In September of 2015 I was diagnosed with Lung Cancer which
had metastasized throughout my body. It
was a complete shock. I felt like I had
been the specimen of perfect health until a month earlier when I was diagnosed
with pneumonia. I had never smoked,
didn’t drink alcohol, never used drugs and led a healthy lifestyle. How could this be? It was what it was and I had learned from
facing many challenges in my life that resisting what was would only make it
more difficult. Somehow I needed to embrace
this new challenge and discover the hidden gifts within it.
My youngest daughter, 19 years old, departed in August 2015
to serve an 18 month mission for our church.
She was sent to Quito, Ecuador.
After a tearful goodbye at the airport, I returned home to discover a
gift she had left me on my bed. It was a
picture of the two of us embracing and the inscription on the frame read: “Life
isn’t about waiting for the storms to pass…but learning to dance in the rain.” Little did she know at the time that this
quote would take on a new meaning in the life of our family.
So my heartfelt desire is to find joy in the journey and it
will indeed be a journey. We will dance
in the rain and fill our hearts with gratitude for all the blessings that
surround us. We all go through hard
things, none of us are exempt. For many
your challenges are private, for others they are more public. However, we are all in this together and what
better way to support one another than to dance in the rain. So please send us your pictures of you dancing
in the rain, your children dancing in the rain, dancing with your spouse or
beloved friends. I want to see the
pictures flow in from all over the world. I also want to hear how you have found joy in your journey of dealing
with hard things.
I truly feel this is a gift I have been given. Each day I unwrap more layers of this
gift. Yes, somedays are hard. Somedays I struggle to breathe. Somedays the pain is excruciating and somedays
I struggle to see the light. But as I
ponder the things I am grateful for the joy always follows. I always thought joyful people were grateful
people, but I think it’s the other way around.
I believe joy is a gift. A gift
from our creator. And that joy fills you
with faith, hope, and love. I can
honestly say that there have been many moments in this journey that I have been
filled with such joy, such love, such gratitude that has been so sweet.
There is something about dancing that makes our spirits
smile. As children we all loved to
dance, but then as we grew older and more conscious of what others thought we
drew back. So don’t be concerned about
how you look or what others think just dance.
Dance with joy, dance from the heart, dance like no one is watching and
share your joy with others.
I believe in a loving God, who will turn our straw into GOLD
if we look to him. I believe in a God
that will turn our bitter times in our lives into good….more good than we can
possibly imagine. Our family has seen
great miracles transpire during the last few years and we know those miracles
will continue.
So please share with us how you have found joy in the midst
of challenging times. And begin sending
in those pictures of you dancing in the rain or if there is no rain just
pictures of you dancing with joy!
