He is patiently waiting.

I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to go home for Thanksgiving Break. It was much needed!! And even though I'm 100% not ready for the next 3 and a half weeks of school (and I'm super nervous about finals), I am 100% well-rested for the next 3 and a half weeks of school. So! That should carry me through the rest of this week. ;) But honestly it's been a fantastic weekend and it has been so relaxing to spend time with my family, and to not worry about school every minute of every day. :)

Life is tough. And decisions are hard. Mistakes are made ALL the time. And sometimes it feels like there is no turning back. But there is. God is there, patiently waiting (and I mean honestly, 100% patiently. No inward groans of "Why is she taking so long?" or "Who let him make that mistake again?" He honestly is just patiently waiting) for you to admit you made a mistake, or come to terms with your mistake and move on through the stages of repentance with His help.

Some of the ways that we can make less mistakes/sin less were talked about in a couple of meetings today, and I wanted to discuss a few of them. Also I had some answered prayers in Sunday School and Relief Society today, so that was absolutely wonderful!!

First thing we can do to help us make less mistakes to serve others. There are so many opportunities to serve all around us. We just need to pray for eyes to see, and opportunities to be there, and then we need to look and watch. They will be there. As we serve others, we won't be worried or focused on ourselves, and thus we won't make as many mistakes or sin as much.

Second thing we can do is to follow the prophet, and listen to our Heavenly Father, and obey His commandments as much as we can.

Third thing we can do is to read the scriptures. Specifically the Book of Mormon. Every day. Yep. I said every day. Or try to read it as many days in a week as you can. It's okay if you accidentally miss a few days. God understands. You should just be patient with yourself. You can't always have a perfect scripture studying record because you're human and you make mistakes. You forget things. It's okay. We've all been there. By reading the Book of Mormon daily (or mostly daily) you will be blessed with the ability to make better decisions. You will be immunized against the evils of today, and against harmful addictions like pornography. You will receive answers to your prayers. And you will receive hope. All these blessings were found in President Nelson's October 2017 Saturday Afternoon Session of General Conference talk entitled "The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?" It's an amazing talk and I need to go over it again because it is such a great talk! I'm so glad we talked about it in Relief Society today!

Fourth thing we can do (and the last one I am going to talk about today) is we can put on the whole armor of God. To do that, we need to:
1) Have our loins girt about with TRUTH. God's truth. By knowing His truths, we'll be able to run/go further in the gospel.
2) Have on the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS. One way to do that is to keep your covenants. This helps keep us on the right path to God. Truth and righteousness give us a solid base and keeps us where we need to be. Remember that sometimes, though, we will lose battles, but also remember that we haven't lost the war yet!
3) Have our feet shod with the Preparation of the GOSPEL OF PEACE. The gospel of peace is like the spirit/attitude of being a peacemaker. We need to prepare for all different kinds of trials and hard times that we might go through. Spiritually and physically.
4) Take up the shield of FAITH which helps us quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Faith helps protect us from our doubts. Unlike a real shield in war, the shield of faith gets STRONGER the more you use it! So, use it often! The focus of our faith should be centered in Christ.
5) Put on the helmet of SALVATION. Salvation is an individual matter, and the Plan of Salvation is focused in Christ. He can help keep us safe.
6) Take up the sword of the SPIRIT. And the Word of God. The best way that we can fight Satan, and the darkness, is with the Spirit and the Word of God.

I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon! I've been having to read it for my religion class and it has blessed my life! I've seen amazing miracles happen in my life and I know it's because I've been studying the Book of Mormon. I know that God patiently waits for us to take steps in the right direction, and He will always wait for us to come back. I love this cartoon because I think it shows us who Jesus is. He really does love us and is ready and waiting for us as soon as we turn back to Him.

I had a really wonderful Sunday and am so grateful for the time I spent with my family. I am ready to finish this semester (hopefully!) and I am ready to go out with a bang!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you have a wonderful week this week!

Xoxo
Mattie

The Book of Mormon brings peace, clarity, and answers to my life.

