Laughter

I was helping the kids get ready for crazy hair day at school this morning, when suddenly it hit me. I was laughing. Not the "I am your mom so I have to pretend I'm enjoying this" kind of laugh, but a true, from the heart laugh, and then another and another. And I realized that I was thoroughly enjoying my children.
When I was going through the depths of my depression, I truly believed I would never come out. Everything was so dark and heavy. I thought I would never get better. But yesterday afternoon, I lay on my bed after picking up the kids from school. I had completed a tough emotional exercise that morning (Neil Anderson's Seven Steps to Freedom) and was exhausted. Yet as I lay there, so tired I could barely move, I thought: "I made it. I actually made it through! I survived this storm. Thank you, Lord, for seeing me through."
I do not kid myself in thinking that life will be smooth sailing from here, because I know there will be more storms to come. But I survived this one. God carried me through and now, I want to help others who are walking through similar storms so that they, too, can come out on the other side...and LAUGH!