He brings peace and He sends love.

It's been quite a week! I now have two roommates–they're both FANTASTIC and I love them! My religion class this term is going to be so good, but a little crazy. I think it will be a really good class though. :)

My thoughts during the sacrament were pretty concise today.

"Making improvements." That's something that Rosie said in the opening prayer today, and I loved it. The sacrament is a time to reflect on the past, and focus on making improvements in the future. None of us are perfect, and we all make mistakes, but with the Lord's help, and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we can work on it. We can become better day by day. And sometimes we might falter, and take a step or two backwards, but we can always get up and try again. We can always overcome. It takes time, and effort, but we can overcome, because the help of Him who overcame it ALL–Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. He brings peace and comfort to those who need it, and He sends love and forgiveness to those who ask.

 Today was fast and testimony meeting, and it was so good! Some of my favorite insights today were:

• We need to be humble enough to ask Him. 
• Compare yourself to yourself.
• Just be proactive.
• We are doing our best, and that is enough.
• Christ has suffered everything to help us.
• Sometimes things require a lot of time and patience. He won't leave us hanging.
• When we have an eternal perspective, and the end in mind, we can get past the trials; past the hard times.
• He is there and He is listening. He died and was resurrected for us. Each of us. 

Gospel Doctrine was really great today :)

• We are blessed in all things if we obey.
• When we keep the commandments we have an outpouring of the Spirit.
• God can take our small offering and make it more, make it better. He takes what we give and improves it.
• It's our duty to choose God in all things. Hold on to Christ.

Relief Society was so wonderful! The lesson was based off of President Eyring's talk from the April 2017 Women's Session of General Conference entitled "My Peace I Leave with You". It was such a great lesson! Here are some of my favorite thoughts:

• We receive peace in His way. Not the world's way.
• We can find true peace through Christ.
• Remember. Remember past experiences, past confirmations of your testimony and the gospel. Remember. They will help you in times of trial.
• Rosie said something awesome–she said that sometimes we have times of goodness–that's adding to our testimony and life–in order to prepare us for times of trial and struggle.
• God needs us to be humble, and sometimes He won't take away our trials because it is supposed to help us be humble.

Today was a great day at church. I learned some things I needed to hear, or was reminded of things in a different way. I loved getting to hang out with my new roommates:) I am so excited for this summer! We have a lot of new people in the ward and I am excited to get to know them.

I am so grateful for my Savior. I honestly was really worried and stressed about this summer, and my new roommates, and being away from home for a whole summer (and then some), but He answered my prayers. I am SO EXCITED for this summer now!! I have some pretty amazing new roommates, and I have some summer plans and I think it's going to be an awesome summer!! I've also been a little stressed about my major–fun fact, I am going to be changing it again, I think, but this time I don't have to apply for it! Which, honestly, is such a blessing and just what I need right now. 

Sometimes God waits a little bit to answer us, and sometimes the way that He answers us isn't entirely the way we expected, but I know that He answers us. I know that sometimes things don't go the way that we planned them to, but I know that it's all going to work out. I know that He brings you peace and sends you love when you want it and need it. I hope you have a wonderful Sabbath day and an amazing week! :)

Xoxo

Mattie

Faith can overcome fear.

Today was GREAT! I had an awesome thought during Gospel Doctrine that I'll share in a moment.

First, some thoughts I had during the sacrament.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about people and feelings (not sure why; it just happened). Sometimes we might offend someone by what we say or do, and sometimes we are offended by others. But there is no way that those who offended will know unless you tell them. Sort of going off of that, I read an article the other week that said something to the effect of, "you don't always have to forgive someone to bring you peace. If being angry at them makes you feel good, that's okay." And I remember thinking, "Well, that seems counterproductive." For me, I personally hate being angry/annoyed with someone for a long period of time. Sure, sometimes it feels good to be mad at them, and to not forgive them. But after awhile, there comes a point when the anger or annoyance starts to affect other parts of my life–and not in a good way. Yes, sometimes there are cases where extreme anger or frustration towards someone is warranted, but if you are always angry at them, they've won–maybe again. You are still thinking about them. Their actions still cause you anger and hurt. In forgiving them, though, you win. You've become the bigger person, and you can be at peace. Now, in no way at all am I saying that by forgiving them you approve of their actions. Not at all! But by forgiving them, you can let go of the hurt and pain that they caused you and you can finally begin to heal. Holding on to things for a long time isn't always the best cause of action. Sometimes you have to let go. If you feel like there is no possible way that you could forgive them (because it was too awful), that's okay, too. But don't hold on to it any longer than you have to. Just let it go.

