Aunt Ruth came over yesterday and brought coloring book shirts for the kids to color. It was really cute. They had a lot of fun coloring and being together.
We also spent a lot of time with our little cousins. Everyone really enjoyed holding Aurora and taking care of her. It was fun to play with such a cute baby for the day.
We celebrated John Derek's Birthday this week. He was so excited to have his birthday in Utah. Grandma Christensen had us sing him happy birthday and she put a candle in his pizza for lunch. Michael insisted on us singing both birthday songs. John Derek loved having family over and loved all the presents. I think his favorite one was a real life jaw breaker. He is still working on eating that one.
John Derek even decorated his cake. He wanted a football field. He did a great job. I was struggling with the goal posts and finally turned them over to my football brother and within minutes he had the goal posts done. Brother's are the best!
The Gift of Being Broken
It’s been in moments like that, when I feel most vulnerable and the most broken, that I have felt the Savior’s love the strongest. He does not condemn me for my weakness or demand that I move faster; He stays by my side. Every time I take the sacrament, it reminds me that it’s OK that I’m broken, because Jesus was broken too. He is “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” and with His stripes, I am healed (see Isaiah 53:3–5).
I am grateful for the gift of being broken. God has shown me that He loves me and uses me not in spite of the fact that I’m broken, but because of it. As Christ says in Ether 12:27, “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”
I’ve reflected a lot on the meaning of that scripture. I don’t think it means that all our weaknesses will be taken away, but rather through Jesus’s atoning sacrifice, beautiful relationships with God and with our fellow men can grow from them. When we are weak, we realize the need for our Savior, and He comes to us. No matter our weaknesses and shortcomings, with Him standing beside us, hand in hand with Him and with those we love, we are whole.
I thought this was beautiful. Reminding me that He is not expecting perfection. Earlier this week I struggled with depression. Those feelings of unworthiness, weakness, inadequacy, etc. very apparent. This time, however, I knew better than to believe the words in my mind, but instead to hope, to have faith, in my Savior and in my Father in Heaven. I knew it would pass and that I would be okay again. I am so grateful for that knowledge.
Several of my loved ones are having a difficult time right now. Some are carrying heavy burdens that they cannot give to anyone else but their Savior. Some are in the hospital having to deal with the difficulties of our physical bodies and learning to live with what we have been given. Some are making difficult decisions that will affect the rest of their lives and those around them. Some are just trying to make it to tomorrow without being swallowed up in today. I am so grateful for a Father in Heaven who I know loves me and them. I am grateful for their love, I am grateful for prayer. I am grateful to know that this life is not the end. That even these trials will not last forever but will be resolved. I am grateful for the knowledge that it will all work out.
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