Silent Night

It's my favorite time of year again! Christmas! This year is a little different for me because I haven't been home throughout the month and it's been weird not being a part of my family's traditions. Every night in December my family reads a Christmas story before we go to bed and we do the Elf on the Shelf for my little sister and not to mention missing decorating the Christmas tree...not being able to be there for these things has made this Christmas season very different. But it's a part of growing up, right?
I wanted to focus on the hymn Silent Night in this post. Every time we sing this song in church I can't help but cry because of the peace and love that I feel. This song is the perfect description of our Savior Jesus Christ. The night he was born, "all is calm". He brought peace to the world the day He was born and He continues to bring peace into our world today. He is the light in the world, much like the star that led many to see Him the night of his birth. If we follow His light, we will find ourselves next to Him wrapped in His loving arms. This is a Christmas song that gets sung a lot and I just want to post the lyrics and invite you to ponder them and what they truly mean and focus on how you feel.

Silent night, Holy night

All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant, tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at thy birth
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.
Shepherds quake, at the sight
Glories stream from heaven above
Heavenly, hosts sing Hallelujah.
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born.

Silent night, Holy night

Silent night, Holy night

I know that our Savior lives and that He was sent here as a gift from our Heavenly Father to save every single one of us. "For unto YOU a Savior is born"...He was born for you personally. He is the gift. I know I have been caught up in school and life these past couple of weeks with finals and the semester ending and I have been slacking on the basics of prayer and scripture reading, but as I have been thinking about the miracle of the Christmas story I am filled with the Spirit and I remember why we celebrate this time of year. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father to send His son to earth for each and every one of us. And I am grateful the Savior was so obedient to His Father's will to accept what He had to do. 

It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I find myself a little happier, serving more, and easier to love those around me around this time of year. I try to be this way all the time, but it's hard not to be my best self around Christmas when I am so focused on Christ. Try to live in the spirit of Christmas all year round. The Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit. And remember Christmas starts with Christ.

May all of you have a joyful, Christ centered, peaceful Christmas. 

"As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow Him, we shall have the Christmas spirit. Not for one fleeting day each year, but as a companion always." -Thomas S. Monson

We Can Defeat Satan

Earlier this week I had the amazing opportunity to go to UVU and listen to Elizabeth Smart speak about her story. I know I have talked about her before on my blog, but I just gotta say how much I love that lady. She is truly amazing and what she did is amazing. Her faith and devotion is inspiring and she is one of my idols.
While telling her story, she told us that after she was found, her mother gave her the best advice she had ever been given before. Her mother told her that these people had taken 9 months of her life away that she will never get back and "the best punishment you can give him is to be happy". She understood that by re-living the 9 months over and over and constantly worrying and thinking about it is still giving her captors time of her life she will never get back.
This advice is so applicable in everybody's lives, not just for her situation. Satan is in our world and he is trying to get us to follow him. And sometimes we do, because we are not perfect. But we cannot let that stop us from progressing. We have to move on. And just like for Elizabeth Smart's captors, the best punishment we can give Satan is being happy.
Satan wants anything but happiness for us. So when he sees that we are happy and moved on from past mistakes, it kills him. This is a strength for us to defeat him. We will mess up. It's part of life. But the Atonement allows us to repent and move on. And when we repent we have the spirit with us, so naturally we will become happier.
It is most likely that everyone isn't going to have the same experience as Elizabeth Smart, but we all have our struggles and battles and problems and trials. We all feel like we can't move on. We all feel like we want to give up at times. But I promise you that those words are coming from the devil. Our Heavenly Father believes in us and He knows what potential we have. He has provided us a way to find the ultimate happiness in life!
We are in a constant battle against Satan. But we have the resources to defeat him. In the end, we will win! Show him how happy we are in our life.
I know this says 'woman', but this applies to everyone! We don't want Satan to have power over us!

The Atonement Was Made For YOU

Hello! It has been so long! I get caught up in homework and work and I just realized how long it's been since I last blogged!
I just wanted to share some recent thoughts of mine. I have been thinking a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have learned so much about the Atonement and how it applies to our lives more here in the past few months than I have my whole life. I have always known what the Atonement was and that it was the greatest debt to ever be paid. But I have learned about what this great sacrifice means on a personal level. "It is not enough to simply know about the Atonement...it must become personal." (Bonnie Oscarson) We had a Relief Society activity and a speaker came to talk to us. He talked about the worth and value of items. When we purchase an item, we are willing to give up money for that item because we want it. Then he held up his wedding ring and said that ring is priceless because it wasn't only a ring, but it was his family and his marriage. He said he would give up his life for his family. The value of us to Christ is priceless. He loves us and cherishes us so much that He did give up His life for us. We are his younger brothers and sisters and He knew what had to be done to save us, and He was willing to pay that for us. He would have paid that price even if it was just for you. He loves each and every one of us that much. "Our Savior has taken upon himself our pains and our suffering and afflictions so that He can know what we feel and how to comfort us." (Linda S. Reeves)
I have gone through many ups and downs in my life and every time I reach out to Christ I can feel Him draw close to me. He has felt everything we have gone through. I don't know how, but He has. And He has felt it for every person who has lived and who will live. Studying the Book of Mormon has strengthened my testimony of this. The prophets testify that there will be a Christ to come and He will save the world. The cool thing is that even though Christ wasn't born, the Atonement still applied to all of those who lived before He was even born!
Since it is Christmas season, it is easier to think more about Christ in our lives. We would be nothing without Him. Literally nothing. Our Heavenly Father sent His Only Begotten Son to the world as a gift to us, which we celebrate this time of year. This gift is so important because without Christ coming to the earth, He wouldn't have been able to perform the Atonement and we would be stuck without progression.
I remember a fireside our ward held when I was a beehive. I remember hearing about it and thinking it was silly, but it was so powerful and it has stuck with me over the years. All the youth in our ward was gathered and a young man was chosen for the special task that was to take place. The bishopric brought out donuts they had bought for all the youth. They told us in order to take a donut, the young man had to do 10 push ups. So, the bishopric went around one by one asking who wanted donuts. Obviously, everyone wanted a donut, so the young man did 10 push ups for every person who took a donut. It all changed when someone said they didn't want a donut. The young man was still required to do the 10 push ups for that person. From then on, there were a few more who didn't want donuts yet the young man still performed the push ups. By the end, he had totaled somewhere around 300 push ups and was exhausted. The point of this was to show us about the sacrifice of the Atonement. The Atonement covers everyone. And when I say everyone I mean EVERYONE. Even those who don't partake of it. When we crossed the veil, everyone forgot what went on in the pre-mortal life, and some unfortunately forgot that they chose God's plan to come to earth. There are people who don't even know what the Atonement is and the miracles it can perform in their life! There are some people who just choose not to use the Atonement for whatever reason. Christ suffered for these people too, because He loves them just as much as He loves every other person.