"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storms shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." -Helaman 5:12
This scripture has always been a favorite of mine. I believe 1000% that if we have a strong foundation, if we rely on and look to Christ, and if we stay strong in the gospel... we will not fall! It doesn't mean that we won't have trials and be tempted if we are doing everything we should... those things are just a part of life. But having a strong foundation will make those things a heck of a whole lot easier :) We do not have to be strong on our own. We are not put on this earth to get through things alone. We simply are just not alone. We have a Savior, Jesus Christ who loves us and cares for us. We also have a merciful and loving Father in Heaven who is with us always. He wants us to succeed! We also have many many others such as: family members, friends, YW/YM leaders, church leaders, the bishop, the prophet and apostles, etc. who love us and are cheering us on as well. We even have others beyond the veil watching over us. With this great of a support system and the gospel, The devil "shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo..." We have a body of flesh and bones, the devil does not. We who are embodied have power over the UNembodied. He CAN NOT tempt us and he CAN NOT discourage us unless we let him. We have power over him, simple as that! Since these Motivation Mondays are meant to be short and sweet, I will just end with a couple quotes (of course:)) "No one has failed who keeps trying and keeps praying." -Jeffrey R. Holland "We can do hard things." -Elaine S. Dalton "All men have fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well." -Thomas S. Monson "I've had to evict some thoughts a hundred times before they would stay out. I have never been successful until I have put something edifying in their place." - Boyd K. Packer I hope you guys have a great Monday and a great week! <3 Ness
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With summer comes no school, no homework, no projects... basically no major responsibilities, etc. So yes that means you have those days when you're sitting at home doing nothing. It can get super boring. Who can relate?!
So, with the idea and help from my cousin (Love you Mal!:)) I decided that today's Motivation Monday will be a list of summery things that you can do to stay productive and make the most of your time! (This didn't even cross my mind as an idea, see this is what happens when you guys give me ideas! They are much better than mine;)) TO-DO: (These may get super random! Haha!) - Go on a walk/ hike, There are plenty here in Utah! Look them up! - Go to the park - Go on temple trips, my goal is to visit temples I haven't been to yet! - Go swimming - Go out for ice-cream or snow-cones - Write someone a letter/note - Perform a random act of kindness! - Make cookies or any other dessert, Pinterest is my bff for things like this! - Go bowling - See a movie - If you live in Utah go to The Puppy Barn, you'll more than likely find me there ;) - Go to your local animal shelter - Sun tan - Go fishing - Take your dog for a walk... if you have one! Or your cat... whatever floats your boat ;) - Make S'mores - Read a good book - Catch up on scripture reading - Make homemade pizza - Play frisbee - Take a nap - Do a puzzle, especially a challenging one! - Go up the canyon - Go for a drive - Visit your neighbor or someone sick - Make a smoothie - Take pictures - Organize/decorate your room - Clean the house, believe it or not but sometimes I get a burst of motivation to do this. But still very rare unless I'm told hahaha - Find local food trucks and try new food! - Make lemonade - Paint your nails - Stay up late and watch movies - Start a blog, google blog ideas there are tons! I reccommend it ;) - Star gaze - Lay outside and look for shapes in the clouds - Work on Personal Progress! ( or Duty to God for the guys) - Write in your journal - Make a collage of quotes on a poster board, I've done this and it turned out pretty great! - Make a DIY chalk board, I've done this also. Pretty fun! (Google or look it up on Pinterest) - Play board games with your fam or friends - Go to a museum - Go to your grandparents' house and give them a hug b/c grandparents are pretty darn great. - Go camping - Do some sort of service project! - Online shop, one of my fav things <3 - Go to the zoo - Go out to eat or for a treat - Do an at-home-workout, there are tons and tons of ideas on Pinterest! - Browse through inspirational quotes, yep you guessed it- Go on Pinterest for this! (Can you guys tell yet that Pinterest is just my fav thing?) Well, that's 50 things!! If you've thought of any other ideas, leave them in the comments! I'd love to hear em'. And of course before I end, here's a quote from Henry B. Eyring :) Happy Monday! In seminary today we were studying in Isaiah 2 where it talks about ascending to the Lord's house on the mountain (The temple). So I thought, that's going to be today's Motivation Monday!
