Sunday Thoughts

Last week's Relief Society lesson was on President Uchtdorf's conference talk titled Waiting on the Road to Damascus. (It is an excellent talk, definitely worth reading and thinking about.) The teacher brought out many great points and shared an amazing personal experience with us.

• We take small steps of faith on our road to eternal life.
• Belief does not come all at once, but gradually over time.
• A body at rest stays at rest, a body in motion stays in motion (apply this principle to your personal spiritual growth).
• Those who diligently seek Him will come to know Him.
• Sometimes we don't get answers because we're not willing to give up certain things or be quiet enough to listen for them. We don't always recognize the promptings.
• Often our prayers are answered through someone else.

This is when the teacher told an amazing story of how after her husband died from cancer and she was left with 5 kids and lots of questions she was invited to attend a temple wedding and was struggling because she didn't want to go. But of course she wanted to support the person who invited her, so she decided to go but had been praying fervently to have a strong spiritual experience to help comfort her during this very sad, stressful time.

She said she went to the wedding, and it was nice but she didn't have anything special happen to her. But as she was driving home she got a call from a woman who'd been working on a house deal with her, who she didn't know very well. This woman told her that she had an amazing dream that she had to tell her about. This seemed very odd, but of course she listened to her. The woman said that in her dream she was driving down the road to her parents' house and that this man on a yellow bicycle flagged her down. She rolled her window down and he said, "When you see my sweet Stephanie tomorrow, tell her that I love her."

It turns out that Stephanie's (the teacher) husband used to ride his yellow bike on that road all the time (but the lady who had the dream didn't know that and hadn't known him) when he was alive.

She shared this story to illustrate that the Lord knows us personally and that He often answers our prayers through another person. Her example was particularly unusual since her answer came through someone who wasn't even familiar with her family, but that just makes it that more miraculous. Also, that same woman had been struggling with her testimony and as a result set off on a more spiritual path and is now the Relief Society President in her ward!

**Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: I substituted for a member of the new Primary Presidency today and it reminded me of how much I love being in primary!

Sunday Thoughts

Last night found me struggling to get motivated for church again this week, but I continued to prepare my Sunday School lesson, prayed fervently for help, and went to bed at 9:00 for a NyQuil-induced slumber of champions.

This week it was Sacrament Meeting that gave me the boost I needed and answered my prayer. The first talk was a great one by a freshly returned missionary (his testimony and enthusiasm were contagious) and the 2nd talk was the high council speaker from our ward (he is amazing, but rarely gets to speak in our ward).

The high council speaker's talk was all about enjoying mortality and doing hard things! (Um hello!)

--We are all called to pass through times of misery, but we don't have to be miserable.
--We shouldn't be afraid of doing hard things.
--Trying to escape our trials is NOT part of the Plan of Happiness.
--In their day, Laman and Lemuel would have been considered "active" members of the church. They did many of the outward things they were asked to do (leave their home, get the plates from Laban), but complained while doing them...are we like them?
--We were saved to be on the earth in these latter days, we were valiant and faithful in the premortal life.
--Before we came to earth, we were told of the challenges we would face and we all answered by saying, "I can do that!" (Here he gave examples like--being born with a birth defect, having a spouse be unfaithful, having a chronic illness, being short and fat, having Alzheimer's Disease, being poor.)
--Don't pray to avoid your trials. Don't be afraid of doing hard things. We are faithful and strong, we can handle the things that come our way.

This was the perfect pep talk for me right now. I know and believe all of these things, yet I still manage to forget and end up feeling weak and negative about life; I actually complained to Michelle about being mortal the other day. When I snap out of these feelings by gaining perspective I feel embarrassed for falling so easily, yet when I'm in the middle of suffering through something I can't seem to see clear of it. Aargh!

**Thoughts??**

P.S. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday.

Comment Window Tidbit: Our computer may have died (or perhaps just slipped into a coma) so that means I'm now using an old laptop and may have lost a whole lot of data. I'm not happy about it, and my posting may decrease as a result. I've got a system people and now it's been blown to bits.

Sunday Thoughts

I have not been myself lately. Or maybe I've been too much of myself and it's driving me crazy. I don't know, but I think it has something to do with a 4 month absence of Zoloft from my body. The roller coaster rides of emotion are making me feel unstable and out of sorts (2 things I'm not very keen on) and it's time to get off.

