Well today is going to be a very interesting post. I am still in the process of processing what has been happening in the last few hours. Yet I feel like it is a tender mercy and I am still not quite sure how and yet I do. Now that I have totally confused all of you I will tell you what has happened. Last night or sometime during the day I received my visa to go to Brazil. Totally great and amazing and exciting you would think. I thought that 6 months ago that would be the case. Do not get me wrong I am but I am not all at the same time. That is where the tender mercy comes in. I was not overly excited about leaving. In fact I was really upset that I was leaving.
So how is this a tender mercy? Good question and the best answer I can come up with at this point is that my Heavenly Father has allowed me to make friendships here and fall in love with the people in Northern Virginia. He has allowed me to make this part of my life. I would not trade this last 6 months for anything. Even being in Brazil. I have learned so much. Those things I could not have learned had I been in Brazil. So yes this time here and feeling sad has been a tender mercy of the Lord.
They say saying goodbye on your mission becomes easier. I would like to say I have yet to see that. If it would though I feel like I would be less likely to have an open heart to those around me. I would close part of my heart off to people. I am so happy to have gotten to know the people that I did to feel the love that I have. I know there are bigger things out there awaiting for me to learn and tender mercies for me to see in Brazil. Part of me though will always and forever be in Northern Virginia!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Remeber Remember!
Over these last few days I have been pondering about past experiences. These moments in time that we remember. Some good some not so good. Why do remember these things? I have slowly come to understand why. They are knowledge we can pull from. These are tender mercies.
These moments I have found has done two different things for me. The first is I learn something to help me make a better choice then in the past or remember the good choice I made and the blessing that came from it. So I can then make the same choice again. Then the second one is it reminds me the hard times in our lives were suppose to happen so we could see why we needed it then.
These moments help us solve the problems that we are facing in the here and now. I have noticed in the last few weeks I have been thinking more of these experiences I have had in the past. I have learned from them. It may have been an experience that helped me learn more about a certain principle or a time in my life where I had learned something and it was brought back to my remembrance. All of which have helped me make decisions and better myself. How great is that.
It puts everything into perspective. I could not tell you how many times I have heard in my life "Everything happens for a reason." It tends to get old and at the time it is really annoying. The thing is IT IS SO TRUE! We may not find out what that reason is until days, weeks months or even years later. The things you learn in those hard moments may not come to mind until later. Even if it is "Hey not making that mistake again." It is a tender mercy. You learned from that and you applied it to your life.
As I have been writing this I have come to understand more. Think about it we all have emotions. We all understand (for the most part) what each emotion we feel means. These are tender mercies and all part of the process of past experience. We have these to help us learn and to grow. We know that when we are sad we need to change what ever is causing us to be sad because we do not like it. When we are happy we want to continue to do what we are doing to continue that emotion! It is a great example of learning from past experiences and how are emotions help us to do that. We would not know this had we not felt that before.
My mind is blown and I am not even sure any of my thoughts make ANY sense but I know that our Heavenly Father loves us enough to bring things to our remembrance! I just realized one man can say what I am trying to say better than I could. It is by the Holy Ghost or the Spirit that this happens here is a video about what he has to say about it!
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858984001
These moments I have found has done two different things for me. The first is I learn something to help me make a better choice then in the past or remember the good choice I made and the blessing that came from it. So I can then make the same choice again. Then the second one is it reminds me the hard times in our lives were suppose to happen so we could see why we needed it then.
These moments help us solve the problems that we are facing in the here and now. I have noticed in the last few weeks I have been thinking more of these experiences I have had in the past. I have learned from them. It may have been an experience that helped me learn more about a certain principle or a time in my life where I had learned something and it was brought back to my remembrance. All of which have helped me make decisions and better myself. How great is that.
It puts everything into perspective. I could not tell you how many times I have heard in my life "Everything happens for a reason." It tends to get old and at the time it is really annoying. The thing is IT IS SO TRUE! We may not find out what that reason is until days, weeks months or even years later. The things you learn in those hard moments may not come to mind until later. Even if it is "Hey not making that mistake again." It is a tender mercy. You learned from that and you applied it to your life.
As I have been writing this I have come to understand more. Think about it we all have emotions. We all understand (for the most part) what each emotion we feel means. These are tender mercies and all part of the process of past experience. We have these to help us learn and to grow. We know that when we are sad we need to change what ever is causing us to be sad because we do not like it. When we are happy we want to continue to do what we are doing to continue that emotion! It is a great example of learning from past experiences and how are emotions help us to do that. We would not know this had we not felt that before.
My mind is blown and I am not even sure any of my thoughts make ANY sense but I know that our Heavenly Father loves us enough to bring things to our remembrance! I just realized one man can say what I am trying to say better than I could. It is by the Holy Ghost or the Spirit that this happens here is a video about what he has to say about it!
