Balance

This week in my religion class here at BYU we talked a lot about Jesus Christ in his younger years. What struck me the most was the very last verse in Luke 2, the chapter all about the birth of Jesus and his younger years. It says, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and statue, and in favour with God and man."

My professor explained this verse by saying that God wants us to have balance in our lives. Too often we become overwhelmed with life and trying to do too much of one thing whether it be church, family, or education related. He explained this verse by breaking each part of it into a piece that is significant to most people, especially us young adults trying to get through college in one piece.

1. 1. Wisdom: education, seeking to learn more and more.
2. 2. Stature: physical health
3. 3. Favor with God: spirituality
4. 4. Favor with man: a social life

For us to live the life that God wants us to live, we must find a balance between all of these. Too much of a focus on one will throw our life off balance and that leads to defeat, discouragement, and stress.

For me, in college, I tend to get off balance by focusing too much on my studies. I have been working hard this semester to keep a balance. Study hard, but go to the gym, take time to study my scriptures, and be around friends. I have been happier and my life feels more balanced. Magically, everything is getting done. God blesses us when we do our best. Remember that as you go about your day trying to keep your life balanced. No one is perfect, and our balance will sway different directions occasionally, but as we do our best to keep an equilibrium, we will feel the difference and feel the love and help of God more strongly in our lives.

Nothing is Impossible

Hello friends!

While studying my scriptures this week, I was reading in Luke chapter 1 where the angel Gabriel appears to Elisabeth and Mary to tell them they will be pregnant with two very important people--John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. Both of these pregnancies are miracles! Elisabeth has already reached an age where she can no longer have children and Mary is not yet married. In other words, these pregnancies were totally and completely IMPOSSIBLE.

But, they happened. How did they happen? The answer is found in Luke 1:37. One simple phrase. It says,

"For with God nothing shall be impossible."

Honestly, I believe the best scriptures are the simple scriptures. That is it. God can make anything happen that needs to happen. He can create miracle births, he can heal the seemingly unhealable, he can accomplish whatever he needs to. 

To me, in my life, this scripture linked with these stories remind me that anything is possible. When I think that something is impossible, when I feel helpless, I think of this story. We can always have hope. Whatever is supposed to happen will happen. God will not let something not happen if it is supposed to happen. We may not know the timing, or understand the reasoning, or believe that the blessing or miracle will come, but it will. He's the best. 

So for you, my readers, I just hope this can bring you hope if you need it. Peace if you need it. Encouragement if you need it. Nothing is impossible. Believe in Him and trust Him. 

Wings as Eagles

Hey friends, while readying in the bible this week for my religion class, I came across one of my favorite scriptures. I saw this scripture hanging in one of my only mission apartments, but I never knew/could remember the reference for it. But hey! Here it showed up again in my assigned readings. So, it's found in Isaiah 40:31 and it says...

"But they that wait upon the Lord

shall renew their strength; they shall

mount up with wings as eagles; they shall

run and not be weary; and they shall walk and

not faint."

Seriously, such a beautiful scripture. I love the imagery in this verse. The idea that listening to and following God with give us strength and the ability to mount up as eagle! Glorious. When I read this verse, I get a liberating feeling. I feel God's love and I feel that I have a great potential in this life. The best path is on the path following our Heavenly Father. 

So, I hope you all have a chance to ponder this verse. What does mounting up with wings as eagles mean to you? God loves you and wants the best for you. His plan is for your happiness. 

Until next time!

The Fall

How many of us have struggled when we have heard in this church that the fall of Adam and Eve was a good thing? I grew up in the southern United States, surrounded by many different people of different denominations, most of them strongly and devoutly Christian. I grew up hearing that Eve was awful and that because of her, bad things are on Earth. Because Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, bad things happen today, and people make bad choices.

I heard it so much, that I started to believe it. I questioned why the fall happened, why they made that choice, why God didn't stop them. Then, I studied (more than read) 2 Nephi 2. This chapter is beautiful and has some of my favorite scriptures in it. My favorite, and I believe the most simple scripture ever to be written, is 2 Nephi 2:25.

"Adam fell that men might be; and men

are that they might have joy."

How beautifully simple is this verse? It answers all of my questions I had in one statement. Why did the fall happen? Because if Adam and Eve had not eaten the fruit, we would not be here. They did that for US for ME and for YOU so that we could come to Earth and live, have experiences, and learn. Why did God let the fall happen? Because He wanted us to get bodies and come to Earth to learn and be tested. He wanted us to have real joy that can only be experienced when there is sorrow at some points in our lives. 

I hope this scripture is as simple to you as it was to me. I hope you feel the spirit testify of the beauty of God's plan and you feel the love that Adam and Eve had for God and for us. They did what they did because it would provide a life for us. They chose to live a harder life than they had in the garden so that we could live. I think that is beautiful. 

We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet

As many of you may know, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints announced today the calling of a new prophet. How sad it was to hear that our beloved Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson had passed away. But, the true beauty of this church set up by our Savior, Jesus Christ, is that we are never left without a prophet. We are never left without someone linked to God and Jesus Christ who can lead us and help us on Earth. Heavenly Father loves us so much, that He has yet again, called a new prophet to lead to us.

With the announcement of President Russell M. Nelson as the new prophet and President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring as his counselors, I have felt love and peace. It feels great to know that the church is still in good hands. However, I also took a minute to ponder if I had received my own personal spiritual confirmation that these men are actually called of God. While pondering this, I decided to turn to my scriptures to do my daily reading. I am currently reading in the Book of Mormon in the book of 1 Nephi. I just stumbled on the beginning of "the Isaiah chapters," a set of chapters early in the Book of Mormon that every member of the church jokes about not ever being able to understand because of the imagery and deep symbolism of the book. I am no different. Most of the time, I just muscle through hoping for blessings of obedience in reading more than blessings from understanding. But today, a verse seemed to jump out of the page right at me. It was 1 Nephi 20:15 that says...

