{Seek learning, even by study and also by faith}

Doctrine and Covenants 88:118

I have been having an amazing time in Institute this semester, and it has only been a couple weeks! Weeeoo! :) I am taking two institute classes. The first is a Parables of Jesus class, and the second is the second half of the Old Testament. Both are with the same teacher, whom I adore. 

I am going to share a couple of lessons, one from each class, that really hit home with me.

The Parable that I loved was "The Seed Growing by itself." It is found in Mark 4:26-29.

Really short. 

{That is one thing that I love about this class. The reading assignments are really easy. Whereas, the old testament, you are reading like two books in the old testament!}

Anyway, this parable is teaching that once the seed is planted, there is nothing you can do that will force it to grow. It has to grow on its own. This really hit home with me because of an experience with sharing the gospel I had. I don't know about you, but sometimes when I share the gospel, I feel like I have utterly failed. Anyone else feel this way? They don't seem to get it and I get frustrated that these things all make sense, and there is nothing I can do to make them understand. It was two days later, that I had this lesson in my parables class. It is my job to plant the seed. Then, I have to let the seed grow. Nothing I do or say is going to make it grow.  This lesson had taught me that I need to be patient with those who are seeking the gospel, because it could be years before the seed grows.  But when that seed produces fruit, how sweet will it be to see that testimony and pure joy that came from that one little seed. 

A good quote that came from class actually came from the Visiting teaching message this month.

"The Lord entrusts a testimony of truth to those who will share it with others. . . Even more, the Lord expects the members of His church to 'open their mouths at all times declaring His gospel with the sound of rejoicing'(D&C 28) Sometimes a single phrase of a testimony can set events in motion that affects someone's life for eternity."

Now, onto the Old Testament class, I seriously love the old Testament, and I find it odd a lot of the time, but I seriously love it.

The lesson that I needed was on The book of Job. 

For those who don't know the story, Job is a book that's time frame is not known.  Many people think that it is just a story and that Job didn't really exist. But we know this isn't true, because Christ would say to others "You have not yet become like Job." I really don't think that Christ would say this about a person that wasn't real. 

Anyway, Job was a rich man that loved the Lord. Christ sends all kinds of trials to Job. These included: taking away his riches, killing his kids, giving him nasty boils and wormy skin and terrible illness, nightmare and no sleep, temptation, confusion, placed in the hands of the wicked, hated by his friends, and losing all of his possessions. 

Pretty intense right?

Never once did Job say anything against God. And when his friends came and told him the he must have done something wrong, he still said nothing against God. 

There are four reasons, that we discussed, why we receive trials or hardships.

1.  Because of sins (Sometimes, our actions have a negative consequence)

2. Because of Weakness (our humanly bodies can't always receive blessings)

3. Physical (We can't do things sometimes because of our physical beings)

4.  Free Agency of others (Sometimes someone else's choices affect us)

This lesson was one that I needed, because I know that it is something that I should work on.  My goal this semester is to become more like Job. I want to fully trust and rely on the Lord. Because He is my salvation.

Here is a quote from this lesson, found in Richard G. Scott's talk in the 1995 October General Conference.

"This life is an experience in profound trust-trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teaching, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey those teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (See Prov. 3:5-7). To produce fruit, your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your own personal feelings and experience."

It is amazing to me to see all of the things that the Lord has put in my life to help me grow and come closer to him.

I am grateful for the blessing of Institute.

Until Next Time..

Peace & Blessings. 

{Thoughts}

Today has been a very interesting day. Weber State University closed for a snow day. Weird. They NEVER close campus. I like to think it is because the people that go to school there are made of steel. Even with that, they receive even higher calves of steel after walking up the hills.  But... It's probably because this whole "Gandolf" storm is the real deal. Even with WSU closing, and all of Davis County School Districts plus being closed, I still had to go to work. This may seem like your average sob story, but I just don't feel that this is logical. Why can't everywhere have a snow day? I guess people don't have any provisions for things like this, I myself have been to WalMart twice in the past two days. But it would have been nice to not have to drive to Ogden to wait on maybe..... fifteen tables in eight hours. I think that it would be wonderful for everyone to have a day off.
Anyway, I was reading facebook today and one of my friends was asking the facebook world what they wanted her to blog about. This got me thinking that I might want to do the same. Actually try and have a plan for this blog. I used to write a happy picture post, a weekly book report post, and then other random ones. I think that now I will post about the week, my spiritual life lessons learned during the week, the happy picture,  then maybe some other posts.
I just like the idea of having a plan for the blog. Lets see how long I can do this!
Until Next Time...
Peace & Blessings! :)

{Sometimes...} I babble.

