CLOUDS

This last month has been a life changer for me in many ways. The biggest one being that I have reduced my OCD medication to 0. ZERO. I count this as a big win for me.

While on tour with BYU Singers, I felt particularly overwhelmed by the new gradual invasion of obsessive thoughts. My mind was populated with cloudy, fuzzy, negative thoughts. During a concert, I became increasingly aware that this "illness" may not ever go away. All I wanted to do was run off the stage and wallow in my self-pity. At the end of the concert, we began singing a song titled "Unclouded Day." 

Oh they tell me of a home far beyond the skies

They tell me of a home far away.

Oh they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise.

Oh they tell me of an unclouded day.

I couldn't take it any longer. Tears flooded my eyes. 

Even though our life is filled with clouded, long, hard days, there will be a day when our lives will be unclouded and my mind will be cloudless. 

Wow. What a glorious day that will be.

DISEASE

My roommate recently began working at an addiction rehabilitation center. She comes home every weekend dying to tell us about the amazing people she works with. This past weekend, she had a conversation with one of the clients about how people seem to think those who deal with addictions are inherently bad people. But in reality, it's the substance that is bad, not the person.

This principle is true when thinking of any disease, trial, or imperfection. Someone addicted to pornography, someone who suffers from depression, someone who has a short temper - these are all hard things - these things do not define a person. An individual's worth was decided and defined long before any addiction, disease, or weakness came to fruition. And these issues don't change anything. Learn how to look beyond the illness, see who they really are, and love them. Let your love laser beam straight through the walls of depression, anxiety, weakness, and addictions until it strikes their heart. Let them feel a piece of heaven through you.