Monday, March 22, 2010
Attempting the Impossible
This is the talk I picked for our next discussion. I don't have any prompts for it yet; feel free to post one if it strikes you. I really like having this blog; it's a positive influence for me between Sundays. Mom, I want to hear your voice on these, too. Do you have a google account?
Peaceful Uprooting
I remember when our family was considering moving to Nevada. I prayed about it, a lot! I had prayed many times and felt the spirit, I had prayed for comfort and received it, but I had never really prayed for a specific answer. On my own, for the first time, I received an answer that our family should move, that there was much waiting for us in Nevada, much to learn and many blessing. I remember feeling such peace! Then I talked to mom and dad and they had decided not to move. As dad went to refuse the offer he had a "stupor of thought" and we moved (obviously). I think that the Lord gave me the answer because I needed it to be okay with the move. When people would ask if I was mad at my parents for moving me, I would say that I couldn't be, I knew that the Lord wanted us to go. We all know me to sometimes be a pill when I don't want to do something, but in this situation I didn't want to be because I knew that we were told to by the Lord. Also, because the Lord said go, I wanted to go! I was excited! After moving life wasn't easy, but whenever I was frustrated I knew that the Lord wanted us there and the Spirit continuously comforted me, that knowledge didn't take away the struggles, but it helped me through. I look at all the blessings and learning that came from moving, so many!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
I know this isn't a new story to you, but it was my first life-changing spiritual experience.
During a Spanish class in my sophomore year at BYU I found out about the Disney College Program. A girl next to me had a flyer about it, telling when they were coming to recruit. You cannot imagine (okay, you probably can) how excited I was. It would be a perfect internship for my major, and I would get to work and live at Disney World?!?! And then, of course, I would apply for and get accepted to their next level of internship, the Advanced Management internship (which you can only do after having done the first one), and then I would stay on and work my way up to manage one of their resorts there (or at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, or move over to their cruise line). And at some point in there I would meet a good ol' Southern boy and that's that. Perfect plan. Except that it was my plan.
Well, I kept trying to make it work, but something kept coming up or I needed another class, and kept saying that maybe I can do it next semester. Then finally, in the fall of 2004, I actually applied and auditioned! I was so excited and stopped at Elizabeth's apartment on the way home to tell her all about it. She was so excited with me, which was really fun, except her brother was sitting there on the couch, too, listening to me ramble on and on about this, and for some reason I felt odd. But I could hardly wait for my letter to come in two weeks, that would for sure tell me I was accepted.
It was only a few days later that I was reading my scriptures when I read Helaman 10:4. "And thou hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments." I realized I hadn't prayed about going to Disney World, but I thought, "There is nothing wrong in going to Disney World; I don't need to pray about it." And I knew immediately that when I finally humbled myself to pray about it, the answer would be no. I ignored that for several days, because I wasn't ready for that. Then I finally prayed about it, and felt a very definite no. And then my letter came, telling me that I was accepted. And then I turned it down, which was hard, but my answer had been so clear that there was nothing else to do. And now I am sealed through the holy Priesthood to the best man in the entire world, with three beautiful, horribly obnoxious boys, and I love it!
That experience, above all, taught me that the Lord loves me and that He is very much aware of me, and has a plan for me, and that as long as I am striving to do as He would have me do, He will not let me unknowingly do something contrary to His plan for me. I very well could have chosen to go anyway, and I don't think that something horrible would have necessarily happened, but I do know what would not have happened, and that makes me extremely grateful that the Lord told me where He would have me be.
During a Spanish class in my sophomore year at BYU I found out about the Disney College Program. A girl next to me had a flyer about it, telling when they were coming to recruit. You cannot imagine (okay, you probably can) how excited I was. It would be a perfect internship for my major, and I would get to work and live at Disney World?!?! And then, of course, I would apply for and get accepted to their next level of internship, the Advanced Management internship (which you can only do after having done the first one), and then I would stay on and work my way up to manage one of their resorts there (or at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, or move over to their cruise line). And at some point in there I would meet a good ol' Southern boy and that's that. Perfect plan. Except that it was my plan.
Well, I kept trying to make it work, but something kept coming up or I needed another class, and kept saying that maybe I can do it next semester. Then finally, in the fall of 2004, I actually applied and auditioned! I was so excited and stopped at Elizabeth's apartment on the way home to tell her all about it. She was so excited with me, which was really fun, except her brother was sitting there on the couch, too, listening to me ramble on and on about this, and for some reason I felt odd. But I could hardly wait for my letter to come in two weeks, that would for sure tell me I was accepted.
It was only a few days later that I was reading my scriptures when I read Helaman 10:4. "And thou hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments." I realized I hadn't prayed about going to Disney World, but I thought, "There is nothing wrong in going to Disney World; I don't need to pray about it." And I knew immediately that when I finally humbled myself to pray about it, the answer would be no. I ignored that for several days, because I wasn't ready for that. Then I finally prayed about it, and felt a very definite no. And then my letter came, telling me that I was accepted. And then I turned it down, which was hard, but my answer had been so clear that there was nothing else to do. And now I am sealed through the holy Priesthood to the best man in the entire world, with three beautiful, horribly obnoxious boys, and I love it!
That experience, above all, taught me that the Lord loves me and that He is very much aware of me, and has a plan for me, and that as long as I am striving to do as He would have me do, He will not let me unknowingly do something contrary to His plan for me. I very well could have chosen to go anyway, and I don't think that something horrible would have necessarily happened, but I do know what would not have happened, and that makes me extremely grateful that the Lord told me where He would have me be.
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