Stephanie Nielson

I recently discovered Stephanie Nielson, who, for those of you who don't know, is a 20-something year old woman who, about two years ago, was in a horrible plane crash with her husband and a pilot friend of theirs. Her friend was not able to recover from his injuries, and Stephanie suffered severe burns to 83% of her body.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E

As I watched this beautiful video created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I was overcome with guilt for the lack of appreciation I have for my blessings here in mortality; Stephanie's story helped me to truly see how INCREDIBLY blessed I am! I realized how completely for granted I take my blessing of having a working, normal, completely able, physical body.

I was so touched by her story, that I found Stephanie's blog online, and read some of the posts from both before, and after the accident. I was struck by the unbelievable love and support of her husband (whom she calls "Mr. Nielson"- how cute is that?!); despite the deformity of her body and face, one can see by the way he looks at his wife, that "Mr. Nielson" has a completely unconditional love for her.

This love causes me to reflect on the love of our Saviour, who cared so deeply for each of us, that he gave his life at Gethsemane so that we will EACH have the opportunity, if we choose to take it, to return to live with our Father in Heaven again. No matter how badly stained by the world we become, no matter how scarred and scraped and burned, our Heavenly Father's love for us will never cease to be. I am overcome with gratitude when I think of the amazing sacrifice that He made for us, and am persuaded to do my very best to make sure this sacrifice was not in vain.

I am thankful for this opportunity to experience mortality, and to serve my role in this probationary period. I will strive each day to prove myself, a worthy, righteous disciple of Christ. Like Stephanie, I will do my best to find the value in each day, not taking for granted any of life's sweet experiences.

Stephanie,

Know that you have been such a strength to me, and have inspired me to better myself each day, and to do all I can to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for your perseverance, and courage.

Sincerely,
A grateful reader.