Lessons Learned Already This Week...And It's Only Tuesday!

I've said it before but I absolutely LOVE being a Mom.  I really really do, but it's a tough job and one I feel so inadequate for at times.  It's tough because it takes unconditional love, understanding, patience, humility, sacrifice...basically a lot of the things I lack the most!  The hardest part about being a parent, I think, is having to sit back and watch your children go through trials and hardships...things that are difficult for them to work through on their own.  You KNOW they can do it on their own, it's just so hard to watch.  Your first inclination is to dive in and make it all better.  You want to be "Mama Bear" and chase away all the mean people, take away all the disabilities, and heal all the broken hearts.  Your second inclination is to ask, why??  Why do they have to go through these things?  Why does anyone have to go through hardships and trials.  I've asked myself that a hundred times this morning, and yet, I KNOW the answer.  Because our ultimate mission in life is to come to earth and receive a body, to be tried and tested, and to prove ourselves worthy to return once again to our heavenly home.  I've come to understand that our trials not only shape our character, but show us our character as well.  When we have trials a lot of the time its for us to learn something about ourselves.  It's just like the quote I posted this week, which I didn't really think about when I posted it, I just really liked it.  Talk about foreshadowing!  Someone knew exactly what I personally needed to get me through the week this week!    "Remember:  you're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."  Sometimes it just takes going through something really challenging before we realize what we're fully capable of.  Our trials make us stronger.  We need to have faith that these trials we go through in life are for our benefit.  I guess that means life can't be faith-filled and stress-free!  But I'd much rather take the stress if it strengthens my faith.  It's still hard to have to sit back and watch your children struggle though .  Imagine how our Heavenly Father feels when he sits back and watches us struggle through our individual trials.  But as any loving parent, he knows us, he loves us,  and he knows that we are capable of getting through anything and he is always there to help us.  I have faith in this and know this is true.  My children will get through their trials and as a Mom I'll be there for them in any way that I can.  As heartbreaking as it can be to watch - I know they'll come out braver, smarter, and stronger.  We all will!