Last night I was able to attend a Relief Society “Pioneer Day” celebration at our church house. (Thank you, Mom, for watching the boys at home). The Relief Society leadership decided to show the movie “Ephraim’s Rescue”. It’s about some very specific incidents that led up to the Willie/Martin Handcart company rescue. I was very touched by the movie and the message it had for each of us in our own lives. I felt I should write it down, and share some of the insights I gleaned from it for myself.
God prepares each one of us in very specific ways, if we look hard enough we can see it happening.
Sometimes things happen to us in our own lives to prepare us to help someone else through a harder version of that same trial.
It struck me last night, that my experience with almost losing my insurance coverage, learning about “the system”, and also happening upon the BCCT program which I would not be able to use for myself was a very, very specific training that Heavenly Father gave me to help a friend who has just recently been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She was not too far along in the process and was able to take a side-step to get enrolled in the program BEFORE receiving any treatments. This should allow her to receive assistance with covering any treatments that aren’t fully covered by her family insurance, which will in turn help her to have less stress and more courage and less hesitation on choosing her treatment path. Which, in her case, could save her life…um, yeah, very humbling! My horrible, horrific, 5 day experience could have saved someone’s life, but may definitely at least save a lot of heartache in a life that is being turned upside down right now.
I want to always try to be a “good” person. To live my life in a way that would make my parents proud of my actions.
We all have many faults and shortcomings, but as we strive to “try” and do good for others and in our own lives, we will help ourselves be ready when the Lord calls for an ordinary, imperfect being to carry-out his work among his children.
My mom and dad used to tell me that they never really had to “punish” me when I was a child. I would usually be crying and come tell them what I did wrong. I was able to be pretty much self-governing with a few pointers from them. It wasn’t that easy and simple as I became a young adult and a wife and mother, but some of it was still there. I felt a sincere desire to have my parents be proud of me. Even now as an adult, I want to have my husband be proud of me, have my children be proud of me, and most of all My Heavenly Father be proud of me. I want to live my life in a way that I will be READY to DO whatever He has planned for me… I don’t want to have looked at someone and thought, I don’t really like them or how they have treated me, and in turn missed an opportunity to have really touched their life in a way that only I could have with their Heavenly Father’s guidance. Is it going to be easy? Heck, no! Is it going to happen all at once? Nope. Is it a goal worthy of “trying” daily to fulfill? You betcha!
I also realized that our own children generally strive for the same thing. And again, none of us are perfect, we all have many faults and shortcomings, but the important thing is to keep trying to do and be better, to recognize that in others. They are trying. It’s not going to be in the same way we would do it, sometimes it’s through “doing it the hard way” that they will learn. Yeah, that was totally a lesson I needed to learn myself a two of my own children have become adults. To love them unconditionally, and know that they are trying in their own ways to be a good man/woman.
(Post about my appointment with Dr. Lynch to follow later this evening)
Dalynn's Road to Recovery 