This too, shall pass

One year ago, tomorrow, I underwent full sternotomy open heart surgery for a genetically compromised heart valve. It was all the awful you would guess that it was. 

My beloved husband Tom took me to an Asian restaurant in the weeks before the surgery. He was trying to cheer me up during medical testing procedures. The weight of what was looming hung in the air. More on this here: https://maryjobell.com/blog/lights-in-the-tunnel

Many months after the surgery, we returned to that Asian restaurant, and everything was different. Not the restaurant-there was the same cheerful, enormous playful dumpling statue in the lobby. The same delicious foods and soup dumplings that seemed to have been sent over from heaven were still available. But I wasn’t the same. I felt better than I had in years. I could travel again, something I wasn’t sure I could ever do. I learned a lot…about a lot.

One thing I learned is that terrible things are not forever. Even if they are terrible for a lifetime, they are not forever. We will have the best versions of our physical bodies in heaven. The scriptures tell us that the Savior will wipe away all of our tears., and that “This too shall pass.” 

With this in mind, we can get through the impossible. It’s not forever. What is forever is family,  eternal love, and living in the presence of God, and all the heavenly beings. 

For now, there are earthly tasks to be done, and the endurance of sad and difficult times.

But happiness is the thing that is forever. This I know.