Into the unknown.

This last week has been a little crazy! My sister had her wedding reception Thursday and then got married Friday, and so we spent all week finalizing preparations. The reception and wedding were both very beautiful. My sister made a beautiful bride and I am very happy for her and proud of her. 

This week is Thanksgiving, and I am very grateful for all of the blessings in my life. I am grateful for my Savior, and my Heavenly Parents. I am grateful for the love that I feel from Them, and for the blessings that They give me in my life. I am grateful for the opportunities that I had to attend college and increase my education. I am grateful for my job, and for the happiness that it brings me to work with my kiddos. I am grateful for my parents, and my siblings–new brother-in-law included. I am grateful for my friends, and for all of their love and support during my trials in the last several years. And I am grateful for my boyfriend, who is the sweetest and most thoughtful guy, and who is the best blessing in my life right now. 💜

My life hasn't always gone the way that I had hoped that it would, but I know that this is something that everyone struggles with. Life doesn't always go as planned. God has a bigger plan for us. And His timing is always perfect–even when it doesn't seem like it is. We don't always know why things happen when they do–or don't happen–but not knowing why can often help us increase our faith and trust in the Lord. As of right now, I don't know why God's timing is perfect for me right now.  Sometimes it's really hard to trust the Lord, especially when it doesn't feel like He is listening. But as we are praying in a way that means God can actually answer our prayers, we can come to better understand His plans for us. Sometimes His timing doesn't feel perfect, and sometimes it doesn't seem like I can hear Him answering me, but I know that eventually–whether in this life or the next–things will all make sense. 

As we step forward into the unknown (phrase courtesy of Frozen II and its soundtrack, which I conveniently saw yesterday evening and I HIGHLY recommend everyone sees! I recommend seeing it blindly but you can do what you want), we are facing our fears. We are trusting God and trusting ourselves, and standing tall and taking a step into the dark. The future is unknown, but as we strive to follow God's plan for us, we can come to take things one moment at a time and even though it might not always make sense, it will always be a lesson or a blessing–something to learn from, or something to grow from. 

A bit of a shorter post today, but if you're interested, on Friday I posted on my Facebook page about my sister's wedding and some tips on relationships from President and Sister Nelson. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful week preparing for Thanksgiving this week! Remember to count your blessings and be thankful. I know that I am going to be focusing on gratitude and my blessings this week, and for the rest of the holiday season this year. 

Xoxo

Mattie

He can't answer us if we don't listen.

So, for the rest of the summer, until I'm back home from Bear Lake, my blog schedule and posting will be slightly different. I don't have wifi at camp, but we go to Garden City on Sunday for sacrament meeting, where there is wifi. I'm going to work on my blog posts on Saturday now, and post them on Sunday right after church, instead of working on them Sunday afternoons. I will still try to incorporate things I've learned in previous Sunday lessons, but mainly it will probably be a lot of just personal thoughts that I've had during the week as I've studied my scriptures and hung out with the scouts and staff. I don't entirely know, though, so we'll see what happens. :)

This week was CRAZY!! Not only was I still packing to prep for camp (which I left for on Friday), but it was the last week of school for my siblings, I volunteered to help at my brothers' school for field day, and my brother graduated from high school!! It was a fun week though! Lots of family time. :)

Today, I want to talk about understanding and recognizing the Spirit. In my Book of Mormon, I have a little note that I wrote awhile back. It says, "Have faith and try again". When I wrote it, I think I intended for it to be about my goal to be reading the scriptures and praying daily. While I still will apply it to that, it can be applied to almost anything. Are you struggling to be kind to someone who is always mean to you? Have faith and try again. Are you struggling to understand how to be patient? Have faith and try again. Anything you are struggling with–have faith and try again. With God, you can do anything you put your mind to.

As I was studying my scriptures last night, I wrote a few notes and wanted to share a couple of them. 

I was reading in Moroni 10:32, which says, "Yea, come into Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." And I was thinking to myself, Heavenly Father wants me to succeed. He wants all of us to succeed. He has given us all specifically what we need to succeed. But we have to go to Him. We have to do our part. He can't help us if we don't listen. 

Again, Moroni 10, but verses 4-5, which says, "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." And I thought to myself, You need faith and an open mind to be able to hear the Spirit and receive revelation and answers.

He can't answer us if we don't listen. And He can't answer us if we don't have faith. Having faith requires letting go of what you want and believe, and trusting that Heavenly Father will give us an answer. Sometimes it won't be the answer we wanted, but it will be the answer we need to succeed. Because that's all He wants for us. He wants us to succeed, and return to live with Him again. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! It's June! And summertime! And time-for-adventure time! Remember to be safe, and wear sunscreen when you're going outside. And remember that God loves you, and that I love you. Life is better when you have friends that you love and live for. 💜

Xoxo

Mattie