I am so thankful for the sacrament. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to renew my covenants with God, and to start the week anew. Sometimes I make mistakes, and sometimes I make the same mistakes, but I am learning! I might make the same mistakes, but sometimes I quit while I'm ahead. I think to myself, "Mattie, you're better than this," or, "Mattie, you can overcome this. You're strong enough," and I choose to stop, or I choose to get up and change the situation, and go serve someone. Sometimes our trials and temptations seem like they are bigger than us, or have a hold on us so tight that they won't let go, but at some point, we can overcome. Not all the time, and not always right at the start, but a lot of the time, and early enough. One thing that honestly and truly helps me is reading the Book of Mormon. I have been reading every day for my Book of Mormon class, and it has helped me so much! Yeah, sometimes I slip in my trials/temptations, and I make a mistake again, and I fall backwards. But once every couple of weeks now versus sometimes every other day then is PROGRESS! And I welcome and am proud of that progress! 

We all have our own struggles, our own trials, our own temptations, and they're all different, and require different answers. But I know that the Book of Mormon helps us find those answers. It helps us find peace. It helps us find clarity. It helps us heal and become whole again as we turn to our Savior and trust in His Atonement.

Last night, my roommate and I were studying 3 Nephi 19, and I noticed that Jesus went away from His Nephite disciples three times to pray, much like when He was giving the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Except this time, His disciples were still awake and praying when He comes back. One other thing I noticed is that in 3 Nephi, this is happening during the day, and there is a lot of mentioning how white and bright everything is. In the Garden, it's nighttime, and His disciples keep falling asleep. I don't think the similarity between these two events is a coincidence. I never made this connection between the two events before, and I thought it was just an amazing connection to make. (Another thing I just thought about is that three is such a powerful and repeated number in the scriptures. "Three is a magic number.")

I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting today and I honestly don't remember it at all! I was so terrified, my heart was pounding, and I was struggling to keep my body upright, but I knew I had to get up and say something because I had been thinking about the Book of Mormon during the sacrament and I knew that I had to express my gratitude for it, and how it has helped me through this semester, and through some of the trials I have been going through lately. (Of course, the moment I sat down after I was done bearing my testimony, my heartbeat was back to normal. Glad I can depend on it to keep me calm during moments of extreme terror ;) )

I'm grateful for the lessons I learned in church today. I didn't specifically take too many notes, I mostly listened today, which is all right. Sometimes you just need to listen. Today I just needed to listen, and feel, and take into my soul. I am grateful for my ward–I learn something new each and every day just from interacting with my friends, and they are all so wonderful and insightful and bring new insights to the gospel that I've never seen or thought of before. I'mg grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows just what I need and cares enough about me to send me what I need, and to bless me every day.

Xoxo
Mattie

I am learning.

First things first: I had the opportunity to go to the BYU Spectacular with some friends last night and it was AMAZING!!! Kristin Chenoweth is fantastic, and Gentri and Vocal Point were awesome! So thankful that I had the opportunity to see it with them, and I'm glad they had fun!!

Second: I missed posting last week because it was General Conference and I had a lot of stuff going on. But! I have a lot of things that I learned in this past week, and am still learning, that I wanted to share:

I am learning that I can do hard things.

I am learning that I am more capable than I realize.

I am learning that I am not alone.

I am learning that I am strong.

I am learning that I can be happy, even when I'm going through tough things.

I am learning that God loves me so much, He's saving me from a lot of pain.

I am learning that I am loved.

I am learning that patience is a virtue.

I am learning that emotions are sometimes REALLY HARD to deal with!

I am learning that I have the roommates that I need in my life right now.

I am learning that I can't always fix things.

I am learning that stress doesn't fix anything.

I am learning that you can't always see the other side.

I am learning that you can't let the past define you.

I am learning that you can't let the past get ahead of you and keep you from your future.

I am learning that God's plan for me isn't the same as mine, and that our timelines probably aren't even close to being similar, but I'm also learning that that's okay.

I am learning that peace comes from the Book of Mormon, especially when I'm stressed.

I am learning that life is hard, but I am so tough, and I have God on my side.

Some of these things I've already previously learned, but had forgotten. Some of them are new.  Either way, they're all still worth knowing and learning. It's been a crazy week, and I've had a lot going on, and I've been through a lot. I've had a lot of talks with my roommates, and I've learned way too many things about myself in one week than is probably healthy haha but it has been helpful. My roommate gave me a few goals to work on in the next couple of weeks, and I think that they will help me in one aspect specifically, but I've learned that generally they all blend together, so it will probably help me in more than one.

I am grateful for my roommates. They show so much strength in times of hardship and sorrow. I'm so grateful that they are all kind, loving, and have such wonderful testimonies. I am learning lots from them every single day, and I am so grateful for that.

Xoxo
Mattie