seeking light and truth – Seeking Eternal Truth

Understanding and sharing light.

This is a journal entry I wrote a few month ago when there was a lot of commotion and tension due to differing religious/moral beliefs floating around in social media. It was my way of sorting out my own feelings and beliefs. Since then, I’ve had the impression to share my feelings publicly in hopes that it could help those in search of truth and light. These are just my personal opinions based on my understanding of light, love and truth but hopefully it can help you form your own. It is our divine destiny to know and understand truth for ourselves.

Sometimes I have a hard time defending my beliefs. Not because I don’t know what I believe or I am afraid to be made fun of or be wrong, etc..but simply because if it I comes off as YOU are wrong and evil and I am right and righteous I have cause an unnecessary and counterproductive reaction. As soon as a person feels attacked as a person their defenses interfere from my message. Everything I say will now only prove how wrong and close minded I am. I have only reinforced their own beliefs and in their mind further shut down my own. Not only is it futile but quite destructive and goes against the very message of hope and love intended. The biggest problem for me is that it create SEPARATION among the human race. It breaks up unity.

See, we are all God’s children. His only purpose and desire is that we attain as much light, truth, wisdom and love as we are willing to receive because that is how we get to attain the joy and glory He enjoys.

We are ALL in this effort together. All the people on this mortal sphere chose God (truth, love and light) because they are here on this earth. Attacking one another because our beliefs don’t align and causing separation causes our own light to recede. The battle isn’t who’s righteous and who’s evil. We are all God’s children with our divine inheritance being His light. We are ALL inherently light and GOOD.

Coming to earth meant joining with a mortal body. They are the temple to our spirit and can serve us to fulfill the purpose of light and truth. The body, for survival sake, comes with strong primitive urges and defense mechanisms that can cause us to deviate from our mission. That means that we can be blinded to light and truth because of the strong impulses from our DNA and environmental conditioning of the human mind and body. This can cause a blindness, or darkness that is only covering up the light we really are. Our most divine goal is dispelling the darkness by embracing the light.

The great news is that we are not just body and mind. We are indeed spirit. That spirit is connected to the source of all light and truth. The more we rely on the spirit to guide us instead of merely our conditioning, impulses and reactions to life, the more light our mortal minds and bodies can understand light and wisdom and be TRAINED to know LOVE.

Truly the spirit can overcome the flesh. Truly our spirit can redirect and bring our bodies and mind to the level of light and truth!

How do we come to know light and truth? We choose it. That choice begins with humility. Anytime we choose love over anger. Anytime we choose to be compassionate over frustrated over someone. Anytime we choose to share goodness and truth instead of hatred and contempt. Anytime we choose to forgive instead of attempt to withhold love from someone that has offended us. Anytime we choose stillness over frantic anxiety. Anytime we choose to connect instead or judge and separate from others. Anytime we choose to change and make amends when we deviate from our truth, our light is awakened again. This is how our light grows, how our soul remembers who it really is and how we train our minds and bodies to align with TRUTH and God.

When we have an alignment with God, our actions, words and entire being is light. That means we do good because we want to. It is our nature, and a good deed is an extension of the joy we feel. Our presence, and nature is the best way to help others remember their own light and truth.

As times and values change in the world and people make choices that go against their own light, our job was never to judge, criticize, try to change, look down on, scold, hate, reject, neglect, despise, or despair. These are all just reactions of separation, darkness and fear. Our only obligation and greatest commandment was to LOVE. First love God Himself because He is the very source of LOVE. He is how we even have the capacity to fulfill His second commandment and all commandments, which is to love our neighbor as ourself. Love is essentially one complete and encompassing truth. Meaning that we cannot fully love God without loving our neighbor or without fully loving ourselves. As we are filled with God’s love, the capacity to genuinely love and understand others and ourselves becomes natural and instinctive.

God IS the very fountain of water, of life, love and truth.
That is why He has asked us to seek His love first and foremost. When we are not attached to the source, we are left to our own devices to fill our buckets. We usually fill it with sand or debris or rocks in attempts to fill it up but it only weighs us down and never quenches our thirst for love. It is not real love. When we are connected to Him, we are filled and OVERFLOWING, it is that overflow that allows us to give to others freely. Service, giving, compassion, forgiveness are, at that point, just an extension of our being and nature. We don’t have to give second thought, force ourselves or pride ourselves in this kind of love, it is just who we are and who we feel like being. It is us as our BEST and highest self. It is the path to become more like God as we connect to HIM.