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858984001
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
There is Always Good in the Bad
This week I have learned once again that the Heavenly Father works in amazing ways. Not just that but in ways we may not think. I have come to learn that sometimes the hand of the Lord will be seen through our hard times in life. That is what it has been for me this last week.
As I have reflected over this last week I have thought to myself I have learned so much. I have seen the love my Heavenly Father has for me. How you might ask, if it has been not one of the best weeks ever. It may not have been but I do know this he answers my prayers. I have seen that I need to look in ward instead of outward. There is always something that needs to be improved on and it may not be an outside source that needs to change. Change is not an easy thing to do. I think that is why I have been choosing to see out ward. It is so much easier to say the other person needs to change.
This week I have seen that change while yes it is hard it helps us grow the most. Through this changing process for me I have come to see that through this whole change it has been the Lords hand that has allowed me to change. I could not do it by myself. He has given me so much comfort through it all. One of which came from a poem by Douglas Malloch called 'Good Timber'
Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further the sky, the greater the length.
The more the storm the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
What that did for me was to show me that even though this process is not going to be easy it will make me stronger and make me the person strong person I am suppose to be. My Heavenly Father might not take my issues right away the answer to my prayers might be just a feeling of peace or the thought that I can do this.
Through this process I have become a person I could not have become without His help. That is a tender mercy. It may not have seemed like it at the beginning of the week or half way through the week but this process of becoming is the Lords hand in my life. I know the He does not forget about me at all. He has put so many amazing people in my life and helped me through so many things that I know this time will not be any different. I am so grateful I have the knowledge that I have a loving Heavenly Father and with his help I can do all things!
As I have reflected over this last week I have thought to myself I have learned so much. I have seen the love my Heavenly Father has for me. How you might ask, if it has been not one of the best weeks ever. It may not have been but I do know this he answers my prayers. I have seen that I need to look in ward instead of outward. There is always something that needs to be improved on and it may not be an outside source that needs to change. Change is not an easy thing to do. I think that is why I have been choosing to see out ward. It is so much easier to say the other person needs to change.
This week I have seen that change while yes it is hard it helps us grow the most. Through this changing process for me I have come to see that through this whole change it has been the Lords hand that has allowed me to change. I could not do it by myself. He has given me so much comfort through it all. One of which came from a poem by Douglas Malloch called 'Good Timber'
Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further the sky, the greater the length.
The more the storm the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
What that did for me was to show me that even though this process is not going to be easy it will make me stronger and make me the person strong person I am suppose to be. My Heavenly Father might not take my issues right away the answer to my prayers might be just a feeling of peace or the thought that I can do this.
Through this process I have become a person I could not have become without His help. That is a tender mercy. It may not have seemed like it at the beginning of the week or half way through the week but this process of becoming is the Lords hand in my life. I know the He does not forget about me at all. He has put so many amazing people in my life and helped me through so many things that I know this time will not be any different. I am so grateful I have the knowledge that I have a loving Heavenly Father and with his help I can do all things!
Friday, January 17, 2014
ROY ROGERS!!!!!
Today I was praying about what I should share today. I looked back over the weeks and nothing really stood out to me. It was really weird. So I continued to think about what I should share and I went about my day. There was things I could have easily shared, like how 3 men are currently fixing my kitchen sink and I don't have to worry about it, or how guess what one night where I was outside all night it stopped raining as soon as we went out but that is not what I was suppose to share. I was suppose to share something that had not happened yet.
This week was crazy. We have had a lot going on and well lets face it the life of a missionary never goes as how we plan it. Stuff always come up. This week more than ever! To say the least we have had to learn to roll with the punches. Mind you this is the most fun I have ever had in my life. After a while though it does get a little hard and it wears on you.
Like I said there are currently in my home 3 men fixing our kitchen sink. We live in a very small apartment. There was no way Sister Udall and I could have gotten in there to make our lunch. So we went out to see what we could eat. We wanted to try something new. The place we really wanted to go was closed so we kept driving. Then we saw Roy Roger's. Everyone was walking in and out of the place. That to us seemed like a good enough reason to try it out.
We walk in and start to order. We are so excited and getting ready to pay when a man walks up and goes "These fine Sisters are my friends and are my guest. Their meal is on me today." I had never seen this man in my life. Nor do I expect to see him again in my life. He then explained he was from Canada and loves our name tags. He said they bring so much joy and warmth. He told us to keep smiling and thanked us for all we did for everyone around us. It was amazing how just that simple act made my day. OK it made my week. He came and talked to us again and we were not able to express our thanks enough. He had done more than just buying our lunch. He helped us as he put it "catch the curve balls thrown at us".
