"Men are that they may have joy."

I have this cool gratitude journal that my mom gave me for my birthday. (Thank you Mom!) Since then I have incorporated it into my personal scripture study. This is how I do it, I write down a few things that I am thankful for and then I take those topics and research them in the scriptures. Before, I was researching topics of interest, but now they are topics that I am grateful for. It has been a fun way to read the scriptures, instead from cover to cover, but of course everytime I read that way, I still discover new things I missed before. Fascinating.... JOY a simple 3 letter word but sometimes a hard thing to achieve, especially in times of trials. Anyways, joy has been on my mind lately, especially after this last conference. A lot of the talks and the prophet talked about being optimistic in trying times. I especially loved Pres. Monson's "Be of Good Cheer," which happens to be our ward's theme this year. He reminds us without suffering (sorrow) we will not know joy. "Adam fell that men might be, and men are, that they might have joy." He told the sweet sad story of the mother and wife from East Prussia that lost her husband in battle and then was forced to take her 4 children on a journey to live in West Germany. Through the journey she loses all 4 children, digging graves for them with a tablespoon and then her hands. And then he talks about how she prays and finds joy in knowing that she will live with her family again. I could not help but cry and think wow, could I have done that and kept going. It was a remarkable story. In correspondance with my studying on joy, I have this nifty book that my visiting teachers (thank you ladies if you are reading this blog) gave me... "Redefining JOY in the Last Days." This book is a simple but uplifting read. The author talks about when he was in training to be a pilot in the Air Force, he had a survival course in the desert and he had to live off what ever he could find, including his water. He talks about how hard it was and how one evening after digging in the sand, he fell asleep and woke up to water, but it was nasty and full of bugs and sand, and that he didn't care and it was enough to help him with his thirst. He then correlates this water with our lives. Do we demand perfect bottled water from Heavenly Father or are we willing to quench our thirst with what he has given us. And enjoy that water and find joy in it. Here's a quote from that section about water..."Maybe I don't have everything, and maybe my life isn't perfect (as in the sandy water), but has God blessed me with enough to still be happy?" He goes on and says the answer should nearly always be yes. -Chris Stewart-