Today is one of those days where I just felt like writing a blog post. So here I am, Blogging..
Can you believe that it is already 2013? I can remember 2002, like it was yesterday. I was in 4th grade. The Olympics were in Salt Lake City. This of course, was just shortly after the twin towers had been attacked, which I can remember like it were yesterday as well. And now, here I am. A junior in college, A high school diploma and an Associates degree in my pocket {figuratively of course. If they were in my pocket, that would be weird.}
Have you ever looked at life like this, a list of accomplishments? I find that when I look at life like a bunch of awards, that it seems like very little has happened. That I haven't really accomplished all that much. Life has just flown by, and sometimes I begin to wonder what I have to show for it.
When I begin to get discouraged about this, the things that would make a girl sad anyway begin to pile on top of me until it feels like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. Being a girl my age, in the state that I live, it is hard to not feel that I am utterly behind when it comes to life. Many of my friends are either, pregnant, married, engaged, or seriously dating someone. And then, Here am I. Sitting at home looking at my associates degree wondering if I have gone down some sort of wrong path. That I was supposed to do something different with my life.
As I was writing this, I was reminded of a picture than an Institute teacher recently posted on facebook.

I may not be married, I may not be seriously dating anyone, and I may not have a 4.0 grade point average in college. But, there is one thing that I have done, which is began to recognize the spirit and act on personal revelation. Sometime praying and acting on the spirit is hard. One can begin to wonder if it is really the spirit talking to them, or them just wanting to do something.
Me, I am personally grateful that I can receive revelation, and act on it. It is something that I hold dearly to me, and I hope that I will only grow closer to my Father in Heaven by doing so.

That is my babble for the week. :)
Until Next Time..
Peace & Blessings.

If there is one thing {I love} about Christmas......

It's the movies. :)

 I LOVE movies! :) as you all know. But Christmas movies seem to be that much more exciting! :) I see them every year and yet I bust a gut every time I watch them. :) Here are my favorites. I will start with

Number 6: Jingle All the Way.

This isn't the best Christmas movie ever, But i still like it. It has Arnold Schwarzenegger in it, and i still like it. :)

"They sit there and use subliminal messages to suck your children's' minds out! And I know what I'm talking about because I went to junior college for a semester and I studies psychology so I'm right in there, I know what's going on. They make the kids feel like garbage and you, the father, who's working 24/7 delivering mail so you can make an alimony payment to a woman that slept with everybody at the post office, but me! And then when you get the toy, it breaks and you can't fix it because it's little cheap plastic!"

"I'm not a pervert. I'm just looking for a Turbo Man Doll!"

Number 5:The Santa Clause Trilogy. :)
"This thing, you never know where it's been. A thousand malls! Well I hope you're happy, Comet. I hope you're happy, but most importantly, I hope the guy that lives here IS A TAILOR!"

"It is Santa. You Killed him!"

"The Santa Clause: In putting on the suit and entering the sleigh, the wearer waives any and all right to any previous identity, real or implied, and fully accepts the duties and responsibilities of Santa Claus, in perpetuity to which some time the wearer becomes unable to do so, by either accident or design."

"What about Santa's reindeer? Have you ever seen a reindeer fly?"

"Yes"

"Well, I haven't"

"Have you ever seen a million dollars?"
"No"

"Just because you cant see something, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist."

"Down the chimney? You want me to take the toys down the chimney into a strange house, IN MY UNDERWEAR?"

Number 4: The Grinch.
"What's that stench? It's fantastic!"

We're gonna die! We're gonna die! I'm going to throw up, and then I'm gonna die! Mommy, tell it to stop!"

"If you utter so much as one syllable, I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND GUT YOU LIKE A FISH! If you'd like to fax me, press the star key."

"And they'll feast, feast, feast, feast. They'll eat their who-pudding and rare who-roast beast. But that's something I just cannot stand in the least. Oh, no. I'M SPEAKING IN RHYME!"

