Joy Along the Way

 

11 Days post-thyroidectomy.

Can you believe that scar? I'm amazed at what surgeons can do.

 

 

As I wrote the blog post about my thyroid cancer it made me realize that so many wonderful things have accompanied the hard and the bad. My family has been through a lot in the past few months and yet there have been beautiful moments of joy and hope. It's easy in times of stress to say and do mean things. I thought I would share some of the things that have made the joyful moments possible. First of all, I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe he has power to help and to heal.

I'll start with a big one: forgiveness. Christ taught, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you." ( Nephi 13:14) There is so much power in forgiveness to heal relationships and bring peace.

Forgiving is one of Taylor's strengths. I'm amazed how fast he can go from being upset to a state of peace and calm -- even thought the problem is still there! He's the first to let it go and forgive me when we argue. I see the change in his face and approach and suddenly there's hope for the situation. I used to hate it. Thinking that he didn't see how big of a deal it was. Now I respect it and want to do it too.

When Violet flings her arms and hits my neck or Nelli hits my head with a toy on accident it's easy to say or think, " I forgive you". This tells me that when forgiving is hard, I may be judging others' intentions.

Forgiveness is a process. Sometimes I have to forgive over and over again in my heart. Especially when the fear of it happening again comes to my mind. I believe that even though it is heart wrenchingly hard to do, God will provide a way (1 Nephi 3:7). He will show us the path to forgive if we truly want to. He's helped me multiple times to find that path.

We've been teaching Nelli for a while now that when someone says, "I'm sorry" we say, "I forgive you" in a chipper voice and move on. It's so simple. so beautiful.

I love how it feels to know that someone is not carrying the burden of my mistake. To feel that they have let it go and are letting me change and be better next time is a beautiful feeling. There is room for hope there is room for improvement. I want to do that for others and... myself.