Deja-"View"

Having lived 34 years of my life in this city, you experience one of those feeling of "picking up where you left off" when you return to this city, even after living 11 years away. Of course I have visited since then, but never with only three weeks between visits. And so it was with a small feeling of Deja-Vu that we returned.Sadly, our reason for returning was no vacation. But if there is one thing I have learned over the years it is this, when we are given trials and challenges in our lives, while hard at the time, we can learn many things about ourselves and others during the hardest of times. And if we endure them well, we will come out a better, stronger person for having endured. Trials can bring out the worst in us and they can bring out the best in us. And sometimes we cannot see the reason for the suffering at the time, but I have learned, that if we could choose our trials, I think we might struggle more. So I put my trust in a loving Heavenly Father who knows us better than we know ourselves and He knows what we can and cannot handle. How many times have we been grateful that we were not in another person's shoes? I believe in hindsight, we would choose exactly what we get, not wishing to endure what we have seen others endure.

So, I am going to try a little harder to be grateful for my own challenges because I much prefer them to some of the struggles I have seen of late with friends and family. I am trying not to ask "why". I heard it said that we should ask "why not?" instead. Perhaps that is true. For none of us get out of this world unchallenged. For some life is harder than others. For me, I am trying to learn gratitude for what I endure because I know it could be so much harder!

We will miss Mary Cox but you faced a courageous battle and endured it well. We love you Grandma.