"The nerve of those Whos. Inviting me down there- on such short notice! Even if I wanted to go my schedule wouldn't allow it. 4:00, Wallow in Self pity; 4:30, stare into the abyss; 5:00, solve world hunger, tell no one; 5:30, jazzercize; 6:30, dinner with me-I can't cancel that again; 7:00, wrestle with my self-loathing.... I'm booked. Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9, i could still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness. But what would I wear?"

Number 3: Elf.
"This place reminds me of Santa's Workshop! Expect it smells like mushrooms and everyone looks like they want to hurt me."

"Francisco! That's fun to say! Francisco.... Frannnncisco... Franciscooo."

"First we'll make snow angels for two hours, then we'll go ice skating, then we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookidough as fast as we can, and then we'll snuggle."

"I'm sorry I ruined your lives, and crammed eleven cookies into the VCR."

"Son of a NUTcracker!"

"I'm a cotton-headed ninnymoggins!"

Number 2: A Christmas Story.

"The snap of a few sparks, a quick whiff of ozone, and the lamp blazed forth in unparalleled glory."

"The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey hash! Turkey a la king! Or gallons of turkey soup. Gone, ALL GONE!"

"Oh! The theme I've been waiting for all my life. Listen to this sentence: 'A Red Ryder BB Gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time." Poetry, Sheer Poetry, Ralph! an A+!"

"Oh, no! 'You'll shoot your eye out!'"

"Those Icicles have been known to kill people."

and...

Number 1: National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

"Every time Catherine revved up the microwave, I'd piss my pants and forget who I was for about half an hour or so."

"Burn some dust here. Eat my rubber."

"We're kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select the most important of Christmas Symbols."

"Hey, Kids, I heard on the news that an airline pilot spotted Santa's sleigh on its way in from New York City."

"You serious, Clark?"

"Oh, Eddie... If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am now."

"Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?"

"And why is the carpet all wet, *TODD*?" "I don't *KNOW*, Margo!"

"Hey Griswold. Where do you think you're gonna put a tree that big?"

"Bend over and I'll show you!"

"Oh, I was just smelling-smiling. I was just blouse-browsing. Well, I guess it just wouldn't be the Christmas shopping season if the store were any less hooter than they, HOTTER than they are."

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays.

Until Next Time..

Peace & Blessings.

{Reflections}

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we wrtie according to the prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

-2 Nephi 25:26

I'm pretty sure that i already told you this, but this semester I had the privilege of attending an Old Testament Institute class. One of the assignments that Sister Seamons gave us was a "Reflections of Christ Project." I'm not going to lie, initially, I wasn't going to do one. 

Then, one day I went to the Wednesday Devotional at the Institute and the musical number was a beautiful arrangement of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives."

I have always loved this song. Totally one of my favs. 

So then, I decided to do this.

Pretty much, I listed every reason why He lives from the song and put it on once piece of wood. 

Then on the back...

I wrote a scripture and a small testimony on each reason why He lives. 

And as I was doing this project, I realized something. It has always been easy for me to think of Jesus Christ as my Savior. I don't why, it just has. But, as I was doing this project, I realized for the first time, and thought of Him as my brother. 

I think that it is totally incredible, that I have a brother that loves me so much, that He would die for me. And live again to help me make it back to our Father in Heaven. 

I Know that my Redeemer Lives. 

I love Him.

I trust Him.

Until Next time...

Peace & Blessings. 

{No More Sad}

I know that it has been forever and a day since I have posted. For that, I am sorry. I guess you could say that I have been busy. But really, I've been lazy and not really doing anything that I used to do. 

I suppose that I am really far behind on catching you up, but there is not time for that today. Se-lave, right? So I think that I will just keep you updated on what has happened most recently. As you know, I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the most true and perfect thing out there!

As the Bible does, I'll start in the beginning. 

This semester in school, I signed up for an Old Testament class at institute. What was I thinking, right? I loathed the Old Testament. Why on earth would I intentionally sign up for this class? A few weeks into class, I began to ask myself that very question. On Tuesdays, I am at school forever! My first class (which happens to be another institute class) starts at 7:30am, my last class ends at 8:20pm. This Old Testament institute class with Sister Seamons is at 1:30pm. I must admit, I began to sluff this class, which makes no sense. Why not choose the 7:30am class to sluff? Don't even ask because, I honestly don't know. 

