Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman?

Proverbs 31:10-31

"Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies." Let's find out why virtue is of great value yesterday and today. What is virtue?

Virtue is a pattern of thought and behavior that shows the highest of spiritual standards. For instance, its what you do when you think no is looking. It is your innermost thoughts and your actions from them.

Virtuous women focus on being righteous, doing a lot of good in the world around them. They try to be obedient to the commandments of God and help others to do the same.

I remember once, when my young sister-in-law was visiting my house, that we began talking about what makes a woman truly beautiful.  I told her that true beauty was inside her. She loved the Disney Princess's so I used that as my point of view.

We discussed the inner beauty of Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty" and Snow White. They were sweet and did good things that helped other people. They had positive attitudes that helped people to like them, etc.

I tried to show her the inner beauty that makes a woman beautiful. Then I asked her if she wanted to be known as the Queen who needed a mirror to tell her she was beautiful only on the outside or did she want to be the  princess who radiated beauty from the inside.

I heard from a woman once that said her mother told her to make herself as attractive as she could before she left home then once she left her house she was not to think of herself any more but to think of others that day and how she could help them. I agree with that thought. We should make ourselves look the best we can before we go out the door but then we need to focus on the Savior and what He would be doing if He was here among us. Then follow those steps throughout the day.

If we do that then the inner beauty will continue to grow. You can be the most beautiful woman in the world to the eye but age happens, and accidents happens, and then you become miserable because you can never gain back that beauty. But if you focus on the beauty where it really counts you will only grow more beautiful every day. This is where virtue begins, think not of yourself but of doing good for others.

Feasting Upon the Word

2 Nephi 32:3
"Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, ^bfeast upon the ^cwords of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will ^dtell you all things what ye should do."

My children are mostly grown now; I have one teenager left. I knew the day was coming that I would have to start thinking about what was best for me and not putting so much focus on my children and what was best for them. I would always be thinking of what I can do for them but I could now begin to focus on my path.

I started thinking about what I should do with the rest of my life. So I began to pray and ponder about those things. I decided that I needed some temple time. I went to the Orlando Temple and sat in the most beautiful room in the building to contemplate my life and it's direction.

I thought about things that I had always wanted to do, or planned to do. I thought about retirement some day and spending a lot of time with my grand-kids.  But I knew I wanted to do whatever God wanted me to do first. So I prayed for help in knowing what He would have me do with the rest of my life. 

Then, while watching General Conference, I pondered my questions and heard this scripture. We were told to feast upon the words of Christ. Where do we find them? We find them in the scriptures. We were promised that if we feast upon  His words, read and study them, then we would find all the answers to our questions within them. How awesome is that?

I found that God might not have a specific plan for me but He wanted me to do as much good as I can, using the talents that He gave me. So now I have to think about what I can do with those things to help build His Kingdom here on this earth. We all have talents; we just need to find out how to magnify them for good.

God sent us here not to figure out life for ourselves, but he gave us tools to help us on our path. We have no reason to feel lost because our answers are in the scriptures, our greatest tool ever. If we study and ponder these things out the Holy Ghost will help us find a path that will help us do our part. 

God loves us and wants us to come back to Him even stronger than we were when we left Him. He gave us the tools we need to return home to Him being the best us we can be. Don't throw away those tools, find peace and direction with them. You will be surprised to find happiness there as well. I hope you will have a great feast in your life, it's never too late to start.

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.

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. :)

Stay at Home Moms Find a Way

Hey!!! This is my 100th post, yea!!!! Thanks for viewing, I hope you will keep coming back.

Man, is our world in a mess. Too many of our young kids are getting into trouble, seeing a world that their young eyes should not be seeing, experiencing a world that they should never know. What happened?

I think back to a time in my life when things didn't seem to be as bad but now I know, as I read history, that my time was just starting to get bad. What things changed that caused kids to get into so much trouble, some ending up in jail? What changes happened to cause people in the world to just sit back and except what ever comes our way; to say well it's a different world now?

I believe there are many changes but the most important change began when mom left home to work for someone else instead of her family. I don't condemn women for this; I had to work outside the home while raising kids. Today's woman doesn't seem to have a choice but let's look back a little and see where the change happened.

Many studies have shown both positive and negative results of moms working or staying at home. For me, my mom stayed at home until she was divorced and had to work to support us. That was in the 60's when pay for women wasn't the best. This caused her to work longer hours for over time pay, which in turn caused us to be alone without adult supervision as much. We, my siblings and myself, were all in school but there were several hours we were alone. I was the oldest so I was left to watch over the rest, which wasn't the best of situations since I was almost raped at 11 years of age by an adult man. The Lord truly blessed me and let me escape from that situation but you can see why I am for moms being home to protect their young.

