!!

I wish I could take credit for this, but I am so not the hero of this story. It's a bit convoluted, but I'll try to explain...

3 years ago, my now future husband (B) was at a music festival in Memphis (he was going to school in Alabama at the time). I was living happily, 2600 miles away in Southern California. At this festival, he met a girl with dark hair and blue eyes (as do I) and she slipped him a piece of paper with a website address on it. When B got back to school 3 days later, he looked her up. Only she was me - the URL was my blog.

(note: I have seen the paper, and think a) she could have misspelled her own blog as there were a number of adult beverages served at this event b) it's barely legible, so the possibility exists that we misinterpreted the address or c) as cheesy as it is, it could have been fate.)

Fast forward 3 months: after emailing daily, we found out we had more in common than initially anticipated. And after a particularly gratuitous Auburn victory, he was emboldened enough to call me. And we talked for 9 hours. Another 3 or so months later, it was the day after Christmas and I had just driven back to Southern California, talking to him the entire way through the Central California Valley. On a whim I told him he should fly out (I had frequent flier miles set to expire) - and he totally hesitated. I don't know who he talked to, or what they told him, but he did it. And as of New Years Eve, we've known we were meant to be.

One and a half long distance years later, thousands of dollars in plane tickets and phone bills, I was getting tired of being apart - and as great as we were, I didn't know if I could last another 2 years while he finished school (a fact which makes me cringe to admit). So when I told him of my reservations and put the option of "dating other people" on the table, he knew it was make-or-break time.

2 months later, having applied to transfer to school out in sunny CA - with no car, no job, and no football team to speak of (which as a boy from Alabama is a the biggest deal of all!) - he is here with me. Because he was man enough to call my bluff.

And even though we're still in the planning stages of the wedding, our happily ever after has already begun.

I took a leap of faith in taking my current job. It is only for a year, so I'll still be looking for a job again soon, and it's another hour away from my FH, but I love it. Sure, it's hard to be 2-hours apart, but the end is in sight, and I really believe that it was the best thing for my career. And I like my job! We're both planning to move at the end of my time here so that we can both be in the same city, and this has given us time to plan and find just the right fit.

My fiance and I were the proud parents of the most wonderful puppy. She was our light and our sunshine and I truly looked forward to spending my evenings and weekends with her. Stella brought so much joy to our lives and even helped my fiance propose to me (she came to wake me one morning with my ring tied to her collar).

When we took her in to be spayed, she never came back home. The veterinarian accidentally overdosed her anesthesia and she passed away the day she turned six months old.

After the shock and horror of it all (and days of crying), I took a leap of faith and jumped in the car for a several-hour drive to meet another potential dog to join our family in Stella's absence.

Lola was everything Stella wasn't -- she's impulsive and rowdy. She fights against our cuddles and ignores our training. Yet, the love of this stubborn little dog (who sheds all over everything and refuses to let us clip her nails or brush her teeth) has helped us to learn and grow after Stella's death and continue to build our little family. We've been able to love someone who obviously doesn't always love us, and to learn about loss and luck and love and humor as we build our little family.

My leap of faith would be my relationship with my fiance! :)

We were best friends since high school (over 10 years ago now!). When he approached me at the end of college about being in love and knowing that he wanted to marry me one day, I thought he was crazy! Of course, I respected and "loved" him, but didn't want to ruin our friendship. My father had also recently passed away from cancer, so I was in an angry, jaded phase in my life where I wanted to wallow in depression and not open my heart to anyone, in fear of the chance of letting myself be so connected with someone and then possibly feeling the pain of loss all over again. Well, after much commitment and persistence on his part, I decide to take the leap of faith and love and now we are planning our wedding for next year, one day before our 7 year anniversary!

We would love to use Chewing the Cud invites! We are such huge fans of their work!!

hmm... so many! Definitely getting married was one, but I'd say moving across the US to live by myself, hundreds of miles away from my family, was a huge leap of faith. It worked out though - I stayed for 10 years before moving back to the East where I belong. :)

My moment came while I was working an internship and I finally got two real job offers at the same time. One was with the Hornets (NBA) Basketball team and the other was writing for the Sports Business Journal's online daily edition. The New Orleans Hornets were temporarily located in Oklahoma City, OK because of Hurricane Katrina. It was quite a big decision for me: to stay at home in Charlotte and continue living in the same city I had lived all of my life (other than a few years in college) or move half way across the country. I spoke with one of my mentors and it was something that he said that helped me make the final decision. I think he knew I would miss out on an experience if I did not take that leap of faith and move to Oklahoma. I have never regretted my decision. I had an amazing experience working for the Hornets and I also met my fiance there who also worked for the Hornets! That's the best part!! It's so cool how the decisions you make can lead you to something so wonderful!!

I took my leap of faith 8 and a half years ago when, in high school, my best friend and I decided that we both wanted to be more than just friends. Despite worries about ruining a fabulously strong friendship, there was something that pulled us together. We'll be getting married 9 and a half years after our very first kiss!

i quit my security blanket job in finance to try my hand in the fashion industry, of which i know nothing about (except how to say "oh, how pretty...i. want. it.") it isn't the most exciting leap of faith...but i did throw away 8 years of climbing the corporate ladder to become a bottom feeder with 25% of the earning power. it's only been 3 weeks...but 3 weeks of going to work because i want to and not because i have to. i'll also never have to wonder 'what if' ever again.

worth it? like, totally.

