The most important thing you can do as a human is to LOVE.

***I am apologizing in advance for the scatterbrained nature of this post, but this is just kind of how it happened in my head. I don't entirely know how to fix it but I hope the images help. :)

First and foremost, for those of you who only follow me on my blog, I made a big adult decision this week and I bought my first car!! I'm soo excited to finally have a car, and I'm so excited to be able to not rely on my parents for rides anymore!! It's a cute little Geo Prizm and I'm excited to be able to drive it (just as soon as I get it registered this week). I am finally feeling like I am sort of starting to get ahold of my life, and it's a great feeling. :)

Be yourself.

Okay, so now that that's out of the way, this has been a great week! I have learned a lot and I have come to some conclusions about myself and what I want, and need, and I am excited to move forward from here. One thing that I have learned this week is to just be yourself! I know that this is something that people say all the time, but it really is true! You will 1) be more happy because you don't have to pretend to be a different person, and 2) learn that people need you for who you ARE, not for who you think other people want you to be.

Integrity

Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

Integrity is a lot of things, but I think the definition of integrity that I love the most is: integrity is being the same person no matter where you are, or who you are surrounded (or not surrounded) by. If there happens to be two random people who know you, and they get to talking about you, they will be talking about the exact same version of you because you are always yourself, and you are always the same person, no matter the setting. It's important to be honest with others, but it's also important to be honest with yourself. But how can you be honest with yourself if you're not always yourself? Be true to yourself, no matter where you are. 

Struggle

One thing that I was thinking about during Sunday School today as were were discussing the story of Job was that it's okay to struggle. Even Jesus struggled. No one in the whole history of Earth has escaped the trial of struggling with something. Everyone struggles, has struggled, or will struggle with something. We are not perfect, but even He who was the most perfect being on Earth struggled. We are in good company! He knows how we feel! And He will be there for us when we need Him.

You are special.

Sister Larsen read the story "You Are Special" by Max Lucado in Relief Society today. Let me tell you, friends, that this is my ABSOLUTE favorite children's book, but there are several others by Max Lucado that are close seconds and thirds. ANYWAY that is not the point of me mentioning that story. 

For those of you who have never heard this story before, this story is about a town of Wemmicks, who are little wooden people that were created by Eli, the woodworker (you can hear some British guy reading the story here). The Wemmicks all have boxes of little gray dots, and little gold stars, and they put them on other Wemmicks based on their looks, and what they do. There is a little Wemmick named Punchinello who only has gray dots, and he meets this Wemmick named Lucia, who has no stars or dots. He asks her why she has no dots or stars, and she says it is because every day she goes to see Eli, the maker. So Punchinello goes to see Eli one day. And there is where my favorite quotes of all time happen. 

"What they think doesn't matter, Punchinello. All that matters is what I think. And I think you are pretty special." 

Punchinello asks, "Why do I matter to you?" Eli replies, "Because you are mine. That's why you matter to me."

"The more you trust my love, the less you care about their stickers."

"You are special because I made you. And I don't make mistakes."

This story is an allegory–its deeper, hidden meaning is that this story represents our relationship with Heavenly Father. We are the Wemmicks, and He is Eli, the woodworker. He made us just the way we are, and He doesn't make mistakes. 

Value

Our value comes from God. We came to Earth with value. It just exists. We can't add to or detract from it. It is simply always there. Just like God's love for us. He loves us deeply, and forever. 

He will help you understand as you turn to Him.

People will always judge us, and give us "stickers" or "labels". But they only stick if we let them. If we turn to God, and trust in Him, and trust in His love, and trust in His ability to create things perfectly (not that we are perfect, He has just made us perfectly), the judgements and opinions of others won't matter quite so much. Eventually, hopefully, they won't matter at all. 

Life is certainly difficult, and we all have things to overcome, but I know that as we turn to God, and trust in Him, life will be easier to deal with. I'm not saying that things will become perfect overnight, or that you'll never have trials or challenges ever again, because that is definitely not true. But what I am saying is that having God on your side, and knowing that He is there to help you, and to lift you, will make things easier to bear. As you turn to Him, and trust in His love, you might not get the answers you want, but don't lose hope. God is there for you, forever and always, and He will not let you down. He is leading you, guiding you, and walking beside you. He's there to help you find your place in this world, and He is there to help you find your path. 

Nothing is more important than your relationship with your Heavenly Father and your Savior. Sadly, people will come and go in your lives–either physically, or socially. Sometimes you will grow apart. Whatever the circumstances are, there is always going to be change in the relationships in your life. However, your Father in Heaven, and your Savior, will always be there for you. Their love for you will never change, and They will always be there for you, even if you go away for awhile. So the most important relationship you can have is with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ because They will never leave you. The only way for you to not feel Their love is for you to fall away. But no matter what happens, They will always be there. And you can always come back to Them through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

I am in no way an expert in any of this. These are just my thoughts and feelings. I know life is different for everyone, and everyone has a different relationship with God because not everyone needs the same things from Him. However, I do know that He loves us with all of His heart, and with every fiber of His being. He loves us SO MUCH, I can't even describe to you nor fathom the deepness of His love. 

