This is the real "I love you", regardless of what they do, you love them. When you are willing to swallow your own pride in order to help someone else.
Love goes beyond liking someone's personality and it surpasses the initial infatuation. When the bad days rain down and the baggage is exposed those that love you are still standing, right there next to you. It doesn't matter if there is a day that you don't see eye to eye on everything because you know that you will work it out. And the reason that you care enough to work through differences? Because you know who they really are, who they truly are and you love them for that. And the best part is that they love you for you too. That when you tell them stupid mistakes that you've made, they don't judge you or freak out on you, they stop and listen to what you have to say; they listen heart to heart. And when you are done, they take you in their arms and let you know that everything is okay and that they are there for you.
Love is what makes that moment possible.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Faith in Every Footstep
The other day I called my mom on my lunch break (a pretty normal activity for me) and we got into a big discussion about faith and healing... There are times in our lives that even though we are living faithfully, bad things happen. For example, my mom was approached by some people that are very close to her and they essentially told her that she hadn't been healed yet because she didn't have enough faith. False. I was floored by the response. Do we not believe in trusting God? Do we not admire Job for praising God even in horrific suffering? Do we believe in a "candy machine" God who gives us exactly what we want? Or do we trust him to allow us to grow through hard experience and stand by us to comfort us? Do we trust him enough to be faithful even when he allows us to walk through the fire of affliction?
Life happens. Every affliction that we experience isn't necessarily because God wanted us to suffer or to force us to go through those trials. However, because we are mortal we are subject to travails of the flesh. Because our Heavenly Father loves us he will not always save us from suffering, but he will lift us up and refine us. We have had and will have times of difficulty and sickness everyone does because we are mortal. The beautiful thing about the Atonement and our Heavenly Father's plan is that he makes it all work out. Even when the clouds gather and things seem grim, there is always a light. If God protected all of his "faithful" children from hardships, then how would they compare? When tested, would they pass? If we never experienced trails because of our "faith" what would we say when we met Job? Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to grow and become the best people that we can. So, he doesn't always shelter us from the storms of life. He will only allow us to experience what we can bear, but he knows we can take a lot more than we think we can. It is not a matter of whether there is faith enough to heal; it is a matter of faith enough to trust when things don't look good from our human perspective to continue trusting our Father. How much faith does it take to walking over a bridge as opposed to taking tht first step into the stream, trusting that God will provide a way? My mother trusts her Savior completely, she is in the prayers of many, many people. She is on prayer rolls around the western United States. She is not experiencing this because she lacks the faith to be healed, but rather, God is showing her how much faith she has, how strong she can be when she relies on her Savior.
Sometimes we wonder, is it because I wasn't good enough? Would I be experiencing this if I were more righteous and faithful. Truth be told, I'm not sure that is the question that really matters. No matter the reason for our afflictions, we have a loving Father who has the power to comfort, heal and strengthen. So why dwell on the problem or perhaps the reason for the problem. When the problem is our own and our trials come from sin we need to understand and repent. But it's my opinion that the most productive thing would be to dwell in the hope of Jesus Christ. The faith and hope that through our afflictions we can be sanctified. That hope has the power to motivate smiles even when the world is weighing down on us. Jesus Christ is there to comfort and support us. He wants us to succeed more than we do. He is standing by waiting to help if we will ask. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to recover from various things that life throws at us. But in the meantime we can find true comfort in trusting our Savior.
Life happens. Every affliction that we experience isn't necessarily because God wanted us to suffer or to force us to go through those trials. However, because we are mortal we are subject to travails of the flesh. Because our Heavenly Father loves us he will not always save us from suffering, but he will lift us up and refine us. We have had and will have times of difficulty and sickness everyone does because we are mortal. The beautiful thing about the Atonement and our Heavenly Father's plan is that he makes it all work out. Even when the clouds gather and things seem grim, there is always a light. If God protected all of his "faithful" children from hardships, then how would they compare? When tested, would they pass? If we never experienced trails because of our "faith" what would we say when we met Job? Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to grow and become the best people that we can. So, he doesn't always shelter us from the storms of life. He will only allow us to experience what we can bear, but he knows we can take a lot more than we think we can. It is not a matter of whether there is faith enough to heal; it is a matter of faith enough to trust when things don't look good from our human perspective to continue trusting our Father. How much faith does it take to walking over a bridge as opposed to taking tht first step into the stream, trusting that God will provide a way? My mother trusts her Savior completely, she is in the prayers of many, many people. She is on prayer rolls around the western United States. She is not experiencing this because she lacks the faith to be healed, but rather, God is showing her how much faith she has, how strong she can be when she relies on her Savior.
Sometimes we wonder, is it because I wasn't good enough? Would I be experiencing this if I were more righteous and faithful. Truth be told, I'm not sure that is the question that really matters. No matter the reason for our afflictions, we have a loving Father who has the power to comfort, heal and strengthen. So why dwell on the problem or perhaps the reason for the problem. When the problem is our own and our trials come from sin we need to understand and repent. But it's my opinion that the most productive thing would be to dwell in the hope of Jesus Christ. The faith and hope that through our afflictions we can be sanctified. That hope has the power to motivate smiles even when the world is weighing down on us. Jesus Christ is there to comfort and support us. He wants us to succeed more than we do. He is standing by waiting to help if we will ask. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to recover from various things that life throws at us. But in the meantime we can find true comfort in trusting our Savior.
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