I Can Do Hard Things

This past July my siblings and parents and as many of our family members who were able all gathered in Wyoming for a family reunion. We spent several days traveling together and enjoying picnics and barbeques and pizza, and nice hotels with comfortable beds and swimming pools and free breakfast buffets. We also visited several historical sites important to our family history of handcart pioneers who traveled west to find a better life for their families. We had the chance to pull handcarts up a rocky, dusty road, and to imagine what it might have been like to be traveling in this way, pulling all that we owned in a handcart. We experienced the open Wyoming wilderness and imagined what it must have been like to face the cold and storms and blizzards that stranded many of the pioneer travelers. We visited the little mountain cove where some sought shelter from the blizzards. We visited sites where many lost their lives. We saw small log cabins that were similar to the homes where our ancestors lived out the remainder of their lives.

My brother and sister who planned the events of the week had chosen a theme for our reunion: I CAN DO HARD THINGS THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. We gathered several times during the few days that we were together to listen to stories of courageous ancestors and other pioneers who bravely faced hard work and heat and cold and storms and snow and hunger and starvation and illness, and even death, because of their belief in Jesus Christ and their faith that they were doing what the Lord wanted them to do. We heard of other courageous people who sacrificed their time and food and clothing and physical health in order to rescue the stranded pioneers. We were all reminded several times during the reunion that we can also do hard things, just like our pioneer ancestors did, as long as we keep our faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

This has been an interesting summer/fall in my life with some pretty life changing events for me.
1. I started working full time for the first time in my life.
2. My “baby” has left home and gone off to college.
Neither of these events is something that I have looked forward to, and to tell the truth, I’ve been just a little bit unhappy with what life has given to me right now. I’ve always wanted to be Mom, have mostly 100% loved being Mom, and haven’t ever wanted that to change. Of course I’m still a Mom, but life won’t ever be what it was when my children were small and growing up. So, this is my hard thing right now.

As I mentioned before, this summer at the reunion we were all told several times that we can do hard things, just like our pioneer ancestors did, as long as we keep our faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. So, I will try to keep a positive attitude and do my best at figuring out what exactly I’m really supposed to be doing right now, and having the courage to do it the best way that I know how. I’m grateful that my children and my DH are all doing good things. I look forward to the future and know that many exciting blessings and events will come our way. I can do hard things, and I can be happy!