Jesus Christ, Son of Man.

Today, third hour was combined with the young men and we learned about Jesus Christ—who He is and how we can show our love for Him in our daily lives. In the topical guide of the Bible, there's about 20 or so pages full of scriptures that have to do with Christ. There are lots of different names for Him, like Savior, Redeemer, Messiah, Lamb of God, Bread of Life, Good Shepherd, Rock, Son of Man, and Only Begotten. And they all fit Him. But my favorite name for Him (at this point in my life—it will probably change my whole life) is Son of Man. Because I think that sometimes we forget that He was not only a God, but He was also human—through His mother, Mary, who was a mortal woman. And, to me, Son of Man is my favorite name for Him right now, because He, too, was human—He was a perfect human, but He was human nonetheless. He lived a mortal life, learned how to be a carpenter, and did human things that humans do—eat, talk, teach, learn, etc. And right now in my life, I need to remember this. I need to remember that He was human, too, and that He knows what I'm going through not only because He is my Savior and He atoned for my sins, afflictions, etc., but because He was also human. And I love Him all the more for that because He chose to accept His role, and when it came and He had a hard time with it—He who was a God—He could've stopped anytime, but He said, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (St Luke 22:42). He loved us so much and He loved His father so much that He followed through with His part in Heavenly Father's plan. And I will never be able to thank Him enough. 

Love.

"I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken."~~2nd Nephi 9:40

The righteous love the truth. Their foundation is built upon the rock, which is Christ. They cannot be shaken because they trust and believe in Christ.

"Thou shalt not avenge, not bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am The Lord."~~Leviticus 19:18

Love thy neighbor as thyself. Love your neighbors as you love yourself. Be kind to those around you—show them that people do care about them and that they are not just a face in a sea of people. 

Today, I want to leave this with you: you are a stranger to other people as other people are a stranger to you. Be kind to them if you want them to be kind to you. Love everyone just as God loves you and them. Be nice. Give them hope. You might be the answer to their prayers and you just might learn something about them, yourself, or God. Or all of the above. But please, please, please be kind to those around you. Someone may need your smile or just someone to say hi. They might need help picking up their books off the floor or making new friends. Please be loving, kind, and inclusive. That's all anybody ever wants, isn't it? To be loved and to fit in. So do it! Make people feel loved and feel included. And hey—maybe you'll find a new friend. 

With Him we can.

Whew! First week of school is over!! I can't believe I am a senior. I sincerely hope that the homework load isn't all that heavy this year, but if it is, I know that, with The Lord's help, I can do it!! Just like in the song by Mercy River, "With Him We Can" (which you should most definitely look up—do it! Go! Look it up...now!), with His help, we can do it. We can get through this trial. We can do this homework. We can pass this test. We can make our dreams come true. Because our Heavenly Father loves us, He wants to do everything He can to make us happy—He wants us to be happy. And, with Him, we can. 

Hope.

So, I totally love this gospel. Do you want to know why? Well, I'll tell you why. Because it gives me hope. All the time—no matter what I'm going through, it gives me hope. If I'm having a rough day, I can pray to my Heavenly Father and He will give me peace and comfort that tomorrow will be better. If I feel alone, I can pray to Him to help me find someone to talk with and He will guide me to where I need to be so that I can find them. If I am watching a friend die slowly, or if I've had deaths in my circle of family and friends, I can pray to Him to comfort me and I know that they will be or are at peace and that I will see them again someday. And I know that through my Savior, Jesus Christ, I can become clean and start over so that I can try to become a better person than I was yesterday so that I can live with my Heavenly Father again. And that? That gives me hope. 

"Ask, and it shall be given you"

Totally random, but I changed the look of my blog. And I know most people won't have seen the old version, but I'm just letting you know it didn't always look the way it does now. Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about.

In one week, I will be back in school. And I'm frightened. So, so frightened. But I'm also excited. It's a toss up. I'm frightened because it's my last year in high school and what if I fail some of my classes???? I am a good student, but sometimes I worry about "what if I fail?" and I just don't want to be held back because I failed a class. I'm excited because it's my last year in high school!! Woohoo!!

So you see why it's a toss up.

But I have this paper—like a spiritual directory—and for "When you need help in school", the scripture to look at is Doctrine and Covenants 136:32, and it reads: "Let him that is ignorant learn wisdom by humbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his eyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he might hear". And here is one that I love in St. Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you". And I know that if I have trouble this year in school—or anywhere I'm ignorant, really—I can ask my Heavenly Father and He will help me, as long as I do my part and do my best first before I ask for a little more help, He will answer my prayers. And I know that you can ask, too, and He will also help you. 

