Today, during church, we talked a little bit about the challenges of living in a time of peace and prosperity. It was an excellent topic because it brought to life why, sometimes, we have been told the pioneers would feel our trials would be worse than their trials. We do not have to live through what they did, and I think that most of us feel those struggles were ten times harder than our trials, but we do have to live in a time when modern conveniences make it easier and easier to forget our Heavenly Father. I had never thought of that as a trial but it really is. We have to raise the next generation in a time when forgetting about God is all too easy. It is easy to forget to be grateful when things are going great, and while we still all have individual trials, which can be challenging and can bring us to our Father in Heaven, for the most part we are truly blessed.
I guess the whole point in this post is to put down my feelings about how blessed we are, and yet how hard we still need to work to be humble and Christlike. The thought of living in a time of peace and prosperity as a trial puts into perspective, for me at least, how blessed we are. I thought about how easy it is to become prideful and envious of those around us and to feel like we deserve the same blessings. This has been a trial I have had to continually overcome over the past year and a half, and it is not easy. Rather than being grateful for the many blessings I have in my life: a loving husband with a steady income that allows us to live comfortably, a wonderful family not only one that I grew up with but one that took me in and has made me a part of their family, and the list of blessings could go on and on, I looked at those around me that were receiving that one blessing I longed for and felt like Heavenly Father had forgotten me. The scripture came to mind several times, "and God remembered Rachel," and for some reason I was stuck on the blessing she received when she was remembered. I forgot to look at how God has remembered Andrea and to be grateful for that.
I guess I should have started this post informing all that don't know, that Brandon and I have been trying to have children for about a year and a half now, and it has not been easy. Now that we are starting to get more settled in we will start looking for a doctor that can figure out why we have not been successful on our own. While this has been a hard trial I have been afraid of having since I was young, I am grateful for it, and how much I have learned and grown. I am grateful for the extra time I have had to strengthen my relationship with Brandon and with my Heavenly Father. I know the trial is not over, and that I will still have hard days, but it is not as scary as it once was and I am accepting what the Lord has planned for Brandon and me.
This post has turned into something I wasn't expecting at first, but I am glad that I have been able to learn so much from such a simple thought given in a simple lesson today. It truly can be a trial to live in such a time of peace and prosperity, but I know that if we continually remember our Heavenly Father we will be able to have His strength and His spirit with us. We too can have angels walking at our side helping us push our own personal hand carts through life.
