Feeling....mortal

Feeling tonight the frailties of living in a mortal body, in a mortal world. And very grateful for things like prayer, priesthood blessings, temples, and the Plan of Salvation. How could you survival all the things in the world without it?? There are several things this week that have me feeling this way. I'm not sure how these things tie together or even if it matters, but for some reason they FEEL all connected somehow.

In no particular order.
1. I've been reading D-Day by Stephen Ambrose. David has been trying to get me to read it for...I don't know...years, probably. It is very intriguing, interesting, informative, and well, sad. Because of the actions of a few wicked men so many lives lost. Sigh. But, alas! Freedom prevails! this is what I tell myself. There is a 'happy ending' (sort of) in there somewhere.


2. Our trip to San Antonio a couple weeks ago was fun. We spent a lot of time at the Alamo. I can now recite a complete history in some detail of the Texas area from about 1730--present. Lots of war. People dying. Ugh.


3. My sweet 4 yr old nephew is lying a hospital bed struggling to breathe.

4. My neighbor next door is expecting a baby in May. During a routine prenatal visit they discovered blood in her urine, which led to the discovery of a medium sized cyst on one of her kidneys. It could be nothing, or it could be...something. They can't do anything or even find out if it's cancerous or not until after the baby is born. Here's to praying she doesn't have to start chemo with a newborn and 2, 4, and 6 yr old children at home.

5. One of my other neighbors who has a 3 month old, 2 yr old, and a very difficult 4 yr old with Asperger's syndrome just sent her husband to war in Afghanistan. She is struggling to handle each day as they come.

6. Ashley Peterson Baird, (my siblings might be interested in this story), a 36 year old mother of 5 who grew up here in Grantsville, has stage 4 breast cancer with a VERY aggressive, rare form of cancer. So of course they are giving her a VERY aggressive form of chemo therapy, and using drugs that haven't exactly been approved by all appropriate government agencies yet....just to improve her chance of survival. They had a race in support of her last weekend in our community. Did I mention she is 36 years old and has 5 young children??

7. One of the ladies I work with in my YW calling is done with her chemo, and into her radiation for her breast cancer. It's very exhausting emotionally and physically.

8. The Powell family story. Nothing to say about that.

9. A dear sweet cousin of David's who's struggle for life is coming to an end.

10. My parents leaving to go so far away from home to COLUMBIA....not exactly the safest country in the world. (But not the most dangerous either).


So can you see why I am feeling a bit..., well..., mortal? Maybe a little depressed at all the horrible things in the world? War, sickness, wickedness causing pain to so many.

Last summer as I was typing my Grandpa's mission journal there was an entry in it that he expressed having some similar feelings. He was far from home in a foreign country and had received news one of his brothers, a best friend growing up, was undergoing heart surgery. And I don't remember his exact words but it was something along the lines of ...it doesn't really matter how long our life here is. It's how we live it, and that we rely on the Lord and are ready to go when it's time.
Something like that. It was interesting to read those thoughts from my Grandpa after he had gone.

So I guess that's it. We try our best to be good, and live happy, full lives. But in the end the only life that is ended premature is the one who isn't ready to meet his maker. And I can say I am so incredibly grateful that life after this one is something I know about. Because I know. It is something I can put my faith in and move forward through all the sickness and pain around in the world and live a happy, full life. And it gives me faith that the Lord will take care of those hurting around me.