In honor of President Thomas S. Monson's 89th birthday today, I thought I would post 10 of his wonderful quotes. I'll also link just a short video clip of our beloved prophet's testimony at the end :) 1.) 2.) "Choose your friends with caution; plan your future with purpose, and frame your life with faith." 3.) 4.) "Amidst the confusion of the times, the conflicts of conscience, and the turmoil of daily living, an abiding faith becomes an anchor to our lives." 5.) 6.) "Our Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and will help us as we call upon Him for assistance. I believe that no concern of ours is too small or insignificant. The Lord is in the details of our lives." 7.) 8.) "When you were confirmed a member of the church, you received the right to the companionship of the Holy Ghost. He can help you make good choices. When challenged or tempted, you do not need to feel alone. Remember that prayer is the passport to spiritual power." 9.) 10.) "It is our duty to live our lives in such a way that we may be examples of righteousness."
CLICK HERE to hear our prophet's sweet testimony :) It's only like a minute and a half, enjoy! Happy Sabbath :) Ness Happy Birthday President Monson! <3
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Thomas S. Monson said, "Your patriarchal blessing will see you through the darkest nights. It will guide you through life's dangers. Your patriarchal blessing is to you a personal Liahona to chart your course and guide your way." How very true that is. If you have not received yours but feel like you are ready to (yes, just like every other person has told you...) PREPARE NOW TO GET IT! :) You will absolutely love it just as I love and cherish mine. For those of you reading who do in fact have yours, I'm sure that you would agree with Thomas S. Monson (like I do) that your patriarchal blessing has seen you through the darkest times. No matter if it was one specific time you remember or countless... it is a comfort and will bring you immediate peace each time you read it. Your blessing is specific to you and only you. Heavenly Father loves us each individually and has a special and specific plan for each of us. In order for us to receive the promised blessings told to us, we need to actively have faith and do our part. Henry B. Eyring said, "If you do your part, The Lord will add His power to your efforts." When we sincerely desire to have the blessings told to us (and live worthy of them) Heavenly Father will see that and bless us.
"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." -Doctrine and Covenants 82:10 We can't just expect these blessings to come pouring into our lives if we are not doing what we should or even if we are floating along through life just expecting them without us doing any work. We should always be open to the spirit and be actively listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost for when we need to make major decisions like furthering education or marriage. I can remember a handful of specific times where my patriarchal blessing brought immense peace and comfort. These were times when I felt alone, inadequate, and lost. I remember saying just a simple quiet prayer asking my Father in Heaven what I should do. I immediately thought of my patriarchal blessing. I went straight to where it was, just sitting neatly on my desk in my room. I picked it up, sat on my bed, and began reading away. I felt loved. I was assured (once again) that everything will be okay as long as I "have faith" and "listen to the spirit" which is stated in my blessing many times. Just recently I have made some choices that I really struggled with, I wanted what I wanted right then and there. I ignored promptings that told me I shouldn't take that route and choice I was making. I looked to my patriarchal blessing for guidance. The phrase "You will have the Holy Ghost to guide and direct you throughout your life" stood out to me big time. Not only was I not relying on the spirit, I ignored the little red flags and promptings it told me. I have since learned from this decision and have realized that I can't just do things on my own. I need my Heavenly Father, my Savior, and the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was given to us as a gift. We should use this gift... always! When we mess up, like I did, we can always fix our mistakes. We can learn from them and we can grow from them. If we stay faithful and we follow the path Heavenly Father wants us to take, the blessings stated in our patriarchal blessing will be given to us. Always strive to be worthy of them. Read your blessing often. It will definitely see you through the darkest times. It is our personal Liahona. I hope each and every one of you have had a fantastic and spirit-filled Sabbath. Have a great week. Ness <3 "So tell me Vanessa, how are you feeling? What is bothering you? How can I help you?" My counselor asked as my eyes were locked with hers and tears streamed down by face. My mind was scrambled, thoughts were racing, and my face was red and hot. I could barely comprehend my own thoughts and feelings let alone put them into words to a complete stranger who had no clue what I was going through. I sat on a tiny couch in a tiny room with bare white walls. The last thing I wanted to do was to talk about my problems, they consumed my thoughts day in and day out, so why in the