Woman's lib happened and was supposed to be something good but some of its purposes got mixed up and caused hardships on women and mixed responsibilities. There was a lot of good like getting equal pay for women doing equal jobs but as usual, things just went over board with cries of things that didn't really affect "all" women.

With mom's gone from home children are not protected, have no one to control their actions, and no one is there to care for their needs. Sure there are child care providers but that costs much of mom's pay check so that kind of defeats the purpose of mom working. Also, do you ever wonder where your kids moral values come from, perhaps you should be checking with the person who is with them the most hours of a day.

I don't want this to be about the problems of mom's not being there to raise their kids, actually, I am writing this to show another option for mom's. In today's world we see a growing change in mom's who want to stay home. I know I did, I love to work, and I loved my jobs, but I wanted to stay home with my kids so much so that I found jobs that did not take me away from home so much. One of those jobs was throwing newspapers, my kids came with me and we had some great experiences. I actually made most of my money that way believe it or not, 3 hours a day, 7 days a week but it was worth it. I made the amount of money that I would have had for our expenses less daycare costs by working out of the home. It worked for me.

Thank goodness for the Internet because many moms are creating their own home businesses. I think that is an awesome way to make it work; stay at home and make the extra money needed to help with the expenses. For those of us who no longer need to stay home, because our kids are grown, we can help by supporting these moms. I would rather buy from them so they are available to raise good, righteous, and responsible citizens, than to buy from a chain store.

Take some time to see what kinds of home businesses there are that could benefit you. I love that mom's want to stay home to be with their children. I do know the value of moms at home because I experienced my mom doing both. When she was home I could be a kid, but when she left to work, I had to become an adult and be responsible for my younger siblings. I can also see the difference in my kids because I sacrificed until they were in school, then when I started work my kids were at home for maybe a hour to an hour and a half by themselves until I was able to get home to them. It worked for us but we had to make sacrifices and that was worth it.

My kids weren't involved in a lot of after school activities, we didn't have expensive clothing, or electronics. But we had each other and were able to spend quality time together.

So I am willing to do what I can to help other mom's do what they desire. If its to stay at home and create a business, if necessary, then I will help by making purchases through their business. And if they choose to go to work then I would be glad to help find someone dependable and with the same values to watch over their kids; that helps home businesses too.

God created a family life because he knew we would all need a mom and dad in our lives to be there doing their part in raising a good righteous family. Mom's job is the principle care taker and nurturer of her children. It's hard to make everything balance in today's world. I know its a hard thing to do especially when we can't do anything but with God's help and a lot of sacrifice we can do this. And we can do this by supporting mom's who are trying to do both by being at home while making a few dollars to support their families.

Here are a few businesses that I am aware of.

Hello Sunshine Home Decor
Luv You Forever Baby Items and More
Spare Time Crafts
E Boutique
Made By Susie
La Bella Vita
Take Shape For Life
Women's Dream Team

If you would like to have your site featured on this page, please leave a comment and I will update my list!

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day to all who love living in this wonderful country called the United States of America!!!

That is something we have to remember; that this is the United States of America. Its the place where everyone wants to come and live. Its the place where so much controversy is happening over rewarding people with citizenship even when they come in illegally.

I'm all for people becoming citizens but there is a right way of doing it. I don't know why there is such a rush for people to want to come here but I have to admit that I haven't walked in their shoes. Regardless, there are rules for a reason and in order for balance to happen we need to live by those rules.

The other thing that confuses me is when some people fight so hard to get away from their country then come here and and say 3 cheers for (where ever they are from). They even want to change the way things work here to be more like their own country that they wanted to escape from. What is that all about?

We have the best country in the whole world; it is a place established with a Divine purpose. We as responsible citizens need to understand that purpose. We need to know its history and its future. We need to help it along the path it was meant to take. We have to stand up for the principles and morals that was first established in the organization of this country. This land was saved for a special purpose and it starts with its rich history of patriots.

Today is a good day to put things into perspective regarding your part in preserving this nation as it was set up to be. The place to start would be in reading the constitution then doing the research about the history of how it came to be, then search in the scriptures to see the Divine guidance that has made this a place so special.

I love this country and the true history of what makes it so special. This is God' land and we need to honor His wishes for it. We need do our part in preserving the Constitution of the United States of America and keeping this land safe and free from tyrants. Those who surround themselves with evil seek to destroy our heritage but because this land has a Divine Nature then it will be protected as long as its people are righteous.

