The Refiner's Fire

Well guys, as many of you know my family and I are going through a difficult time right now. First of all I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and kind words. It means a lot to me and my family to know that we have so many people who love, care, and think about us. Thank you all for your help so far and the help you continue to give.

It's really late tonight so I don't have time to write much, but I've found a lot of really good quotes lately and a lot of good scriptures to help me through this trial. I was looking around the internet and I found this quote by James E. Faust:

"There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless."

I feel like this trial is a great opportunity for me to grow closer to my family and grow closer to the Lord. I know that even though it's only been about a month I have already become a better person than I was before. It's interesting because before all this happened I found myself frequently thinking that I didn't feel like I was as close to the Savior as I could have been, and that I didn't have as good of an appreciation for his atonement as I would like to have. Be careful what you wish for. ;) When I was in high school I was so good at writing in my journal every day and was more of what you call a "Molly Mormon." In high school I was made fun of because of that so I was a little ashamed of it, and I guess I turned away from being such a Molly Mormon. But I think that every day I am becoming more and more that way again, and I wear the badge of MOLLY MORMON proudly! I don't know how I would get through this without the priesthood, the scriptures, prayers that are now forever long, and sometimes I don't want them to end, family home evenings, and the Holy Ghost.

Even with all this stuff going on I feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life and to have a strong testimony! I am so blessed to have a wonderful and supportive family and friends! I am so blessed to know that this trial is a hard one but that I will make it through and that Christ can heal my heart! Even though it's a hard time I still have so many blessings! Every time I read in the scriptures I keep getting messages of hope and love. My ultimate goal is to get to the celestial kingdom with my family and the Lord is refining me to help me reach my goal.

"Patient endurance permits us to cling to our faith in the Lord and our faith in His timing when we are being tossed about by the surf of circumstance. Even when a seeming undertow grasps us, somehow, in the tumbling, we are being carried forward, though battered and bruised."

"Trials and tribulations tend to squeeze the artificiality out of us, leaving the essence of what we really are and clarifying what we really yearn for."

Both of these are quotes from Neal A. Maxwell. My mom read me an awesome one a few days ago that go more with what I was talking about but I'll find it later and post it here. These are good ones too!

Well I've gotta run. This post ended up being much longer than anticipated. I'm writing a book about what's going on, so I will probably post more things on here about my feelings and whatnot so I can just write it down. Thank you all again for your love and support! Have a great week!