General Conference

This last weekend I was able to watch General Conference.  This is a conference held over 2 days that is broadcast and available over the internet.  Prophets of God speak to us the word of God so that we might know His will for us and do it.  There were a couple of talks given that included the message that God gives commandments and they don't change, even if the ways and laws of man do over time.  It was comforting to me to have this reminder, especially with all the changes occurring in the world these days.  It is nice to know that God is constant, even if nothing else is and that I can rely on Him always.  Another message I heard was that we need to stand firm in living our religion and standing up for what we know and believe is right.  This may be hard to do in a world where people are departing from living a lot of good principles and commandments.  Commandments that are given to help us to be happy and live successful lives.  I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to listen to this conference twice a year and I look forward to it when it comes up.  I know that God lives and that He cares about all of His children all over the world, regardless of their beliefs or ways of life.

There were a lot of topics spoken on during the conference.  Here is a link to watch or listen to it online:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng

Relying on God

Next month, my brother is getting married.  I am excited for the event.  I will get to see all of my immediate family in one place again, which will be so nice, as well as some extended family that will be able to attend.  I am very grateful for family.  No family is perfect, but families really are important.  I really appreciate that my family laughs at my jokes.

I am grateful for my Heavenly Father as well.  He is always there to support me in my trials, He may not take them away, but He will help me go through them in the best way possible.  Whenever I am sincere in my desire to change and make the right decision, He is always there immediately to help me do the right thing and to make the right choice.  He gives assurance of making the right decision and comfort and strength to do the right thing.  This week He helped me to return somethings that I bought that I really didn't need (I am in school and don't have much money to spare).  He gives me comfort to know that I can do without things and still be alright.  He helps me to find ways to do without things, that often end up being better that way anyway.  I must be creative or at least humble in my planning and accomplishments.  I develop more confidence in myself and God this way.  I highly recommend seeking for and accepting God's counsel when He wants to give it to you in especially in the everyday things.  He loves all of His children.

Happy spring!

Scripture Power

This week I have realized how much strength and power I am given for reading my scriptures.  I have had a few weeks where I haven't read them every day.  Not that I haven't read them at all, but not every day.  Come Thursday or Friday, I tended to check out of that commitment that I made to God and myself.   I found that on these days, things were much more challenging emotionally and perspectively.  I had a harder time being hopeful and being proactive about everything.  I thought less about my day and what I wanted to accomplish and thought more in terms of what I "had" to do that day.  When I read my scriptures, it helps me to refocus on the things that I know are really important and the things that I really want (not just what do I want to eat at my next meal or what form of entertainment I should pursue during my next down period.  Scripture study invites the spirit and helps me attain and maintain through out my day a positive attitude.  It helps me to actually want to do all the hard things that I've signed up to do or that are made available to me through out the day.  Taking time for scripture reading is "me" time that I need everyday.  It helps me to be my best self.  I read about people who were striving with their whole beings to keep the commandments and do what is right, even in very difficult circumstances. They are great examples to me.  If they can do it, maybe I can do the smaller things that are asked of me every day.  I'm always glad that I chose to read, this is something that I need to remember the next time I think I might skip today. When I read the scriptures, I am reminded of how much God loves me and all of His children.  He is constantly trying to get them to do things that will help them to be the happiest they can be.  He really does love us all.

Yea, scriptures!

Following God

Mosiah 5:7

7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the ^achildren of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are ^bchanged through faith on his name; therefore, ye are ^cborn of him and have become his ^dsons and his daughters.

This change of heart spoken of by King Benjamin in the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon is something that can actually happen.  Acting in faith can be hard, but if you stick with it, you begin to see the benefits and want to continue in the path.  This is the change of heart.  Changing from rebellion to tentative submission to proactive involvement.  Once you reach this last stage, certain things become easier, you look forward to staying the course and actively plan to proceed down the course in the future.  The desires of your heart have changed.  So often this only comes after a long time of acting in faith, without seeing much result or at least the result you want to see.  But once you have developed good habits and dedication to the path, you begin to see all the different ways staying the course makes you better, your life better, everything better.  You don't want to lose that so you have encouragement to carry on and to keep growing in this direction.  You want to reach further down this road and see what else you can become and how else you can develop, what else you can do.  You can see how believing God and following Him is really allowing Him to love you and help you to be the happiest you can.  He really does want us to be happy.  For that I am very grateful and humbled.