I believe in a God that loves us no matter what. He doesn’t wait for us to change so He can love and help us. It is the very love and help that creates that change within us that then motivates external change. Our main objective is to be in a place to receive that love and help and that place is humility. We are brought there naturally if not willingly. Meaning, when we have exhausted all our own devices and tried so hard to do everything according to our own strength and understanding, we will eventually break down. We are left in a place to receive divine help if we choose it.

I believe that the greatest way to help others come to their own light again is to be a light. To live and align with light itself. If we expect others to change on our behalf, tell them that they are wrong, that they will never be happy with choices they are making or threaten them with hell, their instinct will mostly likely be to repel from us. Our true challenge and responsibility is overcoming our own negative judgements and separation against others and learning with the light of TRUTH how to accept them just as they are without fear or impulsive need to change them. We can learn to see them as they really are. We can finally view them them as a souls beyond their current choices. Our influence, that comes from remembering to choose light for ourselves so we are in a position to GIVE light to others, will have a MORE profound effect on the souls of mankind than persecution against their beliefs EVER will.

By it’s nature, truth, light, and love will prevail. Love is the ultimate truth, the guide to all light and wisdom and ultimately what God is and wants US to be. Anything short of that will fail because it will not survive the test of time.

Life teaches it’s own lessons naturally. We learn this in life over and over again whether we realize it or not. Anytime we deviate from love, light and wisdom (God), we will eventually suffer and despair because it simply does not align with truth and our own light. The last thing we need when we are suffering is for someone to judge and condemn us. We do that enough on our own. The only healing back to our truth comes through love and understanding. When we come back to truth, we are at peace, calm and happy again. When we forget, we will eventually feel it in our suffering and need to change our mentalities and behavior to align again.

In that way, everyone’s path is perfect. When we make choices against our own light, we make choices that will eventually not work because they are not eternally sustainable choices. We will encounter friction and eventually despair. If we keep holding on to the same mentalities, we will keep making the same choices and create the same despair again. This will continue until, a lot of the time through suffering, we will hopefully eventually surrender in humility and choose to change and adhere to the light with in us. That added light in our understanding changes our PERCEPTIONS, thoughts and emotions towards life and that is what changes the way we do things. I believe this is why we don’t need to focus on changing people’s mind, but focus on sharing truth, understanding, compassion, goodness, love and light. It is that that will awaken what they need to do.

As president Utchdorf said, “we must realize that all of God’s children wear the same jersey. Our team is [mankind]. This mortal life is our playing field. Our goal is to learn to love God and to extend that same love toward our fellowman”

Love, it really is that simple.

Finding Solutions to my Challenges | Handout and object lesson

Being human means that we will run into challenges and struggles. Sometimes those struggles can feel enormous and totally consuming and we just want out! Have you noticed that many times the answer we get when we turn to people of our faith ends up being, “Well, have you prayed about it? Or “Just read your scriptures?” Darn those sunday school responses!!! Do they really work?? I know you are curious since the views already piled up with the help of The Marketing Heaven. So, find out in this video:

Here is a handout that goes with object lesson, pdf download available below:

Download “Solutions to problems handout” solutions-to-problems-handout.pdf – Downloaded 2243 times – 245 KB

Other “Come Follow Me” lessons in NOVEMBER.

other posts that might be helpful:
• How to receive personal revelation and inspiration (Worksheet)
• Hard times are a gift to us (handout and story lesson).

Fasting: Getting Beyond the Hungry and Grumpy

I’ve been studying the young women lesson, “Why do we fast?” and it reminded me of a journal entry I wrote last year after I had completed a fast (in our church we voluntarily go without food and drink at least once a month). This was a time when I felt like I came to a better understanding of why we fast. Hope it helps!

“Today I decided to fast longer than the usual short and pretty insignificant fast of skipping breakfast and stuffing my face as soon as I get home from church.
I decided to really complete the two meals of fasting.

