This quote is a reminder that mistakes come with moving forward. Mistakes come with learning new things.
I have only been a parent for 6 years now … and goodness I have made some mistakes.
Yes, parenting has been new territory for my husband and me, but we are constantly trying to learn and grow as we raise our children.
I feel like often times we beat ourselves up too much when we make mistakes… when in reality, the mistakes are what form us to be better.
Every baseball player strikes out, every runner loses a race at times, all people make mistakes.
I’m learning to NOT focus so intensely on those mistakes, but to more so, brush ourselves off, learn, and keep trying.
Heavenly Father knows mistakes are part of our journey… he provided the atonement for us to lean on always, and what a blessing it is to be able to pray to our Heavenly Father for guidance.
I hope on this Sabbath day, you can remember you’re not alone in making mistakes. We can all rise above our mistakes, even more, what we learn from our mistakes is truly the Diamond in the rough.
I remember I was twenty-seven years old praying for the same things over and over and over again.
One day, it dawned on me, and truthfully hit me hard when the thought came to mind “it’s not always the way you want it Christy.”
Yes, it took twenty-seven years for me to understand that I needed to stop telling Heavenly Father every thing I wanted in life, and I needed to start praying that I handled my current situation well, no matter what the end result may be.
You see, it took me a bit to find my husband. For years I prayed for a husband and a family.
One day, with a tear-stained face, I said a prayer and I had the overwhelming thought to “pray to be ok with being single for now.”
No, I didn’t want to be single. But you see, I was struggling with this “single identity.”
In my mind, I was not ENOUGH because I was still single. My self-esteem was rock bottom and I knew it was time to change my prayers and TRULY talk to God.
I knew it was time to tell my Heavenly Father my struggles and trials with being single, and then be in tune enough to listen and try to understand how to deal with my situation better.
Fast forward 8 years … and now I have that wonderful husband and 3 beautiful children .
My cute husband and 3 kids.
My family brings me so much joy, but I also have worries.
From health issues, to safety, to my kids social life… I worry about my little kids a lot. And always, pretty much always, in the back of my mind is my baby girl and her heart problem.
Baby girl was born with WPW, an extra circuit in her heart that can cause an arrhythmia to start and can be very dangerous.
So far baby girl has done well with this condition, but it truly can haunt me if I let it.
So what do I say in my prayers with all the worries and woes that come with having a beautiful family?
I thank my Heavenly Father for the many blessings we have, I ask for many blessing to come, and I plead with him to help me through the current situation that we are in.
We all know that God knows the big picture that we can’t see.
So why do we forget that he knows best how to navigate the present time and can keep us on a happy, healthy track?
Every stage of life we are in, comes with amazing blessings.
And yet, every stage of life comes with some really tough burdens.
Don’t leave those burdens for you alone to lift.
I know God can help us lift those burdens.
He can help us through prayer if we remember to ask “how can I navigate my current hardship?” Instead of “take away this terrible burden that is too much for me to carry.”
Here is a wonderful scripture related to this topic. The scripture is found in The Book of Mormon:
Mosiah 24:14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.
So I ask you, what burden can you pray to our Heavenly Father about?
And this time, instead of asking God to take away that burden, ask Him to help you know how to carry it.
I know God is there to help.
God may not answer our prayers according to our desire.
God may not take away some heavy burdens…
But I know Heavenly Father will ALWAYS help us through our struggles.
This I have no doubt.
I hope it doesn’t take you twenty-seven years to learn this, like it did me.
