Be an Answer to Someones Prayers

When I created my list of things to accomplish this year I knew it would be hard to measure whether or not I got this one done.  How do I know if I have been the answer to someone else's prayer?  I set this goal because I wanted to be more aware of others and seeking opportunities to do something kind for someone else.  I think we all sometimes get so caught up in our own lives that we just forget that we are here to help each other and that we have so much to offer other people to help make their lives a little easier.

Have I been an answer to someone else's prayer this year?  I hope so.  I pray and ask for inspiration that I will be in the right place at the right time to help someone else in need.  That's the best we can all do.  This is a lifelong goal of mine.  When I turn outside of myself and do kind things for other people my heart is filled with peace and love.  I definitely have a lot of work to do to become less selfish and more willing to serve, but at least I am heading in the right direction.

I have been given such a great life and I hope in turn I can be an answer to someone's prayer and help bring light and joy into their life as well.

Gratitude Unlocks the Fullness of Life

The quote posted below is my all time favorite quote about gratitude.  I heard it a few years ago when I was at church. A woman was visiting our congregation and was speaking to us about gratitude and miracles.  She had been married and had two children.  Her husband and daughter were at home and she was away from the house with her baby.   While she was gone, something went wrong, I don't really remember with what, and there ended up being an explosion in the house and her husband and daughter were both killed.

It was an incredibly sad story, but this woman spoke about how much she had loved her husband and daughter and how grateful she was for the time she was able to have them in her life.  She then shared this quote:

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." -Melody Beattie

I love how it says that gratitude can turn WHAT WE HAVE INTO ENOUGH, AND MORE.  When we are grateful we truly begin to realize the infinite amount of blessings we have in our lives.  A meal can turn into a feast, a house can turn into a home and a stranger can become a friend.  How awesome is that?!?

Wise Words on Graditude

November is labeled as the month of Thanksgiving.  Not only do we sit down and eat a giant turkey with all of the yummy trimmings, but many of us going around the table, each person expressing what they are grateful for.  It's a beautiful tradition and at times those expressions of gratitude are sincere and heartfelt.

I've noticed that many of my friends have spent the month of November posting daily on Facebook, and Instagram, gratitude for blessings in their lives.  I love it.  I think it's great to take a look at your life and realize the many blessings that you have.  When you sincerely look at your life I think you begin to realize that it takes much more than one month out of the year to thank God for all He has done.  Each new day adds new blessings and there is no way to keep track of them all.

I know I have a lot of work to do when it comes to expressing my gratitude and sometimes I wonder what I can do to best express my gratitude to God for my life.  I once read a quote that said something like "Expressing gratitude is a sign of greatness."  It's always stuck with me.  I think too often we forget where our blessings come from.  We think that we did it all ourselves or that everything that we have in our lives is there because we earned it.

I think gratitude is always a mark of humility and the willingness to recognize God's hand in our lives.  There is a scripture that says, "Where much is given, much is required."  I was thinking about that scripture this morning as I was writing in my journal and expressing gratitude to God for guiding my life and blessing me with so much peace and joy.   I realized that the best way for me to express my gratitude is to take all that God has blessed me with and use it to serve His children and love them.

Thank You To The Veterans

I love America! Thank you to all of those who have put their lives on the line, or given their lives, for the cause of FREEDOM. I know that without the brave men and women that have courageously defended our country we would not be as blessed as we are today. We live in a free country that was created by honest, God fearing men that dreamed of living in a land of liberty and freedom. I'm grateful for them and for each person that stands up to protect America and keep us safe. Thank you!

I Am Here: 100%

Have you ever been walking down the street or down a hallway and you see someone walking towards you and the thought of saying hi to someone you don't know makes you uncomfortable? So you instantly pull out your cell phone and pretend to be writing a text or making a call. Admit it, you've done that. And the person walks by and you close the phone and put it in your pocket, relieved that you just avoided having to connect with another human being.

I admit I have done that before. In fact, I have done it many times. I am a human being. I crave interaction and connection with other human beings, but when the opportunity comes along to say hello or give a friendly smile, I pretend to be distracted with something else.

We live in a society full of distracted people. We have cell phones, televisions, ipods, laptops and other devices that distract us from what we want most: connection. Our distractions keep us disconnected. One day I was pretty upset with myself when I realized that I had gone an ENTIRE DAY texting, chatting on facebook and sending out emails and NEVER ONCE opening my mouth and speaking to someone in person or on the phone. How crazy is that?

You can be anyone you want to be when you are texting or talking online, but only your true self can be heard when you actually look another person in the eyes and open your mouth and speak. So many of us have lost the ability to speak face to face. To be 100% in a conversation. To make ourselves vulnerable. When you speak to someone do you look them in the eyes? Do they look you in the eyes? A person's eyes are a window to their soul. I truly believe that. Our eyes express so much of who we are and how we feel. But we are all so busy looking away that we do not see the joy, the pain, the fear, the hope, the call for help and the excitement in the eyes of those around us.

I have been working on being more present in my relationships. I am working on putting the cell phone away when I am talking to somebody. I have noticed that I spend a lot of time on my laptop (or cell phone) and when I am around other people I get distracted with what I am doing online (usually useless facebook roaming) that I miss out on the conversation and have to ask people to repeat themselves. So I am learning to close the laptop. To really listen. To give support. To make myself vulnerable. To be a better friend. To connect. To let myself be present and to pay attention to what's most important.