Part of me resisted it because I have a very hard time functioning without food. I get grumpy and when I am grumpy I’m short, reactive, impatient, and mean. And I end up thinking to myself, how is fasting a spiritual experience if I don’t have the spirit at all?? Why are we asked to fast if it ends up being a negative thing for me?

Well you know that scripture that says,
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: (Matt 7:7)”
It’s true. (See receiving personal revelation post)

After thinking about it, I figured one of the reasons we are asked to fast is because we are giving up our natural desires and letting our spirit conquer and be in charge. I learned that my experience with fasting was basically never getting to the ‘let the spirit be in charge’ part because my body was just too consumed with the fact that it was hungry and grumpy. I was letting my body take the reins because it does by default when I am hungry; and it becomes exceedingly difficult to take over again until I get fed! But I needed to win this time. Once I realized the real war that was raging: body vs. spirit, I knew I could win.

After I realized this dilemma in my fast, I knew how to better approach it. Today I decided that I would succumb to having the spirit instead of giving into my natural human urges. It didn’t start off well. It was end of daylight saving time, which sounds like it was a good thing because of the extra hour. But that knowledge of extra hour made us sleep in and take our sweet time while getting ready to go to church.

We were late. I was hungry and irritable and snarky at my husband and impatient with my kids. I felt myself getting worked up. But I caught it before it got crazy. I reminded myself of my goal. Even though almost every part of me had no desire and it seemed impossible that I could actually get over the starving/grumpy aspect of fasting, I chose to do what I could to stay calm and choose the spirit. And I kid you not, magical things happened that day. Magic that may have not been realized by anyone else but me, but magic nonetheless. I was awakened to things I would not have realized had I not been fasting.

I was very prompted to bear my testimony. Even though I’m happy to bear my testimony, it can be an intense experience, and many times it is just more comfortable NOT bearing it. But when you know, you know, and so I did it. I did it because I knew that the Heavens and my spirit really wanted me to express those those things lying deep within my heart. I talked about the war in heaven and how it hasn’t ended. Each day we choose whom we will serve.

Each moment of every day we decide if we choose the spirit or not. If we succumb to anger or love. Self pity or self respect. It is about overcoming our human nature and embracing our very real and true divine nature. I know when I choose the spirit, my spirit enlarges and my capacity to keep making those good spiritual choices is strengthened. If we don’t choose God we are choosing to give captivity to the devil. If we aren’t aware of it, we will just choose the default, our human nature, which is actually to serve our natural carnal desires. The war is still RAGING!

Anyway, I felt so much better after that. It was a spiritual release! People thanked me for my testimony (which is actually a really awkward experience for me) but I’m grateful for their compliments.

During the rest of my fast I was happy and full of the spirit. I didn’t feel grumpy or weighed down. Even though I could feel the physical weakness of not eating, my thoughts were not focused on eating or my discomfort. I engaged in activities that could enlarge and feed my soul. I felt ideas and inspiration for my church calling and for life flow freely. I felt more connected to my true self and to my God.”

If you are doing a lesson, here is a handout you could use. Invite them to write answers they find regarding fasting in Isaiah 58:3–12.

Download “Why do we Fast PDF” we-do-we-fast1.pdf – Downloaded 524 times – 103 KB

Receiving Inspiration and Guidance for your Life

I believe our souls are inherently seeking divine guidance that will lead us personally to true and lasting peace, happiness and success in all areas of our lives.

The great news is that we are not alone in this earthly journey! We are children of a God that is happy and eager to impart His wisdom, light and guidance that will lead us along our way to become beings greater than we could have even imagined ourselves!! He wants to lead us to success–most likely not in the way our puny human minds imagine it, but only as a deeply loving, all-knowing, all-powerful Father understands it. Success in a far greater and deeper way than we even thought possible!!

