soldier girls

Happy April everyone! I hope you all enjoyed General Conference! If you missed it, you can watch/read/download here! You won't regret it!!

I've been sooo busy with school and am consequently so excited for summer.
And this trip.
And my best friend Sydney is coming with our family for two weeks to California! Yay!
What do you all have planned for the summer??

Hmmm... I'm trying to think of something interesting that has been going on in my life... I pretty much worked and watched Doctor Who all Spring Break. So not much to share there. I took the ACT this morning for the second time.
There's nothing more joyful than a good ol' standardized test!!!

And I'm really into Dancing with the Stars at the moment. Okay sorta into it. I watch most of the episodes. haha.

I got a letter in the mail the other day. It brought serious joy. Turns out it was just from this Radiothon I participated in... but yeah you should all mail me letters because I rather enjoyed finding that little surprise in the mailbox.

And here's my new favorite picture.

So I wanted to share this spectacular music video with y'all.
If you are familiar with T.C. Christensen (think 17 Miracles), he has a new movie coming out soon called Ephraim's Rescue. I'm so excited!


So here's a spectacular music video from it! Go get tissues (you're welcome)!



Here's my favorite line:

"We reached for God from where we stood."

God is closer than you think! And He can be reached by anyone! No matter where you're calling from!

You're never too far away and the Atonement is always accessible to you. Our Savior's grace and mercy extends to all, even you.

Don't you forget it!

Love to you all, have a great Sunday!





P.S. You can find this song on iTunes!! I've been listening nonstop!

we don't have to.

"The message of Easter is not that Jesus is alive, it is so much more. The message of Easter is that Jesus has risen!"
-Colin Smith







"May we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not in the flush of comfortable times, but in deed and in courage and in faith. May we stand by Jesus Christ at all times and in all things, and in all places that we may be in, even until death, for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone."




Happy Easter everyone!

I think it's so important that we remember the meaning of the holiday.

If you can't do it on Christmas, at least do it on Easter. Because the Atonement is everything to you. At least it should be.

It's the reason we are saved.
The reason we will live again.
The reason families are forever...
The reason we can have joy.
The reason you are never alone.

You can do all that you can - and be all that you are - because of the Atonement.


And remember that because Jesus walked such a long path alone, we don't have to. 

He cries with you.
He rejoices with you.
He walks with you always.

And don't you forget it.


(and to finish, this quote just intrigues me...!!)


"According to the laws of legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history."
-Harvard Law Professor Dr. Simon Greenleaf



Have a lovely day and don't forget why we celebrate Easter!

the miracle of forgiveness

This video was shared in my YWs lesson last week... I usually kinda shy away from the longer videos (silly me), so I hadn't seen it before! :)

Enjoy!




I think that the miracle of forgiveness is such an amazing thing. Albeit unintentionally, the young man in this video still took a lot away from Chris and his family. And the fact that Chris was so ready to forgive is such a cool thing.

So why is it so hard to forgive people for the little things? If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I am a firm believer that most people are just trying to do what's right. And even if they don't always go about it the right way, at least not in your opinion, it's important to keep in mind that people are trying. 

I make so many mistakes in my life that cause me to beg for forgiveness. And if the Lord is willing to forgive me, why should I be slow to forgive the little things that others do?

I want to live a life filled with love for others. I never want to be one who holds grudges. I don't want to judge people because of things I hear about them. And I want to be the kind of person where if anyone said something negative about me, others wouldn't believe it.

I want people to think of me as the person who will love others for who they are and for what they are.

So how about we start being slower to judge, more rarely offended, and quicker to forgive.

----------

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. 
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. 
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” 
-Mother Teresa

courage

...Surviving is about courage and faith....


Sometimes it takes courage just to keep going.
Sometimes it's about doing the right thing.
Or sometimes you just have to have courage so that you can prove to yourself that you CAN do it.

I've been telling myself for forever that once I turned 16, I'd donate blood. Blood is so needed by so many people and well, I've got it to give.

But when the blood drive was announced at my school, I thought Oh man... I'm actually 16 now! It took me about a week just to get the courage to sign up. I seriously asked a dozen people what it was like, watched youtube videos, read what people thought on Yahoo Answers... (LOVE Yahoo Answers! Wouldn't have an A in Chemistry without it!)

Eventually, the day before the blood drive, I had a moment of courage and told my bff Sydney that if we didn't go sign up THIS SECOND, I wouldn't be able to do it.

I was so SO scared. Scared of passing out, that it would hurt for a year, that I wouldn't be able to play the region championship game we had that night, (we WON!! I still am an idiot for playing in that game. I was out of breath after 3 minutes. ha.) I was just SO freaked out for so many reasons. Most of them entirely impractical.

I just kept telling myself that it wasn't a big deal and it would go perfectly.

