Heavenly Hands

                                     This is one of my favorite pictures

Lose yourself

I had the best day today. Not because I did anything extraordinary but because I simply lost myself. I tried my best to focus on others today and had a blast doing it. I testify that loving others and serving them first is 100% better than serving ourselves. I have realized that everyone needs help! There is always some way we can help everyone- whether its a smile, listening to them, encouraging them, complimenting, helping them move, etc... There are so many ways to serve! I testify that if we fill our lives with service and strive to help our fellowman, that we will feel God's love even stronger. We will feel peace and confidence. We will feel more power and enrichment in our lives and we will truly become more and more like our savior. I know that God lives! He hears our prayers and stands ready to bless each of us. All He asks is to live like His son.

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies" PROVERBS 31:10

President Gordon B. Hinckly stated

"To you women, I wish to issue a challenge tonight. That challenge is to rise to the stature of the divine within you. As you have been reminded, yours is a godly inheritance. “I am a child of God” is not an idle or meaningless statement. You were there “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons [and daughters] of God shouted for joy.” (Job 38:7.) You brought some of that inheritance with you when you came “trailing clouds of glory … from God who is our home.” (William Wordsworth, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” st. 5.) You were there when “there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. …

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Rev. 12:7, 9.) You were among those who chose to follow the plan of Him who became our Redeemer rather than the plan of him who became our adversary. Great and marvelous is your place in the plan of God our Eternal Father.

His hands are stretched out STILL

" Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me"
3 Nephi 9:13-14

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

"Find joy in every season"

This past winter has been so cold and chilly. Several of my roommates have been getting sick and I struggle to keep my balance walking outside on ice. I have had to dig deep and try to remember positive things about the winter season. I found some pictures that helped me remember! I am so grateful for the Winter season and how beautiful it is. I love the snow, the fun, and the rosy cheeks and nose that everyone comes home with! Winter is a blessing!  

                                                                                                                 

PRAY WITH FOLDED ARM AND BENDED KNEE

I have to admit I have sometimes been one to snuggle in my warm covers, close my eyes, and doze off while I attempt to pray to my Father in Heaven. Recently, I was reading in the book of Alma and a scripture jumped out to me that will forever change the way I pray. I read Alma 22:16-17

" But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.

And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried mightily, saying: 

O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead and be saved at the last day"

By praying on our knees and bowing our head, we are showing reverence and respect for our Heavenly Father who created the heavens and the earth and all things which dwell in them. Just as a servant will bow down to his king, we must bow down before our Father in Heaven. He is our supreme creator- let us all remember when we pray just WHO we are really talking to. We are communicating with the divine, with our creator. We are communicating with the most powerful individual of all. Prayer is so beautiful, and yet needs to be treasured and not be used as something to check off the list. I testify that like it says in the scripture above, that if we call upon His name in faith, believing that we shall receive, then we shall receive the hope and all things that we desire- that are expedient for us.