How is this done? How in the world do we tap into that Heavenly knowledge that can direct us back to spiritual success? How do we train our mind, body and soul to seek out the living water of truth available to us instead of accepting and following every other voice, impulse and direction that is fighting for our attention? How do learn to LISTEN? To that sweet, gentle, still small voice of the Spirit that will guide us to truth and righteous?
” And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your ^atrust in that ^bSpirit which leadeth to do ^dgood—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to ^gjudge righteously; and this is my Spirit. Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall ^aenlighten your ^bmind, which shall fill your soul with ^cjoy; And then shall ye know, or by this shall you know, all things whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of righteousness, in faith believing in me that you shall receive.” D&C 11:12-14

I’m teaching the YW lesson “How Do I Receive Personal Revelation?” and I’m excited to share insight I have learned through studying the lesson and the wise words of apostles and prophets on this topic!! I created this worksheet for personal or classroom use as a guide to finding answers in our lives. Below is a worksheet of my personal elaboration on each section of the worksheet.

Download “personal-revelation.pdf” personal-revelation.pdf – Downloaded 734 times – 147 KB

First, We Gotta Ask QUESTIONS!!
You know that scripture that says, “Ask, and it shall be ^bgiven you; ^cseek, and ye shall find;^dknock, and it shall be opened unto you:” It is FOR REAL. It is real because Heavenly Father seriously desires to and does reveal and open the gates of Heaven for us. But it is contingent upon our efforts to seek those answers! Posing big or small questions engages our mind and spirit to receive answers! When we sincerely and continually ponder and seek divine direction in our lives, we become OPEN. Our eyes see what we otherwise would not have seen, our ears hear what we otherwise would not have heard and our hearts take in what would have otherwise passed by us. It is a conscious effort on our part, but receiving nuggets of wisdom and understanding from our Father in Heaven can be a constant and infinitely rewarding prize.

Removing Spiritual Blocks
We need to remember that God’s plan is NOT to hold back guidance that will lead us to greater happiness. But He simply CANNOT communicate what is needed if we are unwilling to listen or not in a position to listen. Think ‘spiritual toddler.’ If we are having a ‘tantrum’ over a trial, we most likely won’t listen to a loving parent who genuinely wants to assist us. This happen much more than we are probably willing to admit. Just like it would be like in leading a small child we gotta be that calm child, who is finally eager to listen, who isn’t crying wildly in frantic panic, who isn’t just concerned about getting ‘her way’. Elder Henry B. Eyring said, “Many of us, in moments of personal anguish, feel that God is far from us. The pavilion that seems to intercept divine aid does not cover God but occasionally covers us. God is never hidden, yet sometimes we are, covered by a pavilion of motivations that draw us away from God and make Him seem distant and inaccessible. Our own desires, rather than a feeling of “Thy will be done,”² create the feeling of a pavilion blocking God.” Read his talk.

Living a life to have a connection with the Spirit.
I cannot think of better way to receiving guidance from God than to revolve our daily efforts in striving to keep and listen to the Spirit. It means being humble enough to listen to that quiet voice that speaks right into our hearts to practice patience, to forgive oneself and others, that feeling that sweetly nudges us to listen closer and more empathically to our loved ones, that split second thought that says to know not indulge in gossip when the moment arises, that gentle feeling that encourages us to let go of our anger or frustration over someone or a situation. It tries to communicate with us ALL DAY LONG but if we are too distracted, too stressed, too busy, too tired, too consumed with worldly pursuits and entertainment it is SO easy to miss, so easy to be totally desensitized and disconnected from it. But if we but make small efforts day by day to invite the Spirit, to keep it in the forefront of our hearts and minds, to take care of our bodies, to read the truths found in scriptures, and talks and church magazines, to manage our emotions, to keep a clean mind and heart, then we will open communication from heaven to help us with our questions, concerns, decisions and it is AMAZING the feeling and life we can have for ourselves. “It is important that our daily activities do not distract us from listening to the Spirit.” -Richard G. Scott, read his talk about “Obtaining personal revelation and inspiration for your life”

Understanding what it feels like and what it means to receive revelation and divine guidance.
I believe that when we speak of REVELATION, we can make it out to seem to so big and sometimes so sensationalized that we can miss that we have already received guidance or miss the answer that Heavenly Father is trying to communicate with us. Even though there are incredible stories of faith found in the scriptures and even in our church culture of receiving answers to prayers, most of the most miraculous experiences are quiet, personal, and seemingly undramatic. The truth is that our seemingly anticlimactic answer to our long time pleas and prayers, if we open our hearts of understanding, can hold even more deep and much more powerful influence in our personal lives and lives of others than the most sensationalized, awe inspiring, mouth dropping answers and miracles performed in history!!

