So I recently returned from youth conference. It was tons of fun and I had a great time with my friends. I came to realize though that while I was up there, people have come to expect a lot from me. I know of at least 5 or 6 people who were surprised when I didn’t get up and bear my testimony at our testimony meeting. Friends and leaders were both shocked because I guess they know me as this really spiritual guy and expect me to jump at things like that. I didn’t and I guess I let them all down. I was prompted several times to get up, but I didn’t, so I guess I let myself down and my Heavenly Father down as well. So I thought in order to make up for that a little, I would share some thoughts I had during testimony meeting and some things I wanted to share.
First off, I learn during testimony meeting, that different people can have the same experience together and yet all learn something completely different. We all have our own strengths and ways to look at things, so we all learn different things. And it is when we share our different insights that we all grow more and learn a whole lot more than we ever could have on our own.
Second is teamwork and cooperation! While we were at camp, we had the opportunity to participate in some “challenge courses”. Most of the activities weren’t all that challenging, but they were still fun and enjoyable. And after each one we talked about how that relates to our lives and the gospel. On all of them we had to work as a group and team and get through it together. And we accomplished so much more when we did this. We couldn’t do it on our own. We needed others there to help lift us up and help us along. One of the experiences that stand out the most is where we were around this (about) 10x10 area and there was a tree in the middle. Next to the tree was a container that had water in it, and without touching the ground (since it was “hot lava”) in the area we had to retrieve this water using only a 50 foot rope. We ended up wrapping the rope around the middle tree a couple of times and then tied the other two ends off on another tree on the outside of the area. I then went out on the rope (imagine one of the Pirates movies) to get the water. Except I wasn’t thinking it through and went out feet first. When I got to it, I ended up having to turn myself around so I could reach the container with my hands. While doing this though, my feet slipped and I ended up hanging there, a few inches off the ground, holding onto the rope. I didn’t have the strength to swing my legs up, so I called out saying I wasn’t going to make it. Out of nowhere, Galen reaches out and grabs my foot and lifts it up and I managed to get back on the rope and then successfully retrieve the water. I couldn’t have done it along though. It my moment of need, I had a friend reach out and lift me up just when I needed it the most. So we cannot do this alone. We need others there to help and support us.
Lastly, and the one I like the most, is when one of our leaders got up and bore his testimony. He talked about a question one of the youth asked which was about why we would come down here when we knew not all of us would make it back to God. Why would we risk that chance of failing and losing. He related it to why people run a race. They know there will only be one winner, but people run anyways, because they have that chance of winning. I think though that with life, it’s not about be the winner, per say, but about finishing the race. We don’t need to finish first, but we just need to finish. My cousin, at his homecoming, share a story about an Olympic runner who was sent to the games to participate. During this race though (think cross country I assume) he ended up getting dehydrated and just really worn out. He didn’t stop though, even when he knew that everyone else had finished. He kept going. Finally he made it back in, dehydrated and sick, but he finished. When questioned later about why he would finish a race he already knew he had lost and had no chance to win, he said that his country didn’t send him to the Olympics to start the race, they sent him to finish the race. And so it is with us. God didn’t send us here to just start a race, he sent us to finish it. We don’t have to come in first or be the best, we just need to do our best and finish. Do our best and leave the rest up to him. Do our best, and when our best isn’t good enough, that’s where God steps in. Just like the Olympic runner probably found some inner strength to keep going in his moment of need, and just as Galen gave me the leg up just when I needed it, when we stumble and fall in this race of life, Christ is there reaching our his hand to catch us and steady us just when we need him most. When we think we can’t keep going and think we’ve lost, he proves us wrong again and shows us some strength hidden within us that we didn’t know we had. He helps to get us going again and will always be there holding out his hand for whenever we need him.
So those are just a few of the insights I had and thought someone might enjoy them. I hope they make some kind of sense. :) Also, since I didn’t do it there, I will do it here….
