It’s been way too long since I’ve blogged. When I last wrote I was around 15 weeks pregnant with a baby. That baby, Kimberlee, is now 8 months old and she is the light and joy of our lives. She is one of our biggest blessings and I cannot imagine life without her. She is pure love, joy, fun, and watching her learn, grow, and develop is the absolute best.
Lately, I’ve been feeling impressed to start blogging again. I’ve been putting it off because I want to change the entire aesthetic of my blog, but I have realized there is not good time for it and the design of my blog will simply take time and I can’t keep wiating for a good time. I just have to do it.
So, here I am. I honestly have so much to share with you all, but I want to kick things off with a little lesson I learned today.
Today, I’ve been listening to the Follow Him podcast put on by Hank Smith and John Bytheway. I have a lot of catching up to do. I took advantage of the time I had today while Kimberlee napped. In one of the episodes, there was a single line that stood out to me: “Memorialize the things the Lord has done for you.”
I realized I have been slacking in documenting those things. I am really good at documenting visually through photos, videos, and even a little scrapbooking; but I realized I need to be doing more. I need to be journaling and resume blogging.
The last few weeks the blessings seem to be pouring in, not only for me and my family but I’ve been anxiously waiting for certain blessings to arrive for others around me and they seem to be finally arriving. I am holding onto faith that God will see those blessings fulfilled in their entirety.
Blessings have been presenting themselves in all kinds of variety and forms. One blessing came as an epiphany during a Sunday School lesson a few weeks ago. We were talking about how the Lord prepares us for the different experiences, challenges, and choices we make. For me, an obvious example from my life has been my everything experience from my first marriage because it prepared me in so many ways to be with Anthony.
During that lesson however it dawned on me that there was another way my divorce prepared me for a future experience/trial I would have. When I was going through my divorce I read a talk by Dallin H. Oaks called Divorce. In that talk he said the following:
“… A broad-based international study of the levels of happiness before and after “major life events” found that, on average, persons are far more successful in recovering their level of happiness after the death of a spouse than after a divorce.“
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Divorce”, April 2007 General Conference
I realized that although different, my divorce and the process I had to go through to heal and grieve had, in some ways, prepared me for the loss of our first daughter Adlee just a little over a year later. It was a blessings to realize that because my divorce was terrible and being able to gain an even greater perspective and insight to the purpose of it was truly incredible.
How wild is that? And also how amazing? This experience also prepared me for countless conversations I’ve had and continue to have with other divorcees.
I encourage you to pay attention to the blessings of the Lord, the way He has prepared you for various experiences in your life, and memoralize them. It’s when we focus on the Lord and His blessings but also His voice in our lives that clarity, peace, and blessings are found and recognized.