Isaiah 2: 2-3 says, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." To better fully understand the book of Isaiah (since we all know how difficult and confusing it can be) we made a visual as a class. First, we drew a mountain on the whiteboard like it mentioned in the 2nd verse. Next, we drew a temple at the top of the mountain which is "The Lord's house". Then, we drew people "flowing unto it" (People attending the temple). My seminary teacher then asked, "Why do you think Isaiah is putting so much emphasis on words like 'top' or 'hill'"? Students began commenting things like, "Going up/to the top is ascending towards heaven. That is our goal." or, "A hill is a higher place which is where we want to be." Now take a second and imagine that you're walking along in a park or somewhere with an open field of grass. Then all of a sudden you trip and fall into a 12 ft deep, dark hole in the ground. ( Highly unlikely, but just bear with me :). All you can see around you is dirt and grass. Above you is the sky, but only a 4 ft circumference view of it. All you have is that tunnel vision. Anxiety, claustrophobia, and fear starts to settle in. You are trapped. How does that make you feel? How does that feel to be stuck and have no other view of anything around you? Now this time imagine hiking a super tall mountain (Mt. Timp or the Y -for all you Utahn's out there)... A couple hours later you reach the top. In contrast to being stuck in a hole, you can see everything around you: adjacent mountains, the valley below, white fluffy clouds above you, etc. How do you feel now?Peace, comfort, free, secure, content, happy, joyful, relieved, etc. Now this last and final time, imagine being in the temple. Weren't your emotions the same as how you felt at the top of the mountain? That is what Isaiah is trying to say in those 2 verses. Our Heavenly Father wants us to LOOK UP towards him! He wants us to enjoy all of the many blessings that come with attending the temple. Every time we leave the temple we have left with more spiritual power than before. We will have left with more power to resist temptation. We will have left with the desire to become better. Just like with hiking a mountain, the journey of getting to the temple can be difficult if you are working towards getting a recommend. It won't always be easy... but yes, it WILL be worth it. Today's Motivation Monday is a bit lengthy than usual so I'll just end with a short story by Carl B. Cook that he shared one General Conference that I thought was perfect for this post! Happy Monday Lovelies! ... "At the end of a particularly tiring day toward the end of my first week as a General Authority, my briefcase was overloaded and my mind was preoccupied with the question “How can I possibly do this?” I left the office of the Seventy and entered the elevator of the Church Administration Building. As the elevator descended, my head was down and I stared blankly at the floor.The door opened and someone entered, but I didn’t look up. As the door closed, I heard someone ask, “What are you looking at down there?” I recognized that voice—it was President Thomas S. Monson. I quickly looked up and responded, “Oh, nothing.” (I’m sure that clever response inspired confidence in my abilities!) But he had seen my subdued countenance and my heavy briefcase. He smiled and lovingly suggested, while pointing heavenward, “It is better to look up!” As we traveled down one more level, he cheerfully explained that he was on his way to the temple. When he bid me farewell, his parting glance spoke again to my heart, “Now, remember, it is better to look up.” Last Tuesday, January 26th me and my Young Women's group had the opportunity to walk through the Provo City Center temple open house. I was super excited not only because it's such a unique temple and walking through them is always a great experience, but I remember going here when it was a tabernacle for stake conference as a little girl. I found a quote from a Deseret News article that said, "We turned it into a blessing," said Elder Kent F. Richards, executive director of the Temple Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "It's an emotional thing to be able to retain the spirit and feeling of the tabernacle. It's a literal phoenix rising from the ashes while maintaining the pioneer legacy." I love how he said it rose from the ashes. Just a beautiful statement. There's no words to fully describe how stunning it is. It is just so unique in it's own way. My favorite rooms were the celestial room and the sealing room. Without it even being dedicated, you could feel immense peace and love just standing in the middle of those rooms. If you went already, comment and tell me your experience! I'd love to hear about it. If you haven't been yet and you get the chance to...go! I'll just end with a couple pics we took... "Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen." -Doctrine and Covenants 87:8