I know with ever fiber of my being and with all my heart and soul that God lives and loves me. There is not a shadow of doubt in my mind that he lives. He loves me with so much more love than I deserve and so much more than I will ever understand. He sent me here with a purpose and not just to start a race, but to finish, and with his help I will finish strong. I know that I have a Heavenly Mother who loves me and watches over me. I know that she hopes and wishes that I will make it back to her, and I hope and pray that I will as well, so that I may hug her and tell her that her boy is home again and I wish to make her proud of me. I know that Christ came down to this earth. I know that he walked it and work so many miracles, some of which we may never really fully comprehend what he really did. I know that he taught us a higher law and the only true way to live with God again. I know that he was persecuted and hated of men. I know that he bled from every single pore in his body and suffered for my sins. That he knows me and know exactly what I am going through and doing. I know that he was hung upon a cross and died, for me, so that one day I might die and live again with him. I am sorry for the pain I caused him, and I am eternally grateful that he chose to go through with it because of his unending love for me. I know that one day I will get the chance to bow before him and bathe his feet in my tears in thank him personally. I also know that I already have the chance to do this with the way I live. I know of his love for me and for each and everyone of us, no matter what we do. He will ALWAYS be there for me and you. Always.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Rock Climbing and God's Love
I went rock climbing this past Monday, and I got my first real rock climbing battle wound! I was lead climbing and ended up falling. My leg hooked over the rope and slid down it and I got this pretty nasty rope burn on the back of my knee. We have been putting gauze and some salve on it, about twice a day (morning and night). This of course brings up an age old question… is it better to rip the band aid off fast, or a little at a time (or in this case, the gauze that sticks to my leg every time.)? I believe it is a matter of preference really, meaning do you prefer the pain all at once (which can be a little shocking and leave a sting), or do you prefer a little at a time so you can adjust to it and not have it all at once? I think it is the same when getting into a swimming pool. A little at a time, or all at once (though at a pool, you shouldn’t take too long getting in anyways, as someone might cannonball and drench you and then you wont have a choice!).
My preference is a little at a time, which of course makes me think of Satan. Weird, I know, but it does. It’s the way he works. He doesn’t corrupt you all at once, he does it a little at a time, so as to not have the “big shocking effect” and wake you up to a sense of your own guilt and cause you to repent. Like in C.S Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters” (allow me to quote a section or two):
Are we on this path? Do you feel that “uneasiness”? If so, WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! Don’t continue down that path. Wake up and repent now before it is too late!!! Don’t continue to wait, saying you can repent later, or that it’s only a little sin and it doesn’t count or it doesn’t matter. ALL LIES! It does matter and it does count! Don’t wait until you do something worse. Stop now and go back to Christ! Don’t dread praying! Don’t dread reaching out to your Father in Heaven who will ALWAYS love you no matter what! I’m not going to say He doesn’t care when you mess up, because He does, but He will continue to love you anyways no matter what! And He has offered a way back to Him, a way to repent and come back on the right path. And the sooner you do it, the easier it is. Don’t wait until you have to repent of something huge, repent now and recommit to keeping the commandments and remember to pray always. God will help you though the rough times, when you don’t think you can make it. And if you have already made a big mistake and “gone over the edge”, start changing now! It’s not too late. God still loves you and wants you. He always has wanted you, and always will. :) Never EVER doubt that. It’s the one thing you can always count on. :)
My preference is a little at a time, which of course makes me think of Satan. Weird, I know, but it does. It’s the way he works. He doesn’t corrupt you all at once, he does it a little at a time, so as to not have the “big shocking effect” and wake you up to a sense of your own guilt and cause you to repent. Like in C.S Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters” (allow me to quote a section or two):
MY DEAR WORMWOOD,
Obviously you are making excellent progress. My only fear is lest in attempting to hurry the patient you awaken him to a sense of his real position. For you and I, who see that position as it really is, must never forget how totally different it ought to appear to him. We know that we have introduced a change of direction in his course which is already carrying him out of his orbit around he Enemy [God]; but he must be made to imagine that all the choices which have effected this change of course are trivial and revocable. He must not be allowed to suspect that he is now, however slowly, heading right away from the sun on a line which will carry him into the cold and dark of utmost space.
