Thankful For My Problems

This has been a very busy and stressful last couple of weeks. There again, I can't remember when my life hasn't been busy and stressful. Between Halloween, pomegranate picking, juicing, and jelly making, and now getting ready for Thanksgiving I have felt very OVERWHELMED! I also have been fighting the usual symptoms of old age, insomnia, weight gain, hormonal imbalance and a few I'd rather not talk about. Mindi and I run errands everyday. It is rare if we don't have something to do or somewhere to go. Yesterday we were at Hobby Lobby (Mindi's home away from home) and we were looking at all their Fall decorations that were 80% off. As I was pushing the cart I noticed a nice looking woman in a wheelchair with only one leg. She was quite young and I always wonder what happened. Anyway, today we went to JoAnn's to get some paper for our sharing time this Sunday and as I was walking through the store I noticed an older lady in a power chair with feet that were so red and swollen you couldn't really see her sandals. It looked very painful to me but she looked happy just riding around looking at things. As I caught up to Mindi I asked her if she had seen the woman and she said "yes," and just shook her head. We then went on to Higley Feed to get some scratch for our chickens, I was sitting in the car waiting when a woman came out who walked very odd like maybe she had MS or was just crippled. Then as we were in the Walgreen's parking lot another woman came out who looked like she had an artificial leg and had trouble walking. I mentioned to Mindi about how many people I had seen in two days who were struggling. I notice things like that because I too have a hard time walking without a limp. I had a fractured pelvis as a child and because of childbirth I have terrible arthritis in my hip. Sometimes the pain is so bad I want to give up or amputate my leg myself. As I watched all these other people I felt such gratitude that even though my life isn't perfect I will take my trials and try to be happy with my own problems. We are all given trials and challenges to bring us closer to the Savior. There have been times that I didn't think I could walk another step, but somehow I have found the strength to keep on going. As Mindi told me as we were driving off, "You see Mom, it could be a lot worse."