"Also, saith the Lord; I the Lord, yea, I have spoken; yea, 

I have called him to declare, I have brought him, 

and he shall make his way prosperous."

This, to me, was my personal spiritual confirmation that President Russell M. Nelson has been called of God and set apart as a prophet to lead us and guide us in the ways of the Lord. I know that we can have full confidence in him and his decisions and his teachings. He will not lead us astray. 

The doctrine found in this verse is deep and can bring the greatest comfort, especially at this time in the church. First, it tells us that God speaks. He is not silent. He does not and will not leave us in the dark. Second, He calls people to do His work. We are never going to have to run around confused, not knowing what to do to return to live with Him again. He calls people to be instruments in His hands and to be there for us. And finally, He prepares a way. Whatever Heavenly Fathers wants/needs to happen, He provides a way. We can always trust in Him and in His plan. 

So, my friends, I hope that you can find the comfort in this verse that I did. Trust Heavenly Father and this part of the plan playing out in front of us. Remember the legacy of President Thomas S. Monson, and be prepared and ready to follow President Nelson, the living prophet on the earth today. 

This is an exciting time for the church. I believe that there are many great things to come. 

I am not entirely sure how many people really look at this blog. It hasn't been updated in years. It only covered a snippet of my mission and then I had full intentions of getting it going again after my mission, but lets be honest, I can barely remember to keep a journal half of the time, let alone a blog.

However, I have been blessed with opportunity to be in a BYU religion class that requires us to share our thoughts and feelings we have while studying the scriptures. I am not very good at expressing my testimony and feelings out loud, but hopefully, I can express them decently in writing.

So, let's begin, shall we?

There is some beautiful doctrine taught in Moses chapter 1. In the first three verses, the attributes and characteristics of Heavenly Father are explained. We are told that He has a body like ours, He cares about the individual, He is glorious and almighty, He is eternal. Then, in verse four Heavenly Father is talking to Moses and says, "And behold, thou art my son..."

The beauty in the verse, pointed out to me by my professor that day, is that that one little phrase gave Moses his entire identity. And not only does it give Moses a divine identity, but it also gives ME a divine identity, and it gives YOU a divine identity.

In this one phrase, we are told that we can grow up to be just like our Heavenly Father. That is what He wants for us. He told us in the first three verses what our potential is.

Never think less of yourself. Never doubt your worth. You are a child of God and you can do great things. He is an example of who you have the potential to become.

New Life

I feel like I should write another introduction of myself because I feel so different from the person I was two years ago.
Two years ago, almost to the day, I had been home from my first year of college for a couple months. I was working at a restaurant. I was 18 years old and had just turned in my paperwork that would lead me to be called as a missionary for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Life was good! I loved my job and the people I worked with. Although I was a server, I was pretty shy, keeping to myself most of the time. I was also a little lost in the world. I knew that dropping everything to go and serve a mission would give me some much needed direction, but I was also soooooo terrified to leave.
August 2014: I received my mission call to serve in Paris, France.

The day I found out I was going to France.

So, now not only was I scared of leaving my family for 18 months, but now I was also terrified of going to a new country and learning a new language I had unsuccessfully tired learning through high school and college. Thankfully, I did receive confirming feelings that I was doing the right thing, and that my Heavenly Father had a plan for me and this mission was part of His plan.
October 2014: I left everything behind, spent 6 weeks in Provo, UT in a missionary training crash course, and then was shipped out with five other missionaries to the beautiful country of France.
May 2016: I came home. My time as a missionary ended.

Taken in the Paris Airport coming home.

Voila. Here I am today. I am still me, but I am not the same me I was when I left home almost two years ago. What has changed? I am still the same height. My hair is the same color. I like a lot of the same things I did before I left. BUT, I understand some things a little more than before.
I understand now who I am. Who are you? Having grown up a member of this church; if someone would have asked me that question before my mission, I would have said something like, "Well, I am a daughter of God, so that's cool." Not a bad answer. But there is something liberating in the truth that I learned while I was out serving the people of France. I learned that I am a Daughter of God, and that means that He is literally my Father. He loves me. He cares about me. He thinks about me. He wants what is best for me. I was born with a divine potential to become like Him and like my Savior Jesus Christ. To be perfected by Them. I had a newfound confidence in myself knowing that I was placed here on the earth for a reason. My life has a reason. Heavenly Father has a perfect plan etched out for my life and if I show Him that I am worthy of it, it can all be mine.

Coming home has been hard for me. It means making a million different decisions that I haven't had to make for the last 18 months of my life. I now have to worry about schooling, roommates, college classes, life decisions and goals, and everything that goes along with that. I am not even going to mention my fear of dating. Oh la. HOWEVER, I know that it will all be okay. I know that if I am doing my best to make good decisions and follow the spirit, Heavenly Father will help everything work out for my good. His goal is that I return to be with Him someday which means that He will do everything He can to get me there.

Another lesson I learned on my mission that has helped me a lot in the last couple months since being home is simple, "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." (I'm pretty sure that is quoted from President Hinckley.) Life is hard and we are always going to have trials and bumps in the road, but we can choose our own happiness! That happiness comes from trusting the Lord. Fears are conquered by faith. Trials are conquered by trust. And life is conquered by happiness. At least I think so.

So, if you read this far, I hope you can feel a tiny bit of the gratitude I have for my mission and all that it taught me. This blog is really about the new perspective I have in life. I hope you enjoy it.
Keep on Keepin' on. 

PS In case you were wondering about my fears of speaking French. I am now fluent and I believe that it is the prettiest language in the world.