Today's the day.

99.999999% of the time, I don't know what I'm doing. With my life, with me. But thankfully my Heavenly Father does, and my Savior knows Heavenly Father's plan for me. So I can turn to Him for help. Trying to live my life the way I want to doesn't always work. But when I let go, and turn to my Heavenly Father for help and guidance, things fall into place, and I am happier. Don't get me wrong–I still make mistakes–but letting go of how I wanted my life to go and focusing on how God knows it goes makes me happier. I know He knows what He is doing and will guide me to where I need to be. I've never felt more at peace than when I let go of what I thought I wanted to do and asked God what He knew I needed to do, and found that that really was what I wanted to do.

A couple of things were said over the course of today that I loved that I am going to share:
-You can always start over. Today's the day. (I love Brother Wilhite! So thankful for this message he shared today.)
-God is so mindful of us. (He knows us. He knows what we're going through and what we need.)
-You need to maintain your testimony. (You can't help and share your testimony if you don't have a strong foundation, and if you don't maintain your testimony.)

I know that I make mistakes–so many!–but I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to repent each week and start again. Today's the day to start–or start again–and make goals and try to be better this week. I'm so grateful that I can depend on my Savior and turn to Him when I need help. I'm so grateful for my Heavenly Father, and for His love. I'm lucky to know that I am a daughter of God, and that I have a divine nature and destiny.

I know that God loves you. I know that He is watching out for you. He's blessing your life in many ways all the time. He sends you people that you need in your life when you need them. I know that He knows you personally. I know that He sent you to earth for a purpose. You are here for a reason, and you are important, and wanted, and loved. ❤️

Xoxo
Mattie

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