One.

Today I was able to go to my friend's farewell talk, and I'm so excited for her–I know that she will do great things and I know that she is well-prepared–and I am grateful for her example, and I am so blessed to have gotten to know her. :)

Today was also my first Sunday back home, and it was great! A little hard, because I miss my friends, but also really great, because I was welcomed back with loving words and open arms. :)

There were a lot of great things that I learned today, but I want to focus on just one thing today: one. 

Now, that may seem confusing but bear with me. 

Everything is about the one–one soul. You. 

Heavenly Father loves you. Jesus Christ atoned specifically for you. Everything He does, He does for you. He wants you to return to live with Him. He wants you to become more like Him. He wants you to show others that He loves them, and wants them to return to Him. He wants you. If you had been the only person on earth, Jesus Christ still would have suffered the Atonement for you.

In Luke 15:4-7, it says, "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repententh, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."

In this parable, Jesus teaches to go after the one. Why? Because they're important. A lot of lives can be changed by one person. But, most importantly, that person's life can be changed if they're saved. 

You are important. You are loved. You are enough. God's love for you is infinitely more than anyone on earth's love for you (even though I love you a lot, God loves you waaaay more). He loves you as you. He loves your personality. He loves the way that you smile when you're happy. He loves the way that your eyes sparkle when you're sharing something that you love with a friend. He loves the way that you love. He loves the way that you know when you've done something wrong and you try to fix it. He loves everything about you, and He loves you perfectly. 

He knows your struggles, and He knows your pain, and He knows how to help you through them. No one else knows exactly how you feel. But He does. And He wants to save you. You just have to let Him in. This is the 2014 Mutual theme, and I love it, and I had to share it because that line (you just have to let Him in) is sung in the song. And also, it's a good song. Let Him in–He's calling your name, and He is waiting for YOU! :)

God hasn't given up on you.

Had a great last Sunday today!! We had some cute visitors (granddaughters of our stake high councilor) who sang "Gethsemane" beautifully during sacrament meeting. And several of my friends performed "Because I Have Been Given Much" and it was so good!! I had a great Sunday morning and I'm so blessed to have been able to live with and learn from and love the girls in my hall!! It's been a great freshmen year and I wouldn't change it for all the money in the world! ❤️

Some lessons I learned today:

In sacrament meeting about enduring to the end:-You have to prepare for trials now. -It's not enough to just have faith and pray. You have to also continually do good. 

My sweet friend Olivia shared these thoughts today in sacrament meeting:-It's not enough to endure. We must endure it well. -The Lord doesn't ask us to have a rock-solid testimony. He asks us to have faith and trust Him. -He gives us our trials because He loves us and wants us to grow.-Endure means to go about your life in faith.

One of my other friends, Shane, shared these:-We came here [to Earth] to be perfected.-You will only be able to endure if you face and overcome.-"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit." ~Aristotle.This next one he didn't say exactly like that but I still thought it was a good piece of advice:-God hasn't given up on you. So don't you [dare] give up on yourself.

In Sunday School we learned about the Allegory of the Olive Tree (Found in Jacob 5):
-God is never going to leave us.
-Christ has done everything He can for us, and He still wants to do so much more, even after we've fallen.
-You have to focus on the roots (the Gospel, your testimony of Christ, etc.).

Relief Society was SO GOOD YOU GUYS!!!! I'm going to miss learning from my favorite ladies.
-The church isn't led by men, but by Jesus Christ. He is the head of the church.
-The church has always had a prophet, seer, and revelator.
-Christ is always at the head, and directs the prophet.
-God passes on the to the prophet what we need to work on now in order to prepare for the future.
-We have to open our minds to the revelations of the prophet.
One of the topics we talked about was "In this day of spiritual famine, we can find spiritual abundance."
-We can't find the spiritual abundance if we don't listen to it.
-If we're humble and teachable, we can have the abundance come to us.
-We also have to look for it.
Another topic we had was "If we follow the teachings of the living prophets, we will not go amiss."
For this, we watched a video with a portion of a talk by Sister McConkie, and she said, "Following the prophet is always right."