I learned so much from this man. Not just that he is a great man, but when we do nice things for those around us we do not fully understand what that will mean to them. I learned how my Heavenly Father works once again. He uses other people to help us understand his love. There is a talk called 'You Are My Hands', that talks about how we are each suppose to be the hands of our Savior and reach out in love. I have come to love this and because of today I understand why. We do not know when we will be the answer to someones prayers.
By seeing this I just added another thing to my New Years resolution list. To look to serve those around me and to pray once again to be the answer to someones prayer. How much joy it will bring to those around us. I am going to try and make this world a little happier. I want to be someones tender mercy for the day!
I know our Heavenly Father loves me and those around me. I see it in the work that I do and even when I do not always see it right away I know when I ask to see it he shows me. I love my Savior and his love for all of us. Have a wonderful day.
This week was crazy. We have had a lot going on and well lets face it the life of a missionary never goes as how we plan it. Stuff always come up. This week more than ever! To say the least we have had to learn to roll with the punches. Mind you this is the most fun I have ever had in my life. After a while though it does get a little hard and it wears on you.
Like I said there are currently in my home 3 men fixing our kitchen sink. We live in a very small apartment. There was no way Sister Udall and I could have gotten in there to make our lunch. So we went out to see what we could eat. We wanted to try something new. The place we really wanted to go was closed so we kept driving. Then we saw Roy Roger's. Everyone was walking in and out of the place. That to us seemed like a good enough reason to try it out.
We walk in and start to order. We are so excited and getting ready to pay when a man walks up and goes "These fine Sisters are my friends and are my guest. Their meal is on me today." I had never seen this man in my life. Nor do I expect to see him again in my life. He then explained he was from Canada and loves our name tags. He said they bring so much joy and warmth. He told us to keep smiling and thanked us for all we did for everyone around us. It was amazing how just that simple act made my day. OK it made my week. He came and talked to us again and we were not able to express our thanks enough. He had done more than just buying our lunch. He helped us as he put it "catch the curve balls thrown at us".
I learned so much from this man. Not just that he is a great man, but when we do nice things for those around us we do not fully understand what that will mean to them. I learned how my Heavenly Father works once again. He uses other people to help us understand his love. There is a talk called 'You Are My Hands', that talks about how we are each suppose to be the hands of our Savior and reach out in love. I have come to love this and because of today I understand why. We do not know when we will be the answer to someones prayers.
By seeing this I just added another thing to my New Years resolution list. To look to serve those around me and to pray once again to be the answer to someones prayer. How much joy it will bring to those around us. I am going to try and make this world a little happier. I want to be someones tender mercy for the day!
I know our Heavenly Father loves me and those around me. I see it in the work that I do and even when I do not always see it right away I know when I ask to see it he shows me. I love my Savior and his love for all of us. Have a wonderful day.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Unexpected Answer
As I sit down to write this I am trying to pick which of the tender mercies that I have seen in the last few weeks. Let me tell you I am so glad I have that problem right now. There are so many. They range from small simple ones to rather large. I have decided I might as well start out big.
Yesterday I was having not the best day. I felt like I was forgetting everything and nothing seemed to be going as planned. About half way through my day I knew I needed to pray and to ask for help. I was tired and felt like I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I hate that feeling more than anything. Mostly because that is when I seem to forget things. After I prayed for help to remember things I went and continued to work. Things did not get better.
But in a way I never thought my Heavenly Father would show his love and give me comfort came later last night. My companion (Sister Udall) and I where teaching a women and I had forgotten my scriptures in our car. So I had to use one that I had in my bag. I grabbed one and it was one someone had given me as a gift. I put it back and grabbed another one. We went through our lesson and all was fine.
Some back story here before I go on. I have been told about a really cool way to mark scriptures to give people and over view of the Book of Mormon that can be read in an hour. I have been searching many months to find a copy of the Book of Mormon that has it in it.
After the lesson we got back into the Book of Mormon and I just grabbed the Book of Mormon that was a gift once again. I just opened it up and guess what it was the Book of Mormon that I had been looking for. I had an overwhelming feeling of peace and love. For some reason I did not feel as stressed as I had through out the day.
The person that had given me the Book of Mormon had no idea that it had those markings in it. She also had no idea I was looking for it. My Heavenly Father knew what that would do for me. It would make my day and change my outlook on all of today.
After that moment guess what life went on. We went to visit someone and I stepped in a mud puddle, we came home our sink in our kitchen had leaked and there was water EVERYWHERE, but because I knew my Heavenly Father had given me that tender mercy it didn't matter. In the long run it didn't matter. My shoe could be washed, the floor could be cleaned up. My Heavenly Father giving me something only He knew I was looking for and it mattered more to me. It allowed me to look at the big picture and see what really mattered. It allowed me to have peace that he hears my prayers and in the long run He knows what is going to make the biggest impact on my day.