“And it came to pass when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul—”
-Heleman 5:30

My personal experience with receiving inspiration and guidance
I think and ponder about a subject and that I’m curious about/ have questions about or need direction with. When I am connected to the spirit, I feel like my thoughts are heighten, my mind is expanded to understand things in a broader eternal perspective. But it is not with my continual and conscience desire to know, ponder and understand truth.

Heavenly father rarely just dumps revelation out of nowhere (though at times it may seem sudden). He wants to direct us to the answer thought by thought, feeling by feeling, process by process, line upon line as it says. It is like a treasure hunt where we continually gather evidence, clues along the way as make decisions and press forward. We learn bit by bit as we are willing and ready to receive it. As we receive it we can feel the truthfulness of a principle.

God allows for this type of learning because when we come upon the answers through our own diligent seeking and willingness to receive, those answers become a PART of us. We have made an effort to be taught by the Holy Ghost. When it communicates with us it goes straight to the heart, not as an external passing thought but to the deep and spiritual part of our being that swallows and accepts truth for itself and becomes an integral part of our nature as we continue to apply the truth we have learned. It is receiving and experimenting by putting it to the test, trusting in God and in ourselves. It is a learning process, it is a journey.

I love Elder Bednar’s analogy
(here is a great vid on it) on receiving light. I believe that revelation be sometimes received in all three ways that he explains (light switch, sunrise, and foggy day). We can have a light ‘switch moment’ or aha moment of what we should do. Then we have to move forward to make that decision in our lives step by step, noticing more and more guidance and understanding (like a sunrise). Yet we may be traveling as what may seem a fog day, not know everything ahead of us, trusting with each step with what we can see and having faith that are moving in the right direction.

Keep pressing forward in faith my friend!!

Object Lesson

Why Christ Matters. A Mother’s saving Grace.

I gave a lesson to the Young Women in my church about preparing to establish a Christ-centered home* this last Sunday. It caused me to put my thoughts together and further reflect about why I feel that Christ matters so much. With Christmas just about here, I felt strongly to announce to the world my own feelings about Christ and why it IS such a big deal that little baby in Bethlehem was born.

Why is it that so much of the world is celebrating the arrival of this person? Why does it matter that Jesus came? How did it affect the world and how does it affect us personally, every day?? I don’t have all the answers, but I have come to know through my experiences a few, simple things that have helped me get closer to answers, to more hope, to more understanding, to greater happiness and to closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Why does it matter that I base myself, family, home and life around Christ? Let me share a personal story about how I came to better terms to why it matters to me.

I was having one of those moments as a mother that I realized how blatantly short my efforts fell from being the mother I wanted to be. I found that because of my very human limitations, insecurities, fears, and personal weaknesses, I simply could not show love to my kids as beautifully as I wanted. I got frustrated with them, snapped at them, was easily distracted when I could better be attending their needs and so on. I came to the thought, “Wow, what in the world did my innocent little children do to be raised by a mom like me? Nothing, they did nothing to deserve it. They were just born to me. I realized that no matter the effort I put in, I would still be lacking somewhere. Simply because I am human, weak, temperamental (can you say hormones?), unwilling, selfish – and- even my very personality and all its flaws that are more or less incompatible with that of my child’s would affect him and his life. I realized my very shortcomings as a human could one way or another mess up my kid. GULP. What a predicament.

Hope for my kids.

Then like a glimmer of hope in the midst of mental implosion, this scripture came to my mind, “And we ^atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our ^cchildren may know to what source they may look for a ^dremission of their sins.” 2 Nephi 25:26

It hit me that the reason I make the effort to teach, talk, celebrate, write and testify of Christ is because it is HE who will do the saving, NOT ME. If I can just do my best to teach my littles to turn to the Light that is Jesus Christ, they can be redeemed from their weaknesses (sins, insecurities, fears, sorrows), and EVEN the weakness that became theirs because of my influence (my sincere efforts as a mother that simply were not enough). Jesus Christ matters because my children have as much of a chance to enjoy satisfying and true happiness in this life (and the next to come) as I do. Oh what a relief!

