We Survived!!

In our church the members of the congregation are asked to speak on different spiritual topics during our sacrament meetings. People rarely have to do this unless they live in an area where their membership is very small or...like us, you move every time you turn around. When a new family moves in they always want to hear from them so they are usually asked to speak within the first few months of moving in. Well, we have been married 16 years and we have moved 14 times, therefore, we have spoken in church 14 times. We moved to a new area the last day in February and last Sunday after our meetings we were asked to speak this week. The topic...Patience! Anyone who knows me knows I have NO patience at all and found it quite humorous when they heard the topic we were speaking on! I read the monthly newsletter and realized the topic was actually having patience in your afflictions. Well, that wasn't quite so bad because, although I'm usually not so patient in my afflictions either I have learned some very valuable lessons over the years that have helped me TRY to have patience in my afflictions and to find peace and joy during the trials we face. Mainly, praying always and asking for the help of my Savior, Jesus Christ, asking to feel the love of my Heavenly Father, asking for the comfort and companionship of the Holy Ghost to help me through these times, all of which bring me peace during the hard times and help me to be able to know I'm not alone and that I can make it through. Well, all week we pondered and worried and wondered what we should say in our talks that might help others. My poor husband HATES speaking in church so much (I have yet to find someone that enjoys this) and he was a mess all week. My husband is like THE most patient person I've ever known in my life. Proof: He's been able to deal with me for the last 16 years! :) This week I heard him suggest that we really should consider having a hired clergy in our church that spoke to us each week so he never had to do this. He said maybe he should just quit church altogether so he didn't have to do this again. I can't think of the other stuff but he cracked me up all week long! I didn't really get very nervous until we were actually sitting on the stand, in front of everyone, waiting for the dreaded moment to arrive when it would be our turn to get up and hopefully not make fools out of ourselves. We said prayers in our hearts that it would go ok and it actually did. We had so many people tell us what a great meeting it was and how much they liked our talks. Brian gave an excellent talk! It's funny, I wasn't nervous all week until we were there and then I was most nervous once I was standing in front of everyone and Brian was a nervous wreck all week until he stood up there and then he was fine. We are so glad it's over now! At least until the next time we move and have to do it again. Wouldn't it be great if we could just find a nice place to live and NEVER move again!?!?! Here's hopin'...