Moms, & the refiner's fire

My mom doesn’t have internet, so from time to time she writes out a letter on her computer and sends it to her kids, it always includes her testimony of the Gospel. Last month I was pretty sick. On a day I was feeling especially sick and worn, a letter came from my mom. She included a lot of her favorite quotes, but at the end of the letter she really touched me. She said, “I love you all very very much. You are always in my thoughts and prayers and I hope your refiner’s fires are teaching you all the things you need to fit you for eternity.” I needed that. What she said really made me think. It made me think because in the moment I had forgotten about perspective. Of course everyday I say prays of gratitude that I am pregnant, and asking for help, but it has been hard and frustrating to not be able to do much and not feeling well. But what my mom wrote in her letter was very humbling. We all need to make sacrifices and go through things in order to grow. And everyone, no exceptions, has trials and pains, though they are different from other people’s hard times. I love that my mom said, “I hope your refiner’s fires are teaching you all the things you need to fit you for eternity.” I love my mom and she has always been a great example to me. Her letter also made me think of her and all of the sacrifices she has made to bring her children into the world. She went through a lot with each of us, and she also lost quite a few babies too through miscarriages. She’s made so many sacrifices for all of us our whole lives. She is wonderful. I also thought of so many moms that have made sacrifices and been through a lot, (which is pretty much all the moms I know) who have been examples to me. I know moms that have been through some pretty hard and crazy pregnancies/deliveries too!



This last weekend was General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There were so many talks that helped me. But the most heart wrenching talk was the last talk during the last session, Sunday afternoon, given by President Monson. I probably will butcher this story, sorry, if you didn’t get to hear it, look it up on http://www.lds.org/. The talk was about a mom during wartime who had lost her husband and had to walk from Russia to Germany with her 4 kids, during winter time, walking and sleeping in below zero weather. They had burlap wrapped around their feet because their shoes had disintegrated, had little clothes for warmth and often went without food. The mom lost her kids one by one and had only a tablespoon to dig graves for them in the frozen ground. She made it to Germany and despite all that she went through, had a testimony of the Gospel and relied on God. I sobbed through the whole story. It really touched me. It was inspiring, and made me feel I could definitely get through any trial, especially with Heavenly Father’s help, and that any trial I would have wouldn’t even compare. I can’t even imagine what that mother went through. Thinking of my mom and other exemplary moms and what they have been through and sacrificed is humbling, (and helped me realize I’m kinda wimpy sometimes, and it’s not so bad) and has helped me be truly grateful, put things in perspective, and realize that anything moms have to go through is worth the price to bring a precious little one into the world.