"I Have Overcome the World"

"O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions.." (Alma 31:31)
I read this tonight in my Book of Mormon reading and I paused and read it again and again. "...wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ"... This scripture has a cross reference to John 16:33 saying "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." This message is beautiful! Christ lived a hard life suffering more pain, sorrow, sadness, hardships than any of us could imagine. And yet, He instills hope in us by saying 'I have overcome the world'.
This world is full of things to bring us down and we will experience these dark times in our lives, but He has provided a way to find the joy in life and that is that if we live righteously, we will be able to feel His peace and eventually return to live with Him again. Just like Christ, we are going to experience tribulation, but also, just like Christ, we will be able to overcome this world.
He provides us strength when we need it. The past couple of weeks I have been praying a lot to receive that strength from Him to keep moving on and I promise He follows through. I have been lifted up by Him and carried throughout some hard times and I know it's because of Him. I know that I could not go through these times without the knowledge that I have from this gospel. I simply wouldn't be able to do it.
I testify that Christ lives and loves each and every one of us and He is anxiously awaiting to bless us in our lives. He is in everything and if we take the time to find Him, we will see that everything is because of Him. Throughout the darkest of times in my life is when I have been closest with Him and have felt His love literally wrapped around me. I know that He died for us all to be able to live again and to be able to say 'I have overcome the world'.

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.

You are never alone

I have learned something so important since coming to college. I will tell you, that I have never felt more alone than I have here. Being surrounded by strangers is something I'm not used to. Back home I would know someone everywhere I went. Now, I walk around and look at everyone around me and I am surrounded by people that I have no idea who they are. I also don't have my family here with me, which is so hard for me. My three siblings are my best friends. My family is the most important and special thing to me! It was so hard leaving them.

But then I thought about how everyone else around here is feeling. A lot of people probably feel the same way-alone. Everyone has sacrificed their old friends from home and leaving their family to be here. And then I thought about something else. I'm not alone. I'm never alone. NONE of us are EVER alone. Heavenly Father is always with us. Whether we notice it or not, He is always there. He is working miracles for us and guiding us on our path. 

I don't have my dad here with me anymore. I used to be able to walk down the stairs in my house just to give my dad a hug and talk to him, but now the closest thing I have is being able to call him. This has been a hard transition, but it has increased my relationship with my Father in Heaven. Instead of walking to give my dad a hug, I can kneel and cry to Heavenly Father. He always has His arm stretched out to give me a hug of comfort and love and peace when I need it. He is also there to laugh with me and rejoice with me. 

It took me realizing how prideful I was and not recognizing the Lord's hand in my life. Through humbling myself, I know that we are never left alone. He is in every aspect of our lives.
"Because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we don't have to..." -Elder Holland

Also, I want to say that He answers our prayers. Always. It may be hard and the answer may not come in the way you want, but He will always answer your prayers. Be faithful and live worthily of the Spirit and you will feel the influence of the Savior.

Prince of Peace

This past weekend was my favorite weekend of the year, LDS General Conference! All of the sessions were so great, and it was amazing to hear talks given in native languages for the first time! The gospel is the same, the message is the same, the spirit is the same, no matter what language. I also had the opportunity to attend conference live for my first time! I attended the Sunday morning session, which was so great. The general authorities have such strong spirits they can simply be felt by being in the same room as them.
I want to talk today about my favorite talk given in conference. It was given by Elder Richard G. Scott in the Sunday afternoon session. His talk is entitled "Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority".
My favorite title of Christ is that He is the Prince of Peace. I have a personal testimony of this title because I have cried to Him in prayer and every time I am encompassed with His love and I find peace in my life through Him.
Elder Scott talks about our trials and how we can use the Atonement to find peace through these hard times. The four tools he talked about to find this peace are four things that those of us who have grown up in the church have been taught since we were in primary. But, his conviction and emotion when speaking about these topics changed these simple things for me.
The first one is prayer. He said "CHOOSE to converse with your Father in Heaven often...as you exercise this agency and include Him in EVERY aspect of your life, your heart will begin to fill with peace."
The next is scripture study. Throughout high school, I (regrettably) often made the excuse that I had too much studying to do to read the scriptures. I would often just read a few verses really quick and then get back to studying. This was even happening to me the first couple weeks here at BYU. But, my Book of Mormon class has really helped me with this because studying scriptures now has become homework. Elder Scott said that studying scriptures is even more important than sleep and school. He promises that peace does not come from the outside world, but by reading scriptures we will feel His peace.
The third is family home evening. Here at BYU, we are put into FHE groups in our ward and hold family home evening every Monday night. Some nights it's really hard because I just need to study, but just as Sister Linda S. Reeves testifies, family home evening takes away stress.
The last is temple attendance. This is the section that I felt most influenced by the spirit. Coming to BYU in the summer, I came with the goal to go to the temple every week, but unfortunately that goal only lasted about 2 weeks. The temple is the most peaceful place on this earth. Elder Scott said, "The temple is one of the best places to come to understand the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ...Seek Him there." After hearing this, I rededicated myself to going to the temple every week. I went yesterday, restarting this goal, and Satan has already tried to get me to slip up on this goal of mine. I woke up at 5 AM to go before classes. My alarm went off and I woke up, but then laid my head down for just a couple more minutes. I kept thinking 'I'm so tired, maybe I'll go later'...and then I sat up and literally said, "NO!" I knew Satan was telling me that I was too tired to go to the temple. Though I hadn't gotten much sleep, I got dressed and walked to the temple at 5:30 AM. The whole time, I was thinking of the line in Praise to the Man that says "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven". I knew that I would be blessed by sacrificing a couple more hours of sleep. I promise the temple brings so much peace and the blessings we receive are so great.
My favorite line in this talk was "Challenges help make us more like our Father in Heaven, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ makes it possible to endure these challenges." That thought is amazing to me. Our trials we go through are making us more like our perfect Father and more worthy to be able to stand in front of Him again one day. Instead of focusing on the negative in our trials, which is much easier said than done, we can realized how blessed we are through these hard times. He is giving us the opportunity to be perfected like Him. Elder Uchtdorf reminds us, "He is not waiting to love you after you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles."
Remember, peace does not come through this world, but only through applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ into your life. Pray for peace. Study the scriptures. Make family home evening a habit. Attend the temple. Peace will flow into your hearts.

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL

I wanted to share my favorite message from my favorite man today. And though this talk is titled 'To Young Women', I suggest boys watch this too, because I know not only girls struggle with self confidence. This message is so important especially in our world today. 

Imagine you are an artist, and you are painting a picture for a close friend or family member-someone you love so much. When you finish the painting, you look at it and you are so proud of what you have created and you think it is the most beautiful thing. You give it to this person you care so much about and when they receive it, all they do is point out the many flaws in the painting. You feel so upset because you worked so hard and you knew you had created a masterpiece. This is how Heavenly Father feels when we critique ourselves and point out our flaws. He created you beautifully and in the image of himself. He wants us to see ourselves as the marvelous masterpiece we are. He created you and He doesn't make mistakes.
We are all beautiful literal children of our Heavenly Father. We need to never forget that. And more importantly, as Elder Holland says, we should not compare ourselves or want to look more like someone else. Comparison is the thief of joy. "When you let people's opinions make you self conscious you give away your power." YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. Don't let anyone make you think otherwise.
Spread this message. Our world today needs to be reminded of this. It is so important. Make everyone feel beautiful!