The wise man built his house upon a rock

I believe that there are moments in our life where we ask why?

A few weeks ago Brooke and I were sitting on the couch after the kids went to bed talking about how hard this has been.  As I was listening to Brooke talk I had scripture in Matthew 7:24-25 pop into my head.  For some reason I have had a false sense of security in the gospel... where if you build your house upon a rock or the ROCK that everything would be left untouched.  However it was made clear to me that night upon re-reading those verses that it doesn't say that the house won't shake when the winds, rains, and storms of life come.  It doesn't say that some of the shingles won't blow off, or that the windows won't break, it doesn't say the home will be unscathed... and for some reason I always felt that in these verses the house was left untouched. Now I see that the atonement is what will repair the parts of the home that are damaged after the storm dissipates.  That the structure of the home will be intact no matter how much mental, emotional, or mortal damage we take because we are anchored on a sure foundation, where upon if men build they cannot fall! Hellman 5:12

I shared this thought with a friend and his response was beautiful:

"Much of the pain we feel in our lives is because we have false expectations.  We expect to be spared devastating pain and heartbreak.  We may not even realize consciously that we have that expectation - but when the pain comes along and we say, "Why???" - it is clear that somewhere inside us we thought it wouldn't be part of the bargain."

"If you're the Saviors disciple, you better be ready to walk a while where He walked and suffer some of what He suffered.  The road to salvation goes through Gethsemane and goes a little way up Calvary - and you only have a small cross.  Now, when these hard days come, DO NOT say 'God must not love me if He lets me suffer!... the thought that He doesn't love you when you suffer, becomes blasphemous when you think of all the Savior suffered."  - Jeffery R. Holland

This is my feeble attempt to thank all of you for your love, support, prayers, and fasting for our family throughout these past several months.  Many of you have been a great strength to us.  Brooke has shared many personal stories from you all sharing you love with her and our family.  Thank you for all you have done for her and your love for us!

This has been a very long hard road, and at the same time life has never been sweeter nor heaven as close as it is right now.

I give you my witness that our Father in Heaven knows and loves us, for he has sent angels to minister to us both on this side and the other side of the veil.  I know this to be true for I know many of you were one of the angles the Lord sent.

Many of you have asked what you can do for our family... and I ask now, as I know you will, to specifically pray for our family as we welcome Eli into the world tomorrow. :)

God Bless!