Love and respect

All we can do, as human beings, is love and respect each other. The most important thing that everyone on Earth needs is love. It really shouldn't be that hard, but sometimes it is. I know–though I love most everyone, sometimes I get frustrated with people. Shocker, I know, but it's true. Sometimes people's actions frustrate me. But I have come to realize that there is NOTHING I can do about it. I can't force people to talk to me when they don't want to, I can't force people to be kind to others, I can't force people to do anything. So I just try to do my best to be myself. I do my best to be kind, and I do my best to not let other people's actions get to me. And I do my best to be as Christlike as possible. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it hurts, especially when people judge without knowing anything about what they are judging. But I try to remind myself that I am doing the best that I can, and that is all that I can do. And I know that (or at least, I hope that) other people are doing the best that they can do, too.

Xoxo
Mattie

He makes up the difference.

Well, I made it through last week!!! It was super tough, but I know that my Savior was helping me. :)

Today in church, the focus was on Christ. Well, it always is, but it was more of a focus on Him.

Sacrament meeting was so beautiful!! <3

Hannah talked about service as an attribute of Christ:

• God blesses us through others! I know this–countless times I have needed to hear something or I've needed someone to listen, and someone said exactly what I needed, or they asked to hear about me and my day. 
• She said that we need to let others serve us. Sometimes it's hard to let them, but we need to let them. It's hard to serve someone who won't let you serve them.
• Even small acts–they may seem insignificant–but even small acts can have a significant impact on someone's life.
• Service will help us come unto Christ, and it will help us become more like Him. <3

Batchlor talked about how to come to know and find Christ:

• We need to read the scriptures.
• We need to obey the commandments.
• Loving others makes all of the other commandments fall into place.
• We need to find comfort in the right places–we need to find comfort in the Savior and in our Heavenly Father. Only they can bring us true comfort.
• Just know that He will carry you through your trials.

Charity's talk was about our relationship with Jesus Christ. She read this absolutely beautiful letter that she was given at a youth conference, I believe, that was written to us from the perspective of our Elder Brother, the Savior. It made me cry! It was so beautiful, and just exactly what I needed to hear. 

• She said that if we don't put in the effort, the relationship won't be there. This is so true. Christ is ready and waiting–all we have to do is knock. 
• It's our responsibility to draw near to Him. We have to have a desire for the relationship. 
• He knows what is best for us, and He wants us to choose that.
• Blessings will come as we seek to develop that relationship with Christ.

Nick talked about missionary work, and coming unto Christ. He read an amazing poem that I loved, and I am going to share it with you because it spoke to me. 

It's called "After All We Can Do", by Robbie Pierce:

"I had been in that hole for a very long time—In the dark and the damp, in the cold and the slime. The shaft was above me; I saw it quite clear, but there’s no way I ever could reach it from here. I could not remember the world way up there, so I lost every hope and gave in to despair. I knew nothing but darkness, the floor, and the wall. Then from off in the distance I heard someone call: "Get up! Get ready! There’s nothing the matter! Take rocks and take sticks and build up a fine ladder!" This was a thought that had not crossed my mind, but I started to stack all the stones I could find. When I ran out of stones, then old sticks were my goal, for some way or another I’d climb from that hole. I soon had a ladder that stood very tall, and I thought, “I’ll soon leave this place once and for all!” I climbed up my ladder, a difficult chore, for from lifting those boulders, my shoulders were sore. I climbed up the ladder, but soon had to stop, for my ladder stopped short, some ten feet from the top. I went back down my ladder and felt all around, but there were no more boulders nor sticks to be found. I sat down in the darkness and started to cry. I’d done all I could do and I gave my best try. But in spite of my work, in this hole I must die. And all I could do was to sit and think, “Why?” Was my ladder to short? Was my hole much too deep? Then from way up on high came a voice: “Do not weep.” And then faith, hope, and love entered into my chest as the voice calmly told me that I’d done my best. He said, “You have worked hard, and your labor’s been rough, but the ladder you’ve built is at last tall enough. So do not despair; there is reason to hope–just climb up your ladder; I’ll throw down my rope.” I climbed up my ladder, then climbed up the cord. When I got to the top of it, there stood the Lord. I’ve never been happier; my struggle was done. I blinked in the brightness that came from the Son. I fell to the ground as His feet I did kiss. I cried, “Lord, can I ever repay Thee for this?” He looked all about. There were holes in the ground. They had people inside, and were seen all around. There were thousands of holes that were damp, dark and deep. Then the Lord looked at me, and He said, “feed my sheep." And he went on his way to save other lost souls, so I got right to work, calling down to the holes,“Get up! Get ready! There is nothing the matter! Take rocks, and take sticks, and build up a fine ladder!” It now was my calling to spread the good word–The most glorious message that man ever heard: That there’s one who is coming to save one and all, and we need to be ready when He gives the call. He’ll pull us all out of the holes that we’re in and save all our souls from cold death and from sin. So do not lose faith; there is reason to hope: Just climb up your ladder; He'll throw down His rope."

