It's time to start.

I’m in the middle of wedding planning right now, and it’s been taking up my every thought.

But today I was able to take a step back, and I realized something.

I realized that sometimes, life is HARD. Planning a wedding is HARD. Trying to get a new job is HARD. Trying to spend time with my family, friends, and fiancé (hahaha the three “f’s”) can be HARD. Trying to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ is HARD. Trying to live as He did, and to live the gospel, is HARD.

There are days when I am looking and looking and planning and planning but I get nothing done. There are days where I don’t have enough time to spend with my loved ones. There are days where I fail multiple times at being a good disciple of Christ. There are days where I don’t live the gospel as well as I would like.

This is NORMAL. Everyone struggles. We are all struggling at life. It’s not always big or noticeable, but we are always struggling. It’s important to remember that we are all loved and cherished by a loving Father in Heaven. He knows how we are feeling, and that we are struggling. He wants to help us but we need to turn to Him. We need to ask Him for help. We need to do our part, and then humbly kneel and ask in prayer for His help and guidance. We need to be prepared to move forward with faith.

We don’t need to feel overwhelmed. We need to remember to just start doing SOMETHING. Start by praying for peace. Or guidance. Start by reading the scriptures. Or conference talks. Start with ONE thing. And God will help you. You just need to start.

We also need to remember that when we ask God for one thing, He will often give it to us in a completely different way than we asked or intended for. That’s okay. He knows what we need. We just need to be open to the possibility that what He gives us is different than what we asked for, but that it must be what we need.

Happy Sunday! Hope you have had a peaceful Sunday and that you have a wonderful week!

Xoxo
Mattie

He brings peace and He sends love.

It's been quite a week! I now have two roommates–they're both FANTASTIC and I love them! My religion class this term is going to be so good, but a little crazy. I think it will be a really good class though. :)

My thoughts during the sacrament were pretty concise today.

"Making improvements." That's something that Rosie said in the opening prayer today, and I loved it. The sacrament is a time to reflect on the past, and focus on making improvements in the future. None of us are perfect, and we all make mistakes, but with the Lord's help, and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we can work on it. We can become better day by day. And sometimes we might falter, and take a step or two backwards, but we can always get up and try again. We can always overcome. It takes time, and effort, but we can overcome, because the help of Him who overcame it ALL–Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. He brings peace and comfort to those who need it, and He sends love and forgiveness to those who ask.

 Today was fast and testimony meeting, and it was so good! Some of my favorite insights today were:

• We need to be humble enough to ask Him. 
• Compare yourself to yourself.
• Just be proactive.
• We are doing our best, and that is enough.
• Christ has suffered everything to help us.
• Sometimes things require a lot of time and patience. He won't leave us hanging.
• When we have an eternal perspective, and the end in mind, we can get past the trials; past the hard times.
• He is there and He is listening. He died and was resurrected for us. Each of us. 

Gospel Doctrine was really great today :)

• We are blessed in all things if we obey.
• When we keep the commandments we have an outpouring of the Spirit.
• God can take our small offering and make it more, make it better. He takes what we give and improves it.
• It's our duty to choose God in all things. Hold on to Christ.

Relief Society was so wonderful! The lesson was based off of President Eyring's talk from the April 2017 Women's Session of General Conference entitled "My Peace I Leave with You". It was such a great lesson! Here are some of my favorite thoughts:

• We receive peace in His way. Not the world's way.
• We can find true peace through Christ.
• Remember. Remember past experiences, past confirmations of your testimony and the gospel. Remember. They will help you in times of trial.
• Rosie said something awesome–she said that sometimes we have times of goodness–that's adding to our testimony and life–in order to prepare us for times of trial and struggle.
• God needs us to be humble, and sometimes He won't take away our trials because it is supposed to help us be humble.

Today was a great day at church. I learned some things I needed to hear, or was reminded of things in a different way. I loved getting to hang out with my new roommates:) I am so excited for this summer! We have a lot of new people in the ward and I am excited to get to know them.

I am so grateful for my Savior. I honestly was really worried and stressed about this summer, and my new roommates, and being away from home for a whole summer (and then some), but He answered my prayers. I am SO EXCITED for this summer now!! I have some pretty amazing new roommates, and I have some summer plans and I think it's going to be an awesome summer!! I've also been a little stressed about my major–fun fact, I am going to be changing it again, I think, but this time I don't have to apply for it! Which, honestly, is such a blessing and just what I need right now. 

