Lindsey Graham has been my inspiration. Now I’m proud to be a South Carolinian.

Courage. Sometimes it is big and bold. Sometimes it seems to blend in so seamlessly with the passing of the days that it is unrecognizable. It exists not only in bright, shining victories but also in the mire and trenches of battles fought and lost, and in the souls of those who had the heart and will to engage in the fight.

So it is with respect and gratitude that I thank Sen. Lindsey Graham for his recent efforts on health care. Countless people in Washington and across the country spout off ideas about how to fix the nation’s health law, but few have the courage and commitment to try and do something about it.

But Sen. Graham did just that. And like every other issue he has worked on, he did so with guts, honesty and a desire to help people.

It’s not the victories we win but the fights we choose to take on that ultimately matter most.

As President John Kennedy said, we must do things “not because they are easy but because they are hard.”

Sen. Graham daily fights the good fight, with courage, faith and heart, along with a faith in God and in our country, and he does the best he can to help South Carolina and the United States. May our leaders always have a strong moral compass, follow that compass and do their best, anchored by integrity, humility, honesty, kindness and courage.

That is the leadership I’ve always seen in Sen. Graham.

It is why I have always respected and supported him.

It is why, although I’ve never met him, he has been a profound inspiration to me through the most difficult time in my life — the deaths of my mom, a dear friend and my grandmother, a cross-country move from Colorado to South Carolina, and battling chronic illness, all in the past six months — and why I am so proud that he is now my senator.

It has always been my dream to live in South Carolina. It is where God, my heart and my compass have lead me. So today I feel grateful and blessed to be a new resident of South Carolina, a beautiful state filled with gracious people and represented by a humble, kind, courageous man in the United States Senate.

God bless America, South Carolina and her people, and Sen. Lindsey Graham.