This picture makes my heart ache with pain....it represents that specific moment in time when our world was turned upside down, inside out and twisted to such distortion that things would never be the same again. Never.
Exactly two years ago today my dad lay there lifeless on that dirt bike trail and oh how we wish we could turn back time to make things different and prevent this accident from happening!!
People ask us all the time how things are going and most of the time we say things are ok, but as strong as you think we are, it's not always ok, we just say that because we don't want to break down into tears in front of you.
Lots of emotions and contention happen constantly as we are all still striving to figure this new life out and where we fit in to it. We want so badly to hang on to the life we had and the people we were before the accident, but no matter how much we want that, it isn't coming back. Never.
So, what do we do? What will get us through this unseemly long nightmare? On the days we have hardly any strength left in us, we continue to LOVE and SERVE each other. We try to focus on the positive things. And most importantly we constantly keep a prayer in our heart that we can be strong, that we can make it through today and that we will find ways to experience joy.
On this day I'm filled with so many emotions, but one of those emotions is gratitude and that gratitude changes in to joy.....I have joy that my dad is still on this earth and is mentally the same person he has always been. I have joy when I watch my dad be able to participate in sports with his friends. I have joy when I see that he is able to drive a vehicle. And above all, I have joy when I hear him tell me or my children that he loves us.
I don't know what our future holds or if things will ever get easier, but I do know that God will watch over us and help us through this. We will continue to hope for a better tomorrow, a better month, a better year and ultimately we hope that whatever we are learning through this trial will help us become better people. We will someday be able to rest from this trial and my dad will be whole again!
Alma 13:29 "Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest."
2 Nephi 31:20 "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."
We all face trials to different degrees and I pray that like us you will remember that God does love you! Jesus Christ loves you and suffered in Gethsemane for you. And, because of this suffering he is the only one who truly understands what you are going through. Turn to him and continue to hold on to that hope of a better tomorrow. It will be hard, but you can do it and you will be able to find joy. I know that "we can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!" (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/joy-and-spiritual-survival?lang=eng)
Thank you to everyone who has helped us in our trials and to everyone who has served our family by giving of their time or helping us financially (https://www.gofundme.com/adapative-sports-equipment-for-jeff). You are our blessing! You help give us joy and you help us have hope for a better tomorrow!!
Lots of Love,
Brandi
PS. I have a personal goal to share my message of joy with 500 people!! Will you please comment below what brought you joy yesterday/today? And then ask one other person to read this post and comment? We can find strength in numbers!! Please help me gather 500 comments of joy!!
Note: Click below on the link that tells you the number of comments (example "7 comments") and then click on the words "Post a Comment" at the bottom of all the comments. If your comment won't post, then when it asks who you are, you sometimes have to select "Text Type" and then submit the comment and it should post. What a weird quirk!!