Hope for me.

Even though I am human, weak, and SO blunder prone, there is still hope for me as a mother. Christ not only compensates for what I could not do, but enables me to do and be more than I otherwise could on my own as I mother. I have personally experienced the real enabling power of Christ in my life. I have seen it in those moments when I am humble and willing enough to know that I cannot do it alone, when I start relying on His spirit more, those moments of quiet listening to the real voice within that stills me, helps me harness life and myself to do those things that really matter. It comes to me in those miraculous little moments that I didn’t have to get upset, that I stopped and listened, that I sought an opportunity to teach instead instead of punish. Those are the moments that I can more clearly see the light in my child’s eyes, see him for who he is. Love him more sincerely and deeply than ever before and experience a joy more exquisite than I thought possible.

He sets me FREE.

I’ve experienced and still do experience all sorts of heavy and crazy types of slavery. What? Yes. We all do. We are all slaves to nasty slave masters that come in mean voices in our heads, that pushes us around, that say we are not good enough, that suck the life out of us in negativity, guilt, worry, frantic fear of the ridiculous. That voice that keeps us a slave to anything less than joy and keeps us away from really enjoying life and seeing yourself as the glorious beings we really are. I have learned that those voices can be ignored, can be quieted, and can be overcome. It is a gift and power I have found Christ lends to me. To focus more on His spirit, less on the things that drag me down, more on the inspiring, less on the depressing, more on the things to rejoice about, less on the things to whine about. It is liberating, it is true freedom. (Read an eg of this in this post-My obsession with getting things done and how it block real happiness )

He came so we could receive, know and show LOVE.

If for some reason the idea of Jesus Christ still seems quite removed for you, perhaps the idea of LOVE can complete it for you. Christ’s whole missions was for love and out of love for us. Christ =LOVE. When we feel true Love we are feeling part of Him. For me it is a feeling that things will be ok, that there is much to be hoped for, much to be happy about, it is a feeling of security within myself, confidence to take on life, the gift of ability to love others and give of myself without fear. He is what makes life beautiful. LOVE is why Christ matters. There is little I want more than Christ and His love in my home.

See helpful object lesson on this topic here.

*For lesson helps: In my lesson we talked about ways to create a Christ-centered home. With the help of resources found in the lesson (specifically “For peace at home by Elder G Scott, Family Proclamation, Becoming Goodly Parents, and scripture references) we listed things that help create a Christ-centered home (Here is a handout to use if you are going to be teaching).

Download “Christ Centered Home” christ-centered-home.pdf – Downloaded 601 times – 1 MB

Feeling good enough.

In a world where Facebook and Pintrest reign, a place where we have constant access to only everyone’s best pictures, successes and where only the icing on the cake is talked about and displayed but the burnt bits are hardly ever mentioned, it is so easy to feel like we never measure up as mothers, as wife and friends.
Um yes. Not the first place you’ve heard this, right? Social media has made us feel more inferior than EVER. But let me tell you something. I’m pretty sure I felt pretty inferior to most peeps in High School and guess what? I never once logged into facebook or pintrest because it didn’t exist (young’ns, yes I’m that ancient).
Mothers and wives still managed to feel bad about themselves one way or another during that dark and dismal pre-social media era too. HOW? Well, it was not without it’s glossy depictions of beautiful lives in parenting magazines, television sitcoms and, well, the hardest competition, that pesky but ever-so-perfect neighbor next door.
So here is the thing, it doesn’t matter what way the world tries to fool us into things we are inferior, it will always be a different thing, but the problem will always be consistent. And you know what the problem is?? It’s you and I! Oh no, not another thing to feel bad about, right?? Can we seriously never be good enough???

Ok, enough with the cynicism. I want to get to good news of this all! The freeing and awesome and sweet truth of it all is that you are ALREADY good enough. No. You are beyond good, you are more spectacular and phenomenally awesome than you could possibly conceive. Whaaaa?? Yes. Mark this as truth.