world would I want to talk about it too?? Counseling... I hated that word and I cringed when it was brought up to me in the beginning weeks of my depression and anxiety. I was not one to open up to people about anything. It seemed like I couldn't even face my own feelings without wanting to run away. I didn't like this reality I was thrown into and I certainly did not want help from anyone. I was bitter, angry, impatient, lonely, numb, and broken. But still I wouldn't let anyone help put my broken pieces back together; I didn't think it was possible. These feelings lasted for what seemed like forever! Until one day I snapped out of it after reading this very quote, "Tests and trials are given to all of us. These mortal challenges allow us and our Heavenly Father to see whether we will exercise our agency to follow His Son." - Robert D. Hales After reading this I knew I had to pull myself together. Relying on my Heavenly Father was what I needed to do the most, and it was the very thing I was doing the least of. His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ atoned for these very feelings and problems I was going through. How could I have forgotten? Here is just a short video clip that I love and pretty much sums up this whole post, watch it! CLICK HERE I began praying more, reading my scriptures more, and doing everything I could to come closer to my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. They had been there all along, I just didn't make the effort to open my eyes and see that. During this time I also received my patriarchal blessing. It was the perfect timing. There's a quote by Thomas S. Monson that says, "Your patriarchal blessing will see you through the darkest night. It will guide you through life's dangers." How very true. If you haven't read yours lately, stop reading my blog post and go read it (and them come back ;)) cause really, they are a huge comfort and a blessing. I have received immediate peace whenever I have read mine through a difficult time. Cherish it :) The future can be scary and daunting and we may feel helpless at times but it's important to remember that we have a loving Heavenly Father and Elder brother on our side. They love us. Oh how much they love us... they want the best for us. They want us to be happy! We cannot do it alone. We cannot go through this mortal journey by ourselves relying on our own knowledge. Heavenly Father is Omnipotent and Omniscient . He has a plan for us, each and every one of us. If we rely on him and put our trust in Him, everything will fall into place. He is reaching out to us, let Him embrace you. His arms are always outstretched. Always. This post wasn't the typical Motivation Monday because I meant to upload this yesterday for the usual Sunday post but I just didn't have time. So hope you all enjoyed! Have a fab week. Ness
"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 Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Imagine if all of these things were crammed into the greatest gift given to us... Well guess what? It is! I'll give ya a hint: You received this gift when you were baptized and confirmed. Ding Ding! You guessed it. The Holy Ghost. Good job guys, you're so smart. ;) haha but really, this gift should be treasured and something that we always hold on to and cherish. The Holy Ghost has been a huge blessing in my life, I always want to strive to be worthy of having it with me.
I remember one Young Women's lesson where us girls were handed a cute little mini cardboard box. It had a tag tied to it titled, "The greatest gift". We were invited to open it up and as we did we saw that there was nothing in it. Not a single thing. This box represented the Spirit or The Holy Ghost. This special gift is not tangible, nor is it something we can hold and play with. Yet, it is priceless. I also remember another lesson where we discussed ways that we can "Filter out the static of Satan" or ways that we can invite the spirit into our lives. Here are the 9 ways! 1. Sincerely and humbly pray. 2. Act promptly on spiritual impressions. K, hold up. All of these that I'll name are super important but this one stands out to me the most. I remember times that I have actually done this and acted on promptings, and other times where I haven't and I have definitely regretted it. I'll share one of those times... It happened actually this past Friday! Me and my 19 yr old brother Enrique went to the Provo Town Center Mall to just walk around and return some things. He was taking forever so I just sat by myself waiting for him on a bench. It was later in the day so it wasn't very busy and there weren't very many people walking around. A few would pass by me here and there. As usual, I was just scrolling through my phone when I looked up to my left and saw this older guy walking slowly down this walkway towards where I was sitting. I didn't think much of it until he got closer and kept staring my way. Eventually he was only a few feet away from me aimlessly pacing back and fourth super sketchily (if that's even a word ;)) he wasn't carrying any shopping bags or anything with him. Just empty handed. The longer he paced and stared the more uneasy and uncomfortable I felt. At this point, I just did not have a good feeling. Something wasn't right. I quickly said just a short prayer in my mind to keep me safe and know how to handle this situation... There was an escalator just a couple feet away to my left and I felt I should get up and head down it away from him. And so I stood up to do so but then I hesitated. At this point the guy slowly began walking away and heading towards the "exit" door. That was definitely a blessing but I do regret not fully leaving. I'll never know what this guy was up to but I can't deny the horrible feeling I felt. Looking back, I should've went completely down the escalator. But who knows, I could've been followed. Everything happens for a reason and I believe I was totally being watched over. So basically, listen to the spirit and always be open to act upon the promptings quickly :) 3. Search the scriptures daily. 