Just What I Needed to Hear

Last week, I sent an e-mail to a good friend who has been TTC for a LONG time. I needed to vent, and I knew that she would understand what I was feeling and have a listening ear. I received a response from her yesterday, and she seriously said exactly what I needed to hear. She talked a lot about different emotions and feelings that she has had since they started TTC and what she has learned through the process. She shared with me three reasons that she could think of for having the road to motherhood be so rocky. In a nutshell, they are:

1. This experience is teaching me to better understand others' trials - especially those dealing with infertility/miscarriage. Maybe someday I'll have a daughter who is struggling with TTC and I'll truly be able to understand and help her. When we go through trials, we can become more compassionate because we know what it's like.
2. Maybe it's not about me and what I want, but rather that my future children are not finished doing some sort of important work up in heaven. Or maybe they're just not supposed to be born yet. Sounds so obvious and simple, but "when" a person is born determines so much about their lives. I can try to think less about ME and more about the needs of my future children including trying to better prepare our home for them.
3. Patience, patience. Here's a quote that she shared:
   "Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we wanted them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come." (Joseph F. Smith).

Getting my friend's e-mail really helped put things in perspective for me again and realize that it isn't ALL about me. It may be hard to go through this process right now, but hopefully I will come out of it as a better person. I am a firm believer that there is a reason for life and for the trials that we experience. I don't think that things necessarily happen hap-hazardly or that God doesn't care about what we are going through. I just need to suck it up, keep trudging along, and look for ways that I can grow from this experience.