He lives and He loves you.

So, one of these days I'm going to post a video of me singing/playing a hymn or Primary song. But our house is too loud right now, so the lyrics will have to do for now:

A Child's Prayer

1) Heavenly Father, are you really there? And do you hear and answer ev'ry child's prayer? Some say that heaven is far away, but I feel it close around me as I pray. Heavenly Father; I remember now Something that Jesus told disciples long ago: "Suffer the children to come to me." Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee. 

2) Pray, he is there; speak, he is listn'ing. You are his child; His love now surrounds you. He hears your prayer; He loves the children. Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heav'n. 

I love this song so much. The first verse is a little child, talking to their Heavenly Father, asking Him if He is really there. And by the end of the first verse, the child has remembered and wants to pray to Him. The second verse is a parent (or grandparent), bearing testimony to the child that He really is there and that He does listen. 

I know that He lives. I know He loves me. I know He loves all of us, whether or not we believe in Him. And I know that He will always listen and that He wants what is best for us. And I know that He sent His Son to die for us, so that we can return to live with Him. He will never, ever, ever turn away from you—He is always waiting for you to turn to Him. Whether that be again or for the first time, He is waiting for you because He loves you very, very much. 

He is with me and He loves me no matter what.

So, I'm naturally a musical person. I love to sing and I love to play the violin. And I love musical movies. You know, like Tangled, Frozen, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, etc. And I love to sing along with the movies and recite my favorite lines. Well, my brothers find it annoying that I do that. Well guess what brothers? I don't care—I'll do it anyway, whether or not they like it because it's not harming anyone. But when I say something—that either took me a little while to get or understand, or I didn't think and just said it—my brother always implies that I'm stupid. And I don't like that. I hate it, actually, because he does it to everyone and it's annoying and rude. I'm not stupid—neither are any of my other siblings—but he always implies that we are. And that's just so rude. We're a family and we are supposed to be kind to each other. Sometimes I have a hard time with remembering to be patient and kind, but I know when not to cross the line into "Uh-oh, this is the mean, rude, I'm-going-to-hurt-someone" territory. But my little brothers sometimes don't. And so I'm trying to help teach them to be kind. 

So, I'm also naturally an optimistic and happy person—this annoys some of my siblings; again, I don't care—and I am trying to be the peacemaker between my siblings. Sometimes it doesn't work. But I try it anyway. I am trying to teach Tyler (and sometimes Conner)—because they forget—that the little boys are only little and they do not understand that the little boys are still growing and learning!

This next school year is going to be my senior year of high school and I'm feeling a mix of emotions. I'm excited to be going to school and I'm excited to be finished. I'm also sad—I don't want summer to end and I don't want my last year to be over. I'm excited for the future, but also scared. I'm also scared for summer to end and for school to start. Really, my emotions can be boiled down to two: excited and scared. But guess what??

Did you guess? Okay, here's the real answer:

No matter what I'm going through in life—family matters, school matters, friendship matters—I can always count on my Savior and I can always turn to Him. I can always depend on His gospel to help me answer my questions and get through life. I am so grateful for His Atonement and I am so grateful that He listens to me and helps me when I need it. I have learned that He knows and loves me and He sends blessings my way when I need them, even if I don't know that I need them. He will always love me—no matter what—and He will always send me help. He is always right beside me and knows the path ahead of me even though I can't see it. He is always with me. And I am so grateful that He will never leave me alone because I don't know what I would do without His hand in my life. 

Finding strength in the storm.

You know when it gets windy and almost rainy and you are told to clean up toys and stuff outside so they don't get wet? I've always been afraid that things will fly away or get blown away when the wind picks up; I don't know why. So I always picked up stuff or put it inside or whatever needed to be done. And I think that life is sometimes like that. We're afraid that some things—testimonies or friendships—will "fly" or "get blown" away and so we try to cling onto them and protect them as much as possible. And yes, sometimes that's the answer to what we can/need to do. But really we just need to strengthen the bonds. We need to strengthen our testimonies so that when the winds of the adversary blow our way, we don't need to be worried. We can pack it up and protect it, but it has been strengthened and we don't need to worry. We need to strengthen our friendships so that when it is questioned, we can say that "yes, we are friends, and no, I will not leave them behind." In order to strengthen our testimonies, we need to put our trust in the Savior. We need to come closer to Him and we need to rely on Him. He will help when the storm blows our way. In a way, this will help us strengthen our friendships, too. Becoming closer to and more like Christ can give us the confidence that we may need to better the bonds of friendship that may be weakening. By Him and through Him, all things are possible. So when life gets stormy, you can find strength in Christ.