So last night before bed I told Randy that for the first time in years I wasn't feeling very keen on going to church. I think maybe missing primary and not loving to teach my Sunday School class are part of it, but most likely these feelings are coming from the above mentioned imbalance going on in my brain.

Before bed last night I prayed that I would have a desire to go and that I would get something from church that spoke directly to me. That meant that when my alarm went off this morning I had to get up and get ready. I mean, I can't pray for help and then not do my part to make things happen right? But I really, really wanted to be sick today.

The meetings went like this...Sacrament Meeting was fine, but not a tear-jerker for me more like a battle with the Sandman because I could hardly stay awake. Sunday School was okay, it wasn't my week to teach so I tried to keep the kids quiet (they're chatty 12 year olds) and tried to pay attention, but I kept picturing being home in the cozy.

But then I went to Relief Society and experienced a direct answer to my prayer. The lesson was on Sacrifice, and the teacher was listing well known examples from the scriptures (Abraham and Isaac, Christ's Atonement). But then she said, that we often disregard our own sacrifices because they aren't as big as the ones we compare ourselves to. Then she went on to list a bunch of things we do that can be considered sacrifices and ended by saying "Making the decision to get out of bed to come to church today even though you didn't feel like you could do it was a sacrifice." I felt like a light shone down from heaven directly on me with the Lord saying "I heard you, I know how you feel and I'm glad you chose to come today anyway."

It's amazing when prayers get answered this way and it's very humbling to have to experience the rawness that makes me feel so sad and alone in the first place. I will be calling to make a doctor's appointment tomorrow because I don't think my emotions were meant to be this up and down, nor everyday to be such a battle with myself. But I am very grateful for inspired teachers and a loving Father in Heaven who answers my prayers.

**Thoughts??**

White-Knuckle Birthday

Last Saturday afternoon our whole family drove to Salt Lake (40 minutes from our house) to Adam and Amy's house to celebrate the March birthdays (Adam, my dad & Bella). The weather was windy and snow/rainy when we left our house, but it's always worse up by them so I was worried about the drive.

I never used to be a worry-wart about driving in bad weather, but ever since spring 2002 when I spun out on the highway in a hail storm and ended up facing the wrong way in traffic (fortunately it wasn't a busy time of day and no one was close to me) I have been a wreck (no pun intended) about driving in bad weather (as the passenger or the driver); I'm always expecting to lose control.


I brought my book with me to act as a diversion, but I couldn't read, I had to hang on and see what we were facing. Visibility wasn't good, and the roads were slick with slushy rain, yet people were still driving normal highway speeds. #$@!


The weather literally took a turn for the worse as we banked East and got closer to Adam and Amy's house. We saw this wreck just minutes before the exit to their house. I find that driving in weather like this turns my insides to liquid fear.


But we made it there safely and found that they were discussing whether I would show up or not. Sheesh.


Bella had her school class' pet hamster so Whitney was in heaven. She has been campaigning for a rodent pet of some kind, and couldn't get enough of playing with Stein the hamster.


We had a good dinner and lots of conversation, then brought out the Denver Sheet Cake and the Oreo ice cream dessert so we could sing to the birthday crowd.

I love this picture!

The gift opening was done in the family room, which did a pretty good job of accommodating us. I ended up sitting on the hearth (where Whitney is sitting in this photo) until Adam later got up for something and I stole his comfy chair.

Whitney painted this huge post for Bella.

I love miscellaneous shots like this that capture the craziness going on. You can see Ashley in the left corner with tissue paper on her head, Andrew opening one of Adam's gifts, Jared reading "Eve and The Choice Made in Eden" (what the?), and my dad checking out the Barnes and Noble gift card he received.

My feet while sitting on the hearth.

As we drove down their snow-covered street toward the freeway, Landon said, "I think we should say a prayer, it will make me feel better about driving home in this." We all agreed, and pulled over and asked for a safe drive home. It only ended up being scary until we got about 10 minutes away from their house, then it was decent the rest of the way home. So we survived the crazy weather AND birthday alley!

**Does driving in weather like this freak you out?
What's your favorite birthday dessert?
Do you take random group shots like this?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Is Daylight Savings kicking your butt the way it's kicking mine? Good grief, you'd think I pulled an all-nighter or something.

Good Mail For Me and You Winners...
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