Why do you Think Abortion is your Only Option?

Hello my Dear Sisters of this World,

I was out running errands this morning and saw a sign at the St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Mango, Florida. It was talking about abortion and remembering the lives of the babies and their mothers. It made me think a little about this issue. I have participated in fasts and lots of prayers for this to stop but it's obvious that abortion is here to stay. I truly doubt it will ever go back to being an illegal practice, doesn't mean I will stop praying that it does, but I just think that it will never change.

However, a thought came to me, I call it inspiration, and it said we need to convince women that there are other options. If we can't make the practice of abortion go away then let's help women see the other choices they can make and why it is the best thing to do. Threats and making someone feel horrible about themselves hasn't worked, so there has to be a better way.

Lets look at this for a moment.  We should ask ourselves the question why does a women decide to do this? I can think of several reasons but I may not say them without it sounding hateful and I certainly do not hate these women who choose to do this. We can't walk in their shoes but we can show them that the other options can bring a sense of happiness in making a choice to let the baby live.

The Lord has commanded us not to take another persons life, it is a sin when we break a commandment and this is a commandment. But we can choose to avoid the sin by looking at the other options that are available when a baby is not the best thing for the mother at that time.

 “Thou shalt not … kill, nor do anything like unto it”  (D&C 59:6)

What are the options? Of course the best option is for the birth mom to keep her baby but sometimes that is not possible. So we have to think of other options with her. One choice is to have the child and give it up for adoption. Adoption is not a horrible thing. Have you ever seen a woman who is unable to have a child of her own. Her heart is so broken every time she see's a new baby. She knows that she may never hold a child of her own. Do you know that by making a choice to give her the baby will bring joy to so many people. It will bring happiness to the new mom, the baby, and giver of the life! That's a lot of good that is being done.

There are programs available where the birth mother can choose who she wants her baby to go to. That is awesome to be able to choose the home the baby will be raised. Some people are even good about letting the birth mother be involved in the child's life as well, now that is amazing. What a good heart on both sides.

 Life doesn't have to be filled with hatred and ill feelings towards one another, make any situation a good thing. The birth mom goes on with her life and still get's to see her child grow and the adoptive mom gets to raise a baby as her own. Peace (long sigh) of heart and mind. To me that is the only option. But there are other options, the key is to not make abortion an option.

We have to show love and not judgement to the birth mom, she needs moral support and sometimes financial support. What are we willing to do to avoid the decision of abortion? That is something that is between you, the birth mom and Heavenly Father. When we include Him in our decision we always choose the right one, doesn't mean life will be all wonderful and perfect, but it does mean it will be the right one and everyone will be blessed for it.

Now perhaps you are thinking about a very young girl, or a victim of rape, or even a mother who's life is on the line. Those are good examples of the fight today. People use those instances as a valid reason to have legal abortion options. But as I always say when we give in to something for the benefit of good, it gets abused and turned around so itis used for bad.

But even with those situations I would think the baby is worth fighting for as well. No, I have never been in that situation, nor have I known anyone that was ever in that situation but I would try to help the mom to see that the baby is a victim as well. We all experience challenges and trials in our lives but it's what we do with them that makes or breaks us. So if a person is raped, no matter the age, the mom can get help to get her through the tough times she will have in carrying the child. It will not be easy and it is a hard choice to make, but in the long run it can give the personal healing power to her soul.

As for the health of the mother, that is a tough one too. I think one of the saddest things in life is when a mother dies and leaves her young family. I'm sure it is one of the most unfair things in life. But God'd plan is one that we do not always undersand. The choice in all these situations is between the mother and God; we can not judge. We can only try to help no matter the choice.

I had a young friend who was pregnant and she did not want to be. I remember her calling me and asking for advice. I tried and tried to talk her out of the thoughts of abortion. She was a Christian but she was just so overwhelmed with grief. She had  broke up with the young man for a good reason but she did not want to raise a child alone. I was so heartbroken when she told me she had the abortion, but I couldn't let her see my disappointment in her decision.  I had made a lot of wrong choices in my life so I was not in a situation to judge her decision, all I could do is let her cry on my shoulder and be her friend.