But you know what? Friday came and I donated blood. And it didn't go perfectly, but I still did it. (hehe... they had a hard time finding my vein so they had to go kinda deep or something like that, because it hurt really bad the whole time instead of just during the initial stick... but I still did it!!)

And I'm pretty proud if I do say so myself.

And now that I've done it once, I can do it next time easier. (Hoping beyond hope that it goes easier, less painful, and faster!) :)


Courage isn't something you're born with. At least I don't think so.

Courage isn't about wanting to go skydiving or bungee jumping.
Courage is about being scared out of your pants to go skydiving and still jumping out of the plane.

Courage is about pressing forward even if you are worried about the future.
It's about trusting in the Lord even if you want to scream and cry because you are so scared.

It's about doing His will even if it's hard for you to accept.

It's about initiative.

Doing what you have to do even if you dread the possible outcome.

It's when grief and pain are on the front porch and you open the door and deal with them head on.
Because you know they're not going to leave and putting things off doesn't get anyone anywhere.


We agreed to do hard things before we came here. We agreed to be tried and tested. And we were excited to prove ourselves.

I think trials ended up being harder to get through than we had originally imagined.
But they're still there.

And the courageous thing to do is to deal with them so that we can keep on keeping on.

And enduring to the end. That takes courage.






P.S. What things have YOU done that required courage??

the strongest verb

I don't know if any of you have read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, but it's fabulous. I think it's the only book I've ever had to read in school that I thoroughly loved. I learned a lot about God and life by reading that book. I highly recommend it.
I found the following story on a website today... This story was told by Paulo Coelho, so it naturally caught my eye... enjoy.

----------

As soon as he arrived in Marrakesh, Morocco, a missionary decided he would stroll through the desert at the city’s boundary every morning. On his first stroll he noticed a man lying on the sand, caressing the ground with his hands and leaning his ears towards the earth.

“He is mad,” the missionary said to himself. But he saw the man every morning during his walks and after a month, intrigued by that strange behaviour, he decided to approach the stranger.

He knelt beside him and asked, in broken Arabic, “What are you doing?”

“I keep the desert company and offer solace for its loneliness and its tears.”

“I didn’t know the desert was capable of crying.”

“It cries every day, because it dreams of being useful to mankind and turning into a huge garden where people could cultivate flowers and tend sheep.”

“Well then, tell the desert it accomplishes its mission very well,” said the missionary. “Every time I walk here, I am able to understand the true dimension of the human being, as its open space allows me to see how small we are before God. When I look at its sands, I imagine the millions of people in the world who were born equal and am reminded that life isn’t always fair towards everyone. Its mountains help me meditate and as I see the sun rising on the horizon, my soul fills with joy and I feel closer to God.”

The missionary left the man and went back to his daily chores. To his surprise, he found him the next morning at the same place, in the same position.

“Did you tell the desert everything I told you?” he asked.

The man nodded.

“And even so it keeps crying?”

“I can hear each of its sobs,” answered the man, his head tilted towards the ground. “Now it is crying
because it spent thousands of years thinking it was completely useless and wasted all this time blaspheming God and its own destiny.”

“Well, then tell the desert that despite having a short lifespan, we human beings spend much of our days thinking we are useless. We rarely find the reason for our destiny and think God has been unfair to us. When a moment finally arrives in which we are shown the reason why we were born, we think it is too late to change and keep on suffering. And as the desert, we blame ourselves for the time we have wasted.”

“I am not sure the desert will bother to hear it,” said the man. “It is used to suffering and it can’t see things differently.”

“So then let us do what I always do when I feel people have lost faith. Let us pray.”

----------

It's only natural that a man someday wonder "what exactly am I here for??" I learned in health this week that most start their search for identity when they're a teenager. I thought this was kinda interesting, and I really sincerely hope that some of the teenagers I've met haven't found themselves yet, if you know what I mean. haha. (No one in particular!)

My point is, man's search for identity may begin as a teenager, but it takes many people a long, long time to really figure out who they are and what their purpose is. And whether or not it takes you a long time to find yourself doesn't really make a difference. Many people, like the desert, will regret their past and will wish they had come to their senses sooner. But that's the point of life.

Move on and rejoice in the knowledge of a better life ahead of you.

In English this year, we've written a couple papers where we were required to take out as many to be verbs as possible while making revisions. Yeah. Try taking every occurrence of be, being, been, am, are, is, were, etc... out of your paper. H.a.r.d.

My teacher explained that the be verb is the weakest verb in the human language. "It shows no action," she explained.

I suppose in a paper this is often true. It's probably better to use other verbs sometimes.

But the weakest verb? I think not.

Who you are, what you choose to be, what your purpose is, these all seem like very strong statements to me.

Be a faithful disciple. Be a doer of good. Be a peacemaker.

People always make mistakes and slip up. You will say things you will regret. You already have experienced this, and you will no doubt experience it again.