But, this is how I felt about that Old Testament!

VERY DANGEROUS!

A very long, and spiritual experience happened that caused me to return back to this class. 

I'm going to tell you a secret. 

I LOVE the Old Testament.

WHAAA???

Yeah, I know. It seems impossible for someones opinion on this book to change as quickly as it did for me. But, it did. The Old Testament is SO incredible. I also find it amazingly fun to read because things will happen where you'll say "WHAT IN THE DEVIL??" Many, many times has that happened in my personal study. But after thinking about it, the stories were amazing. Can you imagine being Jael, and be like "oh, you're lookin' for Sisera? He's in my tent, I nailed him to the ground!" Then there is the whole Ehud story; I could go on and on about these amazing acts of Faith and Trust in the Lord!

But, before I do that (because I could), I want to talk about one woman. Her name is Hannah.   

Yes, I did learn about this in my Institute Class yesterday. But, this is why you take the class, to love and learn the Old Testament. 

The story of Hannah is in the first chapter of 1 Samuel. To sum this story up. Hannah is a "sister wife" who hasn't had any children. Her husband's other wife basically mocks Hannah for not having children. So, Hannah goes to the temple and prays. The descriptive words they use to describe how she feels are incredible. "her adversary also provoked her sore", "she was in bitterness", "wept sore", & "poured out my soul before the Lord."

While she was in the temple Eli saw that her mouth was moving, but couldn't hear her words. So, his first thought, was that she was drunk. After asking her, he found out why she was so upset, and this is his promise to her. "Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him." WOW! He just promised her that her prayer was heard! Now, in the very next verse, is says "So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad."

In class, many were saying, "that is such great faith, because I would have to have ended up pregnant before I was happy." Which is true. This is a great example of faith. 

But here is my thought.

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ aren't afraid to put the words "Joy", "Happy", or "rejoiced" in the scriptures. I know this, because I have read them. But this says, that she was "No more sad".  So I began to think about my own life and the times where I have poured my heart and soul unto the Lord for the sadness that was hovering over me. Most of the time, the answer didn't come immediately after that heartfelt prayer. As a matter a fact, most of them were much later. But I can honestly tell you, that after I prayed to him, asking for help, that I was no longer sad. That isn't to say I was happy. But I was at peace. I was comforted. Because I knew that the Lord had heard my prayer. And that He could help through the rest of the hard days.  I know how hard this is. But I am so grateful that I can trust in the Lord. That I can lay my burdens at His feet and know He will help me stand back up. And that He will make things turn out the way they are supposed to. 

I love this Gospel. And I love the Old Testament.

Until next time..

Peace & Blessings! :)

Fairy Tales

"Didn't you know that all the fairy tales tell a lie? Real love, and real life doesn't have to be perfect."-Sara Evans.

Wow... December. That was an ultimate fail on my part. I've slacked on posting. Guess it's good we aren't all perfect, huh?

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how we perceive life. How we think that it is supposed to go. We all should have friends who are chipmunks and a prince charming waiting on the other side of the door. It's funny though, these fairy tales all lie. Life isn't like that. Life is about learning, growing, and coming closer to God.  Why is it that none of us remember this? Because there isn't a movie about it. We go through life seeing how Hollywood portrays life. False advertising. 

To me, life is like Hills and Valleys. There are times when we are on top of the world, seeing all there is to see. Other times we feel that we are falling down the hill until we are in the pit of a valley. Trying to get out. The amazing part is that we always can. Have you ever thought about that? It doesn't matter how dig we deep, there is always a ladder that is long enough to get us out. It is amazing to me to see how I can bring myself back up, but never alone. I always have help along the way. This unseen force that it pushing me to grab on to the next wrung on the ladder until I finally reach the top. Sometimes the experience is great and the hill plateaus off so that I am on top of the world longer. 

These past couple weeks at work I have been working to bring my attitude back up to where it used to be. This battle has become easier and easier. I hope that all of you will find that desire and ambition to better yourself. It doesn't matter how far down you are. You can always get back up.

:) Food for thought! :)

Until Next time...

PeAcE & bLeSsInGs!!!!