Relief Society

I went to Relief Society for the first time in about a year today, and ya know what? I LOVED it. A friend was teaching and she wanted to show a Mormon Message video but didn't know how so she asked me to help. When Chris got called as Building Technology Specialist two years ago it gave me the knowledge needed so I can handle hooking up my laptop with an HDMI cable to the flat screen tv and getting it to work so the audio will play through the tv not my computer (that's the part others struggle with).

The lesson today was from the Lorenzo Snow manual (I think that's the right prophet, I'm normally in YW so I don't pay attention to stuff like manuals). The lesson was about trials, and how having faith can help us during trials we may be going through.

This particular friend happens to be married to our most excellent home teacher, the one who has mowed our lawn, washed our cars, helped us set up a dresser, brought us dinner a few times and given us a ton of blessings. Because of that she was/is well aware of how the last year has been for us, so she asked me ahead of time if I'd be willing to share some thoughts about trials and faith and lessons we can learn as we go through trials.

As I sat in RS thinking about what I might share I realized that one of the things I've learned this time around with Chris being sick is that we can't (and shouldn't!) try to do everything on our own. Last summer I wasn't sick or pregnant so I was able to do pretty much everything that needed to be done around our house, even though it got overwhelming. This time around, I haven't felt as up to doing everything (like washing the car, or mowing the lawn, or assembling furniture) and have learned the really hard lesson of accepting service from others. Our home teacher has really helped me learn that lesson by recognizing that I have a hard time accepting help. Instead of asking "can I bring you dinner?" he now says "Would you rather have me bring you dinner on Tuesday or Wednesday?" and instead of "is there anything we can do?" he notices specific things and has asked "would it be helpful if I mowed your lawn? and is Monday afternoon okay?" He doesn't give me the chance to turn down his offers of service.

A few weeks ago a friend had a baby and I offered to take her dinner. The next week the compassionate service coordinator asked me to take them dinner as well. As I got to serve this friend it gave me the chance to remember the blessings that come to those who do service. I couldn't turn down people who were offering to do service to me, it would deny them blessings.

It's really hard to admit that you can't do everything on your own, and that you need help, but once you accept that fact and allow others to help, it really does make life better.

As much as I LOVE my calling in Young Womens (because really, it does rock!) I am so glad that I was able to attend Relief Society today and to be asked to share my thoughts on trials. The last year has not been easy, but I think we've learned some good lessons along the way.