Opening My Eyes

I love having dear friends that know you so well and can help you see things about yourself without them even being conscious of it. This week I had a dear friend help me see how I was wrong in reacting over something that probably isn't too uncommon. It's always disgusted me how some women will let themselves be disgraced and treated as just a man's sex tool by how they dress and act. Recently I had a sensitive experience involving someone I care deeply about that hit a nerve so strong I was fuming inside for about a week. I couldn't understand how some people can let go of the respect they could have by NOT acting a certain way and just trash it for a short moment of false glory, fame, attention... whatever you want to call it... that won't last. I was venting to my best friend about what I had witnessed the other day, expressing how flabbergasted I was and how much less I thought about the individual. After talking with me for a while she helped me see through a different set of eyes, ones not of judgement or hate, but of understanding and love. In a world where morals are disintegrating and basic foundations of respect are being challenged with actions and lifestyles that bring only immediate satisfaction, is it hard to believe that some, or many, will get confused on what paths to follow and how to act? I had immediately thought ill of this individual out of my own shock and hurt at what I witnessed that I prevented myself from opening my eyes and seeing more of what Christ would've seen. God commanded us in John 13:34-35

"A new commandment I give unto you,
That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another."

The Lord doesn't say, 'love those that you like', or 'love those that you don't hate', He commanded us to love all men and women no matter who they are or what lifestyles they chose. I have no right to judge anyone because I am not perfect. I can be hurt, I can be sad about what I see, but I have no right to think ill of someone for what they choose to do or how they want to live. I'm grateful for my dear friend for helping me remember Heavenly Father's commandment.

In 2 Corinthians 4:18 it reads,

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

I absolutely love this scripture! Our love and faith are the most powerful, eternal things in this life and in all eternity; they will last forever. Those temporal things such as cars, toys, clothes, money, they will be left behind when we leave this world, yet the love of family, the sealing of a marriage, our faith and testimony of the Lord and His way will stay in our hearts throughout all time. What a marvelous comfort and reminder of what is most important.
Our priority in this life is to strengthen and flourish in those areas that will last through forever. In a world so consumed with worldly accessories and attitudes, it is so vitally important that we stay strong in the gospel and in morals that are so incredible to us. Our Lord wants us to grow into the eternal Kings and Queens that He knows we can become. If we put our love and trust in Him, He will show us how to be exalted in His eyes.
<3

Gratitude and Love Fill My Heart

My heart is filled with such gratitude to my loving Heavenly Father and all He has done for me. Of all the trials I’ve gone through, of all the pain and confusion, of all the enduring, I look at all of it as a blessing. How immensely grateful I am that our Father in Heaven allows us to face trials, often unknowing of why we must go through them, and then once we are out of the tunnel, He lets us look back at the path we’ve taken and see how we have changed, grown, or even just how that path, that exhausting trial, was the best way. That’s where I’m at right now. I feel as though I’m peeking out the front of the tunnel, not quite done, but able to catch a glimpse of why Heavenly Father has led me the way He did. There were times, many times, when I broke down with a heart so weighed and yearning to be done with my trial. I would fall to my knees and pour out my heart, desperate for rest, for understanding. My heart now is overwhelmed with gratitude to my loving Heavenly Father. In those moments of weakness, He lovingly comforted me and gave me the strength to keep going, as if He were saying, “Hold on, it’ll be alright in the end, I’m right here.” And then wrapping me in His arms, would give the strength to go on in faith and trust.

It seems like forever when we are in those kinds of moments, when the end just doesn’t seem like its coming fast enough and when our faith and trust in Heavenly Father grow weak. In those moments of weakness, He wraps us in arms of tenderness and love, giving us the strength to get back up and continue in faith. He is always there and desirous that we should succeed in order to experience His joy that is promised us if we endure well. I look back on my moments when my trials seem so large but in reality, there is so much to be grateful for. In every one of those times when my heart was so burdened, I could always find something that would show me Heavenly Father was right there beside me, helping me through every step until I could stand up beside Him again. My heart now is so overwhelmed with more understanding of why some trials needed to take place and why things needed to happen in HIS time, not mine. His time, His plan, His gospel, is perfect. He is perfect. How humbled I am from my own weakness. If everything God does is perfect, then why do I doubt Him? Of everything that I have learned over this time of trial, the most significant lesson I’ve grown from is to have faith and trust in God’s time and plan. He is all knowing and perfect; He is guiding me on the path that is best and will stand beside me through all the trials I will face.

O, how joyous my heart is knowing how much my Heavenly Father loves me and wants me to be happy. Knowing that as long as I stay firm on the path He guides me, God will strengthen me, comfort me, and carry me through those times when I need Him the most.  How grateful I am, and how much I love my Heavenly Father.

My Vision Board

I'm so grateful to my friend Christine for coming up with the idea of creating personal vision boards. After many hours of scrapping, I've made a Vision Board of where I am in my life and where I want to be:)) When I see it, it's like a simple reminder of who I am and who I want to be:)) I LOVE IT!!! :))

Rememeber Whose Opinion Matters

How tired I am of being compared to the models, the airbrushed images, the seemingly 'sexy' and 'perfect' bodies that our world fills our minds and lives with. How tired I am of seeing myself through the eyes of another and only seeing what I am not, or comparing me to what I should be. How tired I am that I see MYSELF and compare to what is thought to be desired and perfect by the world. My heart aches to be seen for what I am, for who I am and for what I do. How tired I am of being in a world that teaches through television, movies, music, and society that who you are is less than what you are. 

I know others desire and yearn for the same which is why you hear quotes like, 'beauty captures the eyes but personality captures the soul'. In all honesty though, this world is becoming so drowned in false ideals, in carnal yearnings, in accepting immoral thoughts and actions that are a disgrace to the Lord's commandments. How tired I am of turning on a movie or TV show and notice how gorgeous and sexy the world makes the women and can't help but note what traits I don't have. I stand back and evaluate popular television shows today that many I know are engulphed in.... Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Next Top Model, even adult cartoons like King of the Hill, The Family Guy... they teach principles and lifestyles that might seem comical and harmless, but in reality, impact what we do everyday and what thoughts come into our mind whether we think they will or not. 

Kim Johnson in the 2008 Women's BYU Conference wrote about a young man who took a challange to give up television and movies for an entire semester. After he succesfully completed this challenge, the young man in the ward revealed how he now saw things. He stated that women in the ward who might have been plain or simple to him before, now shone with a beauty and light and were radiant women of our Heavenly Father. The media and the world try so hard to blind us from what is 'lovely, virtuous, or of good report' and instead crowd our minds with false ideals and comparisons. Kim Johnson also relates how models who are beautiful are still airbrushed and changed because of how big their thighs are, how small their lips are, or what color their skin is.

I do not consider myself a plain looking woman. I feel my own worth and beauty and dress and take care of myself accordingly, not because I try to compete with the world's view, but because I have a respect for myself and want to show my beauty aside from the world. I see who I am. I write down what I want to accomplish and who I desire to be. I try to keep my eye on the eternal perspective and ignore what the world throws into my face of who I should be and what I am not. I crave to be a true, pure, virtuous, beautiful woman of my Heavenly Father and shine in HIS light, not in the world's. The world teaches that even the most beautiful aren't good enough, giving women and men all over impossible goals and crushing the confidence of so many.  When we are able to look past the false ideals the world displays and see in actuality, like the young man who took the challenge, we see the worth of each soul through God's eyes and the beauty of people, not from lust, but from worth.

"For the Lord seeth not as man seeth;

for man looketh on the outward appearance, 

but the Lord looketh on the heart"

(1 Samuel 16:7)