Last night was the adult meeting for our stake conference and I think I lost at least a pound in tears. Amazing. Right off the bat, the youth from our ward sang an arrangement of "Sisters in Zion/We'll Bring the World His Truth". The lyrics for the girls part had been changed to talk of how the work is hastening and the youth are ready to do their part in it. As I looked into those valiant faces, I felt more strength to do my own part.
We heard five different speakers share their stories of how they found the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every one had overcome extreme difficulties and trials in their life. Each so different from the others, but the end result was the same. As they learned about the Savior, and came to really know him, they were healed in every way. The trials were not taken away immediately--one man still fights a cancer of the throat, another still needs daily divine help to make sure the chain of anger and abuse he suffered as a child doesn't affect his own wife and family--but their hearts, once broken in pain, are whole again. Now they are able to serve and bless the lives of everyone around them.
It reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures in Isaiah 61:1-3, where we hear the Savior's promises of the role He will play for each of us in our trials:
"...he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted...to give unto them beauty for ashes...."
I know he has done this for me. From the pain we experienced losing Darren on our wedding day, through the years of painful waiting to have children and every hurt and sorrow in between and since, as I learn more of him and sincerely do my best to follow his teachings, he has healed my broken heart and given me more beauty than that whole heart can hold.
