Chicago Letter #2

Here's my track record for the week:

- Times hit while riding my bike: 1

(Don't worry, it wasn't a car. It was a fellow biker, in fact! How you run into another biker, I still want to know. I didn't stop to ask since I was trying to cross the intersection).

- Times hit on while riding: I lost track on day one. Nothing flattering to report there.

- Times honked at: again, I lost track

- Times I fell over: 1

(I was not even moving. I was standing next to my bike, in front of an apartment entrance on a busy street. I lost my balance and had nowhere to step, and I just fell over my bike. I nearly landed on an innocent bystander. I'm sure people went home and told their family about me. I would have).

- Number of miles biked most in a single day: 19+

(Makes me sound like a serious biker, no???)


Enough funny business. Though, it was a large part of my week. Another large part of my week was just plain hard. I won't bore you with why. What I am going to say next I think I have shared this with you before, but it's worth sharing again:

It's so easy to think I'm alone when I am discouraged or frustrated. When I try and feel like I get nowhere. When I know my intentions are good and I feel stuck. It is easy to get mad.

Well, that's how I felt, plus a lot of other things, this morning. Then I opened my Preach My Gospel book to a page that I wrote and added my favorite scriptures on the top of a page: 1 Nephi 21:15-16 -- I will "not forget thee...I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands".

Every time I read that, I think of Christ saying, I will not forget thee, Leshelle. I gave everything for you. I know how you feel. Literally.

I'm not alone. Christ doesn't forget me. He never will. It is still hard. My situation didn't change when I read that. But my heart did.

You're not alone. You are not forgotten.