God Wants YOU to Succeed!

Brothers and Sisters it is true; God loves you! He loves all of you no matter what you have done. I testify to you that we have a God, a Heavenly Father, who loves his children, and wants them back in his presence. I know this is true. I know it, I know it, I know it.
Perfect Example: Today.
I am a 'forgetter'.....it's a hobby of mine, I'm real good at it. Today when I called Jimmy John's, for the 3rd time mind you, about my application they FINALLY asked me to come in for an interview!
TOMORROW! It's tomorrow at 10:00. "Does that work for you?"
Heck yes, anything works, I'll take it! "Yes, that would be great." I kindly replied.
"Great, see you then." We hung up.
YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! INTERVIEW!!!!
Psych. Check the calendar. You have an eye appointment, at 9:15, in Bountiful.
:/ What do I do??? Call the eye place, you can reschedule, wait don't you have to do that 24 hours before? No, maybe you'll get lucky, (it's not luck.) so I did it. I called.
"Hello, Dr. Smith's office, this is Peggy." Kind old woman.
"Hello Peggy, this is Samantha, I have an appointment tomorrow and I was wondering if I could reschedule that for later?"
"Umm....we have one that just cancelled at 2:15, does that work, that's the only other time."
ARE YOU KIDDING ME, I LOVE YOU! "Yes, that is perfect, awesome, I'll do that! Thank you so much."
"Well you called at a good time, they just cancelled."
"Thank you! See you then!"
What. Just. Happened.
I was a ball of tears okay, I do that sometimes. Prayer. Thanks. Miracle.
There was no luck involved in that process. There was a God, sensitive to my forgetting hobby, who knew that I was going to be needing that interview, who knew I needed that eye appointment, and he made it all possible. Just like that, because he loves me, and there is nobody else who could love me that much.
It may seem like a small thing, an insignificant turn of events, but to me it wasn't. I might not even get that job, I might not even need a new prescription for my glasses, but God knew that I was on the edge, he knew how badly I wanted that interview, he KNOWS ME. He knows everything about me.
He wants ME to succeed.
And he wants the same for YOU!
And now.... one of my favorite Mormon Messages: Earthly Father, Heavenly Father.
How beautiful is the truth.

Miracles Happen

Do you believe in miracles?? Well if you don't, let me tell you about one that happened to me....
If you didn't already notice... facebook has been blowing up with a lot of stuff lately, primarily focused on same-sex marriage. Well, it was hard for me. I have very strong opinions about the subject because I went through a difficult process to get my mind where it is today. That process, however, does not need to be explained. Suffice it to say that I believe in God, and while I respect and love any person with same-sex attractions and think it CRITICAL that we accept and reach out to people who have these feelings. Not to "change" them, because that may well be their trial in this life and it might not change, but to explain to them that God has a plan and that they can have those feelings, but not act upon them, and still live a happy life. I do not believe in same-sex marriage, I would not vote for it because God has stated his opinion, he has already told us how this should be, and I will choose his side because I love him, and I want him on my side when I need help!
Needless to say, all the facebook junk was driving me crazy. I wanted to explain to people who I didn't even know, things about the gospel. I wanted them to fully understand the position that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hold about the issue. Some people are misinformed, and I was so sad. I was feeling so confused. My roommates and I felt discouraged because of the wickedness of the world. We were wishing it could stop being this way. We wanted the confusion to end, but we couldn't do anything about it.
I was feeling angry inside, and I was mad at myself for feeling this way. I soon realized that I had ignored many promptings to read my scriptures.
I sat down at my desk, I opened my scriptures to where I was in my reading (I personally like to read cover to cover, because any other way freaks me out, I'm slightly OCD.) Heleman 7. That's where I was. I only read the first nine verses that night, because nine verses was enough. It was my miracle, it was everything that I needed to hear packed in nine short verses. I would suggest you look it up (Heleman 7:1-9) But I will try to summarize...
Nephi, Heleman's son preaches the gospel among the land of Zarahemla, and "they did reject all his words". He watched as the people grew more and more wicked, "having usurped the power and authority of the land; laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men." Twice in verse five it mentions doing things according to their own wills, this people had put aside God completely. Nephi wishes he could have lived in the time when the older Nephi had come out of Jerusalem and into the promised land, when the people were righteous. Then verse nine, this is what really hit me.
"But behold, I am consigned that these are my days, and that my soul shall be filled with sorrow because of this the wickedness of my brethren."
It was a miracle to me, it was exactly what I needed to hear at that exact time. It just 'happened' to be that I was in Heleman 7 right when this was occurring. No, things don't just happen. This was personal revelation from God, because he knew I needed comfort and help.
I testify to you that these are our days brothers and sisters! God saved  you for right here, right now. This world is wicked, but you are strong, and that is why you are here! STAND UP! STAND OUT! Be a child of God and don't be afraid to SHOW THE WORLD! You have God on your side, you cannot lose.

