Giving up

For some reason, this song popped into my head yesterday. It was SUPER random, but because of that, I've been thinking about it and what it's about.

The first time I heard this song, I thought it was super depressing - I mean, she definitely gives the song a somber sound. But, then I really listened to the words. It's not about giving up on a relationship because it got hard. Instead, it's giving up all the what if's and the could be's in life and choosing the relationship over everything else.

"But I am giving up, for you."

Thinking about this made me wonder about who we love and who we love more than the what if's in our lives.

Someone asks you for help. Do you say yes, even though you have the "what if I don't have enough time to finish my homework afterwards?" Or do you always put that what if in front of their need?

Your niece or nephew asks you to go to one of their performances. Do you go even though you have the "what if it's boring?" or the "what if someone asks me to do something better that day?" Or do you put those what if's in front of their desire to be able to feel your support?

Most important, when we feel the calling of the Lord, do we answer with a resounding "YES!" or do we think of all the possible what if's and fail to accept it?

There are many what if's that we face in this life that can get in the way of our relationship with God. What if I fail? What if it's too hard? What if I'm not good enough? What if I'm wrong? What if I get made fun of? What if I'm rejected? What if it's a waste of time?

God asks for a relationship with us. He promises greater strength. He promises never-ending happiness. He promises greatness. He promises love. He promises greater abilities.

All He asks for in response? For us to give up for Him. Give up our weaknesses. Give up our own desires for His. Give up our what if's and doubts.

Can you give up for Him?

A message to my future kids: The power of one

In my child development class, we've been talking about social development. Friends are pretty dang important for our development. When we're an infant to early childhood, playmates and interaction with others helps us learn. In middle childhood, friendship becomes an important thing. Then, adolescence, it becomes incredibly important, as they tend to spend more time with their friends and their social groups than their families. Friends become  their secret keepers, their confidants, the people they learn to share the deepest pieces of themselves.

But, it wasn't about friendship that I learned the most about.

Bullying is a real problem in any school you will ever go to. If there are kids, there will be bullying of some sort. In my youth, I regretfully participated in some. Also in my youth, I stuck up for those same kids. I wasn't consistent.

What really gets me, though, is that I had power. I had the power to stop that bullying. I may not have been super popular in elementary school, but I was definitely well-liked. I had a certain level of respect from the kids, partially because most of them knew who my mom was, partially because I was super confident, and partially because I was a little bit arrogant in both of those things. But, I had power. Power that I didn't quite recognize.

In reality, each child, adolescent, adult even, has power. Most of us to not like bullying. Most of the time it makes us feel uncomfortable to witness it. If we participate in it, we tend to feel bad later - only true bullies feel no regret. (Of course, they can grow out of it. But in the immediate time after the bullying, they don't feel bad about it.) But, most of the time, we don't do anything about it. Why? I think it's because we feel powerless.

Did you know that if one single person stands up for a person being bullied, whether it's telling off the bully, comforting the bullied, or inviting the bullied into your circle of friends, others will join you? They will jump at that opportunity to help. The minute they see someone else helping, they will step in also.

The reason why most people don't step up initially? I believe it's because they don't feel they have power.

But, here's the thing: it only takes one person. And then, chances are, you won't be alone.

Be the one to step up. Be the one to show that you aren't ok with the bullying that's happening. Do something. You have power! This is a message I hope my children are able to learn from me.

But, it is not just from me that this lesson can be learned. There is One who showed that there is power is the one. His name is Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ always stood up for the one who was disliked. He always told off the bullies. He always invited people to join Him. And, He often did it by Himself. Sure, He had disciples. Sure, He had His apostles. But He always was that one who acted first.

Not only did He stand up for the bullied and for the friendless. He also stood up for all of us.

He was the One who stood for our sins, our trials, our sorrows, our pains. He showed that one person can change the world. He showed that the power of one can bring light, can bring joy, can bring kindness.

And, He stood alone so that, in those moments where we choose act alone, when we choose to act first, we will never truly be alone. He will be there with us. Thus, the power of one becomes the power of being one. Being one with our Redeemer and Savior.

Today is Easter. The day that we celebrate the One being raised from the dead, so would never have to be alone again. We have an eternity filled with friends and with families.

