Prayer

   Once upon a time, when I was younger than I am now...Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was coming to the theaters and not only that, my Dad's company was having a party where we got to see it the night before it came out!!  Now, just to give a little background, my family takes Harry Potter very seriously. It is one thing that ALL of us really like, so, as you can imagine, this very exciting! 

   We all piled into the car and started the journey to the Movie theater, everything was going smoothly until...you guessed it...TRAFFIC! What was a van full of happy, excited people turned into a van full of highly stressed out slightly contentious people.

   I was VERY worried that we would miss this movie and I was also worried that not all of us would make it to the theater alive, so I said a prayer and asked for a way to keep my family calm and that everything would work out. A few minutes later we heard on the radio that a lane somewhere was cleared and traffic was moving again. Our Harry Potter movie was no longer in jeopardy, and most importantly, I gained a testimony of prayer.

 

   Prayer is such a precious gift! It is the cell phone that our loving Father gave to each of us when we came to this earth. A Tender Mercy that happened yesterday confirmed my testimony yet again that God does listen to our prayers.

 

  Yesterday we got a call from one of the people we visit with. She was very upset because her cat, Woody, was missing. This is her favorite cat and she was really worried about him because he didn't come home to eat. We decided to go over and offer to look for him. We looked for him, but couldn't find him before we had to leave. We left, but then felt like we needed to go back and pray with her...so we did and made her promise to let us know when he did come home. A couple hours later we got a call from her saying that he had! Woody was home, safe and sound!

 

  I KNOW that God answers prayers. He cares about the little things that don't seem very important like watching a Harry Potter movie, He cares about our beloved pets, and all the little things that we love. Thinking about that, how much he truly does care about the little things, think just how much he cares about the BIG things in life.

 

 

I know not by what methods rare,

But this I know, God answers prayer.

I know that He has given His Word,

Which tells me prayer is always heard,

And will be answered, soon or late.

And so I pray and calmly wait.

I know not if the blessing sought

Will come in just the way I thought;

But leave my prayers with Him alone,

Whose will is wiser than my own,

Assured that He will grant my quest,

Or send some answer far more blest.

 

-Eliza M. Hickok

 

 



Children of God

This is my absolute FAVORITE Mormon Message. I think it is so amazing to have the Knowledge that we are literally children of God! How cool is that? God knows each of us individually. One of my favorite quotes about our relationship with God I found in this talk, Bringing Peace and Healing to your Soul by Dale E. Miller 

           "C. S. Lewis put it this way: '[God] has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man [or woman] in the world'"

God is with each one of us. He knows who YOU are! He LOVES you more than anything, and he just wants you to come back and live with him someday.

Commandments



Let Me guess what you are thinking right now . . .

 

"Commandments  are a tender mercy? Are you sure?"

 

Yes! I am! I love the commandments. What are they but the perfect advice given to each of us from our Perfect Father in Heaven! When you think about the commandments in a Parent/child relationship, the commandments make a lot of sense. 

 

When I was little, I was given 'commandments' from my Mom that would keep me safe, for example, don't play with knives. When I followed this advice, I was safe. When I didn't follow I, well, the cousin I gave the knife to, learned that even a butter knife can cut you.  God loves us and he doesn't want us to cut ourselves on the proverbial knife. That is why he has laid out different commandments to protect and bless us. He has given them to all and when we obey, we receive his promised blessings.

 

What blessings have you seen from following the commandments?

 

 

 

Elder Bednar on Tithing

Some of the Blessings we can receive from the commandment of Tithing Malachi 3:8-12

What does your mind look like?

"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; THY WALLS ARE CONTINUALLY BEFORE ME." Isaiah 49:16

    Once upon a time, when I was in High School, I had a friend who asked me this question, "If you went on a tour of your mind, what would it look like?" What felt right to me, as I thought about it was a maze. A maze decorated with memories. I didn't realize at the time what a profound and helpful question that would be for me throughout the past few years. The more I think about it, the more I understand things about myself and my personality that I didn't before.

  My mind is decorated with memories, pictures, flowers, mementos of happy times, but what about the bad times. Those are just as much a part of me as the good times. As much as I would like to hide those I realized that there are some bad memories in my mind. Hurt, pain, sorrow, temptation -- all are included in my life story and all leave cracks in the walls of my mind. As I was thinking about this, I had a short 30 second picture in my head of Christ as a master carpenter, painter, restorer, and all around repair man, standing in front of one of my walls. He was going through my maze fixing the cracks, healing the hurt, and making things better.

  I am not usually a very visual person, I think in words more than pictures, so this was pretty unusual. I was talking to somebody about it and used this as an example of how I see Christ and what his role is. She shared Isaiah 49:16 with me. This was such a tender mercy! To have my thought confirmed through the scriptures was such an amazing feeling! I know that my walls are continually before him and he is always there to fix and repair our walls of hurt, sin, and sadness. I also know he is there to help you, whatever your needs.


I thought this was a cool picture of a wall that could use some TLC :)
 

If YOU went on a tour of your mind, what would it look like? How does Christ work with you?

Why am I doing this?

If you asked most anybody I knew before my mission, they could tell you just how excited I was to serve. I knew that it was what God wanted me to do, but I didn't want to do it! I didn't understand the concept of Consecration, which is why I was probably assigned to speak about it for my farewell talk. Even trying to give a talk on it I didn't realize the difference between consecration and sacrifice. To sacrifice is to give up, to consecrate is to give to.

Even though I was not the most excited person to go on a mission, I am so grateful now for following the promptings I had to serve. I love it out here! I love meeting people and talking to them, learning about their lives. The best part is watching them come closer to Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to give this time and energy TO Him. I love teaching people about how they can have peace in this life, and eternal life in the one to come! This video communicates a few of my feelings on why I am serving.

 

 

I know that I am doing what God wants me to be doing, and I couldn't be happier doing it!

 

 

 

. . . Of course, following God's plan for us will always make us the happiest. :)

 

Sister Richards

As missionaries we get moved around a lot. This week my companion, Sister Richards, is following God's call to share her talents with new people. I have loved getting to know her and I am grateful for all that I have learned from her. I am especially grateful for her kind heart. This video is one of the most amazing opportunities I had to share the 'Good News' in the past few months and I never would have thought to or been able to do it without her. Thank you Sister Richards!

 

 

 

 

Who has been a tender mercy in your life? Don't forget to thank them!