The new Quote of the week and Ponderize of the week are now up! Check them out! (If you are on a computer, they will be on the right side bar. If you are on a phone or device, scroll all the way down. They should be there:) In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. day I thought I would base today's Motivation Monday on it. And welcome back to Motivation Monday! I feel like I haven't done one of these in so long... please forgive me :) One of my favorite quotes by MLK is "If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward." I feel like this quote could mean so many different things. But for the sake of this post, I want you to know that you can keep moving forward with who you are and who you want to be. You can be different. Don't be afraid to be. Especially in today's world, there is so much pressure around us whether it be on Social Media, TV, at school, work, etc. where there are people who want you to be someone you are not. Don't give in to that. We are all unique and different for a reason. How boring would that be if we were all the same? Heavenly Father didn't create us in MAN'S image... He created us in HIS image. Dieter F. Uchtdorf said it best, "No matter where you live, no matter how humble your circumstances, how meager your employment, how limited your abilities, how ordinary your appearance, or how little your calling in the Church may appear to you, you are not invisible to your Heavenly Father. He loves you. He knows your humble heart and your acts of love and kindness." Since these Motivation Monday's are meant to be short and sweet, I'll end with a quote by Al Fox and a scripture:) "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;" -Doctrine and Covenants 18:10
Hope you all have a fantastic Monday and MLK day! Spread the love by posting a quote or picture on your own social media. Tag me if you do! I would love to see it :) Ness I've learned that sometimes the things we want don't just magically happen in a day. It doesn't come all at once. It may even take a little patience... actually a lot depending on the person. But I really got to thinking as I began to assemble this 1,000 piece puzzle. As we started sorting the edge pieces and putting them together, I thought "Wow, this is going to be easier than I thought." It seemed as though every piece we randomly picked up and put in its place, fit just right. Eventually, the border was done. Just like that.
We (Me and my brother mainly) then started to sort all of the rest of the pieces in certain colors and areas. Sure enough, just like the border pieces we were getting lucky with each random piece we tried. Each hour we put into the puzzle kept getting easier. Then, suddenly we were stuck. We had moved onto the orange sunset pieces at the top. I was getting frustrated by the minute. Each piece seemed to be the exact same color and shape. I wanted to give up. My patience was running out. But then a scripture came to mind... 2 Nephi 28:30 "For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have." I eventually realized that each piece wasn't going to be just as easy as the last. I also realized just like with a puzzle, we build ourselves one piece at a time, one day at a time, one experience after another, and even one trial after another. There have been countless times where I've wished that certain circumstances in my life would change, that somehow magically that I would go to sleep and wake up the next day completely happy. Life just doesn't work like that. But if it did, we wouldn't learn and we wouldn't grow. Our loving Heavenly Father wants us to turn to Him and tell him ALL our needs and ALL of our problems. I have had to trust in this and trust in Him. That hasn't always been easy for me, as I'm one that doesn't like to ask for help. And that is okay. It takes time and that's okay. I came across a quote by Al Fox Carraway... "No matter who we are or what we're going through, there is always a solution. It is and always will be Christ." Don't give up now. You've come a long way. There is hope. It is in Christ. Sometimes, it is as simple as that. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas with family and friends! Again I thank you for all of the support with this blog and on my @_simplyness_ account. Have a wonderful Monday and week. Ness I was originally going to post this for yesterday's Sunday post, but seeing how my church is at 2... I didn't get around to it. Sorry about that! So I moved it up to today and somehow made it motivational... hopefully ;)