I know she has her regrets but all we can do it try to help them make a good choice and if they don't , be as supportive as we can. I will not back down on my fight against abortion and the taking of a life. I believe woman should choice to save the life of the baby and then if she can not raise it , give it to a home where it can be raised in a good environment. Prayer and reflection on the situation will only aid in the decision. May God direct our lives for the good of everyone. And may He be allowed to direct your decision in the matter of abortion whether you are the birth mother or someone who cares enough to help someone make the best choice, and that is for all life.

Would Jesus have condemned the mother? No, he would have showed her love and support. He would have done everything He could to show her the best choices. And yes, he would have been disappointed if she chose to have the abortion. But we are given the gift of freedom of choice, and with that comes consequences of our choices. Not ones that are decided by people but ones that go with choices that are made.

We have to stand as righteous women and fight against evil. The person is not normally evil but the act of abortion is. I pray that God will direct your path to doing good in this fight for life. Love as Jesus loves and help build up His Kingdom.

All my love!!!

Act in Charity

1 Corinthians 16:14
"Let all your things be done with ^acharity."

I told my son to not worry about doing any school work today, he is home schooled, and I told him to focus on his Eagle Scout Project that was coming due soon. When I got home from work I asked how much he got done, he told me nothing.

Then he proceeded to tell me why he got nothing done. He decided to sleep in some, then when he got up he spent time hanging out with his sister. He told her several times that he needed to get this assignment started. When he was finished hanging out with her, he started looking at some stuff and got distracted, so nothing got done. Needless to say I wasn't very happy with him.

I told him this reminded me of when we are prompted by the Holy Spirit to do things but we choose to ignore the prompting. He knew he needed to being working on his project but he did not act upon  that constant reminder in his head. When the Spirit tells us we should do something we need to act upon it.

But I can't say too much about my son, there have been many times when I have not acted in service when I really could have. It's easy to make excuses and move on. The sad thing is that once I justified why I couldn't do it,  I didn't think about it again until something happened and it was too late. Then I felt bad.

I heard a story by President Thomas S. Monson when he didn't act upon a prompting to serve and well...his heart was broken because he was too late (see the link for the story). But he vowed to never disobey  a prompting again. That is a goal for me, to try and never miss an opportunity to serve when prompted.


Acting upon Promptings

As righteous women we need to put our minds in a place where we can always hear the Spirit talking to us and act upon those promptings to do good. We are the answers to prayers; people plead for help and Lord whispers to us to do something so that we can be that answer to another s prayers. If we fail then we have not shown much charity in our hearts.

We need to serve with all our hearts. We need to be like our Savior and learn to love all people and do much good in this world. This is how we help build the Kingdom of God on this earth. Act in Charity. Act in Love.

What Does Charity Mean to Jesus?

1 Corinthians 13

I always thought of charity as showing love to people by giving to organizations that helped people, then I started reading the scriptures and found charity to show love for people by helping them in many ways and praying for them. But then when I began to really study the scriptures I found that charity is really something a lot more than showing love and helping where I could.

I love Paul and the things he taught. Reading this scripture has taught me what charity really means.

He says that charity is everything. He says that if you do everything you are supposed to do but you don't have charity then you are nothing. I thought about that for a moment, how do you do all the right things but not have charity?

I know that there were times when I would do things because I knew I was supposed to but I didn't really want to do it; like when I was learning about tithing. I wanted to take the money and use it on something else but I knew I was supposed to pay 10% of my increase. I had to learn that the blessings don't come if you do it with the wrong attitude. I knew if I paid an honest tithe and did it with a loving attitude that I was showing my love for my Father in this commandment. So this part of the scripture did make more sense to me; give it with my heart.

But charity means more than just loving through obedience; some of these were real eye openers to me.

Charity is long suffering: That means we are to be patient with others and with God, as long as it takes. We should forgive time and time again, for as long as it takes. We should continue to help people for as long as it takes. These things are not always easy but if we do this we will know charity in our hearts.

Charity envieth not: This means we are to be happy with what we have and not want what others have. There were times in my life that I wished I was blessed with certain things in my life, mostly material things, but then I realized that even though some people had materials things I had spiritual blessings which others did not, and spiritual blessings last longer than material ones. I found that I was happy with my blessings. It seemed that the more material things they had the more they wanted, they were never happy or satisfied.