I say today start your fight against the evil that wants to take over and stand for truth and righteousness. Stand for the principles that are needed to make this country and its citizens strong and proud again. Put on the armor of God and He will help us if we focus on keeping this land free. Fight for freedoms that give us opportunities to grow and become a righteous nation again. We are never alone in our battles for right, God will help us to stand strong. turn your hearts and desires to Him, put Him first in your life and we can maintain that righteousness we need to keep our freedoms.

God bless America!!!

Teaching my Daughter to Cook

So, I tried to teach my daughter to cook a long time ago and she is able to make some things but now that she has decided to go on a mission next year I think its time to make sure she knows how to really cook for herself.

Now, you think there is no problem with that, she is 19 years old, however she has a vision issue. She has an eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. That means she is slowly losing her sight.

She has always had night vision issues, that's how we knew she needed glasses in the first place. But we didn't know how bad it was or how bad it was going to get. What happens is, she loses her night vision,then she starts to have tunnel vision which narrows the path of what she can see. If she looks down she runs into things but if she looks up then she trips over stuff. It has been trying for her.

She will then lose her color vision and eventually her sight, totally, that's how the disease progresses. But we always have hope that some cure can be found to help her later. But for now we are preparing for the worst. She is a little scared sometimes but she has lived this way all her life and really doesn't know any other way and because it's gradual it should be too hard to deal with.

I remember when she was 2 years old getting her first pair of glasses. She tried on a pair for sizing and immediately took them off ,I just knew we were going to have issues with glasses. But when she put them on again with the correct lenses she just looked around at everything in total amazement, I cried. It was the first time my little girl was seeing the world more clearly. She was around 12 years old when she was diagnosed with RP. At least now we know what we are dealing with.

She just started going to the Light House for the Blind and they have been very helpful with her. She now has a white cane so she can look ahead and not trip over stuff, like the dog who lies in the middle of the kitchen floor. She has been learning a lot about transportation and electronics. She has also been learning about self defense, that makes me happy. She is learning that life goes on no matter what, you just have to find your way.

So teaching her to cook is interesting but she does amazing well. She has taught me a lot about living with a disability, its only a disability if you let it be. We can still live our lives but work a little harder to get over the things that challenge us.  We all have challenges and this is one of her's, one of mine is not let her disability make me sad.

Celebration of Life Day

Hello,

I don't celebrate birthdays any more due to the age that I would be if I did celebrate them. It's nice though, when people acknowledge this day but where did this idea of the celebration begin? I have found some interesting things that I want to share today.

Some say that celebration of birthdays began as a pagan ritual. They felt like evil spirits would visit on this special day so the gathering of family and friends would protect them from those spirits. Even blowing out candles was believed to be related to the pagan celebration.

Some said that only royalty has big celebrated birthdays that is why when you do genealogy research you can see a lot of records for royalty. Also, that is where the idea of birthday crowns came in.

It has been said that the Germans started birthday celebrations for kids in the 1700's. I also read that Christians didn't actually celebrate birthdays because they were a pagan celebration. There aren't too many records in the scriptures mentioning birthday celebrations so I'm not sure when it became a thing for everyone, but it's all pretty interesting.

http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/birthday-history.html

Celebrations are good for people. We like to celebrate holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc, face it, people like to party.  We feel good when we celebrate great occasions. We surround ourselves with those we love and that helps us feel the joy of the celebration.

As you probably guessed today is the day I was born. I use to think America celebrated my birthday because there would be a big celebration in DC, I finally figured out that it was for the Presidential Inauguration...bummer.

Oh well, a few years ago I decided to not have any more birthdays so I would lose track of how old I was getting. Unfortunately, everyone else remembered. This past Friday, my colleagues at work celebrated by serving a cake and bringing me my favorite flower, the Tulip. It was all very nice and I appreciated their kindness. I shared with them that I do not celebrate my birthday any longer. One team member said well then its your celebration of life. I liked that!

I started reflecting on that idea. I thought of the Savior and how we love to celebrate His life and all that he did for us. I also thought  that I could learn to love this celebration if  I could look at all the good that we do in this world. Our acts of service and words of kindness throughout that year can be a good reason to celebrate life. So that is what I will be celebrating from now on as I reflect in all the good that I have done and all that I can do the next year.

Celebration of life, I like it...just as long as we don't put a number with it. :)

Womanly Influence

Hello, and welcome to my blog! If this is your first visit don't forget to view my past posts. Hopefully, they will bring enlightenment to you.