Sometimes God waits a little bit to answer us, and sometimes the way that He answers us isn't entirely the way we expected, but I know that He answers us. I know that sometimes things don't go the way that we planned them to, but I know that it's all going to work out. I know that He brings you peace and sends you love when you want it and need it. I hope you have a wonderful Sabbath day and an amazing week! :)

Xoxo

Mattie

"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you."

Today was ward conference! It went by sooo fast!! It was a really great day!

My thoughts during the sacrament today were more of a reminder to me but I know that I'm not the only one who needs to hear them:

Hoping and wishing (and praying) for things in our life that we want or need is something that everyone does. But we forget to leave it to the Lord, or to do our part, and we get frustrated when things don't go the way that we wanted them to do. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all, and sometimes it doesn't happen for awhile. Either way, the Lord knows what He's doing. Sometimes you just have to let go and trust Him. He'll take care of it. 

We got to hear from Bishop Anderson in sacrament meeting today and I loved everything about his talk:
-All things change when we anchor on a future reward.
3 things that will help (us anchor on that future reward):
1) Diligence
-Anything that is good and righteous takes effort
-Don't stay down. Get back up.
2) Having the Spirit with you
-It's not how the sacrament is passed, but why it is passed.
3) Nourish your soul
-Don't worry about opposition/resistance. It will come.
-Scripture study, prayer, attending church, etc. is how you get spiritual nourishment.

President Acerson also spoke:
The theme of conference today was Doctrine and Covenants 88:63-64
-There are blessings that will come–maybe not in this life, but they will come and all will be made right.
-We understand doctrine through the Spirit.
"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you"

The last two hours were absolutely fabulous! The stake Relief Society president, Sister Radmall, spoke and she's great! I love her!
First she mentioned three things she told her kids when they were looking for a spouse and I thought they were great:
1) They need to have a testimony and be committed.
2) Find someone who can make you laugh.
3) Someone you're somewhat attracted to.
Then we watched this video and talked about the three things that cause us to resist receiving blessings. They were Fear, Doubt, and Sin. The way to overcome these can be found in Doctrine and Covenants 88:63-43. :)
*Seek~through the scriptures
–Ask~in prayer
**Knock~through obedience
*Scriptures are little packets of light.
*They have potent power to heal and help.
–The moment you say "Father in Heaven", He hears you.
–Heavenly Father can helps us in things both large and small.
–Prayer can result in miracles.
**Obedience leads to tender mercies.

President Radmall also spoke:
-In life, we often want an alternate ending that we decide.
He decided to focus on one specific line of the conference theme scripture:
"That is expedient for you"
In order to come accept the Lord's answers to our prayers, especially when it is a non-answer or an answer we don't like, we should do a couple things:
-Express gratitude for all things.
-Ask the Lord "what lack I yet? Is there something I've forgotten that needs correcting?"

President Moon:
He focused on the line:
"Seek me diligently and ye shall find me"
-Start with why.
-It (the Gospel) is true, because He lives.
-There is a plan specifically for you.

One last thing President Acerson said was, "Heed promptings and allow the Lord to lead and guide you."

It's been a good day. I soaked up and learned so much today. The three hours flew by so fast, I didn't even think it was three hours. Around 12:30 I was like, "It's 12:30?? There's half an hour left? No way!" I was really surprised. It was a good meeting and I was sad that it was over. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to hear from our stake leaders and hear messages that the Lord wanted me to hear. I heard some things that might be answers to my prayers but I'm not quite sure so I have to do some more looking. But that's okay, it'll be fine. Turn to Him, and walk to Him, and He will walk to you in return. :)

I'm grateful that I go to school at BYU; it's been such a blessing in my life. I love my ward, and my roommates, and my professors. I am so blessed to be where I am, physically and also in my life. I love my Savior and am so grateful that I can turn to Him, especially this semester as it's been tough in many ways. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Parents and for Their love and support. I am grateful for the heavenly help that I have been given in my life. Some things have been beyond my power but I've had help beyond the veil and I'm so thankful for that. I hope that everyone has a great week this week, and I hope that you know that you're loved and wanted and you're absolutely vital to this earth; you have so much to give to the world.

Xoxo
Mattie