Bad news: I caught it.
I got better! (Monty Python) But this week was a little weird.
With how much I've talked about having hope and trusting our Heavenly Father, it seems unfair not to express my appreciation for one of the best examples I've had of this principle in my life. There are several people in our ward currently dealing with cancer and we visit them regularly. All of them are handling their situations much more gracefully than I know I would be, but one in particular always has me leave feeling humility and gratitude in a way I don't know if I had before. Her name is Sister P, and she recently sent her son out on a mission with the knowledge that she won't live to see him come home. He's the only one of their five children who is active in the church. Every day, we either call her or go and sit by her bed to read in the Book of Mormon with her because Jonathon (her son who is serving) challenged her to read the Book of Mormon with him before Easter. It's hard for her to hold the book up to read so it's usually us reading to her which is embarrassing because our French isn't anything special but she expresses abundant thanks to us and we usually have the chance to talk for a little bit after we read. The wisdom of her insights on the Book of Mormon exceeds her years (she's only about 55). We council with her regarding what we can do for her less-active daughters. Most powerfully, she always talks about the blessing her cancer has been to her family. The way it has strengthened her testimony and softened the hearts of her children. She tells us specific ways she has seen the hand of the Lord in her life that day.
I know that there are going to be times in my life that are a lot harder than anything I'm going through now. I've known that before and I think my biggest worry has been how to prepare myself in order to not curl up and die in the face of adversity. I still have a long way to go, but I'm beginning to see that I need to be trusting God now so that I'm not trying to shift my trust to Him when everything else seems unstable. If I'm already leaning on someone who cannot fall away, I'll be set. This isn't to say those hard things won't come or that they won't, in fact, be hard, but there is no better way to prepare. And no better way to ensure that those hard things are not the result of decisions I choose to make.
When my life gets hard, it would be wonderful if someone could refer me back to this email I am writing myself.
I love you all a ton! I forgot to make mental notes of what happened this week so I could write about it, so I don't even remember, but I feel like it was a good week. Set a baptismal date. Shoveled some snow. We're still running every morning (except our morning of being sick -- that stunk).
Have a great week, remember that you are a son or daughter of God and that He has prepared a way for you to be happy in this life and in the life to come,
Sister Lonas
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