But when you think about someone you knew years back, it isn't the little things they said that you remember. You remember them for the kind of person they were. What they did with their life, and how they treated others.

So be a force for good in the world. Decide who you are and never look back. Keep moving forward and continue learning new things about yourself.

“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?”

-Robert Browning

judge not.

First of all, saddest comic ever.
Second of all, I haven't blogged in 11 days. I have been a waste of human cells the last little bit because of school. I'm ready for summer. Actually, no. Because then I'd be closer to another year of school. I'm seriously only half kidding.
Oh, and third of all, when I think of blogging, all I can think of is what an uncreative, repetitive person I am. I've been feeling like my posts have been topic-less lately. Instead they are just a mosh of repetitive thoughts. Is this just me?

 *sigh*

Kay. I'm good. I'm golden, in fact.

But the man in the above pictures is definitely not golden. (That was a pretty good connecting sentence, if I do say so myself.)

I'm definitely guilty of judging grumpy people. Grumpy people are talked about behind their backs. They're the horn honkers. The people who scowl at whoever bothers them in any way at the grocery store. And you know what? They drive me nuts sometimes! That's why it's so important to be happy and thoughtful. Because people will like you! Or at least they won't be bugged by you. :)

I really liked the above picture because it shows really well how people hide their feelings.

And it's a reminder to me that people live hard lives. And they try. And they fail. And they sometimes unintentionally take it out on the people around them.

 And then people talk crap about them.

That kinda makes me sick, actually.


I believe I've shared this video before, but it goes perfectly here.




"From the moment I laid eyes on him, I judged Charles."

 People are often times so different than we imagine.

You know what, this is starting to sound like my last post. Dang it. eeerrrgggh. Seems I am the queen of repetition.


I do have one more fun video, though.



Isn't that cool?


"There are more ways to be good than bad."

People are so cool.

And they live hard lives. So try not to judge.

And I'll try to blog more often. If I can think of something different to blog on. haha.

Have a great Friday!

sonder

I think sonder is a sort of urban dictionary type of word... not a Merriam Webster's kind of word, you know what I mean?

But still I love it. I love the idea of it.

Because, in a way, even the people who only think of others still live in their own world. What I mean by that is that you can't truly know the thoughts of another. No matter how much time you spend with them, you will still never know how complex their life is. What it's like to be them.


We, as humankind, live so strangely surrounded by others and yet alone at the same time.


I don't doubt that our God can keep up with the lives of everyone, but I have no idea how He does it.

And people can try to be one thing. Everyone tries to keep some things about themselves hidden when talking to everyday people. Still, I think the coolest moments are when you see little glimpses of who someone really is on the inside. Sometimes it comes by spending a lot of time with someone, sometimes you just happen to witness little inner doubts/thoughts flash in their eyes.

And when you try putting yourself in another's position, you see that everyone tries. Everyone has insecurities. Things they're good at and things they're bad at.

I really hope that acceptance can be something that I am good at.

And think a little before you get mad at or start disliking someone from something they did.

Because I think people are sometimes more justified in their actions than you'd realize.

Sometimes I do/say things that would totally not make sense to a random passerby, but whoever I'm with understands perfectly.
For example, last week I had to wander around Walmart and take pictures of different packages for a commercial art class I'm in. And I probably looked a little weird taking pictures of gross looking Valentine's candy, but I had reason to do it, you know?

Am I making sense at all?

I think... people are just people. They deserve love and most definitely respect, but they shouldn't scare you.

I just love reading the description of sonder. It's crazy to think about. That there are people in the world that don't even know I exist, yet I'm living a deep, complex, stressful, happy, crazy life with dozens of layers to it.

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
-Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)


People are so cool.
Creation is so cool.

You're His

Okay, this will most likely be pretty short, but I wanted to share with you this video...




"I now stand very aware of how it all came to be."


Okay. I'm obviously not a father. Nor will I ever be one.


But this is an incredible video with a powerful message and powerful music.


Trying to imagine the love and wonders of our Father is something that I really enjoy, but it at the same time overwhelms me.

I am so grateful for a Father who loves and who focuses everything He does on us.

He's close. He's oh, so close.

He's marvelous and good and fair.



And you're His.

be loving and patient.

I love watching happy people.

I love seeing their faces light up and the almost tangible joy they experience.


But - what if one person got that job/scholarship/recognition/whatever that you really really wanted.

Would you still feel happy for them?


I'm totally a people watcher, and I love the living, breathing, amazing mosaic that is humanity.

But there is something terribly wrong with mankind.

Let's face it. We are a jealous people. We don't always feel excited for others. We're not patient. We're not loving. We're not courteous.

And though I cannot speak for everyone, we are at least not compassionate, loving, patient, and courteous enough. 


We've got to start loving. 

