Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to my friends and family! Happy holidays! I hope you've had a great day with your family so far and I hope that it continues to be a special day.

Today we only had sacrament meeting, and we had our Christmas program. The choir sang and so did the Primary children, in addition to narrators who narrated the program. It was a great meeting, and very spiritual.

My thoughts during the sacrament today were:

How grateful I am to be able to go to church on a Christmas Sunday! I'm grateful for my Savior, and for His willingness to come to earth, to teach and minister before He suffered, atoned, and died for us. I'm grateful for His example of how to live on earth, and how to go about life. I'm grateful for Mary, His mother, and for her kind and loving nature, and for her willingness to be the mother of the Savior of the world. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and for His sacrifice–He sent His son to die for us so that we can someday return to live with Him again. He loved and trusted us enough to be able to return with the help of His Son. My heart is filled with love and gratitude for my Father in Heaven and for my Savior. Every day I make mistakes, and every day I can be forgiven. I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to become clean again every week as I take the sacrament. 

I'm so grateful for the Christmas season, and for my Savior. I'm grateful that He was born to save us from our sins. I am blessed with my family, and to have the friends that I do. So grateful for their love, examples, and support. I wish you all the very best in this upcoming year!

Xoxo
Mattie

Do you have room for Him in your life?

So today during the sacrament I was just thinking about my Savior and how grateful I am for Him.

I am ever so grateful for the sacrifice of my Savior. Too often I have made the same mistakes, but He is there to pick me up every time. I've found that change is hard by yourself, so I am grateful that I can count on Jesus Christ to be there for me. He helps me, supports me, and loves me, even when I feel like I don't deserve an of it. He brings peace to my life when I'm stressed, and He saves me when I'm drowning. There isn't any one that I trust like I trust Jesus. I'm grateful that I can depend on and turn to Him in times of stress in my life. 

Not that I didn't love any of the lessons I learned in church today–I did–but I had a few Facebook memories pop up today and I wanted to share and talk about them instead of the lessons in church today.

The memories are two articles about Joseph, and what we know about him and his role in Jesus' life. I highly recommend reading them–the second one is actually a video though. The first article can be found here and the video one found here. We don't know very much about Joseph, but from what we read of him in the few times he's mentioned in the New Testament, we know that he was obedient to God's commandments. We know that he was a just man, and compassionate, and very loyal.

I wanted to talk about Joseph because he helped raise Jesus–he taught Him how to be a carpenter, and how to work hard. I think that much of Jesus' work ethic comes from Joseph. I think that His tenderness and love comes from Mary, but His work ethic comes from watching and learning from Joseph. His obedience and compassion comes from both. I don't think that Jesus could have had a better set of parents to teach and help Him grow. His relationship with His mother was very sweet and beautiful, and it's possible that His relationship with Joseph was one of admiration. I believe that Joseph was very good to Mary, and Jesus saw that, and knew that Joseph was very loyal, and kind, and was a wonderful example.

In addition to these two articles about Joseph, I also wanted to share this music video. Very sweet and very humbling to think about. There was no room for Him in the inn. Our lives are crazy and busy all the time. Do you have room for Him in your life?

I'm so grateful for my Savior, and for His mother, Mary, and for Joseph, and for all that He learned from them. What wonderful examples they were to Him, and are to me.

I know that this week is going to be crazy for us all as we finish preparing for Christmas next Sunday, but I want us all to take a moment or two each day to remember the reason for the season, and the reason for every day. Remember why we have a Savior, and how we can change for the better this upcoming year. I hope everyone has a very safe and beautiful holiday season!

Xoxo
Mattie

Peace and joy are nearness to God.

Finals week is definitely a week of stress. However, I am (fortunately or unfortunately) under-stressed this week hahaha–I know I should be stressed–because I have many things to do on top of my tests which I am definitely worried about a little bit–and I will probably become more stressed when I am taking the tests or as they get closer, but currently at this time, I am not even stressed. Which is fine.

Putting aside finals week, however, I am so happy and excited! I'm going home at the end of the week, and I've got some things I'm working on and it's going to be great! No overthinking on my part. When I was planning it there was some overthinking but I'm past that stage now. :)

I'm grateful for church today! I felt a lot of peace today, which is great. :)

The sacrament hymn today inspired the thoughts I had during the sacrament today–not that it normally doesn't, but today I was just able to pick a certain thought from it:

In the sacrament hymn "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth", the line "Once forsaken, left alone" really stood out to me today. Heavenly Father had to leave His Son alone because He could not bear to watch Him suffer. Because of that, Jesus Christ knows exactly how it feels to be utterly and completely alone. And He will never leave you alone, or comfortless. He was born to save us, and He lived and died to save us all, so of course He will be there for us. That is why He is our Savior–so that He can be there for us when no one else will be. I know that He is always there when you feel like no one else is. He is there. 

 One of the things that was said in sacrament meeting today was something that I loved and had never thought of before: "Peace and joy are nearness to God." As we come to Him, and approach Him, we will be able to feel peace and joy. I loved that. Another thing that was mentioned was that God receives His glories when we grow spiritually. I liked that–as we do good deeds, we are glorifying God.

In Gospel Principles we talked about love. A few things that we said what we thought love was were:
-Sacrifice/Selflessness/Putting someone else's needs before yours
-Love can be pain
-Love is time
We also noted that people feel love in different ways.
Andrew asked if we could love someone we don't know. A couple things we talked about were:
-Through God, you can love everyone. Because God loves everyone, if you love God, you can love everyone through your love of God.
-We also talked about how even though it might be tough at first, as you show love for someone you don't know–as you proceed as if you love them–you can learn to love them. It's like with faith–sometimes you don't have enough faith to do something, but if you proceed as if you have the faith, you will grow in that faith. If you proceed as if you have the love for that person, you will grow in that love and will come to love them.