Charity never vaunteth itself, was not puffed up: This means we don't go around bragging and feeling mightier than the people we serve. When we serve we have to do it with God in mind, that we are doing these things to help but not make anyone feel less of themselves for receiving. Christians are often accused of being mightier than, if we have charity in our hearts we will disprove that theory by helping people to realize that we act upon these things because we want to be more like our Savior, we want to do it because we love them. Jesus was not prideful in service to others.

Seeketh not her own: We are not to pick and choose who we give service and love to, we should be doing this every day as we go through our lives. If we see a need we help, we don't say well today I am going to do one act of service to help someone. We should be saying I will do what the Holy Spirit prompts me to do and serve where I am needed today.

Charity bearth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and endueth all things: We should testify that we are followers of Jesus Christ and try to do as He did, we should testify of the truth we hold in our hearts, we should help others to hope for good things to happen, and we should help others to hold on and continue fighting the battle against evil. When we do these things, and help
others to to these things, we are showing true charity in our hearts. We are showing that we have the true love of Christ.

As righteous women we should seek for good things in our lives and find love in  our hearts for all people for they are our brothers and sisters, children of God. They are not more or less than we are. They are strong in some areas of life that we are not and we are strong in some areas of life that they are not, we can serve each other with the strengths we are blessed with: this is charity.

Paul concludes that charity never faileth, and that we should have faith, hope and charity, but the most important of all is charity.

With Faith and Hope Comes Charity

Moroni 7:47
"But ^acharity is the pure ^blove of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."

What is Charity? The scriptures say it is the pure love of Christ. We can find so much information in the scriptures regarding charity, as we are diligent in our study of that topic.

The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all our hearts, soul and mind. So lets think about that. We are to love Him with all our hearts. How do we love with all our hearts?

Have you ever looked at someone and your emotion just overwhelms you because you can feel the love for that person? For instance, looking at your new born child. Man, the love that pours out of your heart for that baby, you would do everything in your power to protect and provide for the child. I think that is an example of the love we should feel for God. 

That is how we love with all our heart. We have to open our hearts and pray for that love to come in. I remember once a long time ago, that I prayed for love in my heart for all people. Shortly thereafter, I saw a homeless person walking down the street and I began to cry for that person, I prayed for that person and asked how I could help that person. That was a start to how I could love with all my heart.

What is a soul and how do I love with all my soul? The scriptures say that a soul is your body and spirit combined (Abraham 5:7). We can show love with our souls by being obedient to the commandments of God. We show Him that we love Him when we are obedient. Didn't we as children want to please our parents so we would do as we were asked. The same with our Father, we show we love Him by pleasing Him in our daily actions.

How do we love Him with all our mind? This has to do with our thoughts. He needs to be foremost in our daily thoughts. When we put Him first we tend to see where there are needs in this world and find ways to act upon them. We are more aware of the direction our lives should be going. 

By doing these things, opening our hearts, being obedient, and making God our most important thoughts daily, we are beginning to understand and be able to show love to our Heavenly Father. Once we do this we will also be able to obey the second greatest commandment which is to love our neighbor as ourselves. 

We will be showing that we possess the Christ attribute of Charity. By serving God and helping our brother, we will know the pure love of Christ and as the scripture says whosoever is found with charity in the last days will be blessed and received by our Father in heaven. This is a attribute that we can take with us when we die and will find it to be a great treasure of joy.

Do You Have Patience to Wait for Hope

Romans 8:24-25
"For we are saved by ^ahope: but hope that is ^bseen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

My oldest grandson is at the age when he wants to know if it's time yet. For example, he is going to Sea World this month, he wants to know if it's time yet. He wants to know how many days until Thanksgiving, and Christmas, etc. 

My daughter made a chain for Halloween, you know the one like the Christmas countdown chain. This helped him to know when it was time for Halloween. It save my daughter from a lot of days of him asking how many more days until Halloween. But, he learned to have hope that when that chain got to the end that it would be time, like promised.

I thought of this story when I read this scripture about having hope but are we patient enough to wait for it?

Hope requires patience, the Lord does things on His time. If we are patient we will receive the answer to a prayer, or gain knowledge of His ways, or receive blessings.  He does this to teach us more about having faith and hope. He teaches us to be patient and wait for the promised blessings. 