And I only have one word to describe my gratitude for such a thing:

Hallelujah! 

The Father of lies

Today in Sunday School, we were talking about the illusions that Satan feeds us when I was reminded of a song I was introduced to while I was on my mission. The song is from the perspective of Satan and he sings the lies he tries so hard to convince us of.



I love pretty much every aspect and lyric of this song, but my favorite is the chorus. The chorus is, "But I won't tell you about the God in Heaven who loves you, who yearns for you. And I won't tell you about the freedom of forgiveness and truth. Why would I tell you the truth?"

Our entire lives, the adversary is working so hard to lull us into a false sense of security. He's trying to get us to be complacent, to become hardened, to become oblivious. All of these things for the purpose of forgetting one thing: that God is our loving Heavenly Father who wants us to return to live with Him again.

Heavenly Father is invested in our lives. Satan doesn't want us to know that. Heavenly Father sent Jesus Christ to save us, to forgive us, and to enable us. Satan does want us to believe that. Heavenly Father intends for us to become like Him; that is our fullest potential. Satan wants us to believe that is blasphemy.

One of my favorite scriptures in existence is Romans 8:16-17:
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; if it so be that we suffer with him that we might be also glorified together.

The reason why I love this scripture so much is because, one, it tells us who we are and what we can become: We are children of God, and we are meant to inherit all that He has. We are His heirs. 

I also love it because it tells us the nature of God and the rest of the Godhead. God is our father. He sends the Spirit to teach us of the love He has for us and who we are. Christ makes it possible for us to reach that potential we have within us. These are the things Satan doesn't want us to know!

You are a fantastic human  being. Yes, you, who is reading this. Because you are of royal birth. Don't let the lies of the adversary tell you anything different!

A tribute to my friends

The past few days, I've been thinking a lot about the people in my life. Sometimes, this is how I feel:

Sometimes I'm straight up weirded out by the fact I have friends. I mean, how does it even happen? Like, there's this person I decide is pretty chill and that they might be fun to hang out with, and then all of a sudden, we have this affection for each other, and we decide we're going to do whatever we can to help each other out. Like, how does that even happen?

Friendships are hugely important to me, and I've become increasingly grateful for the friendships that I have been blessed with. 

There is a scripture that talks about friendships that I super love:

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend - Proverbs 27:17

My friends do a lot to shape who I am - and I know I do the same for my friends. (I mean, just ask my roommates. Last semester, I got a lot of them saying "fetch." Pretty much all of them now say, "Your face," after some random comment. Dani now eats about twice as much food as she used to, because I eat so much food all the time.) 

Because of this influence we have on others, it is important for us to be aware of the impression we are leaving on people. Are we rubbing off our good qualities? Or are our bad habits our legacy? Do we encourage virtues or vices? 

My friends are pretty much my favorite things on this planet. I treasure the friendships I have, because Heavenly Father has blessed me with incredible people. They have "sharpened" me. Much of my becoming is influenced by my friends.

It is incredibly important to choose your friends wisely, because they DO have a very real influence on us. Do they sharpen your countenance to reflect the Savior, or do they dull you? Do they make you shine brighter, or do they chase the light out of you? And what kind of friend are you? Do you uplift, or do you take away? The reason why I express such great love for my friends is because each and every one of them fill me with light. 

Over the past few months, here are a few things I have learned and have been "sharpened" by:

• seeking the Lord's will and putting it before your own
• forgiveness
• a willingness to serve
• it's important to smile
• when you love someone, you pray for them
• express your love
• apologize
• you don't have to know someone well to care about them

It's not the best quality picture, but here are some of the lovelies that I have in my life currently. In our spare time, even though we were tired, had been on our feet all morning, and wanted to be in back in Rexburg, we went to Temple Square, because that desire trumped all. See? They fill me with light.

How do your friends uplift you and make you a better person? (Comment, please. Legit brag about your friends, or I'm going to think that y'all don't have friends as cool as mine and then my friends will get full of themselves!)

To save the world

One of the little classes I teach at the after school program I work at is creative writing. The first class of the session I talked about how stories can change the world. Thus, one should write to change the world. We have stories like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Percy Jackson, Fablehaven, the Books of Bayern, and so many more. All of these have the capability to uplift, inspire, and empower. 

