Learning

Please read this post, and then please read this post. I promise you will benefit from it. And then watch this video!

Lesson Learned:
I feel as though this is so so true. As a parent teaching my child and watching how he can't fully understand the benefit of the things I teach him he can and can't do and then when he gets frustrated because he doesn't understand I think to myself I wish you could just understand it is better in the long run. Just trust me. And then I look back on my past. The trials, struggles, pain, hardships, feeling defeated. How at the time of those specific experiences I could not understand. All I could see was what was right in front of me.  And the Lord was simply saying I wish you could understand it is better in the long run. Just trust me. I may not fully understand even to this day why I have experienced some of the things I have but I know for now that I have learned. I have learned at least a little. A little bit why the Lord gave me those experiences. Some more then others. Some experiences I know happened because they have been key points in my life to building a foundation for my testimony. Others have helped me help others as they experience similar things now. Others I have yet to understand the Lord's purposes for those times. But, when all is said and done I will learn. The more I learn, the more I can comprehend, and one day as I am on this path of learning and comprehending I can become perfected in Him and finally fully understand the Lord's will. For now I will be grateful for what I have learned now.

Hope

Lesson Learned:
"Hope is not knowledge, but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us."
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

My Redeemer

Lesson Learned:

I have a testimony of Jesus Christ. I know that He lives. He atoned for our sins and made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could one day be like Him. I know He loves me. He suffered so that I might find comfort in hard times, knowing that I am not alone. He payed the price for my sins so that I might be able to become perfect one day as Him. He is my Savior. My Redeemer. My strength. I owe Him more then I can pay. I will always be in debt to His astounding love. I am blessed. I am not worthy of such a Man but to Him I was worth it and I will always be grateful for His mercy. I say these things in His sacred name Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Happy Easter! May we always remember Him and live to honor Him. For He is our life. 

Tender Mercies

Yesterday for our mutual activity our Stake Young Women's president so graciously stepped in and planned the activity this week. It was fantastic. She had the Stake Patriarch come and talk to us a little bit more about patriarchal blessings. He started talking about tender mercies and how our lives are filled daily with them.  We watched some of Elder Bednar's talk on Tender Mercies he gave a few years back and it was such a great reminder. A reminder that the Lord is always giving us tender mercies.  He said as along as we are doing what is right to the best of our abilities and striving to do what we need to, to keep the spirit in our lives we receive those tender mercies. Tender mercies do not come randomly and they are not coincidental. They are of God. And happen for a reason.   

BUT as I was driving home today from hanging out at my mom's house I was listening to music on the radio and a song I like came on. Before I knew it I was deep in thought, completely calmed by the music, and entranced on the road (safely of course). It hit me, as we study, ponder, pray, and strive to more fully live the gospel we are inviting the spirit to stay. And as the spirit stays with us or as we are more in tune with the spirit, it is then we are able to more clearly see the tender mercies in our lives. They happen all around us. All the time. On purpose. It is up to us to be in tune with the spirit and recognize them when they come. 

I had a tender mercy (one that I noticed) today. It was as simple as driving home and listening to music. The Lord knows I love music and knows it is a thinking time for me when I listen to it. He then took that moment and turned it into a teaching moment (a tender mercy). Not only was it a teaching moment but it was a reminder that I have a good life. A great life. I have a sweet baby boy, a wonderful husband, and all the love and support I can get. I am truly blessed. And I'm grateful that for today, I realized that. I'm grateful to know that whatever my future holds I will always have that. I have the love of my sweet husband, my gracious little boy, my family, my friends, and most importantly the love of my Savior and Heavenly Father. What more could someone ask for.

Lessons Learned:

Be sure to push pause on my music below!

To be or not to be

Sometimes I wonder why I make the choices I do. I know what is right. I know what is wrong. I know I am a child of God and that He loves me and that He has given me everything. I am breathing because of Him. So if He has given me everything, if He has suffered the ultimate for me, then why? why do I still do things I ought not to do?! Or why do I think the way I do sometimes. Why am I so quick to judge, or get offended, or put someone down? And then after doing those things I wonder why I am not happy. 


Lesson learned:
"To be without God in the world--in other words, to refuse to live His gospel and therefore lack the companionship of the Spirit--is to be in a state contrary to the nature of happiness. The gospel of Jesus Christ is, in fact, the--note that this is singular, meaning it is the only--'great plan of happiness' (Alma 42:8). If you opt for any other way of life or try to live only the parts of the gospel that seem convenient, such a choice will cheat you of the full, resplendent joy and happiness for which you were designed by our loving Father in Heaven and His Son."
(Marcus B. Nash, "The Great Plan of Happiness," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 49)


The spirit cannot dwell with us at all times when we are partly living the gospel. Cause when we are partly doing things that the Lord has asked us not to, we are partly living two lives. And somewhere down the road we can't live both lives and we have to choose. It is simple. Make wrong choices and be not happy. Make good choices and be happy. I think everyone could agree with me they would much rather be happy right? He knows we are not perfect. But He also knows that we can become perfect. When I think of perfect I think of happiness. Purely happy. Joy. Perfectly happy. So why not choose to be happy.  As I make my day to day choices and decisions I will strive to remember why I'm here. I'm here to find happiness. I'm here to become perfect like Him. So why choose to be bitter, when He is forgiving. Why choose to judge, when we are just as imperfect. Why choose to put her down, when she is a daughter of God too, just as loved, just as important to Him as me. Once again, why not choose to be happy. Live to be happy.