For this reason I am almost glad to hear that he is still a churchgoer and a communicant [a partaker of the Sacrament]. I know there are dangers in this; but anything is better than that he should realise the break it has made with the first months of his Christian life. As long as he retains externally the habits of a Christian he can still be made to think of himself as one who has adopted a few new friends and amusements but whose spiritual state is much the same as it was six weeks ago. And while he thinks that, we do not have to contend with the explicit repentance of a definite, fully recognised, sin, but only with his vague, though uneasy, feeling that he hasn't been doing very well lately.
This dim uneasiness needs careful handling. If it gets too strong it may wake him up and spoil the whole game. On the other hand, if you suppress it entirely—which, by the by, the Enemy will probably not allow you to do—we lose an element in the situation which can be turned to good account. If such a feeling is allowed to live, but not allowed to become irresistible and flower into real repentance, it has one invaluable tendency. It increases the patient's reluctance to think about the Enemy. All humans at nearly all times have some such reluctance; but when thinking of Him involves facing and intensifying a whole vague cloud of half-conscious guilt, this reluctance is increased tenfold. They hate every idea that suggests Him, just as men in financial embarrassment hate the very sight of a pass-book. In this state your patient will not omit, but he will increasingly dislike, his religious duties. He will think about them as little as he feels he decently can beforehand, and forget them as soon as possible when they are over. A few weeks ago you had to tempt him to unreality and inattention in his prayers: but now you will find him opening his arms to you and almost begging you to distract his purpose and benumb his heart. He will want his prayers to be unreal, for he will dread nothing so much as effective contact with the Enemy. His aim will be to let sleeping worms lie.
As this condition becomes more fully established, you will be gradually freed from the tiresome business of providing Pleasures as temptations. As the uneasiness and his reluctance to face it cut him off more and more from all real happiness, and as habit renders the pleasures of vanity and excitement and flippancy at once less pleasant and harder to forgo (for that is what habit fortunately does to a pleasure) you will find that anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book, which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a column of advertisements in yesterday's paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but in conversations with those he cares nothing about on subjects that bore him. You can make him do nothing at all for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the healthy and outgoing activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at last he may say, as one of my own patients said on his arrival down here, "I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked". The Christians describe the Enemy as one "without whom Nothing is strong". And Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man's best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them, in drumming of fingers and kicking of heels, in whistling tunes that he does not like, or in the long, dim labyrinth of reveries that have not even lust or ambition to give them a relish, but which, once chance association has started them, the creature is too weak and fuddled to shake off.
You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
Your affectionate uncle,
SCREWTAPE
Are we on this path? Do you feel that “uneasiness”? If so, WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! Don’t continue down that path. Wake up and repent now before it is too late!!! Don’t continue to wait, saying you can repent later, or that it’s only a little sin and it doesn’t count or it doesn’t matter. ALL LIES! It does matter and it does count! Don’t wait until you do something worse. Stop now and go back to Christ! Don’t dread praying! Don’t dread reaching out to your Father in Heaven who will ALWAYS love you no matter what! I’m not going to say He doesn’t care when you mess up, because He does, but He will continue to love you anyways no matter what! And He has offered a way back to Him, a way to repent and come back on the right path. And the sooner you do it, the easier it is. Don’t wait until you have to repent of something huge, repent now and recommit to keeping the commandments and remember to pray always. God will help you though the rough times, when you don’t think you can make it. And if you have already made a big mistake and “gone over the edge”, start changing now! It’s not too late. God still loves you and wants you. He always has wanted you, and always will. :) Never EVER doubt that. It’s the one thing you can always count on. :)
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Angels Among Us. They Really Do Exist! :)
March 15, 2010
(DISCLAIMER!!!! I was half asleep when I wrote this and I'm not quite sure what it says) :D
So today I was reminded of the song “Angels Among Us” by Alabama. I haven’t listened to it in at least a year. It is such an amazing song. For those of you who don’t know it, here are the lyrics and link so you can listen to it on Youtube.
