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| A sweatshirt given to me for Christmas by Kristen and Sarah and Cam Christesen. It's from a store in Dana Point, California, and is the name of a famous surf wave on that beach. When I saw it, I mentioned that I'd love to have something from that store. They were so kind to get it for me. I'm in love. |
So, we're studying the Old Testament this year and I'm a new Sunday School teacher, so I've been diving a bit deeper than I might normally dive. I love that I get to teach high school seniors. We also have some juniors that sneak in and we're good with that.
Anyway, in preparing to teach on Sunday, I had been reading early chapters of Genesis and Moses. As a result, Eve has been on my radar. I had talked to a friend Kelli Ritter who teaches gospel doctrine in her ward on Friday and she mentioned that life mimics Adam and Eve's experience over and over. We go from innocence to trials and temptation to relying on the atonement. Over and over. Very true.
On Saturday, I was feeling the weight of a week's worth of hard. Work is hard. The Omicron variant of Covid is spreading like wildfire and as a result, I have constant emails regarding absences, etc. It's very taxing. I've also been sad about being single and wondering why the divorce had to happen. I stopped at Kamiko's house for him to give me a blessing. I didn't record it or have Bekki take notes and I don't remember a lot of it. I do remember counsel to be flexible. I also remember counsel that these difficult times won't last much longer and that there will be some big decisions to make and I'll know what to do just as I've known in the past. The biggest decisions in the recent past were selling the American Fork home and getting divorced. I certainly knew what to do there. I had an undeniably strong impression to sell the house and an audible voice that told me to get divorced.
Just because I knew these decisions needed to be made didn't make them any easier and didn't mean the resultant changes weren't HARD. I do know it was so good that we moved when we did. I don't know how that divorce would have happened in our AF house and ward. I'm so glad we were removed from the comfort of that neighborhood. It was a blessing.
Anyway, as I was driving home from Kamiko's, I was overwhelmed with sadness, nostalgia, etc. and was sobbing as i listened to music.
Then it hit me.
Eve.
I was reliving Eve's experience.
Eve had to make a very difficult decision. This decision would cause discomfort, growth, progress, pain, sorrow, etc. Wow, so did my decision to get divorced, but it was the RIGHT DECISION. I have no doubt it was the right decision. So, just like eating the fruit, I had to get divorced, to progress.
So, my next thought was...
What did Eve do after getting cast out of the Garden of Eden?
She turned to God and to her Savior.
She was obedient, she offered sacrifices, she had a family and taught them, and she relied on the hope of an atonement.
There I had it.
I remember that my life in 2020 mirrored the events of the Book of Mormon, our study that year. I'm very grateful that I've seen a meaningful tie between my life and our study of the Old Testament this early in the year.
So, on Sunday, we talked about hard decisions that are the right things to do. My co-teacher, Janey, told about making the decision to come home early from her mission on a medical release. I suggested the youth in the class ask their parents if they've ever had to make hard decisions like Eve.
Elder Holland's devotional at BYU today was about faith and trials...pretty much the story of Eve. It could be that I'll be thinking of Eve all year and I'm not mad about that.
