Today when I woke up I was sure excited that we had decided a few weeks ago that we would allow ourselves to stay another day and not fly home until tomorrow. Thank goodness for thinking ahead!!! I would have never been able to make it home today due to the flare I caused myself these past couple days.
In fact, this past week has been very emotionally and physically draining on me as well. No sooner did we get back from our wonderful California trip, then we were once again challenged as a family.
My brother has been struggling with mental illness these past few weeks. It had really been very challenging and difficult for not only his wife and his, but for my parents, myself, my other brother as well. We have all tried to help him in any way that we can. We have taken him to specialists and counseling. We are realizing just how hard having a mental illness can be on an entire family.
Since this has really taken a toll on my parents, my older brother and I have tried our best to take over. I have prayed so hard this past week to be able to have the strength to help my brother and his wife. I have witnessed first hand the power of prayer as I have felt strengthened beyond my own on days when even I was amazed at what I could do. My husband and daughter were very worried about how much I was doing and was worried about my health. I knew the power of prayer was at work each day as I diligently asked for help to do what the Lord needed me to do to help them.
My mother was worried sick about what it would do to me but I told her just to keep on praying for all of us and everything would work out. I reminded her to replace her fear with faith and the Lord would strengthen us in our time of need. I witnessed this first hand this week and am so eternally grateful for the opportunity to be there when my family needed it most.
This morning as I lay in bed at the hotel I was watching a conference talk entitled,
"Like a Broken Vessel" by Jeffrey R. Holland. I was so touched by this talk and remember it from this past April's conference. But this time when I watched it I couldn't stop thinking about my bother and his wife and the challenges of mental illness that they were struggling with. Just then I had the strongest prompting to send the link to both of them. My brother is in-active and my sister-in-law is a baptist. I tried to dismiss the prompting by saying I don't want to offend them, or I don't want to make them mad. But the prompting came even stronger this time. I knew what I needed to do so I grabbed my phone and formulated a text to each of them expressing my love and concern for them, and shared the hope and peace that this talk could give them if they would take the time to watch it.
I did not hear from either one of them for over an hour. I worried and thought, "I've done it, I've made them mad!" I felt a bit discouraged but knew I had to follow through on what I was prompted. An hour and half went by and I received a text from my sister -in-law telling me thank you and that she cried when she watched it. When I read that I started to cry. I was so grateful that she took the time to watch it and was able to feel the spirit while watching it. Another 5 minutes went by and my brother called me and thanked me so much for the video. He told me he really liked it and that he was taking it to his therapy group tomorrow to share it with them. He said it really helped him to know that having a mental illness is just like having a brain tumor or an appendicitis and that treatment is just as important to get for a mental illness as it is for either of these two diagnosis.
Today I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to share this amazing talk with my loved ones. May you take the time to share this with ones you know and love who may be struggling with some type of mental illness.