“I was walking home from school on a cold winter’s day
Took a shortcut throw the woods, and I lost my way
It was getting late, and I was scared and alone
Then a kind old man took my hand and led me home
Mama couldn’t see him, oh but he was standing there
And I knew in my heart, he was the answer to my prayers
Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with the light of love
When life dealt trouble times and had me down on my knees
There’s always been someone to come along and comfort me
A kind word from a stranger to lend a helping hand
A phone call from a friend just to say I understand
Ain’t it kind of funny at the dark end of the road
Someone lights the way with just a single ray of hope
Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with the light of love
They wear so many faces
Show up in the strangest places
Grace us with their mercy
In our time of need
Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with the light of love
To guide us with the light of love”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WENJbSPSmqg
So this song always gets me thinking. There really are angels among us, though most of the time we take them for granted and don’t realize just exactly who they are. I know who some of mine are, but even I can’t name them all. Though I can name a few: My loving and amazing family, my awesome friends, my coworkers, random strangers… you get the idea. Right now I want to focus on my friends. You know who you are. :) I can’t even begin to tell you how much my friends have impacted me and my life. One of the reasons why my parents started home schooling me is because of the type of people I had started hanging out with in 6th grade. I know that if I had continued down that path, I would be in big trouble today. I am so grateful for my parents for that, though it did limit my social life. I didn’t have too many friends but I was grateful for the ones I had. They had a huge impact on me. Two of them, who are brothers, are both on missions right now.
About 16 months ago, I went to a tri-stake barn dance that forever changed my life. While I was there, I was being my anti social self, and had it not been for the courage of one girl coming up and approaching me, I wouldn’t be writing this now. She had two friends with her, but she was the one that did the talking. To make a long story short, meeting her and a few others that night literally changed my life for the better.
I started doing some stuff with these new found friends of mine, and I kept meeting new people. In fact, it was about a year ago that I met the kid who is now my best friend. In fact, we are like brothers and I am so grateful for his example. Him and all these others changed me and my ways. If someone were to meet me now and I were to tell them that a little over a year ago I was the kid who sat in the corners at parties and didn’t talk to anyone, no one would believe me.
I’m rambling…so I’ll get to my point. So of my angels in my life are my amazing and awesome friends. I’m the oldest out of the people I hang out with the most, and yet I am sure that I am the one that learns the most from the examples of my friends. They continue to teach me everyday and they don’t even know it. In fact, the other day, I was sitting with my family and we were talking about how common divorce is nowadays and how uncommon it is to see marriages last 30 years like my parents. My dad starting naming off people who were divorced to prove his point. And I am proud to say that I could name off just about everyone of my friends and tell you that their parents hadn’t been divorced and that they taught their kids right in this aspect. In fact, I can tell you for just about how long each of their parents have been married. The best part is what my dad said next. He told me something to the effect that it is because I have a group of friends who aren’t like the rest of the world. He said that I have a good group of friends, and this isn’t the first time he’s said it. And every time he does say it, I can proudly confirm it, and tell him yes, they do stand out from the world, yes they are amazing.
So I guess what I am trying to say here is that I see my angels every day in the shape of my friends. I thank God every day for blessing me with them. I am so lucky to have friends like them.
So to all my friends out there…Thanks for standing out from the world. Thanks for considering me a friend and always being there for me and teaching me so much. Thanks for being so amazing and awesome. Thanks for just being you! :)
(DISCLAIMER!!!! I was half asleep when I wrote this and I'm not quite sure what it says) :D
So today I was reminded of the song “Angels Among Us” by Alabama. I haven’t listened to it in at least a year. It is such an amazing song. For those of you who don’t know it, here are the lyrics and link so you can listen to it on Youtube.
