I feel with my whole soul.

So, late last night I had some random thoughts that I wanted to develop on my blog today, but...well, sleep happened and I forgot them. BUT I did have a thought today before church that I wanted to share:

Sometimes I think that I put too much effort or emotion into things. But I've recently come to the conclusion that I'm just passionate about them–and the passion spreads deep into my soul. I'm passionate about music–it makes me happy and fills my soul with love and peace. I'm passionate about the Gospel–it makes me so happy and fills my soul with love and peace. I'm passionate about my family and friends–they are a big part of my life and it makes me happy when all is right with them. I can't help but be passionate about these things. They are the most important things in my life, and I love to share them–or stories about them–because they make me happy, and I want to share my happiness with others because I love making people happy. I hope to someday be able to make a difference in someone's life. I'm not perfect, and I've made a few (dozen) mistakes in my life, but the one thing that has never failed to be right is to make others happy. And by making others happy, I make God happy. And that brings me peace. 

I've realized that I feel things with my whole soul, and I can't help it. But I do want to make others happy, however I am able to do that, and sometimes the way to do that is by being my regular, passionate self and sharing those things that I love with those that I love. :)

Today during the sacrament, I had a thought about one of the lines in the hymn, "There Is A Green Hill Far Away". This is a great hymn, and one line always stands out to me, and today I finally put words to why it always does. The line is, "He only could unlock the gate of heav'n and let us in." No one else could save us all. Only He was perfect enough. But He can only unlock the gate for us if we come unto Him. He's willing to do so, but we must make the effort and come unto Him.

Okay, I absolutely LOVED the lesson in Relief Society today! We talked about the parable of the lost sheep, which obviously reminded me of my blog post entitled "One" where I talked about that parable. Sadly I do not know the girl's name who was teaching today but I loved some things she said: "No one will ever be one of the 99 for 100% of their time on earth." I loved that. We will all be the lost sheep at one time or another. It may be a long time that you are lost, or a short time, but you will be lost at one point (this is nothing against you, it's just that we are all imperfect people who fail sometimes, and sometimes we get lost for a ways, but it's okay. You can find your way back. I know I did). She also said that "Even if you turn away from Christ, He will never turn away from you." One of the last things that we talked about was the fact that we need to be His hands. He cannot be here, so we need to find, serve, and love His sheep.

So, this song, to me, encompasses all three of the most important things to me: music (obviously), the Gospel, and family/friends (and this one explains my love of music/the Gospel). I'm so grateful that I've found important things to be passionate about, and that I've never stopped. They've always been important to me, and they will never stop being important to me. When I'm around them, or when I'm interacting with them, I feel at home, I feel at peace, and I feel loved. I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father, who has given me everything I've ever needed, and has a plan in store for me that will probably blow all of my dreams out of the water. I'm so excited to be able to find His plan for me as I go throughout my life, and I'm so grateful that I will have my family and friends alongside me to help me figure it out. :)