The Little Things: Prayer

So last week, let slide a lot of the little things that I try to do everyday or at least regularly.  I was lazy and told myself that I was too tired to do all these things.  And I was tired, but I missed all the stability and 'groundedness" that I get from these activities.  I like to say my prayers in the mornings.  It helps me to turn my worries over to the Lord.  It helps me to look at my day hopefully, instead of stressing out about what needs to be done (when, how, etc).  It helps me to be grateful for the blessings I receive everyday from Him.  When I take the time to think about and express my gratitude to the Lord, I am able to see His hand in my life so much more. I am able to see and feel so much more blessed than I would otherwise.  It is a humbling experience and it also helps me to realize how much God loves me and is involved in my life.  He really cares about the details of it.  Praying in the mornings also helps me to think about my day.  What do I want to accomplish today?  What are the most important things that need to get done today?  How do I want them to be accomplished or what, specifically, do I want to ask the Lord to help me with?  I like to be specific in my prayers because it helps me to recognize when I am receiving help and to accept it.  Sometimes I will pray for help to have courage or to not become angry.  When I am presented with a situation in which I naturally want to behave in the opposite way, when I have prayed for help, I am reminded of my prayer and earlier desire.  This helps me to be open to receiving help and rising to the challenge of changing my feelings instead of brushing off the desire to change and giving into the 'easy' way out or the lazy way.  I seek the help that I asked for earlier in the moment and if I am earnest in wanting help (and sometimes when that desire is pretty small) I get the help that I need.  It's funny that it is often just enough to get me where I need to go, but in providing only what we need God can help us to grow as much as we can.  Prayer can help me to feel the spirit of the Lord everyday.  It helps me to start the day feeling like I have spoken with my maker and have some idea of what He would like me to do for the day.  This is a very comforting and confidence producing feeling.  I feel like I can start the day 'on the right foot.'  I highly recommend starting the day with prayer, it really is great!

I am so grateful for the warm weather that we have been experiencing here!  I know that it will soon be gone, whenever the next storm comes, so I have to enjoy it while I can.

Christmas is coming!  My favorite time of year.  I love the opportunity to remember that Christ was born to die for me and all mankind because of His great love for us.  I am grateful that Christ cares about me on an individual level and will work with me to become who He wants me to be, and who I really want to be.  He helps me to change and to fix my mistakes.  He won't take away the consequences of my wrong decisions, but if I turn to Him in humility for help, He will help me to endure the consequences well.  He will support me and encourage me to do what I know is right and give me the strength and motivation to do so.  Change, or repentance, is usually the harder path to take, but it really is worth it because you grow and become a better, a quality person.  You grow up, you mature, you become someone that you like better and would want to hang out with.  All good things are hard and require work and sacrifice, but that is part of what makes them good.  That's what makes a gourmet dessert amazing!  Remember the reason for the season this year, and that God loves you.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2874125972001&cid=HPWE120413186

Merry Christmas!

A family favorite is Creme Broulee.  I stole this recipe from allrecipes.com, here is a link to their site.

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 5 servingsChange Servings

• 6 egg yolks
• 6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Beat egg yolks, 4 tablespoons sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until thick and creamy.
3. Pour cream into a saucepan and stir over low heat until it almost comes to boil. Remove the cream from heat immediately. Stir cream into the egg yolk mixture; beat until combined.
4. Pour cream mixture into the top of a double boiler. Stir over simmering water until mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon; approximately 3 minutes. Remove mixture from heat immediately and pour into a shallow heat-proof dish.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or overnight.
6. Preheat oven to broil.
7. In a small bowl combine remaining 2 tablespoons white sugar and brown sugar. Sift this mixture evenly over custard. Place dish under broiler until sugar melts, about 2 minutes. Watch carefully so as not to burn.
8. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate until custard is set again.

Hope Because I Need It

This week I have been able to observe how staying close to the Lord greatly improves my outlook and hope for the future.  I have found that when I am tired or give some other excuse for neglecting scripture reading or regular prayers, my vision of the future narrows.  My self esteem lowers and by imperfections seem to grow exponentially over night.  Even though God is honest with me about the things that I need to improve upon, He only ever requires me to work on them with His help, never alone.  He sees me as I am and as I can be, and helps me to focus on the latter.  With His help, I feel like I really could do all things.  When I turn away, the reality that I can't make it with all my imperfections looms over me and I don't feel like trying.  Staying close to the Lord helps to quash depression and gives me the hope I need to continue.  So this week I would like to express my gratitude for the Lord and His ever present involvement in and care about my life.  It is probably the biggest thing that I have to be thankful for.

In the last session of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in one of his talks, Pres. Thomas S. Monson said:

(Quoting Matt 11)“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”⁹

Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised that this will never change.

My brothers and sisters, may we have a commitment to our Heavenly Father that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. We should not need to experience difficulties for us to remember Him, and we should not be driven to humility before giving Him our faith and trust.

May we ever strive to be close to our Heavenly Father. To do so, we must pray to Him and listen to Him every day. We truly need Him every hour, whether they be hours of sunshine or of rain. May His promise ever be our watchword: “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”¹⁰

With all the strength of my soul, I testify that God lives and loves us, that His Only Begotten Son lived and died for us, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that penetrating light which shines through the darkness of our lives. May it ever be so, I pray in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/i-will-not-fail-thee-nor-forsake-thee?lang=eng