He answers you in unexpected ways.

Loved today's lessons. Not quite what I was looking for but they were still great. :)

My thoughts during the sacrament today were short but sweet:

I've had much better luck reading my scriptures and praying this week. Still not 100% perfect but I'm working on it. :) I am so grateful for my Savior and for His love and grace. This past week was weird and started off okay (I think...I don't remember) but didn't end quite as well. I hope that I will find answers today as to why things happened/didn't happened. 

I was looking for answers but didn't exactly get the answers I was expecting. I did get answers today but just not what I thought I would get or that I wanted.

The topic in sacrament meeting today was conversion, which is a great topic and I learned some new things.
-We need our Savior to change. We can only do so much by ourselves; we can't fully change in the way that our Heavenly Father knows we can without our Savior. 
-You have to be born again/converted in order to inherit the kingdom of God.
Three things in order to have personal conversion:
-Listen (to the prophets, Holy Ghost, personal revelation, etc.)
-Commit (commitment is often a mental process)
-Do (what's a commitment if we don't act?)
-As we're converted we'll find ourselves doubting less.
-What is your attitude through trials? Do you try to rely on the Lord, or do you complain that you have to go through it?
-Yield your heart to Him daily. Conversion is a daily lifetime commitment.

We talked about baptism in Gospel Principles today. Someone said something interesting that I'd never thought about before. We were talking about one of the reasons for baptism is for a remission of sins. Someone said that when she thinks about remission, she thinks about cancer remission, and how that means it (the cancer) may come back. And you need to take care of yourself. And the same is for the remission of sins–they may come back so take care of yourself. Keep trying. You can get better over time. Another interesting thing that I suppose I should have figured out by myself was that strait (as in the strait and narrow) doesn't mean "straight". It means like rigorous, an uphill battle. It will not be easy. But it will be worth it.

In Relief Society we talked about the doctrine of Christ. Which is:
-Faith in Christ and His Atonement
-Repentance
-Baptism and the sacrament
-Gift of the Holy Ghost
-Enduring to the end
A couple of things that stood out to me today were:
-repentance is a daily process. And we can't expect more for ourselves than He does.
-if we recognize following the doctrine of Christ is the only way, we will be more inclined to do so.

I definitely wasn't looking for answers in any of the topics covered today, but I found some anyway. Funny how that works. I received an answer more in the way I was looking for yesterday but I wanted more of a confirmation in that way today but I got a different answer instead. I'm blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father who knows what I need to hear, even when I was looking for something else. I'm looking forward to my scripture study and prayers this week, as well as trying to find peace. I'm grateful for my friends and family and for their love and support. Life just isn't as sweet without them, and I'm grateful to love and be loved by so many.

Xoxo
Mattie

Conversion helps us become something better.

Okay, I've been thinking a bit about what to write today. Last week after thinking about what to write, I wrote a poem (which can be found here if you're lazy ;) ) and it turned out better than I expected. Pretty sure today won't be another poem.

Anyway.

Today in sacrament meeting the topic was personal conversion. So I thought that I would address that because I feel like since conversion is an ongoing process, we need to be reminded about how to be converted quite often. 

• Conversion, as I said before, is an ongoing process. It's something we have to work at daily.
• Conversion is helping us become something better–a better version of who we were meant to be. If we're not becoming something, then we're not being converted.
• We will know that we are progressing when a couple of things happen: 1) When we lose our desire to do evil; and 2) When we see things, and people, as Christ does, and when we do what Christ would do.
• One thing that I loved that someone said was that personal conversion doesn't always happen because of some big event or some big thing. It's often because of small and simple things that great things are brought to pass (Alma 37:6).
• Another thing that I loved was that you can't become converted without a testimony. Your testimony is the basis of your conversion, and if you don't have a testimony, you can't become converted.
• Also, you can't share your conversion. Like, you can't say, "Hey, friend, I got converted because of this" and then your friend is converted. No–it doesn't work like that. You have to work on your conversion yourself. 
• Just like a testimony, your conversion begins with a seed. It is also deeply rooted to your testimony. 
• Our hearts should be continually changing. Because if it's not, then we're not being converted because conversion is a continual change/process; so, our hearts should be continually changing, too.
• This life was never designed to be easy. I'm sorry, but it's true. If it was meant to be easy, then we wouldn't have to go through such hard things, and we wouldn't be able to change our hearts and our selves. Trials make us stronger, can bring us closer to Christ, and they can help us on the path of conversion.
• Anything that stands in our way of personal conversion/testimony isn't worth it.

In Relief Society we talked about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. Kea shared a quote by President Howard W. Hunter that I loved: "No matter our status in life–no matter how much or how little money we have, no matter our possessions or careers–God can work through us and with us to do good in this world." I love that. Joseph Smith was a 14-year-old boy who had a question, and that question led to the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ on this earth. You don't have to be a giant world power or a famous person to be able to do something great for God, or to be able to speak to God, or to be able to receive an answer from God. Just be you.

Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has shaped me into who I am today. Being able to depend on and turn to my Savior when I am going through something tough, or when I need forgiveness, or when I need comfort, has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. The other blessing is that I, in turn, get to help my friends and family (and sometimes random strangers). I get to help them physically, and emotionally, and spiritually, and it's the best feeling in the world!!! I love helping my friends and family with whatever it is they need help with. I love being Christ's hands. I know that He would love to be able to help us all physically, but He can't, so He sends us people. He sends us our friends and family, and sometimes He sends us random strangers. I love being the person that He sends. I love representing my Savior. I know that I won't always be able to represent Him as perfectly as I'd like to, but I do my best, and I am grateful that He is there to help me know what I need to do for each person whose life I touch. 

I'm not perfect, and I struggle with things, but the one thing I don't struggle with is helping others. I can't help it–seeing the smile on their face when I help them, or seeing the gratitude on their face, is worth it–it's worth more than all the mashed potatoes and gravy in the world. (FYI, mashed potatoes and gravy are my favorite food in the entire world, which says something about how much I love serving others: way more than my favorite food)

I'm so grateful for all of the opportunities that I've had and will have to serve those around me. I'm so grateful that those opportunities bring me closer to my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful for Their love and support, and I'm so grateful that They are there for me whenever I need them, and I'm so grateful for all of the people They've sent to me when I've needed them. I know that They love us, and that Jesus Christ died for us, to save us from our sins, and our sorrows, and our iniquities. I know that because of Him, we can live again. I know that we will be able to see those who have passed on again. Because of Him, we can be together again. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.