We can find strength in hope, we can strengthen others through hope. We can change the world with hope. With hope comes faith and charity, which is love. Hope is a powerful word that we need to use in our lives to become more like Jesus Christ. He taught us to have hope because He knows the good that can come from it. 

As righteous women we can shine the light of hope for all to see. We can be an example of being positive and having patience that good things will come our way as we move toward the Light daily and guide others to do the same. We can have hope in a troubled world, waiting patiently for the return of our Savior to rescue us from the evil that seems to get stronger each day. Hope will see us through, we just need to endure to the end, we were made to do this.

Prayer and Hope

Alma 58:10-11
"Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our cities, and our lands, and our possessions, for the support of our people.

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 ^adeliverance in him."

Have you ever felt like you were in the grasp of evil? Or that you felt so hopeless that you couldn't see the light ahead? I have, I remember a time in my life where I felt Satan around me. I was married to a man, my first marriage, who invited evil in his life. So I tried to please him best I could and that meant doing somethings I wasn't comfortable with. I could feel Satan laughing at me.

But I remember times being alone in my home, and feeling like I was being watched. I would walk past a darkened bedroom door and could feel a presence that scared the life out of me. I knew what I needed to do, so I knelt in prayer and begged for help, from the Right Source.

That peace came right away and I knew I had my answer. I needed to make changes in my life and invite the Spirit of Hope to be with me always. I couldn't change what my husband was doing but I could change what I was doing. My marriage eventually ended but I had hope that I was on the right track.

As righteous women we need to constantly have a prayer in our hearts for our families and ourselves so we can be protected against the evil that confronts us daily. We cannot shine the Light of Christ for others to see if it is hidden by darkness. The Lord will deliver us from the evil that surrounds us if we show that we have faith and hope that is so needed in a troubled world. He loves us and wants us to invite Him into our lives. So shine that Light high for all to see and have hope as you follow the path of righteousness!!!

What Are Our Blessings If We Have Faith?

John 14:6
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the ^away, the ^btruth, and the life: no man ^ccometh unto the Father, but by me."

All Christians know that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that He is the only way back to Heaven. We all know that His example is perfect and that we should follow it to become as perfect as we can be. And all Christians know that we will be blessed as we do the things we are commanded to do. Why do we do this, not knowing for sure that we all of it is real?

The key would is faith with hope right behind it. We have faith that as we start each day and commit to being obedient that our faith will lead us through the day successfully. We know that we will be greatly blessed as we do so. 

If we are obedient, and proceed with faith each day, we will receive the promised blessings. My youngest daughter learned a lesson in faith through prayer when she was 15 years old. I believe this was the beginning of her testimony of faith.

She had an enlarged spleen causing her to be sick which required surgery to remove it. She went through months of testing first to find an underlying cause. They never did find any reason at that time. So they went ahead and took out her spleen.

She was moved to her room after the surgery, they gave her pain meds to help her rest and recover. Shortly after she was settled in she started having breathing issues and a code was called over the intercom to take care of her emergency. 

After the trauma was over and she was breathing fine, the nurse told me that they had to  reverse her pain medicine which meant that she was going to feel the pain real bad. I sat beside her as the that reversing medicine started to work. The pain was so intense that she was climbing backwards up the head of her bed.

I grabbed her hand and had her focus on me a moment and I asked if she wanted a prayer, she did. The moment we began to pray I could feel her start to relax. By the time we were done, she had calmed down and went to sleep. But if you ask her about a time she knew her prayers were answered that is her first story. She knew that day that she was never alone, and that all she had to do was pray and she would feel the peace that she needed.

It is through our Savior Jesus Christ that we can know of peace and blessings in our lives. he loves us and we are to love him by turning our hearts to Him and testifying of His atoning sacrifice. There is no other way to return to heaven and have eternal life without Jesus. He is the only way!!!

What Can We Do with Faith?

Hebrews 11 (Click the link to read the scripture)

Do you know that "faith" is a powerful tool? It's by faith that we can work miracles; by faith we can do a lot of good things; by faith we can endure to the end." It is by faith that we can live our lives to become like that of Jesus'.