 A couple of things stood out to me in sacrament meeting today:
-Obedience isn't black and white. It's greyscale.
-Sometimes obedience is selfish–we obey not because Heavenly Father wants us to, but because we gain something, like social acceptance or something.
-Sometimes Jesus lets us struggle through challenges in order to help us strengthen our faith in Him.
-Faith can overcome fear.
-Asking for help is the ultimate sign of faith and humility.

In Gospel Doctrine, I had an awesome thought. We were talking about the fulfillment of Samuel the Lamanite's prophecies about Jesus Christ. And we were reading in 3 Nephi 10, where Jesus Christ says, "How oft have I gathered thee as a hen gathereth her chicks?" And someone said that when a hen puts up her wings, the chicks can run underneath her wings, and sometimes she dies protecting her chicks. Immediately I had a thought about the analogy: Jesus is the hen. And when He was up on the cross, His arms were raised up, and He died for us. He invites us to come unto Him always, and His hands are always stretched out towards us. So of course I shared that thought in class (except the italics; that part I only thought of as I was recalling the story to transcribe it to you, dear Reader) and then wanted to share it here because I loved the imagery in that analogy and I'd never thought of that before.

Today was fifth Sunday, so we were combined (in two rooms, I think). Bishop talked about some things before the actual lesson. He said that sometimes challenges in life can help us in our lives. I loved that. Sometimes challenges in our lives help us become who we were meant to be.

The lesson today was on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. He shared four questions that we can ask ourselves (there are many others) to try and decide if we're keeping the Sabbath Day holy.
1. Is my action hold or of service to God?
2. Is it doing good?
3. Does it keep me unspotted from the world?
4. Is it honoring the Lord, or am I selfishly following my own desires?

After that, Sister Anderson spoke to us for a little bit. She talked about the new Thanksgiving Garden statues exhibit, about two of them specifically. The one that depicted the story of the woman who was found in adultery, and the one that depicted Jesus Christ carrying His cross up to Calvary. For the first one, she said that Christ was brought here to love us and save us. Not to condemn us. For the second one, she said that He is here to help us through and to love us. She said that we are going to have to fight and sacrifice to keep our testimonies. I know that is so true. You have to hold on to your faith and testimony. Hold on to what you know to be true. Just hold on.

I'm so grateful for a Savior who knows me, and loves me, and sacrificed His life so that I could return to live with my Heavenly Parents. I am so thankful for the sweet spirit that is in my ward; I love the people in my ward so much and I am always learning things from them. I'm so thankful for the Spirit, and for His love and direction to guide the right answers and actions into my life and for His guidance to me to be able to share with those around me. This has been a crazy couple of weeks and sometimes I was super worried and scared that things wouldn't work out, but they did. I'm lucky to have had my Savior with me to help me get through it. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to be Christ's hands this past week and I look forward to the opportunities I will have this upcoming week. Stay safe and remember you're so loved! <3

Xoxo
Mattie

Remember and hold on to what you know and believe.

The other week I was just thinking about how I still don't know what I want to do with my life. It was making me nervous and unsure, and I mentioned it to my friend last night and she said that that's okay. It's okay not to know; I have my whole life ahead of me. And I really needed to hear that, and I'm so glad it came from her.

I was blessed this weekend with the opportunity to spend time with a bunch of little kids–I babysat for two different families Friday and Saturday night, and today I was able to sub in the nursery at church. :) It was so great! The kids were so cute!!

A couple weeks ago, I started doing something while reading my scriptures. I randomly open my scriptures and start reading until I find a verse that stands out to me. Then, I write that verse down in the front of my scriptures. The first one I wrote down? Moroni 7:33. "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."

Faith.

Lately I feel like that's what I have been focusing on in my blog or thinking about: Trusting and having faith in my Heavenly Father and my Savior. Maybe it's something I need to work on. I haven't exactly ever had trouble with it, but sometimes I think I have forgotten. Maybe that can be (one of) my summer project(s): remembering it and holding on to it. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland addresses it best: "In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited." :)

During sacrament meeting, I was thinking about the song we had sung to prepare for the sacrament. It was "He Died! The Great Redeemer Died", and I wrote this in my notebook:
He died for me. He loves me so much He died for me. Through all of my mistakes, He has loved me and been there for me. I know I'm who I am and where I am today #BecauseOfHim. <3

I know God loves me, and I know He's watching out for me. He knows exactly what I need, when I need it, and He knows when I need to hear something from someone specific. He knows where I'm going, and He knows how to help me get there. So thankful that He sent His Son, and so thankful that He blesses me with great friends and people in my life who love me, believe in me, and want what's best for me, just like He does. And I know that the same applies to you. He loves you and He knows you, He believes in you, He wants what is best for you, and He knows what you need and when.

He will never give up on you! You are too precious to Him. <3