Life Goes On

LIFE IS PRECIOUS

GRUDGES ARE A WASTE OF PERFECT HAPPINESS

LAUGH WHEN YOU CAN

APOLOGIZE WHEN YOU SHOULD

LET GO OF WHAT YOU CANT CHANGE

LOVE DEEPLY AND FORGIVE QUICKLY

TAKE CHANCES

GIVE EVERYTHING AND REGRET NOTHING

LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO BE UNHAPPY

TAKE THE GOOD WITH THE BAD

SMILE WHEN YOU'RE SAD

YOU CANT FIGHT FATE

LEARN TO ACCEPT WHAT HAPPENS

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON

LOVE WHAT YOU HAVE AND ALWAYS REMEMBER WHAT YOU HAD

THIS LIFE IS A GIFT, CHERISH IT

FORGIVE BUT DONT FORGET

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES

ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT LIFE GOES ON

We all face trials in our lives. Some we feel will break us. Some we think we can't handle. It is not until it is over that we see the blessing it truly was for us. I remember in 2007 I went to 6 or 7 funerals of people that I knew. I may not have been very close with them but I knew what great people they were. In 2008, one of my friends died from Lupus. Her and I were not the best of friends but we still hung out together in the same group of friends. On Christmas 2008 my best friend was rushed to the hospital where he was put on life support until Jan. 10 2009, when his long 2 year fight with his disease finally came to an end. I looked back on the many losses I had witnessed and experienced in the previous years, when he had been there for me, but this time he wasn't there to comfort me or for me to talk to. I looked back on the past couple years and saw how the Lord had slowly prepared me for the greatest trial I had yet to experience. Knowing ahead of time that my best friend was dying made things hard because there was no way to prepare for the loss of someone you love. I thought that his death was the end my lesson to cherish my loved ones and draw nearer to the Lord. Yet again it was just another experience to strengthen me for future events. Two years later one of my best friends was diagnosed with cancer. None of our other friends had experienced the heartache and helplessness that you feel knowing that there is nothing you can do to help your best friend with a life threatening disease. I again looked back on the previous years and thanked the Lord for his patience with me and the constant preparation for this event in my life. I was able to be the "strong one" to help them all through the hopeless tears that they would witness and the helplessness that they could not avoid. I have realized that I can never be "done" preparing for what life throws at me. However, I have faith that the Lord will prepare a way and strengthen me to be able to make it through any trial he sees fit for me. We are never able to see the big picture when going through the hard times in life. And many times we forget about the eternal perspective. There is always a reason why we experience the hardships we each face. However, we will never know why until we have experienced the pain to the fullest. Even then, we may never know why we had to experience certain pain and suffering, in this life, but one day, when we return, we will be able to see and know the reason WHY.

Just What We Needed

He Bled in the garden

Then rose from the tomb

He did it to save us

From what we would do

We needed a Savior

A perfect soul

To pave us a path

That could lead us home

He's felt all our pain

He's cried all our tears

So when times get hard

He'll always be near

Amazing Weekend!

This past weekend was by far a weekend I will never forget. I was blessed with the chance to spend time with my little brother and other family that I have missed. I felt the spirit exceedingly strong this weekend, as I was humbled to the realization that my plan is not the Lord's plan. As I premeditated plans I desired to occur each day, it seemed as if nothing was working in my favor and frustration consumed me. However, as my plans failed, greater opportunities arose where which incredible incidents would have never been experienced.

We were blessed to meet some great new people whom we would have never met if our plans worked out the way we desired them to and as a result blessing us with the amazing opportunity to visit my little brother before we left. I'm so thankful for the Lord's patience with me and this weekend was evidently the answer to my prayers. I have doubted whether I should move away from my family in order to go to Utah for school. I had prayed and fasted about this decision and yet I had done everything I could to try and talk myself out of leaving my home, but this weekend was just what I needed to know that everything would be okay. It seems like this week at school was so much easier and everything seems to be falling into place as doors and windows keep opening for classes, work and housing in Utah. As someone who likes to plan things and what, when, and how everything will happen, it has been a humbling experience for me to just let things happen. Even though these situations have been just a small spec of color in within the big picture, I am still grateful for the opportunities and experiences Dwina and I had this weekend.

Thought of the Day: Don’t put limitations on God. He will provide no matter how impossible it may seem. It the Lord wants it to happen it will. “The lessons we learn from patience will cultivate our character, lift our lives, and heighten our happiness. Patience is the ability to put our desire on hold for a time- is a precious and rare virtue. We want what we want, and we want it now. Therefore, the very idea of patience may seem unpleasant and, at times, bitter. Nevertheless, without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace.”- Dieter F Uchtdorf