The Best Things

I really hate the bad things.  Sometimes they feel so overwhelming.  Sometimes I feel like they are going to last forever and that things will never be the same again.  Sometimes, I can't imagine that they could ever lead to something good. 

Life can be so very hard.  And there are terrible things that happen.  I have had to learn to trust through them.  People sin, they make mistakes, either on accident or on purpose.  It can be impossible to tell which.  But I know that I have made mistakes myself, and the more I read about the atonement of Jesus Christ, the more that I am aware of how much I need it in my own life.  For me, not just for anyone else.  I can honestly say, that as the years pass, I realize that the really bad things have brought me strength and blessings that I never could have realized without them.  I believe that there are always blessings that we gain after the trial is over.  We continue to be blessed by a very loving Heavenly Father.  He doesn't take away the trials, but He does provide the blessings.  I am learning to trust that He will give me the things I need to make it through. 

I have had some hard times, but those things have made me who I am today.  They have given me the strength and love and perserverence that I need to make it through yet more trials.  My dreams have ended up coming true, just not the way I planned.  Today's life is so much better than my own visions of the future. 

I have learned to weather the storms of life.  I wish I could say that I always did it cheerfully and graciously, but sometimes I go kicking and screaming through the trials.  Nevertheless, I am grateful to stand here today and to acknowledge the blessings. 

I know that some of the very worst things in life, lead us eventually to some of the greatest blessings that we will ever experience.  I am not saying that it is easy, as a matter of fact, it is really, really hard.  But I am saying to hold on.  To know that the light will come.  To have faith in tomorrow.  And most of all, the know that your Heavenly Father wants you to know joy.  He wants you to be blessed.  He wants you to be happy. 

And so, today, in the midst of trials, I await the blessings, and I know that they will come.