Hebrews 11 tells us that by faith men can subdue kingdoms, wrought righteousness (do good), and work miracles. I believe if we asked anyone they would all have a story to tell about faith. Many would be alike but there would be some that would just blow your mind away. We can learn from others by sharing these stories of faith. Here are couple of webpages with great stories.

Guidepost Stories of Faith

The Ensign - LDS monthly magazine

Jesus Inspiring Stories


Through faith we can do so much good. If you are trying to be like Jesus faith is a crucial tool. So we need to focus on being more like Him and do a lot of good. Where can we learn that? We can learn how to be like Jesus by reading the scriptures and doing as He did.

3 Nephi 27:21-22

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my ^agospel; and ye know the things that ye must ^bdo in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;

 Therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day."

Share your story with others; you never know who's life you can change or how many lives you can touch.

Service Projects for the Family

Hello,

A this time of the year we start to feel a sense of excitement. The weather changes always get me excited not matter the season. But at this time of the year we are preparing for the holidays; fun times with family, gift exchanges, good food are only a few of the things that we get excited about.

I love spending time with my family, no matter the what time of year it is but at this time I feel the need to focus more on others than myself so I like to think about the kinds of service I can offer to others. I decided that in order to spend that time with my family and provide a need in the community that organizing family service projects would be a great idea.

SO, over the next few weeks on Saturdays I will offer some service project ideas that you and your family might like to do. I promise it will be a fun time for your family, great memories, and good teaching moments for your children as they learn to do for others.

Today, I would like to offer the idea of gift bags for kids who will be in the hospital on Christmas Day, no fun for them, but we can try to make it a little better for them by proving a bag of fun. Maybe you could even find a Santa suit and dad can dress up as Santa to deliver them. It doesn't even have to be Santa but maybe his elves. Looking for green and red costume ideas that time of the year should be really easy. Your kids could dress up as the elves, they would love it.

First, we need to make a gift bag. Here is how to make a paper gift bag.

I'm giving credit to the following link for the paper gift bags; Scrapbook Paper Gift Bags.

You will need the following:
1) 1 - 12X12 sheet of scrapbook paper
2) glue stick
3) scissors
4) tape
5) cardboard (cereal box)
6) ribbon
7) single hole punch

1. Start with a large piece of scrapbook paper (I used 12x12). Find a box around the house that is the size and shape of the bag you want to make. I used a box of spaghetti for one, and macaroni for the others. Fold  the scrapbook paper around the box as if you are wrapping a gift. Don't tape the paper to the box. Glue the edges together. (I added a couple of pieces of tape to the inside seam for extra support.)

2. Fold one end of the paper as if you are wrapping the edge of a present. This will be the bottom of the gift bag.

3. Use a glue stick on every fold of paper. I used a little tape for extra support.

4. Now remove the box from inside and pinch the sides of the bag to crease in the middle. You will be left with a little triangle on each side. You can fold the bottom over for easier storage.

5. Trim the top of the bag to whatever height you want the bag to be. I used fun scissors.

6. Punch little holes and attach ribbon handles. I also measured out a small rectangle of cardboard (a cereal box works great), and glued it to the bottom inside of the bag to make the bottom a little sturdier.

Now you have made some cute bags and an inexpensive cost. Now what are some good ideas to put inside?

1) coloring/activity books/crayons
2) reading books/comics
3) play dough
4) toys from the dollar store
5) stuffed animals
6) card games
7) movies
8) balloons
9) puzzles
10) drawing paper/pencils/colored pencils

These are just a few ideas that might be helpful. You can use your imagination and come up with some wonderful fun to keep their sweet minds off being in hospital during the holidays. Then, when they are made and delivered, pray for them and their families, then pray for gratitude that your child are not the ones in the hospital. We must always remember to thank God for what we have including our health.

With my Whole Soul

2 Nephi 25:29
"And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and ^aworship him with all your ^bmight, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out."

One day, not too long ago, I realized that I had been sleeping my way through life, with everything I did. I went to work, everything was routine. I would joke that I could do my job with my eyes closed and I could. There wasn't a lot of thought put into it, just do the same old job again and again.