4. Live the law of the fast. 5. Be worthy and worship in the temple. 6. "Trifle not with sacred things." 7. Be prepared to move forward in faith. 8. Let the Lord decide details of what and when he chooses to reveal. and last but not least 9. Heed prophetic warnings. To end I just wanna share a quote by Linda K. Burton. She says, "One of the best blessings we can receive as we learn to hear the voice of the Spirit is the ability to see ourselves as we are seen by our Father in Heaven, and, 'slowly by slowly, small by small,' become our very best selves." Hope all you lovelies are having a fab Sunday! Much love, Ness. As I was reading my scriptures during sacrament meeting while I was waiting for the water to be passed to my row, I came across Jacob 3:1 it says "But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction." After reading this I thought of a quote by Thomas S. Monson, Life is tough. I mean, it is just downright hard sometimes. We may feel stuck at times and feel like there is no way out of this dark hole of trials/challenges that we are in. But there is a way up and there is a way out... it is through prayer. I think we sometimes forget just how powerful prayer is. Prayer is our literal way of communication with our dear Father in Heaven. He hears them. I can testify to you with my whole heart and being that He does indeed hear your prayers. Every single one. It does not matter if your prayers are clumsy or if you're sobbing so hard that you can't muster a single word out... He understands your heart and He understands your pain. Prayer for me has always been my lifeline. It is my go-to. It is my comfort, peace, strength, light, and hope. It is all of these things because I know without a doubt that I have a Father in Heaven who is listening on the other end. Now, prayer isn't always a ask-for-it-and-get-what-you-want type of thing. I have had to suck up my pride and learn that for myself. During the darkest times of my deep depression, people would always tell me "Be patient". Nothing would frustrate me more than hearing that phrase. I would cry out in prayer pleading and practically begging to my Heavenly Father saying, "I have been patient long enough! You don't understand. I can not handle this any longer. I just can't." Little did I know at the time that patience was the biggest lesson I needed to learn and that God did understand. Just like our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson says that He won't always take our afflictions from us, but he will comfort us. And that is exactly what prayer is: a comfort and a lifeline! I hope you all have just a fantastic blessed Sabbath. Ness <3
Youth Conference... absolutely amazing. 10 of us youth all went with a couple of our leaders. We left Thursday afternoon and headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to stay in a cabin for the weekend. If you were to ask me my favorite part, I would hesitate for a minute because all of it was so great. But I will always remember the devotionals and testimony meeting that we had... Thursday night we all gathered on the deck in a circle of camp chairs for our first devotional to introduce the theme and start the weekend off right! Mama and Papa Bolli- As we liked to call them who planned the whole thing (The Bolli's) taught. Papa Bolli introduced the theme: If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear. One of the scriptures that we talked about that really stood out to me was in Doctrine and Covenants 121: 45. It says, "Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. We talked about how VIRTUE and CONFIDENCE go hand in hand. I wrote in the margins of my scriptures: If you are clean, you will have the confidence and courage to get through trials. When you have confidence and faith, fear and doubt will start to diminish. It won't always be easy, but it is possible. I also wrote: The closer you are to your Father in Heaven, the more strength you will have to resist temptations and to bear trials. It is so so true. I have seen this principle come true in my own life. The lowest points and hardest times in our lives are when we tend to grow closer to our Savior and Heavenly Father. We need to rely on them. Their hands are outstretched to us, just waiting for us to take them. They love us no matter what. That love is always there. Papa Bolli then mentioned that it is not only the worst of times, but it is also the best of times. There are a lot of crazy and horrific things in the world, but there are also great and wonderful things. With God's help especially, we can make it and we can get through it. A quote came to mind by Rosemary M. Wixom, "As