We Can Do Hard Things

I want to share with you a story our Stake President (the area leader of our church) shared with us at a meeting a few weeks ago. Some of you may remember that Josef and I were asked to help with a youth Trek for our church back in March. On the first night of the Trek after hiking and pulling handcarts all day we arrived at a big campground relieved to be done for the day, and were told to make dinner for our "families". As we ate dinner the sun set and the sky filled with big twinkling stars, like I've never seen in Texas. Just when we thought our journey for the day was over and we gave into exhaustion, we were told we all had another 3-5 miles to pull our handcarts before we would be done. One young man was very upset by this unwelcomed news and told the Stake President that he wasn't sure if he could go any further. He was just too tired. This feeling was shared by many participants. But we didn't have a choice, so we packed up our handcarts and continued on in the dark, up a rocky trail. When those final miles were nearly complete, the same young man ran into the Stake President and shared what he had learned that night: "We can do hard things!"

I remember sitting in the meeting listening to this story and thinking how profoundly true that statement is! Those words have stuck with me and have become my new motto the past couple months. We can do hard things and we can do them well.

Josef and I have been praying for a specific blessing in our lives. A blessing that seems to be continually eluding us. It's so frustrating and disappointing and hard. Thankfully we have been blessed with the ability to do hard things and to find joy along the way. I am so blessed with an amazingly patient husband and a very intuitive two year old, who always seems to know just when I need her sweet kisses and hugs.

My challenges remind me that we are always on the Lord's time and that the greatest blessings in life are worth waiting for!