Renewed Faith

Wow, life has been crazy the past few years and I honestly completely forgot about this blog with all that's happened.  Ash and I have been living in the Boise, Idaho area for a little over two years.  The area we're in now is definitely why we were directed to move up here from Salt Lake.  It took us years of struggles and making mistakes, but looking back I can see how everything that happened lead us to where we are now.  I've always been someone that seems to only learn things when I do it the hard way and I've learned a lot the past few years.  Ashley and I have been through so many things in the almost nine years we've been married, and although a lot of it was discouraging, frustrating, and heartbreaking; I'm learning to be grateful, as it's made our relationship amazingly strong.  There are some things we continue to cope with; the pain of not being able to have children, the frustration of financial instability, the roller coaster of health problems that plague Ashley, and many other things, but these burdens have been made so much lighter now that we've honestly and wholeheartedly started to follow Christ and have begun to allow the Atonement to work in our lives.  We have been to the temple a couple times in the past few weeks and have really felt a difference.  We attended the temple many times during our previous times of activity in the church, but after having been completely inactive for a couple years and now finding our way back in the way that we have, it's a totally different experience.  It was, of course, awe inspiring before, and was absolutely beautiful when I went through for my own endowments and to be sealed to Ashley, but the last couple times have been so touching and too amazing for words to express.  We're so grateful that we were lead here.  The ward here is a large part of the reason we were open to returning to activity in the church.  So many people from the ward reached out to us, not to pressure us to come back to church, but just because they genuinely wanted to get to know us and be there for us.  We got visits from many different people and some weren't even aware of the previous visits from others.  This ward is such an amazing group of people.  They continue to make us feel wanted and loved each week.  A few of them have helped us get through some of our more recent struggles and many have offered to help in any way they can.  All of them are wonderful examples of living a Christ-like life.  Through their examples and love, as well as the wonderful family and friends who have been praying for us and loving us, our faith has been renewed and continues to grow.  We can feel our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love for us.  Each Sunday when we attend our meetings, and especially during Sacrament meeting, I can feel an outpouring of love and I know that my Heavenly Father is so happy to have us there.  I come away each Sunday ready to get through the week.  Ashley and I are both so grateful for all that we have been blessed with and are so looking forward to the future.  I know it won't necessarily be easier, but I know things are much better and life is so much more fulfilling when following Jesus Christ.