Harry Potter taught me the importance of friendship and loyalty. Lord of the Rings taught me the importance of doing hard things and of looking for adventures. Star Wars taught me the importance of holding to the light and chasing your dreams. Percy Jackson taught me the importance of standing for and fighting for what you believe in, despite the odds against you. Fablehaven taught me to see the wonder all around me and to always be curious. The Books of Bayern taught me the importance of love and trust.

When I was telling my little class that stories can change the world, and that meant that they could change the world, one of the girls was skeptical. She asked, "How can I change the world with just a story?" She couldn't quite grasp the impact she could have.

I am very passionate about the idea of being able to change the world. It only takes the frailest of lights to illuminate the darkness surrounding it. This idea is essentially what is driving me to do what I am doing with my life now. 

Now, this doesn't mean that I believe that I'm going to cause this incredible change in millions of people. It means that I believe that I can impact the people within my circle. And I'm hoping that my future profession - whether as a wife, a mother, a researcher, or psychologist - can not only increase that circle but also enhance my ability to impact people. 

We live in a society where we either look too much at the big picture, thinking on too grandiose of a scale or we look too small and don't realize the power we have as individuals. 

You can change the world. You change the world one person at a time. You make an impact on one person, think of how many people THAT person comes in contact with. My parents raised 9 kids. If that was their ONLY contribution to the world, think of how many people we 9 kids have come in contact with. 4 of us went on missions. 7 are parents. All of us are in different wards, holding different callings. We all have friends. We live across 3 different states. There are so many opportunities for meeting people. Thus, my parents have changed the world, simply by raising us. Not to mention their youth, their callings, and their professions. 

To change the world, you need only help be an influence of good for one person. 

I would invite you to be aware of the people you are with. I can promise you that when you start focusing on the people you spend time with, that you will begin to see the impact you can make. When you are with someone, BE with them. Listen to them, be kind to them, love them, and support them in their times of need. When you change their world you enable them to change the worlds of the people around them as well.

Who is someone who changed your world? What they did they do? Please leave a comment. :) Also, go and tell that person what they have done for you.

If you know of someone who can benefit from this message, please share this post.

My testimony of a book

My very first post on this blog was about how I wanted to write about becoming. Part of the purpose of this life is to become and reach our fullest potential. I, obviously, am still on that path. I feel like my blog has lost a little bit of that focus. Not completely, but I want to bring it back a little bit.

So, I want to tell you a little bit about a book that has helped me a lot in my process of becoming. Many of you, I'm sure, are familiar with it. It's called The Book of Mormon.

I love the Book of Mormon - well, I love just all the scriptures in general. My love for the Book of Mormon stems from what it teaches me about my Savior. The Bibles teaches a lot about Christ's life, especially the New Testament. The Old Testament is full of prophecies and types of Christ, to teach us about Him. But, then there is the Book of Mormon which also teaches me about His character. By reading this wonderful book, I have come to understand the nature of Him, and how I can come closer to that nature.

The Book of Mormon has also helped me feel joy when not much else could. It has been the tool for revelation. It has taught me how to be a better person. It has invited the Spirit into my life. It has brought me comfort.

The Book of Mormon has helped me to become something more. I read about people like Ammon, and Alma who changed so much, because they learned about the Savior, and then spent the rest of their lives trying to help people experience the same thing. I read about Nephi who had courage and was obedient. I read about Captain Moroni, who diligently defended what he thought was right and always counseled with the Lord. These people made me want to be more and taught me how.

This video shows a little bit more about the Book of Mormon, and the power it can have:




Those of you reading this post who have read the Book of Mormon before, what has the Book of Mormon done for you? (this is something I've been wanting to try out. I'm going to try to start asking questions in my posts. I'm grateful for people who take the time to read them, so I want to hear your thoughts as well. Please leave a comment)

Also, please, if you have felt the spirit, or maybe know of people who could benefit from this, share this post. I'm not in it to get more viewers. I'm just hoping my words can make a difference. At the very least, I invite you to find someone - anyone, a roommate, a sibling, a friend - to share your testimony of the Book of Mormon with. You never know who might need uplifting.