Faith is Like a Little Seed

"Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our a deliverance in him." Alma 58:11

No matter what the trial may be, whether is is personal or private, long term or short term the Lord is ready and willing to lift us up. Through earnest prayer and sincere desire to believe we can experience that warm assurance that God loves us and that He is on our side. Even if there is a waiting period before we are delivered from our trials, we can receive comfort, peace, and most importantly great faith while we wait. Great faith allows us to hope and enables us to be comforted in our lowest moments. If we struggle in exercising that faith we can pray to be strengthened. He will enable us to develop greater faith in Him and his ability to heal, cleanse and comfort. I find it really encouraging that even when we haven't always been as good as we should have been, as long as we look to him for strength and comfort, He will support us. If we petition him for help and honestly seek to use it then He is more than willing to water and nourish our little seed of faith. The noursihment that our souls receive from our loving Heavenly Father fosters growth; soon that little seed will have grown into a strong tree. However, we need to remember that trees still need nourishment.

I felt God's infinite love today, it wrapped my soul in acceptance like none other. I know that God loves His children and although I wander, He will guide me home.
<3

Uber Long Post is Proof that I Shouldn't wait to Blog

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about life, lots of various different aspects and I’m not sure where to start. I think the first thing I'm excited to share is the excitement about life that I feel when I wake up in the morning, it is incredible. I wake up in the morning take a second before I open my sleeping eyes and drink in life; I begin to wake up to the world instead of grumbling out of bed and mechanically go through my day. Thoreau noticed this phenomena of life and commented that "To be awake is to be alive". I'm waking up and I'm incorporating living into my life. For now, I have stopped worrying about what the day may bring or what emotional state I will be in as it closes. The air is clean again and my lungs have been suffocating; I am aware of myself as I breathe in deep and as I laugh freely with my friends. The world is bright!

I went on a walk up to the temple on Wednesday to have some peaceful time by myself and to figure out a few things. While I was there I took the pictures that are posted with this entry and found my new mission statement. “Holiness to the Lord”- it may seem easier at times to give into what everybody else is doing or saying, but in truth it is easier overall to maintain a close relationship with the Lord. Because that close relationship maintains the stability in my life. It is the glue that holds everything together. Choosing to dismiss the glue is hardly conducive to a founded and focused life. Holiness to the Lord, in all aspects of life.

Friends sometimes are the reason for the most growth in my life. But on the same hand, they also teach me how to recover from those falls. I am so thankful to have people to spend time with that understand me and are willing to listen to my ridiculous rambling. Recently, I was having an incredibly hard day and Alex called me at precisely the right moment.[Alex is my best friend from back home]. She listened to me and I knew that she really honestly cared. My heart was touched.

Also, shout out to Abby, my beautiful, amazing, inspiring now "ex" roomie! In the last month or so she has been subtly teaching me how to really care about other people and to be aware of them. Her loving heart has supported me through this semester. I can only hope that I helped her as well. I am so excited for her and her plans, even though it means I won't see her for a long time. <3

Spring and Summer are going to be amazing! I've kicked it off by going salsa dancing, a party, a huge "cuddlefest" and I'm looking forward to a bonfire tonight. The real reason that my summer is going to be amazing though are the people that I will get to spend time with. I hope to keep spending time with these people as well as those I haven't met yet and those that the ties of friendship go back a ways.

Life is beautiful.

Hope

I think that it is ironic that they call this place "Happy Valley". Winter semester taught me that just about every third person has a broken heart, about half are dealing with tragedies and the other half I just don't know well enough but they probably have something going on. Thankfully enough, there is reason to hope. Even when you hear of broken engagements, loneliness in a crowd of people, and self doubt, there is reason to hope. After the dark night the sun rises and the days are brighter. Sometimes we go through the winters of our lives where the sun tries desperately to shine through the heavy clouds, in these times we seem to go for weeks without the nourishment of the sunshine. Perhaps emotionally or spiritually using the word overcast would be a gross understatement. We may feel lost in the darkness of life, but sometimes we are fortunate enough to hold someone's hand, or hear the voice of a friend. It is though small moments that we seem to live on. Living from one glimpse of light and touch of a loving hand to another.

But in time the sun rises, the light shines and the way becomes more clear.
This is my hope, this is what I thrive on; that light will shine through the dark clouds of life and my eyes will be opened to the rainbows that follow the storms. This is my faith-- that through the Atonement of Christ my wounds will be cleaned and healed. That the scar tissue will remain only as a reminder of the experience, but fail to disfigure me. The transformation will only happen through consistent and earnest prayer, diligent and daily scripture study, and the miracle of forgiveness. Right now, it is one step at a time but I'll keep my head up and change will happen.

In the process of finding this hope, I cannot keep it to myself. Those small precious moments of encouragement that I receive from others I will pass forward to my friends. In this little "happy valley" of ours, even though I am not at 100%, I can still reach out and help others who are struggling. What love I have I can share, what peace I find I can spread, what happiness I make I can extend to others and through our efforts, we can help each other through whatever storms may come.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

"Bloom Where You Are Planted"... I'm working on that. It is a phrase that one of my close friends used recently and the idea impressed me. Sometimes I flatter myself into thinking that I'm good enough or that I'm happy enough. And then something happens to remind me that complacently doesn't lead to happiness or fulfillment. Be happy no matter what Life throws at you, because Life is the master of curve balls and strike outs.

Be Happy.

Bloom Where You Are Planted.

I'm working on that. :)