Daily Devotional

I wanted to write and let you all know that I am feeling much better since my last blog post.  It’s amazing how the Lord works when we need Him the most.  I have a little book of daily devotionals that I read each day.  The morning after writing that last entry, I opened my little book for a daily dose of inspiration. It is LDS (Mormon) based so the lady who’s quoted in the following was the president of the young women organization in our church.

Here is what I read:

“I know that our Heavenly Father keeps his promises.  I, like you, have been sorely tried in a variety of ways.  But this kind of seasoning teaches us that every burden on the back can become a gift in the hand.”

~Elaine Cannon, May 1982

Elaine Cannon, former Young Women’s general president, said: “One certainty of life is that each of us will meet some mighty test.  This is part of the plan.  Another thing that we can count on is that neither here nor hereafter are we suddenly going to emerge with qualities we haven’t developed or a pattern of living for which we have not prepared ourselves.  Adversity is an important part of the preparation for at least three reasons.  One, God knows whom he can trust and who, like Job, will stand firm and love him unconditionally.  Second, adversity well handled can increase our understanding and compassion.  And we will be more effective in helping others when we’ve had a few challenges of our own.  We just may need to be an answer to somebody else’s prayer.  And third, we draw closer to our Heavenly Father when we are in deep need…Attitude in adversity turns hopeless to hopeful.

That put so many things into perspective for me.  Although it didn’t take away the pain of that incident at the pool, it did give it a sense of purpose and meaning.  I am so very grateful for my faith.  I honestly don’t know how I would get through this without it.  Even through the pain and heartache, the blessings I’ve received are beyond what I could have imagined. My goal is to come out of this trial a much better person than I was going into it and knowing that my Heavenly Father is proud of me and the way I handled it.