I should have loved New York City. I had an undergrad in photography and was a couple of semesters into an MFA program. I only ever hearted New York. The only person I wanted to share the urban wilderness with was on the very opposite coast. To a chorus of What? Oregon? Are you nuts? You know that a sweat shirt is part of the dress code, right? How can you be sure... and every possible story about every boyfriend that ever turned out wrong, I jumped on a plane to see about a boy. With absolutely no plan other than the future resolve of an eighty year old lady who knows that she never let love go gently by. I found a job, my own place and we turned our long distance affair into a daily romance. We are tying the knot next August. I am wearing a sweat shirt as I write this but then again, I am ready for bed.

I chose not to go to grad school immediately after college, much to my mother's dismay. I took a year to think and putz about and now am in the Washington Conservation Corps doing exactly what I wanted to do for a career. I'm hoping to stay in for two years then go towards my Masters and stay in the Department of Ecology. I make nothing - it's a volunteer position, actually - but I can see every day that my work is helping the environment. I mean, my team of six people planted over 300 trees last week alone!

I was supposed to be married in November of 2005, but just a week before the wedding I called the wedding off. Reason: I had fallen in love with someone at work and in the bottom of my heart knew I couldn't get married to someone else. I was very good friends with this guy and he was the first one I called after the break up and returning of the ring. I took the biggest risk of my life in hoping that my unrequited love would be returned and I can say my leap of faith paid off, we are now engaged to be married in Barbados in June 2009!
Thanks for the chance to participate and tell you about my amazing self-growth story...

My leap of faith is shared with my fiance: Not only are we living apart (and have been for three and a half years), we have no idea where we're going to live after we get married. There are a lot of little jumps that go into that leap — we're both very close to our families and they live 1,000 miles apart; I own a house in Oregon that's too small for us to share; we're fairly sure we don't want to live where he lives or where I live — but we have to have faith that the big things and little things alike will come together. We are both very deliberate, planned people, so not knowing where we'll work or live in a few months is terrifying, but it's also exciting to think of all the possibilities before us.

My fiance and I have been together for 9 years & we have been totally smitten since day 1. The problem was that we were both so young & so not ready for major commitment. Over the years we have grown apart, grown together, traveled apart, traveled together. I never stopped believing that someday it would all work out & that the confusion would pay off in the end. For the last 2 years we have been happily in love, in the same city, and it all feels so new again. We know the core of each other, our good side and our bad side. Here's the twist: I always thought that the marriage piece was the happily-ever-after-make-it-all-worthwhile bit, but looking back I know that what has enriched us the most is the journey we've already taken and the discovery that came with it. We are uniting our lives next August with 100 of our closest friends and family, but I don't believe that the leap of faith will ever end. Our marriage will most certainly be tested in our future together; our faith in each other and in what we share will be what keeps us on track. I am looking forward to one leap after another!

P.S. Thank you for the contest!!

I never wanted to get married. I just didn't think it was in the cards for me. I am pretty independent, like to do things my own different way and just didn't think I'd be able to hitch myself up to one person without giving up a part of me. And here's the leap of faith: I met a really cool guy. He is funny and quirky and thoughtful and darling. He makes my life so bright and I am the very best version of me with him anywhere in my life. It's hard to argue with a good thing, and so I jumped...

I am a scientist. Well, a biologist actually, but the mere mentioning of this instantly ends party-time banter. It’s a shame, given the sordid story of how I chose my Ph.D. thesis lab. In graduate school, we have semester long rotations where we test-drive a lab. Not only do we get to kick the tires, we run experiments, interact with other scientists, and get a sense of whether we can be happy in a given lab environment for the next five to six years of our degree program. My first rotation was great, the science was interesting, the people were engaging, but I still had reservations. The second rotation offered exceptional science, far more independence, and frequent group meetings with a Nobel Laureate. Most people would have chosen this lab in a second, however, there was something missing… one rather amazing person.

During my first rotation, I had befriended a smart, irreverent, and beautiful technician in the lab. We bonded over the Bunsen burner discussing gene cloning techniques and microscopy. She alone made this seemingly easy decision infinitely more difficult and complex; having the heart and mind collide is not something scientists manage well. In the end, I joined the first lab. She and I would escape for lunch to discuss everything from mechanisms underlying cell movement to the best place in NYC for bagels. In the four years since that decision, she has moved out of NYC to attend medical school, while I finish my degree. We might not see each other much, but we have talked with each other every night for our last three years apart --me about science, her about medicine. It might have been a leap of faith to join my thesis lab, but there is no question in my mind why that technician and I are getting married.

I am right on the cusp of taking my leap of faith. I've always been a cautious person, never riding my bike too fast or opening up to someone enough to love them fully. I opted to study biology in college, with the idea that it was "safe" and would offer me a good strong career that I could rely on for the rest of my life.
So I work here, as a scientist. And I hate it. My saving grace, and the thing that gets me through my days, is my photography. Over the past few years, I've been taking photos, and I've been getting better. I always said to myself, that one day, I'd really make something of myself with this photography thing. One day, right?
Then, within just a few weeks, my perspective changed. My twin sister had given birth to a gorgeously fat baby girl, who was perfect in every way except one. Her heart didn't work right. How a family deals with this type of news is amazing.
What's even more amazing is having this same family have to deal with my own diagnosis of cervical cancer, which came just a few weeks after my niece's diagnosis. We'll have our surgeries, her and I. And we'll be fine. But we both will live our dreams more fully. I won't return to my science job. I will do my best to follow my passion, and take photographs. She will get bigger, get teeth, learn to crawl and walk. We will celebrate her every accomplishment, knowing how miraculous each one is.
I was truly shocked when my then-boyfriend of just a few months propsed marriage. I didn't understand why he wanted to be a part of such a broken family. I asked, and he said he knew it was his job to fill in the cracks, and hold us all together. He wanted to be a part of our family, forever. We are excited to be planning an October 2009 wedding.