Even in school, I just went in, learn what I needed to then passed the test and moved on. No more thought about what I learned and I was an A-B student. It amazes me now when I look back and see that I was asleep. I wasn't using my brain and intellect to make a better me. As far as my religious life went I was obedient as far as not doing the wrong things but I wasn't doing all the right things either.

One day, I realized that it was time to wake up and make a conscious effort in my life. I knew I needed to make changes in my life now before I looked back and saw that I had wasted it not doing anything worth while. I am starting to see changes in my life now that are for good. But I have to make myself do these things.

When it comes to religion, I find that I am really studying the scriptures now and pondering the things I learn. When I worship my Lord I am doing it with all my might, mind and strength. I am doing it with my whole soul. In order to do that I have to make a conscious effort, and not sleep my way through things. It's not always easy and at times I fall back into that old habit of doing what was required but not getting anything out of it. 

But now I can see the difference and I want to know God better and do what He wants me to. I want to be the best me I can be. I can only do that if I am worshiping Him with ALL my MIGHT, MIND, and STRENGTH, with MY WHOLE SOUL.  If I can do it, so can you.

As righteous women we need to stand up against the things that are destroying us and our families. We have to make a conscious effort to understand things and make change for the good of all, in God's ways. When we do this we will be worshiping Him as we should, with our whole souls doing our part in building His kingdom here.

Becoming His People

Moses 7:18 
"And the Lord called his people ^aZion, because they were of ^bone heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."

What does it mean to be "His People"? When Jesus returns to the earth He will rule as our King; we will live in His Kingdom. Jesus has rules for us now, commandments, that we are to follow while He is not here, so when He comes again He will still have rules for His Kingdom that we will continue to follow making us one with Him.

Those rules will be the ones that are found in His Gospel contained in the scriptures. If we all live those rules we will become His people. We all have to be of one heart and one mind. So what makes us of one heart and mind? The story of Enoch in the book of Genesis is a good example. They lived in such a way that there were no poor among them, they all looked out for each other and became known as Zion.

I have thought about today's schools. Everyone has to be and think the same or there is something wrong with them. It seems that if your child is not like the norm then he is labeled as having a problem, or is abnormal. That's not true, what ever happened to creativity and freedom to be who you want to be? 

I remember years ago I went into a parent/teacher conference for my oldest son; this was for kindergarten. The teacher commented that my son was a little different than the rest. She said he liked to talked to himself. When I asked for an example she told me that one day while every one else was coloring quietly he was playing with his pencil and made it look like it was a rocket ship, noises included. I told her that was imagination which I encouraged in my children. She just stared at me.

But using this as an example, being one heart and one mind does not mean we are all doing and thinking the same things, like some schools want us to do. Being righteous means doing good things. If we are all doing good things then we have the same goal of making sure our brother and this world is taken care of. God doesn't tell us what to do, he wants us to have an imagination and do what we can to help our brother, not in our way, but in God's way.

God's way is to help others gain the tools they need to take care of their own self and family, then help others to do the same. No poor among them means we all work together, as one, to do the will of Jesus Christ, and love one another by doing so much good that no one is left behind. 

We can be a Zion people now by opening our minds and hearts to finding ways of helping others along the path of life. If people don't have to worry about everyday living things then they will be  better able to focus on serving God and doing a lot of good. Let's all put God first in our lives and become a Zion people, His people.

Endure to the End

Doctrine and Covenants 14:7

"And, if you ^akeep my commandments and ^bendure to the end you shall have ^ceternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."

My youngest daughter has gone through so many medical challenges in her young 20 year life. She had lazy eye surgery when she was 4 years old. She had her spleen removed when she was 15 years old. And now she is getting ready to have a kidney transplant. Her spleen and kidney failure is due to a genetic disease called Nephronophthisis, which affects some internal organs and her eye sight.

She understands that we have challenges in our lives for many good reasons. And the amazing thing is she understands that we all have trials in some why or another; that its not just her. Everyone goes through things that can strengthen who we are and who we are to become. The most important part of these challenges is how we handle them.

If we feel sorry for ourselves then that is our reward, but if we look at our challenges as a learning tool we can gain so much more from them. We will be able to endure these things until the end; and our reward will be good.

God's way is not to be sad all the time over the things we go through. I do agree that we have our moments of grief, and I believe we should, but we have to pick ourselves up and get back to work; endure to the end.

