When Church and prayer seems like the worst, remember it's the best.

There is a certain amount of peace that comes from going to church. I love to learn about a God who loves me and a savior that loves me so much that he would give his life for me. I love to learn ways that I and my family can be happier.

But sometimes those things make it HARD to go to church, too!

Soon before my divorce process started, things at home were rough. To say the least. It was traumatic, it was sad. During that time it was hard to go to church because I felt like all I did at church was try not to cry. I'd hear a song that reminds me that Heavenly Father will support me during my trials... and I'd cry. I'd hear a lesson on marriage... and I'd cry. I'd feel the peace that comes with going to church ... I'd cry. I'd feel the peace of praying... I'd cry.

You get the point. Generally it wasn't full out crying, but trying NOT to.

I basically went to church and continuously tried not to cry.

But I went anyway. Because I knew that feeling that peace and crying because I felt loved was better than not going and not feeling the peace of going to church and still crying anyway. I still needed the truth I learned at church, I still needed that help.

And eventually it got easier. And then easier turned into easy. Going helped to boost me up.

Of course I still run into things that remind me of heartache. And that is hard. But then I turn to God again and he helps me through it.

I think that is why some people have a hard time praying or attending church, even when they know it is true. Because, especially with praying, you put your self out there and feel vulnerable. This can sometimes seem scary when you are just trying to hold it all together.

But remember that church, prayer, reflection, taking a deep breath, resting, its all there to help you and sort things out.

Use these tools to help you get through your trials and find some peace. Do it now so that you save yourself some pain and heartache later.

If you could do something to help ease your pain, wouldn't you?

Dealing with the nightmares

I would be interested to know how many spouses of addicts out there suffer from nightmares surrounding their addict spouse. Especially in the beginning after you first find out about their addiction or something related to their addiction.

My personal advice for this is thus: Prayer and reading scriptures

When you just can't go to sleep because your brain won't stop thinking about life. When you can't get rid of the nightmares about your addict spouse.

I won't say that prayer and reading scriptures gets rid of nightmares, at least not immediately. I think that time has to help a little as well. But they do offer a comfort, a chance for peace and a chance to think about something other than what is going on in your life.

And, when you just need that help, that life line to constant love and a plea for peace, who better to ask than God? If only for that short amount of time before you sleep, talking to your Father In Heaven will help.

I had a time in my life where I had to pray while falling asleep. And waking up from the nightmares, I would pray again until I fell asleep again. The nights were too full of nightmares to have the waking time around them be full of nightmares as well. Heavenly father was my lifeline, my constant Go-To. Even though I was tired, I knew that thoughts about what I was going through and my situation would keep me up. So I would read my scriptures until I was even more tired, and then I would pray until I fell asleep. Time definitely helped, prayer and reading  scriptures helped, and healing from the trauma helped.

Whatever your traumatic, hard situation is, remember to pray. Sometimes the greatest peace you will ever find is during your plea for peace.

What do you do to find peace in hard situations? Please feel free to share!