So just this last Friday Me, my mom, and my older brother were driving home at 2:30 a.m from my Grandma's house. (Yes, super late I know haha) and we were heading northbound on the on-ramp on Center St in Provo, Utah. We were getting ready to turn. I was in the backseat, my brother was in the passenger, and my mom was driving. As we were turning we saw a car that had slid down into the embankment. My mom immediately said "Let's pull over and call 911!" There were no other cars currently on the road and it didn't appear that anyone else had called 911 to make sure the person in the car was okay. But before we had time to think a second thought, we too began to slide. We hit a big area of black ice. From what felt like an eternity, in reality we had only slid for a couple seconds before my mom was able to gain control of the car. There have been very few experiences where I have felt horrible terror and fear like this. I thought we were going to slide down into the embankment just like the other car, but to my hope... we did not. Looking back though, I knew we were being watched over. We were literally a couple feet away to something that could've been so horrific. Once we were able to pull to the side of the road, we called 911. They had 2 police cars come as well as an ambulance just in case. It turns out that the driver of the other car was okay and had no injuries whatsoever. Thank goodness, right? Before we left we said a prayer that we'd be watched over as we drove the rest of the way home. Surprisingly as we left, I felt something where I knew we'd be okay. And we were. I am so thankful for that. As I thought of an idea of how I'd tie this story into my blog I began thinking of how much we truly are watched over. Even at times when we are totally oblivious to it. I also thought of the Cokeville Miracle where their ancestors came and watched over them. We may not be able to see them, but we can know that everyone is going to be okay. I hope you guys have an awesome Monday and great rest of the week... And DRIVE SAFE! ;) If you haven't yet, check out the new Q.O.T.W and P.O.T.W. :) So, there is a scripture in Mosiah 24 verse 21 that says "Yea, and in the valley of Alma they poured out their thanks to God because he had been merciful unto them, and eased their burdens, and had delivered them out of bondage; for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God."
I had read this is seminary today and thought "Yep, this is going to be in today's Motivation Monday!" With thanksgiving just around the corner I thought it would be perfect to talk a little bit about giving thanks. In seminary today, we read a couple quotes. Here are some that really stood out to me! "Gratitude is said to be the memory of the heart." -Joseph F. Smith My seminary teacher had asked us after we read this... "What is a memory of yours that when you think of it, you automatically feel grateful for that experience?" Strangely and oddly enough I remembered a super hard trial that I went through just early this summer. Before and during this trial I had always thought that I would never be grateful for them and that there was no way possible that I could ever be grateful for challenges in the future. But, I was wrong. This particular dark place in my life had shaped me into the person I am now. At the time I definitely did not think so. The dark time made me realize all the light there truly is left. It took a good 3-4 months to realize that, which felt like eternity. But in the end I promise you that you will stand a little taller, walk a little taller, and smile just a bit bigger. Pray for that realization and you will get it. Other quotes that stood out to me said this "Cultivate within our hearts an ATTITUDE of GRATITUDE." -Thomas S. Monson "Gratitude is of the very essence of worship." -Gordon B. Hinckley And I can't exactly remember the other quote but it went along the lines of ... Giving thanks = Unlocks the doors of heaven. Pretty great, right? I've noticed that as I count my blessings and remember to thank Heavenly Father for all the wonderful things I have... I become happier, and my day brightens up a lot more from what it was before. I hope you all have an awesome thanksgiving with friends and loved ones and enjoy all that delicious food!;) Here is a link to a short little video that I watched in seminary today. President Monson sums it up so nicely. Click away! https://youtu.be/NwtQRDcU8WY If you didn't see my insta post on @_simplyness_, it basically said that these last few days have been pretty crazy and I had zero time to post Sunday or Monday, so bear with me since today will have to be "Motivation Tuesday" ;)
To start off this post, let me share a little experience of what happened yesterday. So I made a quick trip into Walmart last night. My mom was waiting in the car while I was gone, so when I came back out and sat in the passenger seat my mom was like "Guess what? You wouldn't believe what just happened!" So of course I ask and while I was gone, one of the Cart-collector people or whatever you call them was trying to get past our car which was parked next to a curb. There was no way possible that the cart-collector could've gotten the cart through without banging up our car. So of course he ends up totally scraping up the side mirror as my mom is sitting there watching, he can obviously tell she's there but he doesn't care. It gets better... My mom rolls down her window and says "Can you try and be a little more careful?" She said it in the nicest tone possible