God's timing

I just wanted to bear testimony that God's timing is perfect. He knows us better than we know ourselves and He knows what is best for us. Though it may change your entire life and flip everything upside down, He knows what is best. I know that He cares for and loves us and He will do everything possible to make sure we know that.
I know this because of the experiences He has sent me that has made me stronger and closer to Him. I put my faith in Him and listen to what He has to say and trust that what He asks me to do is best for me. I know He will never lead us astray. If we follow Him, we can only grow closer to Him.
It might be hard to completely trust Him and to follow His will, but I promise that it is what He has planned for us. He knows everything and will unveil His will for us piece by piece.
And He will answer your prayers. I promise, He always does....according to His time. It might be hard, and I know I have found myself impatient, but His time is always the best time.

Helaman 5:12 is a wonderful scripture and reading it again this morning, the end stood out to me. It says "a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall". I LOVE that. If we build our testimony on Jesus Christ then we CANNOT fall. It doesn't say we may not fall or we might not fall, but we cannot fall. That is a PROMISE. And what a wonderful promise that is. That if we build upon Christ, nothing can make us fall. We will be safe.
God is good.

He is the answer

When going through hard times in our lives, the answer is so simple that it is often so overlooked.

The only place where we can find everlasting peace and joy is through Christ. He is the living water and can fill our souls with peace and love and comfort.
My first few months at college have been a roller coaster for me. I have made some of my greatest memories here, but I have experienced the lowest of times as well. It's part of life and it has made me spiritually stronger, though. These past couple weeks especially have been hard on me. The beginning of a new semester is always crazy, trying to figure out your new schedule, plus a new work schedule and a heavier class load. On my way returning to Provo, I made a trip to Pocatello with my family to see my great-grandma who was slowly passing away to say goodbye. Emotionally, I was drained, but grateful to see her. She is still here, but I constantly think of her throughout my day. I've also been having some cheer withdrawls, ending up with me crying to my roommate, re-living my cheer career. On top of that, I received the news this past Sunday that my great-grandpa had passed away. This news wasn't a surprise, because we knew it was coming, but to hear about it and not have family around me was hard. I wanted so badly to be home to be with my family at that time but I knew that wasn't possible so I had to figure out what to do on my own. I know it was a good thing because he was in so much pain here, and he is now reunited with my Grammy Faith, but it's still sad. And not being able to have my family's loving arms around me wasn't making it any easier. I knew I couldn't take any more and that the only way to get through this was turning to Christ. I knelt down to pray and poured out my heart to Him. I knew that these things wouldn't be taken away from me, but I would be given the strength to get through it. I am so grateful to always have that source of peace and comfort in my life and I know that He cares about us.
"When life gets too hard to stand, kneel." Turning to Christ in our times of trouble, not only shows our humility in accepting that we need His help, but it shows our love and devotion for Him. He is anxiously awaiting to help us and He always is, we just have to notice it and communicate with Him.
I understand that in some people's lives, they believe it is easier to turn away from Christ instead of turning to Him. I promise that is never easier. Christ is the answer. He is the way. I personally have experienced of His love and the miracles He can perform in our lives.

"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.