“I was walking home from school on a cold winter’s day
Took a shortcut throw the woods, and I lost my way
It was getting late, and I was scared and alone
Then a kind old man took my hand and led me home
Mama couldn’t see him, oh but he was standing there
And I knew in my heart, he was the answer to my prayers
Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with the light of love
When life dealt trouble times and had me down on my knees
There’s always been someone to come along and comfort me
A kind word from a stranger to lend a helping hand
A phone call from a friend just to say I understand
Ain’t it kind of funny at the dark end of the road
Someone lights the way with just a single ray of hope
Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with the light of love
They wear so many faces
Show up in the strangest places
Grace us with their mercy
In our time of need
Oh I believe there are angels among us
Sent down to us from somewhere up above
They come to you and me in our darkest hours
To show us how to live
To teach us how to give
To guide us with the light of love
To guide us with the light of love”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WENJbSPSmqg
So this song always gets me thinking. There really are angels among us, though most of the time we take them for granted and don’t realize just exactly who they are. I know who some of mine are, but even I can’t name them all. Though I can name a few: My loving and amazing family, my awesome friends, my coworkers, random strangers… you get the idea. Right now I want to focus on my friends. You know who you are. :) I can’t even begin to tell you how much my friends have impacted me and my life. One of the reasons why my parents started home schooling me is because of the type of people I had started hanging out with in 6th grade. I know that if I had continued down that path, I would be in big trouble today. I am so grateful for my parents for that, though it did limit my social life. I didn’t have too many friends but I was grateful for the ones I had. They had a huge impact on me. Two of them, who are brothers, are both on missions right now.
About 16 months ago, I went to a tri-stake barn dance that forever changed my life. While I was there, I was being my anti social self, and had it not been for the courage of one girl coming up and approaching me, I wouldn’t be writing this now. She had two friends with her, but she was the one that did the talking. To make a long story short, meeting her and a few others that night literally changed my life for the better.
I started doing some stuff with these new found friends of mine, and I kept meeting new people. In fact, it was about a year ago that I met the kid who is now my best friend. In fact, we are like brothers and I am so grateful for his example. Him and all these others changed me and my ways. If someone were to meet me now and I were to tell them that a little over a year ago I was the kid who sat in the corners at parties and didn’t talk to anyone, no one would believe me.
I’m rambling…so I’ll get to my point. So of my angels in my life are my amazing and awesome friends. I’m the oldest out of the people I hang out with the most, and yet I am sure that I am the one that learns the most from the examples of my friends. They continue to teach me everyday and they don’t even know it. In fact, the other day, I was sitting with my family and we were talking about how common divorce is nowadays and how uncommon it is to see marriages last 30 years like my parents. My dad starting naming off people who were divorced to prove his point. And I am proud to say that I could name off just about everyone of my friends and tell you that their parents hadn’t been divorced and that they taught their kids right in this aspect. In fact, I can tell you for just about how long each of their parents have been married. The best part is what my dad said next. He told me something to the effect that it is because I have a group of friends who aren’t like the rest of the world. He said that I have a good group of friends, and this isn’t the first time he’s said it. And every time he does say it, I can proudly confirm it, and tell him yes, they do stand out from the world, yes they are amazing.
So I guess what I am trying to say here is that I see my angels every day in the shape of my friends. I thank God every day for blessing me with them. I am so lucky to have friends like them.
So to all my friends out there…Thanks for standing out from the world. Thanks for considering me a friend and always being there for me and teaching me so much. Thanks for being so amazing and awesome. Thanks for just being you! :)
Monday, March 15, 2010
One Of My All Time Favorite Quote/Things
I LOVE this! But I totally might be biased ;)
"If when I got to God’s kingdom, and He required me to chose but just one sound to hear for the rest of eternity, I would choose your sweet melodious voice singing ever so softly to me. For with that sound, I could be happy for eternity. But, it would also make me the most miserable soul who ever had cause to exist. For to hear your voice, but not be able to hold you in my arms, to not be able to gaze forever into your sapphire eyes, to not be able to smell the fragrance of your skin and hair, to not be able to taste your lips on mine, or to feel your touch against my skin, without all of those, I would be truly miserable. The devil himself could never torture a soul and cause them as much exquisite pain as I would experience if I could hear your voice, but have no other part of you. I would be experiencing my own personal hell, a hell so intense, that I would rather cease to exist than endure it."