In Relief Society, we talked about following the example of Jesus Christ.

First we talked about what some things that go into creating a Christlike life:
-Love
-Sense of purpose
-Awareness (for others)
-Obedience
There are many more things, but these are some of the core things that Jesus Christ exemplified in His ministry on earth.

We then talked about how to develop Christlike attributes. First and foremost, you have to work on one thing at a time. It will be easier for you and less stressful. Second, read the scriptures. Sometimes we know that we need to work on things, but we don't know what to work on. By reading the scriptures, you can find some more examples of Christlike attributes and also things that you need to be working on. Remember to see yourself as He sees you, and as you know He sees others. You are His, too, and He loves you and knows your worth.

Then we discussed Jesus Christ's example. He set the perfect example. "What a marvelous example for us to follow! Even in the midst of great personal sorrow and pain, our Exemplar reached out to bless others. … His was not a life focused on the things he did not have. It was a life of reaching out in service to others." (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Howard W. Hunter, pg 308). I'm not perfect–oftentimes there are things that I want but don't have–but one thing that I do know and love and try to do always is serve others. I love serving others in whatever way I can. In serving and making their lives easier, my problems seem to go away. Even if it's a little out-of-my-way, I will drop everything if someone needs me.

The last question that was asked that was more of a thinking question was, "What will you give up to make room for the Savior?" I loved that question because there are many things that I can give up to make room for my Savior. I'm working on that but I thought that it was a nice question to share so you guys could think about that. 

I'm grateful for my Savior, and for His presence in my life. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have to grow to become more like Him. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have to serve and make my family and friends' lives easier (also the occasional stranger). I'm grateful for the strengths I have, and I'm grateful for the weaknesses I have which enable me to develop more strengths. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father and for His love and guidance. I'm grateful for the Christmas season, and the chance that I have to think about and focus on the life of my Savior, and how I can be better about becoming more like Him. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have to find and have peace and joy. I know that as you go out of your way to serve others that you will be blessed. I know that as you come to love those around you, you will be able to love more fully and service will become easier for you. I know that as you turn to your Heavenly Father, not only will you find peace and joy, He will help you turn weaknesses into strengths, and He will help you know what you need to do to change into who He needs you to be. He loves you and knows the sacrifices you make. You will blessed for putting the needs of others above your own.

For those of you in school (learning or teaching), I wish you a (hopefully) relaxing last week of school before Christmas break! For those not, lucky you! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful holiday season. 💕

Xoxo
Mattie

Above any other title or identity, you are a child of God.

I am so grateful for my ward!! I learned a lot of things today that I needed a reminder of. A reminder of who I am and who I can be.

My thoughts during the sacrament:

Christmastime is here, and oh how grateful I am! I am so blessed. I have an amazing family that I love with all my heart, I have awesome roommates and an awesome ward, and I have wonderful friends whom I love and adore. Above all, I have my Savior, who was born for me, who lived for me, who died for me so that I can live and have the strength to get through each and every day. I love Him and am so grateful for His love and guidance in my life. At the end of the day, He has helped me more times than I can count. I am so thankful for His example of how to live my life. I'm not perfect, but I try to be like Him, and I try to be His hands for those around me who need them.

I do it all year-round, but especially at Christmastime. Service is my favorite thing–after my friends and family, of course. :)

Today was fast Sunday, and many things were said in testimonies today that I loved:
-He lived, and still lives. He lived and died for us.
-The Savior needs you. He saw/sees our potential.
-When you struggle, do you speak to yourself like you speak to your family and friends?
-We have to turn to our Savior to turn on the Light.
-If God says it is to be so, it is. If Christ thought that we were worth it to die for, we are.
-Above any other title or identity, we are sons and daughters of God.

Gospel Principles was so fulfilling. We talked about light, and the Sabbath Day, and one thing that was said really stood out to me: The way we heal others is by leading them to Christ. I loved that. Christ is really the only one who can heal, so the way we heal others is by leading them to Christ.

Relief Society was about following Christ, and how He can help us, and how He does help us.
-Jesus Christ understands us and He is there for us.
-No matter what, you still have worth.
-"If we love the Savior more, will we hurt less?" (Elder Hales, Oct. 2016)
-You are not an exception. You are definitely included in the Savior's sacrifice–He suffered for you, and He will help you change and return to Heavenly Father.
-John 14:18–"I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you."
-You're already enough. He cares about who and what you are and can become.
-Christ is the way.
-Christ will complete you, and He is completing you.
-Refining does not take away from your worth.
-Christ constantly has to watch us–heating/refining too much can ruin the silver/us.
-We need to make Him our priority. We were His priority.
-He wants us to love Him and to return to Him.

I am so grateful for what I learned today. I definitely learned a lot of things that I can do better in my life. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have daily in my life to change and be more like Christ. I'm far from perfect and am glad that I have help from my Savior to change and become better.

I love the month of December. Christmas is probably my favorite holiday of all time. Not because I get gifts, but because I get to give gifts and service to my favorite people of all time: my family and friends. Also random people, but mostly family and friends. I love spending time with my family and friends, and I love the opportunity that I have to share the love of my Savior with my family and friends. I hope that this holiday season will be a great one for you and your family. I love you and wish you the very best in these upcoming weeks. I know that our Heavenly Father loves you and is watching out for you. You are His child, and He loves you so much. Turn to Him in all your times of need. He will be there for you, I promise. <3

Xoxo
Mattie