“Joy is not a stranger to pain," Barbara Workman, shared in a talk to missionaries. "We may not feel deeply enough to know joy unless our hearts have been hollowed out by sorrow. A heart may not be big enough to know real joy until it has been stretched and pulled by trials and hard things. In 2 Nephi 2:23 we find this phrase, ‘having no joy for they know no misery.’ Our capacity to feel joy actually increases as we righteously endure our pain.”
Many of you are aware of the difficult news our family received a few months ago when we learned that 3 of our 5 children have a rare eye disorder. Because of this condition, Emma is blind in her right eye. During those first few months we watched the scans of Emma’s left eye get worse and worse. Rather off handedly, the doctors decided to try a different medication for Emma that was cheaper and less invasive than the injections in her eye that she had been receiving.
In a matter of weeks Emma was seeing 20/20 in her left eye again. We will now start Nathan and Annika on the medication and we feel very optimistic about the prognosis.
I am deeply grateful for the faith and prayers of so many of you on behalf of our children and acknowledge the hand of the Lord in this miracle in our lives.
I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who has given me growth experiences that have been to my everlasting benefit. I leave you my witness that it is possible to be full of joy even while wading through afflictions. No matter our individual difficulties, may we strive to find joy in the journey as we come unto Christ.
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