Inspiration | 02.03.14

Well, I gave my lesson yesterday. I think it went well. I gave it on trials & adversity. I think it was more for me than for anyone else. But this line stuck out to me. It's just a simple question, and one that could be asked for a number of things. As I've had a rough couple of weeks, I just need this good reminder to motivate me to keep going, and to finish strong.

Inspiration | 01.27.14

Like last week, I found this wonderful quote while searching through various General Conference talks. This one comes from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk called, "The Infinite Power of Hope"

Before I first started letting people in my ward know about the scleroderma diagnosis (or really that anything was wrong) I had a man and his wife who were sitting behind Greg and I in church mention that I didn't seem like myself. At this time I was super emotional, so I started crying as SI told them about the diagnosis. The sister came over and crouched down in front of me, and held my hand as I told them what was going on. This sister also happens to suffer from an auto-immune disease. They both told me they would pray for me. A few days later I received this gift from this wonderful couple.

The little balloon says hope. As I've been trying to come up with topics for my lesson on Sunday, hope keeps coming to mind. I love how President Uchtdorf phrases this. We need hope to get us through trials, and to have that little glimmer of hope that better things are to come. Read the talk. It's fantastic.

What are your thoughts on this quote? What does hope mean to you? How does having hope help you through your tough times?

Inspiration | 01.20.14

 

The past few weeks I have been  struggling to come up with a lesson topic. Being in the Relief Society presidency, I get to teach the first Sunday lesson in February. It's so interesting to me how last time I was teaching, I knew exactly what I wanted to teach. I felt good about it as I was preparing, and I felt good as I was delivering it. I knew that the Spirit was guiding me. This time, however, I am really struggling to come up with a topic. I've got about five that I could do, but I don't get the "this is it" feeling from any one specific. As I've prayed about it over the last few weeks, I decided yesterday in church that I would just start going through old  conference talks and see if anything jumps out. The good thing about that is there are a lot of great talks that I've been able to read, the bad thing, nothing jumps out still, so I guess I'll keep going. Not that that's a bad thing. Anytime you have the opportunity to read the words of our prophet and apostles is on that you should take. I have found some great thoughts, and this is one that I wanted to share. It comes from President Thomas S. Monson's talk called, "I Will Not Fail Thee, Nor Forsake Thee."

When I heard this talk, I just knew that it was a direct message from the Lord, for me. As I have experienced many trials over the last few years, I know that it is only to help me learn, grow, and become stronger. I also love how it doesn't say "the trials through which we MIGHT pass," but rather "through which we MUST pass." We are going to have trials, it's part of why we're here on earth. It's part of our learning process. We can do it. We have a Heavenly Father who is there to comfort and guide us through the trials. They are necessary for us to be able to return to Him someday.