I am even learning to get rid of the noise and the distractions when I am alone so that I can be more in tune with myself. Sometimes I will look at myself in the mirror and take a few minutes to really look myself in the eyes. When I search my own eyes I see who I really am. I feel a greater love for myself. I feel a stronger connection with God. When I look into my own eyes I see into my soul and remember who I truly am. And that is something my cell phone, my laptop or my ipod will never be able to do.

I am here. I am here 100%. When I catch myself turning to distractions to avoid human connection I am going to remember that human connection is what I really want. It is what we all want. When we all take the time to be 100% present in our lives we will be happier, more satisfied and more connected as a human family. When we get rid of the distractions we will find ourselves...and we will find that we are all fascinating human beings with incredible stories to tell each other - face to face, eye to eye and heart to heart.

Marriage

This topic has been on my mind a lot lately, more than it usually is. When I was growing up I had this whole plan for what my life would be. I would graduate high school, go to college, get married at 19 or 20. It was pretty simple really. It just seemed like that was the natural order of things and it also felt like that was what was expected of me. Well, life has not gone at all as planned. In fact, if you would have told me when I was 16 that I would be 24 and single I would have called you crazy. But being where I am now and looking back on my life, I realize that I am exactly where I am meant to be.

If I would have gotten married at 19 I would have been a horrible wife. I am not saying that all girls that get married at 19 make horrible wives. I just know myself. I know who I was at 19. I wasn’t ready to be married. I was still figuring out me. I had a friend who once told me that being in your twenties are the hardest years. I would agree. My twenties have been hard. There has been a lot of heart ache, trials and disappointments. But I would also have to say that my twenties have also been amazing years full of adventure, learning, laughing and great relationships with family and friends and many more to come.

I have been able to do a lot of amazing things that I might not have done if I had gotten married at 19: I have been able to go on a lot of fun trips and meet a lot of incredible people. I have been able to learn a lot about who I am and what I want out of life. I am a work in progress.

The greatest lesson I have learned so far in life is how to love unconditionally. I have recently learned that before I can truly love others I must first love myself. I discovered that I wasn’t perfect and that I make mistakes and that I am not always right. The greatest lesson I have learned is that despite all of these things, I am still worthy of love and kindness. I accept who I am. My mistakes have been my greatest teachers and my heart has been softened. I forgive myself of my imperfections and I am beginning to realize my worth. I am worthy of love.

At a stake conference I attended a while back, the main topic of every talk was about marriage. Our leaders are concerned that us young people are not getting married. They talked how amazing married life is. One woman that spoke talked about how you really do not know what love is until you have children. She said there were no words to describe what it is like to love your own children. The men were told to have faith and make getting married their highest priority. Women were told to not be so hard on the guys and to really give them a chance.

Overall, I thought the meeting was powerful. Many walked away feeling annoyed that everything was about marriage. I walked away with a greater desire for the married life. Our world is getting crazier each day and the family is falling apart. I know that because I have learned to love myself I have a greater capacity to love. I want a family to share that love with. I want a husband and I want children. I want a family that will play together, work together and pray together. I want to have children that I can hold and love and tell them each day how important they are.

After years of being single my heart is brimming over with love for a future family I hope to create. I believe in marriage. I believe amazing things can happen when a good man and a good woman decide to build a family together. I know it is hard. I know it is difficult to raise kids in a world that is full of bad things. But I know the difference between the good and the bad. I choose the good. I choose to raise children and teach them about goodness and kindness and love. I choose to find a husband that inspires me to be better than I am and that will teach me that I have even more love to offer than I ever thought possible......I am ready.

Cherishing What Really Matters

The past 24 hours I have been thinking a lot about life and what it means to really live. A woman that lived next door to me that I barely knew, passed away yesterday from a sudden heart attack. She was just 27. I was told she lived an incredibly full life. She knew what she really wanted out of life and she went for it. She did not let fear keep her from going after her dreams and influencing so many lives. People all over knew and respected her.

This death and many others that I look back on have caused me to reflect on what is important in life. My thoughts keep going back to them and through my grief I celebrate their goodness. I have come to realize what I cherish most in my life:

-Believing that I am capable of doing great things.
-Not settling for mediocrity.
-Holding a sleeping baby.
-Dreaming big and making those dreams come true.
-Finding the good that is inside every person I meet.
-Using my voice to influence other people for good.
-Being myself - ALWAYS AUTHENTIC.
-The amazing value of hard work.
-Fighting for what I know in my heart is right.
-Sunny evenings in the backyard surrounded by family.
-Being vulnerable.
-Laughing until my cheeks hurts.
-Listening to a little child pray to Heavenly Father.

There are times in life, including the passing of those we love, that remind us that this life is meant to be lived, not just endured. We create the life we want. I cherish what I have been given and I am inspired by those who have given me an example of what it means to really live, and influence others the way they have done to me. I choose to live. I choose to cherish the simple moments in life. I choose to be a powerhouse of love with rivers of joy and contentment flowing freely from my heart.