My Heart Is Full

My heart is full. That's the only way I can describe it. My Mom came to help out Monday night. She cooked us meals, cleaned, held babies, took shifts during the night and helped me so much emotionally. Jared's mom stopped and took all our laundry to her house and brought it back cleaned and folded. Our neighbors stopped by. Jared's dad brought the girls Valentine's Day gifts. So many supportive texts, phone calls and messages. Woke up to find flowers and a gift from Jared on my kitchen table.

I have had so many tender mercies in the last week that I can't even begin to list them. Everything from a phone call at 10 PM offering to assist Jared in giving a Priesthood Blessing to Briggs exactly when it was needed... to a friend who happened to check their cell phone at church and stepped in to teach our primary class at literally the last second... to a calm coming over me even as he was struggling to breath in the middle of the night... to being guided to read the exact verse of scripture I needed.

Heavenly Father is aware of us. EVERY day, EVERY minute. He is looking for ways to bless us and sometimes it takes being humbled to recognize His hand in the little things.

I've been reading in 1 Kings and just read in chapter 19 when the Lord is speaking to Elijah. The Lord was not in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, but in a still small voice. I am SO grateful for that still small voice and how often it has been there just when I need it the most.

Is it too much?

I've been thinking a lot about the goals that I set for myself and for my family. Sometimes I wonder if I set them a little too high or put too much pressure on myself. I worry that I'll fail and be disappointed.

Last night I was having a conversation with someone much wiser than myself, and she told me that if a goal doesn't make you scared then it isn't worth your time. I'll be honest, when she said that I thought, "That's not a way to live your life. I want to be happy, not scared."

But I've thought about it since then and realized how much that makes sense. What decisions or goals have you made in your life that really intimidated you? Getting married? Having a baby? Having 2 babies 14 months apart? A new church calling? A new job? Moving to a new town? Going to school?

Those are all things that I remember being nervous about, to different degrees. But good has come from all of them, and I wouldn't take away any of the experiences that I have had.

And everytime we decide to sleep train a baby or wean them from a pacifier, potty train, etc. I'm nervous. And sometimes I wonder if it will be worth it or if I'm going through a lot of work for a small reward. Sleeping all night long? Isn't that irreplacable?

And I trained for the half marathon completely terrified of the actual race, wondering if I could actually do it. But guess what? I did it! And I consider it one of my greatest accomplishments, probably because I worked so hard for it.

So the next time you are setting a goal, think about what would be the easiest attainable level of your goal, and go a step further. Even if you don't hit that higher level, you're still better off than where you would have been. So why not?