Everything He did, He did for us.

I love going home. I am so thankful for the Christmas season. I love my Savior and am so grateful for His birth, life, and sacrifice. I would no be where I am today without Him. I have been given so much help and strength from Him, and He has sent me people I've needed–they've either been friends I've needed, lessons I needed to learn, or they've been a source of love, help, and strength. Sometimes they've been all three. I am so grateful for them though. No matter what I learned or gained, they were what I needed at the time. I wish I could understand...I wish we could all understand why we all have to go through hard and painful things, because sometimes it feels like they will never end and that there aren't lessons to learn from them, but I know that there is a lesson. Someday, you will know the answer. I know that you are learning things from each and every experience you got through. And you are becoming a better, stronger person for it.

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you are able to remember the reason for the season. Christmas is a time to remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for His sacrifice and His willingness to come to Earth to be born to save us all. He was born to save us, He lived to save us, and He died to save us. Everything He did, He did it for us. I am so thankful for Him. I do not know where I would be without Him, and I do not want to find out.

I am grateful for His mother, and for her willingness to give birth to Him, and to teach Him how to be kind, and considerate, and compassionate, and loving. I am so thankful for Joseph, and for his willingness to teach Him hard work, and diligence, and strength. Because through these lessons to Him, I have learned how to be this way.

I hope you have a safe and warm and happy Christmas! God bless you!

Xoxo
Mattie

Because He was born.

So grateful that I was able to have two Christmas-oriented sacrament meetings! My YSA ward last week, and my home ward this week. Both were absolutely beautiful meetings. So grateful for the power of music, and for the testimonies that were shared through the messages of the words sung today, as well as the Spirit that was felt throughout the whole meeting.

I would like to talk about Christ today, since this Friday is Christmas!! I can't believe it! It feels like I just started college, even though I literally just finished it on Friday. It's been a busy semester, and this month has been especially busy as I tried to balance school, work, and thinking about Christ and the true meaning of Christmas.

Jesus Christ was born in the humblest of places: He was born in a stable in Bethlehem. His first bed was a manger filled with hay/straw. His birth is the reason that we celebrate Christmas but Christmas is a time to remember the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Last year, I found this quote that I love by Elder Holland:

“You can’t separate Bethlehem from Gethsemane or the hasty flight into Egypt from the slow journey to the summit of Calvary. It’s of one piece. It is a single plan. It considers ‘the fall and rising again of many in Israel’ [Luke 2:34], but always in that order. Christmas is joyful not because it is a season or decade or lifetime without pain and privation, but precisely because life does hold those moments for us." ~Jeffrey R. Holland ("Shepherds, Why this Jubilee?" 2000)

I love this quote. His birth and His Atonement are intertwined. They're part of the same plan. Because He was born, He was able to live a perfect life and be the perfect example to us. Because He was born, He was able to save us. Because He was born, He was able to die for us. Because He was born, He was able to be resurrected after His death. Because He was born, we can live again.