individuals we are STRONG. Together, with God, we are UNSTOPPABLE." How amazing is that?! The spirit was super strong, especially in the mountains away from everything and the world. Another fav part of mine was the relaxing time. Which means yes, the hot tub. Fun times. Then Friday morning came... HIKE DAY! Hikes are the best, so of course this was one of the highlights of the weekend. We originally planned on just hiking to Lake Mary (up by Brighton Ski Resort) but we couldn't resist hiking further once we saw the stunning view. Once we reached Lake Mary, we all gathered as a group and had another little devotional. It was sunny, there was a nice breeze, and the spirit was there. What more could you ask for? Mama and Papa Bolli talked about how our physical health can effect our spiritual, mental, and emotional health as well. Getting outside, being active, and even just going for a little walk around the block can boost our mood and attitude. Me and one of the YW, got up and read out of The For Strength of Youth pamphlet to the section titled: Physical and Emotional Health. We then shared our thoughts and testimony on it... Anxiety and depression are one of my weaknesses. I have noticed that as I try to get out and enjoy all that Heavenly Father has created, my mood instantly boosts. Negative thoughts are replaced by positive and uplifting things, I start to appreciate things and feel my Heavenly Father's love so strongly. Before I end with a few more pics (Yes, there's a lot. I'm sorry ;) ) I just wanted to share my testimony on Youth Conf and the theme... I am SO grateful I was able to go. It was fantastic. And thank you to everyone who planned and made it so great! I know without a doubt that if we let faith into our lives -even just a small particle- God will grow it and fear will diminish. Good always triumphs over evil. Light penetrates darkness. If we prepare ourselves with faith and trust, we will be blessed. Thank you lovely readers for reading. Hope you enjoyed. As always, have a happy Sunday! Ness Oh goodness, I don't even know where to begin. There just aren't words to adequately describe how amazing, fantastic, and wonderful this year's Young Women's/Girls Camp was. (K, maybe there's at least 3 words) Bear with me as this post might just be the longest one yet. I have so many thoughts that I want to write down and TRY to organize ;) READ TIL THE VERY END! I'm wanting to write about the significant parts of each day and then wrap it up with my testimony and what I learned and everything at the end. (Although, every little part of every day was significant!) Monday- The bus ride up to Heber Valley was just so great. We talked about a little bit of everything from the best movies and chick flicks to screaming disney songs at the top of our lungs. Once we and everyone got there, we unloaded all of our stuff into our cabins and rushed in to find ourselves the perfect bunk. Now this is where the laughing-so-hard-we-cried part of the week starts in... I go to open my sleeping bag and all I see is brown fabric. I'm thinking "What the heck, my sleeping bag is blue..." I ripped open the black garbage bag that it was in and it turns out to be a FLIPPIN' DOG BED. A. DOG. BED. (Hold up for a sec, I don't even have a dog currently... It was one of the boxer's bed that we had just stored away in my garage.) Let's just say I never lived that down that whole week and probably for the rest of my life. MORAL OF THE STORY: Check your dang sleeping bag and make sure it's actually a sleeping bag! ;) One of my very favorite parts of camp was the devotionals each night at the amphitheater and the speakers that came. Monday night's speaker was Sister Callie Reeve (I think that's how her name is spelled) She spoke a lot about staying true to who you are, especially in the gospel where we need to be examples to others especially as women in the church. We can be an influence for good. At the end of her talk she sang "Come unto Christ, Come unto him" The spirit was so strong, and of course I cried. I wish there was a video of her singing it on YouTube or something but sadly there isn't... Tuesday- LAKE DAY! Woo! This is always one of my favorite parts about camp. We could choose between a canoe or paddle boat. We chose the paddle boat to switch it up a bit. I got to sit in the middle and tan most of the time while my fellow paddle boaters AKA friends who I love dearly got to go hard at work toning their legs ;) alright alright, we switched places halfway through so that I could feel the pain too haha! After everyone is out on Legacy Lake we all stop what we're doing and have 2 minutes of silence to just look around at the scenery around us. The trees, glistening water, the bright blue sky full of fluffy clouds, etc. I couldn't help but think during this time of how incredibly blessed we are to have this beautiful world that our loving Heavenly Father has created. It's breathtaking. After the 2 minutes of silence, we all sang "I feel my Savior's love" together. It was great. That night, we had another devotional by Carmen Rasmusen Herbert. When she was 17 she auditioned for Season 2 of American Idol. She got cut from the top 200 but was later chosen to be on the "Wild card" show. She made it all the way to the final 6 before being eliminated. She spoke about putting faith and family above fame and fortune. Putting God first