You may not see it, know it, or feel it but I can tell you for certain that there is someone that does see it, knows it and does feel it. Your worth, your potential and your utter phenomenal awesomeness. Every moment, of every day. If you haven’t guess by now, it is the Being who created your very existence. Your Heavenly Father. Whatever you may wish to refer Him as I can only say this…He is real and has real love for you!
This magnificent love He has for you He has been trying to communicate with you from day 1. He wants so badly for you to feel the love He has for you so you can get even the tiniest glimpse of what He sees in you and how He feels about you. He knows that once you open up your heart to drink in those feelings He’s trying to fill you up with you will get an enormous sense of worth. Enough that you will not have to turn to anything else to get a feeling of worth. Enough that you don’t have to live a life of doing things just to ‘feel good enough’ but recognizing that you are already more than enough and your actions are merely acts to magnify that love you feel. This love is not just in your mind as a logical but removed statement but a real feeling of satisfaction and true feeling of being totally enough and more.

But how can we feel this if as we disheartantly look and see what ever other females are doing only to try to gauge where we stand in comparison? Do you realize that doing so we allow ourselves to believe one of two insecure things: we feel worse about ourselves because they are obviously doing ‘so much better’. Or just as unstable we actually feel better about ourselves because what we’ve done/or doing is obviously so much superior. Both equally rickety ways to judge the way we feel about ourselves, don’t you think? Even if we feel better because someone is seemingly worse of than us, that feeling is immediately robbed from us anytime we witness any successes from that person! Ugh. This prevents us from fully letting ourselves feel good about ourselves or anyone else!

So as we frantically scramble looking here and there, cleaning here and there, shopping here and there, working here and there, posting this and that, wearing this and that to find some kind of worth and value for ourselves we blindly forget that it’s been there the whole time. That the real source to discover our already infinite worth was just waiting for us to slow down, listen and turn to Him.

He is the ultimate source of all love, real undying true love. For yourself, for others, for LIFE! So take TIME to seek it, to feel it, to understand it, be changed by it. It is why you are here.

His LOVE, the Spirit of God, is so powerful that it has the ability to transforms us, help us become and be and do more than we ever thought possible. He is waiting quietly and patiently for us to turn our to Him. But how is that done??
It is has everything to do with the condition of our HEARTS. Not with the condition of our house, condition of how well we manage our to-do list, condition of how ‘good’ we or our family looks. How often do we let those things define us and how we feel about ourselves?? Those things are good but are constantly changing, fluctuating, throwing our self-esteem in a flurry of hopelessness. We need a constant and it is God. It is a continual re-aligning ourselves, our focus, our desires to something greater. Taking time to invite the Spirit of God in every aspect of our lives. If we are feeling overwhelmed, frazzled, hopeless, confused, scared, stressed and depressed taking time to reconnect. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18). Pray for His Spirit. Anytime we take time to sincerely LOVE, ourselves, our God and those around us, we are inviting HIS LOVE. We are reconnecting to Him and our purpose and it gives us the motivation to continue with love and happiness!

So next time we view a screen and our eyes start turning green, remember, we have a choice. Let those feelings consume us and define us OR we can reconnect with our true worth, the Father of our spirit. The more you do it, the more natural it will become. Those beautiful images on screens need not be threats to our self-esteem but inspiration of the great human potential. One of which we are of course welcome to participate in if so inspired!

Remember: God loves you. You are worth it. You are MORE than enough. You’ve always been. But you don’t have to take my word for it, you can find for yourself! It is the only way you’ll really know.

“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;” (D&C 18:10–12.)

“Responding to true love is part of our very being. We innately desire to reconnect here with the love we felt there. Only as we feel God’s love and fill our hearts with His love can we be truly happy.

God’s love fills the immensity of space; therefore, there is no shortage of love in the universe, only in our willingness to do what is needed to feel it. To do this, Jesus explained we must “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, … soul, … strength, and … mind; and thy neighbour as thyself” (Luke 10:27).

~JOHN H. GROBERG, quote from The Power of God’s Love

I love how sister Hinckely knew exactly what is going on with us ladies:

“We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are.”

And of course, who doesn’t love this quote by Marianne Williamson??

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” —Marianne Williamson

For more information about my beliefs, please visit: mormon.org