It read:
"Wherever you live, you have friends who are SEARCHING for the greater happiness YOU HAVE FOUND in living the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They may not be able to describe that happiness in words, but they can recognize it WHEN THEY SEE IT in YOUR life. They WILL be eager to learn the source of that happiness, ESPECIALLY WHEN they see that you face trials just as they do."
I immediately thought back to my blog. When I first started my blog back in 2011, it was all about spiritual parallels that I would draw from my every day life (sometimes the lives of others) and what lesson I learned from them. It was a humble blog that was seldom read by strangers.. which I loved, because I was writing for me. Then, as time went on.. I learned about the blogging world. I became more preoccupied in how popular I was on the net, how many page views I had, how many followers I had, and how I could "out-cute" all the other blogs. In short, I lost sight in what was important.
After reading that passage in the Ensign, I knew that I needed to go back to using my mind to think spiritually about everything, so that I may once again draw spiritual parallels, and then blog about them to share my testimony. ESPECIALLY now that I have gained a strong audience that includes people who I don't personally know.
So in honor of my "going back to the basics", here is my first (in a long while) spiritual, (hopefully) uplifting post. :)
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As many of you know, St. George had RECORD BREAKING snowfall over this last weekend. As luck would have it, Jaron and I, and his family were all in St. George during it.
Jaron and I woke up early that morning and got ready to go to our sister-in-law's gradutation that I was asked to take pictures for. We planned on having family lunch afterward in celebration of her accomplishment AND for Jaron's mom's birthday. After that, we planned to do our last bit of Christmas Shopping. As we pulled into St. George a light snowfall began. The snow was big enough to be wonderful and beautiful, but it was also small enough that it still melted once it hit the ground- so I was happy! We however had no idea what was brewing outside during the graduation. After the graduation, as we were leaving to go to lunch.. it was heavily snowing and didn't look so beautiful and wonderful anymore. After we ate, we decided to still finish our Christmas shopping although it was still snowing. While we were in Target, it got dark and the snow storm started.. and the roads quickly progressed to becoming un-drivable.
Well, in order to make this long story short- we were snowed in. We got stuck in St. George. The gorge closed due to the snow, and we were stranded. It was late, my feet were aching horribly, and I just wanted to go home. The roads were terrifying, and we had already spun out twice. I was scared, nervous, and worried. Jaron and I were able to find a cheap hotel for the night.. for which I was grateful. (despite the bad directions from the worker, mess ups, wrong room, wrong keys, the wild goose chase for our right room in the snow, the smelly room, and strange room calls) The snow storm made everything awful. And it didn't stop there.
The next morning, I had to put on my clothes from the day before (yuck!). We also didn't have any toothbrushes. (DOUBLE YUCK!) At this point I just really, really, reeeeeeeaaaallly, wanted to get home. We couldn't go home though. The gorge was still closed, and would be closed for the next 4 hours. Not only did we have to check out of our hotel room, but St. George had told everyone to stay off the roads. We slowly made our way over to Jaron's brother's house, and I felt bad for crashing there because all of their in-laws were there too and I felt rude for taking up room. I was mad at the snow. I hated the snow. I wished the sun would just burn and melt it all. Why on earth did it snow like that any how?
Finally, after a while we were able to be on our way home. Once we got into the recently opened gorge.. my breath was taken away.
It was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen. The gorge is already beautiful on it's own.. but with snow? It was heavenly. As we drove through, I couldn't help but think that I couldn't believe how something that was so scary and terrifying and awful to us.. could make something so beautiful.
It reminded me of how life is.
How you can be going along doing your thing.. and unexpectedly things start to look a little bleak, and your life has taken a turn in a direction you did not expect. But you keep going because it doesn't look so bad. Then, things seem to get dark very quickly.. and the storm starts to fall. You then realize that there isn't anything you can do but stop.. and wait. Sometimes even though the storm has passed and the sun is up.. roads still seemed to be closed and you are still stuck in your trial. You may ask, "How long is this going to last?" or "What did I do to deserve this?" But during our trials it is important and vital to remember what is ahead.
Something beautiful lies ahead. Something you never dreamed you could have will be right there for the taking. Something breathtaking that will stop you in your tracks, and you will realize that without the storm.. it wouldn't have been possible. You will realize that the storm lead you to this point.. You will realize that your TRIALS... lead you to this point.
Sometimes the answers come through rain drops (or in this case snowflakes).. and sometimes your healing comes through pain.. But don't lose the hope that you will see something beautiful ahead.
A month ago Jaron and I were living in a beautiful house. We loved calling it home.. and what made it even more exciting was the nursery we had prepared that would soon house a child of our own. Now, here we are.. living in the upstairs of my family's house. Don't think I'm ungrateful, because I am so glad that my parents have done all of this for us.. they truly are our greatest blessing.. and I literally don't know where we would be living if it weren't for them.. But parts of me feel like I am at that point where my life took an unexpected turn.. and things aren't what I expected. I wonder how I got to this point.. or rather why life has brought us to this point.. but all I can do now is keep my head high. Know that my Heavenly Father loves me.. and HE KNOWS why. Things aren't as dark or snowy as they may seem... and I will hold to the hope that just like in the gorge... something beautiful lies ahead.