I had a GREAT last Sunday with my ward. I love my ward so much, I love the girls in my hall so much, and I am so blessed to have had such a great freshmen year!! I heard many things today that strengthened my testimony and answered questions I've had recently. God is so good, guys. I know that He lives. I know that He loves, leads, and guides us. He loves us so much! Now and forever. I know that He will never leave us when we fall away. He is always waiting for us to come home. You can never fall far enough away that He will say, "It's a lost cause" and leave you to fend for yourself. I know that from personal experience. You can always come back to Him. He is just waiting for you! He loves you so much! He wants you to come home. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Trust in Him and enjoy the present.

I know it's Thursday, but I've been thinking a lot over the last couple of days about a couple of things and I just need to get them out.

Ever since I was little, I've always wanted to be a mom. There's never really been anything else I've really wanted to do. I've just always wanted to be a mom.

The other day, though, I was just thinking...all of my friends know what they're doing with their lives. I've got a ton of friends on missions, going on missions, or they know what they want to do with their life/major in–be a teacher, a journalist, or whatever.

But me??

All I've ever wanted to be is a mom, and seeing how that's not going to happen for awhile, I was kind of feeling discouraged and disappointed yesterday because I'm still not exactly sure what I want to major in yet–I've been thinking about a couple of options but none of them are really like, "Ding ding ding!!! This is it!!" and so that's just been hard. When I was growing up, I'd never really thought that there would be a time where I wouldn't be a wife/mom, and I'd need to be something else; it never crossed my mind (not sure why, especially in these last couple of years....my brain was just on a break, I guess). And so I've just been feeling kind of like I don't have a purpose...almost empty, in a way. I'm just kind of cruising along the path of life, not exactly sure where I'm headed or why.

And I've still been struggling a little bit with forgiving myself, and so that's also been a little hard. And so my brain has just been on overload mode, because of all these things on top of finals week...and of course I can't not think about these things because I'm me.

But then I saw this picture on Facebook yesterday, and it stood out to me because I really needed it.

I need to remember to trust Him, and trust His timing. And I also need to believe and trust in His grace. Things will happen when they happen, when they're supposed to happen, when I'm ready for them to happen. But not before. They'll happen when I need and am ready for them to happen. This year, I had some growing up to do, and I still have a little bit to do, but next year will be even better, and I'll be more prepared, and I'll be more aware. But right now? Right now I just need to trust in my Savior, and believe in His grace. Things will work out–they always do. I just need to be patient and enjoy the present. It's hard, but I know that I can do it. <3 <3

With Him, we can.

Normally on Sundays I reflect on the things I learned in church that day (which I might end up doing later). But right now I want to talk about something that I've kind of recently come to really understand.

It doesn't matter what others think about you. I know, I know–you care about people because they're important to you, and you want to know what they think about you. But, in the end, it really doesn't matter. They will never be able to fully understand you.

They don't know your story.

They may know some things, but it's hard to understand things that you yourself haven't been through. And sometimes there are just some things you might not want to talk about. They don't know the nights you cried because you felt lost and unloved. They don't know that your mother's aunt tried to commit suicide. They don't know the time your little brother disappeared and your whole family thought that he ran away and your mother was crying and you hated your little brother in that moment for making your mom cry. (Side note: I feel like I should make it known that none of these things happened to me specifically. I think I found most of these instances in books I read or heard about)

They don't know those things. They don't know why you do what you do. They don't know everything that makes you you.

The only person who knows your story exactly as you've experienced it is Jesus Christ–who's lived your story personally so that He could be able to help you through it, if you let Him.

He suffered for your pains, your sicknesses, your infirmities, your griefs, anything emotional, physical, or mental that you have/had to deal with, your temptations, and also for your sins. He suffered for EVERYTHING that you have experienced, and everything that you will ever experience.

He loves you SO MUCH that He wanted to be able to be there for you whenever you need Him. He wanted you to be able to turn to Him for anything and everything that you struggle with. You struggle with being patient? He's there to help you. You struggle with loving yourself? He's there to help you. You struggle with believing in Him?  He is there for you!

There is nothing that you have gone through that He has not experienced. He experienced everything so that He could help you. He walked alone so that you don't have to.

In sacrament meeting today, two of my friends performed the song "The Miracle" (which can be found here), and I love that song so much! Hearing them sing it made me cry because I could feel the Spirit, and it was just so beautiful and I felt like there was a message in it for me specifically. One of my favorite lines is, "But I know this: of all His miracles, the most incredible must be the miracle that rescues me." He loves you, and wants you to be able to live with our Heavenly Father again, and so He atoned and died for you so that that could happen.