If we keep the commandments we will find happiness and joy. If we keep the commandments we will forget ourselves and serve others. If we keep the commandments and endure to the end, we will have eternal life, which is God's whole purpose for us.

We, as righteous women need to set the example for others through our challenges and trials. If we present a positive image we can strengthen and uplift others who may not be in the same place spiritually as we are. It is our responsibility to be that example. No one, in this world, has suffered more than our Savior Jesus Christ so we should be like Him and do our best to get through our challenges and trials so we can help others and receive our eternal reward, which is to return home to God and live forever in peace and joy.

Sunday Points of Conference

Well, another great spiritual feeding. I love how everything relates to my life, it's like they are talking to just me. But as always I receive messages that really hit home. Here are a few;

Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke about our life goals being in alignment with God plan of happiness for us. If we don't have that we may end up serving other God's. It's so easy justify our choices in life when they are in correlation with the world but when we need to make those changes to be in alignment with God's we find it a hard thing to do. I like how he said we need to have courage to stand for truth and that we should not be moral cowards.

Elder Richard G. Scott talked about recognizing the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives. He used the example of the stripling warriors. I loved the way he told their story. It touched my heart and made me want to work harder to be sure my children could be more like them.

I think there were 3 times I heard the usage of "voice of warning" which one was from the talk by Quentin L. Cook. He spoke a lot about the bondage's we may be a part of today, things that take away our moral agency like addictions, excessive social media, political beliefs, etc.

Elder Neil L. Andersen really hit home, since I am a single mom. I am grateful to know that I know my place and the power I have as a mother in the home. And by living my covenants I will have the priesthood power to do what I need to within my home for my family. I am grateful for wonderful home teachers and leadership in my ward who help to give my family the priesthood that we need. And I am grateful for 2 sons and a son-in-law who hold both the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods by honoring it and blessing our lives with it.

There are so many more good ones that reached my heart like Elder Russell M. Nelsons talk about our the miracle of our bodies and how we will have to answer for how we use them. He spoke about self mastery which just happens to be something that I have been praying for lately. How do they know?!

I also love the inspiring words of our Prophet Thomas S. Monson, what a wonderful example he is to all of us. How can anyone not love this man? My youngest son made a comment about how he needs to become more like him. He said he wanted to be able to look back at his life periodically and know that he is doing a lot of good.

I'm sad its over but I have a lot to ponder and perfect in my life. These are things that I believe will make me a more righteous daughter of God. I hope you were able to find things to help your spiritual growth. If you think you might have missed something don't forget that the Ensign will be out next month, that will be a good time to review and start making those changes in your life for good.

Man, I can't until next Spring. :)

Ye are the Light of the World!!!

Matthew 5:14 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."

Last Saturday, early morning, I made a short 1 hour trip to Orlando to attend the temple. On my trip to and from I spent time talking to my Heavenly Father about my trials and goals. I enjoyed my session, and cried through most of it; I was spiritual moved by my time there. I took a little extra time in the Celestial Room to clear my mind from all the difficult issues that have entered into my life recently. All in all it was a good start to my day and I was ready to meet my challenges when I left.

Later that day the sister missionaries called and asked me to meet them at the home of an investigator who was interested in family history. I did and I walked away feeling real good about the opportunity I had to share my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That evening my youngest son and I needed to run to the store to pick up a couple of items that was needed for the Sabbath Day. As we were walking into the store a very nice gentleman greeted us with this comment;
"The Holy Ghost just told me that you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ."

I smiled and exclaimed, "Yes, I am." He kept walking and then yelled over his shoulder saying, "And that nice young man with you is, too."

I agreed that my son was, too. I felt great that someone recognized my love of the Savior Jesus Christ through my countenance.

When we do the thing the Lord expects of us, through obedience, we can shine the Light of Christ in our lives. We won't be able to hide that light that radiates from our souls. We can be that beacon that others will look to for guidance in troubling times.

We do live in a very troubled world, and we as righteous women need to be that beacon. So fill your day with good things and watch how others react to you. Smile when you pass someone, say hello to someone who looks sad, and help when someone can use a hand. It's up to us to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ, so shine the light and hold it high for all to see.