The Hardest Thing to Give

So I think I've mentioned that I write articles for my local newspaper. Well here is a piece of one of my recent writings....I think some people may hate my article and a lot of people may not read it because they're usually fairly spiritual. But these are my thoughts. This is what I'm thinking about most of the time and when I try to come up with a new topic, one that I love, then I always, without fail, think of something that somehow relates back to my Savior and my God. So....sorry about it. Except for not really. This is the biggest part of who I am. This is the way my mind works. This is me.Anyway, read on for the article... 

         Fully submitting myself to the will of my Heavenly Father is a difficult thing for me, especially when it isn’t at all what I had in mind for myself. I continually am going through experiences that challenge my faith by being asked to give something good up, for something better. That seems like it would be easy, but it’s not. It’s not always easy to remember that, as C.S. Lewis said, “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” This is a principle that I don’t think I’ll ever have perfected, a lesson that I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand.

             Yet, it proves to be true. Every. Single. Time. I am always happier when I sacrifice my will, my pride, my plans, my time, my life to my Father in Heaven. I gain more faith in His plan for me and grow closer to my Savior when I do so.

            Gordon B. Hinckley once said, “You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make.”

            That’s something that I need to change: my mindset. The sacrifices I have made and am making, the sacrifices I have yet to make…well they’re not sacrifices at all. They are investments. Investments that will make me so much more than I currently am, so much happier than I ever have been.

            Some investments are smaller, easier and, as in stock investments, produce fewer results. Then there are those that seem huge, looming and dangerous. Yet, it is those that yield the richest rewards.

            He will ask us the hardest thing to give, but once we muster the courage to make that sacrifice, that investment, the results are beyond comparison. But they will be hard. And, many times, it will hurt. It is in these moments that I have come to see that there is one who truly understands, He who also called out to His father for strength.

Like my Savior before me also knew, I can do nothing but rely on my Father in Heaven. It is then that I truly come to know my Redeemer and it is only then that I come a little closer to becoming all that my God would have me be.

                                                                                                                                

The Search is Over + I Seriously LOVE President Hinckley

When I was 14 years old, back in the summer of 2006, I went to EFY. It was an amazing experience! While there I sang in the choir and every day we had practice while everyone else had free time because, towards the end of the week, we were going to have a program. Well in the middle of this program there was going to be bit of an intermission from our singing during which a clip of President Gordon B. Hinckley speaking to the youth would be played. The last few days of practice we played the clip so we could get a feel for how long it would be. Every day I heard it, it made me cry all over again. I distinctly remember watching in on the laptop in our choir room. I loved it. The night of the program was no different except for, instead of a single practice room, the spirit filled the entire auditorium, washing over hundreds of teens, mostly LDS but not completely. As President Hinckley told us how much he loved us I knew he was telling the truth. Then, after his adamant statement that we didn't have to succumb to the pressures of the world, we didn't have to make those wrong decisions...it hit me. I didn't have to. I had power over me and what I did and I didn't have to do anything that I knew to be wrong. Since then I have made wrong decisions, as we all do, but I still know, I don't have to do that. I don't have to stay down. The atonement is there for a reason. I can be forgiven when I mess up and I can, someday, return to my Heavenly Father. Anyway, that talk had a profound impact on me and it was that talk that gave me an even stronger, more intense love for President Hinckley. A love all of the prophets, but I feel as if he is my prophet. Because of that talk. So, as you could imagine, I wanted it. I wanted it bad. So I looked for the video everywhere but I could not find it! It wasn't on the EFY website or on lds.org. I didn't even know what to look for besides EFY 2006. So my search continued. And finally, after 5 years of looking, I found it last night!! It was 2am but I watched it over and over and over again and let me tell you, it was glorious. Sitting alone in the dark with my laptop listening to Gordon B. Hinckleys words, the spirit filled our little apartment just as it had that auditorium. I felt tingly all over and it was as if I was hearing it for the very first time. I cannot even describe to you how ecstatic I am to finally have this. Please allow me to share this wonderful find with you. If you want to read along go here.