I watched a movie this week where a woman was able to use her womanly influence to guide two men to do things that were harmful to others. She used this gift to influence men to do bad things. It gave me cause to ponder that issue. If women can influence for bad can they also influence for good?What great good can women do if they use this God given gift for good use?

I started to review the Holy Bible for examples of women who used their womanly influence for good. I would like to site two of those examples today. I want to start with Eve. She was not a wicked woman who led Adam to choose disobedience by eating from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil causing all mankind to have to experience death (that didn't sound too positive).But she was a good woman who discovered the truth and wanted Adam to be a part of it too. They were given two commandments in the Garden of Eden; one, to multiple by creating life and the other to not eat from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Because she was tricked by Satan to eat of the fruit, she was able to see the good in that choice because she gained knowledge of right and wrong. And, she used her womanly influence to help Adam gain that knowledge as well. They needed to stay together in order to create life which they were also commanded to do. They choose to stay together and experience life together with all its ups and downs.

Another example of using womanly influence was Esther. She was made a queen but her husband didn't know she was of Jewish descent. An evil prince in her husband court was angry with the Jews when they refused to bow to him. So when it was said that all Jews would be put to death her cousin  asked her to speak to the King in behalf of her people. She had fear that she would also be put to death if he knew she was Jewish. She encouraged her people to fast and pray then she began a plan to influence her husband for the good of her people. And it worked, her people were saved and she was still a queen.

Now, I am not talking about using sex as a way to influence men, even though that can work most times with your husband, but I am talking about using the feminine qualities that we have been given to influence good things to happen. Let's look at a couple of good examples of modern day women who do or did much good by using their femine qualities.

Here's an easy one, Mother Teresa. This woman answered a call to serve the poor and sick using her talents to help those in third world countries. She used womanly influence to get the things that was needed to help sustain these needy people. Her example has influenced more women to do the same. Do the research on her and see her amazing selfless life.

Another example is Audrey Hepburn. She took her fame, which she was know for her beauty and grace (womanly influence), to make people aware of the hungry children of the world. She spent time among those needy and found ways to help them though that gift of womanly influence. Check out her life as well.

There are so many unknown women who do this daily in the quiet of life. They use the womanly influence within them to do much good; on a local level or higher. So how much more can we do if we all use that quality. We don't have to be like men to get what we want, we just have to use that sweet quiet influence in our hearts to promote good causes.

It's ok to act like a girl because we are. It's ok to use all those stereotypes about women because that is who we are. Someone in the past has made bad things out of good womanly qualities. Women are very much needed in the world. The beauty of womanhood is part of God's plan. He made us this way and wants us to use those things to bring good in the world. We are needed.

Discover your strong points and ponder what good you can do with them. Then go to God asking for help and direction in using these talents he gave you to promote good. With all the evil that is surrounding us daily, we need all the good we can get. Even if it sounds redundant, we need to hear the good things over and over again. So get to work and don't forget to share your stories here.

Be Yourself!!!

Hello Friends!

Well, I am finding blogging to be quite fun. I guess if I was doing it for myself then I wouldn't be as excited about it. But...this is for all of us so I am excited and hope we can get some good dialog happening. That's the purpose, right?

Recently, my youngest son went on a church history tour to Missouri and Illinois. When he came back he brought gifts for the family. One gift he brought back, for my youngest daughter, was a plaque that said "In a world where you can be anything, Be Yourself!"

I love those words of advice. In our world it seems we are encouraged to be anything we want as long as we conform to the way the world thinks we shoud be. My children have been labeled, several times, as "not so normal" and I am fine with it because I love that they are their own person. I think we can learn from them by being whoever we are meant to be.

Who has the right to say it's wrong to be ourselves?  No one! God made each one of us unique so why not be the person we truly are? Even if others continue to label us, I say bring it on. The more unique I am, the more I stand out. I think people who stand out are meant to do big things. What are you meant to do?

I have always felt like I was meant to do something important. It coud be this blog, leading a women's organization, or even raising righteous children. Whatever it is, I need to be true to myself and not let others influence what I think or do. I need to find out who I am and continue to develop those traits that make me unique. It's those traits that can make a difference in this world and I want to challenge each of you to find the unique you, develop those traits, and stand out as an example to those around you.

We can all do great things as examples for other women that we meet in our daily lives. I want to give a shout out to the women of the world..."Be Yourself and Love Yourself!" God loves you and I love you, that gives you at least two on your side,  you can't lose with that combination. Until next time, God be with you.