"Oh! The Places You'll Go!"

     It's hard, you know: life. Honestly. How many times have you listened to people... "Well if it was easy, you wouldn't learn anything.(insert cheesy grin here)" Do you ever just want to shake them and say, "I KNOW! But I just want you to agree with me! I just want it to be a little bit easier!" All the time, and yet, all the time I am humbled by a father who only wants the best for me. It's not until after any trial that I can say, "Thank you Mr. Gardener, thank you for loving me enough to cut me down." (D. Todd Christofferson "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten")
     It's hard when you only see the pains of life which, mind you, are everywhere(IF you look for them). Want to know something? If you are looking with the right eyes you will find that the world is full of greatness!! That greatness starts in YOU! Do you believe me?? You might not, but you should. Because it's true. Just as you can find the bad in just about anything, believe it or not, there's good there too! There are flowers everywhere, and (I don't care if people use this way to much....'cause I like it) the flowers are SO MUCH BIGGER than the thorns! Find them, find the flowers and love them!
     Where do you even start? Where else but yourself?! When you love yourself you can love everything! If you can't love yourself, how will you love anything else? I know it can be hard, but the reward is so much greater than what it takes to get there. The hardest part is looking yourself in the mirror and not only finding all that greatness, but telling yourself: "Self. You are amazing! Look at your body, look how it works, what a miracle, I am a MIRACLE!"
     This isn't being boastful, promise, you can do it. You are God's creation! Imagine that....."...the most powerful being in the universe is the father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love." (President Uchtdorf, You Matter To Him)
     There is nothing wrong with loving yourself, there is nothing wrong with knowing that you are a child of a God who loves you, a God who wants you to know that "You matter to him!" If you don't love yourself how can you ever grow to become who God sees you as!?
     You can do it, I can do it! Let me tell you why.... because you've got fans on earth!!! If you think you don't(even though you really do! I'm your fan!) you have way more fans in heaven, and they are AWESOME! They want you to succeed!! God wants you to succeed!!!! How comforting is that to know "...the most powerful being in the universe..." wants you to succeed. :D

"You're off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!"

Waiting On Someday

     Have you ever been in a position where you had no control? That's how I feel right now. I'm waiting for this date that is going to determine the next year and a half of my life, but until I figure that out, I have absolutely no control. I was going crazy until about a week ago. I'm still very anxious, this is something that is constantly on my mind. However, I developed a plan, a plan to stay busy.

     Service.

It's a nice word. :)

It's also a very nice distraction. 

     There are some people who are just phenomenal at this, they are so aware of everyone around them. They are always ready to serve the next person that walks into their life. I admire people like this.

     True story: I was trying to donate plasma yesterday, March 4th, and I was in my own little world. I was just sitting in the lobby, almost completely full of eager doners, playing a game on my phone. (Nerd alert: I'm obsessed with Mahjong tiles, it's bad.) A young woman sat down next to me, I didn't really pay attention. A few minutes later a man behind me piped up. "Miss, would you want me to switch you seats so that you two can sit by each other?" What? I hadn't even noticed! She had walked in with a man, and she sat down by me, because there weren't any places with two seats. "Are you sure?! Oh my goodness, thank you so much!" Ha! She was SO happy! Look at that. The young man sitting behind me got up and moved to the seat next to me, and continued studying his anatomy(I love anatomy!). He was so aware, they didn't say anything, they were just going to spend the long wait sitting apart from each other. As they sat next to each other behind me I listened to them help each other study. I was just witnessing service all over the place, it was fantastic! Seriously people, you're amazing.

     It makes me sad when people say that our world is full of bad people, because it isn't. There is good everywhere you turn! It's amazing. I love this place.

     Look, you forgot what I was talking about in the first place didn't you? Well good! Because that's the point, service makes you forget  yourself, forget the bad things, and it makes you focus on JOY! It makes you focus on God, because we know that "when [we] are in the service of [our] fellow beings, [we] are only in the service of [our] God." (Mosiah 2:17) Fantastic.

     So my plan, my plan was to serve the people that I have a hard time getting along with. My roommate Kenzie reminded me the other day, whilst I was complaining about something, "Sam, the best way to love someone is to serve them." I have been placed in the way of so many wise and wonderful people. For that I am grateful.

     This world is incredible, indeed God has filled it with his finest children! Until my "someday" comes, I will continue to look for service, to better myself for the people who I will serve with my whole heart the next year and a half. Now I will patiently wait, and I will fill my time with love, the love that God wishes to send to his children.

