Decisions

*Just a note: All things I post pertain to me and my own experiences. NOTHING is meant as a judgement toward anyone else. I always appreciate other points of view so feel free to post. Thanks and much love!

So I decided to go back to school to finally earn my degree. I was a Dance Performance major at Rhode Island College after I graduated high school but after 3 years of that I stopped school to serve a full-time mission for my church. Then I got married to my high school sweetheart who was in college at the time because he had stopped attending school as well to serve his mission. We had our second son a week before my husband graduated, so I didn't go back to RIC to finish my major. Instead I am studying with the BYU Idaho Pathways program. It's an online course of study, but for the first year you meet on Thursdays at a local church building with the other students in your area who are also part of this Pathways program. It's been a great experience thus far and I really love my classmates.

This past week's class was on decision making. I learned a lot. I also had a chance to reflect on my experience this past week. Having a miscarriage is no small experience. I realized I was making decisions throughout the process that I wasn't even really conscious I was making. I was proud of myself because I made the decision to see the Lord's hand in the experience and look for the blessings rather than feeling like "Woe is me". I've come a long way, I had a lot of "woe is me" experiences when I was first married. But I realized that when you're feeling sorry for yourself you're a burden on those around you because they feel like they need to put their energy into lifting you up. And you're useless to the Lord because He can't use you to serve His children if you're only focused on yourself.

The thing I learned, which I think I knew already but had never felt so strongly until this experience, is that when you decide to trust in the Lord and thank Him for your blessings even in the midst of trials, He will make your burdens light. It reminds me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon. The prophet Alma and his people are in bondage and this is what happens. The Lord said:

 14 And I will also ease the ^aburdens 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 ^bwitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their ^cafflictions.

 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did ^astrengthen them that they could bear up their ^bburdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with ^cpatience to all the will of the Lord.

(Mosiah 24: 15-16)

The Lord Himself invites us to come unto Him, "For [his] yoke is easy, and [his] burden is light". It really was a great experience. I know life comes with trials, that's why we're here. I know I will have more to face in my life. I hope that I can come through every experience feeling so strongly the hand of the Lord. And I hope the same for you. If we decide to continue in study and prayer and strive to have the Holy Ghost with us always, I think we will succeed. It's all about decisions.