Visiting Teaching: Truly Inspired

I cannot even begin to express how full my heart is today. The Sabbath is such a wonderful day. I was blessed to have an incredible Sacrament meeting where I was uplifted and was able to partake of the Sacrament--renewing my covenants with my Father in Heaven. The rest of church was also especially great.

Today I also had the chance to go visit two incredible daughters of God--Leah and McKinzie--with my wonderful visiting teaching companion, Alley. It is remarkable how my spirits can be lifted even higher from the very beginning. These three girls are some seriously magnificent women and I am truly blessed to be able to interact with them. Their positive attitudes and their love for the Savior never cease to impress me and make me want to be better.

Relief Society is seriously incredible. All these women come together, and through their love of God, are able to be lifted and find the strength to carry not only their own burdens, but the burdens of those around them. Such strength and comfort comes from knowing there is such an immense amount of love with those women, and I feel truly blessed to be a part of it. I love how beautiful each and every woman is when they look to the Savior and try to emulate His life.

We each have a role to play in this life; our roles are big and small, but each is extremely vital. Together we have the chance to lift and fortify every person that we come in contact with.

Today I have been reminded of my responsibility to help others to come to know Christ and I hope that in some small way I can help those I interact with to feel of the love that their Savior and Father have for them.

I am so grateful to be a woman, in this church, at this time, and have the chance to know such wonderful people.

Christ lives! And He loves you, in a way that you cannot begin to imagine. Go out and remember how blessed you are; see the beauty in those around you and lift them up! It is a wonderful day, today. We are so very blessed!

The Lord is in my life

The past few days I've started to realized how truly blessed I am. Life is not easy with the stress of school, troubles with family, and mistakes I make; but as I look at the world that surrounds me, the simplest things blow my mind.

Friday I spent most of the day at my sister's house doing laundry and such. She used my car and drove me to class; it was one of the most beautiful days I've seen in Rexburg.

As I got out of class I waited on the sidewalk corner, enjoying the brilliant sun kissing my skin. I waited. I began to wonder if she was ever coming to get me. 20 minutes passed. If it had been any other day I would have been a little annoyed, but I was silently enjoying the wonderful weather and the warming sun. Although the day was lovely, I began to feel lonely as I was enjoying it all on my own. I then saw my brother-in-law, Garn, crossing the street toward me. Apparently he always takes a different path to class, but he told me he had a prompting to walk this way and there I was. It was so small, but I was amazed that God prompted Garn to come to see me, and especially amazed that Garn would follow such a small, seemingly unimportant, prompting. What a great example he is!

I was then blessed to go to a wonderful concert with Kyle and feel the spirit of the Lord through music. What a wonderful gift! The power of music is incredible.
Saturday promised to show me the hand of the Lord even more. My uncle George and cousins, Jesika and Emalee, came to Rexburg and I had the opportunity to go do baptisms with them; wow, it had been too long since I had been there. In the beginning things were a little crazy and the hustle and bustle had me finding it difficult to focus on the spirit. But, as things got settled I could feel the warmth of the precious companionship. I was reading through the Ensign and was enjoying it but still felt like I needed something different. My eye was caught by an article in the Ensign my cousin was reading entitled "Forgiving Thyself" as she flipped through the pages. When she went to put the Ensign down I knew I needed to look through it--thinking I needed that forgiveness article. I started at the beginning and read the articles that seemed to stand out to me. I came to one entitled "Joshua's Walls" and began to pass by it, not seeming interested. As I turned the page something told me that it could be interesting. I'm sad to say that I hesitated and continued to turn the pages. The thought again came into my head. I reluctantly decided to turn back and read it.

I can not even explain how perfect this article was for me. I was filled with love and peace and felt I needed to share it with one of my sisters. My eyes began to fill with tears as I realized how aware my Savior is of me. I absolutely love the temple and the inspiration I can find there.

As the day went on I thought more and more about the world around me. I played in a Black Light Volleyball tournament and the smallest things amaze me. Our eyes adjust so perfectly to changes in light; we can jump and run and play sports; we laugh and love and grow. Our bodies are truly amazing. I am set at awe with how perfectly God created us. I need to be more grateful for the body that I have been blessed with.

After the tournament Kyle and I went up to this church where you can see over Rexburg. I LOVE CITY LIGHTS! It was breathtaking. Even the chilling breeze making me shiver, and crazy drivers bringing the smell of burning rubber to my nose could not drown out the beauty of the stars, the city lights, and the joy of a wonderful boy being at my side. I wanted to just stop time and continue to be in that moment forever.

This world truly amazes me. So many different things allow me to see the hand of the Lord and His incredible creations. I am so incredibly blessed just to be a part of this world.

And now, I am blessed with a wonderful Sabbath day where I can turn to the Lord and partake of His Sacrament and be filled with His loving Spirit. I live in a wonderful town, go to a great school, and have such immense beauty surrounding me.

Today I am so very grateful that my Father is aware of me and makes Himself known in my life.