I just love that! At one point in my life, I felt like I was in this hole, and not only was my Savior there, helping me to get out, I had a beautiful friend who's been a great example to me who was helping me, too. Finishing his talk, Nick said that coming unto Christ starts by exercising a particle of faith and nourishing it.

In Relief Society, we talked about how we can live a Christ-centered life. True joy is found in living a Christ-centered life. I am so blessed to be a member of this church and have the true Gospel of Christ! I wouldn't be who I am today without my Savior, and I know that He has delivered me from many things that I couldn't do myself. I have to rely on Him every single day, because I need Him every single day. He gives me strength when I can't go on by myself anymore. He makes up the difference because He loves me, and He wants me to be able to return to live with my Heavenly Father.

It's always your choice.

This year we are focusing on The Book of Mormon. I'm so excited! I love that book!! I know that it is true. If you want to know if it is true, then you should read it and pray about it. Pray about it a lot. It might take a couple of days or even weeks (because God's timing is different than ours) but the Spirit will testify to you that it is true. Only you can learn for yourself if the things of God are true.

In Gospel Doctrine, we talked about how "faith precedes the miracle". Seeing is not believing, someone said, because Laman and Lemuel saw an angel at the same time as Nephi and Sam, and yet, in the end, Laman and Lemuel lost their faith. Nephi desired to see the vision that Lehi had seen, and because his heart and desire was righteous, he was able to see the vision that his father had seen, and he was able to come to understand it.

In Relief Society, Jillian gave the lesson on prayer, which was so great and definitely inspired because I needed the lesson today (I'm trying to get back into the groove of scripture study and prayer and I'm not going to lie–it's a little hard. All of my homework this semester is reading, and not just one chapter or half a chapter. For two of my classes, we have to read giant chunks of reading, one of them due every class period, and the other due ever other Friday, I think. Anyway, it's been difficult to find time for everything. Even if I read all of my assignments for my classes for two hours, that's EIGHT HOURS! That's insane!! I just need to divide my time better. I'm still working on that. Anyway, so finding time for scripture study is a little hard. I'm going to try something different this week and we'll see if it works). Megan commented something that I've heard before but this time it really stuck with me. "If it's important to you, then it's important to Him." Heavenly Father knows all, but He still wants us to pray to Him! Tell Him about your day–tell Him about your worries, and your struggles–because He wants to hear from you. He wants to bless you–ask Him for help, and for blessings. He wants to have that relationship with you, but He can't do that if you don't do your part.

In sacrament meeting today, Paige said that you have to put "time and effort" into the scriptures/Book of Mormon". Honestly, they are just sitting there, waiting for you to open them. This same principle applies to your relationship with God. He is waiting for you to come to Him. He invites us to "come unto Him". You have to do your part. Also in sacrament meeting, Jared quoted Elder Neil L. Andersen: "Your faith will grow not by chance but by choice." This applies to your relationship with God, as well. You have to consciously make the decision to get closer to Him.

Every part of the Gospel and the Church is your choice. No one can gain a testimony for you. No one can develop your relationship with God for you. Only you can gain (or lose) your testimony, and only you can develop (or repress) your relationship with your Heavenly Father and your Savior. It is always your choice, whatever way you decide to go.

When we went to the temple on Friday night, after we had done baptisms, we sat in the chapel and read the scriptures for a few minutes before we decided to head back. I was trying to find something–anything–that would help me with a question that I had. I randomly came upon Mosiah 16. This chapter in general stood out to me, but several verses in particular hit home, a few of which I will share:

7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.
8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

I don't know why these ones stood out to me, but they did. Because of Christ, we can live forever. I guess I just needed the reminder that yes, people die, but because of Christ, we will be resurrected and we can live forever. So I need to try my hardest to be the best I can be. Yes, it will be hard, and yes, it has been hard, but I am not alone because Christ is always with me, and it will all be worth it in the end.

Just remember that it is your choice, not anyone else's. No one can force you to gain that testimony or relationship with God. If it comes to you, then it is because you realized for yourself that it is true.