will allow everything else to fall into place in your life. Always! At the end she sang one of my very favorite hymns "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing". It was so so beautiful. That night around 9:30-ish all the wards went back up to the amphitheater for "Singing in the trees", which is where each ward goes into their own spot in the trees and sings the song that they've been practicing for months. It's completely dark except the stars and moon shining on us and their flashlights of course. Once each ward finishes, they turn their flashlights off and the next ward begins to sing. We were second to last. We sang "Glorious" By David Archuleta. After that, together as a Stake we sang "Stay" by Jenny Phillips. Here is the link to the song. You won't regret listening. CLICK HERE! Wednesday- CHALLENGE COURSE DAY! Another thing I look forward to for camp! The big course that we had this year was the zipline! Like any other zipline, it was a blast. Along with this, we have mini challenge courses that we do after as a group of about 10 girls. The mini course that has always stuck out to me is called "Lifeline". We start out sitting on a log blindfolded. We can't see anything whatsoever. One by one we are taken by one of our leaders to the starting point which is a tree. All we have to hold onto are wires attached to the trees. As we walk along, we hold one arm up that isn't holding onto the wire, to protect us from running into branches/trees or anything else. Along the way, I would sometimes get stuck. I would take a wrong turn or grab onto a wrong wire (pretty much going in circles). At one point I had a leader tell me that I needed to turn around. Slowly but surely... I got to the end! When I finished, my Young Women President took me by the arm and shoulders and told me "Congratulations, You made it home." I couldn't help but think of how our loving Heavenly Father will tell us the exact same thing when we return home to Him after this journey we call life. This mini challenge course is very similar to life: We are sometimes blindfolded by our trials. We get stuck. We take wrong turns. During these moments of hardship in our lives we think, "How in the world am I going to get through this? This is so hard." But you know what? We DO get through it. How? Because of our Savior Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. They love us. They want us to return home. They are reaching out their hands just waiting for us to take them. <3 Later on that day, me and a few other girls in my ward did a service project! We loaded and unloaded ginormous logs to different camp sites. Our legs burned from hiking up different hills to get to various campsites, our arms ached from carrying heavy logs, we were "attacked" by flying ants and nasty other spiders that don't need to exist ;) , etc. But in the end it was totally worth it. After each group finished their service project, we all met up at the cute little old missionaries trailer's. One of the many things that stood out to me that was said by one of the sister missionaries (I forgot her name :( was, "He knows the color of your eyes. After all, He (Heavenly Father) created you." Doesn't that just give you the chills? He knows us each by name. He knows our struggles. He knows our pain. And most of all, He loves us so so much more than we can even imagine! Later that night we had another devotional by Ashley Smith. She too, is a singer! She spoke a lot about self worth. She sang "Try" by Colbie Caillat. In one part of the song it says "When you're all alone by yourself, do you like you?" That alone in itself is so powerful. Especially nowadays there is SO much pressure on us girls to be PERFECT. Society expects us to be done up all the time. Our hair done, our makeup perfect and exactly how everyone else is doing it, etc. But the great news is, is that we don't have to give into that. You be you. You do you. You be your OWN person. We are all different because we are meant to be. You are beautiful EXACTLY how you are right now. Do not ever let anyone tell you any different. Thursday - Our last full day and our (almost) 5 mile hike! The hike was breathtaking and absolutely stunning. At the midpoint we took a group picture overlooking the whole Heber Valley camp. You literally felt on top of the world. Our last and final devotional was by our Stake President, President Edwards! Such a great man. He said that we all started with our own "Once upon a time" (our birth). In the pre-mortal life, each and every one of us raised our hands and agreed to come to this earth. We were excited! Can you believe that? Excited! At times we may think, "Why in the world was I excited when I knew all of the hard things I would have to face?" It is because we will eventually get our "Happily ever after." (Returning home to our Savior and Heavenly Father). God's plan is perfect. It is the plan of happiness. With His help and our Savior's, we can make it! And then came testimony night (once we all got back to our campsites). We all gathered around the fire with our camp chairs, hoodies, and blankets. It may have been super cold, but the spirit was oh so warm! You can bet your bottom dollar that we had tonssss of tissues ready! Testimony night is always a highlight for me. The spirit was so strong. And to top off the night, we had dutch oven peach cobbler! Good stuff.
