You have purpose.

Sometimes you can feel like you're lost. Like what you're doing isn't important. Like you're not making a difference. But in the words of one of the speakers in stake conference today: "You have power. You have purpose [emphasis added]. Part of His [Heavenly Father's] greatness is in you." Stake conference today was great. I am so sad I missed last night's session (I had to work) but I heard what I needed to hear today. 💜

This morning I looked up a few different talks and I want to share portions from each of them. 

"Our divine nature has nothing to do with our personal accomplishments, the status we achieve, the number of marathons we run, or our popularity and self-esteem. Our divine nature comes from God. It was established in an existence that preceded our birth and will continue on into eternity." 

I loved this quote from Sister Wixom. Our divine nature is this inherent part of us that comes from God, giving us the will/desire to reach out towards others.

"Every day the world seeks to influence your desires, enticing you to buy something, click on something, play something, read or watch something. Ultimately, the choice is yours. You have agency. It is the power to not only act on your desires but also to refine, purify, and elevate your desires. Agency is your power to become. Each choice takes you closer to or further from what you are meant to become; each click has meaning. Always ask yourself, 'Where will this choice lead?' Develop the ability to see beyond the moment. Satan wants to control your agency so he can control what you become. He knows that one of the best ways to do this is by trapping you with addictive behavior. Your choices determine whether technology will empower you or enslave you." 

Elder Ridd then went on to give four principles to educate us and influence the correct use of technology: 1. Knowing who you really are makes decisions easier. If you know that you are a child of God, you will have such a desire to serve Him and His children; 2. Plug into the source of power. Be spiritually charged. It's important to have a fully charged cell phone, but it's more important to be spiritually charged, so that you are able to do God's work, and serve His precious children as He would have you do; 3. Owning a smartphone does not make you smart, but using it wisely can. "Be there when you are there." When in class, focus on the lesson. When with friends, give them your attention. Be in the moment; 4. The Lord provides technology to accomplish His purposes. We know our way around technology, and should use it to share the Lord's message throughout the world. 

"Your light has made a difference to me and many others [emphasis added]... Because a patriarchal blessing is not meant to be a prediction of all that will occur in the life of the recipient, we should seek and follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost to receive greater understanding for our course in life. The teachings of the gospel are always a guide to a full understanding of our destiny and privileges. For example, patriarchal blessings may not mention that a person will be married or have children, but we are taught in the gospel to marry in the temple and have families. We can follow these gospel teachings on our own, without specific personal direction... Sometimes young women think that because they have made mistakes, they are not worthy to receive a patriarchal blessing or that they have disqualified themselves from the blessing they have already been given. Remember, the foundational teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ is faith in Him and His power to atone for our sins. 'Satan wants you to think that you cannot repent, but that is absolutely not true.' When we take the sacrament each week, we commit to change our lives for the better. We should always be trying to become a new person who is more like our Savior Jesus Christ... your patriarchal blessing will help you know that you have a noble birthright."  

Sister Beck's insight into patriarchal blessings and our noble birthright was really helpful for me. I especially loved that first line that I bolded because the other day I felt like I wasn't really doing anything in my life that was making a difference in someone else's life, and this was one of the first lines in her talk, and I needed it.

I am so grateful for stake conference, these talks that I found and learned from today, the music on my church Spotify list today, and I am especially grateful for a friend of mine who called yesterday to check up on me–I'm so thankful for her thoughtfulness and love. This weekend was a little odd for a couple of reasons that I won't go into, but it was also a nice weekend full of answers to my prayers, and I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father, who knows what I need, and how/who I need to hear it from. He also knows what you need. My dear Reader, you have purpose and are so, so loved. 💜

Xoxo
Mattie

Today was kind of hard. But that's okay.

So, as the title says, today was kind of hard. But that's okay. Hard times make me stronger (though, I'm going to be honest, sometimes I wish I could become stronger in other ways). This morning was super fun–I went to rehearsal today and, though some of the pieces are challenging, I am excited. It's going to be so much fun!! Plus, I love spending time with my friend. :) After rehearsal, though, I was just so overwhelmed. I have a nature experience proposal due in Biology on Monday and I have absolutely NO idea what to do. It has been bothering me all day, and it is what has made today hard (that, plus the fact that my shoulders/back are super sore for who-knows-why and are killing me). But I was really looking forward to the General Women's Broadcast tonight. :) I was super excited!! I was not disappointed!! It was such a great session! I loved it! I am so excited for General Conference next weekend!! There were SO many good messages spoken that I needed to hear!!!

Sister Rosemary M. Wixom said:

Life is a gift, and God has a plan for each of us.

Our divine nature comes from God.

Because you are His child, He knows who you can become.

I love this. This is such a great reminder that we are His, and He has a plan for us, and all that we have been blessed with comes from Him. <3

Sister Linda S. Reeves said:

We will be blessed if we exercise faith in our Father and go to Him.

The reward is so great, so eternal...

As we keep our lives pure and clean...we will one day receive all that the Father hath.

I love this! We will be blessed as we keep His commandments–I love that she got emotional as she talked about how, when we see the Father in Heaven, we will be amazed at how awesome the reward is, and how all we had to do was get through our trials that seem extremely hard now, but, in the end, will be nothing compared to the reward. <3

Sister Carol F. McConkie said:

We must love one another and see in one another the beauty of the soul.

In the strength of the Lord we can do all things.

We repent so that we may be better.

"In this cause [FYI, she said that "we are here to serve a righteous cause"] we are all valued. We are all needed. The righteous cause we serve is the cause of Christ. It is the work of salvation."

I love this. I can't even add anything to it. <3

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

He told a story about a young girl who visited her Great-Aunt Rose over the summer while the girl's mother recovered from a surgery. These are some of the things he said as he told the story:

If we trust Him, we can find the brighter, happier things in life.

The best things take patience and work.

Brooding and worrying makes it worse. (this stood out to me in particular. <3 <3 <3)

God didn't design us to be sad. He created us to have joy.

Now is part of eternity. 

Faith will fortify every step of the way.

I love President Uchtdorf! This was such a good talk! I loved the story! Such a cute story, and very relatable. <3 <3

I absolutely LOVED this session!!!! God is watching out for me and He knows exactly what I need. <3 <3 <3 Can't wait for next weekend!!!

Xoxo
Mattie