This post was shared by Karina Woodbury and is made available here with her permission.
Today I am sharing a photo of something that brings me peace and calm. Addiction is such a devastating illness. It is so hard to see someone you love so much fall into the trap that consumes you and destroys everything around you.
As I was flying to Mexico to my brother’s funeral, I was filled with sorrow and pain thinking about the decisions that he made that landed him on a path of destruction.
My head and heart were so sad and so mad at times. As I was having an extremely hard moment I felt very strongly that I needed to say a prayer of gratitude for all the wonderful things my brother had done for me through the years.
As I looked out the window I started thinking about all the amazing things we did together. My mom was always sad that I didn’t have a sister close to my age. As I pondered on that, the thought came to me, I didn’t need a sister, my brother was my playmate! He was always there for me. He was my companion for so many years.
Then the memories started to flow like a river. I started to name all the things that I was grateful for in my head then tears of gratitude started to fall. As the second tear appeared, this ray of light shined over only one small part of the landscape underneath the plane. Only a small part of a mountain was illuminated. A heart appeared and as it shined I heard “Thank you!”
I felt my brother was grateful that I was remembering who he really was and not his addiction. I felt peace as I have never felt before, gratitude inundated my heart and I turned to my sister to show her.
As she looked at the heart the light disappeared. I am so grateful for tender little mercies that a kind and loving Heavenly Father gives me. I can feel his arms around me and peace and calm overcomes the pain and sorrow. I have been able to feel how much and how perfectly Heavenly Father knows and loves me and how much he loves my brother. #GiveThanks
“..its effects have been validated by scientists as well as men and women of faith. I am referring to the healing power of gratitude.” – President Russell M. Nelson
Cynthia KRAUSE
Thursday 10th of December 2020
Thank you for sharing . I love the second one because I'm a woman and I've felt many times I wasn't worthy to be a "Martha" / or was it her sister, "Mary"? Thank you to whoever wrote that piece. I can now more easily see HIS hand in my life and answers to my concerns in prayer!- Cynthia K.