Friday - Basically just cleaned our cabins, pavilion, bathrooms, and showers all morning! The bus ride home was bittersweet. We missed our own beds and we all were exhausted, but we honestly didn't want to leave. If we could have stayed another week, we would have. For sure. If you're still reading, props to you and I love you! I hope you've enjoyed reading about my week as much as I truly enjoyed it. Before I end with a few more pics, I just want to share a little bit of my testimony with you all... Girls camp will always always have my heart. It was so nice to be able to be up in the mountains for a week and enjoy what God has created without the distractions of our phones, social media, TV, etc. It's nice to rough it out (even though we did have cabins and such ;). This earth that we get to live in is absolutely stunning. We are so lucky! If there is one thing that you take away from this post, I want you to know that you are never alone. Never ever ever. Seen and unseen there are angels around you bearing you up, along with our Heavenly Father and elder brother Jesus Christ. They love you with an infinite love. Each and every one of you, no matter who you are. No matter what you have done or what you have been through, They are always there. Let them in, grab their hands. Remember to always STAY IN TUNE with the spirit. Stay close to your Heavenly Father. Pray often. K, now I'm done. Phew! Thank you for reading. I appreciate it so so much. <3 Happy Sunday! 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! Long time no post, seriously guys! I struggle hard core on trying to come up with post ideas. I could really use your ideas... If you think of anything at all, any topic, comment or send me a message! I'd love that! Before you read any further... Check out the new Ponderize of The Week and the new Quote of The Week! (Computer- On the side bar, Phone/device- Scroll all the way down to find them!) So I wanted to base today's post on the quote I posted on my @_simplyness_ insta account... Such a powerful scripture right?! With our loving Heavenly Father on our side, we can do anything. In particular resisting temptation and staying strong. These 2 things have been on my mind a lot. Especially in our day of age, there are so many evil and negative influences around us that sometimes our minds get distracted from important things in our lives like the gospel. It is so important that we stay strong and remember who we are and WHOSE we are. We are His and He loves us.
I firmly believe that He will not give us anything that we cannot handle... even when it doesn't always seem that way. When we've reached our breaking point and lowest of lows that is when we need to come unto Him. He will lighten our load. How lucky are we that we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?! Even the thought brings me so much hope and peace. Simply because I know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who knows me personally and knows my struggles, and simply because I also have an elder brother Jesus Christ who is my Prince of Peace. He is our Savior. With this knowledge alone, brings so much peace. I know that if we stay strong individually and in the gospel, remember who we are/whose we are, resist temptation, and be an example to others of our faith and strength... we will be blessed! Just like Jeffrey R. Holland says, "Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever!" The Mormon Channel on YouTube posted a video a couple months ago titled "Be Still, My Soul" that I think fits perfectly with my post as far as trusting in Heavenly Father and relying on Him for strength. Watch it, it's a good one for sure! Click HERE! |
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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 |