Think Tank

Today was the start of General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (of which I proudly belong)!  For those of you who do not know what this is, it is where the President and Prophet of our church, Thomas S. Monson, and other church leaders, speak on different topics, inspired by our Father in Heaven to the congregation, as well as to the world!  As I watched and listened today, not only was my heart on fire (the good spirit burning kind), but my wheels started turning and turning, and turning, and turning, and....well, you get the idea....TURNING!  Many different topics were touched on today, such as The Scriptures, Family, Keeping the Sabbath Day holy, Examples made by children, Faith, Desire to follow Christ, The purpose of pain, important roles that women play, serving the poor and needy, and the list goes on and on!  As I sat listening to these inspired speakers, i started to think to myself, how much happier I am when I live (or at least try) my life as Christ would have me live.  I am by no means perfect and have ALOT of room to grow, but I take each day for what it's worth.  No need to live in the past, but how wonderful it is to look ahead and progress! 

There was a time in my life where I wasn't the most active in church (ok, I wasn't really active at all for a couple of years), but nonetheless, I have always felt the Gospel that I have been taught to be true!  Heavenly Father hears our prayers and he knows our hearts and our intentions, and for that I am ever so grateful!!  Once I started having babies, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I needed to get back into church, not only for my well-being, but I knew I needed to be that positive example for my babies.  Afterall, if I don't teach them, the world will and I'd MUCH rather be the teacher in that case.  My two favorite talks today were given by Jean Stevens of the Primary Presidency and Kent Richards of the Seventy.  Sister Jean Stevens enlightened us on the examples made by children.  She pointed out the sweet qualities that children possess that draw them closer to the Lord.

1. Full of faith
2. They exemplify humility, obedience, & love
3. They are always 1st to love & the 1st to forgive
4. They have believing hearts & are receptive to the feelings of the Spirit

Once those qualities were listed I knew that is what I have been looking for!  I've always thought to myself, that if everyone would live the gospel principles and live as Christ would have them live then maybe, just maybe, Miss America (along with the rest of us) could have that "World Peace" that she so longs for!  But having this list of child-like qualities really brings it back to the basics for us all!  No one is more Christ like than children are!  I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for blessing me with my two special spirits that I have in my presence!  Yes, they do get a little out of control sometimes, and make me wanna rip every last strand of hair out of my head, but I have to reel in those feelings and remember to be patient, for they are more precious and valuable than anything I'll ever own!

Kent F. Richards spoke on The Purpose of Pain.  Why do we have to experience bad things and pain during our time on Earth?  Why do bad things happen to good people?  The first thing that really struck me and got my attention was when he made the comment, "Allow your suffering to draw you closer to Heavenly Father."  I have such a STRONG testimony of this!  I have been in some truely trying times, for those of you who are close to me, you know.  Not too long after becoming active in church again, I experienced the heartache that a divorce could only leave on one.  Shortly followed by loss of job which snowballed into a few other things.  All of these stresses on top of being a newly single (and rather young) mother of two helpless babies who counted on me.  With many tear filled prayers, I knew that my Heavenly Father was right there by my side!  Yes, the challenges that I had been faced with sucked BEYOND belief, but YES, I also knew I was going to get through it and become a stronger daughter of our Heavenly Father and a stronger mother!  It is in those difficult, trying times, when you think the world will end, yet Heavenly Father wants you to simply turn to him for his help.  Brother Richards also made a statement about how "Pain brings you to a humility that allows you to ponder."  I know that with myself, when I get soo stressed out about something, I need to be in a "quiet zone".  The problem solving doesn't necessarily start out with spiritual intentions, but rather to escape everything and "not think" about anything.  Notice I said, "not think".  There's really only like 5-10 seconds of not thinking about anything that takes place, then the MAJOR THINK TANK sets into gear and I quickly rely on my relationship with my Father above!

A very close friend and I, have alot of deep thinking conversations from time to time.  We talk about the ways of the world and the teachings of the church that I attend.  The latest thing that we talked about was his faith in God.  The reason for this was he couldn't understand why such horrible things can happen to such sweet and innocent souls (ex: abuse) and how God could stand there and let it happen.  Of course we all know the answer which was brought up in the talk, "Opposition is a part of Heavenly Father's plan of happiness", but as a parent I have a different approach on this.  The reason why I say that is because, as a parent, you want the best for your kids.  You hope and pray that you teach and do all that you can do so that you raise an outstanding person.  Heavenly Father wants the same for us.  I don't know why it was harder to look at my relationship with the Lord as a "true family relationship" before having kids, but now that Hillary and Cole are here, I completely understand why it is Heavenly Father asks us to do the things that He does.  Back to the opposition comment though....and just as discussed with this certain friend, if you see your child in a harmful situation but your too far away to physically grab them, you would shout to them, "WATCH OUT".  And if the child continues on, one of two things probably happened.  The first being, that even though you shouted as loud as possible about the warning, he may not have heard you.  Or two, he may have heard you perfectly, yet chose to go forward, towards the harm anyways.  Heavenly Father does the same with us.  He wants us to return to live with Him again for eternity and with our families.  It is our responsibility to keep our minds and hearts open so that when He does send a warning, we can hear it and turn towards His voice.

I am not one to share my testimony with a ton of people, but I am feeling so inclined to do so today after feeling the spirit so strong!  I want to share with everyone my testimony of this true gospel and for the knowledge that I have to return to live with our Heavenly Father and be with my family for ETERNITY!  I know there is a "Happily Ever After" and we all have access to it, if we just search it out and work towards it!  And just when you feel like you are alone, that our Father is there with you wrapping his loving arms around you, his son/daughter.  I also testify to you that I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God and that he speaks directly with our Father in Heaven and through him, he shares the teachings of how we can return to live with Him and live a life filled with happiness!  It is through our faith, obedience, and trust in our Father that can get us back home with the ones we love most!

I couldn't imagine living again without these two by my side!  I am so thankful that "Families Can Be Together Forever!"

   
**For those of you who might have questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I invite you to check out http://www.lds.org/ and http://www.mormon.org/.