The way joy comes...

In our lives, situations arise.  As we go through life, there are experiences that come into our path, that often are those of which that help us to, and times, force us to grow.  We have things that bring us more joy than anything else we have ever imagined; we have trials beyond what we can bear alone; times and circumstance may bring such a profound sadness onto us, from such we may not know how to recover from.  The thing about life, however, is that it is not at all about how many times, nor how hard we may fall, but rather in that we get back up. First of all, God in no way put us here on the earth to suffer, but neither did He place us here for everything to be perfect.  I have grown up hearing the saying that there must be an opposition in all things; that to know the sweet, you also must experience the bitter.  As a child learns, they must come to understand what hot is, and pain that comes from it. Just as Nephi taught that, while speaking of Adam and Eve, "...having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good for they knew no sin."  And then a short verse shows the power of God when we look at life and these things; "But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things."  This life has struggles, all here know that, and have many that personally are obstacles that are before our path of progression.  But with all of this, we are never alone.  Never does God allow us to be put before hardships that we cannot overcome; yet, one needs to remember that overcoming things, can't always be done by yourself; that to stand after we fall, it often is with those who lift us...
  And, God has given those to help us to surmount the hurdles we have lying in front of our path.  God, first and foremost, is the one person there that loves us more than anyone else, and Whose love never leaves.  He wants us to be happy, for "men are that they might have joy." God's plan and will is for us to have happiness in our lives. 

Statue of a family, in Tacoma, WA

In all that we go through, God has also placed others in our lives to help us, and be that support to which we can look to.  Family is the central social unit of which that God has made on the earth; and I do not believe that we were put with the family members we have by mere chance or on a simple whim.  Families are one place where there is a bond and closeness unlike any that is present in life, and a desire and love for them that goes deeper than words express, and far beyond care for oneself, but rather for them.  And there are loved ones in life, to which that same closeness and feelings come as well. When the world may fall down around us, family and those special loved ones, are the strength when we are weak, the smile when all that is found is frowns, the hug when you feel alone, and the joy that can fill you when all that is felt is nothiness inside. 

Christ is always there

And God gave His most precious gift, even His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ volunteered and came here to the earth to fulfill, as well as be the central point to, God's plan.  As we are here in life, no one is perfect, we all sin.  And such as with that, neither are there any who goes through life without trials.  And Jesus Christ came to take upon Himself all of those things, so that we may be able to overcome, and to have one person that understands and knows perfectly all that we feel and go through.  "And He shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fultilled which saith He will take upon Him the pains and the sicknesses of His people.  And He will take upon Him death, that He may loose the bands of death which bind His people; and He will take upon Him their infirmities, that His bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know accoring to the flesh how to succor [help] His people according to their infirmities." Jesus Christ knows; when others may not understand, He knows perfectly and exactly all that you feel and are going through.  He did not take upon Himself all of these things just for the fun of it, but to help us, and to be the source of comfort that we can look to.  And God has placed our family and special loved ones, to help in anything we may be in or feeling.

There are those in my life that I would do anything for, to place off any comfort or anything of my own, to be there to protect them, to never let a tear fall from their face, and to do all in my power to fill their lives with joy.  We have opposition in all things, but I would take all of the bitter, all of the misery, all of the sadness and all of the hard things, so that their life was only encircled with that which makes life worth it, the sweet, the happy, and moments of amazement and wonder, and have that joy fill them. And I know and testify that God, our loving Father in Heaven, and Jesus Christ are there for us, through anything; no matter how high, or how low.