Last night I got to go to the General Relief Society Meeting in the Conference Center with some friends from my ward. The talks were all very good, though I was doing a little head nodding through some of it but you can't blame me since it was dark and quiet and the only time the noise stops in my house is when everyone is sleeping.
Anyway, I think that I've been feeling a lack of "JOY" in my life as I move through my days doing laundry, preparing meals, and picking up toys just to go to bed and do it all again the next day. That's just the little stuff. I have been feeling overwhelmed with trying to DO everything that needs doing as a mother, a wife, a music leader, a friend, a sister, and so on. I was complaining to my husband Friday night about it and I knew that those things were not going to change, it was my attitude that was going to need to change, but how? I really felt like there was a big ugly wall in front of me. Fast forward to the next evening when Sister Barbara Thompson quoted President Monson as saying, “As you and I go to the holy houses of God, as we remember the covenants we make within, we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation. In this sacred sanctuary we will find peace; we will be renewed and fortified.” And then she talked about the true joy and happiness that comes from keeping covenants. I really perked up at the word JOY. I like that word. It means so much more than just "happy." Joy is like rejoicing in life and feeling that all your burdens are light.
President Uchtdorf spoke afterwards and from his first point when he said "Please never forget that you must be patient and compassionate with yourselves..." I knew I needed to hear his message. I don't think I'm the only one who got something out of his message last night and that the message I got through the Spirit was what I needed to hear and that if you listened to him, you would get the message that you need to hear. I was just so surprised to be feeling utterly desperate and overwhelmed and the answer came so quickly and that I have direction now that I couldn't see before. I'm so glad that the Spirit speaks to each of us and that our trials matter to our loving Father and his son Jesus Christ.
