You're worth it to Him.

How you view yourself is very important. You are a child of God, and He loves you very much. He loves all of His children very much. This is something I posted on Facebook a while ago:

He loves you for who you are. You don't need to change for anyone. God loves you for you, and He made you just the way He wants you. He is so aware of you, He sends you people when you need them, or He sends you experiences when you need them, and sometimes even when you don't want them and you feel alone. You are NEVER alone, ever, because Jesus Christ is always there beside you, and Heavenly Father sends you the Holy Ghost when you need comfort. You are not too anything for Him. He is our King, and we are His children, and He loves us beyond anything we can ever imagine. He never wants you to be alone, and He never wants you to feel alone. 

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. ~~ D&C 18: 10

In February 2011, about six or so months before my family and I moved (and whether I knew it or not I couldn't tell you; I can't remember), I came home from school one day to hear my mom say, "Mattie, you got a package in the mail." "Who's it from?" "No idea." So, naturally, I opened the package. Inside, I found a little card with an angel on the front, a little angel statue, a little pink flower, and a little green gem. I opened the card and I read, "Faith means not needing to see where you're going to know you'll get there safely. Even though you can't see what lies ahead, please know you already have what you need to come out of this an even stronger person. May this flower show you your inner beauty, this gem your great value, and let this Angel guide you to your potential." I may have lost the flower and the gem (accidentally, of course! They were so cute!), but I still have that angel, and the card, and I will treasure them until the day I die, because moving from one city to another was really difficult for me. Because I had grown up there, meeting and getting to know new people in our new home and neighborhood, sometimes I'd be reminded of Orem, and sometimes during that first year I really missed Orem. But I would look at that angel and I'd read that card and I'd think, "I can do this. I can get through this." God knew me enough to know that moving would be hard for me, so He had someone (whom I will forever be grateful for) send me a package that I still read every now and then when times get tough. He knows exactly what you're going through, and He doesn't want you to go through it alone, nor does He want you to go through it not knowing what you're worth to Him. You are so worth it to Him. He sent His Son so that we can be resurrected and live forever with Him if we follow Him. He wants us to come home to Him. He wants us to know that we are worth it to Him. You are worth it to Him. 

Patience is a virtue.

So, for another personal progress project, I'm drawing my violin. Drawing, if you didn't know, takes time and patience. Much like the gospel. You need patience to learn and understand the teachings. I think patience is an important aspect of the gospel. I have eight siblings all younger than me, and six of them are boys. Sometimes I have a hard time being patient with them, because I am older and more experienced, so when they are doing something that I have already experienced or know what the outcome will be, and I tell them not to do it or I try to help them solve their problem and they don't listen, I get frustrated. I feel sad that they didn't trust me enough to listen. Much like our Heavenly Father when we don't follow His teachings and the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He feels very sad when we don't follow His advice and teachings, which were made specifically for us in this day and age. Patience is a virtue, and one I often wish I had more of. It just happens to be something I struggle with. Some people don't; it's easy for them, but some people do, and I am one of them. But patience is an important aspect of the gospel because we don't know everything. We don't know all that is in store for us at the end of this life, and sometimes I think that is a little frustrating to some people. But if we're patient and we endure to the end, I'm positive that it will be worth it in the end. There are some parts of the gospel that just revolve around patience. Prayer, for example, revolves around it. Sometimes you don't always receive an answer right away, and you get frustrated. You just need to remember that God is always listening and He always answers our prayers, but in His own time. We need to be patient and respect that. He'll give us answers when He knows we're ready for them. Faith also requires much patience. You don't just immediately receive faith. You have to work for it and be patient. Studying the scriptures takes time. You don't immediately understand them. It takes patience to study and understand them. Patience is very much a part of our everyday lives, and it revolves around the gospel, like I said. But if we keep our cool and respect others around us (God and ourselves included), I think that, in the end, the reward will be very sweet indeed.

Introduction.

Hey, guys! So, for my Personal Progress, I decided that I wanted to do a blog on different aspects of the gospel. These first couple of posts might be a little different, but as I get into it more I think it will make more sense. So, here's the deal: I'm going to try and post something every day, and you can ask me questions that you might have or if you want a little more insight or a non-biased opinion. I might tell stories to help set my view across, so bear with me as I might also go off on tangents. But here's my first gospel topic:

The first topic, and the most obvious one, is faith. I'm sure we all know what faith is, but just in case, here's a couple definitions I found:
1) "Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true (Heb. 1:11; Alma 32:21), and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone (King James Bible Dictionary)."
2) Firm belief in something for which there is no proof; allegiance to duty or a person (Merriam Webster Dictionary).

As you can see, there is quite a wide definition of faith. However, I am going to shorten it a little bit and share with you my definition of faith. I believe faith is [centered in Christ], hoping and believing in unseen (but true) things. Does that make sense? Faith in Christ is the first step to keeping Him in your heart.
Now, you may be thinking, "How do I get faith in Christ? I'm not quite sure if I have enough, or even if I have any." Well, the first step to having faith in Christ is to read the scriptures, whether it be The Bible, The Book of Mormon, etc. In order to have faith in Christ, you need to first understand His teachings. It won't do you any good to turn to Christ and have faith in Him if you have no idea what He teaches and what He is about. After you've studied the scriptures, you need to pray. Pray to Heavenly Father and ask Him if it is true. You might not get an answer immediately, and that's okay. Keep reading and praying. It may be that you need to know more of His teachings, or you need to learn one specific thing that you haven't yet. I know that I learn different things every time I read my scriptures. Even the same verses. After you've received an answer, guess what you get to do next? You get to repeat the whole process for the rest of your life!! Isn't that amazing? There is so much stuff in the scriptures, you can study them your whole life and still learn new things every time you read them. There is so much stuff in the gospel that I haven't learned yet, and I can't wait to learn it. Christ is waiting to open His arms to you; He loves you and wants you to be happy. You need to have a whole lot of faith to be able to keep Christ in your heart, and that starts with a little seed of faith. It may be a mustard seed, or a rosebush seed, or a lily seed, or an apple tree seed, but a seed's a seed.