"If when I got to God’s kingdom, and He required me to chose but just one sound to hear for the rest of eternity, I would choose your sweet melodious voice singing ever so softly to me. For with that sound, I could be happy for eternity. But, it would also make me the most miserable soul who ever had cause to exist. For to hear your voice, but not be able to hold you in my arms, to not be able to gaze forever into your sapphire eyes, to not be able to smell the fragrance of your skin and hair, to not be able to taste your lips on mine, or to feel your touch against my skin, without all of those, I would be truly miserable. The devil himself could never torture a soul and cause them as much exquisite pain as I would experience if I could hear your voice, but have no other part of you. I would be experiencing my own personal hell, a hell so intense, that I would rather cease to exist than endure it."
For All The Girls And Women Out There....
March 14, 2010
I just finished having a conversation with a really good friend of mine. She had told me that she was afraid of the future, afraid that she would marry a guy and later regret it. She was afraid of the world and the things out there in it. So I told her what’s what…. And I am going to tell you the same thing.
Let me start off with the Young Women Values: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue. Assuming you go to Church, you are taught these principles every week. You are taught to live by these things and taught that good things will follow those who live these.
So as for being afraid of marrying a guy and later regretting it, let me tell you something now. If you truly obey and live the YWVs to the fullest then I PROMISE you this: That you will meet a worthy priesthood holder, you will both fall madly in love, be sealed together for all eternity and the only thing you will regret is that you didn’t have them in your life sooner. You will raise a family and you will fall more in love with each other every day. As long as you keep Christ at the center of your marriage and live true to these values and standards, you will never regret your marriage. Sure this sounds like a fairy tale with a happily ever after ending, but that’s what it is. Sure it wont be easy and there will be times when you will want to give up, but it will be worth it. Of this you can be sure.
Being scared of the world and the things in it and not being ready for them. Well. Let me tell you this. You prepare yourself every day and every week. Every time you read your scriptures, every time you say your prayers, you are better preparing yourself for the world. Every time you go to church or go to seminary, you better prepare yourself for the trials and temptations the world is going to throw at you. And when you keep Christ at your center, and you live those values, there is nothing that you can’t overcome. And on those hard days when you are about to give into those temptations and pressures of the world, just think of this: Think of that glorious day when you finally stand before God, when you stand before your Father. You look up into His big bright eyes and you say, “Daddy, I did it. I’m home.” And He’ll smile a perfect smile, gather you into His arms, hug you tight with the most amazing hug ever, and He’ll say, “Well done, my darling princess, welcome home.”
So when life gets you down and you feel discouraged or you feel like you aren’t prepared for life, think of this and know that you are prepared. Think of that perfect smile and perfect hug waiting for you from your Parents in Heaven and there is nothing you can’t get through. You are prepared to face the world, with Christ at your side. Be strong, sisters. And always remember that you are of royal blood. You truly are princesses of a King, and don’t you ever let anyone tell you otherwise.
I just finished having a conversation with a really good friend of mine. She had told me that she was afraid of the future, afraid that she would marry a guy and later regret it. She was afraid of the world and the things out there in it. So I told her what’s what…. And I am going to tell you the same thing.
Let me start off with the Young Women Values: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue. Assuming you go to Church, you are taught these principles every week. You are taught to live by these things and taught that good things will follow those who live these.