and wasn't trying to cause any trouble. And the kid says "What?? Excuse me?" super rudely acting as if nothing went wrong. He said more rude comments, but the point is... I don't understand why people have to be so rude especially when it's to a total stranger that they have never met before. Maybe I'm being super dramatic and we care about our cars too much... but the point of this post is that it is just so important to be kind. And of course no one is going to be perfect at it. We all yell, we all argue, we all get mad, etc. And I'm guilty of this too. In fact, I have little to no patience at all but I try to at least be kind and thoughtful towards others. Especially to random strangers whether its at the store, a restaurant, school, etc. I've been thinking a lot lately about how scary, evil, corrupt, dangerous, etc. our world we live in is. I don't know all the details of the attack in Paris, but we all have heard about it whether it be on social media, the news, etc. It's scary. It's crazy. It's insane. A single person can either do a lot of harm or a lot of good. I ran onto a quote that @today_on_temple_square posted on instagram (Great account by the way of super pretty photography of temple square) I recommend you follow them! Anyhow, the quote says "Light dispels darkness. When light is present, darkness is vanquished and must depart. More importantly, darkness cannot conquer light unless the light is diminished or departs. When the spiritual light of the Holy Ghost is present, the darkness of Satan departs. "... We are engaged in a battle between the forces of light and darkness. If it were not for the Light of Jesus Christ and His gospel, we would be doomed to the destruction of darkness. But the Savior said, "I am come a light into the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'" -Robert D. Hales When I think of the light of Christ I think of kindness. They go hand in hand. I just can't stress it enough of how important it is. It's as simple as smiling at someone, giving a compliment, helping someone out, talking to the kid that sits by himself everyday at lunch, saying hello to someone that stands by themselves at the bus stop, Picking up a binky that the little baby in the cart next to you at Walmart that just dropped on the floor, waving at someone in the hall or on the streets, simply showing that you care about others and making them feel of worth, etc. There's a quote that I see everywhere on social media, it is so cliche and said so much but it is so powerful..."Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Uchtdorf said it best "We are all in need of mercy." I hope you can look for ways to lift up, help, and be kind to others during the rest of this week. It will not only make them feel better but you will notice that your day will immediately improve. Much love to you all. Ness So my alarm goes off, I hit snooze about 5 times (really bad habit, I know), then I start thinking of all the stuff I need to make up at school because I missed a couple days, and then my mind starts to go to negative things especially since it's Monday and those are the worst. See... there I go talking all negative and stuff. So, What a great start to my day, right?
So for today's Motivation Monday I thought I'd share some ways to look for the good and positive things in life especially when you're in a slump like me today. haha I'm not perfect at it as you can tell from my story, but when I think back of all the days I started my day right, I remember looking forward to certain fun and exciting things that day. For example, today is my mom's birthday so I immediately thought of celebrating later and how good of a day it will be. Even if there's nothing exciting that day, you can still count your blessings. That's what I always turn back to. There is always, always, always something to be grateful for, especially in November! ;) Another great thing that helps me is scrolling through my instagram looking at quotes to start my day. If you couldn't tell yet, I love quotes hahah. They're all over my instagram and on here! They just give me an extra boost for today. So a few great accounts to follow that have a bunch of awesome daily quotes are: @ldsliving @ldstexts @ldsuplift @thatmormongal @haleesthoughts (she actually has a blog too! It's awesome!) @themormondaily @scripturelight @mormoninspire @ldsyouth @teenmormon That was more than a few haha but you get the idea. :) I'll end with a couple quotes I love(of course right?) "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." -Gordon B. Hinckley "A grateful heart comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives." -Thomas S. Monson "You are not forgotten." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf Have a great rest of your Monday. Much love. Ness |
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Ponderize Of The Week:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." - James 1:5-6 Quote Of The Week:
"Give it to God and go to sleep." - Unknown |