Faith in all things...

Yesterday my sister and her family went through the culmination of one of the best and worst things in their lives all at the same time.  I won't go into details as it's not my place, but I do want to share what I learned from the experience.

Faith can get you through anything.  I wish I had learned it sooner.  Watching someone I love so much going through something so hard over the past few months, I have seen a range of emotions and feelings...but the one that dominated them all was faith.  Through faith (and I'm sure lots of prayer), they saw things fall into place in a way that made going through this trial as easy as it was possible for it to be.  It will probably be one of the most chaotic years that their lives as a family will ever see, but as I watched what seemed like the sky falling down on them from all sides...my sister was firm in her faith.

Everytime we talked over the past few months, she told me that she knew things would be okay...that Heavenly Father was looking out for them and that they would make it through.  She even told me she felt blessed.  Circumstances that would cause most people to question their beliefs and to maybe even curse the heavens...were met by my sister and her amazing husband...with faith.

As someone who has struggled with their own faith and testimony over the past 15 years, this was a huge eye-opener for me.  If they could hold firm under these circumstances, what was my problem?  The things that had shaken my faith began to seem small and even petty some of them.  Sure, I can list all the things that made me doubt and made me go inactive from church for so long.  I could list all the reasons I didn't want to go to church and all the bad things that had happened to me or that people had done to me.  And I have done so in my mind countless times.  But how many times have I sat down and made a list of all the GOOD things in my life that have come from my belief in God?  How many times have I made a list of all the things I'm grateful for or a list of all the tough things that He has helped me through?  Other than on Thanksgiving?  Maybe once..if that.

Even this weight loss journey of mine.  How many times has Heavenly Father given me the strength to get through it when I was really struggling (which I do more often than not).  How many times has he helped to keep me both mentally and physically strong as I try to push my body to do things it's never done before?  How many times has He made me feel loved even when I'm really not loving myself?  I'd say it's a lot...but I ignored it for years and now it's all kind of hitting me at once.  It's pretty overwhelming.

I feel like I'm starting to ramble and all the thoughts in my head aren't coming out the way I want them to, so I'll wrap this up.  In short, I am grateful that I'm starting to find my faith again.  I'm grateful for a family that constantly builds me up to be a better person and that sets an example of the kind of person I want to be.  I am especially grateful for a sister who through her own trials, helped me to open that door again.  My life is truly blessed because of it.  Faith in all things....man...I never realized how important that really was.