So as for being afraid of marrying a guy and later regretting it, let me tell you something now. If you truly obey and live the YWVs to the fullest then I PROMISE you this: That you will meet a worthy priesthood holder, you will both fall madly in love, be sealed together for all eternity and the only thing you will regret is that you didn’t have them in your life sooner. You will raise a family and you will fall more in love with each other every day. As long as you keep Christ at the center of your marriage and live true to these values and standards, you will never regret your marriage. Sure this sounds like a fairy tale with a happily ever after ending, but that’s what it is. Sure it wont be easy and there will be times when you will want to give up, but it will be worth it. Of this you can be sure.
Being scared of the world and the things in it and not being ready for them. Well. Let me tell you this. You prepare yourself every day and every week. Every time you read your scriptures, every time you say your prayers, you are better preparing yourself for the world. Every time you go to church or go to seminary, you better prepare yourself for the trials and temptations the world is going to throw at you. And when you keep Christ at your center, and you live those values, there is nothing that you can’t overcome. And on those hard days when you are about to give into those temptations and pressures of the world, just think of this: Think of that glorious day when you finally stand before God, when you stand before your Father. You look up into His big bright eyes and you say, “Daddy, I did it. I’m home.” And He’ll smile a perfect smile, gather you into His arms, hug you tight with the most amazing hug ever, and He’ll say, “Well done, my darling princess, welcome home.”
So when life gets you down and you feel discouraged or you feel like you aren’t prepared for life, think of this and know that you are prepared. Think of that perfect smile and perfect hug waiting for you from your Parents in Heaven and there is nothing you can’t get through. You are prepared to face the world, with Christ at your side. Be strong, sisters. And always remember that you are of royal blood. You truly are princesses of a King, and don’t you ever let anyone tell you otherwise.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
So, I've started a blog.
Hi there! Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Those honestly, you should be doing something better with your time, just like I should, instead of writing this. But seeing as how we are both here, we may as well continue!
So, honestly, I've had the idea of starting a blog in my head for quite some time now. I just like writing things about my life, and a Facebook status doesn't give one nearly enough room. I don't care if anyone reads it or not, I'm just here to write! Woohoo! So buckle your seat belts ladies and gents, because it's gonna be an awesome ride! (okay, probably not. My life isn't all that exciting... but hey, let's pretend, shall we?)
So, last night I was watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and there were a couple of lines that really stood out to me. Here's the quote:
Jack Sparrow: What? You've seen it all, done it all. Survived. That's the trick isn't it? To survive?
Captain Teague: It's not just about living forever, Jackie. The trick is still living with yourself forever.
It got me thinking of a scripture in Alma (yes, I am LDS, and I will be talking about what I believe a lot, so ha). Chapter 5, verse 18.
So, honestly, I've had the idea of starting a blog in my head for quite some time now. I just like writing things about my life, and a Facebook status doesn't give one nearly enough room. I don't care if anyone reads it or not, I'm just here to write! Woohoo! So buckle your seat belts ladies and gents, because it's gonna be an awesome ride! (okay, probably not. My life isn't all that exciting... but hey, let's pretend, shall we?)
So, last night I was watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and there were a couple of lines that really stood out to me. Here's the quote:
Jack Sparrow: What? You've seen it all, done it all. Survived. That's the trick isn't it? To survive?
Captain Teague: It's not just about living forever, Jackie. The trick is still living with yourself forever.
It got me thinking of a scripture in Alma (yes, I am LDS, and I will be talking about what I believe a lot, so ha). Chapter 5, verse 18.
"Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the commandments of God?"
That really is the trick, living with yourself forever. Because when we get to that next life and stand to be judged of God, we will have a bright remembrance of all of our guilt. And will out guilt be so overbearing and so horrible that we wont be able to live with ourselves? Hmmm? That is exactly why we need to live our lives as in line with God's commandments as we can. To live the purest and cleanest lives that we can, so that when that day comes, we will be able to live with ourselves, and with God, forever.
So, that was my thoughts, and I'm sure if any of my friends on Facebook read this, they might have already read about this, as I wrote a note on it there. But I hope you enjoyed that thought as well, and hope that you see that anything and everything can be related to the gospel. It's just that amazing :) :) :)
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