TRIALS - They Can Make You BITTER, or BETTER; the Choice is Yours! :)

Here I am... posting AGAIN, for the THIRD time within a week - and I hadn't been writing regularly for QUITE some time. I wonder if anyone has discovered this. :o I don't advertise. I should tell my friends and family when I write, but I don't. I just figure those who can benefit from it will stumble upon it. :)

Well, the reason I am writing is because I'm learning A LOT. And that brings me JOY! :D Unfortunately, I tend to learn more when things go wrong rather than right... so that also means I have had some challenges lately. :o I have to emphasize, though, that those challenges ARE BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE. ;) God always seems to use them to teach me something. Here is a quote that I recently came across that sums up what I think of trials and how they CAN bring JOY, if you let them...

Miles and I have gone through several really hard things recently. Thankfully, we have had each other to help us through. :D (I love that man!) And we have had the Lord! :)

I know I need to redirect my thoughts AND find comfort, and I know of nothing better than the scriptures to help with this; so I usually go to the scriptures and ask the Lord to help me to know what to read. I used to do it with just the standard works (Bible, Book of Mormon etc.), but the past couple years, I also do it with words from our current, modern day prophets and seers - through General Conference talks! :D The results are simply AMAZING! :) I believe in the saying, "If you want to talk to the Lord, PRAY. If you want the Lord to talk to you, READ HIS SCRIPTURES."

Sometimes I don't recognize the personal application immediately. Sometimes I have to ponder on them for a while and read them a few times before the pieces come together in my mind. Like they did today... :)

I have been led the past couple days to a particular conference talk, repeatedly. I didn't even realize it until I started reading it for the second time and went, "Hey! This is the same one I was prompted to read yesterday!" That happened before work this morning. I read one, again, for about the third or fourth time... wondering WHY the Lord wanted me to read this, but KNOWING that He did; I was drawn to it!

After reading it I went to work. Towards the end of the day, after hours of pondering and speaking to the Lord through prayer, I remembered things that have happened during these current trials, and a message given in that talk suddenly had personal application to me. I could finally SEE what happened in these situations and WHY they went south. I could see that the Lord was teaching me a principle through these trials, in answer to my prayer for help with another important struggle in my home and family. I was able to see, first hand, the results of heeding the counsel given in this talk, and the results of not heeding it. I was able to see what I could do to make matters better (or worse) in my home... :D

Suddenly, losing THOUSANDS of dollars seemed a very small price, for the huge reward that would come in my family if I learned that principle and applied it well to help my sons. I think the Lord may have caused these things to peak at the same time - just to wear me down, so I could mess up big enough to learn from it! MISTAKES - in this light - now appear to be treasured blessings! They help us to not make the same mistake in other settings where the stakes are so much higher!

So... I am THANKFUL for the trials God lets me go through.
I am THANKFUL for all that I can learn from them.
I am THANKFUL that I have the freedom to become BETTER, instead of BITTER...

Corine :D