Yesterday I was having not the best day. I felt like I was forgetting everything and nothing seemed to be going as planned. About half way through my day I knew I needed to pray and to ask for help. I was tired and felt like I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I hate that feeling more than anything. Mostly because that is when I seem to forget things. After I prayed for help to remember things I went and continued to work. Things did not get better.
But in a way I never thought my Heavenly Father would show his love and give me comfort came later last night. My companion (Sister Udall) and I where teaching a women and I had forgotten my scriptures in our car. So I had to use one that I had in my bag. I grabbed one and it was one someone had given me as a gift. I put it back and grabbed another one. We went through our lesson and all was fine.
Some back story here before I go on. I have been told about a really cool way to mark scriptures to give people and over view of the Book of Mormon that can be read in an hour. I have been searching many months to find a copy of the Book of Mormon that has it in it.
After the lesson we got back into the Book of Mormon and I just grabbed the Book of Mormon that was a gift once again. I just opened it up and guess what it was the Book of Mormon that I had been looking for. I had an overwhelming feeling of peace and love. For some reason I did not feel as stressed as I had through out the day.
The person that had given me the Book of Mormon had no idea that it had those markings in it. She also had no idea I was looking for it. My Heavenly Father knew what that would do for me. It would make my day and change my outlook on all of today.
After that moment guess what life went on. We went to visit someone and I stepped in a mud puddle, we came home our sink in our kitchen had leaked and there was water EVERYWHERE, but because I knew my Heavenly Father had given me that tender mercy it didn't matter. In the long run it didn't matter. My shoe could be washed, the floor could be cleaned up. My Heavenly Father giving me something only He knew I was looking for and it mattered more to me. It allowed me to look at the big picture and see what really mattered. It allowed me to have peace that he hears my prayers and in the long run He knows what is going to make the biggest impact on my day.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
A Year in Review
At the end of last year just like always I look to see what can be improved on as well as what has been improved in my life. This year though I took a different route in doing so. Instead of just sitting back and looking back I prayed to see the changes in my life. It amazed me what I saw. I did not just see how my life has gotten better but I saw the love my Heavenly Father has for me. Through out this process I thought to myself "How did I not see this love in the moment?". To answer that question I was not looking for them. Really it was sad but I am so glad I looked back to have this opportunity.
After this experience I decided that I was not going to have another year go by without seeing these moments either while they were happening or at least by the end of the day. This became one of my New Years goals. To see the hand of my Father in Heaven in my life. I would take the time each day and right them down. I had one question in my head, how was I going to recognize them? As I looked back again about how I recognized it in the first place, pray and write them down.
Prayer allowed me to ask my Heavenly Father to show me how I had changed. Now it was because of his hand in my life that I was able to change. One of my favorite scriptures is: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." (Matt 7:7). It gives us such a wonderful promise. If we ask our Heavenly Father he will give it to us. So He can do the same thing for me seeing His hand in my life.
Writing it down. I have noticed as I write these moments down the others start to come so much easier. It allows me to open my mind to other times when I have seen them in my life. It also gives me a new out look as well. I am noticing that it is not just only the good things that happen in my life but even things I would consider to be the bad things that happen to me.
Over my hope with writing about these what I like to call Tender Mercies of the Lord is to show God's love to those around me. I also would encourage all to do the same. It is amazing to see how much it brightens your day. I know that as I have done this not only has my love increased for my Heavenly Father but I have come to gain a knowledge that he does truly care for me. I am not just another person on this earth. I am really important to him. I know that all of us are important to him, we just have to take the time to recognize it.
After this experience I decided that I was not going to have another year go by without seeing these moments either while they were happening or at least by the end of the day. This became one of my New Years goals. To see the hand of my Father in Heaven in my life. I would take the time each day and right them down. I had one question in my head, how was I going to recognize them? As I looked back again about how I recognized it in the first place, pray and write them down.
Prayer allowed me to ask my Heavenly Father to show me how I had changed. Now it was because of his hand in my life that I was able to change. One of my favorite scriptures is: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." (Matt 7:7). It gives us such a wonderful promise. If we ask our Heavenly Father he will give it to us. So He can do the same thing for me seeing His hand in my life.
Writing it down. I have noticed as I write these moments down the others start to come so much easier. It allows me to open my mind to other times when I have seen them in my life. It also gives me a new out look as well. I am noticing that it is not just only the good things that happen in my life but even things I would consider to be the bad things that happen to me.
Over my hope with writing about these what I like to call Tender Mercies of the Lord is to show God's love to those around me. I also would encourage all to do the same. It is amazing to see how much it brightens your day. I know that as I have done this not only has my love increased for my Heavenly Father but I have come to gain a knowledge that he does truly care for me. I am not just another person on this earth. I am really important to him. I know that all of us are important to him, we just have to take the time to recognize it.
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