Optimism and Trials?

   I have been compelled to share the thought that has been heavy on mind which is our attitude during trials. I can say that normally I don't hear "opimistism" and "trial" go in the same sentence, but I have to say that I have met people in my life who are the kings and queens at being so happy even in the darkest of time.

     I pray that anything I will share today will help those who read this and to know there is always hope. Even if you have a twig of hope, you will always have the strength to keep moving forward. My hope that I rely on more then anything is Jesus Christ and the Atonement. Part of the Atonement is when he was in the garden of Gethsemane, and suffured for our sins. This means that He understands even the lowest of feelings, whether it is loneliness, abandonment, heart break, anything that you have felt He has felt it. So He would be able to understand how we have felt, so we can have that hope of light that someone out there truly understands us. He did this understanding that there is more for us in our future, because of Him our sins can be forgiven. Even in the walls of prison, every son and daughter has this chance to be forgiven, and to be given the strength to endure to the end. Now isn't that a beautiful thing to know? To know that there is hope, no matter what the situation. Now, back to the people who have a happy attitude during hard times..

   I have a friend who has survived breast cancer, and she always says things along the line that "she's too fabulous for cancer, I'm going to bet this thing because I'm a daughter of God duh!" And is always, always laughing. She is taking care of her daughters, decorating her home, shopping for jewelery, playing with cats and dogs, etc. And I asked her how she can be so happy, and she shared with me her sweet testimony of Jesus Christ and the suffering that he did for her so she will have the hope to endure, without her hope she wouldn't be happy. But because she has taken the time to really focus on Christ, and to really rely on him for help she can take the time to recognize the many gifts that our Heavenly Father has giving her such as her daughters, her husband, her pets, her jewelery, being able to walk, her being able to have wigs, move into a beautiful home. She feels his love for her every day. 

   I know that for myself in my short life I know I can endure anything Heavenly Father has given me, because he put these trials in my path knowing I can become a better person. Someone more refined, shaped, and uplifted because He know's my potential and He knows who I am. I am His daughter and I can overcome anything, with the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the love that he gives to me to be able to understand anything and everything. Whether it be the smallest thing in the world and really doesn't matter, to the biggest things in the world that really hurt the core of my being. He will always understand and will always be there for me.

  Who wouldn't be happy during a trial knowing these things are true?

   This is the beauty of life, knowing that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that he died on the cross so that I can be refined, reshaped, and strengthened. That I can have all of my sins forgiven, so that I can be clean and knowing that taking the sacrament (bread and water on Sunday's) is remembering Jesus Christ and all the many things that he has done for me. This is pure joy. This is something to be happy about.