     

Could I doubt the Lord?

Well hello there:)
This blog is more for me than anyone else. However, if you are reading this, welcome:)

Elder Tanner Spriggs
Rancagua, Chile
March 13

Today has been incredible. I have been blessed with the most amazing friends anyone could ask for. I know a lot of people have been saying this lately but I just want to reiterate it. How incredibly humbled I am to have so many friends going on full time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
There has been SO much talk about missions since October, when the announcement was made that young men and women could serve missions at younger ages. It used to bother me. It used to bother me a lot, but my attitude has been changed as I have been put into my place by my Father in heaven for the negative feelings I had.
It bothered me that so many people were just 'up and going,' "They didn't even think about it," I thought to myself. I was upset. I look back now and feel frustrated at myself that I felt that way. I can still see why I did, and I can understand why other people would think that too. Here's why I feel frustrated though, I judged those people. I thought to myself, "They don't know what they're getting into, they didn't even think about it." What?! Really? How did I know that? I didn't. I wasn't even sensitive to other peoples reactions, I was selfish, because I didn't know what was right for me. I was upset because of other peoples success and confirmation. This reminds me of Elder Holland's talk, (Thanks to Rachel for telling me the actual name of the talk, and I always ask her.... You know that one talk where they talk about this.... she knows the reference more often than not. I definitely look up to her and her knowledge.) The Laborers in the Vineyard where he says: "Brothers and sisters, there are going to be times in our lives when someone else gets an unexpected blessing or receives some special recognition. may I plead with us not to be hurt--and certainly not to feel envious-- when good fortune comes to another person? We are not diminished when someone else is added upon. We are not in a race against each other..."

Elder Korbin Smoot
Kampla, Uganda
March 5

Now I can see how I was wrong, and I am glad I know what I do now. I know that the Lord wants his work to be hastened, and it's not about "people going just because." That's not what it is, and that's not what it is supposed to be about. This is about the great revelation given to our prophet through Jesus Christ himself, to hasten his work. He wants more missionaries because he wants his brothers and sisters to know of him, to "follow thou me" (2 Nephi 31:10) and be baptized. Our father in heaven wants his children to come back to him, and how could I have ever for one second doubted him. Once again, I feel so humbled to have had this realization for myself, so that I can look on the great hastening of the work with positive feelings and not worry about what anyone else thinks.
I was feeling scared, I was losing trust in the Lord because of my decision to serve a mission. I was feeling like everyone was against me, I felt like people were looking down on me for being young and wanting to go 'just like everyone else'. When I was in the middle of all this my best friend, Joseph Brewer, said something to me that I don't intend to forget. He said, "Sam, they aren't doubting  you, they are doubting the Lord." Wow. I realized that is what I was doing with people, people I didn't even know, because I was jealous; jealous that they had gotten answers that I had yet to receive. God has made this announcement because at this time "the youth today are stronger than they have ever been before in the history of the Church" (President Thomas S. Monson, Church Leaders Discuss the "Hastening of the Work") God knows what he is doing, we cannot for a second doubt him, and his confidence in his children. If you are feeling inadequate or feeling lost you have to remember that God loves you. God believes in you. God wants  you to succeed. God's opinion is the only opinion that truly matters.

Elder Matthew Mathias
Indianapolis, Indiana
February 27

I do believe a mission is a very personal thing. It just took me a while to realize what that meant. It is not going to be the same for everyone; personal, you see. I laugh at myself for being so ignorant. I thought, "Well if it's so personal then why does everyone talk about it all the time, why does everyone have to post it on Facebook, why does everyone invite people over when they open their call?" I was confused. My personal way of going about things is more of a private matter. Someone else's personal way of going about it might be to share it with people. I am glad I realized this because, Wow. How AMAZING! I am so grateful for the friends I have, I am so happy that I have so many incredible people in my life that are so proud of what they are doing! They are so happy to be serving the Lord, and they want to share it with people. What is wrong with that?? Nothing. There is nothing wrong with it. It is so amazing that we have such strong and confident youth. I feel so blessed to call them my friends.
This has been on my mind a lot lately, it really just feels nice to let it all out.
It's nice to know that we live in a place where we know the truth, where we can know of God, and worship him as we please.I know that any mistakes I make can be made right through my savior Jesus Christ. I know that even if I did doubt the Lord, even if just for a second, that I can be made clean again. I can have my faith in the Lord fully restored because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that God is on our side. When I am doing the Lord's work, he is going out of his way to give me reassurance and blessings that I certainly don't NEED, but maybe just want, because he loves me, and he wants me to continue following the path that he sent his son to establish. I know this is true. I know it with everything inside of me. I am so grateful for the truth I have in my life.