We've got to start blessing lives, feeding sheep, doing good, and being loyal to God. (here)




A cute girl in my ward shared a really good story in Sacrament Meeting today. She read it on some blog, and I'm unfortunately unsure how to find it... but it went something like this:

There was a man who suffered some sort of head injury or had brain problems... some health trial like that... and he just wasn't himself anymore.
He was unable to take care of his land, and his wife did what she could, but eventually they decided that something needed to be done. They had to sell their things. (I think they had a farm...?)
They put everything out in the yard with a big sign indicating that it was all for sale.
Soon after, they got a phone call. Not from a buyer, but from a neighbor. It was a complaint. He told them that all of their stuff sitting there made the community look bad, and he demanded that it be removed.
The man trying to sell his things said something along the lines of,
There was once a day in this country where if a man saw his neighbor's every possession for sale, he'd call to see if something was wrong. 
He then proceeded to tell the man of his health trials and how they needed to make some changes in order to keep living.
The man apologized profusely and said that he would ask his friends if they wanted to buy anything.




I fear the ability to give someone the benefit of the doubt is fading.

Another thing the world is dangerously short on, is understanding and patience.

I'll tell you what - I learned to drive last year. I know that people get really impatient when driving, but I'll tell you, it really frustrated me sometimes when I was trying my best and still had people ticked off at me.
Especially when I was learning to drive the stick shift... I killed it a lot. A lot. And not always in the most desirable places.
Okay, obviously I'm the one at fault here, but I now always try to be extra patient with people when I'm driving because I know how it feels to be panicking in the middle of an intersection because I can't get the car to move and having people waving all these rude gestures at me... and I hated it.


So here's my philosophy.

Chill out. Be patient. Be loving. Be sympathetic.

And you will be such a blessing in the lives of others.

...the angels stood in reverence...

Sorry for going all AWOL this last week... I know you all missed me so much... :)

I just didn't have any superbly pressing things to share. It takes a bit of thinking sometimes, and I just haven't had the time to sit down and... think (wow. lamest statement ever).

Anyways, I wanted to share this song with you guys. Emma by the Nashville Tribute Band.

I looked all over to find somewhere to embed it from. This was the best I found. Click play, it will open up in a separate window, click play again, switch back, and you can read the lyrics! I always like reading the lyrics while listening to a song. Gives you something to do.
(The big, bolded line is my favorite if you couldn't tell.)

Oh! And exit out of the window when the song ends. Another random one will probably start up. Seems to keep happening to me. Sorry, best I could do. :)


  Emm

-------------------------------------------------------
Never had an ordinary day

Never lived your life in an ordinary way

For everything you loved you paid a price

But you couldn't let the world see you cry

Never had a moment of peace

Never felt the sunlight

When the worries set you free

Every time your life turned a page

It seemed like your heart might break

With the world on your shoulders

When the nights had grown colder

You seemed to weather every storm

With a queen's grace

When you lost your husband

When you buried your children

I'm sure the angels stood in reverence as you prayed

How much can one heart take 

How much can one heart take

Never had a day to call your own

When so many needed your warm heart as a home

Whispering a mother's lullaby

As you sat alone by the fire

With the world on your shoulders

When the nights had grown colder

You seemed to weather every storm

With a queen's grace

When you lost your husband

When you buried your children

I'm sure the angels stood in reverence as you prayed

How much can one heart take 

How much can one heart take

With the world on your shoulders

When the nights had grown colder

You seemed to weather every storm

With a queen's grace

When you lost your husband

When you buried your children

I'm sure the angels stood in reverence as you prayed

And I'm sure your heart breaks, when some people still say

Somewhere down the line you lost your faith

How much can one heart take -

How much can one heart take?

-------------------------------------------------------------

Oh and just if you didn't know - Katherine Nelson sings this song. 

Mind = Blown. You're welcome.* 

Now I'm going to repeat that line that's quite simply just my favorite. 

I'm sure the angels stood in reverence as you prayed.

I love the thought of a God who weeps. 
Angels who feel. Who love. 

Just think of that. A God who weeps. The most powerful being you could ever imagine. Weeping for the sorrow of mankind.
The love our Father feels for all of us - even you and me - is unimaginable. This we know, and we always say.
But - a God who weeps? 

It's an incredible thought.

( ^We know the guy who painted this! His mom is in our ward!)

I think this is a cool picture of Christ's birth and depicts just how aware and close the Angels in Heaven truly are. 

They are aware of you. People you love beyond the veil - whether you remember them or not - are so much closer than you think. You could've been best friends with some of these spirits in years long ago. Those angels are rooting for you. 

They are angels who stand in reverence of you and cry with you. 

You are never alone. Powerful beings with infinite passion are all around you. 

An incredible thought, indeed. 







*This, for like 5 minutes, read "your welcome".  I almost fell over when I caught my mistake. That's always been a pet peeve of mine. :)