What a Year!

I can't believe the past year is coming to a close, and the new year is upon us. What a crazy year we have had! This Christmas to me is one of the most special and meaningful. After the events of the past year, I now know that if you have your health you have a lot. For those of us that are in good health we should be forever grateful, and sensitive to those who are not. Christmas time always stirs up so many emotions within us, but I think the emotion that mostly fills my heart is an overwhelming sense of being thankful. I am so thankful for what God has done in my life this past year with His divine intervention. In celebration of the Christmas season I have a renewal of the amazing event of our Savior's birth. I know so many who have lost loved ones or are going through tremendous amounts of suffering, sickness, and pain. The Christmas season can be so painful for some. However great our suffering may be I truly believe our suffering has purpose and it is not meaningless. If the Savior of the world left His throne to be born in a barn, lived a life full of suffering and pain, and ultimately was murdered on a cross to bring salvation to the world, then what we are faced with to endure here on earth has to have some type of purpose and meaning. If God himself experienced great suffering, why should we expect anything different? No matter how cheesy the saying, "Jesus is the reason for the season," may sound after the rough year I have experienced I know this is true!