Finding the Joy

Some days it is harder to find the joy in ones life than others, but I'm a pretty optimistic person and even when life is hard I feel so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the little things that He has blessed me with that help me keep going. And life is truly full of those little things. The evidences of His love are numerous and delightful!

Joy is reading and studying the scriptures together as a family and having the kids ask questions that indicate their desire to learn the gospel. Joy is finding the answers together and feeling the Spirit touch our hearts.

Joy is hearing my children pray for a sibling or other family member. Joy is having those prayers answered in miraculous ways.

Joy is forgetting to take out the garbage in time for the garbage collection and then realizing one of the children did it for you as the truck drove into the street.

Joy is participating together as a family in local events, such as the Bow Island fair and coming out with winnings nearly 8 times what was invested.

Joy is coming home late and discovering that the children took the initiative upon themselves to study the scriptures together and pray together before retiring to bed. Joy is seeing their determination and dedication to obey the Lord and engage in daily family scripture study and family prayer.

Joy is seeing a daughter recognized for over 750 consecutive days of daily scripture study and then having a younger one report that she has read 500 consecutive days already!

Joy is hearing my children pray for me.

Joy is seeing others trust my children with responsibility and then seeing that trust rewarded in a job well done.

Joy is speaking words of love and having them come back to you.

Joy is seeing a daughter face her uttermost fears and win. 

Joy is hearing the song of a child as she helps in the kitchen

Joy is asking for help in the house or yard and receiving many volunteers.

Joy is serving others.

Joy is in my children (and so is heartache)! There will never be a greater joy from any other source (or on the converse side, greater sorrow). I am so thankful for the opportunity and gift I have been given to be the mother of 8 of the most amazing people I know.

 Joy is accepting difficult things and then sitting back and allowing God to take over. And that is the most difficult, yet one of the most rewarding. I am so grateful to know of God's love for me. I know without doubt that when I struggle, He is there weeping and mourning with me. He is my friend, the one I can turn to when the whole world seems to be arrayed against me. He has placed people in my life, given me experiences, and afforded me incredible opportunities for growth that I probably would receive in no other way. There is JOY in trials, not the kind that makes you shout in glee, but the quiet, subtle kind that makes you realize how very much you have been blessed through the hardships of life and how very much you have actually benefited from them! 

And that is the long and short of it! As difficult as trials are, I am not sure I would ever wish to go back in time and remove any one of them from my life. My challenges have brought about a deeper joy that resides in my soul more permanently now than at any other time in my life. I have a rock solid marriage, a husband who is my hero, who loves me and supports me despite my imperfections. We are devoted to one another, and though the world may rage around us, we are united and strong! I have put my priorities straight with God at the helm, I work daily to strengthen my children and our family - and that is JOY! It is work, but it is a joyful work and I would never sacrifice it to have a second income, or for any other materialistic encumbrances. God has given me a work to do and I not only accept it, I rejoice in it!