Is this Pandemic a wake up call?

Right now so many of us are struggling with being restricted to our homes. As a person who feels that the experiences in life are opportunities to learn and grow, I've been wondering what could be learned from this pandemic. 

For a world that felt pretty confident in our abilities to handle anything, it has been humbling to see how quickly the whole world could be brought to its knees by a tiny virus. Many of us have come to realize how much we not only need others to help us, but how much we need a greater power, we need God's power,  to help us survive. 

We have been given an opportunity to take a look at our lives. Are we spending our time, energies, and money on what matters most to us? How does it feel to spend more time with your family? Are you enjoying not rushing around so much, not feeling so pressured? What do you want to change in your life? Answer your wake up call. Take your chance for a new start. 

It didn't look good - at first!

It started out well. I was even excited about finally getting a replacement window for our large back window which had fallen out over a month ago. The men brought the window, and I was delighted to see that it fit perfectly. 

My delight turned to concern as they brought out their silicon calking guns, because I have passed out several times when I've been near new calking. No problem I thought, I'll just go and stay in our family room, besides our grandchildren would be coming soon. 

It didn't take long before the doors were open with people going in and out and the fumes permeated the entire house, included our family room. Now what? I checked the back yard. It also smelled of fumes. I checked the trailer. It had just been painted. 

Blessings in Disguise

https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/category/trials-and-adversity-mormonads?lang=eng

I like this poster. Our adversity, is often just blessing in disguise. 

Looking back, I can see that my life has been filled with many blessings in disguise. Of course they didn't seem like "blessings" at all when I was experiencing them. How could I have known that having poor health with lots of allergies was really an opportunity to break with some dysfunctional family traditions, would help me learn to be more assertive and compassionate, strengthen my marriage, help me spend more time with my children and help them become more capable adults, and give me many opportunities for service.

This last year there have been many obvious blessing such as knowing we should move to the St George area to help improve my health, and finding a new home there in just four days. Far less obvious was the blessing of being felt alone in our new home for a month to unpack and get settled. I gained a lot of confidence in my abilities. It got me back up on my feet after being bedridden for so many years. During this time there were other blessings. One was that the city asphalted the road in front of our home. Our old neighbors had moved to the St George area a few years before and were now our neighbors again. They took me in for the day which gave me the support I needed at that time. Also, I really smacked my index finger trying to put furniture together which led to my finding a new doctor in the area.

My Remarkable Life

“No matter our age, circumstances, or abilities, each one of us can create something remarkable of his life,” Elder Wirthlin declared during April 2006 General Conference. Even me? Mentally I began to list my considerable health problems and all the limits they imposed, then I stopped — Even Me!
Slowly, I began to realize that I was allowing my health restrictions to imprison my soul. Where was my joy in living?

As I prayed for help in living a more meaningful life, I felt strongly that I needed to simplify my life by removing all unnecessary things and activities. This certainly didn’t seem to me to be the way to an abundant life!

I asked the Lord for faith, then, resignedly, began to eliminate non-essentials. Despairing, I could only see a bleak, barren existence stretching out before me. Maybe I needed to learn patience and endurance. It seemed so obvious to me that having better health and being able to do more would bring me happiness.

Technology Gives Me New Opportunities to Help Others!

I decided that I'd share some of my daily life. Since we live a simply, we don't have a lot of expenses. This means that I don't have to work all day at a full time job. This is good because I have Addison's Disease which means that I have very little adrenal function and consequently little energy. Also, who really wants to work full time at sixty!