You are not forgotten

This past Sunday, I was able to attend the homecoming of the visitors center directors from my mission. Elder and Sister Toronto are amazing people and have helped me so much to become the person I am. I am so grateful I was able to serve with them and learn from their example.
Previous to this, though, I had really been struggling. I have been having a hard time trying to adjust back and get in the swing of things with school and work and trying to balance everything. I felt like I was ready to quit and give up. I truly felt like I was forgotten.
It was a tradition to have all the sisters sing at the visitors center, so at the homecoming on Sunday, all the sister missionaries from the Missouri Independence mission were called up to sing a musical number. I had lost my voice due to a cold I had caught, so I stood in the back and lip sang and tried to make sure no one could see me.
In attendance at the sacrament meeting was Sister Elaine S. Dalton, previous general Relief Society president. After the meeting, she talked to all of us sisters and thanked us for our music and spirit we brought into the room. Again, I was standing on the outskirts, feeling like I wasn't important.
Then, Sister Dalton came up to me, grabbed my shoulders and said "YOU are a strong and special spirit. I knew where you were standing up there during that song because I felt you. Thank you."
I was overcome with emotion and gratitude and I couldn't keep the tears from swelling in my eyes. I knew that God had answered my many prayers. When Sister Dalton said this, in my heart, I felt the words "I know where you are because I feel you." I knew that was my loving Heavenly Father giving me the assurance that He knows me and that He hasn't forgotten me. He has never left my side and never will leave my side.
I know in each of our lives, there are times where we feel like we are hiding...where we feel like we are in the back for no one to see. But I know that no matter where we are, Heavenly Father sees us where we are now and sees our potential for who we can become. He is aware of us at each moment of every day. I am so grateful for His never failing love. We are His children and He has promised to us help and strength and I know He will give that to us. He always keeps His promises.
1 Nephi 21:16 "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

Lean not unto thine own understanding

Happy Sunday! Sundays are my favorite day because I get to go to church and partake of the sacrament and reflect on my week and how I can improve. I'm grateful for the Sabbath day because I can really ponder on what Heavenly Father is teaching me. It means a lot to me because the whole week is crazy full of school and work and trying to have a social life...but Sunday I get to take a time out and focus on me and the Lord.
Today, I have been taught a very important lesson that I wanted to share. Being a recently returned missionary and being thrown right into "normal" life hasn't been the easiest thing. It's been a struggle trying to figure out where I fit in and what I'm supposed to be doing.
One of my roommates gave a talk at church today (shoutout to Klarissa), and she talked about Proverbs 3:5 which says "lean not unto thine own understanding". Everything clicked and the spirit taught me a lot. I've been trying so hard to plan everything I'm supposed to become and do, instead of trusting in what the Lord has in store for me. He has a plan for me with experiences that will teach me what to do.
I realized I CAN'T lean on my own understanding because I don't understand the big picture. None of us do. But Heavenly Father sees it all and He knows how it will all work out. And I find great comfort in that. I'm grateful for His plan and love for us as His children, that He would care about us each individually to create a plan for our happiness.
I know we can all lean on His understanding because His understanding is perfect. He knows and if we trust Him, everything will all work out.

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!