"It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time," (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "It Is Never Too Late," April 2012).

Today has been a great day, full of messages that I needed to hear and think about. I am so grateful for my Savior, and for the love that He had for me, and for all of us, and for His sacrifice in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross at Calvary. His Atonement has helped me, has healed me, and has given me peace. I know that I am never alone, and with Him, I can get through anything. I had a super hard trial a couple of years ago, and I am still feeling its aftereffects, but I got through it with Him. I wasn't alone. That's such a blessing and comfort to me. And, because of that experience, I know that I can do hard things. I know that life is hard, and that sometimes there are things that happen that just put you so far out there that you don't think that you can return, but with Him, we can (that is also the title of a song that I love. It can be found here). He will never leave you alone. He will always be there to aid you. This I know, and bear testimony of in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

He forces no one.

This weekend was General Conference!! I was so excited to be able to hear the messages of our prophets and leaders. I was not disappointed (never ever have I been disappointed)! I was blessed to be able to hear answers to prayers and questions that I have had, and also to questions I didn't know I had. There were some really powerful messages this weekend. I missed part of both of the Saturday sessions, so I cannot wait to read them again when they become available.

Though I loved them all, I'm going to share just a few of my favorite quotes (some may or may not be paraphrased). The bolded ones are the ones that really stood out to me. You can watch the messages or read them online when they become available at lds.org. :)

Pres. Donald L. Hallstrom:
-He allows some suffering because He knows it will bless us.

Elder Kevin R. Duncan:
-We can forgive, and we can be free.
-To forgive is not to condone.

Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson:
-It is a daily decision to choose faith over doubt.

Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf:
-There is no life so shattered that it cannot be restored.
-It matters not how you became lost. What matters is you are His child and He loves you.
-He will force no one to heaven. He will not rescue you if it is not your will.
-God sees us as we truly are, and He sees us worthy of rescue.

Elder Robert D. Hales:
-The Holy Ghost is not given to control us.

Elder Patrick Kearon:
-We must take a stance against intolerance.
-This moment does not define them, but our response will define us.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks:
-It is opposition that enables choice.
-Some things can only be learned by faith.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:
-We all have to come down from peak experiences to deal with the vicissitudes of life.
-The Lord blesses those who want to improve.
-We are to deal justly...walk humbly...and judge righteously.
-If we give our hearts to God, then tomorrow and every other day is ultimately going to be magnificent.

Again, it was an amazing weekend filled with inspired messages and I am so grateful that I was able to hear answers to my prayers and questions. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet today. I know that Joseph Smith, Jr. restored the true church to the earth. I know that Heavenly Father sent His Son to die for us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and I know that He atoned for us, and that He was resurrected for us. I know that we are loved by our Savior and our Heavenly Father. I know that the speakers this weekend were inspired by God to talk about what we most needed to hear. I am so grateful that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am so grateful that I know that this is the true church, and that I know that God loves us and wants us to return to live with Him again. I also want to repeat what President Uchtdorf said about how He won't force anyone to heaven. It is your decision to listen, and to apply, and to do, and it is also your decision to turn away. He loves you, but He won't force you to be somewhere that you are not happy; He will respect your decision. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Because of Him, I can forgive myself.

I know it's only Friday, but I've been thinking about this all week and this picture that showed up in my newsfeed in Facebook yesterday was the clincher for a post.

So, Monday or Tuesday night, I realized that I hadn't updated my quote of the week. I wracked my brain for a quote, and I settled on one that my roommate kind of brought into my head the other night when I was having a rough time. My quote this week is, "Because He lives, I can forgive myself." He bled and died for me so that I wouldn't have to so long as I turn to Him. I turned to Him for something a long time ago, and I guess I've never really forgiven myself for it. It's hard to forgive yourself, isn't it? But, with His help, and because of Him, we can be forgiven by our Father in Heaven, and, subsequently, we can forgive ourselves. If our Heavenly Father has forgiven us, then He has forgotten it! We, unfortunately, can't forget it. But it serves as a reminder to us that we can be forgiven, and we can be whole again. The Savior can wipe away our tears of regret, as President Uchtdorf says in this picture. He is always going to be there for us, but only we can let Him in. <3

This is the picture that showed up in my newsfeed yesterday.