Monday, July 20, 2009

Peace Be Within Thee...

Today I drove kids to Bowling Green to attend EFY (Especially For Youth) for the week. It's a two and a half hour drive one way plus there is a time change involved.

We got to our destination at the time we had planned but it then took about an hour to find the location of the EFY check in! It was quite funny after a while. We laughed as we visualized finally getting to where we were going and greeting the check in people with a, "Gee, we've been in town for three hours now and we finally found you!" We laughed about that soon the police were going to be tailing us as people reported two suspicious vehicles casing the neighborhood on our 5th trip around the block! At least we all had a good stress relieving laugh!!

After dropping the kids off, the girls and I began to make our our way back home. It was quieter on the way home minus three boys.

In the quiet of the drive home I was thinking back to Sunday. On Sunday as I sat in church listening to some really great talks I felt happy.

I was sitting next to Tim, the girls were a little squirmy and had some snickering going on between them, and Jacob was trying to sneak some Hershey Kisses out of my bag that were reserved for passing around during the lesson I was teaching for Relief Society.

As I held Tim's hand, listened to the speakers and observed the kids from the corner of my eye, I smiled inside.

I reflected on a few months ago when Tim was going through his radiation treatments; when he was too sick to attend church with us. I remember well the pain that simple things would bring, like the words to a hymn that flooded my heart and mind with emotion that I could scarcely contain. More often than not I couldn't contain it. It was useless to even try.

But this Sunday was different. On Sunday the experiences of a few months ago seems so far away and there I was sitting beside my husband and my children. I felt thankful to be there; thankful for the healing that Tim has experienced, and the healing that our family has experienced. I felt content, serene, comfortable, at peace.














I thought about a scripture that I have long loved....

Psalm 122:8

"...I will now say, Peace be
within thee. "

On Sunday peace was within me and it is within me today.

3 comments:

John and Erin said...

It's times like these that I am so grateful for the gospel and especially the healing power of the priesthood. We are so lucky to have that in our lives. Im so glad that Tim is doing so well these days, and I sincerely hope that those long hard days are all past for you guys. I still remember your family in my prayers every night. Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you guys. Thanks so much for your words of encouragement and hope.

Marissa said...

You really have a way of saying things that just make sense. I loved every word. Maybe one of your girls will be in Seth's EFY group?? He's in Bowling Green as a counselor!

Loretta Valenta said...

Marissa ~ I didn't know Seth was there! How fun! It's actually Jacob who is at EFY -- that would be so neat if he were with Seth...he needs someone to keep an eye on him! ;)